Speed dating for teams that build with AI.
Marketplaces make you browse. Agencies make you take discovery calls. We start with a scored brief, use it to find two teams with a real reason to say yes, and let both sides choose whether the introduction is worth €10 each.
The disruptive part is not AI matching by itself. It is compressing search, qualification and mutual intent into one fast, legible sequence — without taking a cut of the project. The map below shows the alternatives as fairly as we can. If a description is wrong, tell us and we'll fix it.
€10k+ project · 10 answers · €10 to meet a team
- 01A scored brief
- 02Two plausible teams
- 03Two yeses
- 04One €10 call each
the map · two axes, one empty quadrant
Choose a brief. See what each channel takes out of it.
money in play for the team
€45,000 – €70,000
The brief's own budget range. What follows is how much of it reaches the people doing the work.
| Channel | Take | Out of this brief | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clutch | 0% | €0 | publishedthe team pays to be listed |
| The Manifest | 0% | €0 | publishedthe team pays to be listed |
| GoodFirms | 0% | €0 | publishedthe team pays to be listed |
| this directory | €10 | €10 | published |
| Freelancer.com | 13% | €5,850 – €9,100 | published |
| Braintrust | 15% | €6,750 – €10,500 | published |
| Upwork | 3% – 23% | €1,350 – €16,093 | published |
| Fiverr | 25.5% | €11,475 – €17,850 | published |
| PeoplePerHour | 13.5% – 30% | €6,075 – €21,000 | published |
| A.Team | — | — | not disclosed |
| Toptal | — | — | not disclosed |
| YunoJuno | — | — | not disclosed |
PeoplePerHour takes €6,075 – €21,000 out of this brief. We take €10, once, and only if the meeting happens.
Only the team and the brief are counted here. Licences, hosting, travel and your own time are real costs, and none of them are a channel’s doing, so they are not in this comparison.
what publishing this brief gets you
- 21teams listed and hireable today
- 21of them work in this brief’s language
- Posting a brief and having it scored costs nothing.
- Teams apply spontaneously, at no cost to you.
- At most three direct invitations open at once, and four teams contacted in total.
- €10 from each side, only once both have said yes. Refunded if the meeting does not happen.
- Nothing taken from the project itself.
Taking no percentage means we have no reason to stretch a project, or to put forward whoever pays us more. We earn €10 when an introduction actually happens. That is the entire incentive, and everything above is there so you can check it.
The list, plainly — every platform with its figure, its source, and the date we checked
this directory
Curated directory · discrete fees€10 + €10 to meet · no cut of the work
The shape you're on. Vetted teams rather than solo freelancers, two named fees at one moment, and zero percentage of the engagement — the €10k+ project runs uncut between client and team.
€10publishedsource2026-08-28
Upwork
Open marketplace · % cut5–20% of project + credits to bid
The biggest. Open registration, bid-based, a percentage on every transaction. Solo freelancers more than teams, and you buy credits to apply. Price competition is the mechanism.
3% – 23%publishedsource2026-08-28
The fee ranges from 0% to 15% per contract, and helps us provide you with payment protection, fraud prevention, dispute resolution
Fiverr
Open marketplace · % cut20% of project, seller side
Productised gigs, browsed like a catalogue and starting near €5. Open registration. The gig shape doesn't fit a scoped €10k+ engagement, which is a difference in kind rather than quality.
25.5%publishedsource2026-08-28
For every order you complete, you earn 80% of the purchase amount, including Gig Extras and tips.
Freelancer.com
Open marketplace · % cut10% project fee + subscription tiers
An auction. Buyers post, sellers compete on price. Commission on the project plus tiered subscriptions on the seller side.
13%publishedsource2026-08-28
The fee for fixed price projects is 10% or $5.00 USD, whichever is greater
PeoplePerHour
Open marketplace · % cut20% on small projects, less at scale
UK-centric, same shape as Upwork. Light vetting, percentage-based monetisation.
13.5% – 30%publishedsource2026-08-28
Over £5000 lifetime billing per Buyer: 3.5% (excl. VAT) Service Fee … Below £250 lifetime billing per Buyer: 20% (excl. VAT) Service Fee
Toptal
Vetted freelancer network · markup~50% markup — the client pays about 2× the freelancer rate
Serious vetting, and a genuinely high quality bar. Solo freelancers rather than teams, and the platform sits inside every invoice with a substantial markup. Curated, commercially heavy.
—not disclosedsource2026-08-28
No hidden fees.
Braintrust
Vetted network · 10% client fee10% client-side, no markup on the freelancer
Vetted, decentralised, with a token-incentive layer. A smaller cut than Toptal and taken from the client rather than the talent — but still a percentage of project value. Mostly solo freelancers.
15%publishedsource2026-08-28
All payments processed between Freelancer and Client through the Site … shall be subject to a fifteen percent (15%) service fee ("Platform Fee")
A.Team
Vetted team formation · % cutA cut of the engagement
The closest thing to this directory in shape: curated, team-based, formation-mediated. It differs on exactly one axis, which is why it sits on the other side of the map — it takes a percentage of engagement value.
—not disclosedsource2026-08-28
YunoJuno
Vetted European network · % cut~15% on the freelancer rate
European-focused and properly vetted. A standard commission model on the engagement.
—not disclosedsource2026-08-28
The Freelancer Management System uses a simple percentage fee on contractor payments.
Clutch
Agency directory · lead-genAgencies pay for listings and leads
The closest in SHAPE to our discovery surface — a public directory you browse. It differs underneath: Clutch sells visibility to agencies, so the client pays nothing visible and the lead-gen cost is baked into the agency's rate.
0%publishedsource2026-08-28
Both Sponsorship and Clutch Verified require a 12-month annual agreement.
What a team pays to be visible here: sponsorship reported at $1,000–5,000+/month across nine tiers, on a 12-month commitment; verified badge reported at $499/year
The Manifest
Agency directory · lead-genListing + lead-gen fees, agency side
Clutch's sister directory. Same shape, same monetisation.
0%publishedsource2026-08-28
Companies can purchase sponsorships and featured listings to increase their visibility on The Manifest directory pages.
What a team pays to be visible here: no published rate card
GoodFirms
Agency directory · lead-genListing, lead-gen and paid placement
An agency directory that adds paid placement to the standard lead-gen model.
0%publishedsource2026-08-28
What a team pays to be visible here: sponsorship reported from $300/month billed yearly; annual membership reported at $1,500–2,000+/year
Brief first. Two plausible teams. Meet only after two yeses.
If you need bidding scale
Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer. Deep supply, a percentage on the deal, and a good fit for one-off small tasks. A poor fit for a €30k engagement that has to land.
If you want pre-vetted solo talent
Toptal, Braintrust, YunoJuno. The quality bar is real. The commercials stay percentage-based — Toptal's markup is structural, so you pay roughly twice what the freelancer earns.
If you want to browse agencies
Clutch, The Manifest, GoodFirms. Directory-shaped, like us. Different underneath: agencies buy visibility, and you pay rates that carry that cost.
If you want a small, senior team
That is the shape this was built for. Vetted teams rather than solo or big-agency, discrete fees, no cut, a €10,000 floor.
Fast introductions need stricter rules, not looser ones.
The brief is scored before the reveal. Teams enter through human references. Both sides choose the call. Welance's own teams follow the same rules, and the scoring ruleset is public.