10 MIN READ

The 14 best sites to hire API developers in 2024

Updated on April 23, 2024
Platforms to find talented API developers
Toptal

What we liked the most:

  • 98% Hiring Success
  • Fast Matching within 48 hours
  • Risk-Free Trial for up to 5 Days
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Dice

What we liked the most:

  • Tech jobs platform
  • AI talent-matching
  • Tools to enhance job posts
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Hired

What we liked the most:

  • Vetted developers
  • Short- & Long-term engagements
  • Different payment options
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Kelly Wilson
Written by Kelly Wilson

Strategist and entrepreneur, with experience in hiring developers across various industries. Kelly has established herself as a trusted expert in identifying and recruiting top tech talent. She shares advanced tips on how to identify the right talent, create hiring strategies, develop your tech teams and much more.

Expertise: IT Recruiting, Tech, Marketing

APIs are essential for building modern software applications that can communicate with other systems and services. Our guide to hiring API developers includes a list of top recommended talent platforms, such as Upwork, Toptal, and Guru, to help you find the right talent for your API projects.

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Here are the top 14 sites to hire freelance API developers:

Based on facts publicly available as of 01.01.2024

1. Toptal

Toptal is at the very top of our list. Why? Simply because Toptal combines expediency and quality. If you’re looking for freelancers to help with your API integrations, look no further.

Toptal boasts a large base of API developers with years of experience. However, don’t let the number of software developers in their community discourage you. Toptal only accepts the creme-de-la-creme of developer talent. In fact, they only accept the top 3% of API developer applicants.

What’s more? Toptal provides a money-back guarantee. If you aren’t happy with your freelancer API developer after two weeks, you can get your money back.

You can also hire software developers for a multitude of programming languages, including PHP, Python, Java, and Javascript.

Key points:

  • Enjoy a risk-free trial for up to 5 days.
  • Completed over 60,000 projects for 25K+ satisfied clients.
  • Trustpilot rating of 4.8 out of 5.

2. Dice

Want to hire an API developer yourself? Dice is a tech and IT career board that can help round out your development team.

This hiring platform attracts software developers, engineers, QA testers, and front-end web developers. Millions of tech professionals are registered with the site and they have millions of estimated visitors every month, so you’re likely to get a large number of responses to your API developer job posting.

Posting a single job listing might cost slightly more than others, but the cost is well worth the possible exposure.

Key points:

  • You’ll receive a shortlist of talent-matched developers quickly.
  • Dice finds candidates for your project from multiple sources.
  • Benefits of using Dice include powerful on-site features and flat-fee pricing.

3. Hired

Some of the best freelance websites allow you to find API developers quickly. Hired helps employers find software engineers and developers rapidly through their custom matching software.

On Hired, you can use their pipeline to find custom matches to help on your software development. You can create a company profile, search for candidates using their search algorithm (which can eliminate gender and racial identifiers for fairer hiring), and request candidates' interviews.

What do we love best about Hired? It’s great for finding specialized API developers who are actively searching for new opportunities, have relevant experience (as most candidates on Hired have at least two years of experience), and are in your area.

Key points:

  • Hired’s online support includes multiple articles to enhance the hiring process.
  • Choose the Unlimited Hiring annual plan for premium customer support.
  • The Technical Sourcing option saves time with talent matching.

4. Scalable Path

Do you need a team of API developers to manage your web API? Do you need freelance talent that can scale with you? If so, Scalable Path might be the place to go for API development services.

Scalable Path, much like Toptal, can connect you with pre-vetted software developers and managers with years of experience. Scalable Path can also help match you with an entire team of specialists as opposed to just one developer.

Key points:

  • Experts interview developers and assess project-specific skills during vetting.
  • Review shortlisted matched developers in six business days or less.
  • Use the trial period to ensure developers are a good fit.

5. Gigster

Gigster is similar to Toptal and Scalable Path. They connect you with freelance application developers that have been thoroughly vetted. However, you don’t have to commit to an entire team, making it one of the leading choices for SMBs.

If you want to find freelance API developers swiftly, you may want to consider Gigster. Recruiting through their platform is a relatively facile process.

Key points:

  • After discussing your needs, Gigster delivers a free technical proposal.
  • Gigster fully manages projects, promoting confidence in your results.
  • Project-based pricing varies, with work starting in under two weeks.

6. Upwork

Upwork has millions of registered freelancers and has proved to be satisfactory for thousands of SMBs. Upwork also makes it easy to process payments and find a web app developer that fits your needs; you even get to interview the developers yourself.

What’s our favorite feature of Upwork? As a freelancer marketplace is that you can get quick profiles of the best API developers. You'll see a photo of the developer, their hourly rate and then their ratings from previous contracts.

7. AngelList

AngelList is a platform connecting startups with venture capitalists, angel investors, and mentors. AngelList, like Stack Overflow and GitHub, has its own job board. If you’re looking to find API developers to meet your business needs that are excited about joining a young team or startup, you should consider leveraging AngelList. An API integration developer can be found through their job board.

8. FlexJobs

FlexJobs is a job board with millions of registered employers, freelancers, and software developers. What do we find most appealing about this site? FlexJobs focuses on remote, telecommuting, part-time, and contract work. In a nutshell, they list jobs that are flexible in nature.

If you’re looking for remote dedicated API developers, FlexJobs could be a good place to start your search. Additionally, FlexJobs charges users in order to use the platform and apply for jobs so you will not be inundated with irrelevant resumes.

9. Working Nomads

Working Nomads curates lists of remote job offerings for a variety of careers. As with most remote job boards, software development and web app positions are the largest career category by far, so it can be a good place to find software engineers at a relatively affordable rate. Just keep in mind, vetting and interviewing the best API developers will be up to you.

10. CyberCoders

CyberCoders can help you with your tech recruiting efforts. On CyberCoders, you can post engineer, and IT job openings, and CyberCoder recruiters will help match qualified candidates to your listing. If you want to hire dedicated API developers with years of experience, CyberCoders is one of our favorite options.

11. X-Team

X-team is one of the most adept at organizing development teams, including the top API developers. Their contractors even receive mentorship and educational resources just for being a part of X-Team. This way, API developers are given more than just access to other communities; they gain career education, more knowledge about the development process, and advancement opportunities. You will find good options for front-end and back-end developers as well.

12. CodementorX

CodementorX is a freelance marketplace akin to Toptal. Codementor boasts that they have over hundreds of qualified API developers and software engineers for hire.

A quick look at the company shows that CodementorX has been trusted by giant corporations such as Coca-Cola, Disney, and HP for their freelance hiring needs.

In addition, CodementorX promises freelance API developers in under 72 hours. If you’re looking to hire API developers in a pinch, CodementorX might be your fit.

13. LinkedIn

API integration developers can be difficult to find, especially if you’re sifting through hundreds of nearly-identical resumes. LinkedIn can help put a face on a faceless resume. With over half a billion users, LinkedIn will most likely not leave you needing more. If you want to screen, interview, and hire API developers, you may want to consider using this professional marketplace.

14. Startupers

Startupers is a job board focusing on filling startup job openings. If you’re a startup or a young company, you could find API developers through Startupers that are not only willing to work for a new company but are excited to adopt an agile, lean, or scrum approach.

API developers seeking an adventure by working in a fast-paced startup environment most likely will be using job boards like Startupers, making it a great site to find developers.

Guide to hiring great freelance API developers

Explaining the role of APIs and how will overall API adoption change, Dr. Matthias Biehl says

“For many of the mega tech trends APIs are the foundational enabling technologies and as such, they are driving the adoption of APIs.”

This is why if you want to hire API developers, you’ll need to use the right site. Your organization has specific business needs and project management requirements that should not be ignored. Otherwise, the hiring process can be quite a bloated mess. Worse still, you may experience costly turnover.

In order to avoid overspending, you should do your research for the type of API development projects you need. Some of the best sites or development companies available to your organization may not have been on your radar at all. This should not exclude them. In fact, a professional freelance matching service tops our list.

Even if you’re looking for full-time, high-quality API developers, you may want to consider using a service like Toptal to help get your project going.

Choosing the Right Site to Hire API Developers

Before choosing any site or service, it’s important to consider a few factors:

  • How long do you want to spend vetting API developers?
  • How quickly does your development team need to scale?
  • What are your API requirements and what types of connections do you work with, such as WebSockets, JSON, REST, or another data format?
  • What is your timeline for the web application and API to be completed?
  • How important is affordability to you?
  • How important is quality to you?

Answering these questions will greatly assist you in the hiring process. Be sure to investigate each thoroughly before committing to any one path.

Hiring API developers - FAQs

Where can I find API developers for hire?
  • Toptal
  • Dice
  • Hired
  • Scalable Path
  • Gigster

Explore more sites in our comprehensive list of top companies.

Are API Developers In Demand?

Modern software and web applications often utilize APIs, and their use is becoming more widespread. As distributed systems and microservice usage increase across most industries and users demand real-time convenience from their digital apps, the demand for skilled API developers should continue.

How Do I Hire API Developers?

Software developers typically have areas of expertise, and you’ll want to find an API developer who has experience with projects similar to yours. First, define your project:

  • Scope and duration
  • Timeframe
  • Budget
  • The number of API developers you need
  • Goals

Some projects may need one dedicated developer, while others require a team. When you’re ready to fill your positions, use top sites to find qualified candidates. You can find skilled full-time, part-time or freelance API developers by posting your positions, searching developer profiles or using talent-matching services.

Why Should You Hire an API Developer?

Straightforward communication is essential, especially with large groups. This concept applies to software as well as people. Having a reliable and secure application programming interface allows software programs to communicate with each other to facilitate multiple needs. An API is basically a messenger that carries requests and responses. Most people use APIs every day to:

  • Log in to various sites or apps
  • Check the weather forecast
  • Get directions
  • Transfer funds
  • Access data

Hiring an API developer to incorporate APIs into your business allows you to share services, grow faster, reduce expenditures and derive various benefits from multiple platforms.

How Much Does It Cost To Hire an API Developer?

API developers in the U.S. earn an average of $125,500 annually or $60 hourly. Yearly salaries range from $28,500 to $190,500, depending on location, experience and skill sets. Hiring freelancers can save money because you won’t pay overhead or related payroll costs.

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