Braintrust 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.