Lemon.io review Sourced
The Lemon.io alternative for engineers who stay.
Silver.dev finds a senior engineer in Latin America and you hire them. Silver.dev charges a one-time placement fee of 25% of the hire's first-year salary.[1] Lemon.io is a marketplace: you prepay developer hours, usually a month ahead.[2]
The short answer
Choose Silver.dev if
You want a senior engineer on your team, and one fee when you hire.
Choose Lemon.io if
You want hours this month, including part-time, and you're fine prepaying them.
Engineers placed at
Side by side
Six things that change what you pay, and who you end up with.
The $45, $34, and $55 figures are what Lemon.io says its developers earn.[7] They are not your rate. Silver.dev's fee is 25% of first-year salary, once.[1]
| Criteria | Lemon.ioVetted developer marketplace | Silver.devContingency tech recruiter · LatAm |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | Prepaid hours, usually a month ahead[2] | Once, after you hire[1] |
| Trial | LemonHire: 4-week trial, $2,000 fee[6] | Paid only after a successful hire[3] |
| Guarantee | LemonHire: 60 days after the trial[6] | 90-day replacement guarantee[3] |
| Published rates | Developer earnings, not your rate[7] | The fee, in a public calculator[1] |
| Vetting | Five steps, then a match[8] | Live assessment by a vetted engineer[4] |
| What you buy | Hours, from 160[9] | You hire the engineer[10] |
How you pay
Trial
Guarantee
Published rates
Vetting
What you buy
“Their speed, coupled with consistently elite quality, makes Silver.dev feel like an extension of our startup DNA.”
How you're billed
Count the prepayments in a year.
Silver.dev sends one invoice when you hire, for 25% of first-year salary[1]. Lemon.io asks you to prepay developer hours, a month ahead, for as long as they work.[2] That is twelve payments in a year. The shortest engagement is 160 hours.[9]
- Lemon.io prepayment for developer hours[2]
- Silver.dev invoice
- No invoice
Our guarantees
What protects your hire, at every step.
01 · Kickoff call
You pay nothing.
No retainer, no platform fee[1]
02 · Candidates screened
Screened live by an engineer.
Recruiter screen, then live technical assessment[4]
03 · Offer signed
One fee, published.
25% of first-year salary, once[1]
04 · After the start
Covered for 90 days.
If they leave before, we replace them[3]
Which fits you
Sometimes Lemon.io is the right call. Here's when.
When Lemon.io is the right call
When Silver.dev fits better
- The engineer should join your team, not stay a contractor billed through the platform[10]
- You would rather pay once than prepay hours every month[1]
- You want 90 days of cover, paid after a successful hire[3]. Lemon.io's separate LemonHire full-time hiring service has a 60-day guarantee after a 4-week trial with a $2,000 management fee[6].
The alternatives divide by model, not by brand.
Marketplace
Lemon.io
Vetted freelancers and prepaid hours, with a published minimum.
Staffing
Staff augmentation
The vendor employs the engineer and adds a margin, for as long as they work with you.
Contingency · Silver.dev
Recruiter, pay on hire
Finds and vets candidates. Charges once, when you hire.
Direct
Hire it yourself
No fee, but sourcing and technical screening come out of your team's time.
The hires
World-class companies that hired world-class engineers.
- Facundo Cabrera, Software Engineer, Ramp
- Federico Rojas, Software Engineer, Ramp
- Gonzalo Bergagna, Tech Lead, Cashea
- Gerardo Gimenez, Senior Backend Engineer, Cashea
- Ruben S., Senior Flutter Engineer, Cashea
- William Eckerleben, Tech Lead & Odoo ERP Architect, Cashea
- Martín Pellicer, Mobile Engineer, Cashea
- Federico Ferreyra, Fullstack Engineer, Cashea
- Franco Depiaggio, Frontend Engineer, Cashea
- Juan Pablo Donato, Backend Lead, Cashea
- Alejandro Navarini, Sr. Software Engineer, Cashea
- Paula Acosta, QA Lead, Cashea
- Gustavo Rios Paez, Data & GenAI Leader, Cashea
- Nicolas Piñeyro, Sr. Mobile Engineer, Cashea
- Francisco Rossi, Product Engineer, Scale AI
- Matías Del Carlo, Sr. Software Engineer, Scale AI
- Matías Devecchi, Sr. Full Stack Engineer, Scale AI
- Martín Lombardo, Software Engineer, Scale AI
- Gorka Ludlow, Sr. Software Engineer, Scale AI
- Juan Cabrera, Software Developer, Scale AI
- Conrado Mader, Field Engineering Manager, Scale AI
- Gregorio Freidin, Software Engineer, Scale AI
- Emiliano Bisurgi, Software Engineer, FORM
- Agustín Franchetti, Frontend Engineer, FORM
- Ramiro Farias, TypeScript Developer, FORM
- Martín Lescano, QA Analyst / Engineer, FORM
- Tasiana Franchetti, QA Automation Engineer, FORM
- Ivan K., Senior Software Engineer, Home Vision
- Varvara Mironov, Software Engineer, Home Vision
- Leandro Mendez, Software Engineer, Home Vision
- Ignacio Rassol, Software Engineer, Home Vision
- Pedro Bustos, Software Engineer, Home Vision
- Gino Rizzuti, Backend Developer, Home Vision
- Gastón Frenkel, Software Engineer, Home Vision
- Emilio Dominguez, Senior Software Engineer, Motion
- Pablo Díaz Mateus, Senior Software Engineer, Motion
- Juan Abbona, Software Engineer, Motion
- Matías Ramírez, Backend Engineer, Fuse Finance
- Gaston Otero, Sr Software Engineer, Fuse Finance
- Matias Navarro, Sr Backend Engineer (Node), Fuse Finance
- Martín Madrid, Machine Learning Engineer, Canals
- Francisco Marquinez, Senior Software Engineer, Canals
- Javier Esses, Software Engineer, Canals
- Julian Chennales, Senior Software Engineer, Canals
- Gonzalo Nardini, Software Engineer, Canals
- Guillermo Diéguez, Software Developer, Exactly
- Mainqué Green, Backend Engineer, Exactly
- Matias Martinez, Tech Lead, Profasee
- Julián Piñeiro, Sr. Fullstack Engineer, Profasee
- Agustín Brandoni, Software Engineer, PairTeam
- Jenaro Calvino, Software Engineer, PairTeam
- Santiago Perone, Software Engineer, BrightHire
- Juan Ignacio Olave, Software Engineer, BrightHire
- Santiago Parodi, Senior Android Engineer, FlipaClip
- Aldana Rastrelli, iOS Developer, FlipaClip
- Agustin Leonardo Magne, Senior Android Engineer, FlipaClip
- Julian Ianni, Senior Software Engineer, AirOps
- Facundo Palavecino, AI Engineer, AirOps
- German Quintela, Design Engineer, Span
- Rodrigo Pavano, Platform Engineer, Span
- Luciano Garcia Zeman, Product Engineer, Span
- Axel Lijdens, Software Engineer, Span
How Silver.dev works
Meet the engineer who sets the bar.
Gabriel, founder and Staff engineer, explains in a two-minute video how Silver.dev screens engineers.
Gabriel Benmergui
Founder · previously at Robinhood and OpenSea
- Staff engineer
Startup experts
Screened by an engineer who has worked at US startups and knows the bar you hire for.
Evaluations built for your role
A live technical assessment: system design, live coding, AI fluency. Not a take-home.[4]
Live technical screening
A recruiter screen, then a live assessment by a vetted software engineer.[4]
Read the transcript
- 0:00If you want to know how we got a 38% pass rate at a company like Scale AI,
- 0:04one of the most demanding companies in the market, please continue watching this video.
- 0:09I'm Gabriel, and I'm a Staff engineer with experience at companies like Robinhood and OpenSea,
- 0:14and I founded Silver.dev to help startups like yours find interview-ready talent in Latin America.
- 0:19We work with venture-backed startups, and nearly half of our portfolio are YC companies.
- 0:25We understand what it is to work with the most demanding companies in the world.
- 0:30One of our success stories is with Scale AI, a company where we recently placed three candidates.
- 0:34Their internal pass rate was under 1%, meaning they had to screen over 100 candidates just to make a hire.
- 0:42But with us, we only presented eight candidates, and three were placements.
- 0:47How did we do it? First of all, we are experts in startups.
- 0:52I worked in the US at multiple companies. I understand the language,
- 0:56I understand the culture, I understand the drive and the technical quality that a candidate needs to succeed at a company.
- 1:02Second, we help companies raise the bar by helping them design, iterate and implement better technical evaluations
- 1:10and cultural evaluations for candidates. Each process is tailored specifically to the company's needs.
- 1:15Third, we focus on quality. We are a high-quality, low-volume agency,
- 1:21meaning that we do not waste your time. The candidates we send your way are properly vetted, and you're going to like them.
- 1:28We are the only agency that really effectively targets top-of-market talent, and we send it your way.
- 1:34Scale is only one of our successes. You can see many other client testimonials on Clutch, where we have a 4.9 average rating.
- 1:41Keep reading to know more about the company or services, and book a call with me if you want to have a chat.
Verified reviews
What hiring managers say.
4.9
“The candidates were always well-vetted, and communications were clear and timely.”
“We’re incredibly happy with the services provided by Silver.dev.”
CEO
Verified review · Clutch
“Working with an engineer directly involved in the recruiting process was refreshing.”
E-Commerce Co
Sr. Engineering Manager
Verified review · Clutch
“They sometimes felt more like internal recruiters.”
B2B SaaS Co
VP of Engineering
Verified review · Clutch
“The quality of the candidates they provided is impressive.”
Blockchain Company
Head of Product Engineering
Verified review · Clutch
“Overall, it’s been a smooth collaboration that aligns with our hiring needs.”
Lending Services Co
People Operations Lead
Verified review · Clutch
Our clients are backed by
FAQ
Questions buyers ask us.
How much does Lemon.io cost?
Lemon.io charges no upfront recruitment or setup fees. Developer hours are prepaid, typically one month in advance.[2] The rate calculator publishes what developers earn — a median of $45/hr for seniors, $34/hr mid-level, $55/hr for strong seniors — and does not publish the client rate or markup.[7] Silver.dev's fee is published: Silver.dev charges a one-time placement fee of 25% of the hire's first-year salary.[1]
Is Lemon.io legit?
Lemon.io's Clutch profile shows 3 reviews, a minimum project of $1,000+, and a founding year of 2015. It does not show a clean overall score.[13] Trustpilot shows 4.8 from 376 reviews, and many of those reviews are from developers, not clients.[14] Lemon.io says only 1% of developers make it through vetting. The homepage also shows 1.2%.[8] For a senior engineer who joins your team, Silver.dev publishes 25% of first-year salary, paid once[1], with a 90-day replacement guarantee after a successful hire[3].
Can I hire a Lemon.io developer full-time, and what does it cost?
Lemon.io says you can hire in-house or on contract.[15] Lemon.io's terms of use say that its separate LemonHire full-time hiring service starts with a 4-week trial of at most 160 hours, during which the client pays the developer's rate plus a $2,000 flat management fee, with free replacement during the trial, and then a 60-day post-trial guarantee period.[6] The rate calculator publishes developer earnings, not the client rate or markup.[7] Silver.dev's core model is the other shape: you hire the engineer directly.[10] Silver.dev charges a one-time placement fee of 25% of the hire's first-year salary.[1]
Does Lemon.io have a trial or a guarantee?
Silver.dev's fee is paid after a successful hire, with a 90-day replacement guarantee.[3] For its separate LemonHire full-time hiring service, Lemon.io's terms describe a 4-week trial with paid developer hours and a $2,000 management fee, then a 60-day guarantee if you hire.[6]
What is the minimum engagement at Lemon.io?
Lemon.io's shortest engagement is 160 hours: one month full-time, or two months part-time.[9] Silver.dev's core model is the direct hire: you employ the engineer.[10] The fee is 25% of first-year salary, once.[1]
Lemon.io vs Silver.dev for a long-term senior hire
A long-term senior hire is Silver.dev's contingency model: the engineer joins your team.[10] Lemon.io is built to start contract work quickly.[11] The fee is paid after a successful hire, with a 90-day replacement guarantee.[3] Lemon.io's separate LemonHire full-time hiring service has a 60-day guarantee after a 4-week trial, per its terms of use.[6]
Get a quote with one email.
Tell us the role. You pay only if you hire, and the hire is covered for 90 days.[3]
Some of the engineers Silver.dev has placed.
Sources and dates
Sources and dates (15)
- [1]Silver.dev fees calculator, read .
- [2]Lemon.io, read .
- [3]Silver.dev deck: Direct Hiring, read .
- [4]Silver.dev deck: interviewers and technical screening, read .
- [5]Clutch: Silver.dev reviews, read .
- [6]Lemon.io terms of use, read .
- [7]Lemon.io rate calculator, read .
- [8]Lemon.io, read .
- [9]Lemon.io, read .
- [10]Silver.dev deck: services and engagement models, read .
- [11]Lemon.io, read .
- [12]Lemon.io, read .
- [13]Clutch: Lemon.io, read .
- [14]Trustpilot: Lemon.io, read .
- [15]Lemon.io, read .