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What Does Transparency Really Mean in Remote Staffing?
Before comparing platforms, let’s define what transparency actually means in the context of remote hiring:
• Pricing clarity: You know exactly what you’re paying for, with no hidden markups or opaque fee structures
• Compensation control: You decide developer salaries, bonuses, and equity; not the platform
• Hiring process ownership: You run your own interview process and make final hiring decisions
• Candidate visibility: You see detailed candidate profiles before interviews, not after the platform pre-screens
Mutual selection: Developers choose you as much as you choose them, ensuring genuine alignment
Why Traditional Staff Augmentation Fails the Transparency Test
Traditional staff augmentation companies have built their business models on opacity. Understanding their shortcomings helps clarify what to look for in modern alternatives.
The Assignment Problem
Traditional staff augmentation companies assign developers to your project without true mutual selection. You get who’s available on their bench, not who’s the best fit. Developers often don’t choose to work with you. They’re placed. This creates misalignment from day one.
Opaque Compensation Structures
The agency controls the developer’s paycheck and takes massive cuts — often 40-60% markups — without disclosing the actual compensation breakdown. You can’t reward high performers with raises or bonuses because you don’t control compensation. This kills retention of your best talent.
Limited Talent Pools
Staff aug companies maintain small benches — dozens or hundreds of developers at most. You’re not accessing top-tier talent markets; you’re accessing whoever happens to be available this month.
Code Monkeys, Not Startup Thinkers
Traditional staff aug developers often come from enterprise backgrounds and lack a startup mindset. They’re accustomed to rigid processes and clear specifications — not the autonomy and ambiguity that characterize growth-stage companies.
Email-and-Spreadsheet Workflows
Without purpose-built technology, traditional staff aug relies on manual coordination via email chains and spreadsheets. This creates friction at every step: scheduling interviews, managing pipelines, tracking contractor status, processing invoices.
Project-Based Churn
Developers come in for specific projects and leave when they’re done. You never build the long-term relationships that drive real engineering velocity. High turnover means constant re-onboarding and knowledge loss.
Head-to-Head Platform Comparison
Here’s how four leading platforms compare across critical transparency dimensions:
Deep Dive: Why Remotely Works Wins on Transparency
1. True Cost-Plus Pricing Model
Remotely Works operates on a transparent cost-plus model: a fixed $2,000/month management fee per developer, plus whatever salary you negotiate directly with the developer. There’s no hidden markup, no percentage-based fee that scales with compensation, and no incentive for Remotely to inflate salaries.
This means if you want to hire an IC4 senior engineer at $80,000/year, you pay $6,667/month to the developer plus $2,000/month to Remotely — period. Compare this to traditional staff aug or platforms like Toptal, where you might pay $130,000-$150,000 for the same developer without knowing how much actually goes to them.
The transparency extends to additional fees:
• Open position fees: $500/month per search (capped at $1,500/month total)
• Equipment procurement: at-cost, no markup
• Volume discounts: 5-25% off management fees based on team size
Every cost is itemized, predictable, and under your control.
2. Complete Compensation Control
• Award raises to top performers without renegotiating contracts or getting platform approval
• Give bonuses for exceptional work, with 100% going to the developer
• Offer equity to align long-term incentives with your startup’s success
• Customize benefits, including PTO policies, equipment budgets, and professional development
This is impossible with platforms that control compensation. When Toptal or traditional staff aug firms set the rates, you can’t differentiate compensation based on performance. Your IC5 superstar, who just saved your product launch, gets the same treatment as a mediocre IC4 — and will eventually leave for a company that rewards excellence.
Remotely’s data shows this matters: 54% of contractors with 1+ year tenure received raises in 2024, averaging 9% increases. This level of compensation flexibility simply doesn’t exist in opaque pricing models.
3. Your Hiring Process, Not Theirs
Remotely Works curates candidates and delivers profiles within 48 hours, but you run the interview process end-to-end. This means:
• You design the technical assessments that matter for your stack
• You evaluate culture fit using your team’s criteria
• Candidates choose you as much as you choose them — ensuring genuine mutual fit
Contrast this with platforms that pre-screen candidates using their own criteria, then present you with a small subset of "approved" options. At best, you’re hiring based on someone else’s judgment about what your startup needs. Often, you're presented with talent that maximizes the platform's markup rather than your specific needs.
The mutual selection process is critical. When developers actively choose to work with your company — rather than being assigned — they arrive aligned with your mission, excited about the work, and committed to long-term success. Remotely’s platform shows developers your company profile, tech stack, and team culture before they even apply.
4. Purpose-Built Technology Platform
Remotely’s platform handles the entire contractor lifecycle in one place:
• Talent discovery: Browse detailed profiles of 7,000+ vetted developers, ranked by a proprietary Gitsight algorithm that analyzed 25M+ developers based on open-source contributions
• Pipeline management: Track candidates through your interview stages, schedule meetings, and coordinate with your team
• Offer management: Negotiate compensation, formalize offers, and handle paperwork digitally
• Contractor management: Adjust salaries, award bonuses, approve PTO, manage equipment, all in one dashboard
• Consolidated billing: Single invoice covering all contractors, with full transparency into every line item
This eliminates the email chains, spreadsheet tracking, and manual coordination that plague traditional staff aug. Everything happens in-platform with full visibility for your team.
5. Startup-Minded Talent at Scale
Remotely doesn’t just vet for technical skills — they specifically filter for developers who thrive in startup environments. The vetting process evaluates:
• Advanced English proficiency (required for async communication)
• Startup mindset: autonomy, ownership, comfort with ambiguity
• 5-12+ years experience (primarily IC4-IC6 levels)
• Proven track record in fast-paced tech environments
The result: developers who don’t need hand-holding, who can architect solutions across system components, and who think like product builders rather than code monkeys. According to Remotely’s 2025 compensation guide, their network’s median IC4 developer earns $79,500 — significantly above LATAM averages because these are genuinely senior engineers, not junior developers with inflated titles.
6. Long-Term Relationships, Not Project Churn
Remotely focuses exclusively on long-term engagements (3+ months minimum). Combined with your compensation control and equity offerings, this creates real retention:
• Developers become embedded team members who understand your codebase, product, and customers
• You build institutional knowledge instead of constantly re-onboarding
• Engineering velocity compounds as teams mature together
The proof is in retention data. Remotely provides technical mentorship, performance reviews, and career guidance to support long-haul commitments. When developers know their compensation can grow with their performance and that they’re building something meaningful (not just filling project gaps), they stay.
The Bottom Line: Transparency Drives Better Outcomes
When evaluating remote work marketplaces, the transparency question comes down to this: Do you control the critical decisions that determine hiring success and team retention?
With Remotely Works, the answer is unequivocally yes:
• Transparent, predictable pricing with no hidden markups
• Complete control over developer compensation, raises, bonuses, and equity
• Your hiring process, your criteria, your decisions
• Purpose-built technology that eliminates coordination friction
• Access to 7,000+ startup-minded senior developers in LATAM
• Long-term engagement model that builds real engineering teams
Toptal, Andela, and Devlane each have their strengths, but none match Remotely’s combination of pricing transparency, compensation control, and process ownership. For growth-stage startups that need to move fast, retain top talent, and maintain the same bar for quality as in-house hires, Remotely Works is the clear winner.
The difference isn’t just philosophical — it’s practical. When you control compensation, you can reward excellence. When you run your own hiring process, you find genuine fits. When you see transparent pricing, you can plan budgets accurately. These factors compound into better hiring decisions, stronger retention, and ultimately, faster product development.
Ready to Build Your Team with Full Transparency?
Remotely Works offers a completely risk-free trial: no fees due until you make your first hire. Open positions, review curated candidate profiles within 48 hours, and run your interview process. If you don’t hire within two months, you owe nothing.
Schedule a demo to see the platform, review the cost-plus pricing model, and discuss your hiring needs with Remotely’s team.
Visit remotely.works to get started.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Remotely’s pricing compare to traditional staff augmentation?
Traditional staff aug typically charges 40-60% markups on developer salaries without disclosing the breakdown. For an $80K/year developer, you might pay $130K-$150K total. With Remotely, you pay $80K to the developer + $24K/year management fee = $104K total — a savings of $26K-$46K per developer annually, with full visibility into every cost. With Remotely, you receive 5-25% volume discounts on management fees as your team grows to 6+ developers.
Can I really give developers raises without renegotiating contracts?
Yes. Because you control the developer’s compensation directly through Remotely’s platform, you can adjust salaries, award bonuses, and offer equity at any time. The management fee stays constant regardless of salary changes, so there’s no penalty for rewarding top performers.
What if I need to hire quickly?
Remotely delivers curated candidate profiles within 48 hours of opening a position. You control the pace of interviews. Most clients make offers within 1.5 weeks to 2 months, depending on their process thoroughness and availability.
How does the mutual selection process work?
Developers in Remotely’s network see your company profile, tech stack, and culture before applying. They choose which opportunities interest them. You then review their profiles and select who to interview. Both parties need to opt in — no assignments, no placements. This ensures every hire starts with genuine alignment.
What happens if a hire doesn’t work out?
Remotely offers a 90-day guarantee: if a contractor resigns within 90 days, they’ll conduct a replacement search free of the open position fee, and they’ll waive management fees for the period you already paid. Additionally, termination payments are structured to be fair: $0 for 0-3 months (employment-at-will), then 1 month of salary per year worked (capped at 2 months) for longer tenures. Remotely facilitates all of the off-boarding, from paperwork to equipment.
