Refery wrote this guide and publishes its own fee below, updated September 24, 2026. Every other number comes from that provider's public website, checked on September 19, 2026. Where a provider does not publish a fee, the table says so rather than guessing.
The five ways you can be charged
| Model | What you pay | When you pay | Risk if no hire |
|---|---|---|---|
| Success fee (contingency or referral) | A percentage of first-year base, sometimes of total compensation | On hire | Nothing |
| Fixed fee | A flat amount per hire, often tiered by salary | On hire | Nothing, or a shortlist guarantee |
| Fractional or hourly | An hourly or monthly rate for a recruiter's time | As you go | The time is spent |
| Retained search | Part of the fee upfront, rest at milestones | Upfront and on hire | The retainer is spent |
| Platform subscription | A monthly fee for software, sourcing, or job ads | Monthly | Nothing beyond the subscription |
What providers publish
| Provider | Model | Published fee | Guarantee stated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Refery | Referral network, success fee | 15% to 25% of first-year base salary, paid only on hire; no retainer, no exclusivity | 90-day guarantee under the client agreement |
| Superposition | AI sourcing agent plus success fee | $500 per month per agent plus 15% on hire; the 15% is "of first-year base salary only, not equity or bonus," charged on the candidate's first day | 90-day replacement, any reason |
| Funded.club | Fixed fee | From $4,900 per hire; $7,500 in the $70,001 to $110,000 tier; higher tiers above | 30-day shortlist guarantee with full refund |
| Wellfound Autopilot | Managed sourcing | $500 per month per role plus 10% on hire | Not stated |
| Wellfound job posts and Reach | Job board and sourcing tools | Job posts free; ads from $200; sourcing seats from free to $199 per seat per month | Not applicable |
| Dover | ATS plus fractional recruiters | ATS free or $199 per month; marketplace recruiters "set their rates" | Not stated |
| Top Echelon TE Network | Split-placement network for recruiters | $350 start-up fee, $150 per month membership, 6% brokerage fee on placements (paid by recruiters, not employers) | Not applicable |
| Recruiting from Scratch | Contingency firm | "We work on contingency. No retainers, no upfront fees." Percentage not published | Not stated on the site |
| Paraform | Recruiter marketplace | Not published; quoted per search. Its Connectors programme states $10,000 per hire to referrers | Not published |
Two providers on this list describe the market they compete with. Superposition states that "traditional recruiters charge 20 to 25% of salary." Funded.club states that "traditional recruitment agencies charge 20 to 30% of annual salary." Treat those as the providers' own framing, not a survey.
Worked examples on a $200,000 base
These are arithmetic on published terms, not quotes.
| Provider and terms | Fee on a $200,000 base |
|---|---|
| Refery at 15% | $30,000 |
| Refery at 20% | $40,000 |
| Refery at 25% | $50,000 |
| Superposition, three-month search, one agent | $1,500 plus $30,000 on hire, $31,500 |
| Funded.club, $190,001 and above tier | $21,900 as published for that tier |
| Wellfound Autopilot, three-month search | $1,500 plus $20,000 on hire, $21,500 |
| A "traditional agency" at 25%, as the providers above describe it | $50,000 |
The same search on a $150,000 base at 20% is $30,000; Refery's fee page has the full grid at 15%, 20%, and 25%.
The number is only half the price
Two proposals at the same percentage can cost very different amounts. Check these before comparing:
- Fee basis. Base salary only, or base plus signing bonus, target variable, and equity. On a founding account executive with a $150,000 base and $150,000 variable, "20% of OTE" is double "20% of base."
- Payment trigger. Offer accepted, start date, or first day. Earlier triggers move risk to you.
- Guarantee type. Replacement search, refund, or a credit against the next search, and the period it covers. Funded.club's page warns that some agency guarantees mean "20% off the next full-price search, not a free replacement." Refery's is a 90-day guarantee under the client agreement; ask any provider to put theirs in writing.
- Exclusivity. If you cannot run your own network or a second channel, the effective cost includes the hires you did not make.
- Pipeline conflicts. Whether a candidate you already knew triggers a fee.
The full question list is in recruiting payment and guarantee questions.
Cost versus what the fee buys
A low fee on a wide funnel can cost more founder time than a higher fee on a screened shortlist, because every submission that reaches you costs an hour of reading and a conversation. Recruiting agency vs referral marketplace works through that trade with labelled examples, and retainer vs contingency vs referral explains where the risk sits in each structure.
If you are budgeting a whole year rather than one search, plan a recruiting service budget and set a startup hiring budget from comparable roles cover the arithmetic.
Sources
Checked on September 19, 2026.
- Refery: refery.io/recruiting-fees
- Superposition: superposition.ai/pricing
- Funded.club: funded.club/fixed-fee-recruiting
- Wellfound: wellfound.com/recruit/pricing
- Dover: dover.com/pricing
- Top Echelon: topechelon.com/recruiting-network
- Recruiting from Scratch: recruitingfromscratch.com
- Paraform: paraform.com, paraform.com/connectors
Public pages and terms change. Confirm the fee basis, trigger, and guarantee in writing before a search starts.
Frequently asked questions
What percentage do startup recruiters charge?
Published success fees on provider sites range from 15% to 25% of first-year base salary (Refery) and 15% on hire plus $500 per month per agent (Superposition) to the 20% to 25% and 25% to 30% ranges that providers cite as typical for traditional agencies. Many firms do not publish a percentage and quote per search. Always confirm whether the basis is base salary only or total compensation.
Is a fixed fee cheaper than a percentage?
It depends on the salary. Funded.club publishes fixed fees from $4,900 per hire tiered by salary band; on a $200,000 base a 15% success fee is $30,000 before any monthly agent fee, so a flat fee is cheaper on paper. The trade is search depth and guarantee terms, so compare what each fee buys, not only the number.
When do you pay a startup recruiter?
Contingency and referral models pay on hire, with the trigger stated as offer acceptance, start date, or the candidate's first day (Superposition states first day; Refery's fee is due after the hire under the client agreement). Retained and fractional models pay upfront or by the hour regardless of outcome. Job boards and sourcing tools bill monthly.