Disclosure: we're Ryz Labs, and we compete with the companies on this page. Here's why we think we're the right call for most teams, with sources for every fact about the others.
Toptal and Upwork both connect you with individual freelancers. The real difference is who does the screening: Toptal screens its network before you see anyone and charges a $79 monthly matching subscription, while Upwork is an open marketplace with published client fees (5% or 10%) where, outside its Expert-Vetted tier, you screen candidates yourself. In both, you manage each freelancer.
For most US teams that want senior engineers inside their own team on US hours, or an AI pod team that builds and ships AI systems, the better choice is Ryz Labs. You get top 1% senior engineers in your standups and repos from week one, and a scoped plan, a price and the names of your engineers before you sign.
Toptal, founded in 2010, is a fully remote network of vetted freelancers. It says it has served 35,000+ clients in 140+ countries. Its five-step screening covers a communication interview, a skill review, live screening by domain experts, a 1-3 week test project and ongoing performance. Toptal says average time to match is under 24 hours. Rates are per freelancer and not published, with a $79 monthly matching subscription and a trial of up to two weeks. Toptal says full-time conversion is possible "for the most part."
Upwork is a NASDAQ-listed marketplace where clients post jobs and hire freelancers and agencies directly. It says it has 18M+ freelancers across 180 countries, and its FY2025 10-K reports 785K active clients. Freelancers set their own rates; Upwork says developer rates range from $10 to $100 per hour. Clients pay a 5% fee on Basic (3% for eligible US clients paying by checking account) or 10% on Business Plus, which adds an Expert-Vetted filter and an AI shortlist Upwork says arrives in under 6 hours. Large companies can run contingent-workforce programs through Lifted, an Upwork company.
A team, not a stack of freelancers. Toptal and Upwork both place individuals, and you assemble and coordinate them. Our senior engineers join your standups, your repos and your roadmap from week one. They work to your leads and own parts of your system, so the knowledge stays with your team. You sign one contract with Ryz. Our engineers work with us as independent contractors, and we handle paying them.
Top 1% vetting, done for you. We've interviewed tens of thousands of engineers, and only the top 1% make it. Recruiters source candidates, our in-house ARC system ranks the pipeline, every candidate goes through a structured NTRVSTA AI interview, and recruiters review each one before and after. AI scores are advisory, and people decide. You get a recruiter-curated shortlist and run the final interview yourself. See our vetting process.
New York hours, built in. On both marketplaces, overlap depends on the freelancer you pick. Our engineers work within one hour of US time zones, so standups, pairing and code review happen the same day.
AI pod teams that ship to production. When you need AI built, we bring a dedicated pod of senior engineers (typically about 7, including a tech lead, an ML engineer and backend engineers) that works inside your cloud, repos and CI, with weekly demos, in AWS, Azure, GitHub, Postgres, and Anthropic and OpenAI models. Our case studies include an AI voice platform with 1M+ outbound calls, an AI driver-support agent handling 218K driver questions a year in three languages, and fraud detection that has confirmed $5.94M in fraud across 244K+ invoices.
Named people and a price before you sign. Fortune 500 engineering teams trust us across industries, including financial services. Before you commit, you get a scoped plan, a price, and the names of the people who would do the work.
Comparing more options? See Ryz Labs vs Toptal, Ryz Labs vs Upwork and our guide to developer staffing for startups.
They solve different problems. Toptal screens freelancers for you; Upwork gives you a larger open pool and published fees, and you screen. If you want senior engineers working inside your team rather than freelancers, Ryz Labs is the stronger fit. See Toptal pricing and Upwork pricing.
You can hire several freelancers on either, but you'll assemble and coordinate them yourself. With Ryz, you get senior engineers who work as part of your team, on one contract, with names before you sign.
On Toptal and Upwork it depends on the freelancer. Ryz engineers work within one hour of US time zones, on New York hours.
We checked pricing and services for every provider here in October 2026. This changes often, so double-check before you sign anything.