Levels.fyi
Worth it
Confidence: Medium
Use it free for tech salary benchmarks . it's the reference dataset for tech compensation.
Comparison
Levels.fyi vs Glassdoor
Levels.fyi lands on Worth it, and Glassdoor lands on Depends.
Glassdoor
Depends
Confidence: Low
Evidence here is thin (one source), so confidence is low.
| Compare | Levels.fyi | Glassdoor |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Worth it | Depends |
| Best for | Tech workers benchmarking compensation | Job seekers researching employers |
| Who it's not for | Non-tech industries . data skews heavily to tech-first companies | Employers expecting public pricing . none is shown |
| Privacy | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.12 | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.13 |
| Support quality | Negotiation service support called scammy | No support evidence |
| Public sentiment | Users overwhelmingly praise the free salary data as the best in tech but repeatedly warn against paying for the negotiation service.⁴ | No user reviews were found in the sources reviewed, so user sentiment could not be assessed. |
| Biggest gotcha | Paid negotiation service draws 'expensive and scammy' warnings; read reviews before paying.³ | No public security page found, making data-handling practices hard to vet before signup13 |
Pick Levels.fyi when
- Tech workers benchmarking compensation
- Big-tech offer comparisons
- Security and engineering salary research
- Pre-negotiation research
When Levels.fyi is not a fit
- 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
Pick Glassdoor when
- Job seekers researching employers
- Candidates comparing salary data
- Employers building employer brand
When Glassdoor is not a fit
- Employers expecting public pricing . none is shown
- Security-sensitive buyers; no public security documentation
- Small teams wanting a simple HR or ATS tool . wrong category
- Buyers who need user reviews verified before deciding
Sources
official
review
- Levels.fyi is heavily biased toward companies where tech is their...news.ycombinator.comreview
review
- Read Customer Service Reviews of levels.fyi - Trustpilottrustpilot.comreview
- Levels.fyi - Crunchbase Company Profile & Fundingcrunchbase.comnews
news
- Levels.fyi security pagelevels.fyisecurity
- Security pageglassdoor.comsecurity