A Toptal alternative for permanent hires
A freelance bench is the wrong instrument for a founding hire.
Vetted and available is not the same as right and committed
- Hourly rates with no end.
- Benches of people already looking.
- Contractors in founding seats.
- Vetting badges without reasoning.
Freelance marketplaces solve a real problem well: you need a competent person on a defined piece of work, quickly, without running a hiring process. The vetting is the product, and it works.
The mismatch appears when teams use a bench to fill a role that is really about ownership. The person who will own your infrastructure, set the engineering culture and still be there in two years is not optimising for hourly work, and the incentives of a marketplace do not point them at you.
The other cost is compounding. An hourly rate runs for as long as the work does. A permanent search costs while it runs and then stops.
What a search gives you that a bench cannot
Access to people who are not available
The best candidates are employed and not looking. A bench only contains people who are, by definition, looking for the next project.
A written case per person
Requirement by requirement, with evidence, so you can disagree with the reasoning rather than trusting a badge.
Outreach that sells your company
Written from the candidate's own work and from your story, sent by you. That is what moves someone who was not looking.
One fee, then it stops
Flat monthly while the search runs, plus 15 percent of first-year base once. Not an hourly rate that compounds for years.
Side-by-side
Compare the workflow, not just the feature list.
Pricing and features checked 21 September 2026. Tell us if something is out of date.
Questions.
Answered.
Yes, when the work is defined and short. If you need a mobile app built by March, do not run a headhunt.
That is between you and the candidate. The agent runs the search and you structure the offer however you like.
It is not what the product is built for. The search is designed to move people who are employed and not looking.
90 days, for any reason, with a replacement search at no additional success fee.
Superposition vs Toptal
One rents you a vetted contractor this week. The other finds someone who joins.
Superposition vs. Retained Recruiters
Same specificity. A fraction of the cost. Ten times faster.
Hire a Backend Engineer
The engineer who owns the systems your company runs on.
Hire someone who stays.
Tell us the role and the agent will show you the first three people worth writing to.