Toptal
Depends
Confidence: High
Buy if you're a funded team that needs vetted senior freelancers fast and accepts premium, deposit-first pricing.
Comparison
Toptal vs Lemon.io
Toptal and Lemon.io both land on Depends.
Lemon.io
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy if you're a startup needing one or a few vetted developers fast and can accept quote-based pricing.
| Compare | Toptal | Lemon.io |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Depends |
| Best for | Funded startups building MVPs fast | Startups needing a vetted developer this week |
| Who it's not for | Bootstrapped founders on tight budgets | Companies needing published rates for procurement |
| Privacy | Compromised: July 2025 supply-chain attack hijacked Toptal's GitHub org and pushed malware-laced npm packages.12 | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed. |
| Support quality | Clients report reliable delivery across review sites | Reviewers praise hands-on handling of matching |
| Public sentiment | Clients praise vetted talent and delivery; freelancers complain about heavy platform margins and strict screening.³ | Users on G2, Trustpilot, and Reddit consistently praise fast matching and vetting quality, with pricing opacity the main friction point.16 |
| Biggest gotcha | $500 deposit and ~$79 fee charged before you see any candidate⁵ | Quote-based pricing: no rates online, so budgeting requires a sales call. |
Pick Toptal when
- Funded startups building MVPs fast
- Fortune 500 flexible project staffing
- Teams needing vetted senior developers
- Part-time finance and consulting hires
When Toptal is not a fit
- Bootstrapped founders on tight budgets
- One-off small gigs . use Upwork
- Buyers needing pay-per-task pricing
- Guess: teams hiring full-time permanent employees
Pick Lemon.io when
- Startups needing a vetted developer this week
- Single-scope or part-time contract work
- Founders tired of screening Upwork candidates
- US, EU, or LatAm time-zone hiring
When Lemon.io is not a fit
- Companies needing published rates for procurement
- Teams hiring large full-time engineering departments
- Anyone hiring non-engineering roles
- Shoestring budgets chasing the lowest hourly rate
Sources
- Toptal official sitetoptal.comofficial
- Toptal Reviews . SmartCustomersmartcustomer.comreview
- Toptal Reviews . Trustpilottrustpilot.comreview
- Toptal Reviews . G2g2.comreview
- How Much Does Toptal Cost . HireInSouthhireinsouth.comnews
- Toptal Pricing: Real Rates, Hidden Fees . TFCthefrontendcompany.comnews
review
- Toptal GitHub Breach . The Hacker Newsthehackernews.comsecurity
- Hackers breach Toptal GitHub . BleepingComputerbleepingcomputer.comsecurity
- Toptal GitHub Org Hijacked . Socketsocket.devsecurity
- Toptal Alternatives . Lemon.iolemon.ionews
- Toptal . Wikipediaen.wikipedia.orgnews
review
- Lemon.io customer reviews . Trustpilottrustpilot.comreview