Terms of use

The rules of the platform for talents and for companies. Personal data is covered by the privacy policy.

For talents: working standards (version 9)

Reachability

During your scheduled hours you answer messages from the client and the platform within 30 minutes, and calls within the same working day.
Keep your notifications on for the platform, your email and the client's chat tool during working hours.
Outside working hours you are not expected to answer, unless the contract says otherwise.

Meetings and interviews

Join 2 minutes early. Test camera and microphone before every meeting.
Camera on, face well lit, a neutral or blurred background, a headset, no background noise.
If you cannot attend, say so as early as possible and propose a new time; never simply miss a meeting.
Be prepared: read the agenda, open the documents, have questions ready.
You never apply to roles: companies describe their needs privately and invite you from their shortlist. Answer every interview request within 72 hours, by picking one of the proposed times or declining with a reason.

Exercises

After an interview a company may give you an exercise. It is for evaluation only: the company may not use your work commercially or in production, and you keep ownership of it unless you are hired and a contract says otherwise.
Every exercise shows its estimated time (8 hours at most) and gives you at least 48 hours. You may decline it, with no effect on your matching. Once accepted, submit before the deadline; you may resubmit once until then. After the deadline only the company can extend it.
Do not put contact details in exercise answers before a signed platform contract: they are hidden automatically and the attempt is recorded, as in messages.

Availability and absences

Work the schedule agreed on the platform, in the client's timezone. Changes are agreed in writing with the client.
Platform contracts start with a 14-day trial during which either side can end immediately; you are paid for every day worked. Contracts created before 7 October 2026 keep their 7-day trial. After the trial, leaving requires a two-week notice given on the platform; you work and are paid until the last day.
Public holidays: you follow the public holidays of the client's country (paid, not worked). For your own national or religious holidays (Eid, Independence Day…) you have 4 floating days a year, pro rata, paid: request them on your Work page at least 5 working days ahead. The client can only decline for a business reason and must propose another date.
Sickness: tell the client before your start time with the "I'm sick today" button; the day is then not flagged. Sick days are approved by the company. Attach a medical certificate when you declare the day or within 1 working day. For a short spell you may instead self-certify: a declaration on your honour covers the first 2 working days of a spell, up to 3 spells per contract year; from the 3rd day a certificate is needed. Without a certificate or a self-certification the day is unpaid and recorded as uncertified, and more than 2 uncertified sick days in a month is a red flag on your record. Approved and certified sick days are paid up to 10 days a year (pro rata); beyond that they are unpaid. If the company has not answered after 2 working days, a certified or self-certified sick day is approved automatically. After more than 20 consecutive sick days the contract is paused (no pay, no fees) until you report back, and either side may end it with the normal notice.
Paid leave: 20 days a year, pro rata, accrued monthly. Request it on the platform at least 10 working days ahead; the client approves. If the client does not answer, they are reminded after 1 working day, the platform is alerted after 2, and paid leave or floating days requested with the required notice are then approved automatically. Unused days are not paid out at the end of the contract unless the client agrees. Unpaid leave is possible by agreement only (never approved automatically) and is deducted from your pay.
Every absence goes through the platform: approved leave, declared sick days and holidays are not flagged in the daily reports; an unplanned absence without notice is.

Communication and delivery

Send a short daily update when the client asks for one: done, next, blockers.
Escalate early: if you will miss a deadline, say so as soon as you know, with a new date and a plan.
Ask when a brief is unclear instead of guessing. Write in the working language of the client.

Time tracking and honesty

Clock in and out honestly. Keep the monitoring agent running if the client uses one. Never manipulate activity or time.
The work is yours: you do not subcontract, share your account, or let someone else attend meetings or take tests for you.
Your profile, CV, test answers and interview answers are truthful. No AI or outside help on tests and interviews.

Confidentiality, security and equipment

Client data, code, documents and customer information stay confidential during and after the engagement.
Use two-factor authentication, a password manager, an up-to-date device, and never share credentials.
Keep the equipment declared on your profile: working laptop, headset, webcam, stable internet, a quiet workspace, a plan for power or internet outages.

Working through the platform

If a company you met here hires you directly, declare it on your Hired page. The declaration carries no bonus for you and nothing is ever deducted from your pay: it keeps the platform's statistics right and marks you as unavailable to other companies.
On the Hire plan a company can convert your platform contract after 3 months and employ you directly; the platform contract then ends and your pay is agreed with them. Until the conversion is settled, your schedule, time tracking and payouts continue as before.
Detour: a company that ends your platform contract and then, within 12 months of the contract's end, employs you directly, in any form, without converting the contract on the platform is detouring it. Report it to us: the contractual penalty is 12 months of your rate and you receive 25% of what is recovered. Not reporting a detour you are part of leads to removal from the platform.
You do not solicit clients' employees, customers or partners.
Until a company has unlocked your contact details (Access plan, or a contract through the platform), you do not share your email, phone number, links or messaging handles in messages. They are hidden automatically, the attempt is recorded for our team, and repeated attempts are a breach of these standards.

Contractor status and taxes

On platform contracts you work as an independent contractor invoicing the platform; you are not an employee of the platform or of the client. Your rate is paid gross: you are responsible for declaring it and for the income tax and social contributions due in your country of residence.
Before you accept your first offer, our team verifies your identity once (a government ID document and a selfie, on your Verification page); the images are deleted 30 days after the decision.
Before you accept your first platform offer you upload a signed W-8BEN form (certificate of foreign status) on your profile and register your payout bank account; keep both current: without a W-8BEN on file payouts are held. The platform does not withhold US tax on work performed outside the United States.
You are paid monthly on the day your contract started, for the month just worked, by bank transfer (Wise or Mercury) to the account you give on your Payouts page, within 5 working days of that payday (start on 8 October: paid on 8 November for 8 October to 7 November; in months without that day, on the last day of the month). Your last period is prorated to your final day. Platform fees are paid by the client and never deducted from your pay; only unpaid days are. Your payday does not wait for the client's invoice of the month: a payout is held only while the client's invoice is overdue or its account is on billing hold, or while your W-8BEN is missing. For your security, a payout is also held for 72 hours after you replace the bank details on file, and until our team has cleared a change you reported as not made by you.
A statement for every payout is available on the platform; keep them for your tax records.

Professional conduct

Respectful, inclusive behaviour with everyone. Zero tolerance for harassment or discrimination.
No conflicting engagements that overlap with your scheduled hours without the client's written agreement.
Repeated breaches of these standards lead to a warning, then removal from the platform.

For companies: client terms (version 14)

Access plan: hire directly

You get full talent sheets with names, contact details, links and verification results, and you interview and message on the platform. You then contract and pay the talent yourself.
Every new company gets one free month of the Access features (30 days, starting the day we verify the company), without a card, once per company (email domain or website). During the free month talent sheets show everything except contact details (email, phone, external links, portfolio files and the last name), which unlock when a paid subscription starts. Nothing is charged unless you subscribe; when the month ends without a subscription, access pauses and nothing is deleted.
The Access plan is sold in three billing options, each paid upfront by card for its whole period from the day you subscribe: monthly ($349 every month), quarterly ($897 every 3 months) and annual ($2,690 every 12 months). You commit only to the period you choose. Before subscribing you see and accept the exact price, billing period, renewal, fees and cancellation rule of the option; that acceptance is recorded.
Each option renews automatically for the same period at its price until you cancel. For the quarterly and annual options we remind you 14 days before each renewal, by notification and email.
Cancelling stops the renewal: the plan stays active until the end of the period already paid, then ends, and nothing more is charged. A period that has started is not refunded, in whole or in part.
Switching to a longer option applies at once: the unused part of the current period is credited by Paddle against the new charge. Switching to a shorter option applies at the next renewal.
Subscriptions are sold by Paddle.com, our merchant of record and reseller: Paddle charges your card, applies the VAT or sales tax of your country, issues the subscription invoice and is bound by its own checkout terms, which you accept at checkout.
Direct hires: you may hire directly, in any form, a talent you found on the platform. Each such hire carries a one-time placement fee of 1 × the talent's monthly rate on the platform (minimum $500), invoiced by the platform and paid by bank transfer, provided the talent still works for you 3 months after the start date. Declare the hire on the platform within 14 days of the start date, with the start date (marking the candidate Hired declares it); the talent may declare it too, and each side confirms or corrects the start date declared by the other.
Confirm the hire on your billing page, or dispute it there within 14 days of its declaration if it did not happen. A disputed declaration is reviewed by our team: the fee is waived if the hire did not happen; if it did, the fee follows the rule below. A talent who already works with you through a platform contract is not a direct hire: the conversion rules of the Hire plan apply.
When the placement fee is due: it is invoiced on the day the hire reaches 3 months from its start date. If before that day you or the talent report on the platform that the hire ended, with a last day before that day, no placement fee is due. If you and the talent disagree (one reports the end, the other says the talent still works there), the fee is held and our team decides on the evidence; we may ask both sides for documents. An end reported on or after that day does not change the fee. Around day 80 we ask you and the talent to confirm that the talent still works there; your confirmations are recorded.
Re-hiring: if you hire the same talent again, directly or in any form, within 12 months of the last day of a hire that ended before 3 months, the periods count together: the original placement fee becomes due once the total time worked reaches 3 months. Reporting an end that did not happen, or ending and resuming the engagement to avoid the fee, is a breach of these terms.

Hire plan: hire through the platform

The Hire plan is a subscription of $99 per month, paid upfront by card through Paddle and renewed every month until you cancel. We contract the talent, invoice you monthly, pay the talent and monitor the engagement. Per talent and month you pay the talent's rate plus one all-in platform fee of 18% of that rate, minimum $250 per full calendar month. It covers contract administration, payouts and monitoring; there is no other per-talent fee and, while the talent works through the platform, never a placement fee.
On the Hire plan talent sheets show everything except contact details (email, phone, external links, portfolio files and the last name) until the talent works with you through a platform contract; they then unlock for that talent. You interview and message candidates on the platform. Hiring a talent directly without a platform contract is what the Access plan is for.
Conversion: once a talent has worked 3 months or more with you through the platform (internship period included), you can employ them directly: you request the conversion on the platform with a direct-employment offer, which the talent accepts or declines. The conversion costs a one-time fee based on the contract's age when you request it: 3 × the talent's current monthly rate before 6 months, 2 × from 6 to 12 months, 1 × after 12 months. It is invoiced once the talent accepts the offer; if the talent declines, nothing is due and the platform contract continues. When the fee is paid the platform contract ends, monitoring stops and no further fees are due. Before 3 months the conversion is not available.
Detour: ending a platform contract and then employing the talent directly, in any form and through any entity or person connected to you, within 12 months of the contract's end and without a conversion is a detour. The penalty is 12 times the talent's monthly rate, due immediately on discovery, whether or not your subscription is still active.
Holidays and leave: the talent follows your schedule and the public holidays of your country (paid, not worked), plus 4 floating days a year pro rata for their own national or religious holidays, requested 5 working days ahead; you can only decline those for a business reason with an alternative date. Paid leave is 20 days a year pro rata, accrued monthly, requested 10 working days ahead and approved by you; unused days are not paid out unless you agree. Sick days are declared before the start of the working day and approved by you (a decline needs a reason); a medical certificate is required for every sick day, attached when declared or within 1 working day; instead, the talent may self-certify the first 2 working days of a spell, up to 3 spells per contract year. Requests you leave unanswered: you are reminded after 1 working day and the platform is alerted after 2; certified or self-certified sick days, and paid leave or floating days requested with the required notice, are then approved automatically (unpaid leave always needs your agreement). A sick day is paid only when approved, certified and within the allowance of 10 paid days a year pro rata; otherwise it is unpaid. Uncertified sick days go on the talent's record and more than 2 in a calendar month raise a red flag you are told about. After more than 20 consecutive sick days the contract is paused (no fees, no pay) until the talent returns, and either side may end it with the normal notice. You may raise these allowances per contract, never lower them.
Billing effect: public holidays, approved paid leave and approved, certified sick days within the allowance are billed normally (monthly rate and platform fee). Unpaid leave, sick days that are pending, uncertified or beyond the allowance, and paused periods are deducted pro rata of the scheduled days from your invoice and from the talent's payout.

Engagements (Hire plan)

Contracts have a fixed duration (default 6 months) and renew automatically for the same duration unless either side gives notice or turns automatic renewal off. The first 14 days are a trial (contracts created before 7 October 2026 keep their 7-day trial): during the trial you can end the contract at any time, with immediate effect and no notice, and pay only the days the talent worked (the scheduled days up to the end date, with the platform fee and its minimum prorated to them); the talent can end it too and is paid for the same days. After the trial, either side ends the contract on the platform with a two-week notice; the last working day is set automatically at the end of the notice, or the side giving notice may choose a later last day, up to the contract's end date, and the talent is paid to that day.
Cancelling the subscription does not end active contracts: per-talent fees continue until each contract ends.

Our guarantees

Shortlist within 48 hours: for every role you describe and start matching on, at least 3 vetted candidates who meet its hard requirements are in front of you within 48 hours of the start of matching, counted in calendar hours. The promise starts once matching has started for the role: a role we do not cover yet is first built within 72 hours. If we miss it, we tell you, apologise, and our team escalates it until the shortlist is delivered.
Not the right fit? During the 14-day trial you can end a platform contract at any time, with no notice, and pay only the days worked; after the trial, the two-week notice applies. Then use "Find someone else" on the contract page: the role reopens with a new shortlist of at least 3 vetted candidates within 48 hours, under the promise above.
A new hire for the role is an ordinary engagement: a new platform contract on the Hire plan, or a direct hire with its placement fee on the Access plan.

Hire plan billing

Everything except the subscription (the talents' monthly pay, the platform fee, conversion fees and placement fees for direct hires) is invoiced by the platform and paid by bank transfer to the bank account shown on the invoice. Card payments and Paddle cover the subscription only.
You are billed for the month worked. On day 26 of each month you receive one invoice for that calendar month (the 1st to the last day), due on day 4 of the following month by bank transfer, quoting the payment reference printed on the invoice. Per talent it carries the monthly rate and one platform fee line (18% of the rate, minimum $250 per month).
Platform invoices are issued in US dollars (USD) only. A talent rate agreed in another currency is converted to USD at the exchange rate of the invoice date (the European Central Bank reference rate, or a public market rate for currencies the ECB does not publish).
First invoice: there is no separate invoice at signature. A contract is first invoiced on day 26 of its start month, from the start date to the end of that month. A contract starting after day 26 is first invoiced on day 26 of the next month, from the start date to the end of that next month.
Partial months are prorated by calendar days (monthly rate × days covered / days in the month), with the platform fee on that amount and its minimum prorated the same way.
Unpaid days already past on the invoice day (unpaid leave, uncertified or unapproved sick days, pauses) are deducted on that invoice with the platform fee on them, down to the minimum of the days billed. The days from the invoice day to the end of the month are billed as scheduled; changes to them (unpaid days, an early end, a pause) are corrected on the next invoice, together with late fees and anything not yet invoiced. The last month of a contract is prorated to its end date; amounts billed for days after an end date set later are credited on the next invoice. When no further invoice will be issued, you receive a final credit note and the balance is refunded by bank transfer.
A conversion fee is invoiced separately once the talent accepts your direct-employment offer; a placement fee as soon as it is due.
Earlier pricing: an organisation whose last plan agreement was accepted before these terms (version 8), and each of its contracts, keeps the earlier fees until it accepts a new plan agreement on the billing page: platform fee 15% of the rate (13% from 5 talents, 11% from 10) plus, per full calendar month, administration $25, bank transfer $20 and monitoring seat $12; conversion for 1 month of rate after 3 months; no placement fee on direct hires. A new plan agreement moves the organisation and its running contracts to the current fees from that day.
Late payment: after a grace period of 7 days past the due date, an invoice is overdue and a late fee of 2% of the unpaid amount is added to the next invoice for each month the invoice stays unpaid. While an invoice is overdue, payouts to your talents are held. When it is more than 14 days overdue after the grace period, services are paused: monitoring stops too until the invoice is paid. Services resume as soon as the payment is received.
Bank charges on your side are yours. If the law of your country requires you to withhold any tax on a payment to us, you increase the payment so that we receive the full invoiced amount as if no withholding had been made (gross-up), and you send us the withholding certificate.
EU and UK businesses must provide a valid VAT number before a Hire contract starts; offers cannot be sent without it. Their platform invoices are therefore always issued without VAT under the reverse-charge mechanism (EU: Article 196 of Directive 2006/112/EC; UK: the customer accounts for the VAT to HMRC) and carry that mention.

Taxes

Prices are quoted exclusive of VAT, GST, sales tax and any similar tax. Where a tax applies, it is calculated from your billing address and shown on the invoice: at checkout by Paddle for the subscription, and on the platform's invoice for Hire-plan services.
Businesses in the EU and the UK that provide a valid VAT number are invoiced without VAT under the reverse-charge mechanism and account for the VAT in their own country. For the subscription only, a business without a valid VAT number is charged VAT by Paddle at the rate of its country; Hire-plan services require a valid VAT number (see Hire plan billing).
US customers: sales tax is charged where the platform is registered to collect it and your state taxes these services.
You provide accurate billing details (legal name, address, tax number) and tell us when they change; taxes assessed because of inaccurate details are your responsibility.

Treatment of talent

Scheduled hours respect the agreed timezone overlap. Overtime is agreed in advance and paid.
Monitoring is used for attendance and activity, never for surveillance beyond working hours.
Respectful, inclusive treatment. Feedback goes through scorecards and the platform, not public channels.

Use of the platform

One account per company, used by its own employees. Accounts created to browse talent on behalf of another company, an agency or a competitor are terminated.
No automated access, scraping, bulk copying or export of talent data, and no sharing of talent sheets outside your company. Unusual access patterns suspend the account automatically; confirmed abuse ends it and is pursued.
Until a talent's contact details are unlocked for your company, you do not ask for or share emails, phone numbers, links or messaging handles in messages. They are hidden automatically, each attempt is recorded and reviewed by our team, and repeated attempts suspend the account.

Roles, shortlists and interviews

Your roles are private and used only for matching: talents never see them, browse them or apply to them. You describe your needs, our matching ranks a shortlist of vetted talents, and you request interviews from it; each talent picks one of your proposed times or declines.
Interviews take place on the platform. After an interview you choose the next step: send an offer, give an exercise, request another interview, or reject. An exercise or a further interview is never required before an offer.

Exercises

An exercise is for evaluation only. You may not use the work commercially, in production or in any deliverable, and the talent keeps ownership of it unless you hire them and a contract says otherwise.
Keep exercises reasonable: you state the estimated time, you are warned above 4 hours, an exercise may take 8 hours at most, and the deadline is at least 48 hours after you send it. You may extend a deadline, never shorten it.
A talent may decline an exercise, with no effect on their matching. Unpaid trial work beyond these exercises and the platform's tests is not allowed.
Exercise instructions and answers follow the contact rules: until a signed platform contract, contact details in them are hidden automatically and each attempt is recorded.

Fair process

Reject candidates with a reason; ghosting shortlisted candidates is not allowed.