Where to Find Developers: 11 Places and What Each Is Good For

Where to find developers depends on what you're building, but for most projects the best starting point is still a referral from someone you trust. After that, LinkedIn, focused developer communities and developers' own websites tend to beat the big marketplaces for anything that has to live for years. Marketplaces, vetted networks and brokers all have their place, just a narrower one than their marketing suggests.

I'm a freelance developer based in Denmark, so I'm one of the people you might be looking for. Keep that in mind as you read. None of the links in this post are paid or affiliate links.

The short answer: which place fits which job

My rule of thumb: use two or three channels at a time and aim for three to five relevant names, not thirty. If you haven't decided between a freelancer, an agency and an employee yet, start with my guide to hiring a developer. That choice decides which of these places are worth your time.

Your network and communities: where most good matches start

1. Referrals from people you trust

A developer recommended by someone who has worked with them is the safest start. They've delivered for a real client, and you can get an honest account of how it went.

Ask widely: peers in your industry, your accountant, other founders, your investors or startup program if you have one, and companies that have had something similar built. Then ask the person recommending them what was built, whether the budget and deadline held, and whether they'd hire the developer again.

Good for: almost any project, and especially your first.

Watch out for: A developer who built a nice marketing site for a friend isn't automatically right for a web app with integrations and user accounts. Once you have a name, these questions to ask a developer's past clients get you past "they were great to work with".

2. LinkedIn

LinkedIn lets you search by stack and location at the same time, for example "Laravel developer" filtered to your country or region. Staying within a couple of hours of your time zone makes daily collaboration far easier, and mutual connections give you an informal reference before the first call.

You can also post about what you need. That tends to bring in referrals from your own network, along with messages from recruiters and agencies, so be ready to filter. Many freelancers have a services page, and LinkedIn lets you request a proposal directly through the platform.

Good for: finding freelancers with a specific background and checking who you know in common.

Watch out for: Profiles are written by the developer, and skill endorsements mean very little. Always ask to see real projects.

3. Developer communities and meetups

Most languages and frameworks have user groups, meetups, conferences and chat communities on Slack or Discord. Developers who show up there tend to be curious and current, and you'll meet specialists who would never bid on a marketplace job.

It only works when you know which technology you need, and it takes time. Read the rules before posting: many groups have a dedicated jobs channel, and some ban job posts entirely. Keep it short and specific, with the task, the timeline and a budget range.

Good for: finding a specialist, for example someone to take over an existing system built in a particular framework.

Watch out for: It's slow and hit or miss. These communities exist for developers to help each other, not as a hiring channel.

Searching on your own: Google, personal sites and GitHub

4. Google and developers' own websites

Search for what you actually need, such as "freelance Laravel developer Europe" or "[your stack] developer [your country]". Developers with their own site or blog show how they think, what work they take on and often how they price it. That makes it much easier to judge fit before you've spoken.

This is also where you'd find someone like me, so I'm not neutral here. Still, I think it's a good sign when a developer explains in public how a project runs and roughly what it costs.

Good for: seeing how a developer thinks and communicates before the first meeting.

Watch out for: Google rewards good marketing, and the top results for generic searches are usually agencies and marketplaces. A polished site says nothing about the code, so ask for projects you can see or try.

5. GitHub

GitHub is where many developers keep their code, and some of it is public. If a developer contributes to open source, a technical friend or advisor can get a quick sense of their work.

For finding developers, GitHub is less useful unless you can read code yourself. Use it to check, not to search.

Good for: assessing a developer you found somewhere else.

Watch out for: Plenty of excellent developers have almost no public code because client work is private. An empty profile isn't a red flag on its own.

Platforms and networks: from open marketplaces to vetted talent

6. European and local freelance platforms

Malt is one Europe-focused marketplace, and many countries also have smaller national platforms. In Denmark, for example, Giig lists Danish freelancers and says it's free to post a task and create a profile, while payments are agreed directly between you and the freelancer.

Good for: freelancers who share your language, time zone and legal framework, for well-defined work.

Watch out for: The pool shrinks fast once you filter by one stack. And when the platform stays out of the agreement, you need your own contract covering price, code ownership and termination.

7. Global marketplaces

Upwork and Fiverr offer a huge pool of freelancers from everywhere, ratings from past clients and payments handled by the platform. Post a job in the morning and you can have a stack of proposals by the afternoon.

That's both the strength and the problem. Quality varies enormously, and the sorting is on you. As a client you'll usually pay a platform fee on top of the freelancer's rate. And a developer eight or nine hours away means most communication happens in writing, often with a day's delay on each question.

Good for: jobs you can describe on half a page, like a bug fix, a small script or a contained integration.

Watch out for: For a product where the developer needs to understand your business and stick around, finding the right person among hundreds of profiles is hard. The lowest hourly rate is rarely the cheapest outcome once you count the rework.

If you want the detail, I've compared the main freelance developer platforms on cost, quality and risk.

8. Vetted talent networks

Toptal and Arc test developers before letting them in. Toptal says fewer than 3% of applicants are accepted after a five-stage process that includes a technical review, a live screening and a test project.

Good for: moving quickly when you can't assess technical skill yourself.

Watch out for: The vetting checks technical ability and English, not whether someone understands your industry or can talk to your customers. Rates are typically higher than on open marketplaces, because someone has to pay for the screening.

Middlemen and firms: when someone else does the finding

9. IT staffing and consultancy brokers

A broker finds a contractor for you and handles the contract and invoicing. Across Europe this is common in large companies and public bodies, where framework agreements make it easier to buy through a single approved supplier.

Good for: larger organizations that need a contractor for several months and want one contract and one invoice.

Watch out for: The broker is paid out of the rate, and you're rarely told how much. Ask directly what share of the hourly rate goes to the contractor, and insist on meeting the actual person before you sign. I've written more about what you really pay for with IT brokers.

10. Agencies, software houses and nearshore teams

An agency isn't a place to find one developer. It's an alternative to doing so: you buy a team with a project manager, designers and developers. Nearshore software houses in Central and Eastern Europe work the same way, and some Western European companies use them to keep costs down.

Good for: projects where design, content and development need to happen at the same time, or where you want a company with several people behind the delivery.

Watch out for: You pay for management and overhead, and you'll often talk to a project manager rather than the developer. My freelancer vs agency comparison covers the trade-offs in detail.

11. Job boards, if you actually want to hire

If development is a full-time need for years to come, hiring often beats contracting. LinkedIn Jobs, national job boards and, for Nordic startups, The Hub are the obvious places. Students from technical programs can handle contained tasks if an experienced developer reviews their work.

Good for: a lasting need where you want to build knowledge inside the company.

Watch out for: Recruiting usually takes months, especially in countries where notice periods of one to three months are common. And one employee rarely covers backend, frontend, hosting and security alike. For a single project it's too much.

Three common situations and where I'd look

A small, well-defined task

A bug, a new form, a simple integration. Ask your network first, then try a local platform or a developer's own website. A global marketplace can work too, as long as you can describe the task precisely and have time to sort through proposals.

A product that has to last for years

A web app, a customer portal or a SaaS product. Here the working relationship matters more than the hourly rate. Look through referrals, LinkedIn and developers with their own sites, and pick someone you can talk to directly. Ask for a paid discovery phase before the main agreement, so both of you know what you're signing up for and you have something useful even if you don't continue together.

An ongoing need in a larger organization

Brokers, agencies and hiring are the natural routes. A setup many teams overlook is one in-house developer who knows the business, paired with a freelancer who handles peaks and the work where the employee lacks experience.

Next steps: from names to a shortlist

Finding names is the easy half. Here's how to get from a list to a decision:

1. Write half a page about the project: what needs building, for whom, by when, and a budget range.
2. Pick two or three channels from this list that fit your situation, and find three to five names.
3. Hold short calls and ask everyone the same questions. I've collected 27 questions to ask a developer before hiring.
4. Look at past work and call the references.
5. Sign a contract that gives you the code and all access from day one.

This exercise may show that you don't need someone like me at all. If you need a whole team at once, an agency is the better fit, and if it's a full-time job for years, hire. If you need a web app, a SaaS product or an integration built or extended, you can see what kind of work I take on as a freelance developer.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to find a good developer?+

Plan for roughly two to six weeks from starting your search to the developer starting work. Good freelancers are often booked a few weeks ahead, and you need time for calls, references and a contract. Referrals are usually the fastest route. Hiring an employee takes longer, often several months, because candidates in many European countries have a notice period to serve first.

Should I hire a developer in my own country or time zone?+

Not necessarily, but overlapping working hours make a real difference. A developer on Central European Time, like me, overlaps almost fully with the UK and the rest of Europe, and only for a few hours with the US East Coast. If the developer will access personal data, you'll typically need a data processing agreement under the GDPR, and transfers outside the EU need extra safeguards. This isn't legal advice, so check with an advisor if you're unsure.

Is it cheaper to hire through a marketplace or directly?+

Hiring directly is usually cheaper in fees, but it costs you more time. Marketplaces typically add a fee on top of the freelancer's rate, and brokers build their cut into the hourly price. In return, they save you some of the searching and paperwork. Going direct means no middleman, but you do all the finding and checking yourself.

What should I include when I post that I'm looking for a developer?+

Describe the problem, who the product is for, what already exists, your deadline and a budget range. Skip the long requirements document for now. A good developer will ask questions, and those questions tell you a lot about them. If you have existing systems, mention what they're built with, because it narrows the field to people who can actually work with them.