Find the best site to hire the right developers in under 60 seconds.

We'll ask 10 quick questions to better understand your needs and then provide you with personalized recommendations.

Start
No sign-up required.

A personalized engine to help you hire the best developers.

  • Answer a few questions about your hirings needs.
  • Our algorithm will compare different options to hire a developer in seconds.
  • Get a personalized list of the best companies to hire a developer.
Get Started
If you'd rather look through our research yourself, please refer to the companies listed above.

Here are the top 21 sites to hire freelance developers:

Based on our research among online hiring platforms

1. Toptal

Toptal is a curated talent match-making freelance platform that connects skilled freelancers with noteworthy businesses and employers. Founded in 2010, Toptal is home to some of the industry’s most talented and experienced developers.

Since Toptal was initially created with only tech talent in mind, the platform’s stringent hiring techniques and high level of scrutiny ensure that only the best developers make it to the roster. You can find developers from across skills and languages like PHP, React, Python, Swift, and more for your mission-critical projects.

From fortune 500 businesses to up-and-coming startups, Toptal’s developers are trusted by them all. Toptal represents the top 3 percent of developer talents and offers a no-risk free trial.

2. Hired

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in San Francisco, Hired helps recruiters and companies find the right software developers and engineers quickly and efficiently. Hired boasts of a solid global presence across 14 cities and is a leading tech-focused talent matchmaking platform.

Their qualified developers are pre-vetted for their experience, skills, and compensation requirements. Hired’s automated AI-powered talent matchmaking algorithm helps businesses save over 45 hours of talent sourcing per candidate. Numerous influential brands and companies trust Hired to find developers and recruit them for their projects.

3. Upwork

Upwork is a large freelance marketplace with over 12 million users. The popular platform connects clients with remote freelancers, from content writers to JavaScript experts, with the help of sorting algorithms. Employers often enjoy Upwork's ease of use but cite variable quality as a major drawback. So, while finding programmers to interview should be fairly easy with Upwork, interviewing dozens of candidates will be an involved process.

The quality of Upwork freelancers is variable for the large marketplace, however, as there is minimal screening done by the company itself. Therefore, most of the legwork of screening and vetting will be left to you.

4. Fiverr

Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Fiverr boasts tons of talented freelance developers across skill sets and experience levels. Whether you’re looking for basic front-end developers or a well-versed Python, React or Full-Stack developers, Fiverr’s international community of freelance developers will certainly fit the bill.

Although screening and vetting of developers is the employer’s responsibility, Fiverr is trusted by leading brands and businesses. Additionally, Fiverr offers exceptional customer support and an option to claim refunds for employers who are not fully satisfied with the services provided by a particular freelance professional.

5. Gigster

Founded in 2014 and headquartered in San Francisco, Gigster is a premium recruiting platform dedicated to help businesses hire dedicated developers. Gigster offers flexible recruitment options (Elastic Staffing) that assesses the project’s requirements and allots the right combination of freelance talent and skills to your team.

Gigster is trusted by leading businesses like Google, Microsoft, Y Combinator, Stanford University, among many others. Gigster’s developers and programmers have the right set of skills and talent-set to handle your project’s requirements with ease.

6. People Per Hour

UK-based PeoplePerHour is an excellent freelance marketplace to hire talented developers. PeoplePerHour connects employers and businesses with skilled freelance developers from around the world who are available to hire by the hour or project. All companies and employers need to fill a quick form to describe the project with as many details as possible.

Then, PeoplePerHour deploys its artificial intelligence talent match-making tool to find the best freelancers for the specific project. PeoplePerHour carefully vetes all developers before listing them on the platform.

7. Dice

Dice is a dedicated technology job board that helps employers and businesses connect with a unique, diverse, and qualified pool of developers with strong technical skills. Dice boasts of over 3 million registered tech professionals and 2.4 million monthly unique visitors. Additionally, Dice offers a suite of handy features like social recruiting, email advertising, access to resumes, and an option to screen candidates. This makes Dice one of the better recruitment platforms. Furthermore, Dice is trusted by technical recruiters from all over the globe.

8. Gun.io

Founded in 2011, Gun.io is known for connecting leading brands and businesses with amazing programmers. Gun.io has a growing community of over 25,000 developers and is considered as a leading tech hiring platform. Several leading brands and noteworthy businesses rely on Gun.io’s development teams for their projects.

Additionally, Gun.io offers a variety of flexible hiring options to match the unique needs for a particular project. Gun.io is lauded for its humanism and customer support. Every recruiter or company is connected with a VP, instead of a sales representative. Gun.io offers a 100% money-back guarantee.

9. Guru

Guru is a leading freelance hiring platform. Guru is a secure, flexible, and cost-effective platform that connects employers and businesses with some of the world’s top freelancers. Guru’s claimed 99 percent customer satisfaction rate makes it a top competitor to try when hiring different types of developers.

Guru also offers round-the-clock customer support and the platform is currently home to over 500,000 talented programmers and developers. Employers and companies can sift through all the various freelancers’ Portfolios, make comparisons, and read reviews to make an informed choice. Furthermore, Guru’s SafePay payment option makes it a reliable and trusty choice for employers.

10. Freelancer

Freelancer is one of the world’s largest freelance marketplaces and serves as a great platform to hire talented freelance developers. Freelancer is trusted by leading brands like Microsoft, PWC, Boeing, and many more stalwart businesses and is renowned for simplifying the recruitment process.

Freelancer uses a unique bidding system that enables employers and companies to hire dedicated developers in just a few seconds. Recruiters can view portfolios and samples of work as well as reviews from previous employers. If you're looking for an affordable option, however, Freelancer is a wonderful hiring solution.

11. Remoteok.io

Whether you’re building a new tech project from scratch or looking to scale your current team, RemoteOK offers some of the most talented remote developers from across the world easily and efficiently. From Java experts to Python programmers to iOS developers to proficient software engineers, RemoteOK boasts of a plethora of remote developers from across skill sets.

Founded in 2015, RemoteOK has a global reach of more than 1 million professionals. With its flexible pricing and thoughtful add-ons, RemoteOK makes for an excellent option for employers looking to hire remote developers for their mission-critical projects. Several leading companies like Microsoft, Starbucks, Stripe, among others, place their trust in the hands of RemoteOK’s remote developers.

12. Authentic Jobs

Since 2005, Authentic Jobs has been the perfect destination for web and creative professionals, and the companies and employers looking to hire them. Authentic Jobs is a U.S.-based tech job posting site that features freelance, full-time, contractual, remote, and internship positions. Authentic Jobs cater to big and small companies’ recruitment needs.

Authentic Jobs caters to the global tech community, and has over the years connected thousands of developers with major employers in the tech industry. As front-end development often involves both creative and technical aspects, Authentic Jobs is a great place to begin your search.

13. X-Team

Since 2006, X-Team has connected employers and companies with a talented and motivated team of developers from across the world. Numerous leading brands and companies have relied on X-Team to develop and scale their tech projects. Trusted by brands like Fox Broadcasting, Twitter, Dell, Discovery, and more, X-Team boasts of a strong global presence across three continents.

X-Team offers a dedicated account manager and offers flexible contracts with convenient billing options. X-Team is great for organizing and hiring a team of developers and is surely a great resource for outsourcing software development.

14. Arc

Formerly, Codementor X, Arc helps recruiters to find and hire top developers seamlessly. Arc’s famous and rigorous screening process known as ‘Silicon-Valley Calibre Vetting’ ensures that only 1.1 percent of candidates pass their technical & behavioral assessments.

Arc is a handy platform to connect with and hire top freelance developers, programmers, tech experts, software engineers, and consultants. Arc does the cumbersome job of identifying qualified candidates and vetting them to ensure they match your project’s requirements.

15. LinkedIn

Although LinkedIn is pegged as a massive professional social media platform, it also serves as an excellent developer job board. With over 590 million registered members and over 250 million active users in over 200 countries, LinkedIn is a great place to hunt for talented developers from across skill sets and specialties.

LinkedIn’s mega database of job seekers makes it a promising platform to search for developers from across the globe and experience levels. LinkedIn’s secure messaging functionality, easy-to-use search filters, recommendations feature, and premium version make it a handy tool to hire developers.

16. Turing

Built by engineers from leading tech giants in the likes of Facebook, Google, and Stanford, Turing helps businesses hire programmers, developers, and engineers with great ease. Apart from offering a no-risk 2-week trial, Turing’s rigorous hiring tests cover all major tech stacks, coding algorithms, systems design, among other parameters.

According to Turing, only 1 percent of the pool of freelance developers is onboarded. Turing helps companies hire programmers with superior talents based on the project’s unique requirements. Employers have the chance to hire a range of developers.

With Turing, you can hire React developers, Python experts, PHP specialists, Swift coders, Machine Learning Engineers, and more. Turing offers a risk-free trial when you hire expert developers and the convenience of pay as you go.

17. Epic Jobs

Epic Jobs is an online platform that connects job seekers with meaningful projects and employers. Epic Jobs helps companies hire developers with a gamut of experience and talents. How? Well, all you have to do is tweet about your job opening. Then, add that tweet to epicjobs.co.

You can include any media attached to your tweet (a picture or video) on epicjobs.co too. Epic Jobs will publish the tweet to their official handle and retweet it to an audience of 50k+ followers. This technique helps companies find and hire programmers in a simple and convenient manner.

Similarly, you can also ask Epic Jobs to tweet from their official handle for you if you don’t have a Twitter account. In addition to this, Epic Jobs also offers you the option to be included in their weekly video posts on Twitter or to do spotlight videos tailored specifically for your job posting.

Epic Jobs is an intuitive platform and enjoys a strong social media reach that is continuously growing. While basic twitter packages are free of cost, other paid options are not too expensive either.

18. FlexJobs

Founded in 2007 in Colorado, FlexJobs enables businesses to hire talented programmers and developers. FlexJobs offers employers loads of handy benefits. For one, they provide a flat rate, which allows you to post as many jobs as you'd like and have unlimited access to their resume database. Leading businesses like Apple, American Express, Kaplan, Dell, SAP, and more, place their trust in FlexJobs developers.

All freelancers are thoroughly screened for legitimacy, professionalism, and work flexibility. This vastly eases the hiring effort for employers. Additionally, FlexJobs offers a friendly Employer Team to support and consult on your recruiting strategy.

FlexJobs is trusted by numerous noteworthy businesses and offers a vast pool of freelance developers while enjoying a strong global presence.

19. Sunscrapers

Sunscrapers are a team of experienced developers who provide employers and business leaders with technical expertise tailored to support their business objectives. Sunscrapers help the world’s greatest companies drive business growth by connecting them with top developers.

Sunscrapers are known for offering class-leading Python and JavaScript developers. However, If you need qualified web and app developers, Sunscrapers will help you find the exact talent you need, regardless of the technology stack.

Sunscrapers can also effectively verify a candidate's soft skills, cultural adaptation to your project, and the ability to work remotely. Having worked with brands like ESPN, Samsung, Spotify, Volvo, and Unilever, Sunscrapers is trusted by global businesses across all verticals to build specialized tech projects.

Apart from being Python and JavaScript experts, Sunscrapers offers data science & web development services to leading brands and up and coming startups.

20. ValueCoders

ValueCoders is an Indian software development company focused on offering offshore software development services. With over 16 years of experience and a team of 450+ developers, ValueCoders offer a suite of senior developers across a host of tech stacks from .NET to iOS to PHP/Java to Python, among many others.

ValueCoders work efficiently to deliver robust, scalable, and reliable solutions to clients from across the globe. Additionally, ValueCoders offer a money-back guarantee if you're not satisfied. There are also flexible payment options (fixed-price or monthly). ValueCoders is an award-winning company that offers talented full-stack programmers and is trusted by leading brands.

21. We Work Remotely

We Work Remotely is a niche job board for remote jobseekers. It's primarily comprised of developer jobs. Posting a job with them is affordable and you'll be connected with remote developers. Screening, vetting, and interviewing is done by the employer.

Based on facts publicly available as of 01.01.2023

Guide to hiring great freelance developers

What Is Freelance Development?

Freelance development refers to the practice of offering software development services as an independent contractor to clients, rather than as a full-time employee. Freelance developers provide a range of services, including web development, mobile app development, and custom software development. By leveraging their technical expertise and experience, they help businesses of all sizes solve complex technical challenges and bring their ideas to life. 

Freelance development offers many benefits, including cost savings, increased flexibility, and access to a wider pool of talent. Whether you're a startup looking to build a MVP or an established company in need of a custom solution, hiring a freelance developer can be an excellent way to get your project off the ground and bring your vision to life.

According to a recent study, the freelance development market has seen a steady growth over the past decade, with an estimated growth rate of 8.7% from 2019 to 2027. The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically impacted the job market and accelerated the trend towards freelance work, with an increasing number of businesses opting for this flexible solution to meet their software development needs. 

The pandemic has shown that remote work is possible, and many businesses have discovered the benefits of working with freelance developers, including cost savings, access to a wider pool of talent, and increased flexibility. With the rise of the gig economy and advancements in technology, the demand for freelance development services is expected to continue to grow, making it an exciting time to be a part of this industry.

What Freelance Developers are?

Freelance developers are independent contractors who offer software development services to clients across a range of industries. According to recent studies, freelance developers bring a wealth of technical expertise and experience to the table. They leverage their skills to help companies of all sizes solve complex technical challenges and bring their ideas to life. By working with freelance developers, companies can benefit from increased flexibility, cost savings, and access to a wider pool of talent. This is particularly relevant in today's rapidly changing business landscape, where companies must be able to quickly adapt to new technologies and market conditions. 

What Do Developers Do?

The most in-demand services provided by freelance developers include web development, mobile app development, and custom software development. Freelance developers use their technical expertise and experience to help businesses of all sizes bring their ideas to life, whether it's building a new website, developing a mobile app, or creating a custom software solution. By working closely with clients, freelance developers are able to understand their unique needs and requirements and deliver high-quality solutions that meet their goals. With a deep understanding of the latest technologies and industry trends, freelance developers play a crucial role in helping companies stay ahead of the curve and stay competitive in today's rapidly changing market.

How to Find a Great Freelance Programmer

Though there isn’t a one size fits all approach to hiring a great programmer, but here we share with you a few effective ways to do so:

  • Review their portfolio and body of work: Understanding the quality and caliber of work they’ve done in the past will help you evaluate their technical abilities even that there is a lot of different tools they might have experience in. Are they used to work alone or they need project managers.
  • Get to know the freelance developer: Get on a call with them to gauge their personality and to find out whether you’re compatible or not.
  • Discuss the project in detail: Break the project down and explain what you are expecting the project to accomplish and how it will function. It’s also advisable to explain the main purpose of the project to give context.
  • Offer a (paid) trial period to your selected candidate: This will enable you to better gauge if the software developer understands what you are expecting of them and if they can finish the tasks on time.
  • Prepare your contract and non-disclosure agreement (NDA): If you are concerned about accountability and intellectual property, then it’s wise to draw up a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), also known as a confidentiality agreement (CA).
Essentially, there are three different options for hiring: full-time, part-time or freelance. The most obvious advantage of employing freelancers is the cost and terms. Because they are considered as on-demand talents, employers can hire them for specific periods of time and only pay for what they work. This reduces costs.

How Much Does It Cost To Hire a Freelance Developer

When you’re in the process of hiring freelance developers online, it’s essential to know how much to pay them to avoid paying too much or offering too little. Compensation can either be on a project basis or a time basis. Having said that, in our experience, these are the factors that determine the cost of hiring a freelance developer:

  • Demand for those specific skills
  • Complexity and scope of the project requirements
  • The geographic location of the qualified candidates
  • Expertise and experience
  • Past work experience and brands they’ve worked with

According to Upwork, a Full Custom Site Code, typically enterprise, that involves building a website design from scratch with custom code and design elements would cost an average hourly rate of $75-150+. On the other hand, a basic one-page site like a basic lead-gen page or landing page will cost an average hourly rate of $15-40+.

What Skills To Look For When Hiring a Freelance Programmer

When hiring a freelance developer, it is important to look for someone with a wide range of technical skills. These include coding languages such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript and Python; web frameworks such as ReactJS or Angular; systems architecture; database technologies such as MySQL and MongoDB; cloud computing; and devOps tools like Docker or Kubernetes. Additionally, the freelancer should have excellent soft skills such as good communication skills and the ability to deliver solutions quickly and efficiently.

Where To Find Freelance Developers For Hire

Talent matching services like Toptal and Arc are great platforms for employers searching for verified and pre-vetted tech talent, and for those who are looking to place their trust in experienced tech professionals. On the other hand, freelance marketplaces like Upwork, People Per Hour, Fiverr, and Freelancer allow employers to hire developers themselves.

While all the job boards, marketplaces, and matching services mentioned above have their respective pros, which site will best serve you will depend on your specific situation, such as:

  • The timeline of your project.
  • How quickly you need to hire.
  • Experience of the developer.
  • How many developers do you need?
  • How important is quality for your project?
  • The complexity of your project.
  • Are you okay with remote developers or outsourcing to another country?
  • What is your budget?
  • The reputation of the platform.

FAQ

How do I hire a good developer?

Matching services like Toptal, and to a lesser extent, Gun.io, are great solutions for employers searching for tech talent, and for those who are looking to place their trust in experienced tech professionals. For those short on time with high-quality developers as a priority, Toptal, Gun.io, and Hired are superb choices. 

On the other end of the spectrum, there are freelance marketplaces like Upwork, People Per Hour, and Freelancer that allow you to cast a much wider net for developers. Employers looking for full-time developers may also benefit from utilizing Stack Overflow and GitHub's job boards, which can provide wonderful exposure to the developer community. Job boards, marketplaces, and matching services all have their uses.

Which site will best serve you will depend on your specific situation. You will want to search for the best companies that specialize in app development or web development.

Where can I find programmers for hire?
  • Toptal
  • Hired
  • Upwork
  • GitHub Jobs
  • Stack Overflow
  • Gigster
  • People Per Hour
  • Dice
  • Gun.io
  • Guru
Find more recommended sites to hire a developer.
How much does it cost to hire a developer?

Rates will vary widely depending on the quality of the services the web developer can provide. Based on data culled from their sites, Codementor reports web developers earns an average hourly range of $61-80, whereas Ziprecruiter indicates $25-43. From our research, these are the best sites to hire a developer

Related Talent Searches

Those interested in hiring developers are usually interested in experts with the skills listed below.

Click on the icons to receive personalized recommendations to hire the best developers for these technologies.

php logo

PHP developers

python logo

Python developers

Ruby on rails logo

Ruby on Rails developers

iOS logo

iOS developers

Java developers

javascript logo

JavaScript developers

Full stack icon

Full-stack developers

c-sharp logo

C# developers

Blockchain logo

Blockchain developers

salesforce

Salesforce developers

Unity logo

Unity developers

Web icon

Web developers

Wordpress logo

WordPress developers

magento logo

Magento developers

Node js logo

Node.js developers

Android logo

Android developers

Devops icon

DevOps engineers

angular logo

AngularJS developers

laravel logo

Laravel developers

django logo

Django developers

Drupal logo

Drupal developers

SQL logo

SQL developers

ASP.net logo

ASP.NET developers

Css logo

CSS developers

machine learning

Machine Learning engineers

Data Science developers

Data Scientists

aws logo

AWS developers

API logo

API developers

Ecommerce logo

Ecommerce developers

react logo

React developers

Front-end

Front-end developers

Dot net logo

.NET developers

Express JS logo

Express.js developers

Ruby logo

Ruby developers

Xamarin logo

Xamarin developers

Swift logo

Swift developers

Yii developers

Ionic logo

Ionic developers

C++ logo

C++ developers

Database logo

Database developers

Back end developers

Back-end developers

D3 logo

D3.js developers

aws logo

AWS consultants

Stripe logo

Stripe developers

HTML 5 logo

HTML5 developers

CakePHP

CakePHP developers

microsoft_azure_logo

Azure consultants

Shopify logo

Shopify developers

ethereum logo

Ethereum developers

R logo

R developers

React native logo

React Native developers

Software engineers

Software engineers

Game developers

Game developers

App developers

Mobile App developers

Flutter logo

Flutter developers

matlab logo

MATLAB developers

Go logo

Go developers

QA logo

QA testers

Arduino logo

Arduino developers

Lua logo

Lua developers

Vue JS Logo

Vue.js developers

Data Analyst Logo

Data Analysts

Fintech developers

Fintech developers

chrome-extension-developers

Chrome Extension developers

codeigniter-developers

CodeIgniter developers

LAMP logo

LAMP developers

Bitcoin logo

Bitcoin developers

augmented-reality

Augmented Reality developers

Remote developers

Remote developers

hire coders

Coders

Solidity logo

Solidity developers

cryptocurrency developers for hire

Cryptocurrency developers

Guide to hiring Ethereum Smart Contract developers

Ethereum Smart Contract developers

guide to hiring NFT developers

NFT developers

Guide to hiring unreal engine developers

Unreal Engine developers

hiring Rust developers & programmers

Rust developers

ai

AI engineers

hire data engineers

Data Engineers

Hire the Right Web Scraping Developers

Web Scraping developers

Hire World-Class Smart Contract Developers

Smart Contract developers

hire the right PostgreSQL developers

PostgreSQL developers