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 Payscale
Levels.fyi lands on Worth it, and Payscale lands on Depends.
Payscale
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy it if you run compensation for a mid-size or larger org and need defensible, survey-backed market data at scale.
| Compare | Levels.fyi | Payscale |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Worth it | Depends |
| Best for | Tech workers benchmarking compensation | Mid-size to enterprise HR and comp teams |
| Who it's not for | Non-tech industries . data skews heavily to tech-first companies | Small teams needing one salary number |
| Privacy | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.12 | B+ vendor security rating; no public vulnerabilities found in sources reviewed; domain flagged for leaked user credentials. |
| Support quality | Negotiation service support called scammy | Retention and services case studies cited |
| Public sentiment | Users overwhelmingly praise the free salary data as the best in tech but repeatedly warn against paying for the negotiation service.⁴ | HR teams praise efficiency and integrations while individual users question salary data accuracy in some markets.14 |
| Biggest gotcha | Paid negotiation service draws 'expensive and scammy' warnings; read reviews before paying.³ | Quote-only pricing; third-party spend negotiators exist because buyers overpay |
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 Payscale when
- Mid-size to enterprise HR and comp teams
- Orgs pricing many roles at once
- Companies needing survey-backed pay ranges
- HRIS-heavy stacks (ADP, UKG)
When Payscale is not a fit
- Small teams needing one salary number
- Individuals negotiating their own pay
- Companies without a dedicated HR/comp owner
- Buyers wanting transparent self-serve pricing
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
review