At a glance
| Â | Gem | RealGreatDevs |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Recruiting CRM | Technical sourcing |
| Pricing model | Quote-based, with a small-company on-ramp | Self-serve monthly or annual subscription, no placement fees |
| Coverage | 800M+ profiles, per third-party reporting; sourcing is not Gem's primary function. | 2.5M indexed engineer profiles |
| Data source | ATS and CRM data, email and calendar activity, plus a sourcing layer. | Public GitHub activity: repositories, languages, contribution history and stated location. |
| Roles covered | Varies by product | Software engineering only |
What each one costs
Gem moved to custom pricing based on company size. Companies under 30 employees are offered All-in-One free for six months and a discounted first paid year. Self-serve startup pricing is reported from around $130 per seat per month billed annually; larger contracts are quote-based.
Plans are self-serve with a free account to start, billed per workspace with seats included and no per-hire or placement fee. Aggregate data like the skill and country pages is public and free to browse.
Gem pricing last checked 2026-08-04. Most vendors in this category sell quote-based annual contracts, so treat published ranges as a starting point for negotiation rather than a quote.
Where each one wins
Gem is stronger at
- The strongest pipeline analytics in the category, including funnel conversion by source
- Genuinely useful free tier for very small companies
- Sequencing and nurture workflows are more mature than most sourcing tools
Where Gem falls short
- Solves engagement and conversion, not discovery: if you cannot find the candidates, Gem does not fix that
- Value depends on ATS integration, so it fits established processes better than new ones
RealGreatDevs is stronger at
- Every profile is backed by public code you can read, not a self-reported skill list
- Filter on activity itself: contribution volume, repository count, language mix and country
- Self-serve, so you can evaluate it without a sales call or an annual commitment
Where RealGreatDevs falls short
- Engineering only. If you also hire sales, finance or design, you need something else alongside it
- Coverage depends on public code, so engineers who work only in private repositories are underrepresented
- Not an ATS or a CRM: it finds and contacts people, it does not manage them through a hiring process
Choose Gem if
Teams whose bottleneck is converting candidates they already have, not finding new ones.
The core difference
Gem and RealGreatDevs solve opposite halves of the problem. Gem manages the relationship after you have found someone; RealGreatDevs is about finding them in the first place. They are complements more than alternatives.
Frequently asked questions
Is RealGreatDevs cheaper than Gem?
Gem pricing model: Quote-based, with a small-company on-ramp. Gem moved to custom pricing based on company size. Companies under 30 employees are offered All-in-One free for six months and a discounted first paid year. Self-serve startup pricing is reported from around $130 per seat per month billed annually; larger contracts are quote-based. RealGreatDevs is sold differently: Self-serve monthly or annual subscription, no placement fees, so a small team can start without a sales call or an annual commitment. For a large team with an existing contract, the comparison depends entirely on the terms you negotiate.
What can Gem do that RealGreatDevs cannot?
The strongest pipeline analytics in the category, including funnel conversion by source. Genuinely useful free tier for very small companies. Sequencing and nurture workflows are more mature than most sourcing tools. Teams whose bottleneck is converting candidates they already have, not finding new ones.
Can I use both RealGreatDevs and Gem?
Yes, and plenty of teams do. Gem covers recruiting crm; RealGreatDevs covers engineering sourcing from public code. They draw on different data, so using both widens the pool rather than duplicating it.
Where does RealGreatDevs get its data?
Public GitHub activity: repositories, languages, contribution history and stated location. Every profile is built from activity that is already public, and the aggregate figures on our skill and country pages come from the same index you search.
Sources
Figures are as published or independently reported at the date noted above. Vendor pricing changes; verify before budgeting.
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A free account gets you into the index. No sales call, no annual contract, no placement fees.