Toptal Reviews 2,312

I had a truly excellent experience hiring through Toptal, and I would like to share my appreciation for both the platform and one outstanding professional I had the opportunity to work with Mustafa Draz.

From the beginning, I was very impressed with Mustafa’s background and experience. During our meetings, he clearly demonstrated strong technical knowledge, professionalism, and real talent. What stood out even more was his commitment and dedication, despite living in Australia while I am based in the United States, and with our business meetings centered in the Middle East, Mustafa managed his time perfectly, prepared thoroughly, and showed up with full expertise and readiness.

This was my first time hiring talent through Toptal, and the entire process was both smooth and enjoyable, from posting the job to meeting many highly skilled candidates. The quality of talent made the decision genuinely difficult, which speaks highly of the platform itself. In the end, I chose Mustafa not only because of his strong technical capabilities but also because he speaks Arabic, my native language and the language spoken by the third party involved in our meetings, which added tremendous value to our collaboration.

I would also like to thank Toptal for creating such a professional and efficient platform. I look forward to posting more jobs and hiring more talented professionals in the future.

They have stable jobs, a great team to work with, very proactive, and they spend time training freelancers

I have working as a Toptal talent since 2019 and I since then I had the opportunity to work in amazing companies and projects as part-time and full-time software engineer. We work as part of our client's team, helping them on reaching their goals. Toptal excels on find from its platform the best talent for the client needs and on handling the administrative process which is smooth for the client as well as for the talent. In addition to that, Toptal offers services for talents for professional improvement and integration.

Since I've joined Toptal 6 years ago, Toptal become my main source for finding great clients to work for as a freelancer.
Also while working for Toptal's clients I had the pleasure to work together with another talens from Toptal and that was a very good experience as all of them were top professionals.

I would recommand Toptal to any client looking for top freelancers/contractors that passed a though and well defined selection process and also to all freelancers that are looking to find top clients!

Really fantastic hands-on specialist support from senior people to help me navigate the right contractor for my project. The entry point felt very cost effective as well, and made me more comfortable to find the right fit before diving in. Further I had some very annoying legalities on my side and the team bent over backwards to make a bespoke agreement that worked with a large academic partner - which for the project size was not something I expected to happen. The actual project itself has been a 10/10 experience with the dev in this case over the past 6 months, and I'll 100% be using him again. No real negatives to speak to honestly, can't believe I haven't used this before.

Access to great talent at your finger tips.
It was great to work with the Toptal team - easy to be onboarded and find the right talent. Ali was great to work with and did an excellent job with the project.

We have worked with 2 designers through TopTal and they have both been top-notch: highly skilled, professional, and clear communicators. Being able to hire pre-screened, senior-level contractors is totally worth it.

My experience with Toptal was positive overall — the engagement felt structured and professional, and communication was clear from start to finish. Fabiana (our account manager), who was consistently proactive in helping us find good talent, stayed on top of things, and responded promptly whenever we needed clarity or direction. Her practical approach kept things moving and made the process feel smooth from the get go.

Excellent and reliable company, the professional we worked with was extremely knowledgeable.

Hasan Rashid is a fantastic coder. Highly recommended!

Ricardo was quick to reply to my inquiry. He is skillful in Airtable applications. He listened to our needs and was patient as we talked it thyrough

Easy to use straightforward and very helpful my web developer was genius and very easy to work with I would definitely recommend this site and him to anyone

As a PM on Toptal, my experience has been outstanding. The rigorous screening process ensured I matched with high-caliber clients who value expertise, leading to challenging projects in software development. Payments are prompt, support is responsive, and the platform's focus on quality has boosted my career—highly recommend it!

Well I am new and really had an Idea and just needed good people. I came and Andre helped me. He was just as excited as I was so that was a good sign for me. Not soon I interviewed with Arsen if Armenia and man we been cooking. Beans and rice tap tap tap. And Im really appreciative of the professionalism. I have achieved what most would have taken years and I will always been in debt to you. Thxs Team!!.

I've been working with Toptal over 5 years.

I love it. The entire experience from matching with a client all the way through the engagement is amazing. I think one of the most important things for me is that I always feel supported. Throughout an engagement I never feel alone and I know that if I need something I know that there is someone there supporting me. I've worked for other staffing agencies, and that level of care is one of the things that Toptal has that others have not.

We came to Toptal with a straightforward but admittedly complex problem: a legacy system running on an AWS stack that was losing support, needing a ground-up modernization. We were transparent from day one about our budget and timeline. We were assured, repeatedly, that both would be met.

They won't be reading this and thinking, "We nailed that one."

The Setup

Toptal's initial recommendation was a full team engagement (PM, developer, designer) following a structured agile/sprint methodology. We pushed back on the process overhead early and often. We knew our product. We knew what we needed. What we were paying for was execution, not ceremony. That feedback was acknowledged and ultimately ignored for months.

The Reality

Early milestones were missed. When that became undeniable, we made the pragmatic decision to scale down to a single developer and cut the process weight that was slowing everything down. We empowered that developer to move fast, make decisions, and build.

To his credit, and I want to be clear about this, the developer we worked with was talented, hardworking, knowledgeable, and genuinely good to work with. This is not a review of the individual talent. Toptal's talent pool delivered a good person. The system around him is what failed us.

Here's where it stands: we are now 24+ months past our original target date. We are at or approaching 2x our stated budget. We still do not have an MVP-level application.

The Core Problem: No Accountability for Promises Made

Throughout this engagement, I raised concerns (loudly, clearly, and repeatedly) that the scope was far larger than what was being accounted for in their projections. I told them there was no possible way the timelines they were quoting would hold. Each time, I was reassured. Each time, those reassurances turned out to be wrong.

I take no satisfaction in having been right. I would much rather have been wrong and had a finished product.

The issue isn't that software projects run over. Anyone in this industry knows that happens. The issue is that
Toptal's model has no meaningful mechanism for accountability when the promises made during the sales and planning process bear no resemblance to the reality of delivery. When your client is telling you the plan won't work, and you override that concern with confidence, you own the outcome. Toptal never owned it.

What I'd Want Toptal to Take From This

If this review reaches anyone in a position to influence how Toptal operates, here's what I'd ask you to sit with:

Treat client pushback as signal, not noise. When a client tells you your scope estimate is wrong, that's not an objection to overcome. It's domain expertise you're being handed for free. Use it.

Build accountability into the model. If you guarantee timelines and budgets, there should be consequences when those guarantees fail. Not just for the client, but for the organization making the promise. Shared risk builds trust. One-sided risk builds resentment.

Stop defaulting to process when the client needs speed. Agile methodology is a tool, not a religion. When a client tells you from the start that it doesn't fit their needs, listen. The months we spent fighting that battle were months we didn't spend building.

Be honest when a project is off the rails. We should never have been the ones sounding the alarm louder than our own vendor. If the engagement is trending toward 2x budget and 24+ months of delay, that conversation should come from Toptal. Early, directly, and with a real plan to course-correct.

I wouldn't say don't use Toptal. The talent is real. But go in with your eyes open: the promises made at the front end of an engagement may not survive contact with reality, and when they don't, you'll be the one holding the bag.

I was originally recruited for a project due to my expertise in a domain, where there was no available talents in the pool with similar experience.

From a talent perspective, the process of applying for a Toptal position and being onboarded was quick (about a week) and well organised.

Toptal are serious about recruiting the top 3% of freelancers. That also includes a commitment to getting freelancers in the system, orientated and delivering for clients, with as little lag time as possible.

Toptal matched me with great talent that understood my idea, executed quickly to bring the program to reality.

Fantastic help. Quick, easy, insightful, fun. Gustavo was exactly who we needed.

What sets Toptal apart is their access to genuinely exceptional talent. Every professional I've worked with has been top-tier, bringing both technical excellence and strong communication skills to the table.
Their matching process is remarkably effective. Toptal has developed a specific, well-structured methodology that consistently produces perfect matches between client needs and talent capabilities. It's clear they've refined their protocols through experience - everything feels organized and professional, yet there's enough flexibility built in to address any specific requirements that arise. This balance between proven structure and customization is rare.
Toptal is truly sui generis in the freelance marketplace. They've been front-runners and visionaries in remote work culture, establishing best practices long before remote collaboration became mainstream. Their understanding of distributed teams isn't theoretical - it's embedded in everything they do.
What impresses me most is their forward-thinking approach. Toptal stays well-prepared for shifts in the business environment, including emerging technologies like AI. They're not just keeping pace with change - they're anticipating it and positioning both their talent network and clients for success.
If you're looking for a partner who combines rigorous quality standards with adaptability and vision, Toptal is an excellent choice.