Is Braintrust profitable in 2026?

No profitability figures have been disclosed. Braintrust's Gross Service Value hit $86M in 2022 and has stayed flat since, with no post-2023 GSV disclosed as of an April 2026 analysis, while its BTRST token has collapsed about 99.9% from its 2021 peak.

Could AI replace Braintrust's core service?

Yes, largely. Braintrust's matching and screening value proposition is highly AI-replaceable, and its own answer, the AIR interview tool launched around mid-2025, is a bolted-on feature competing in a crowded AI-recruiting field with no exclusive ATS lock-in as of 2026.

Who is Braintrust's biggest competitor?

Upwork, Fiverr, Toptal, Turing, and Andela all compete directly for freelance/contract talent business. None is structurally barred from copying Braintrust's zero-fee-to-talent model, and enterprise buyers generally do not choose vendors based on freelancer-side fees.

Is Braintrust's BTRST token dead?

Not delisted, but severely diminished. As of July 2026 BTRST traded near $0.058 to $0.059 with a market cap of roughly $14-15M, down about 99.9% from its all-time high near $46.82-$47.85 set on September 16, 2021, per Messari.

Braintrust is privately held with a DAO-governance layer via the BTRST token. The company's own March 2026 profile reports $142M in total funding from Coatue, Tiger Global, Coinbase Ventures, IDEO, Blockchange, True Ventures, and others.

Is usebraintrust.com the same company as braintrust.dev?

No. usebraintrust.com is a decentralized freelance talent marketplace launched in June 2020, while braintrust.dev is an unrelated AI observability startup led by Ankur Goyal that raised an $80M Series B led by ICONIQ Capital in February 2026.

Job boards and HR platforms · United States

Braintrust

usebraintrust.com ↗

Decentralized freelance talent network connecting companies with vetted contract talent.

Little protection left

Assessed 22 July 2026 · Evidence as of 22 July 2026

Not much stands between this business and its pressures.

On the recordSince 22 July 2026 · Checkable from FY2026 year-end reporting · Every call on the record Checkpoint: Disclosure (or continued silence) on GSV recovery and AIR enterprise adoption numbers

The call

Braintrust's token model collapsed, its core growth metric has been flat for three years, and its AI pivot lands it in a crowded field with no exclusive edge.

Braintrust connects companies with remote freelancers and recently added AI interviewing tools to help with hiring. The company's original appeal was charging zero fees to workers, but competitors like Upwork and Fiverr can easily copy that model, and general AI systems now do matching and screening on their own. The token that was supposed to make Braintrust special has crashed from $47 to under 6 cents, and the company's growth stalled after 2023. The one thing that could matter is whether its new AI interviewing tool becomes a must-have layer inside other hiring systems or just stays a replaceable add-on that anyone can copy.

Why

AI pressure: General-purpose AI recruiting tools (HireVue, Metaview, Paradox, Eightfold) plus AI matching/screening built into ChatGPT-style agents. AI now does matching, screening, and interviewing natively, commoditizing the exact tasks Braintrust charges for, and its AIR feature is a me-too answer. Could AI do the core job? Yes, likely.

Bigger players: Upwork, Fiverr, Toptal, Turing, Andela. None of these are barred from copying zero-fee-to-talent, and enterprise buyers pick platforms on their needs, not freelancer fees. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.

What protects it. A 2M+ professional network and 100+ enterprise logos give it some switching friction, but no exclusive data, ATS lock-in, or regulatory edge backs it up.

What would change this call

Braintrust discloses GSV figures for 2024 or 2025. Would show whether enterprise revenue reaccelerated or stayed flat since 2022 peak.
AIR gains an exclusive ATS integration or frontier-lab partnership. Would show AIR becoming a system-of-record lock-in rather than a commodity add-on.
BTRST token price or market cap moves materially from ~$0.058/$15M. Would signal shifting market confidence in the DAO governance model.

Key numbers

GSV stalled at $86M after 2022, no update since (2026)
BTRST down ~99.9% from $47 peak to $0.058 (2026-07)
Headcount fell to 51-200 from ~450 in 2022 (2026-03)

Named risks

BTRST token down ~99.9% from 2021 ATH, thin daily volume often under $50K in 2026. Severity: high
Core Gross Service Value metric stalled at $86M since 2022 with no newer figure disclosed. Severity: high
AI-driven matching/screening commoditizes Braintrust's core marketplace value proposition. Severity: high
AIR is a pluggable ATS add-on with no exclusive integration or frontier-lab partnership as of 2026. Severity: medium
Public data sources conflate usebraintrust.com with unrelated braintrust.dev, muddying funding and metrics. Severity: low

Rivals, as read in July 2026

Rival	Direction	Evidence
Upwork	losing to	Mass-market incumbent scale dwarfs Braintrust's stalled GSV since 2022
Fiverr	losing to	Larger open marketplace incumbent, no structural barrier stopping it from copying Braintrust's model
Toptal	contesting	Competes directly for curated senior freelance talent as of 2026
Turing	contesting	AI-matched contractor marketplace competing on similar AI-screening positioning in 2026
Scale AI	gaining on	Scale AI weakened after Meta took 49% stake June 2025, opening AI-training talent opportunity Braintrust is pursuing
Mercor and Surge AI	losing to	Reported to be gaining share in human-data-for-AI work as of 2026, ahead of Braintrust's entry

Questions people ask

Is Braintrust profitable in 2026?: No profitability figures have been disclosed. Braintrust's Gross Service Value hit $86M in 2022 and has stayed flat since, with no post-2023 GSV disclosed as of an April 2026 analysis, while its BTRST token has collapsed about 99.9% from its 2021 peak.
Could AI replace Braintrust's core service?: Yes, largely. Braintrust's matching and screening value proposition is highly AI-replaceable, and its own answer, the AIR interview tool launched around mid-2025, is a bolted-on feature competing in a crowded AI-recruiting field with no exclusive ATS lock-in as of 2026.
Who is Braintrust's biggest competitor?: Upwork, Fiverr, Toptal, Turing, and Andela all compete directly for freelance/contract talent business. None is structurally barred from copying Braintrust's zero-fee-to-talent model, and enterprise buyers generally do not choose vendors based on freelancer-side fees.
Is Braintrust's BTRST token dead?: Not delisted, but severely diminished. As of July 2026 BTRST traded near $0.058 to $0.059 with a market cap of roughly $14-15M, down about 99.9% from its all-time high near $46.82-$47.85 set on September 16, 2021, per Messari.
Who owns Braintrust?: Braintrust is privately held with a DAO-governance layer via the BTRST token. The company's own March 2026 profile reports $142M in total funding from Coatue, Tiger Global, Coinbase Ventures, IDEO, Blockchange, True Ventures, and others.
Is usebraintrust.com the same company as braintrust.dev?: No. usebraintrust.com is a decentralized freelance talent marketplace launched in June 2020, while braintrust.dev is an unrelated AI observability startup led by Ankur Goyal that raised an $80M Series B led by ICONIQ Capital in February 2026.

Timeline

2026-01-27Braintrust adds AI Assistance Detection feature to AIR to flag candidate AI use in interviews
2025-06Braintrust AIR interview product active with weekly release notes underway
2023-10Talent supply grows roughly 5x to about 490K, largely organic, tied to tech layoffs
2023-08Braintrust launches self-serve SMB tools, reportedly driving 1,000+ net-new customers
2022Gross Service Value reaches $86M annual run rate, then stalls through 2023
2021-12Coatue and Tiger Global lead $100M private BTRST token purchase
2021-09-16BTRST token hits all-time high near $47
2020-10Braintrust raises $18M strategic round led by ACME and Blockchange Ventures
2020-06Braintrust launches publicly with $6M seed funding

Revision history

22 July 2026

First assessed. Little protection left. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.

In the same band

Nomad Health Jobcase Prosperix