Toptal reviews

3.8

73% would recommend to a friend

(756 total reviews)
avatar

Taso DuVal

61% approve of CEO

58% positive business outlook

Toptal has an employee rating of 3.8 out of 5 stars, based on 756 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Toptal employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Tecnologías de la información industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

756 reviews
1.0
Dec 6, 2021

Embarrassing place to work

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You can work remote. Though obviously that's the case at many companies now

Cons

- This isn't a good or interesting company but Toptal keeps trying to convince you they are. They keep telling everyone how elite the team is and how so many companies are dying to work with them. In truth, most of the people that work here are contractors from developing countries and most of their clients are small companies no one has heard of. - Even with that reality, you better drink the Kool Aid if you want to work here. Toptal does not take well to any criticism. Very few people actually like this place but we all know we must pretend to or else risk getting outcasted. - There's a blame culture and some really poor managers. Combine those together and you get a toxic culture. If anything goes wrong, be prepared to be thrown under the bus even if it was your manager's fault. - Almost no one in the tech industry has heard of Toptal and those who have don't think highly of them. Its reputation was destroyed due to screwing over employees and investors by withholding equity. - Their marketing plan is essentially to spam and post fake reviews on every possible website. They've already been banned from a number of sites for this. Just look at some of the reviews here. Most of the positive reviews are clearly gibberish. - The turnover is terrible. Toptal used to list both current and former employees in the company directory. The former employees list was 5 times longer than the current employees list. Looking through that list also showed most people left within a few months of starting. - Many people have already mentioned this but the HR team is terrible. They are completely unprofessional and are basically a propaganda arm of the company.

2.0
Sep 15, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

There's some nice and caring people at the company especially at the more junior levels. Remote work can be great if you are able to adjust to less regular interactions. Some groups are more shielded from the larger issues at the company.

Cons

Geez where to even begin...the co-founders are currently suing each other, each one accusing the other of fraud and generally being terrible human beings. Turnover is extremely high. If you're a current employee look at the terminated people list on the company directory. You'll see just how many people leave within a year of starting here. For those considering joining Toptal listen to the recent This Week in Startups podcast on Toptal. If the issues mentioned there about the company don't bother you then everyday problems like micromanagement, boring tasks, and unnecessary long hours likely won't worry you either. Many of the recent positive reviews are from HR or managers looking to boost Toptal's rating and applications.

1.0
Mar 7, 2022

Don't be tricked by the false advertising

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

100% remote. You can work from anywhere without needing approval.

Cons

I highly doubt many of these 5-star reviews are real. There's no way that many employees can find absolutely no cons of working here. There's absolutely no way 70% of employees think the CEO is doing a good job. My team had a 30% turnover rate and none of us thought this is a good company, let alone one with "no cons". I know many groups who are in the same situation we were. Their top 3% of talent slogan is incredibly misleading. Top tech companies have way lower offer rates than 3% so it’s not even something to brag about to begin with but also keep in mind that most top developers don't even bother looking at Toptal because they can make way more somewhere else. Toptal keeps the acceptance rate artificially low by having recruiters reach out to people that have no real shot at getting accepted and getting them to apply. Toptal has fallen behind a lot of similar companies that do pretty much the same thing. Those companies offer better benefits, culture, and pay. Many of them also have the backing of top VC firms.

Viewing 19 - 21 of 756 Reviews

Glassdoor has 1,362 Toptal reviews submitted anonymously by Toptal employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Toptal is right for you.