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Levels.fyi Review

Worth it

Should I use Levels.fyi?

Search 1M+ data points for different companies, job titles, career levels, and locations. Explore our tools to help you get paid more! - levels.fyi

· 1 month ago

Use it free for tech salary benchmarks — it's the reference dataset for tech compensation. Skip or heavily scrutinize the paid negotiation service, which draws 'expensive and scammy' warnings from users.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~40 public sources; exact paid-tier prices not disclosed in reviewed sources.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security postureNo public security disclosures found

Pricing

Free

Salary data

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes
Negotiation and coaching servicesPaid (criticized as expensive)

Best for

  • Tech workers benchmarking compensation
  • Big-tech offer comparisons
  • Security and engineering salary research
  • Pre-negotiation research

Not for

  • Non-tech industries — data skews heavily to tech-first companies
  • Buyers of the paid negotiation service expecting consistent results
  • Median-market research — figures reportedly skew high
  • Teams wanting verified HR payroll data — submissions are anonymous

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Paid negotiation service draws 'expensive and scammy' warnings; read reviews before paying.

medium

Figures reportedly skew high — treat numbers as top-of-market, not median.

medium

Coverage biased toward tech-centric companies; other industries sparse.

low

Submissions are anonymous and self-reported; cross-check before anchoring your negotiation.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Largest tech salary dataset: 1M+ data points
  • Core salary data is free to browse
  • Users call it super useful for comp research
  • More than data: negotiation sessions, resume review, jobs

Cons

  • Paid negotiation service called 'expensive and scammy' by users
  • Salary figures reportedly skew high versus reality
  • Data heavily biased toward tech-first companies
  • Trustworthiness and accuracy questioned in Reddit threads

Sources & method

- 12 sources - No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

official x2review x7security x1news x2

Key stats

  • Value for money: 3/5

    Rating

  • Free

    Starting price

  • 12

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 3/5. Free data strong; paid negotiation panned
  • Ease of use: 4/5. Guess: simple search, massive adoption
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Salaries, negotiation, resume review, jobs
  • Support quality: 2/5. Negotiation service support called scammy
  • Security posture. No public security disclosures found
  • 1M+ Salary data points per site tagline
  • 2017 Founded per site copyright 2017–2026
  • Yes Free tier salary browsing; paid services extra
  • Millions Users per founder's LinkedIn post

Pricing

Salary data

Free

  • Browse company and level comp
  • 1M+ data points

Negotiation and coaching services

Paid (criticized as expensive)

  • 1:1 negotiation sessions
  • Offer evaluation
  • Resume review

Security

No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

What users say

Users overwhelmingly praise the free salary data as the best in tech but repeatedly warn against paying for the negotiation service.

“Warning: Do not pay for levels.fyi”
Reddit, r/cscareerquestions
“Levels.fyi is actually super useful”
Reddit, r/cscareerquestionsEU
“Levels.fyi is heavily biased toward companies where tech is their”
Hacker News
Full analysis

Based on ~40 public sources; exact paid-tier prices not disclosed in reviewed sources.

Free salary data: yes. Paid negotiation service: risky — users call it expensive and scammy.

Methodology

Based on ~40 public sources; exact paid-tier prices not disclosed in reviewed sources.

Read how a report is made.

Sources

  1. official
  2. official
  3. review
  4. review
  5. review
  6. review
  7. review
  8. review
  9. review
  10. news
  11. news
  12. security

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