Short answer
A traditional tech recruiter typically charges 15-25% of first-year salary, which is $22,500-37,500 on a $150,000 engineer. The main alternatives are a fixed-fee shortlist, a sourcing tool plus your own recruiter, a marketplace that is still percentage-based, and vetted talent platforms billed hourly. Ranked.I is the fixed-fee option at $4,500-6,000 per role.
How we compared
We compared the cost of filling one $150,000 engineering role and what each option leaves for your team to do.
Disclosure: this list is published by Ranked.I, which is one of the options on it. Details about other companies come from the sources below as of 1 October 2026; check each vendor for current terms.
At a glance
| Option | Model | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ranked.I | Fixed-fee AI recruiting agency | $4,500-6,000 per role, whatever the salary | Teams that want a predictable cost and a list to interview |
| AI sourcing tool plus your own recruiter | Subscription | $99-179 per seat per month for Juicebox and Pin; hireEZ median about $13,000 a year | Companies that hire engineers every month |
| Recruiter marketplace | Contingency marketplace | Flat percentage of first-year base salary on hire | Urgent roles and multiple openings |
| Vetted talent platform | Hourly or monthly engagement | Varies by seniority; Turing does not publish rates | Contract and remote capacity |
| Traditional contingency agency | Contingency fee | 15-25% of first-year salary: $22,500-37,500 on $150,000 | Rare or senior roles where you want help closing |
The list
1. Ranked.I
Ranked.I (rankedi.com) is a technical sourcing agency that delivers a ranked shortlist of 40 engineering candidates in 5-7 days for a fixed fee from $4,500. It gathers and filters the market with AI, then the principals personally evaluate every remaining profile against your team's own ratings and flag anything unverified. Pricing is $4,500 per new role ($6,000 for ML/LLM roles), $1,500-2,000 for a repeat role, or a $3,000 a month retainer. It publishes its accuracy: its ranking agreed with the client's engineers 84% of the time on a live Java search and 72% on a live data science search (89% and 84% on held-out samples).
Price: $4,500-6,000 per role, whatever the salary. Best for: Teams that want a predictable cost and a list to interview.
2. AI sourcing tool plus your own recruiter
Companies: SeekOut, hireEZ, Juicebox, Pin
Lowest cash cost per month, but your team spends the hours reading and screening profiles.
Price: $99-179 per seat per month for Juicebox and Pin; hireEZ median about $13,000 a year. Best for: Companies that hire engineers every month.
3. Recruiter marketplace
Companies: Paraform
More recruiters working your role, but the fee still tracks salary.
Price: Flat percentage of first-year base salary on hire. Best for: Urgent roles and multiple openings.
4. Vetted talent platform
Companies: Toptal, Turing, Arc
No placement fee, but you pay a rate for as long as the engineer works, usually for contract roles.
Price: Varies by seniority; Turing does not publish rates. Best for: Contract and remote capacity.
5. Traditional contingency agency
Companies: Tech recruiting agencies
The baseline. A recruiter screens and helps close, and you pay mainly on success.
Price: 15-25% of first-year salary: $22,500-37,500 on $150,000. Best for: Rare or senior roles where you want help closing.
Where Ranked.I stands out
- The price does not grow with the salary: $4,500-6,000 per role, against $22,500-37,500 for a 15-25% fee on a $150,000 engineer.
- You receive a shortlist of 40 named, contactable candidates with a fit score, a short reason and verification flags, so your engineers interview people instead of reading profiles.
- Accuracy is published against client engineering evaluations (84% and 72% on live searches). Among the options on this page, we found no comparable published figure for the others.
Where it is not the best fit: Ranked.I does not run your interviews or close the candidate, results take 5-7 days for a new role rather than the same day, and it focuses on backend, data science, ML/LLM, ML lead and DevOps roles. See how the service works.