Two different products
| Toptal | getoperators | |
|---|---|---|
| Who is on it | Freelance developers, designers, finance and product professionals, matched to projects | Fractional CFOs, CMOs, CTOs, COOs and other executives who have held the seat |
| What you hire | A freelancer for a project, scoped and staffed through Toptal | A senior leader for a function, two or three days a week, as a peer in the room |
| How you choose | Toptal matches you; you interview the match | You read every profile, every day rate and every track record, and contact who you want |
| What you see first | A conversation with Toptal | The operator, the rate and the proof, with no account needed |
| Where | Global | The UK, the United States and the UAE, with rates in each currency |
The seat, not the project
A project has a scope and an end. A seat has a budget, a board and a next quarter. The people who are good at the second are not freelancers between projects. They are executives who have chosen to run two or three companies' functions at once, and the ones worth hiring are the top 1% who have done it before at your stage.
That is the only kind of person on this bench. A fractional CFO here has closed rounds. A fractional CTO here has run an engineering org. A fractional COO here has taken a founder off operations. Every one of them is verified by hand against their LinkedIn and their CV before they go live.
Published rates and direct contact
The second thing companies want from an alternative is to see the price. Every profile on the bench publishes the day rate. A fractional CFO is £800 to £1,500 a day, a fractional CMO is £700 to £1,300, and the number on the profile is the number you pay the operator.
There is no account to open to read them, and no intermediary in the conversation. You send a brief from the profile, the operator replies, and the engagement is between you.
When Toptal is the right call
When the work is a project rather than a seat: a rebuild, a redesign, a model for one transaction. When you want somebody else to run the matching. When the person you need is a specialist contributor rather than a leader. Those are good reasons, and Toptal does that work well.
When the gap is a leader, two days a week, who will own a function and be accountable for it in front of your board, the bench is where that person is.
Common questions
Is getoperators a Toptal competitor?
Only at the edges. Toptal matches freelancers to projects across engineering, design, finance and product. getoperators lists fractional executives for leadership seats, with published day rates and direct contact. A company with a project is better served by the first; a company with an empty seat by the second.
Can I see day rates before talking to anyone?
Yes. Every profile on the bench publishes the operator's day rate, in the currency of their market, and profiles are open without an account. The day-rates page lists the band for every seat.
What does getoperators charge a company?
Browsing, reading profiles and contacting an operator need no account. A company that asks for Operator Search, where three verified operators are put in front of it against a brief, pays on the terms published on the pricing page.
More of them, on hiring, contracts and what a fractional engagement costs, on the fractional executive FAQ.