When you're building a product, the last thing you want is to get stuck in a slow or expensive hiring process. Lemon.io and Gigster are two platforms promising fast access to vetted remote freelance developers, but they operate in very different ways. Here’s a head-to-head comparison to help you pick the one that fits your startup best.

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About Lemon

Lemon.io is a freelance developer marketplace that helps early-stage startups hire pre-vetted software engineers from Eastern Europe (like Ukraine and Romania) and, more recently, Latin America. Founded in 2015, it specializes in connecting startups with developers at lower costs than hiring locally in the U.S. 

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About Gigster

Gigster is a premium freelance platform that matches startups with vetted US/Western European developers and provides dedicated project managers to oversee execution. Their developers work part-time to build custom software projects for clients.

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How to Hire a Developer at Lemon.io

1. Fill out a form on their website with your skill requirements. 
2. Lemon.io matches you with developers from their database who fit your requirements. 
3. You can interview the developers to assess for cultural fit with your team. 
4. Once you’ve chosen a dev, make a security deposit and commit to at least 160 work hours to get your project started. 

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How to Hire a Developer at Gigster

1. Fill out a form with your project idea, and you’ll receive an AI-calculated quote.
2. A Gigster rep will contact you to discuss your idea further, finalize the quote, and state the deliverables. If you’re satisfied with the quote, you sign a contract.
3. Your project is shared with Gigster’s Talent Network, and developers vie for a spot on your team.
4. Gigster selects the best team for your project, and work begins. You can monitor the progress of your project through your personal dashboard.
5. Once your project is finished, the final deliverables are handed over to you.
6. You pay Gigster, and they handle payments to the developers.

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Lemon.io’s Vetting Process

Lemon.io’s quick vetting process allows them to screen many candidates. However, this might raise concerns about the quality of their talent pool. Here’s how it works:

1. Lemon’s recruiting team reviews resumes and LinkedIn profiles. Applicants with at least five years of experience in the required tech stack are accepted. 
2. The recruiting team screens candidates for English fluency and communication skills.
3. Senior developers interview candidates with a live coding test to assess their technical knowledge.
4. The top candidates are added to Lemon.io’s talent pool.

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Gigster’s Vetting Process

Gigster operates like a freelance network that relies heavily on referrals as stated on their website. So their recruitment style is not so common but it’s strong. Here’s the process:

1. Candidates submit details about real projects they’ve built.
2. Applicants are filtered based on the quality of past work and claimed skills.
3. Experienced Gigsters interview candidates for 30+ minutes on real-world questions.
4. Gigsters review the candidate’s past code. 
5. Selected developers join a real client project alongside others 
6. Based on trial performance, developers are invited into the network.

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Lemon.io’s Pricing

Before any project can start, Lemon requires yuo to commit to a minimum of 160 work hours for your project. With Lemon.io developers charging between $55 to $100 per hour, it means your budget must start from at least $8,800 a month.

Gigster’s Pricing

Gigster isn’t transparent with pricing as it provides custom quotes per project. However, after some digging, we discovered that the minimum project cost is $52,000. This price can increase if you need extra customizations. 

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Lemon.io Pros & Cons

Pros

• Hourly rates are affordable
• You get access to pre-vetted developers.
• The hiring process takes about a week. 

Cons

• A security deposit is required for any project to start. This deposit is equal to a week’s or a month’s fee of the project, depending on your billing cycle.
• Requires a minimum commitment of 160 work hours before a project can start.
• They are unclear about the length of their free trial. 

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Gigster Pros & Cons

Pros

• You get access to pre-vetted developers.
• Gigster provides an entire team for your project, including developers, designers, and project managers.
• You can monitor your projects through a personal dashboard.

Cons

• Lack of transparency with pricing
• You don’t manage the freelance team directly; all communication goes through the assigned project manager.
• Developers are only available part-time, as they work full-time elsewhere.
• Since developers are part-timers, there’s a risk they may leave your project before it’s completed.
• No free trial is available to test the waters before committing.

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Lemon vs Gigster Compared: Key Differences

We compared these two platforms side by side against each other on several factors.

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Which should you choose?

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What is the Best Alternative to Lemon and Gigster?

Lemon’s required minimum commitments and upfront costs can be a turn-off, and Gigster doesn’t allow you to directly manage the dev team, so you’ll have to have faith in your assigned product manager. Not everyone is willing to take that risk.    

ReactSquad is the best alternative and requires no minimum commitments. We are a marketplace of vetted React developers. Our developers work directly with your team under your instructions. Each dev undergoes 3 rigorous interview rounds plus 4 weeks of a paid test project, ensuring we always have the best talent available. 

Our transparent startup-friendly rates of $75/hour are why many startups choose us. 

Ready to hire a React developer? Schedule a call with us today!