Braintrust Review
Web3 talent network — freelancers keep 100% of their rate
★★★½☆ 3.8/5 Talent network Free Founded 2018
- 0% — Commission
- Community-owned — Model
- Web3 + expanding — Focus
- 2018 — Founded
Review
Braintrust is the only major remote talent network that charges freelancers 0% commission. You set your rate — say, $150/hour — and you keep every dollar. Clients pay a 10% platform fee on top. This is the inverse of Toptal (takes margin) or Upwork (10-20%), and it's Braintrust's core differentiator. The platform is community-owned through the Braintrust Token (BTRST), an unusual governance experiment. Braintrust originated in Web3/crypto and still draws heavily from that ecosystem — Solidity devs, smart contract auditors, and Web3 designers find the highest density of clients here. The trade-off: smaller client base than Toptal or Upwork, and most projects skew Web3. If you're a React developer with no crypto interest, you'll see far fewer opportunities. The invite model also means clients find you — specialists thrive, generalists wait. Braintrust is best as a secondary channel: set up a strong profile, check for invites, but don't rely on it as your primary income source unless you're deep in Web3. For volume and active browsing, remoty.work is the better tool.
Pros
- 0% commission — freelancers keep 100% of their rate (unique in the industry)
- Strong Web3/crypto client base
- Community-owned platform via BTRST token governance
- No bidding — clients invite you to projects
- Transparent rate setting — you set your own rate
Cons
- Smaller client base than Toptal or Upwork
- Web3 focus limits variety for non-crypto devs
- Token governance is experimental
- Not a job board — passive matching only
- Growth slowed since crypto downturn
Pricing
Free for talent. Braintrust takes 0% commission — freelancers keep 100%. Clients pay 10% platform fee.
Best for
- Web3 & crypto devs
- Freelancers who hate commissions
- Long-term contracts
- Designers
Rating breakdown
- Commission / fees: 5/5
- Client quality: 3.5/5
- Job volume: 2.5/5
- Transparency: 4/5
- Non-crypto roles: 2.5/5
Features
- ✗ Job board / listings — Invite-based matching
- ✓ Freelance marketplace
- ✓ Salary transparency — You set your rate publicly
- ✓ Remote-only
- ✓ Screening / vetting
- ✗ Direct apply
- ✓ Free for job seekers
- ✓ Worldwide
How it compares to remoty.work
Braintrust has 0% commission but limited Web3 volume. remoty has thousands of scored listings — browse freely. Use Braintrust for crypto projects, remoty for everything else.
web3 zero-commission freelance community-owned crypto