The Job Markets Dossier

1. LinkedIn Jobs General

Researched cycle 1 · 2026-06-10 · Microsoft-owned (acquired 2016, $26.2B) · founded 2003

What it is

The jobs marketplace inside the world's largest professional network. Jobs are tied to member profiles, so applications, recruiter sourcing, and personal branding happen in one ecosystem rather than a standalone board — simultaneously a job board, a sourcing database, and a personal-brand channel, which no competitor fully replicates.

Why it matters

Largest professional graph on earth plus the dominant recruiter tooling: ~72% of recruiters use LinkedIn when hiring. Its Talent Solutions business alone out-earns every other company in this dossier combined.

Key metrics

• Registered members: ~1.3B (Dec 2025); growing ~70M new members/yr
• Monthly active users: ~310M; daily actives ~134.5M
• Site traffic: 1.8–2.0B visits/month (Feb–Mar 2026, DemandSage; Semrush lower at 1.4B — LinkedIn publishes no official MAU)
• Job postings: 22M+ open roles listed; ~4M posted monthly; 32% remote
• Application volume: 10,000+ submitted per minute (~12.9M/day)
• Hires: ~7 per minute, 3M+ per year; 61–65M members search jobs weekly
• Revenue: $17.81B FY2025 (Microsoft fiscal); crossed $5B quarterly run rate Q4 2025
• Talent Solutions ≈60% of revenue (>$7B since FY2023); Premium subscribers ~175M
• Geography: US largest market (257M users), India 161.5M, Brazil 83.2M

Reviews

• Trustpilot: ~3,600 reviews, overwhelmingly negative (≈1.x★) — dominant themes: arbitrary account lockouts and ID-verification loops (Persona rejections), support unreachable (must log in to report being locked out), surprise Premium/Sales Navigator billing, ghost/fake-job claims
• G2: 4.4/5 across 6,579 reviews (seller profile); LinkedIn Premium 4.1/5 (257 reviews)
• Google Play: 4.1/5 from 3.34M reviews (June 2026), 1B+ installs; complaints: notification spam, forced updates
• Praise pattern: authentic company-posted jobs, alerts, filtering; criticism pattern: fake recruiters, 100+ applicants per posting

Best for

White-collar professional, tech, sales, finance, and mid-to-senior roles; global coverage; weak for hourly/blue-collar work.

Pricing & model

• Seekers: free; Premium Career ~$30–40/mo (InMail, applicant insights)
• Employers: free basic post (1 at a time, auto-pauses after 14 days, repost requires promotion)
• Promoted posts: CPC auction, ~$1.50–4.50/click US, avg ~$2.83/applicant; typical $150–500/listing; ~$161 ad spend per hire (~57 applicants/hire)
• Job Slots: $200–1,000/slot/mo (12-month contracts, up to 35% annual-prepay discounts)
• Recruiter Lite $170/mo; InMail overages ~$10/credit; Talent Insights $6k–20k/yr; ~15%/yr corporate price hikes (TCO runs 20–40% above subscription)
• API: official Talent Solutions partner APIs only; scraping aggressively litigated (hiQ v. LinkedIn)

Weaknesses

• Extreme applicant competition — 100+ applications per posting is routine
• Ghost-job complaints and "80% fake posts" review claims
• Near-zero human support; account-lockout catch-22s
• Premium upsell pressure; free employer tier increasingly restricted

Researcher's note

The paradox entry of the dossier: the most valuable hiring asset on earth by revenue and reach, carrying some of the worst consumer-trust scores measured. Volume forgives everything — until a competitor solves trust at scale.

2. Indeed General

Researched cycle 2 · 2026-06-10 · Recruit Holdings (since 2012) · founded 2004, Austin TX

What it is

The world's largest job board/aggregator by traffic — scraped + directly-posted listings, free to apply for seekers, pay-per-click/pay-per-application sponsorship for employers. The volume engine of Japan's Recruit Holdings HR-Tech segment alongside Glassdoor.

Why it matters

#1 globally by raw volume: reaches ~95.5% of online US job seekers, holds the industry's largest resume database, operates in 60+ countries and 28 languages covering ~94% of global GDP. For sheer listing count and applicant flow nothing else matches it.

Key metrics

• Traffic: 350M+ unique visitors/month (Indeed official, updated Apr 2026); third-party estimates 300–330M; Similarweb global rank ~#53 (Mar 2026), +11.4% MoM
• Resumes: 295M (official, Apr 2026); older figures 200–225M with ~3M updated monthly — sources conflict by measurement date
• Job postings: ~130M listings worldwide (+12% YoY); Hiring Insights analytics DB cites 25M jobs
• Employers: ~3M hire via Indeed yearly (up from 6,000 in 2018)
• Revenue: Recruit HR-Tech segment ~$10B+ projected FY2026; Q4 FY2025 US revenue $2.55B (+14.5%); US avg revenue per posting +17% YoY in a flat hiring market
• Parent FY2025: revenue ¥3.70T, operating profit ¥630.5B (+28.5%); shares surged ~20% on Indeed-led FY26 guidance
• Demographics: ~60% of users aged 25–44; 51/49 male/female split

Reviews

• Trustpilot: ~12,700 reviews, predominantly negative — application black holes (<10% employer response), accounts banned without warning, accidental one-tap resume submission, hidden pre-checked "auto-apply" boxes, scam-call deluge after resume upload
• Employer side: aggressive price increases, $2,000+ charges with ads not visibly served, accounts disabled with credit remaining
• BBB/ConsumerAffairs: fake-recruiter scams spoofing Indeed; FTC data shows job-scam reports nearly tripled 2020→2024

Best for

Highest-volume general search across all industries and seniority — especially hourly, retail, healthcare, logistics, mid-level white-collar; strongest US coverage but genuinely global.

Pricing & model

• Seekers: free
• Employers: up to 3 free posts/month (not for staffing agencies)
• Sponsored Jobs: from $5/day or $150/mo; CPC $0.10 (rural) – $5.00+ (competitive tech), $25/job floor since 2023; pay-per-started-application option; metro CPC up to 300% over rural; January surges add 15–20%
• Resume contacts: $120/mo (30) or $300/mo (100); Hiring Platform bundles from ~$299/mo
• Typical spend: micro-business $150–300/mo, midsize $600–1,200/mo, staffing $5k+/mo; $75 new-account credit
• API: publisher/ATS partner APIs; anti-scraping enforced

Weaknesses

• Ghost jobs at scale: 43% of hiring managers admit keeping dead listings open (Clarify Capital 2022); ~24.8% ghost rate at 1,001–5,000-employee firms; 40% of tech companies posted fake jobs in the past year (ResumeBuilder)
• Stale aggregated listings; weak human support; privacy/data-spam complaints
• Employer cost inflation: +17% revenue per posting while hiring demand stayed flat
• Ended organic visibility for single-source feed jobs 2026-03-31 — orgs report up to −50% applications, accelerating the shift to alternatives

Researcher's note

Indeed is the market's gravity well: it sets pricing physics for everyone (the CPC floor, the per-posting yield squeeze), and its policy moves — like the March 2026 organic-visibility cut — reshape the whole board ecosystem overnight.

3. Glassdoor General

Researched cycle 3 · 2026-06-10 · founded 2007, Mill Valley CA · Recruit Holdings (2018, $1.2B) · folding into Indeed since 2025

What it is

Company-review and salary-transparency platform with an attached job search. As of 2025 it is being folded into Indeed — job posting runs entirely through Indeed, and Glassdoor's standalone role is employer branding + reviews/salaries.

Why it matters

The de-facto reference for "what's it actually like to work there" — its review data makes it a research layer on top of every other job market rather than a pure board. Job seekers cross-check it before applying anywhere.

Key metrics

• Traffic: ~100M job seekers/mo per stat roundups (older figure 55M); official DSA disclosure: only 5.26M unique monthly EEA visitors (H2 2025); Similarweb global rank ~#1,425 (Mar 2026)
• Content: 70M+ user-generated reviews (95M+ total reviews/insights/salaries); ~1M new reviews/yr; 190 countries
• Jobs/employers: 12M+ listings from 400k+ employers (served via Indeed); 1.7M+ employers with profile data (2021)
• Revenue: peak ~$320M (2022, ~800 employees); now folded into Recruit's HR-Tech reporting
• Corporate turmoil: 1,300 layoffs across Indeed+Glassdoor Jul 2025 — third straight year of cuts (2,200 in 2023, 1,000 in 2024); CEO Sutherland-Wong stepped down Oct 2025; AI cited as restructuring driver
• Average company rating ~3.5★ (tech ~3.8, retail ~3.1)

Reviews (of Glassdoor itself)

• Trustpilot: ~1,065 reviews, strongly negative — consensus that negative company reviews get removed (vague "guideline" emails, removals after years online) while suspicious 5-star floods stay
• Forced give-to-get signup to read content; unsolicited recruiter texts after registering
• Glassdoor's defense: equal treatment claimed, no paid removals, "Inflated Reviews" alerts on manipulating employers; CDA §230 protected; litigates to keep reviewers anonymous
• A review-removal cottage industry exists (Erase.com, Minc Law, RepSpert) — removals reportedly 24h–90 days when policy violations found

Best for

Researching employers (culture, salary bands, interview questions) before applying; white-collar/tech; US-centric with global coverage. As a job board per se it is now an Indeed skin.

Pricing & model

• Seekers: free but give-to-get (must contribute a review/salary to unlock content)
• Employers: job posts free-or-sponsored via Indeed; Glassdoor sells branding — Enhanced Profile $5k–20k/yr (small co), $20k–40k/yr (mid-market), branding+recruiting bundles $25k–70k/yr, recruiting contracts $10k–100k+/yr; entry ~$125/mo
• Contract mechanics: 4–6% annual escalators, overages 20–40% above per-slot rates, renewals often +10–25%
• API: limited partner API; historic public API deprecated

Weaknesses

• Review-integrity trust crisis in both directions (removed negatives + astroturfed positives)
• Give-to-get paywall; declining independent identity post-merger
• EEA traffic surprisingly small vs claimed global numbers; repeated layoffs create product uncertainty

Researcher's note

Glassdoor's moat was trust, and trust is exactly what its own review pages say it's losing. The Indeed absorption makes it a branding upsell on someone else's pipes — valuable data asset, fading platform.

4. ZipRecruiter General

Researched cycle 4 · 2026-06-10 · NYSE: ZIP (IPO 2021) · founded 2010, Santa Monica

What it is

AI-matching job marketplace — one posting distributes to 100+ partner boards; the "Phil" AI matcher proactively invites candidates to apply. Slot-based subscription model rather than Indeed-style CPC.

Why it matters

The #1-rated job search mobile app (4.9★, 1M+ combined App Store/Google Play reviews) and the leading SMB-focused alternative to Indeed — 80% of employers get a quality candidate within day one of posting. Distribution + active matching, not just a searchable board.

Key metrics

• Traffic: 30.7M visits/mo (Similarweb Apr 2026; #2 US Jobs category; bounce 35.9%, 5.56 pages/visit); Indeed gets ~5.8x more; claims "fastest-growing marketplace by visitor growth" (Q1 2026 vs Q1 2025)
• Scale: 110M+ job seekers historically; 430M applications; 43M+ resumes; ~9M active postings (2021 figure); 2.8M employers all-time (~10k new/mo)
• Paid employers: 63.3k in Q1 2026 (flat YoY); revenue per paid employer $1,698 (−2% YoY)
• Financials: FY2025 revenue $449M (−5% YoY; peak $905M in 2022); Q1 2026 revenue $107.5M, net loss $4.7M, adj. EBITDA $9.7M; FY2026 margin guidance 14% (up from 9%)
• Recent: ChatGPT app launched Mar 2026 ("@ziprecruiter" in-chat search); Breakroom acquisition (UK employer reviews); iCIMS ATS integration (12M weekly seekers)

Reviews

• Trustpilot: 4.0/5 from ~12,600 reviews (was 4.6 earlier in 2025 — sliding)
• G2: 4.8/5 from 1,407 reviews (90% 5-star), #2 in job-search-sites category (Fall 2025 grid)
• ConsumerAffairs 2.9/5; PissedConsumer 1.4/5 (309 reviews)
• Praise: ease of use, one-click apply, reach, fast first candidates
• Complaints: billing-after-cancellation horror stories (one employer: $559.78 biweekly × 13 cycles ≈ $7.3k after "closing" account), free trial auto-converting to $576 invoices, aggressive upsell calls, MLM/scam listings, unreachable support

Best for

SMB employers wanting set-and-forget distribution + AI matching; US/UK/Canada; general-purpose roles, strong in hourly and mid-skill; seekers wanting mobile-first one-tap applying.

Pricing & model

• Seekers: free
• Employers: custom-quoted slot subscriptions — Standard ~$299–399/slot/mo, Premium ~$375–519, Pro ~$719–999; slot reusable on close
• Day passes from ~$24/day; resume unlocks $3–4 each on lower tiers
• 2–4-day free trial auto-converts (credit card required); no permanent free tier
• API: partner/ATS integrations (iCIMS etc.); distribution API for partners

Weaknesses

• Revenue halved from 2022 peak on SMB hiring softness
• Trial/billing dark patterns are the dominant complaint theme
• Candidate quality uneven for skilled trades; listings can be stale/filled
• No free employer tier vs Indeed's 3 free posts

Researcher's note

The cleanest B2B/B2C split in the dossier: employers on G2 rate it near-perfect while consumers slide; its fate rides on SMB hiring cycles more than any direct competitor.

5. Monster General

Researched cycle 5 · 2026-06-10 · BOLD Holdings (Aug 2025, $28.4M out of Ch.11) · founded 1994

What it is

The original mega job board after decades of decline: Randstad bought it 2016 ($429M) → merged with CareerBuilder under Apollo Sept 2024 → Chapter 11 June 2025 → job board sold to BOLD Holdings. Still operating with AI-powered matching; postings cross-list with CareerBuilder.

Why it matters

Historic pioneer with residual brand recognition and meaningful traffic; combined Monster+CareerBuilder inventory; the cautionary tale that maps the entire industry's history. Post-acquisition it's a mid-tier general board, not a leader.

Key metrics

• Traffic: ~15M monthly visitors (pre-bankruptcy figure); Similarweb global rank fell 9,915 → 11,024 over a recent 3-month window
• Historic peak: $8.6B market cap (Mar 2000); 10M+ resumes and 100k employers incl. 800 of the Fortune 1000 (2001); overtaken by Indeed in US traffic Oct 2010
• Bankruptcy math: combined entity carried ~$392.5M debt at Sept 2024 merger close; Ch.11 filed 2025-06-24 (assets $50–100M, liabilities $100–500M, $20M DIP financing)
• Auction: BOLD won at $28M over JobGet's $27M, committed to hiring ≥350 staff; Monster Government Services → Valsoft; Military.com/Fastweb → Valnet
• Owner: BOLD Holdings — career-tech co founded by two ex-Monster execs (also owns FlexJobs)

Reviews

• Trustpilot (seekers): 3.4/5 from ~19–22k reviews (Feb 2026) — expired/outdated postings, irrelevant matches, no employer follow-up, notification spam
• Trustpilot (employers, hiring.monster.com): 201 reviews — low conversion (80 clicks → 1 application), out-of-area resumes, upsell calls, billing disputes
• Sitejabber 2.1/5

Best for

General US job search as a secondary board; resume-builder tools. Use as supplemental coverage — strongest days long past.

Pricing & model

• Seekers: free (resume-builder upsells)
• Monster+ Standard: pay-per-performance, daily budgets $18/$27/$35 (third-party: from ~$12/day); pay only on views/clicks/applies
• Monster+ Pro: subscription with credits (1 credit = $1, expiring monthly; DB view = 2 credits), from ~$299/mo; 4-day free trial
• Legacy tiers: $279/$399/$649/mo; enterprise custom with ATS integration
• API: legacy Monster APIs largely deprecated post-sale

Weaknesses

• Bankruptcy-driven uncertainty; shrunken employer base
• Stale/ghost listings; low applicant conversion
• Brand trading on nostalgia; traffic a rounding error vs Indeed/LinkedIn

Researcher's note

From $8.6B to $28M in 25 years — the dossier's defining decline curve. Every strategic mistake (slow to aggregate, slow to mobile, slow to programmatic) is now a checklist of what kills boards.

6. CareerBuilder General

Researched cycle 6 · 2026-06-10 · BOLD Holdings via Monster merger · founded 1995

What it is

Legacy US mega-board — once owned by the Gannett/Tribune/McClatchy newspaper consortium, later Apollo. Merged with Monster Sept 2024, went through the same June 2025 Chapter 11, acquired with Monster by BOLD ($28M). Employer products now sold as Monster+ with dual-brand cross-posting.

Why it matters

Still-large resume database heavily used by staffing firms — 91% of the top 150 staffing firms use its Resume Search. Effectively the second face of the Monster/BOLD combine rather than an independent market.

Key metrics

• Traffic: official claim 175M annual visits (~14–15M/mo) + 41M+ active seekers vs third-party measurement of only ~6.3M monthly visitors and 2.4M apps/month — a large methodology gap
• Resume DB: 25–38M resumes (older official figures; ~15k new/mo); current site says "millions"
• Similarweb category rank ~#297 (vs Indeed #1)
• Corporate: same bankruptcy arc as Monster — ~$392.5M combined debt at merger, Ch.11 June 2025, BOLD acquisition Aug 2025

Reviews

• Trustpilot: ~20,800 reviews, heavily negative — scam/fake postings, spam/phishing surge after registering (continuing 18 months after account deletion), out-of-area matches, data-protection distrust; company replies deny selling data
• Sitejabber: 1.18/5 (~130 reviews)
• TrustRadius employers: "excessive pricing, minimal ROI — Indeed cheaper and better"

Best for

Staffing/recruiting firms leveraging the resume database; supplemental US coverage via the Monster+ dual-posting. Not a primary board anymore.

Pricing & model

• Seekers: free
• Via Monster+: Standard from $18/day pay-per-performance; Pro $299/mo; Pro Annual $2,990/yr; free postings discontinued post-merger
• Legacy CB tiers: pay-as-you-go $425 one-time, Lite $349/mo, Standard $449/mo, Pro $749/mo (5 posts, 50 resume pulls/day, views capped 150–350/mo)
• API: legacy CB APIs deprecated; integrations via Monster/BOLD stack

Weaknesses

• Worst-in-class data-spam reputation; scam-listing complaints
• Conflicting traffic claims (official 15M/mo vs measured ~6M/mo)
• Employer ROI widely panned vs Indeed; bankruptcy aftermath

Researcher's note

The dossier's clearest claimed-vs-measured gap: official traffic 2.3x what third parties measure. When evaluating any board, that delta is the first thing to check.

7. SimplyHired Aggregator

Researched cycle 7 · 2026-06-10 · Recruit Holdings (2016, undisclosed) · launched 2003, Sunnyvale

What it is

Job aggregator scraping/collecting listings from thousands of sites; repositioned post-acquisition as a secondary traffic source and publishing partner of Indeed inside the Recruit family (same corporate home as Indeed and Glassdoor).

Why it matters

Free posting + distribution to 100+ boards with a unique pay-per-contact model — a budget option for low-volume hiring; for seekers it's an Indeed-adjacent aggregation layer with salary tools.

Key metrics

• Traffic: claimed 30M monthly uniques — a 2012–16-era company figure still recycled in 2026 reviews, unverified; third-party analytics measured ~12–16M/mo at peak
• Listings: claimed 8M+ openings (unverified); ~6M jobs / ~700k employers at the 2016 acquisition; 25 countries
• Listing-quality audit (2025): 76% legit, 6% questionable, 18% stale/annoying; ~35% of professional listings remote/hybrid

Reviews

• Trustpilot: 1.5/5 (~201 reviews, Mar 2026) — driven by WhatsApp recruiter-impersonation scams (confirmed not from SimplyHired), stale listings, no customer support; employer posts stuck "under review" for days
• G2: 4.1/5 — big platform-by-platform divergence; AvaHR-era average 1.3/5 (91 ratings)

Best for

Small employers test-driving cheap hiring (pay only per contact revealed); seekers as a supplemental aggregator. SimplyHired itself recommends Indeed for high-volume roles.

Pricing & model

• Seekers: free (search, alerts, resume upload, salary data)
• Employers: free posting (distributed to 100+ boards) + pay-per-contact from $9.99 to unlock applicant details, scaling with experience/demand (reports of $13, up to $35/contact)
• Billed monthly or at ~$500 thresholds; free ATS/interview-scheduling tools; ~3-min instant verification (manual up to 3 days)
• API: none public; operates inside Recruit/Indeed ecosystem

Weaknesses

• Brand heavily impersonated by scammers; very low Trustpilot trust
• Recycled decade-old traffic claims; stale aggregated listings
• Per-contact costs balloon for popular roles; no matching tech vs ZipRecruiter

Researcher's note

A zombie brand kept alive as Indeed's traffic tributary — useful niche billing model, but its scam-impersonation problem makes it a trust liability for seekers who don't know the WhatsApp messages aren't real.

8. Dice Tech

Researched cycle 8 · 2026-06-10 · DHI Group (NYSE: DHX) · founded 1990 — the longest-running tech board

What it is

The longest-running tech-specialist job board; subscription/per-post model aimed at employers and staffing firms recruiting IT talent; publishes the widely-cited monthly Dice Tech Jobs Report.

Why it matters

Deepest pure-tech US candidate pool of any board — 9M+ tech profiles/resumes with the filters recruiters actually use (visa status, Boolean/skill search, clearance adjacency). Claims 97% of posting companies get an applicant within 24h. Its job-report corpus (7M+ postings analyzed) is an industry barometer.

Key metrics

• Traffic: ~1.4–2M visitors/mo (third-party, varies); Similarweb rank improved 19,583 → 16,863 with traffic +27.7% MoM (early 2026); 63.9% direct traffic — loyal user base
• Inventory: 70–80k active listings; 5M+ members; 9M+ tech resumes/profiles; 4,500 subscription clients
• Market signal: AI skills in 71% of US tech postings (Apr 2026, up from 67% in March, +181% YoY); tech postings +21% YoY April 2026 — strongest gain of the year
• Dice segment: revenue $73M in 2025 (−4% CAGR since 2021); quarterly trend Q1 −18%, Q2 −18%, Q3 −15%, Q4 −17% YoY; renewal rate 78%, revenue retention 94%; 30% EBITDA margin
• Parent DHI 2025: $127.8M revenue (−10%), $13.5M net loss; ClearanceJobs is the growth side

Reviews

• Trustpilot: only ~17 reviews, skewing negative — auto-renew contracts requiring 90-day-advance cancellation, fake/stale listings, unresponsive support
• G2/Capterra: positive on tech-sourcing power (Boolean, visa filters); negative on cost ("expensive vs CB/Monster") and stale profiles; G2 lists editions $399–699
• Sitejabber 4/5; TrustRadius 7.1/10 (60+ reviews)

Best for

US tech/IT hiring — staffing agencies and corporate tech recruiters; seekers in software, data, infrastructure, and contract/W2 tech work.

Pricing & model

• Seekers: free
• No free employer tier — single post $495 (2: $429/ea, 3: $399/ea; newer guides cite from $399), 30-day duration, +$99 promotion
• Resume DB sold separately: Open Web from $2,995/yr; TalentSearch from $10,000/yr (≤5 recruiters)
• Auto-renewal contract gotchas (90-day advance notice)
• API: partner/ATS integrations; third-party scrapers exist but ToS-restricted

Weaknesses

• Structural revenue decline (−15–18% YoY quarters through 2025)
• Pricey vs general boards; resume DB paywalled separately
• Stale candidate profiles; weak coverage outside US tech metros

Researcher's note

Dice's data franchise (the Tech Jobs Report) may now be worth more than its marketplace: the board shrinks double-digits yearly while its market-barometer status keeps growing.

9. ClearanceJobs Niche

Researched cycle 9 · 2026-06-10 · DHI Group (NYSE: DHX) · founded 2002

What it is

The dominant marketplace for US security-cleared professionals (defense/intelligence). US-citizens-only, US-access-only platform connecting cleared candidates with defense contractors and agencies.

Why it matters

Effectively a monopoly niche: the only at-scale talent pool where clearance status (Secret → TS/SCI FSP) is a first-class search filter. DHI's growth engine while Dice shrinks — riding the $1T FY2026 US defense budget.

Key metrics

• Candidates: 2,000,000 registered (announced 2026-06-04); first 500k took a decade, the last 500k took ~3 years
• Candidate quality shift: active resumes <5% of earliest registrants → 58% of newest cohort; Secret holders 1.2% → 28.4%; TS/SCI 2.3% → 15.6%; military service 3.2% → 37.4%
• Geography: top states VA, TX, MD, CA, FL (VA share declining, TX growing)
• Activity: ~50,000 jobs listed monthly; ~6,000 active recruiters; 60,000+ monthly candidate-recruiter connections
• Financials: Q1 2026 revenue $14.0M (+5% YoY), bookings $18.0M (+7%); FY2026 segment guidance $62–64M (incl. PSG acquisition); adj. EBITDA margin 40%
• Customers: 1,741 recruitment-package customers (−8% YoY) at avg $27,286/customer/yr (+6%); renewal 88%, retention 105%
• Comp data: cleared professionals averaged $126,125 total comp in 2025 (+6%, record; 70% got raises)

Reviews

• Thin third-party coverage: G2 only 3 reviews; no real Trustpilot presence; Scamadviser 3.4/5 (5 reviews) but rates site highly legit; app 4.3/5
• Capterra (recruiters): praised for clearance-level targeting filters; complaint: resumes force-reformatted to CJ template (painful for ATS import)
• Seeker criticism: weak company-directory search; passive candidates may sit uncontacted for years

Best for

Cleared defense/intel/aerospace/cyber roles and the contractors recruiting for them (Northrop, Booz, Leidos world); transitioning military. Irrelevant outside the US defense ecosystem.

Pricing & model

• Seekers: free
• Employers: quote-only (no public pricing; demo/sales-call gated); subscription "All Jobs Packages" post all open roles + distribute to Google for Jobs/ZipRecruiter/affiliates
• Implied price point: avg customer pays ~$27k/yr (Q1 2026 earnings math)
• API: ATS integrations (AgileATS acquired 2025); no public API

Weaknesses

• Quote-gated opaque pricing; shrinking customer count (−8% YoY, offset by upsells)
• Candidate experience secondary to the recruiter product; resume-reformatting friction
• Totally dependent on US defense spending cycles

Researcher's note

The dossier's purest moat: a credential (clearance) that takes the government months to grant, searchable nowhere else at scale. 105% revenue retention says customers can't leave — textbook niche-monopoly economics.

10. Wellfound (ex-AngelList Talent) Tech

Researched cycle 11 · 2026-06-10 · spun out of AngelList Nov 2022 · founded 2013

What it is

Startup-focused job marketplace — direct-from-founder postings only, no staffing agencies, salary/equity ranges shown upfront. RecruiterCloud AI sources from a 500M+ profile partner network.

Why it matters

The default board for venture-backed startup hiring: 10M+ startup-ready candidates (half software engineers), 35k+ hiring companies, transparent comp, apply-direct-to-founder dynamics.

Key metrics

10–12M candidates · 130k–150k active listings · 35,000+ recruiting companies; ~65% US · market share ~1.06% of job-board market (vs Indeed 33.1%) · funnel reality: ~80% of applications expire unviewed; only 5–6% of applicants reach interview · no mobile app since Mar 2024.

Reviews

Trustpilot 4.1/5 (141, Mar 2026) · ProductHunt 5.0/5 (82) · complaints: VPN-triggered account bans, disappearing messages, "graveyard" stale listings, can't geo-limit remote applicants.

Best for

Engineering/product/design at seed–Series C startups; founders hiring first 10; thin for sales/finance/ops.

Pricing

Seekers free · Employers: free unlimited postings + free ATS; promoted ~$200–500/mo; Recruit Pro $499/mo; Curated $499/seat/mo + 20% of base salary success fee; ~25–30% the cost of LinkedIn Recruiter; Greenhouse/Lever/Ashby/Workable integrations.

Weaknesses

Application black hole (80% never viewed), startup-demand cyclicality, no mobile app, aggressive fraud-bans, equity-heavy comp packaging.

11. Hired Defunct

Documented cycle 12 · 2026-06-10 · shut down 2024-06-14, absorbed into LHH (Adecco)

What it was

AI-driven reverse marketplace for tech/sales talent (founded 2012, $130M+ raised) — companies applied to candidates with upfront salary offers. Vettery (Adecco 2018) acquired Hired Nov 2020; combined product rebranded "Hired" Mar 2021.

What happened

Shut down as a standalone marketplace 2024-06-14, folded into LHH Recruitment Solutions. No revival as of June 2026 — "Hired" survives only as LHH branding.

Lesson

The candidate-first reverse-marketplace model (Hired, Vettery, Triplebyte) consolidated/failed in the 2023–24 tech-hiring downturn; nearest living successors are Wellfound Curated/RecruiterCloud and Otta-style matching.

12. Welcome to the Jungle (incl. Otta) Tech

Researched cycle 13 · 2026-06-10 · founded 2015 Paris; acquired Otta Jan 2024 · B Corp

What it is

French employer-branding + job platform (€80M+ raised) — culture-first company profiles with video; acquired London's Otta (matching-based tech search, est. $80–120M valuation) to enter UK/US.

Why it matters

Culture-first model + Otta's preference matching. Huntr Q1 2026: #3 of all platforms in per-application interview conversion (3.63%), beating Glassdoor, Indeed and LinkedIn.

Key metrics

5.3M monthly visitors (Dec 2025) · Otta side: 1.7–2M users, 6M applications in 2023 to 10,000 companies, 70% US-origin · 5,500+ customers (FR core); US platform 3,500+ companies, 70k+ live jobs · offices Paris/London/NYC.

Reviews

Trustpilot (otta.com) 4.0/5 (~1,058) — praise: curated matching, £50 charity donation per landed job; complaints: senior response rates, salaries no longer shown post-rebrand.

Best for

Tech/startup/scale-up roles in France (dominant), UK, growing US; candidates who weight culture/values.

Pricing

Seekers free · Employers quote-based subscriptions; third-party figure from £199/post/mo; criticism: 12-month all-or-nothing lock-in.

Weaknesses

Post-rebrand salary-transparency regression, quote-gated pricing, FR-centric depth vs thinner US/UK inventory.

13. We Work Remotely Tech

Researched cycle 14 · 2026-06-10 · launched 2011 (37signals lineage)

What it is

One of the oldest dedicated remote-only boards — direct-from-employer postings only, no scraping, across tech/design/marketing/support.

Why it matters

Self-described "#1 site for remote jobs": 6M monthly visitors (self-reported), decade-plus track record, curated spam-light inventory. Claims 90%+ of posting customers find their hire.

Key metrics

6M visitors/mo (unverified) · thousands of live listings · direct-post-only model.

Reviews

Trustpilot 3.3/5 (~107–170) — 1 in 3 reviews 1-star, overwhelmingly about the seeker Pro subscription's 12-month billing lock-in · G2 ~4.0/5 (employer-skewed) · praise: legit quality, serious candidates.

Best for

Remote-first tech/design/marketing/support roles, global reach; employers wanting curated remote-only audience.

Pricing

Seekers NO LONGER FREE — Pro required to browse/apply: ~$2.95 first month → ~$14.95/mo on 12-month commitment · Employers $299/30-day post (auto-renews); upgrades ~$358–448; Boost +$299; bundles save 40%.

Weaknesses

Seeker paywall damaged trust and application volume, billing lock-in 1-star floods, self-reported traffic, no ATS.

14. Remote.co Tech

Researched cycle 15 · 2026-06-10 · FlexJobs family (Sara Sutton) · founded 2015

What it is

Remote-only board with FlexJobs' vetting DNA — manually-reviewed postings from genuinely remote-supporting companies; broader category coverage than tech-centric peers (data entry, teaching, healthcare).

Key metrics

~130+ new listings/week, manually reviewed · traffic not publicly disclosed — materially smaller than WWR's claims.

Reviews

Trustpilot 4.1/5 (259, early 2026) — praise: intuitive layout, filters; complaints: unauthorized charges/payment redirects, ~$6.39/mo fee for content free elsewhere, unclear cancellation.

Best for

Vetted remote roles beyond tech (admin, teaching, healthcare); remote-first employers seeking curated audience.

Pricing

Seekers: nominally free, subscription prompts creeping in (~$6.39/mo) · Employers ~$299/listing/30 days.

Weaknesses

Opaque traffic/scale, creeping seeker paywall, small inventory, pricing/cancellation confusion.

15. RemoteOK Tech

Researched cycle 16 · 2026-06-10 · solo-run by Pieter Levels (@levelsio) · founded Feb 2015

What it is

Remote job board famously run by one person (PHP + SQLite, no employees, no investors) — born of the "12 startups in 12 months" challenge. #OpenSalaries branding, tech-heavy.

Why it matters

The most profitable solo-run job board ever — $3.4M revenue (Oct 2024) from ~1.8k employer customers — and a top-3 dedicated remote board. Employer-paid model doubles as spam filter; used by Amazon, Microsoft, Starbucks.

Key metrics

500–800k visitors/mo (estimates; site self-reports 3.02M pageviews/mo) · ~11,856 active listings, ~35% with salary (Apr 2026) · revenue: $466k (2020) → $810k (2022) → $2M (2023) → $3.4M (Oct 2024) + ~$25k/mo sponsorships · newsletter 91k.

Reviews

Effectively unreviewed: Trustpilot 0 reviews (unclaimed), G2 1 review, PH 6 reviews 3.8/5; the site's own "4.8/5 from 10,000+ reviews" appears on no third-party platform — marketing. ScamAdviser 80/100 legit.

Best for

Developer/design remote roles worldwide; free no-account browsing; employers OK with self-serve and zero support.

Pricing

Seekers free (+ optional Premium) · Employers from $299/30-day (dynamic; some cite $599 base); highlights $49–89, sticky week $99/month $299; configs to ~$4,143; auto-renews, non-refundable · public JSON API (rare).

Weaknesses

One-person bus factor, no support/SLA, unverifiable self-reported metrics, non-tech underrepresented, dynamic-pricing opacity.

16. FlexJobs Niche

Researched cycle 17 · 2026-06-10 · BOLD-owned since 2024 · founded 2007 by Sara Sutton

What it is

Subscription-based, hand-vetted board for remote/hybrid/flexible jobs — research team hand-screens every listing (~100+ hrs/day claimed) to kill scams and ghost jobs. The anti-Indeed.

Why it matters

The reference brand for vetted remote work: 17+ years, A+ BBB since 2008, 135M cumulative users. Sells signal in the noisiest market segment.

Key metrics

20,000+ hand-screened listings (FAQ; reviews count 30k+) from ~5–6k vetted companies · 50+ categories · remote listings +20% Q1 2026 · ~80% of listings target mid-career+ · its research: remote = ~9–10% of postings but gets 2.6x more applications.

Reviews

Trustpilot 4.2–4.3/5 (~6,536 → 6,900) · Sitejabber 4.3/5 (16,615) · G2 4.3/5 · BUT 475 one-star reviews almost entirely about the $2.95 14-day trial auto-converting to $24.95/mo — billing mechanics, not quality.

Best for

Mid-career professionals in admin/marketing/CS/PM seeking legit remote/flexible work; willing to pay for filtering.

Pricing

Seekers: $2.95 trial → $24.95/mo, $59.95/yr (~$5/mo); 50% off military/teachers/nurses/first responders; 30-day refunds; includes skills tests, Big Interview, ExpertApply · Employers: subscription packages.

Weaknesses

Trial auto-conversion complaint engine, pay-for-aggregated-content critique, BOLD ownership concentration (also owns Monster/CB/Remote.co), no free tier.

17. Remotive Tech

Researched cycle 18 · 2026-06-10 · founded 2014 by Rodolphe Dutel (ex-Buffer), Paris

What it is

Curated remote job board — free board (~2,000 active listings) + paid Accelerator seeker tier + 160k+ job paid database; 50k+ member Slack community.

Why it matters

The community-first remote board (500k social followers) with a free model contrasting FlexJobs/WWR paywalls. Hires made for Zapier, Airtable, Salesforce.

Key metrics

3M+ unique visitors/yr (~250k/mo, self-reported); ~60% North America · ~2,000 active free listings; 32% show salary · 50k+ Slack members.

Reviews

Trustpilot 4.2/5 (256) · G2 4.1/5 · ProductHunt 4.9/5 (60+) · criticisms: no salary filter, thin non-tech, 30-day full-price renewals.

Best for

Tech/support/design/marketing professionals seeking full-time remote (US-friendly); employers wanting curated reach + community amplification.

Pricing

Seekers: free board; Accelerator one-time ~$79–158 · Employers $299/30-day + visibility upgrades; ATS integrations; public API.

Weaknesses

Small inventory vs aggregators, self-reported traffic, lifetime-deal pricing inconsistency.

18. Himalayas Tech

Researched cycle 19 · 2026-06-10 · founded 2020, Australia

What it is

Modern remote-tech board, free both sides; monetizes via AI seeker tools (Plus $9/Max $29) and $199 pinned posts. The most AI-agent-friendly board: free public API, RSS, and an MCP server with 41 tools.

Why it matters

Largest free remote-listing pool of the dedicated boards: ~112,486 live listings, 25,000+ companies, salary transparency, tech-stack company profiles — purpose-built for agentic job search.

Key metrics

~112,486 live remote jobs (June 2026) · 25k+ companies · 200k+ candidate-profile directory · 250k+ seekers claimed.

Reviews

Trustpilot direct: 3.7/5 from only 4 reviews (an aggregator cites 4.1/156 — conflicting); G2 4.2/5; ProductHunt positive (expired posts actually removed); BestRemoteJobBoards 5/5.

Best for

Remote software/design/product seekers wanting free salary-transparent search; employers posting free; developers/AI agents consuming job data programmatically.

Pricing

Seekers free (Plus $9/mo, Max $29/mo AI tools; full-refund policy) · Employers: free posting, free messaging; only paid feature $199 pinned post · free no-auth API + MCP + RSS.

Weaknesses

Young brand, tiny direct review base, traffic unverified, free-model sustainability unproven, aggregated listings inflate counts.

19. USAJOBS Niche

Researched cycle 20 · 2026-06-10 · OPM-run US federal monopoly channel

What it is

The US federal government's official employment site — mandatory front door for civil-service openings across hundreds of agencies.

Why it matters

Monopoly: ~450,000 announcements and ~22M applications/yr, 6M+ profiles, 1.2B searches (FY23). No alternative venue for federal careers.

Key metrics

~73,000 active postings (Nov 2025) after FY2025 postings fell −42.7% · 2025 workforce −317k (−13.7%) · 2026: EO 14356 Strategic Hiring Committees + 4:1 attrition ratio; partial thaw — application success odds at 14-month high (Mar 2026); hot series: Protective Services, IT, Medical · time-to-hire 2 months–1+ yr.

Reviews

SmartCustomer 1.3/5 (79) — black-hole applications ("apply to ~500 to get anywhere"), zero follow-up, veterans' preference frustrations; Georgetown careers blog: "a broken system."

Best for

Federal civil-service careers (only option); veterans with preference; cleared professionals (pair with ClearanceJobs).

Pricing

Free for seekers; agency-funded; public REST API + OPM data portal (near-real-time accessions).

Weaknesses

Glacial timelines, federal-resume burden, "Referred" purgatory, political whiplash risk, terrible candidate-experience ratings.

20. Idealist Niche

Researched cycle 21 · 2026-06-10 · launched 1995 · merged with VolunteerMatch 2025

What it is

The dominant social-impact/nonprofit jobs + volunteering platform — jobs, internships, volunteer ops, events for nonprofits and government agencies.

Why it matters

Largest mission-driven talent pool: 200,000+ organizations, 1.3M visitors/mo averaging 8 years' work experience; free volunteer listings keep the network dense.

Key metrics

200k+ orgs · 1.3M monthly visitors · claims 100k seekers/volunteers reachable daily · 5,500+ responses to its annual Employer Report · Nonprofit Salary Explorer tool.

Reviews

Trustpilot 3.2/5 (few reviews); G2/Capterra praise ease and mission-aligned candidates + built-in free ATS; cons: less traction than mainstream boards, no resume DB.

Best for

Nonprofit/NGO/gov/social-enterprise hiring; internships and volunteer-to-job pipelines; global (free posting outside US).

Pricing

Seekers free · US nonprofits/gov $145/job/30 days, $25/internship; recruiters $175/$35; non-US orgs FREE; volunteer/event listings free; credit packs 3–500 (3-yr validity); membership $149/yr.

Weaknesses

Lower volume than general boards, no resume DB, sector salary limits, thin review footprint.

21. Handshake Niche

Researched cycle 22 · 2026-06-10 · founded 2014 · ~$3.3–3.5B valuation

What it is

The dominant US university-to-career platform — students auto-get verified access via partner schools; employers recruit by school/major/grad year. Since Jan 2025 also runs Handshake AI (data-labeling) which now dwarfs the job platform.

Why it matters

Near-monopoly on campus recruiting: ~20M students/alumni, 1,500+ schools incl. 92% of top-ranked colleges. Its data defines the entry-level market. Huntr Q1 2026: 3.35% interview conversion, above LinkedIn/Indeed.

Key metrics

Recruiting ~$150M ARR vs Handshake AI ~$1B gross annualized (Apr 2026; nets ~$300M; 8 frontier labs incl. OpenAI/Anthropic; Cleanlab acqui-hire Jan 2026) · entry-level postings −12% vs 2019–20; recent-grad unemployment 5.6% vs 4.2% all workers; median posted salary $67,500; visa-sponsorship postings collapsed 10.9% → 2.6% (2023→2026); AI-mention postings doubled to 4.2%.

Reviews

G2 4.4/5; TrustRadius 7.8/10 — Basic users positive, TES customers cite pricing opacity and surprise renewal hikes; Feb 2025 billing-terms change with <7 days notice; free-tier cuts Jul 2025; AI-training contractors report unpaid-wage disputes.

Best for

Entry-level/internship hiring and student search (effectively mandatory at partner schools); employers building campus pipelines.

Pricing

Students free · Employers: Basic free (unlimited postings); Plus $100+/wk; Talent Engagement Suite $10k–250k+/yr (median ~$29.8k, custom-quoted).

Weaknesses

TES pricing opacity, billing complaints, shrinking free features, AI pivot diverting focus, structurally weak entry-level demand.

22. Snagajob General

Researched cycle 23 · 2026-06-10 · founded 2000, Richmond VA · JobGet-owned since Nov 2024

What it is

The original US hourly-work job board — shift/hourly roles near home (retail, food service, warehouse) with real-time local matching and personality assessments.

Why it matters

Purpose-built for the >50% of US workers in hourly jobs; every seeker wants hourly work, so employers get targeted volume. Used by Burger King, Wendy's, Chipotle; responses often within 24h.

Key metrics

6M+ active hourly seekers · ~700,000 employers (legacy: 75M registered members) · 3.6M MAU at JobGet acquisition · wage data in postings lifts applications +5% · seeker priorities: pay 94%, hours 94%, location 90%.

Reviews

Consumer: Trustpilot 2.6–2.9/5 (small base; duplicate/fake-listing complaints), Sitejabber 1.4/5; BBB A+ · B2B: TrustRadius 7.8/10, Capterra 4.1/5 · small-biz gripe: premium boosts gated to franchise accounts.

Best for

Hourly/shift hiring at scale (QSR/retail/logistics franchises); seekers wanting fast local hourly work.

Pricing

Seekers free · Employers $89/post/mo; $99 tier adds assessments; $249/mo = 3 posts + email blasts + ATS tools; pay-for-performance options.

Weaknesses

Fake/duplicate listing complaints, tiny consumer-trust footprint, SMB feature-gating, traffic opacity, Indeed/JobGet/Instawork competition.

23. JobGet General

Researched cycle 24 · 2026-06-10 · founded 2019, Boston · $440M valuation

What it is

Mobile-first hourly-work marketplace and aggressive consolidator: acquired Snagajob (Nov 2024), Seasoned, Wirkn, Heroes Jobs, Foh&Boh — claims the largest US hourly/frontline network ("100M people covered"). Was stalking-horse bidder for Monster/CareerBuilder (lost to BOLD by $1M).

Why it matters

The "LinkedIn for hourly workers": chat-first applications, same-day interviews, JobGenie AI. Snagajob brought 3.6M MAU and 14k employers.

Key metrics

~2M app downloads by 2022 (category leader per Sensortower) · 50,000+ companies have posted (Home Depot, Taco Bell) · $94M raised ($52M Series B incl. $12M debt, Jun 2022); $440M valuation · actives undisclosed post-rollup.

Reviews

iOS 4.7/5 (10k+; JustUseApp safety 65.5/100) · Google Play 4.4/5 · Trustpilot only 22 reviews — worst employer complaint: $15k over 3 months, zero qualified candidates, spending caps ignored · caveat: $100-prize review sweepstakes may inflate store ratings.

Best for

Hourly/frontline seekers wanting fastest mobile apply-to-interview loop; high-volume hourly employers (franchise QSR/retail).

Pricing

Seekers free (+ GetCash gamification) · Employers: free tier + custom paid boosts (sales-pushed; reports of ~$5k/mo enterprise).

Weaknesses

Undisclosed usage metrics, 5-acquisition integration risk, paid-tier candidate-quality complaints, incentivized-review optics.

24. Instawork General

Researched cycle 25 · 2026-06-10 · founded 2015, SF · $760M valuation (2023)

What it is

AI-powered on-demand staffing marketplace for hourly shifts — businesses book vetted "Pros" per shift in light industrial, hospitality, retail. A tech replacement for temp agencies, not a job board.

Why it matters

Category leader in flexible-shift staffing: 10M+ workers (2x since Nov 2023), 48+ US/CA markets, 98% fill rates, 4 straight months of double-digit shift growth (May 2026) as businesses hedge against full-time headcount.

Key metrics

10M+ workers · 98% fill rate · avg Pro traveled 29 miles/shift (Apr 2026) · wages +12% YoY Feb 2026, flat by April · top role: warehouse associate · revenue est. $335–665M (2026, unofficial; ~$100M in 2021) · ~$160M raised (Benchmark/Spark/Greylock/TCV); 2,434 employees.

Reviews

Trustpilot 3.9/5 (~366) — above staffing rivals (Adecco 3.2, Robert Half 1.7) · PissedConsumer 2.0/5 (263) · worker complaints: unpaid documented shifts, auto-deactivation on false no-shows, AI-only support · G2 businesses strongly positive ("worth its weight in gold").

Best for

Businesses needing flexible hourly labor without temp-agency overhead; workers wanting schedule-flexible shifts; hospitality/warehouse.

Pricing

Workers free · Businesses: all-inclusive bill rate = worker pay + ~35% markup; free cancel w/ 24h notice; direct-hire fee $2,500 (→$1,000 after 320 hrs); no subscription.

Weaknesses

Worker-side trust issues (pay disputes, deactivations), markup opacity, gig-classification regulatory exposure.

25. Upwork Freelance

Researched cycle 26 · 2026-06-10 · NASDAQ: UPWK · formed 2015 (Elance + oDesk)

What it is

The largest freelance work marketplace — projects/hourly contracts with escrow, time-tracking, milestones; freelancers bid using paid "Connects." Expanding into enterprise contingent workforce (Bubty $20.4M, Ascen EoR acquisitions 2025).

Why it matters

The reference market for knowledge-work freelancing: $4B+ GSV, 18M+ freelancers in 180+ countries. Its Future Workforce Index defines the trend data (US freelancers earned $1.5T in 2024 = 28% of knowledge workers). AI work fastest segment ($300M GSV).

Key metrics

FY2025: revenue $787.8M (record), GSV $4.03B, active clients 785k (down from 855k — shrinking), take rate 19% (up from 18.1%), adj. EBITDA $225.6M (29%), net income $115.4M · 66% US freelancers, typical rate ~$39/hr · market cap ~$1.28B; 2026 guide +6–8%.

Reviews

Trustpilot ~13,657, mixed — dominant complaints: fee stacking (0–15% variable fee + Connects + withdrawal = real "Upwork tax" est. 16–34%), $675 arbitration to recover $75, JSS opacity (one $40 contract dropped 100%→79%), 5-day withdrawals · positives: real escrow, $10k-in-7-months stories.

Best for

Project-based knowledge work (dev, design, writing, AI training); global client sourcing; agencies.

Pricing

Freelancers: free + paid Connects + 0–15% fee + Freelancer Plus $20/mo · Clients: 5% marketplace fee (3% ACH); Business Plus/Enterprise.

Weaknesses

Shrinking client count masked by take-rate hikes, commodity-category race to bottom, broken small-contract dispute economics, AI-proposal spam.

26. Fiverr Freelance

Researched cycle 27 · 2026-06-10 · NYSE: FVRR · founded 2010, Tel Aviv

What it is

Productized-gig marketplace — fixed-price "gigs" across 700+ categories bought like e-commerce. Pivoting upmarket (Seller Plus, Pro, Services segment) and into AI.

Why it matters

Highest-traffic freelance marketplace (~80.4M visits/mo, far above Upwork); the default for small productized services. Explicit volume-for-value trade: buyers shrank ~4.2M peak → 2.9M while spend/buyer and take rate climbed.

Key metrics

Q1 2026: buyers 2.9M (−17.8% YoY); spend/buyer $356 (+15.4%); marketplace revenue $67.1M (−13.6%); Services revenue $38.4M (+30%); take rate 27.7% TTM — among the highest anywhere · FY2025 revenue $430.9M (+10.1%) · seller earnings skew: median $60/mo, 96.3% under $500/mo.

Reviews

Trustpilot 3.5/5 (~14.6–16k; bimodal 60% 5-star / 26% 1-star) · G2 positive · buyer complaints: zero-result services, no refunds when "hours logged"; seller complaints: 20% commission, AI success-score tanking profiles, $800 clawbacks, locked withdrawals.

Best for

Buying defined deliverables fast (logos, edits, SEO tasks); side-income sellers; not for employment-like engagements.

Pricing

Sellers: free to list, 20% flat commission · Buyers: price + ~5.5% service fee · Pro/enterprise tiers.

Weaknesses

Shrinking buyer base, extreme take rate, seller-poverty curve, support panned in disputes, upsell price creep.

27. Toptal Freelance

Researched cycle 28 · 2026-06-10 · founded 2010 · private/bootstrapped, est. $500M+ revenue

What it is

Premium vetted-freelancer network — "Top 3%" screening funnel (3–8 weeks) for engineers, designers, finance/product experts; acquired Growth Collective 2024. Managed staffing with marketplace branding.

Why it matters

The quality-ceiling brand: 200k+ applications/yr, <3% accepted, candidates introduced ~24h, 90% of clients hire the first match. #11 Newsweek Most Reliable Companies in America 2026.

Key metrics

20,000+ vetted professionals · 25–30k clients, 140+ countries · $4B+ payments processed · rates $60–200+/hr blended ($150–250 AI/ML); embedded markup reportedly up to 50% (undisclosed); FT engagement ~$2–4.8k/wk.

Reviews

Trustpilot 5/5 (2,359 — skews freelancer-side: reliable pay, quality clients) · G2 limited verified buyers; client gripes: markup opacity, commodity work at premium price, $20k+/mo quotes for mid-senior devs · Glassdoor 3.8/5 as employer.

Best for

Companies needing senior on-demand talent fast with quality guarantee; elite freelancers wanting steady premium clients without bidding.

Pricing

Clients: $500 refundable deposit + $79/mo + hourly; 2-week no-risk trial; Net-10 invoicing · Freelancers: free to apply, set own rate.

Weaknesses

Price opacity, premium cost, talent-skewed review base, hourly billing regardless of outcomes, "top 3% of applicants ≠ top 3% of talent" critique.

28. Built In Tech

Researched cycle 29 · 2026-06-10 · founded 2011, Chicago · $22M Series C

What it is

Tech-hub job platform + employer-branding media: city-branded boards (Built In NYC/LA/SF/Boston/Seattle, 20+ international sites since 2024) blending jobs with culture content and Best Places to Work lists.

Why it matters

Content-led local-tech moat: 5M+ monthly visitors (2M+ international), ~2,000 employer customers from startups to Fortune 500 — a Glassdoor/board hybrid for tech hubs.

Key metrics

5M+ visitors/mo (self-reported; 2.5M in 2021) · 1,800–2,000 customers · 70%+ of applications go to remote roles while remote listings fell 46%→38% (2022–23) · Deloitte Fast 500 2x.

Reviews

Software Advice 4.5/5 (30+) · G2: relevant local candidates, but "pricey" and "becoming stagnant vs evolving competitors"; platform-malfunction complaints.

Best for

Tech companies branding + hiring in specific metros; mid-senior tech seekers researching culture; remote-role employers targeting US tech audience.

Pricing

Seekers free · Employers: no free tier; regional boards from $69/mo; national from $199/mo; enterprise $15k–150k+/yr (small co $15–35k, mid-market $40–80k; 10–25% negotiable; renewal hikes).

Weaknesses

No resume DB, opaque enterprise pricing, costly for small employers, stagnation criticism.

29. The Muse (incl. Fairygodboss) Niche

Researched cycle 31 · 2026-06-10 · founded 2011, NYC · PE-backed (MBM Capital)

What it is

Values-based career platform — job search wrapped in employer-branding content (office videos, culture profiles) + career advice/coaching. Acquired Fairygodboss (largest women's career community, ~$10M revenue) Oct 2022.

Why it matters

The employer-branding-first board for Gen Z/millennial values-driven search: 75M people/yr across both brands; Nike, Apple, Salesforce clients; Fast Company claims 95% 3-month retention for Muse-sourced hires.

Key metrics

75M annual users (2022 figure, still cited); 7M+ monthly (YC) · Fairygodboss 10M users/yr; partner employers report +50% female applicants · revenue undisclosed.

Reviews

Trustpilot only 4 reviews, 3.0/5 (coaching complaints, not the board) — beware unrelated "Muse" headband/muse.ai ratings · G2: good culture-branding reach; cons: Gen-Z-only targeting, clunky nav; no candidate matching/scheduling tools, English-only.

Best for

Employer branding to young values-driven talent; women-focused recruiting via Fairygodboss; not a volume application engine.

Pricing

Seekers free (paid coaching marketplace) · Employers: paid-only quote-gated partnership tiers; company profile required to post.

Weaknesses

Opaque pricing, tiny third-party review base, stale public traffic numbers, weak hiring tooling.

30. Ladders Niche

Researched cycle 32 · 2026-06-10 · founded 2003 by Marc Cenedella, NYC

What it is

Subscription job board exclusively for $100k+ salaried roles — vetted six-figure listings + paid seeker tools (Apply4Me concierge applications, recruiter messaging).

Why it matters

The only major board with a hard $100k salary floor: 240,000 $100k+ jobs, ~7M members, ~100k employers, claims 1M hires/yr. Its quarterly High-Paying Jobs Reports are widely cited (only ~2% of six-figure jobs hybrid by 2024).

Key metrics

240k $100k+ jobs · 96–100k companies · 7M+ members · 5M+ active seekers · Apply4Me capped 50–100 apps/mo · avg 18 min saved/application.

Reviews

Aggregate ~2.4/5; SmartCustomer 2.7/5 (105); Trustpilot 394 reviews mixed-poor · praise: no spam listings, clean UX; complaints: paywalled basics, accidental-subscription dark patterns, post-cancellation charges, surprise application caps · Webby Award winner.

Best for

Mid-senior corporate professionals ($100–250k) in finance/marketing/ops/tech management — best in 60–90-day bursts alongside LinkedIn.

Pricing

Free tier browse-only · premium ~$24.97–49.97/mo (2026 reviews: $35–50), annual to ~$299; Apply4Me pushes ~$80/mo · employers free + paid recruiter products.

Weaknesses

Charging seekers for table-stakes features, billing complaints, listing freshness (six-figure roles also free elsewhere).

31. HN "Who is Hiring?" threads Tech

Researched cycle 33 · 2026-06-10 · monthly since Mar 2011 (183 threads)

What it is

Monthly Ask HN threads where companies post jobs as comments — free, unstructured, no middleman; mirrored by hnhiring.com (59,518 ads since 2018), hntrends.com, hacker-hirings.com.

Why it matters

The purest direct-from-founder hiring channel and one of the cleanest real-time tech-demand indicators — zero recruiter spam, salary/stack/visa in plain text.

Key metrics

Volume at decade lows: June 2026 = 359 postings (lowest since Jan 2015); May 2026 first 400+ month since May 2023 · stack signal (6,539 postings Jan 2025–May 2026): Python 28%, TypeScript 21%, Go ~10%, Rust 9% (overtook Java 3%); LLM in 11.5% of postings; Anthropic mentions beat OpenAI 3.24% vs 2.86% (was 1:5 in 2024); PyTorch:TF 3.4:1; 65% of "Senior" roles ask ≤5 yrs · AI in ~25% of May 2026 postings.

Reviews

N/A (community) — universally high-signal/low-volume; complaints: no structure/filters, posts buried fast, black holes still possible.

Best for

Software engineers (esp. AI/LLM, infra) targeting startups/YC companies; founders hiring without fees; market analysts.

Pricing

Completely free both sides · fully scrapeable via HN's public Firebase/Algolia APIs.

Weaknesses

Shrinking volume, no tooling, one thread/month, tech-only, no poster verification.

32. Stack Overflow Jobs Defunct

Documented cycle 34 · 2026-06-10 · shut down 2022-03-31; GitHub Jobs died the year before

What it was

Stack Overflow's developer job board + Developer Story profiles. Company line: "we don't think job boards are the future."

Successor landscape

No direct heir — market fragmented: Dice ($399+ posts), daily.dev Recruiter ($350/mo, reaches the 85–90% of devs not searching), Wellfound, WWR/RemoteOK, vetted marketplaces (Toptal, Lemon.io, Gun.io, Braintrust), niche heirs Relocate.me (300k devs) and Arbeitnow ("Hiring Without Whiteboard").

Lesson

The two trusted-community boards (SO Jobs, GitHub Jobs) both died 2021–22 despite captive developer audiences — community trust doesn't monetize as a job board; demand moved to niche/remote boards and HN threads.

33. Levels.fyi (job board) Tech

Researched cycle 35 · 2026-06-10 · founded 2017 · acquired TechPays (EU)

What it is

Tech-compensation transparency site with attached job board — salary DB from 1M+ verified data points (self-report → offer letter → W2 tiers); employers post free, target by level/company.

Why it matters

The authoritative comp reference for Big Tech (Google L5 median ~$450k TC) — its board reaches comp-literate senior talent at decision moments: 350k+ tech workers/mo with demonstrated switching intent. Free employer posting is an anomaly in this audience tier.

Key metrics

1M+ comp data points; companies hidden under 5 entries · 350k+ monthly tech workers · AI roles carry 10–20% comp premium (its 2026 data) · annual End-of-Year Pay Report widely cited.

Reviews

No meaningful Trustpilot/G2 footprint for the board; salary-data critiques: top-10% Big-Tech skew, thin non-FAANG/non-US coverage.

Best for

Senior engineers/PMs benchmarking + passively browsing; employers hiring senior tech free; comp teams (paid benchmarking).

Pricing

Seekers free (+ paid negotiation services) · Employers: posting FREE, ATS-managed, level targeting; paid comp-data products · no public API (attribution-required data).

Weaknesses

Board secondary to comp product (thin inventory), self-selected salary sample, FAANG bias, no employer-ROI review base.

34. Relocate.me Niche

Researched cycle 36 · 2026-06-10 · founded by Andrew Stetsenko

What it is

Niche board for tech jobs abroad with verified visa-sponsorship/relocation packages; country guides (visas, taxes, housing); paid spin-off "The Global Move" hand-curates ~100 jobs/week.

Why it matters

The only established board where relocation support is the filter — increasingly valuable as US visa-sponsored postings collapsed (10.9%→2.6% per Handshake data). Listings concentrated in Portugal, Japan, Germany, Netherlands, Spain.

Key metrics

~30,000 email subscribers · 25k+ Telegram · The Global Move ~10,000 members, 5,000+ archived relocation-friendly jobs; remote-from-anywhere added Jan 2026.

Reviews

Thin — no Slashdot/SourceForge user reviews yet; favorably listed in the GitHub "tech-jobs-with-relocation" guide; no Trustpilot.

Best for

Developers seeking sponsored moves to EU/Japan; employers with relocation budgets competing for global talent.

Pricing

Seekers: free browse; Global Move = paid subscription · Employers: posts from ~$170; slots, spotlight, email campaigns; recruiting service w/ 3-month guarantee, pay-after-first-day.

Weaknesses

Tiny scale, no independent reviews/traffic data, founder-dependent curation, seeker-side paywall for best content.

35. Arbeitnow Regional

Researched cycle 37 · 2026-06-10 · solo-built by Adithya Srinivasan, Berlin

What it is

Job board for English-speaking jobs in Germany/DACH + remote EU, explicitly inspired by Stack Overflow Jobs. Visa-sponsorship, 4-day-week, and salary-transparency flags; aggregates direct from company ATSes.

Why it matters

The go-to free board for internationals targeting Germany without German; one of the very few boards with a completely free no-auth public API (whole board in one request) — widely used by developers and aggregators.

Key metrics

Tens of thousands of DACH + remote-EU jobs · Similarweb rank ~151k→168k (slipping, −3.5% MoM early 2026); 44% organic; Germany top country.

Reviews

No Trustpilot base; Scamadviser "legit and reliable"; Scam Detector 54.4 algorithmic-questionable (no user complaints); positive jobboardsearch review.

Best for

Internationals relocating to DACH without German; developers consuming job data via free API; employers posting free.

Pricing

Free both sides · free public no-auth JSON API; custom commercial endpoints for monthly fee; Greenhouse integration.

Weaknesses

Solo bus factor (founder building Preiswecker in 2026), declining traffic, no review footprint, ATS-lag listings.

36. daily.dev Recruiter Tools

Researched cycle 38 · 2026-06-10 · hiring layer on the daily.dev reading app

What it is

Matches roles to developers using behavioral signal (what they read/build); double opt-in intros — jobs shown privately to matched candidates, both sides consent before contact.

Why it matters

Reaches the passive 85–90% of developers who are employed and not on job boards — the inverted model vs listings sites. Claims 3x reply rates over cold outreach.

Key metrics

"Millions of active engineers, 150+ countries" (marketing; elsewhere 1M+); US/EU/LATAM strongest · first intros 1–2 weeks; ~10-min setup; ATS integration with dupe filtering.

Reviews

Essentially none independent — no G2/Capterra base; one low-authority directory cites 4.4/5 (1,200) while contradicting itself; comparison content is daily.dev's own marketing.

Best for

Employers sourcing passive senior developers without recruiter spam; not a destination for active seekers.

Pricing

Developers free · Employers $350/mo per role (no placement fees/contracts, unlimited intros, cancel anytime); 3x-reach tier to ~$1,000/mo; custom enterprise.

Weaknesses

Unproven third-party track record, marketing-only metrics, per-role pricing scales poorly, dependent on app engagement.

37. Lemon.io & Gun.io Freelance

Researched cycle 39 · 2026-06-10 · vetted dev marketplaces (SO-Jobs-vacuum heirs)

Lemon.io — budget-Toptal for startups

<3% acceptance vetting; matches ~24h; 500+ startups served. Rates $45–90/hr effective ($60–80 senior; AI engineers avg $60/hr, +41% over others); a senior at $70/hr ≈ $11.2k/mo vs Toptal $20k+. Talent: Europe 41% of contracts (Ukraine/Poland/Romania), Brazil 20% — EE devs 35–55% below US rates. Data asset: 2026 Salary Report from 2,500+ real contracts. Reviews 4.5–4.8 aggregate.

Gun.io — premium US-centric matching

Nashville; algorithmic screen + live interview; hires ~13 days; contract / contract-to-hire / full-time. Freelance $100–200+/hr; FT placement 20% of first-year salary; no fee until hire; devs keep 100% of set rate; 2-yr non-solicitation. G2 4.5/5 (15+) — "highest success rate vs competing firms"; criticisms: cost, budget overruns, opaque markup.

Cluster context

Cheaper rivals: CloudDevs (LATAM $45–75/hr), Arc.dev ($60–110/hr, 0% freelancer fee).

38. YC Work at a Startup Tech

Researched cycle 41 · 2026-06-10 · YC's official portfolio job board

What it is

One common application reaches 1,000+ vetted, funded YC startups; founders browse applicants and initiate contact.

Why it matters

Highest-quality startup filter that exists: every employer is YC-vetted (5,000+ companies since 2005, $1T+ combined valuation). Default channel for founding-engineer roles — comp benchmarks $160–180k + 1.5–2.0% equity.

Key metrics

~5,840 open roles (June 2026) incl. W26/P26 batches · Spring 2025 batch >50% agentic-AI companies · free both sides (YC subsidizes).

Reviews

No Trustpilot/G2 (community resource); ProductHunt-positive; complaint pattern: founder ghosting, equity-heavy comp.

Best for

Engineers/designers/PMs targeting early-stage (esp. founding-engineer) roles; YC founders hiring first 10.

Pricing

Free for seekers AND companies · no public API (scrapers exist).

Weaknesses

YC-portfolio-only inventory, AI-batch concentration, no SLAs on founder responsiveness.

39. Robert Half General

Researched cycle 42 · 2026-06-10 · NYSE: RHI · founded 1948 · the staffing-agency archetype

What it is

The largest specialized staffing firm — contract and permanent placement in finance/accounting, tech, legal, admin; owns Protiviti consulting. Its job board fronts a recruiter-mediated placement machine.

Why it matters

Benchmark for the agency category: $5.37B TTM revenue, 400+ offices, 16,000 employees, Fortune Most Admired in its industry ~3 decades running.

Key metrics

Q1 2026 revenue $1.35B (−4% YoY, beat estimates); FY2025 $5.38B (−7.2%); three straight down years off 2022 peak · economics: ~70–75% contract markup; 30–35% perm placement fee · talent solutions: 2 consecutive growth quarters (constant currency).

Reviews

Sharp corporate-vs-consumer gap: Trustpilot 1.9/5 (~147 — ghosting after interviews), G2 2.6/5, Yelp 3.3/5 (4,359 across 234 locations); quality varies wildly by office (4.1 Foster City vs 1.8 NYC) · Glassdoor as employer 3.6/5 (7,909).

Best for

Finance/accounting and admin contract work, temp-to-hire; employers outsourcing screening entirely.

Pricing

Seekers free (recruiter-mediated) · Employers: ~70–75% contract markups; perm fees 30–35% of salary.

Weaknesses

Structural revenue decline (AI + marketplace disintermediation), candidate-ghosting reputation, office-quality lottery, highest cost-per-hire channel.

40. Adzuna Aggregator

Researched cycle 43 · 2026-06-10 · founded 2011, UK · runs UK gov "Find a job"

What it is

Job search aggregator in 19 countries, distinct as a data company: powers the UK government's Find-a-job service since 2018 and feeds the No. 10 Dashboard and ONS labour indices.

Why it matters

The aggregator-as-data-company: 80M+ job ads analyzed, 8 years of historical postings, and one of the best public job APIs (9 REST endpoints incl. salary/vacancy history).

Key metrics

10M+ monthly visitors claimed network-wide (adzuna.co.uk alone 883k visits Apr 2026) · 19 countries · revenue est. $15–50M; ~$100M valuation on only $10.8M raised; 51–200 employees.

Reviews

Thin consumer footprint (pass-through aggregator); known weaknesses: stale listings, redirect-heavy UX.

Best for

Seekers in its 19 markets; developers/researchers needing job-market data; programmatic employer ads.

Pricing

Seekers free · Employers CPC programmatic · public API: free tier, API-key, aggressive rate limits; third-party MCP server exists.

Weaknesses

Modest brand traffic vs Indeed everywhere, private opaque financials, aggregation quality issues.

41. Jooble Aggregator

Researched cycle 44 · 2026-06-10 · founded 2006, Kyiv · profitable in 6 months

What it is

Global job aggregator scanning 140,000+ sources (15,000+ real-time), selling redirects to original postings. Offices Ukraine/Hungary/Poland/Cyprus.

Why it matters

The #1 job aggregator globally by traffic and #7 recruitment marketplace overall (AIM Group): ~36M visits/mo, ~1B visits/yr, 66–71 country versions — the biggest job site most Americans have never heard of.

Key metrics

~36M visits/mo; 1B/yr claimed; 4.73 pages/visit · 1.5M+ active jobs searchable · 350+ staff in 20 countries · revenue est. $10–25M (redirect/PPC model — tiny vs traffic).

Reviews

Trustpilot ~2,057, mixed (~3/5) — breadth praised; "spams Google with fake jobs" complaints (Jooble counters it only aggregates); Glassdoor as employer 4.3/5.

Best for

Seekers in non-US markets (esp. Europe) wanting single-search aggregation; publishers buying traffic via PPC.

Pricing

Seekers free · Employers/boards: PPC redirect purchases · partner API for feeds.

Weaknesses

Pure-redirect UX, aggregation staleness/dupes, low US brand recognition, low monetization per visit.

42. Talent.com Aggregator

Researched cycle 45 · 2026-06-10 · founded 2011 as Neuvoo, Montreal · $160M raised

What it is

Mass-market aggregator (35–40M listings from career sites, agencies, boards) + salary tools + programmatic ad products; paid $1.3M for the domain in the 2019 rebrand.

Why it matters

The best-funded independent Indeed challenger: $120M Series B (Mar 2022, Inovia/CDPQ), ~28M unique visitors/mo, 78 countries / 29 languages, 1M companies' jobs displayed.

Key metrics

28M+ unique visitors/mo · 35M+ jobs in 78 countries · revenue $120M (2021); >$75M in 2019 · no post-2022 rounds disclosed.

Reviews

Thin consumer base; redirect UX and listing-freshness issues typical of aggregators.

Best for

Programmatic job advertising at scale; non-US seekers wanting localized aggregation + salary converters.

Pricing

Seekers free · Employers: CPC programmatic campaigns; partner XML feeds.

Weaknesses

No fresh public metrics since 2022 (possible stall), redirect model limits candidate experience, brand awareness far below funding level.

43. SEEK Regional

Researched cycle 46 · 2026-06-10 · ASX: SEK · founded 1997, Melbourne

What it is

Australia's dominant employment marketplace and Asia-Pacific consolidator — owns JobStreet and JobsDB across six SEA markets plus Sidekicker (ANZ contingent labour). Its monthly job-ads index is an official-grade economic indicator.

Why it matters

Near-monopoly in ANZ professional hiring with rising placement share, and #2 of ALL platforms globally in per-application interview conversion (4.63%, Huntr Q1 2026). The model for a national champion that out-defended Indeed locally.

Key metrics

FY2025: net revenue A$1,090M (+1%), EBITDA A$459M, adj. profit A$155M, FCF A$203M (+41%), dividend +31% · FY26 guidance A$1.15–1.25B · freemium live in 5 of 6 Asian markets; ANZ placement share rising · AU job ads −2.6%/−2.9% Feb/Mar 2026, first rise in 3 months by June; NZ ads 3-yr high.

Reviews

National-utility status; 2026 commentary: "the Google of the South or an overpriced giant" — employers grumble at yield-driven price rises while remaining captive.

Best for

Any hiring/search in Australia & NZ (default channel); SEA professional roles via JobStreet/JobsDB.

Pricing

Seekers free · Employers tiered ads (Classic/StandOut/Premium), yield-managed double-digit increases, talent search subscriptions.

Weaknesses

ANZ macro-cyclicality, price-increase resentment, Asia monetization maturing, single-region concentration.

44. Reed.co.uk Regional

Researched cycle 47 · 2026-06-10 · launched 1995 by Sir Alec Reed — first UK recruitment site

What it is

The UK's longest-running major job site, family-owned arm of the Reed Group (agency + courses + screening); publishes the Reed Job Index labor indicator.

Why it matters

Largest UK-owned candidate pool: 21.7M total audience, 12M+ CV database, 11M+ monthly visitors, 160k+ applications/day, 50k+ new registrations/week. Indeed leads UK traffic but Reed is the domestic flagship.

Key metrics

11M+ visitors/mo · 12M+ CVs · 160k applications/day · postings live 6 weeks (vs 30-day norm).

Reviews

Trustpilot 4.3/5 from 5,000+ reviews — among the best consumer scores of any major board; praise: user-friendliness, competitive pricing.

Best for

UK-wide hiring across white-collar, admin, finance, education, healthcare; UK-native seekers; CV-search recruiting.

Pricing

Seekers free (+ courses ecosystem) · Employers: no free posting — £89+VAT newcomer, £150 standard, £175 Premium+, £250 Featured per 6-week post; CV DB subscriptions; Pay-for-Performance model.

Weaknesses

UK-only, weaker matching/analytics tooling, no free tier, Indeed dominance squeezing domestic boards.

45. Totaljobs Regional

Researched cycle 48 · 2026-06-10 · founded 1999 · Stepstone Group (Axel Springer/KKR JV)

What it is

UK generalist board, flagship UK brand of The Stepstone Group (siblings: Jobsite, CWJobs); Stepstone acquired Mya conversational-AI for autonomous matching.

Why it matters

The UK's #2 board behind Indeed: ~14.1M monthly views, 5.1M jobseekers/mo, 2.2M applications/mo, 16M searchable CVs — the UK face of Europe's Stepstone-vs-Indeed duopoly.

Key metrics

~14.13M views/mo · 5.1M monthly jobseekers · ~90,000 live ads typical · 2.2M applications/mo · 16M CV database · UK's ~166th most-visited site.

Reviews

Trustpilot thousands of reviews (~300 pages), mixed; Jobboard Finder 5.8/10; ScamAdviser legit.

Best for

UK mass-market hiring (admin, trades, logistics, sales; IT via CWJobs); CV-database recruiting.

Pricing

Seekers free · Employers: paid posts (new-customer discounts), CV search subscriptions, programmatic via Stepstone stack.

Weaknesses

Distant #2 to Indeed UK, brand fragmentation across the portfolio, some public stats last verified 2021.

46. StepStone Group Regional

Researched cycle 49 · 2026-06-10 · founded 1996, Düsseldorf · Axel Springer + KKR/CPP

What it is

Europe's largest home-grown job platform group: flagship stepstone.de dominates German professional hiring; owns Totaljobs/Jobsite/CWJobs (UK), Appcast (US programmatic), Mya AI; founding member of THE NETWORK (400M+ candidates globally).

Why it matters

The Indeed counterweight in Europe: 67M+ monthly visitors group-wide, 16M+ active subscribers, 600k+ monthly listings spanning 140 countries; Germany's #1 professional board with premium-only pricing power.

Key metrics

67M+ visitors/mo · 16M+ subscribers · 600k+ monthly listings · 140 countries · IPO long-rumored, shelved · NOTE: NYSE "StepStone Group (STEP)" is an unrelated asset manager.

Reviews

Premium positioning respected; complaints: high prices, no free tier; AI matching praised.

Best for

Professional/skilled hiring in Germany + DACH (default), pan-EU campaigns via group brands; DE salary benchmarks.

Pricing

Seekers free · Employers: premium-only listings, 15-day refresh service, student/intern discounts; programmatic via Appcast.

Weaknesses

Cost barrier for SMBs, German-cycle exposure, brand sprawl, IPO uncertainty.

47. Naukri.com Regional

Researched cycle 51 · 2026-06-10 · since 1997 · Info Edge (NSE: NAUKRI)

What it is

India's dominant job portal — resume-database recruiter model (RESDEX); publishes the JobSpeak index, India's de-facto hiring barometer. Info Edge profits fund a venture empire (Zomato, PolicyBazaar stakes).

Why it matters

Owns Indian white-collar hiring: 78.3M resumes, 500k+ active recruiters, 50M+ app downloads — one of the largest single-country talent pools anywhere.

Key metrics

78.3M (7.83 crore) resumes · 500k+ recruiters · app 50M+ downloads at 4.5/5 · hiring +13% YoY Dec 2025, +21% Jan 2026 · Info Edge Q4: profit ₹566 crore (+22%), revenue +21% · competitors: Indeed (#1 app India), Apna, WorkIndia, Internshala, LinkedIn.

Reviews

App 4.5/5 at massive volume; complaints: recruiter-call spam after upload, paid visibility upsells to seekers, stale listings.

Best for

All white-collar hiring/search in India (default); IT-services mass recruitment; recruiters mining RESDEX.

Pricing

Seekers free + paid resume services · Employers: posting packages + RESDEX subscriptions tiered by slots/duration.

Weaknesses

Seeker upsell pressure, resume-spam culture, blue-collar gap (ceded to Apna/WorkIndia), premium-segment encroachment by LinkedIn.

48. China: BOSS Zhipin · Zhaopin · 51job · Liepin Regional

Researched cycle 52 · 2026-06-10 · world's largest single-country recruitment market

BOSS Zhipin (Kanzhun, BZ/2076)

Chat-first leader: FY2025 MAU 60.7M avg (+14.5%); revenue RMB 8,267.5M (US$1.18B, +12.4%); net income +71.7%; 6.8M paid enterprise customers; ≥50% of adjusted net income to dividends/buybacks 2026–28. Growth: blue-collar, lower-tier cities, SMEs.

Zhaopin

Legacy giant: 200M+ registered users, ~9M DAU (2020), 90%+ of China's top-500 companies; private since 2017 ($1.01B; Primavera-led since 2021, SEEK minority).

51job

Went private May 2022 at ~$5.7B (DCP/Ocean Link/Recruit participating); no longer publishes metrics.

Liepin

Mid-to-senior/executive headhunter marketplace (HKEX-listed).

Sector issues

Regulator crackdowns on fake postings, Kanzhun data-security review (2021, resolved), macro hiring softness, SME price wars. No open APIs; seekers free.

49. Apna Regional

Researched cycle 53 · 2026-06-10 · founded 2019, Bengaluru · $1.1B unicorn

What it is

India's leading blue-collar/grey-collar mobile job platform — vernacular, community-driven, AI matching; fastest Indian startup to unicorn ($194M raised, Tiger Global/Peak XV/Insight).

Why it matters

Owns the segment Naukri ceded: 60M+ users in 900+ cities (40%+ of India's pincodes), 700k+ employers. Government-endorsed: Labour Ministry puts 1M job offers/yr on NCS portal via Apna.

Key metrics

60M+ users (Dec 2025) · 700k+ employers · +28% daily signups post-iOS launch · FY25 revenue ₹144 Cr (~$17M); losses narrowed (₹51.3 Cr FY24 vs ₹120.3 FY23) · app 10M+ downloads, 4.4/5.

Reviews

App 4.4/5; praised for speed + verified employers; complaints: spam calls, low-end listing quality variance.

Best for

Indian blue-collar/entry-level hiring at scale (delivery, retail, BPO, drivers); tier-2/3 city reach.

Pricing

Seekers free · Employers freemium + paid boosts/database/AI screening.

Weaknesses

Revenue ~1/40th of valuation, monetization difficulty in price-sensitive segment, employer-quality policing.

50. Internshala Regional

Researched cycle 54 · 2026-06-10 · founded 2011 · upGrad-acquired Feb 2026 (~₹100 Cr)

What it is

India's leading internship + early-career platform: internships, fresher jobs, certification trainings, placement-guarantee courses. 90% stock-swap into upGrad; retains brand and CEO Sarvesh Agrawal.

Why it matters

The entry gate to Indian white-collar careers: 34M+ registered users, 450k+ employers, ~3M applications/yr with 40%+ from Tier-2/3 cities — now upGrad's education→employment pipeline.

Key metrics

34M+ users · 450k+ employers · ~3M annual applicants · FY25 revenue ₹44.1 Cr (~$5.2M), loss ~$1.3M · app 4.7/5 (highest of Indian career apps) · fresher hiring +41–54% in some sectors.

Reviews

Trusted student brand, app 4.7/5; complaints: low/unpaid internship listings, paid-training upsells to students.

Best for

Indian students/freshers (internship→PPO route); SMEs/startups hiring interns cheaply.

Pricing

Students free to apply (paid trainings = revenue engine) · Employers: free/cheap posting + paid products.

Weaknesses

Monetizes students not employers (incentive tension), thin margins, upGrad integration risk.

51. Bayt.com Regional

Researched cycle 55 · 2026-06-10 · since 2000, Dubai · ~1,100 employees

What it is

The Middle East/MENA's #1 job site — CV-database recruiter model localized for Gulf hiring (visa status, nationality, Arabic/English); AI+ hiring tools launched 2025–26.

Why it matters

Largest MENA talent pool by far: 57.7M CVs ("largest database in MENA"), 40,000+ employers, ~81,470 live jobs. The default for expat-heavy GCC hiring where visa/nationalization quotas matter.

Key metrics

57.4–57.7M CVs (own site 2026; older syndicated 47M+) · 3M visitors/mo (current copy) vs 5M+ (older profiles) — conflicting/declining · 40k+ employers · ~81k jobs.

Reviews

Modest review footprint; long regional trust; typical CV-DB complaints: recruiter spam, stale CVs, seeker upsells.

Best for

GCC/MENA hiring (UAE, Saudi, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt); expats targeting the Gulf; nationality/visa filters.

Pricing

Seekers free + paid CV/visibility upsells · Employers: paid postings + CV-search subscriptions; AIPlus screening.

Weaknesses

Traffic declining per own copy, LinkedIn's Gulf penetration, oil-economy cycle dependence.

52. Google for Jobs Aggregator

Researched cycle 56 · 2026-06-10 · launched June 2017 · search layer, not a board

What it is

A search layer that crawls JobPosting schema markup from career pages/boards, de-dupes, and shows job cards above organic results. No posting dashboard; "Apply" links out to the source.

Why it matters

The highest-response-rate channel measured anywhere: 9.3% application response rate vs LinkedIn's 3.3% (Huntr measured 11.3%) — aggregating 100+ boards while spreading applicant volume. Free to appear in.

Key metrics

Response rate 9.3–11.3% vs ~3.1–3.3% LinkedIn/Indeed · JobPosting markup on only 100k–1M domains (Schema.org May 2026) — most postings still missing · visibility 24–72h after correct markup; salary is the highest-impact field.

Industry impact

"The job ranks, not the job board" — big generalist boards lost organic traffic, small boards gained; brand recognition decides clicks; 2026 API changes tightened small-board indexing.

Best for

Every employer (free reach — schema is table stakes); seekers who underuse it despite 3x response rates.

Pricing

Free · tracking via Search Console job-posting report; Indexing API for fast crawl.

Weaknesses

No boost/promotion options, no posting interface, zero support, Google can reshape traffic unilaterally, case-sensitive markup gotchas.

53. eFinancialCareers Niche

Researched cycle 57 · 2026-06-10 · est. 1999, London · ~$41M revenue

What it is

The leading finance-specialist board — investment banking, trading, asset management, fintech, quant across US/UK/EU/APAC; publishes the annual eFC Compensation Report (2,500-worker survey).

Why it matters

Targeted finance audience of 1.5–1.7M professionals generating 3.7M applications/yr — "significantly higher applicant quality" per recruiters. JPMorgan, Deloitte, Capital One each posting ~1,000 jobs (June 2026).

Key metrics

1.5–1.7M professionals · 3.7M applications/yr · ~46% US traffic · ~$41M revenue, 119 employees.

Reviews

Trustpilot 4.0/5 (~455) · Scamadviser 4.6/5 aggregate — among the better-reviewed niche boards · Glassdoor as employer 4.2/5.

Best for

Front/middle-office finance, fintech, quant hiring; comp benchmarking; money-center markets (NYC, London, HK, SG).

Pricing

Seekers free · Employers: self-service job credits + CV-database subscriptions; region-varied quote pricing.

Weaknesses

Opaque pricing, niche-bounded volume, LinkedIn capture of senior networking, banking hiring-freeze cyclicality.

54. Health eCareers Healthcare

Researched cycle 58 · 2026-06-10 · founded 1993 · Everyday Health Group/Ziff Davis

What it is

Veteran healthcare-specialist board — physician/PA/NP/CRNA-focused with an exclusive network of healthcare-association job boards; email campaigns + career fairs as employer products.

Why it matters

Claims reach to 90% of all practicing US providers via its association network — the credential-verified channel in the fastest-growing US job sector (BLS: +1.9M healthcare openings/yr through 2034).

Key metrics

2M monthly visitors · ~150k applicants/mo · 800k+ provider audience · ~945k page views/mo · sector wage context: practitioner median $83,090 vs $49,500 all-occupation.

Reviews

Trustpilot 44 reviews skewing negative on ROI — "$1,500 for 3 months → 2 resumes", refund stonewalling; physician reach praised, nursing/allied ROI panned · Glassdoor as employer 3.1/5.

Best for

Physician/advanced-practice recruiting (association network unique); NOT cost-efficient for nursing volume.

Pricing

Seekers free · Employers from $499.99/30-day post (vs CareerVitals $199); subscriptions ~$1,000/mo w/ 3-month commitments.

Weaknesses

Premium pricing with contested ROI, weak refund/support reputation, nursing better served by Vivian/Incredible Health.

55. Vivian Health Healthcare

Researched cycle 59 · 2026-06-10 · launched 2016 as NurseFly · IAC-owned, profitable

What it is

Healthcare jobs marketplace aggregating travel/per-diem/staff assignments from 100+ staffing agencies (AMN, Aya) into one pay-transparent comparison engine. Not an agency itself.

Why it matters

Broke travel-nursing pay opacity — posts actual weekly comp (avg travel RN $2,106/wk ≈ $109.5k/yr; Alaska top $2,663/wk). The most-praised free tool in travel nursing.

Key metrics

1.9–2M+ healthcare professionals · 8M+ applications facilitated · 100+ specialties, 100+ partner agencies · employers fill roles claimed 50% faster · took share even as post-COVID temp market shrank.

Reviews

App Store 4.8/5 (thousands), Google Play 4.5/5 · Trustpilot 391, positive-leaning (pay transparency = #1-praised feature) · complaints: irrelevant offers, stale agency-fed listings · Glassdoor as employer 2.7/5 (internal ≠ product).

Best for

Travel/per-diem nurses and allied health comparing agencies + pay; facilities/agencies sourcing clinicians.

Pricing

Clinicians free · revenue from staffing agencies paying to list/source.

Weaknesses

Quality depends on underlying agency, travel-demand cyclicality, stale listings, US-only.

56. Incredible Health Healthcare

Researched cycle 61 · 2026-06-10 · founded 2017, SF · $1.65B valuation

What it is

AI-enabled permanent-hire marketplace for nurses/technicians — reverse model: hospitals send interview requests to nurses. Annual State of Nursing report; free salary estimator.

Why it matters

Used by 1 in 4 US nurses (1M+) and 1,500+ hospitals incl. 75% of top-ranked systems. The perm-side complement to Vivian's travel focus: hires 5x faster (~20 days), 15% higher retention, claims $5M/yr facility savings. Tailwind: 17.6% RN turnover, 500k+ projected shortage.

Key metrics

1M+ nurses · 1,500+ facilities · 12k nurses joining/week at milestone; 10k interview requests/week (+600% YoY) · 98% employer retention · avg RN hired ~$108,824 (53% above national avg) · 64% of nurses believe AI will hurt their employment (its survey).

Reviews

4.9/5 across ~2,000 App Store/Google/Facebook ratings · Indeed as workplace 3.7/5.

Best for

Hospitals hiring permanent RNs/techs at scale; nurses wanting employer-initiated offers + salary transparency.

Pricing

Nurses free · Employers: subscription/success-fee custom enterprise pricing, ROI pitched vs travel-nurse spend.

Weaknesses

Nursing-only depth, enterprise pricing opacity, 2022-era valuation, hospital budget-cycle dependence.

57. HealthcareJobsite (Nexxt) Healthcare

Researched cycle 62 · 2026-06-10 · Nexxt network (ex-Beyond.com)

What it is

Healthcare vertical of the Nexxt syndication network — postings distribute across niche-site web + general boards with candidate texting/email campaigns.

Why it matters

Volume play: 3M+ monthly visitors, ~250k monthly applicants, 175,000+ advertising companies, ~30k active listings/week, backed by Nexxt's claimed 85M+ US seekers.

Key metrics

3M+ visitors/mo · 250k applicants/mo · 175k+ employers · Nexxt: 85M+ seekers / 42M portfolios claimed (network totals — puffery-prone) · US/Canada only.

Reviews

Sharp split: BBB A-rating as business BUT 1-star (11 reviews); Sitejabber 1-star (17) — spam emails, unsolicited calls, data shared with marketing partners; Capterra: demo-promised matching "never materialized." Worst consumer trust in this dossier.

Best for

Broad-spectrum healthcare ad distribution when volume matters more than precision; NOT privacy-sensitive candidates.

Pricing

Seekers free (data-sharing cost) · Employers $199–499/slot/mo (reusable slots); pricier than Indeed for comparable reach.

Weaknesses

1-star consumer trust on two platforms, data-sharing practices, inflated network totals, feature gaps.

58. Dribbble Niche

Researched cycle 63 · 2026-06-10 · founded 2009 · bootstrapped, profitable

What it is

The leading design portfolio community with attached job board + freelance marketplace + Dribbble Hiring talent-partner service. Portfolio-first: work samples are the search index.

Why it matters

Where design hiring actually happens: 60k+ companies have hired via its board, 40,000+ brands (Apple, Google, Airbnb, Shopify), tens of millions browsing. Solves the portfolio-roles-don't-keyword-search problem.

Key metrics

Tens of millions of visitors · 60k+ hiring companies · listings avg ~1.5k targeted clicks/mo · 2026 rates: US freelance web designers ~$70/hr avg; top talent $75–300+.

Reviews

G2 4.2/5 (20+) — praise: candidate pool, ease; complaints: no free plan, no refunds.

Best for

Hiring product/UX/UI/graphic designers and illustrators; freelancers building inbound via portfolio.

Pricing

Designers: free portfolio, Pro subscriptions · Employers: job posts $150/mo; freelance hires free + 7.5% fee; designer-search subscription; enterprise Talent Partner.

Weaknesses

Design-only, board secondary to community, inspiration traffic ≠ active seekers, premium-only employer access.

59. Behance JobList Niche

Researched cycle 64 · 2026-06-10 · founded 2005 · Adobe-owned since 2012 ($150M)

What it is

Adobe's creative portfolio network with built-in JobList + freelance marketplace (Stripe/PayPal payments) and the Adobe Creative Apprenticeship pipeline (US/CA/UK).

Why it matters

Biggest creative community on earth — 50M+ members, ~32.3M visits/mo (global rank #1,136) — with FREE employer postings reaching ~40M seekers. The volume counterpart to Dribbble's curation.

Key metrics

50M+ members (24M in 2020) · 32.3M visits/mo, 5.51 pages/visit, 62% direct · India top traffic country · job posts auto-archive after 30 days.

Reviews

Positive as portfolio platform; complaints: basic job board (no ATS), algorithm-favored discovery, global price-pressured freelance competition.

Best for

Free creative job posting at scale; freelancers selling globally; juniors building visibility in the Adobe ecosystem; pair with Dribbble for senior/curated.

Pricing

Creatives free (Behance Pro adds pricing-guidance + selling tools) · Employers: FREE posts (Adobe account) · freelance hires: 10% fee + $2 flat under $500.

Weaknesses

Signal-to-noise at 50M members, no employer tooling, Adobe lock-in, freelance race-to-bottom.

60. Creative-niche cluster Niche 1 Defunct

Researched cycle 65 · 2026-06-10 · WNW · Mediabistro · Authentic Jobs · Coroflot · ProBlogger

Working Not Working — DEFUNCT

Elite vetted-creative network (free, no commissions, $50–150/hr) — Fiverr-acquired 2021, shut down 2025-06-30, folded into Fiverr. Second elite-curation casualty after Hired.

Mediabistro

Media/editorial flagship (25 yrs; 1M+ professionals, 70k newsletter). Restructured Jan 2026 under CognoGroup. 2026 pricing: Starter $199/mo, Boutique $349/mo, Growth $799/mo, one-time $297/post.

Authentic Jobs

Design/dev board: $149–199/mo subscription posts, 30-day refund/repost guarantee, 25% nonprofit/edu discount; staff-moderated; no ATS/resume DB.

Coroflot

Industrial/UX/fashion design: $295/post for 90 days (5-pack $235); resume bank $195 one-time / $145/mo; 1M+ monthly visitor reach claim; JobboardFinder 7.1/10.

ProBlogger

Writers: $80/15-day post ($160 featured); 300k+ writer audience; pay-wall keeps spam low BUT content-mill skew (2–4¢/word common), occasional scam incidents.

Cluster takeaways

Creative niches sustain $80–300 posting prices on tiny volume because portfolio/vocabulary fit beats reach; elite-curation models died while pay-to-post quality filters survive.

61. Creative Circle Niche

Researched cycle 66 · 2026-06-10 · ASGN-owned since 2015 ($570M) · LA HQ, 30 offices

What it is

The largest US creative/marketing staffing agency — recruiter-mediated placement of designers, copywriters, marketers (freelance, contract, perm). The agency-model counterpart to Dribbble/Behance self-serve.

Why it matters

ClearlyRated Best of Staffing Diamond winner 5 consecutive years; satisfaction scores (70.2% clients / 78.3% talent rating 9–10) crush industry averages (45%/30%). Est. ~$500M–1B revenue inside ASGN ($4.1B FY2024).

Key metrics

2026 ClearlyRated: 4.5–4.8 across 30 offices (NYC 4.7 talent from 496 reviews) · acquired at $226M revenue / 21% EBITDA · ~766–5,000 employees (estimates vary).

Best for

Companies needing vetted creative talent fast; creatives wanting agency-repped W2 contract work.

Pricing

Talent free · Clients: bill-rate markup model (typical creative-staffing markups 50–75%).

Weaknesses

Agency markup costs, large-metro concentration, bench variability, ASGN's IT pivot deprioritizing creative.

62. CFA Institute Career Center Niche

Researched cycle 67 · 2026-06-10 · YM Careers platform · society-syndicated

What it is

The official job board of the CFA Institute, syndicated across the global Career Center + local society career sites (Boston, Minnesota, Dallas…).

Why it matters

Credential-gated audience no general board can match: 250,000+ CFA charterholders and program candidates — the buy-side/asset-management talent pool. The association-board archetype: small volume, extremely high signal.

Key metrics

250k+ member/candidate network · postings syndicate globally + society sites · volume modest.

Best for

Asset managers/banks/funds hiring credentialed investment professionals; charterholders seeking credential-filtered roles.

Pricing

Seekers free · Employers: tiered packages (basic/highlighted/featured/max-reach; amounts gated behind pricing page).

Weaknesses

Low posting volume, pricing opacity, dated YM Careers UX, LinkedIn competition for the same audience.

63. Jobright.ai Tools

Researched cycle 68 · 2026-06-10 · Santa Clara · $3.2M seed (Translink + Indeed's venture arm)

What it is

AI-native job-search copilot: aggregates 400k+ daily listings (8M+ DB), matches via 10M+ JD corpus, AI resume builder, Orion chat copilot, referral-finder, H1B filter, autofill extension, beta auto-apply Agent.

Why it matters

Flagship of the AI-copilot category reshaping how seekers touch every board: 520k+ professionals, claimed 30x YoY growth, 100k+ extension users. Indeed investing = incumbents hedging the "searchless" future.

Key metrics

520k+ users · match accuracy ~70–80% in hands-on tests · claims 2x interviews / 80% time cut (marketing) · US-only roles.

Reviews

Trustpilot 4.6/5 (~230, Mar 2026) · ProductHunt positive · complaint cluster: billing/cancellation in 72% of 1-star reviews; AI-resume hallucinations (inserting skills users don't have); Agent waitlisted.

Best for

US white-collar seekers (esp. tech, H1B-constrained) wanting matching + application tooling; no employer side.

Pricing

Free tier (2 credits/day); Turbo $14.99/wk → recently $39.99/mo (priciest in category).

Weaknesses

Monetizes desperate seekers with rising prices, billing dark patterns, hallucination risk, scraping dependence, contributes to application-flood problem.

64. AI auto-apply cluster Tools 1 Dead

Researched cycle 69 · 2026-06-10 · Sonara · Sorce · LoopCV

Sonara — effectively dead (twice)

Shut down Feb 2024, BOLD-acquired and relaunched, but by 2026 the site 403s with no statement or migration path. Was $2.95 trial → $23.95/4wks; a 900-application user got 5.4% interviews; ~3.2/5 ratings. Cautionary tale #1.

Sorce — the breakout

"Tinder for jobs" app (YC F25, built by three college students): claims 850k+ users, 20M+ swipes, 1M+ applications; placements at SpaceX/NVIDIA/OpenAI. Free ~5–40 swipes/day; premium $15/wk or $40/mo. Mixed reviews: broken filters, "4 of 5 applications failed" reliability complaints.

LoopCV — the survivor

Oldest auto-apply platform. Free 10 apps/mo; Standard $19.99/mo (100); Premium $59.99/mo (300); Done-For-You $89.99/mo. Trustpilot 3.9/5 (123, polarized); chief complaint: thousands of matches, handfuls actually submitted.

Cluster takeaways

Auto-apply is high-churn and trust-fragile; mass-applying degrades the ecosystem (15 targeted apps beat 100 generic). Use as accelerant, never primary channel.

65. Seeker tools: Teal & Jobscan Tools

Researched cycle 71 · 2026-06-10 · the tracker + ATS-optimizer layer

Teal (tealhq.com)

Job-search workspace (founded 2019): tracker/CRM, Chrome extension (4.9/5), resume builder. 650,000+ members. Generous free tier; Teal+ $13/wk, $29/mo — notably does NOT auto-renew (opt-in only). Praised for organization; single-column templates parse 88%+ across 4 ATS engines.

Jobscan (jobscan.co)

The ATS-optimization incumbent: 20+ checks, 91% keyword accuracy, detects which ATS the employer runs (Workday/Greenhouse/Taleo/Lever). 2M-seeker audience claim. Free 5 scans/mo; Premium $49.95/mo or $299.40/yr — priciest in category; Trustpilot 3.8/5. Critique: optimizes for ATS score, not the human — 80%+ match scores with zero callbacks reported.

Cluster takeaways

These tools mediate seekers' interaction with every board (75% of applications never reach a human). Teal wins workflow/value, Jobscan ATS depth; free stacks now cover 70–80% of Jobscan's value.

Regional leaders

• Computrabajo — LatAm leader (Redarbor); shifting distribution strategy (AIM Group Feb 2026)
• Rikunabi — Japan new-grad (Recruit)
• doda — Japan mid-career (Persol)
• GaijinPot Jobs — Japan, foreigners
• Saramin & JobKorea — Korea duopoly
• Wanted — Korea tech/startup
• BrighterMonday — East Africa
• Jobberman — West Africa
• JobStreet / JobsDB — SEA (SEEK-owned)
• InfoJobs Brazil — 23M visits/mo (Redarbor)
• Vagas.com.br — Brazil, 26M visits/mo
• Catho — Brazil (Redarbor)

Freelance & AI-gig

• Freelancer.com — 50M users, 10%/$5 fees
• Guru — 5–9% fees, SafePay escrow
• PeoplePerHour — UK/EU, 20%→3.5% tiered
• Contra — 0% commission
• Braintrust — 0% freelancer fee, token-governed
• Mercor — AI-training experts, ~$500M ARR, $10B valuation, pays to $200/hr
• Arc.dev — vetted remote devs, 0% freelancer fee

Executive · Trades · Diversity

• ExecThread — confidential exec/board roles (paid)
• ExecuNet — exec, ~$120/3mo premium
• Chief Jobs — C-suite board
• Skillit — construction trades
• BlueRecruit — trades, free for seekers/SMBs
• iHireConstruction — trades AI matching
• DiversityJobs.com — syndicated diversity network
• WorkplaceDiversity.com — 1 post → 10 networks
• TalentAlly — 300k visitors/mo
• RecruitMilitary — largest veteran board
• HBCU Connect

Sector boards & channels

• HigherEdJobs — academia, 74k live jobs
• LawCrossing — legal, 120k+ scraped jobs, $399+/mo
• Poached — hospitality
• Hcareers — hotels
• Rigzone — oil & gas, 2M candidates, $550/credit
• Climatebase — climate/clean energy
• GovernmentJobs.com — public sector, from $199
• Blind — anonymous tech community + jobs