Arc.dev alternative for hiring developers without a 20% fee
Arc.dev charges 20% of the first-year salary when you hire a developer full-time. DeveloperHiring is an Arc.dev alternative for companies that hire often: we source candidates, give each one a coding test and an AI interview, and hand you a ranked top five. You make the offer directly and pay a flat plan from $99 a month billed yearly, whatever the salary.
Edit the role, then see the skill matrix, screening questions and a sample coding task in about a minute.
Source
154
Screen
55
Assess
23
Interview
10
Hire
5
Candidate 8931
React, TypeScript, Vite
Candidate 3778
React, Next.js, Testing Library
Candidate 2211
React, Redux, GraphQL
Why do companies look for an Arc.dev alternative?
Arc runs two models. Freelancers bill by the hour, from $15 to over $110 depending on the developer, with a trial of up to two weeks. Full-time hires carry a one-time fee of 20% of the annual salary, according to Arc's own pricing page.
The full-time fee is where the math starts to hurt. A senior US engineer on a $160,000 salary means a $32,000 invoice for one hire. Hire four engineers in a year and the fees alone pass $100,000, which is more than many seed-stage teams spend on all of their tools combined.
The other reason is control. On a talent marketplace you trust the platform's screen. Here you see the coding task, the hidden tests each candidate passed, the interview transcript and the score, and you change the weights for your own role.
How does DeveloperHiring compare with Arc.dev and other options?
Side by side for a US company filling a developer role. Arc figures come from its public pricing page. Toptal and agency figures are common published ranges and change by role.
| What matters | Arc.dev freelance | Arc.dev full-time | Toptal | Recruiting agency | DeveloperHiring |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| How you pay | $15 to $110+ an hour | 20% of annual salary per hire | $79 a month fee plus the developer rate | Often 20 to 25 percent of first-year salary | Flat plan from $99 a month billed yearly |
| Cost of one $160,000 hire | Not a hire, hourly for as long as the work runs | $32,000 | Hourly for as long as the work runs | $32,000 to $40,000 | $1,188 a year on Startup, up to 2 new roles a month |
| Cost grows with salary | Yes, with the rate | Yes | Yes, with the rate | Yes | No |
| Proof of skill you can see | Arc communication and technical screen | Arc screen plus your own interviews | Network screen before matching | Recruiter notes | Task, hidden tests, transcript and scorecard per candidate |
| Candidates per role | Matched profiles | Matched profiles and applicants | Usually one match at a time | A handful of CVs | A ranked top five |
| Trial or guarantee | Up to two weeks | Ask Arc for the terms | Up to two weeks | Guarantee period | You meet the top five before any offer |
| Best for | Short projects with a vetted contractor | An occasional senior hire with budget for the fee | Short projects with a vetted contractor | Hard senior roles when cost matters less | Hiring your own engineers again and again at a fixed cost |
Arc terms from arc.dev/pricing; confirm current terms with Arc before you sign. Toptal terms from its public pricing and FAQ pages. Agency range is the common US contingency range.
Blind review on
Name and photo hidden until shortlist
89
overall
Code
88
Interview
85
Integrity
Clean
When is Arc.dev the better choice?
Arc does some things we do not, and it is better to say so up front.
- You want a freelancer this week. Arc's freelance side gives you a pre-screened contractor and a trial. We run a hiring process, which takes longer than a match.
- You hire one engineer a year. A single 20% fee can cost less in total than any subscription you would forget to cancel.
- You need a recruiter on the phone. Arc includes a dedicated recruiter. We give you a ranked shortlist and evidence, and your team makes the calls.
- The work is a short project. Hourly freelancing fits a three month build better than a permanent seat.
If you plan two or more developer hires this year, the flat plan usually wins. The same logic applies to other networks, compared on our Toptal alternative and Turing alternative pages.
What do three full-time developer hires cost each way?
A worked example for a US startup hiring three engineers in one year at a $150,000 average salary. Every number is an assumption for illustration, except Arc's published 20% rate.
Arc.dev full-time hires
$90,000
Three fees of 20% on a $150,000 salary, $30,000 each. You also get Arc's sourcing, AI screening and a dedicated recruiter.
Contingency recruiting agency
$90,000 to $112,500
The usual 20 to 25 percent of first-year salary, paid per hire, usually with a replacement guarantee of a few months.
DeveloperHiring, Startup plan
$1,188
$99 a month billed yearly, covering up to 2 new roles a month, so three hires fit easily. Opening more roles at once moves you to Team at $3,588 a year for up to 8 a month.
Salaries stay the same in every column, because you pay the developer directly either way. The gap is the fee. Every plan limit is on the pricing page, and the agency side of the comparison is worked through in hiring developers without agency fees.
How do you hire a developer directly without a placement fee?
Four steps from a role description to an offer. The first three run without anyone on your team.
-
Step 1
Paste the role
A job post or a few lines is enough. We build a weighted skill matrix and screening questions, and you edit both.
-
Step 2
We source and screen
Public developer profiles, your hosted role page, CSV imports and referrals. Every CV and public repo gets a score per skill.
-
Step 3
Candidates prove it
A coding task in the browser with hidden tests, then an AI interviewer asks each candidate about their own code.
-
Step 4
You hire from five
Ranked scorecards with integrity signals. Your team runs the final call and makes the offer, with no fee per hire.
The screen is yours, not a black box
Arc tells you a developer passed its communication and technical checks. We show the work: the exact task, which tests passed, time spent, the answers when the AI interviewer asked why a hook re-renders or how state is cached, and any integrity flags. See how the coding assessment and the AI technical interview work, or the skills we test to hire React developers.
export function useLedger(accountId: string) {
const { data, error } = useSWR(['ledger', accountId], fetchLedger, {
revalidateOnFocus: false,
});
return { rows: data ?? [], failed: Boolean(error) };
}Running hidden tests
passed 9 of 11
failed handles_empty_input, handles_large_inputWho switches from Arc.dev to DeveloperHiring?
Teams that hire developers more than once a year and want the cost fixed.
Seed and Series A startups
A CTO with three to five engineering roles on the plan for the year, where per-hire fees would eat a large part of the hiring budget.
In-house recruiters
A recruiter covering many developer roles who needs a consistent technical screen without pulling senior engineers into every first round.
Remote-first teams
An engineering manager hiring across US and nearshore time zones, who wants async tests and interviews that candidates take on their own hours.
Questions about Arc.dev alternatives
Related pages
Hire your next developer without a 20% fee
Paste a role and see the skill matrix, screening questions and a sample coding task in about a minute. Plans start at $99 per month billed yearly, with no fee per hire.