Amidst the massive layoffs and the Great Resignation in the US, software engineer salaries continue to rise. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, by 2030, the average salary for developers in the U.S. is expected to increase by $31,000 (or 26% higher than it is today).
While this is great news for developers, your company may not be able to afford the talent you need to complete your product roadmap. This is especially true for startups.
So, what can hiring managers do to find the best talent for your teams? Going global is a viable and necessary option. If you want access to a broader pool of high quality tech talent, take advantage of top remote talent and remote developers worldwide.
In the rest of this article, we’ll compare a few platforms that provide remote hiring services to help you find the one that suits you the best. We’ll go through Arc reviews, Wellfound reviews, and Hired reviews while focusing on these aspects:
- Main features
- Cost
- Talent locations
- Verification process
- Other pros and cons
| Wellfound (AngelList) | Hired | Arc | |
| Description | Talent is everywhere. Let us help you find it. | Get instant access to a curated pool of responsive top tech and sales talent actively seeking their next role. | Meet interview-ready remote developers available right now. |
| Talent Type | All roles | All roles | Developers |
| Talent Location | Global remote and local | United States only | Global remote |
| Cost | $249/ month or 20% of annual salary add on for Curated plan | 15% first-year base salary OR $995/month and 10% of first-year base salary | Free job posting for unvetted OR 15%-20% first-year base salary or multi-hire package discounts |
| Vetting process | No information about Wellfound’s talent recruitment process. | Optional assessments for software developers. | Profile screening, behavioral interview, technical interview, and final candidate review. |
| Tech Stack Coverage | All tech stacks (not restricted to developers) | All tech stacks (not restricted to developers) | All tech stacks (developer-specific hiring service) |
Looking for top talent fast? See how Arc can help you:
⚡️ Find developers, designers, marketers, and more
⚡️ Freelance or full-time remote + fully vetted
⚡️ Save up to 58% with global hires
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Overview: Arc vs Wellfound (AngelList Talent) vs Hired
What is Arc?
Arc is a remote developer marketplace where companies can access pre-vetted, active job seekers. We help connect startups and tech companies with top developer talent from all around the world. Through Arc, hiring managers meet interview-ready, pre-vetted remote developers available to hire immediately.
What is Wellfound (AngelList Talent)?
Wellfound, previously known as AngelList Talent, is AngelList’s job board and hiring service. According to Amit Matani, CEO of Wellfound, the rebrand in late 2022 meant “doubling down on [their] mission to connect the world’s talent with startups.”
In line with Amit Matani’s statement, Wellfound recruiter’s primary target clients are all stages of startups looking to hire developer talent for their teams, including both global remote and local hiring.
What is Hired?
Backed by global HR player The Adecco Group, Hired combines intelligent job matching with career counseling to help people find jobs. While Wellfound hiring focuses on developer talent, Hired’s talent pool is more spread out. Hired claims to help clients save 45 days on each role, and focuses on building a more representative talent pool.
Read More: Hiring Developers Online: Freelance vs Recruitment Agencies vs In-House
Arc: Cost, Features, Drawbacks, and More
Arc Main Features
Arc is a remote developer hiring platform that matches top-notch remote developers with companies and startups. Arc provides direct access to job-seeking, pre-vetted senior developers. We weed out unqualified candidates and present qualified candidates — vetted for technical and English skills as well as intent — to you. This helps you save time by only interviewing developers who are open to job offers and have the skill sets that match the requirements on your job listings.
As a hiring manager, you receive a list of developer candidates to review. Arc also helps you save time and cut through the noise with our AI matches and recruiters’ picks. Additionally, Arc often host hiring related events to help you optimize your hiring efforts in a competitive landscape.
Arc can also help you build out global remote development teams. With a dedicated hiring consultant, hiring a team will be done in no time.
Arc Pricing Costs
Arc has three different pricing plans:
- $399 for HireAI Lite, where you can access 300K+ candidates in Arc’s developer pool.
- Custom, pay-per-hire fee for HireAI Premium, where you can access AI application screening, auto sourcing, curated developer lists, dedicated recruiter, and unlimited candidate interviews.
- Discounted pricing for multi-hire.
Arc Developer Locations
Developers from all over the world can join Arc and gain access to personalized remote job recommendations. Currently, a large number of Arc’s developers are located in the US, Latin America, and Europe.
Arc Vetting Process
Let’s say you’re looking to find a lead developer for your team. Since this is a crucial role that will manage a team of developers, it’s important that candidates go through a vigorous verification process, like Arc’s, to make sure you find the right fit.
The basic screening steps for Arc Developers are:
- Screen profiles and resumes as well as employment history.
- Assess candidates’ soft skills through video interviewing with open-ended questions.
- Evaluate technical skills with technical interviews and pair programming sessions with senior developers from companies like Google, Facebook, Lyft, Firefox, and IBM.
- Host internal final candidate reviews and kick off onboardings.
Arc Pros
- Arc’s vetting process is rigorous and transparent.
- Arc’s hiring speed is fast and publicized.
- Arc’s developers are top notch talent from around the globe.
- Free speed hiring events and job fairs to connect with talent directly.
Arc Cons
- Arc only provides remote software developer talent. If you’re looking for local talent, this would not be the right tool for you.
- Arc’s vetted developers determine their own salary, so the fee may be higher compared to other platforms.
Think Arc’s service will help drive your hiring goals? Sign up to Arc and hire developers now →
Read More: Developer Job Boards: 15+ Best Job Sites for Software Engineers & Devs
Wellfound (AngelList Talent): Cost, Features, Drawbacks, and More
Wellfound Main Features
As a hiring manager or company, you can access “8 million startup-ready candidates from around the world, unique details you can’t get anywhere else, and all the tools you need to hire.” The specific hiring tools in Wellfound recruiting’s Recruit plan are:
- Source from 8M startup-ready candidates
- Free Wellfound job postings on job board
- Messaging service with candidates
- Free ATS for tracking candidates
In addition to the Recruit plan, Wellfound also has a Curated plan that allows you to upload your remote developer job description, and receive a list of “qualified and ready to interview candidates – updated 2x a week.” You’ll pay Wellfound 20% of the candidate’s annual salary upon successful completion.
As for candidate experience and job search, job seekers can browse over 100,000 jobs from top companies and create profiles for companies to find. Additionally, Wellfound offers candidates the option to set their own expected salary and preferences for company culture upfront.
Wellfound Pricing & Costs
Wellfound’s pricing is divided into two kinds. The “Recruit – Pro” package is USD$249 per month. This package includes unlimited searches, messages, postings, and more, making Wellfound a strong Arc and Hired competitor. In addition to “Recruit – Pro,” you can also pay for the “Curated” service at 20% of the candidate’s annual salary upon a successful hire. These flexible plans allow recruiters to freely use the Wellfound recruiting solution based on their hiring needs.
Wellfound Talent Locations
Wellfound aims to help all stages of startups looking to hire talent for their teams, including both global remote and local hiring. If you have time zones and remote preferences, you can use Wellfound’s preferences filters to see how many hours ahead or behind the candidates are and the kind of remote culture the candidates are looking for.
Wellfound Vetting Process
There is no information about Wellfound’s talent recruitment process. We know that the platform houses software developers, product managers, product designers, and sales talent. We also know that in addition to Wellfound Recruiter Pro, its feature, “Source,” allows hiring managers to indicate what filters are required and what are nice to haves.
Wellfound Pros
- Experienced in the startup realm
- Various pricing models for companies
- Additional applicant tracking system
Wellfound Cons
- Inexperienced with large company hiring
- New to the remote hiring arena
- Unclear candidate verification process
- Not specific to hiring developers
Read More: On-Site vs Remote vs Distributed Engineering Teams: How to Choose?
Hired.com: Cost, Features, Drawbacks, and More
Hired Main Features
Hired, built by Adecco, offers vetted tech and sales candidates who are actively looking for jobs. Hired initially focused on tech talent in the US, but has recently taken its initiatives to remote and global hiring. While Hired offers a wide array of talent, it has specific assessments and a live coding platform designed to help clients vet software developers. These programming challenges can be done in real-time or asynchronously based on Hired’s customizable technical assessments.
If you’re a job seeker, simply create a profile. You’ll only hear from employers that can match your salary and job expectations. If you have several offers, you can use Hired’s comparison tool to weigh the offers side by side before making a final decision on which is the good fit.
Hired Pricing & Costs
Hired.com has four pricing tiers: Access, Basic, Plus, and Premium. For Access, you pay 15% of first-year salary upon hire. For Basic, you pay USD$995 per month and USD$9,950 per hire. The prices for Plus and Premium vary depending on your partnership with Hired.
Hired Talent Locations
According to Hired.com, they connect “candidates with companies in the US, UK, Canada, and Ireland.” Hired encourages candidates to “consider opening up [their] search to include remote roles,” which suggests that Hired’s talent pool is most likely not as global. While Hired’s talent locations remain unknown, it’s obvious that Hired is trying to take their operations global.
Hired Vetting Process
While the talent pool on Hired.com ranges from developers to sales, Hired only offers assessments for software engineering and engineering management. Developer candidates are encouraged to complete assessments that best corroborate their role and skills in their primary area of expertise.
Once an assessment has been completed, Hired gives developers a special badge to help them stand out. With that said, the assessments are not mandatory and Hired has no publicly stated verification process for its talent.
Hired.com Pros
- Wide range of talent in tech
- Flexible pricing models
- Additional technical skill assessments
Hired.com Cons
- No clear vetting process for candidates
- Not developer-focused
- Less global, as talent is concentrated in North America and Europe
Read More: How to Get Developers Interested in Your Project and to Join Your Team
Wellfound vs Hired vs Arc: Final Thoughts on best site to hire developers
Finding a hiring service provider efficiently and effectively speeds up your hiring process and cuts operational costs. As the tech talent war persists in the U.S., hiring globally and capturing remote talent is the way to go. The question we’ve tried to answer in this article is, “which remote hiring platform, tool, and service” your company should choose based on features, cost, talent locations, verification process, and other pros and cons.
All three platforms have their strengths and weaknesses, but all are strong hiring services you should consider. Make sure to do your own due diligence before choosing a remote developer hiring platform to work with!
You can also try Arc, your shortcut to the world’s best remote talent:
⚡️ Access 350,000 top developers, designers, and marketers
⚡️ Vetted and ready to interview
⚡️ Freelance or full-time
