ToptalReviews 234

I hired a developer for an 8 week project. I paid weekly and total was $24,259.

The communication from Curcio J Sobrinho, my developer from Brazil, was very light (over skype) each week. I'd often check in and ask if he had any questions or needed anything. Always it was "nope, doing good." I started to wonder if he was doing anything and/or really understood the project.

At the end of our agreed-upon time, 8 weeks, he asked for "one additional week, no charge", which I gave. A week later this happened again, then again, then again...

8 weeks after the 8 week deadline, not wanting to irritate him by asking "are you even doing anything?", I emailed Toptal and asked what one should do in a situation like this.

Their response was to open an investigation, which ticked off the developer, who sloppily "finished the project" in 24 hours, sent me.apk files, and said "since you involved Toptal, this ends my work and our communication".

Upon testing the.apk files, they don't work. Opening the repository in Android Studio results in numerous errors.

Omar Landaverry at Toptal, over several emails, said basically I was on my own. He stated they "allowed" Curcio to finish the project (the hurried 24 hour delivery) and implied I was lucky Toptal didn't decide to charge me for the additional 8 weeks.

I now have a bunch of modified code to turn over to a new dev at a different agency to see if they want to work with it or start from scratch.

Toptal Director of Engineering Ariel Roitman, and my Account Manager Mitch Penrod were quite pleasant and did a good job kicking things off for me. But all downhill after that.

Good service. Their service is very good. I will use their service in future. Would recommended. Thanks

I am really pleased in how engagement went.
It was a rocky start, where at first things weren't defined clearly and completely and first couple of deadlines were short, but shortly after we figured out inside the team how to approach sprints better everything clicked and we did some amazing work.

I am very pleased with Ashwini, I reported to her, both on personal and professional level, she was truly great.

I appreciate opportunity to work for this client, this was good job.

It was my first experience and it has been great to work clients. Toptal has very good clients and its onboarding process and communication with client is amazing. Clients are very passionate and professional about working and collaborating to get best result. Client shared documented scope of work items and they are very clear about their goal.

There was no wastage of effort as we had bi-weekly meeting and had incremental deployment and and releases in true lean and agile manner. Documentation and KT was so smooth that it happened in parallel and client is able to handle the code and local deployment also.

Thank you Toptal for providing such opportunities to work with great people.

As a Toptal freelancer, I had an exceptional experience working with Clever Canary LLC. The project was a success, and I received positive feedback from the client for the quality of my work, adherence to timelines, and communication style. I also want to highlight Toptal's reliable and prompt payment system, which provided financial security and allowed me to focus on delivering high-quality results. Toptal truly offers a seamless freelancing experience with top-tier opportunities and smooth payments. Highly recommended!

When I joined the platform, it was great you would have matches reach out constantly, and there were plenty of jobs posted regularly.

June 2023 is an entirely different situation. The jobs listed are often already introduced to the client or filled with candidates.

The rates are not even half of what they used to be. Toptal used to be top talent, not rates that compete with sites like Upwork. When the issues are posted in Slack channels, the talent coordinators take comments privately, then lock the thread and, in most cases, close down the feedback Slack channels entirely.

A couple of things may be the cause:
In light of the recent layoffs across the tech industry, there may be more talent on the network than there are jobs.

In addition, there are lower-cost talent and lower-cost jobs - potentially, Toptal's commission markup is pushing this down too
No one is championing design work with our salespeople and clients. Very few jobs for more senior/experienced designers are posted these days!

The only solution I see is to apply if you want but diversify and leverage other freelance networks, personal, etc.

I hope it's not too late to bring the platform back, it's not what it used to be even six months ago, and that's a shame.

It's been an amazing one year with Toptal. I love the platform and I 100% recommend. Looking forward to the next one year with Toptal.

My experience with Toptal, the freelancing platform, has been a mixed bag. While the platform has its merits, there are areas that require improvement to provide a truly outstanding user experience.

Toptal's greatest strength lies in the quality of its talent pool. The platform boasts a rigorous screening process, ensuring that only top-notch professionals are accepted. As a result, I've had the opportunity to work with highly skilled freelancers who delivered exceptional results. The talent available on Toptal is undoubtedly its most valuable asset.

However, despite this impressive talent pool, there have been some challenges. Firstly, the hiring process can be quite time-consuming. While it's important to maintain high standards, the vetting process can sometimes feel prolonged and repetitive. Streamlining this process would greatly benefit both clients and freelancers.

Additionally, I found Toptal's pricing structure to be on the higher side. While the quality of talent justifies a premium, it can be a deterrent for clients with tighter budgets. More flexible pricing options or clearer communication on pricing expectations could alleviate this concern.

Lastly, customer support can sometimes be slow to respond. When issues arise or assistance is needed, a more prompt and efficient support system would be greatly appreciated.