Six honest comparisons. Where the other option is genuinely better, we say so, because a page that pretends otherwise is not worth reading.
The rows that actually change what a hire costs you and how much you can see before you commit.
| Talent Navigator | Toptal | Turing | Andela | Upwork | Agencies | EOR only | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| How the fee works | Credits per profile, flat payroll fee | Margin inside the hourly rate | Margin inside the monthly rate | Margin inside the monthly rate | Service fee on contract value | 15 to 25 percent of salary | Per employee, per month |
| Assessment score visible before you pay | Yes, on every profile | No | Summary only | No | No assessment | No | Not applicable |
| Search the network yourself, free | Yes | Matcher led | Intake led | Consultative | Yes | No | No network |
| Fee rises with the salary you pay | No | Yes, via the rate | Yes, via the rate | Yes, via the rate | Yes, via the fee | Yes, directly | No |
| Employ them in their country for you | Yes, flat monthly fee | Not the core offer | Contract first | Yes | Add on | No | Yes |
| Connect from Claude, Cursor or your own systems | MCP server and REST API | No | No | No | API only | No | API only |
Scroll the table sideways
Agencies bill a percentage of first year salary. Networks bake a margin into the rate for as long as the engagement runs. We charge credits per profile, so hiring a stronger engineer costs the same as hiring a weaker one.
Every profile carries a proctored assessment score, a communication score and verified history. Downloading the full report costs nothing. You are not being asked to trust a badge.
Unlock a profile and hire them onto your own payroll and you owe us nothing more. If you have no entity in their country, put them on our payroll for a flat monthly fee instead of opening one.
An MCP server for Claude, Cursor, Windsurf and VS Code, plus a REST API for n8n, Zapier, Make and anything you build yourself. Hiring from your editor is not a gimmick when your whole team lives there.
Everything described about other companies comes from their own public pricing and product pages, and reflects what they published at the time of writing. Rates vary by role, seniority and region. Check their current terms before you decide, and tell us if anything here has gone out of date.
Search the network free, look at real scores on real profiles, and work out what your next hire would actually cost. No sales call in the way.