Can You Hire a Toptal Developer Full-Time? The $50,000 Buyout, Explained
Toptal's published contract sets a flat $50,000 buyout to hire talent directly, and a 12-month cooling-off period. What that means, and when it pays back.
Short answer: yes, you can hire a Toptal developer full-time, and Toptal's own published contract says exactly how. You give written notice, allow a wind-down period, and pay a flat $50,000 buyout fee. The restriction lasts for as long as the person works for you plus twelve months, and for the first year after a buyout you have to pay them through Toptal's HireGlobal service.
Almost nothing written about Toptal mentions any of this. Most pricing articles say conversion is "possible" and stop there. The terms are public, though. They are in a document Toptal publishes called the Sourced Talent Matching Agreement, and the numbers below are quoted from it.
One caution before the detail: this is the agreement Toptal publishes, not necessarily the one you sign. Engagements are set by a per-engagement order form that the agreement calls a TOP, and several terms can be "otherwise agreed" there. Read your own order before relying on any figure here.
What the agreement actually says
| Term | What it says | Clause |
|---|---|---|
| Can you hire directly? | Yes, with prior written notice, a wind-down period, and the buyout fee | §4.1 |
| Buyout fee | $50,000 per person, within 30 days of hiring them | §4.2 |
| How it is calculated | Flat — not linked to salary | §4.2 |
| After the buyout | Must pay or engage them through HireGlobal for one year | §4.2(2) |
| Cooling-off period | Their work for you plus 12 months; or 12 months from introduction if you never engage them | §3 |
| After cooling-off ends | "No Buyout Fee will be payable or owed" | §4.4 |
| Scope | "Not a general non-solicitation provision" — only talent Toptal introduced to you | §3 |
| Trial period | Five business days, "unless otherwise agreed in a TOP" | §1.3 |
| Marketplace talent | No trial; buyout is "the amount agreed in the platform" | Exhibit C |
A note on that trial line. Toptal's FAQ describes a trial of "up to two weeks", and we have quoted that elsewhere on this site. The agreement's default is shorter, five business days, with room to change it in the order. Both can be true at once, but if the trial length matters to you, get it written into your TOP.
The cooling-off period means you cannot wait it out
The obvious workaround — end the contract, wait, then hire the person directly — mostly does not work. The cooling-off clock does not start until their work for you ends, and then it runs twelve more months.
So you would have to lose the developer for a year to avoid the fee. For anyone you actually want to keep, the buyout is the only practical route.
The clause is narrow, though, and that matters. It only covers people Toptal introduced to you. It does not stop you hiring anyone else in Toptal's network you met another way, and it is explicitly "not a general non-solicitation provision".
Is $50,000 a lot?
Compare it with what you would pay to find a similar person yourself. Using the same benchmark as our breakdown of a senior engineering hire — a US developer at the BLS 75th percentile, $171,980:
| Route | Typical fee | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Contingency recruiter | 20–25% of salary: $34,396–$42,995 | A candidate you have not worked with |
| Toptal buyout | $50,000, flat | Someone who has already done the job for you |
The buyout costs roughly $7,000–$15,600 more than a typical recruiter fee. What the difference buys is certainty. A recruiter gives you a stranger, plus the 71–75 days a senior role usually sits open and about 24.7 hours of interviewing. A buyout gives you a person whose work you have already seen, with no gap in between.
For a known high performer, that is often the cheapest hire available, even at a higher fee.
When does converting actually save money?
This is where most people's assumption breaks. Converting a contractor to an employee does not automatically save money. Employees cost far more than their salary.
Here is the comparison for one year, full time (1,920 hours), against a $171,980 salary loaded at 1.3× for benefits, payroll tax and equipment — about $223,574 a year:
| Toptal rate | Cost on Toptal per year | Saving per year after converting | Time to recover $50,000 + HireGlobal |
|---|---|---|---|
| $100/hr | $192,948 | −$30,626 (converting costs more) | Never |
| $130/hr | $250,548 | $26,974 | ~2 years |
| $150/hr | $288,948 | $65,374 | ~10 months |
| $180/hr | $346,548 | $122,974 | ~5 months |
The Toptal figures include twelve months of the $79 subscription. The payback figures include the first year of HireGlobal's employer-of-record fee, which is $399 per worker per month on its published pricing.
The break-even rates fall out of that table:
- About $144 an hour: the buyout pays for itself within one year.
- About $130 an hour: within two years.
- Below about $116 an hour: the developer is cheaper to keep on Toptal than to employ at this salary.
Treat these as a method, not an answer. They assume a US salary and a 1.3× load. Put in the salary your developer would actually accept, and your own loaded cost. If they would take less than $171,980, conversion pays back sooner; if more, later.
When converting is the right call
- The work has become permanent and central. If the role has outgrown "a project", you want the knowledge staying with you rather than leaving at the end of an engagement.
- The hourly rate is high. At $150 an hour and up, the fee comes back inside a year.
- The person is genuinely hard to replace. A known, proven engineer is worth more than a fresh search, and the buyout is how you secure them.
- You already planned to hire for the role. Then the real comparison is the buyout against a recruiter fee, and the gap is smaller than it first looks.
When to leave things as they are
- The rate is under about $116 an hour. Staying on Toptal is likely cheaper than employing them.
- The work has an end date. Paying $50,000 to employ someone for work that finishes next quarter makes no sense.
- You are unsure about the long term. A contractor relationship is far easier to end than an employment one, especially in jurisdictions with strong employee protections.
- The developer does not want it. Plenty of senior freelancers choose contracting on purpose. Ask before you price anything.
What to agree before you start
The cheapest time to negotiate conversion terms is before the first engagement, not when you are attached to the person.
- Ask whether the published agreement applies to you, or whether your order differs.
- Ask whether the buyout amount is negotiable for your engagement, and get the answer in the TOP.
- Confirm the trial length in writing, given the gap between the FAQ and the agreement.
- Check the HireGlobal year — whether employer of record or contractor management fits, and what it costs where the person lives.
- Talk to the developer early. A conversion they do not want is a resignation you are paying $50,000 for.
Our guide to writing a Toptal brief covers how to set the engagement up well in the first place, and our Toptal pricing breakdown covers the rest of the costs.
Starting on Toptal
If you have not hired through Toptal yet, a new client who signs up and hires through a referral link receives $2,000, and so does the person who referred them. The link below is ours, as the disclosure at the top says.
The short version
- You can hire a Toptal developer full-time. It takes written notice, a wind-down period and a buyout fee.
- The published buyout fee is a flat $50,000, payable within 30 days, with one year of HireGlobal afterwards.
- The cooling-off period is their work plus 12 months, so waiting it out means losing them for a year.
- It costs $7,000–$15,600 more than a typical recruiter fee, but buys a hire you have already proven.
- It pays back within a year at about $144/hr, and within two at about $130/hr. Below about $116/hr, keeping them on Toptal is cheaper.
- Your own order can change these terms. Read your TOP, and agree conversion terms before you start.
