TeamEx vs Toptal
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Toptal and TeamEx both help a startup hire engineers, but they are built for different jobs. Toptal is a network of freelancers across technology, design and business, matched to you by Toptal and billed by the hour or the week, from $60 to $95+ an hour. TeamEx is a search engine for hiring AI/ML engineers: founders search human-labelled profiles, interview directly, and pay a one-time 25% fee only after the engineer starts. TeamEx wrote this page, so read it as one side’s view; every number below is sourced and dated.
TeamEx vs Toptal at a glance
Prices and features verified on October 2026.| Criteria | TeamEx | Toptal |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Search engine for hiring AI/ML engineers | Network of freelancers in technology, design and business |
| Who picks who you meet | You search 14,000+ labelled profiles and build your own shortlist | Toptal matches you with freelancers after a call with its team |
| Roles | AI engineers, ML engineers, AI researchers, data scientists, MLOps | Technology, design and business roles |
| Engagement | Direct hire on your payroll, or contract (six-month minimum) | Hourly, part-time or full-time, billed weekly |
| Price | 25% of first-year base salary, once, after the engineer starts. Contract: 25% of your monthly bill, billed monthly | $60–$95+/hour; $1,000–$1,600+/week part-time; $2,000–$3,200+/week full-time |
| Upfront | Nothing. Search and interviews are free | $500 deposit per engagement, credited to the first invoice |
| If it doesn’t work out | 90-day free replacement; refund if TeamEx can’t replace | Trial of up to two weeks; not billed if unsatisfied, deposit refunded |
| Platform fee | Published: 25% of first-year salary, or 25% of your monthly contract bill | Does not publish its cut or the freelancer’s share |
| Who you negotiate with | The engineer, directly | Toptal |
| Where the engineers are | US, Canada and Latin America | Mostly North, Central and South America and Europe |
| Vetting | Three calls with a recruiter, an engineer and a team lead; no pass or fail | Four-stage screening; fewer than 3% of applicants accepted |
Toptal is built for freelance work, and it is good at it
Some of Toptal’s strengths are ones TeamEx does not try to match. Breadth is the first: Toptal places people across technology, design and business, AI engineers included, so one account can cover a frontend engineer and a product designer. TeamEx only focuses on AI/ML engineers, and goes deep on them.
Its trial is generous. New weekly engagements start with a trial of up to two weeks, and if you are not satisfied you are not billed and the $500 deposit comes back.
And it handles short, part-time work well. If you need 20 hours a week for six weeks to ship a prototype, Toptal’s hourly and part-time models fit. TeamEx’s contract option starts at six months, because it is designed for engineers who join the team.
Full-time early hires need a different model
An early-stage AI hire is rarely a task. It is the person who will own your model pipeline for the next two years, argue with you about the roadmap, and still be there after the first pivot — and that kind of commitment comes from someone who chose your company and its mission.
Toptal calls the people in its network “freelancers,” and its model is built around that: weekly pricing, invoices twice a month on Net 10, and a team you can scale down “within a matter of weeks.” You can hire a Toptaler full-time, but Toptal does not publish the terms for converting one.
TeamEx starts from the other end. A direct hire goes onto your own payroll, and the engineer has already said yes to your intro request before you talk, so they arrive having picked you. 96% of TeamEx hires are still in place at three months, and founders at Clipboard Health, Maple and TopHelpers have hired this way.
Freelancers and full-time engineers are two different careers
Most people in Toptal’s network are freelancers by choice. They take on engagements for one client at a time or several, sell their time by the week or the hour, and move on when the work ends. In startup terms they are mercenaries, and that is not a criticism: independence is the point of the model, and for a defined project it is what you want.
An early hire needs a missionary. Most engineers on TeamEx are employed full-time and considering the right opportunities, so they arrive looking for one team, one product and one mission to commit to. You can find that kind of commitment in a freelance network, but it is hard, because it is not what most people there are looking for.
Both are honest ways to build a career, and both have a place in the labor market. The question is which one your hire needs.
Who chooses who you meet
On Toptal, you talk to one of its industry experts, describe the role, and Toptal sends you hand-selected freelancers (“hand-selected talent,” in its words). Toptal promises you can “hire in under 48 hours.” That is fast, and the shortlist is Toptal’s.
On TeamEx, you search the engineer profiles yourself, and the search is designed to make it extremely easy to find engineers you will enjoy working with. Describe who you need in plain English, then filter by 3,000+ skills and 400+ traits: products they have built, industries, years in AI, US work permit, and how they work, think and communicate. You can also add up to five AI-based custom criteria of your own, written in plain English. You build the shortlist and send intro requests to the people you pick. Founders usually go from first search to hire in about two weeks.
If you trust a matcher and want speed, Toptal saves you the search. For the hire that shapes your company, TeamEx’s view is that you should see the whole field.
What Toptal costs, and what TeamEx costs
Toptal publishes ranges, not a fixed price: $60 to $95+ an hour, $1,000 to $1,600+ a week part-time, $2,000 to $3,200+ a week full-time, plus a $500 deposit per engagement. It describes this as a fixed weekly price with “No hidden fees.” It does not publish how much of that rate the freelancer receives. At the published full-time range, 52 weeks comes to $104,000 to $166,400+ a year, paid to Toptal, which then pays the engineer.
TeamEx charges a 25% placement fee on first-year base salary, paid once, only after the engineer starts. You pay the salary to the engineer yourself, at the number you negotiated with them. If the hire leaves in the first 90 days, TeamEx replaces them for free, and if it can’t, you get a full refund.
On contract, TeamEx’s fee is 25% of your monthly bill, with monthly billing and a six-month minimum: on a $10,000 engineer rate you pay $13,333 a month, and TeamEx keeps $3,333. The conditions are in the TeamEx client service agreement. Which one costs less depends on the rate and the salary you agree. Toptal bundles the engineer’s pay and its cut into one weekly price; TeamEx shows you both numbers.
How each one vets engineers
Toptal screens applicants in four stages: an English and communication interview, technical assessments, a live interview with a domain expert, and a test project. Toptal says fewer than 3% of applicants are accepted and the process takes two to five weeks.
TeamEx does not filter engineers out on a test. Every engineer has three calls with real people: a recruiter checks identity, work history and credentials; an engineer goes deep on skills, specialty and products built; a team lead looks at how they work, think and communicate. Each call becomes labels with a written rubric and evidence from the conversation, and a human signs off every label. There is no pass or fail. TeamEx only stops if something critical comes up, like misrepresentation or an identity issue.
A coding test tells you someone can code. Whether they take ownership when nobody assigns the work is a different question — the one the team lead call is there to answer.
When to pick Toptal, and when to pick TeamEx
Pick Toptal when:
- You also need designers or business roles from the same account.
- The work is hourly, part-time or shorter than six months.
- You want a no-charge trial week before committing.
- You would rather a matcher choose for you.
Pick TeamEx when:
- You are making a full-time AI/ML hire, often your first.
- You want to search and choose who you meet yourself.
- You care how they work and think, not only what they know.
- You want price transparency and direct negotiation with the expert.