While salary transparency laws have made it easier to access compensation data, how do you know whether you’re getting a fair offer?
There are many websites, databases, and tools available for comparing salaries and maximizing earning potential.
It can be overwhelming to sift through all the available resources and decide which ones are legitimate and up-to-date, with the latest data and stats.
You also want to choose sites that cater specifically to tech or at least have a lot of insights from those who have maximized their earning potential in the industry, since salary negotiation and compensation packages are nuanced in this field.
Keep reading for a list of the best websites for comparing tech industry salaries. I will also share how to know if you’re getting paid fairly, negotiation tips, and what to consider negotiating besides your base pay.
10 Best Sites To Compare Tech Salaries
As a career and interview coach, job seekers often ask me for recommendations on the best websites to compare tech salaries and maximize their earning potential.
The following list of the best salary sites begins with tech-specific databases and resources. I then share online forums where you can discuss your pay and total compensation. Finally, I conclude with additional sources you can use to compare your salary.
1. Levels.fyi
Levels.fyi is hands-down one of the top websites for comparing tech salaries and ensuring you’re getting the best total compensation possible. You can search Levels.fyi’s salary database by location, company, and title.
The site also offers helpful tools like:
- Salary heatmaps: An interactive heatmap of total compensation pay ranges across the United States, based on region.
- Compensation visualizations: Salary range and total compensation trajectory charts by company and level.
- Real-time compensation benchmarking: Aggregated data that compare roles, years of experience, locations, and more.
- Competitive intelligence: Insights into how popular tech companies structure their compensation. (Note: Access to some tech companies is only available if you purchase a Levels.fyi membership.)
With all this salary data on the tech industry, it makes sense that Level.fyi’s tagline is, “Get Paid, Not Played.”
Levels.fyi also has an app available for download on both the App Store and Google Play.
2. Blind
Blind is another valuable resource for evaluating your tech salary and ensuring you maximize your earning potential.
“Blind is a trusted community where 10 million professionals across companies and industries have honest conversations. Blind also provides private company channels, where users are able to communicate with co-workers.” according to the company’s website.
I often explain to clients that Blind is like if Glassdoor and Reddit had a tech baby. (And if you’re unfamiliar with Glassdoor and/or Reddit, I’ll provide an overview of them both later in the article.)
Blind’s salary database caters to startups and the tech industry and has data for job functions across technology, product, design, finance, operations, business, and engineering. You can see median total compensation, as well as the 25th percentile, 70th percentile, and 90th percentile for roles.
Note: You must create an account with Blind to participate in the forums and access all its available salary data.
Beyond Blind’s salary database, the site also has an active forum that can provide a wealth of data on offers. What I appreciate most about the platform is that users are verified with a work email, so you won’t be bombarded with spam accounts.
Additionally, you’ll find a lot of people sharing insights on how to evaluate tech jobs, which can be helpful if you’re struggling to choose between multiple job offers or unsure whether to leave your current company.
You can download an app version of Blind from the Apple Store and Google Play.
3. Built In
Built In is another great tool for evaluating your tech salary and ensuring you’re getting the most pay possible. The site focuses on tech and startup salaries in the US and boasts more than 70 tech hubs.
The site’s database allows you to see the average pay for your role, as well as the total distribution, so you can see whether your offer aligns with other professionals.
Built In’s salary database allows you to search by job title and location and receive insights based on gender and years of experience.
The site also allows you to click through to see current active job postings and their salary ranges, if available, which can serve as another data point during your negotiation process.
4. Wellfound
Wellfound (formerly AngelList Talent) has a salary calculator that allows you to search recent startup salary and equity compensation data.
One distinction with Wellfound’s salary calculator is that you can sort by specific skills, such as Python, PHP, C++, Java, and JavaScript.
Wellfound’s database has a lot of nuanced industries within and adjacent to tech, like blockchain/cryptocurrency, fintech, big data, artificial intelligence, SaaS, eCommerce, and clean technology, which can provide you with more specific data regarding your salary and earning potential.
5. Fishbowl
Fishbowl is an online professional community with a mission “to help professionals and companies get ahead by enabling helpful and constructive conversations,” according to the site.
There are several “bowls,” like this one and this one, specifically focused on salary and compensation.
These community forums can be helpful for learning more about what other people have received, what their total packages looked like, and how their negotiation processes went.
Note: Fishbowl requires you to create a free account using your work email, LinkedIn profile, or Gmail address to verify your identity before engaging in the community.
You can also access Fishbowl via the App Store and Google Play.
6. Reddit
Reddit is an often-underutilized tool for evaluating your tech salary and determining whether you’re getting the best offer possible.
Like Fishbowl, Reddit can be an effective resource to learn more about salary offers, total compensation packages, and the negotiation process. Many employees post their job offers on the platform and share feedback with one another.
You can also get an unfiltered inside look at the culture from current and former employees sharing their experiences working at various companies.
Unlike Glassdoor and other review sites, which can lead to false positive reviews as part of employer branding campaigns, these types of online forums tend to have more authentic information regarding both salary and company culture.
You can use Reddit on both the App Store and Google Play.
7. Glassdoor
Glassdoor’s salary data is not exclusive to the tech industry; however, it’s a powerful resource for evaluating how your job offer stacks up against others.
Although it has its drawbacks, such as requiring you to share a review or salary to access its insights, an advantage of Glassdoor is the sheer amount of data that the site has due to its popularity.
Glassdoor has apps on both the App Store and Google Play.
8. H1-B Visa Salary Database
The H1-B Visa Salary Database allows you to search for salary data associated with H-1B visa applications.
“The website indexes the Labor Condition Application (LCA) disclosure data from the United States Department of Labor (DOL),” according to the site. “Prior to filing an H-1B petition with the USCIS, an employer must file an LCA with the DOL. An LCA is used by employers as supporting evidence for the petition for an H-1B visa.”
You can search the database by employer, job, or city. As of writing this article, the database goes back more than 10 years, offering you a wealth of data to use while evaluating tech salary trends over the years.
Meta, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google, Airbnb, Uber, LinkedIn, and Salesforce are some of the most popular tech employers included on the platform.
The site is home to a list of the highest-paid companies, jobs, and cities for those receiving H1-B sponsorship.
9. O*NET OnLine
Developed by the US Department of Labor, O*NET Online is a valuable, yet often underutilized, resource for job seekers looking to gain insights on a potential role and its salary and earning potential.
The site boasts more than 900 occupations that are regularly updated. Within each occupation, you can review state wages and local wages based on your ZIP code.
The site notes those with a “Bright Outlook,” which indicates occupations that “are expected to grow rapidly in the next several years, will have large numbers of job openings, or are new and emerging occupations.”
Additionally, you can also see projected growth, projected job openings, and state trends.
10. Salary Transparent Street
The Salary Transparent Street (STS) salary database hosts “thousands of searchable, verified salaries,” according to the website. As of writing this article, more than 7,000 people have shared their salaries for inclusion in the database. Only U.S. locations are supported currently.
“We interview people about their salaries to promote and encourage pay transparency,” says STS. According to the site, the database was created to “combat discriminatory tendencies, close marginalizing pay gaps, [and] get people paid what they deserve.”
Also, if you’re not already following STS on Instagram or TikTok, I highly recommend it if you want to stay up-to-date on tech salaries.
Negotiating The Highest Salary Possible
Now that you know how to find data for tech jobs, let’s dive deeper into how to know whether you’re being offered a fair salary, what to consider negotiating besides your total compensation, and other considerations when negotiating your salary so that you get more money.
How Do I Know If I’m Being Offered A Fair Salary?
Online market data is one of the best ways to know if you’re being offered a competitive salary based on your experience, knowledge, skills, and the current labor market. You’ll want to ensure the websites you use have ample data for the types of companies and roles you’re targeting, as a single data point can be misleading.
An often-overlooked step in evaluating a job offer is revisiting the initial job posting to see the salary range listed. Although these ranges can be wide and not include the total compensation, they can inform your conversation with the recruiter regarding your pay
You can also speak directly with the recruiter and ask about the salary range for the role.
Because I work with senior managers and executives in tech, I often advise clients to say something like, “As a people manager, I understand that you’re working with a specific budget and must maintain internal pay equity. What’s the salary range we’re working with here?” This approach helps put you on the same side of the negotiating table as the recruiter, rather than feeling as the two of you are at odds.
In addition to using online compensation data, revisiting the original job posting, and speaking directly with the recruiter, consider conducting side-door research. This may look like talking with current and former employees to understand their compensation and how their salary negotiation process went with the company. In an effort to improve pay equity, there has been a significant decrease in the stigma related to discussing salary, so many professionals are more open to discussing their compensation and how they negotiated it.
Can I Negotiate My Salary In The Tech Industry?
Whether you can negotiate your salary will ultimately depend on the company and your role. Broadly speaking, salaries tend to be negotiable in the tech industry.
However, some tech companies will have an explicit no-negotiation policy, and this will typically be made clear upfront.
Even among companies that do allow for negotiation, you may not be able to increase your compensation beyond the initial offer. This is often the case if you’re at the top of an internal salary band. This can also be due to budget constraints or to maintain internal pay equity.
You want to consider why you’re neotiating in the first place. Do you truly feel that your experience and skills warrant more pay based on available market data, or do you simply feel pressured to negotiate because that’s what other people do? Understanding your underlying motivations can help you approach the conversation clearly and confidently.
What Else Should I Negotiate Besides My Base Salary?
Although your base salary will often make up a significant portion, if not the majority, of your compensation, you can negotiate other perks and forms of remuneration to increase your total compensation:
- Stocks
- Signing bonus
- Retention bonus
- Relocation stipend
- Tuition stipend or tuition reimbursement
- Professional development stipend
- Commission structure and payments
- Work schedule
- Work location
- Paid time off
Some of the sites from this article will provide you with an idea of the type of bonus and stock options to expect.
Important: Before accepting a job offer, you want to fully understand the total compensation package and ask your recruiter for the benefits package, as the base salary is only one component of your total pay.
Can I Lose A Job Offer For Negotiating The Salary?
It’s very unlikely that you’ll lose your job offer because you attempted to ask for more pay, as long as you approach the conversation respectfully.
I’ve worked one-on-one with more than 1,000 clients and have never seen someone have their job offer rescinded for appropriately and politely negotiating their salary.
Importantly, though, you don’t want to negotiate for negotiation’s sake or be directed by personal circumstances. Instead, you want the conversation to be based on market data.
Final Thoughts On The Best Salary Sites For Evaluating Your Tech Job Offer
There are tons of salary sites, databases, and tools for evaluating your job offer. As you consider your choices, you want to prioritize those targeting the tech industry, or at least those with significant data on tech jobs, which allows you to be specific regarding your experience, skills, and location.
Moreover, you want to use multiple data points and avoid rushing the negotiation process to ensure you start your new job feeling confident that you maximized your salary and earning potential with the company. You’ve got this!
