24 Alternatives to GrowthMentor

So you’re looking for alternatives to GrowthMentor, huh?

Hey, no shade cast here. You’re in the startup and tech world and every dollar counts. We’re a bootstrapped company so we know what it’s like. And we respect savvy folks who are going to do their research and find a product that’s going to work best for them.

Which is why we went ahead and rounded up all the alternatives to GrowthMentor on the market to present them here.

Certain alternatives on this list have different strengths and weaknesses compared to GrowthMentor. Whether GM is your best choice is down to what you need from a mentorship platform.

To that end, we’ve even written up an article on the metrics that really matter for evaluating mentorship platforms.

If you want to learn how to evaluate platforms for yourself, read the article below. Otherwise, keep reading for a comparison of GrowthMentor to the alternatives out there.

When GrowthMentor Is Your Best Fit

• Target Audience: Somewhat broad. Save for a focus on engineering-related and coding-related areas, GrowthMentor covers skill-sets related to most areas of the tech industry. But, we primarily serve founders and marketers.
• Pricing: Flat monthly rate. $49 for one free call a month, $99 for unlimited calls. 85% of GM mentors do not charge an extra fee and those that do are encouraged to set “startup friendly” prices.
• Types of Mentor Engagements: The platform is geared towards single-sessions.
• Diversity of Mentor Base: Diverse. GrowthMentor’s mentors come from all different industries and a vast array of skill-sets.
• Quality of Mentors: Vetted, and you can read all about it.
• Mentee Community: Available, and a major part of the platform. Spend any time in our Slack community and you’ll see mentees and mentors helping each other out regularly.

The GrowthMentor Philosophy Difference

Unlike some alternatives on this list, GrowthMentor focuses on single-session mentor engagements. Our plans are designed to help mentees to book many calls with different mentors.

Why?

Because having one mentor may have worked for Luke Skywalker and Yoda. But this is the real world, not Star Wars, and we don’t believe one mentor can teach you everything you need to know.

Think about it. Especially if you’re a founder (our target audience), how many times have you run into a situation where yes, you need help with a major project in your company. But you’re also struggling with a lot of self-doubt and mental stress.

Even if one mentor has the skill-set to handle both issues, you’re asking them to do a major gear-shift between the two. One is problem solving while the other is essentially startup founder therapy. That’s a lot to put on one person.

Instead, with GrowthMentor’s model, your sessions look more like this:

You can pick and choose the best mentor to solve the issue you’re facing. And this is exactly why we have a flat rate for booking unlimited calls. Plus, of all the options on this list (save for ADPList, MicroMentor, and The Mentoring Club, which are free, but not vetted), we have the lowest monthly rate.

But don’t take our word for it. Hear how well it works from one of our customers:

You may be wondering: okay, great one flat rate for unlimited calls, the whole diversity of thought thing works, but why are 85% of the mentors free?

It’s simple: they want to help people out. No catch. No games. We even have a Youtube video about it, straight from the mentors themselves:

We’re a give-first community, so our mentors aren’t motivated by money. They’re motivated by a love of this space and a joy in seeing products and the founders, marketers, and product managers behind those products succeed.

Who Is GrowthMentor a Good Fit For

The short answer to this question: founders, marketers, growth practitioners, and product folks.

The long answer to this question:

If you’re a founder or product person, GrowthMentor fulfills a very specific role in helping expand your horizons. We cover 34 different skill areas, including product management, team building, sales, and customer success. You can learn about any of these areas, uncover new skills and get the holistic understanding of how the elements of your company or product work together. When you understand the whole machine, you can make better decisions to make your company or product work better, faster than you ever thought possible.

If you’re in marketing, you’ve also come to the right place. We specialize in it. Of the 34 skill areas, 11 are marketing focused.

Here’s the breakdown of mentors in our marketing skill categories:

• Growth marketing: 268 mentors list as expertise
• GTM strategy: 198 mentors listed
• Content marketing: 169 mentors listed
• CRO: 157 mentors listed
• PPC: 108 mentors listed
• Email marketing: 102 mentors listed
• SEO: 91 mentors listed
• Marketing automation: 90 mentors listed
• Product marketing: 56 mentors listed
• Social media: 56 mentors listed
• Copywriting: 55 mentors listed

You can get mentorship in almost any area of marketing you can think of, with practical, hands-on advice about your specific problem.

And finally, for the growth folks, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that, as the name implies, we focus on growth. 556 of our almost 700 mentors mention growth in their profiles, 269 specialize in growth marketing, 136 in growth strategy, and 26 in growth product. You know growth practitioners see the world through a different lens. Don’t you want a platform that will let you talk to plenty of mentors who see things similarly?

To be fair, however, GrowthMentor is not a good fit for you if you are A. looking for long-term mentorship or B. need assistance with engineering and development related areas like coding. There are other alternatives listed here that will be a better choice for you.

How GrowthMentor’s Platform Works

If one of the above cases sounds like you, here’s a sneak peek at how GrowthMentor’s platform works.

You’ll want to start by visiting the “browse mentors” page. You could just start scrolling.

But, since we have almost 700 mentors, you’ll want to narrow down your options first.

Within our mentor search, you can apply filters to search for mentors with specific skills, software expertise, industries, or current and former companies. There are 275 different software areas to filter by, 30 skill areas, 300 industries, and more than 100 mentor companies.

For example, let’s say you’re facing questions about building a team for a SaaS industry company and you want a mentor with experience in both of those areas. All you have to do is check “Team Building” under skills, for 278 mentors:

And then, after a quick search for “SaaS” under “Industries”, check that box to narrow your field down to 107 mentors:

We usually recommend applying no more than 2 filters at a time, as certain filters (such as a mentor’s previous or current company) can pinpoint fairly specific results.

But in some cases, your filters may still yield a fairly large pool of potential mentors, like our 107 SaaS mentors with team building experience above.

To focus your options even more, you can search for specific keywords in our general profile search. Within our “SaaS” and “Team Building” filters, a search for the keyword “app” produces 39 mentor options, a search for “founder” yields 47 options, and a search for “accelerator” produces 15.

From there, it’s just a matter of browsing your options and determining which mentor seems like the best fit for you.

Once you’ve picked a mentor, you’ll hit “request a call,” choose your session duration (either 15, 30, or 60 minutes), pick a call location (Zoom, Google Meet, or our GrowthMentor video rooms), then choose a session time and answer the following questions about your challenge:

Your mentor will confirm the request and the call will take place over video conference like most mentoring platforms.

However, sometimes you’re in the throes of decision fatigue and simply don’t have the time or energy to sort through even five or ten mentor options.

Situations like these are exactly why we built our new AI matching engine:

Simply describe your primary pain-point, add your desired outcome, and in a matter of minutes, you’ll be matched with three different mentors who will be a great fit to help with your challenge.

Then, it’s just a matter of booking your call and asking your questions.

GrowthMentor Alternatives

If you’re not sold on Growthmentor, you do have other options. They can be broken down into:

• Cold contacting potential mentors
• Consultants
  • Marketing consultants
  • Growth consultants
  • Product consultants
• Mentorship Programs
  • Local mentorship programs
  • Marketing mentorship programs
  • Other mentorship programs
• Mentorship Platforms
  • Free platforms
  • Paid platforms with broad target audiences
  • Paid platforms with narrow target audiences

Let’s look at each one:

Cold-contacting Potential Mentors

Sure, you can find a mentor through the typical route of cold-contacting. But that’s far too large a topic to cover in an article like this. Instead, we suggest reading our step-by-step guide here:

Simply keep in mind that this cold-contacting route is likely going to take a few weeks, if not a couple of months. If you need advice fast, we highly recommend trying one of the other alternatives on this list instead.

Consultants

Of course, you can always go for the “done for you” route with a consultant. Simply keep in mind that the price will likely be far higher to pay a consultant than it will be to join most mentorship platforms (and it’s definitely much higher than joining GrowthMentor).

Marketing Consultants

For marketing jobs, you can always hire a marketing consultant. We’ve written a full guide on the topic. But to save you a few clicks, here are the top marketing consultant platforms:

MarketerHire

Price: For their minimum 10 hour package, rates range from $3000-$6000, depending on expertise. They do state they do not charge hiring businesses placement, termination or long-term contract fees.
Payment Plan Options: Hourly package rate
Vetted?: Yes, viewable on their website.
Matching Services Provided?: Yes
Marketer Profiles Viewable On Site Without Signup: No.

MarketerHire is a platform that specializes in connecting businesses with freelance marketers and marketing assistants.
Their current specialties include Amazon marketing, brand marketing, CMOs, content marketing, email marketing, marketing analysis, growth marketing, PPC, social media, SEO, and programmatic marketing.

Official Website

Traktion

Price: Freelancer rates are not advertised on their site. However, Traktion states in their FAQ they make money via a flat commission fee from freelancer earnings and do not charge fees to hiring businesses.
Payment Plan Options: Not advertised
Vetted?: Yes, viewable on their website.
Matching Services Provided?: Yes
Marketer Profiles Viewable On Site Without Signup: No.

Traktion is another marketer hiring platform, under the umbrella of Investis Digital.
While hiring specialities are not listed on their website on the business hiring side, their application page for marketers says:
“We have marketers with the following expertise: Paid Social, PPC, Search Engine Optimisation, Content Marketing, App Store Optimisation, Conversion Rate Optimisation, Customer Relationship Management, Amazon Ads, Growth Strategy, Affiliate Marketing and Programmatic Ads.
We also look for marketers who don’t fit nicely into a box which may include: CMOs (including part-time CMOs or Fractional CMOs), Growth marketers, Graphic designers, Project Managers, Account Managers, Campaign Managers, Brand Managers, Creative Directors.”

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PassionFruit

Price: Freelancer rates and other fees are not advertised on their site
Payment Plan Options: Not advertised
Vetted?: Yes, viewable on their website. Passionfruit cites a 12% talent acceptance rate.
Matching Services Provided?: Yes
Marketer Profiles Viewable On Site Without Signup: Not exactly. There are case studies available, but they do not list the full profile of the marketer.

Passionfruit primarily focuses on marketing and design experts and cites a low final talent acceptance rate.
Their marketing specialties include mobile app marketing, copywriting, CRO, CMO, growth marketing, brand strategy, content marketing, product marketing, SEO, PR, PPC, and social media.

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GrowthCollective

Price: Growth marketer rates range $50-$150+/hr, and GrowthCollective states in their FAQ they make money via a flat commission fee from freelancer earnings and do not charge fees to hiring businesses.
Payment Plan Options: Weekly or monthly pricing
Vetted?: Yes, viewable on their website.
Matching Services Provided?: Yes
Marketer Profiles Viewable On Site Without Signup: No. Previews of profiles are available, but require a sign-up to view.

GrowthCollective is another marketing focused hiring platform that cites fast hiring as their main advantage.
Their available specialities include PPC, CMOs, social media, SEO, marketing analytics, affiliate marketing, influencer marketing, programmatic media buying, email marketing, content marketing and marketing automation.

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Growth Consultants

You’ll notice the above marketing consulting companies all offer growth marketing services, but that’s the only aspect of growth they offer.

But if you want your consultant to work on aspects like growth product or growth strategy, you’re going to have to look elsewhere.

Sure, you could hire a growth consultant from your local network or hire a business consulting firm that says they do growth consulting. But to us, there’s only one real option if you want the most flexibility and coverage of growth consulting areas:

GrowthExpert

Price: Growth manager rates range from $500-$2000 per month on monthly retainer (or an alternate $50-$125/hr block of hours option), and growth leadership rates range $1000-$2000 per month on monthly retainer (or an alternate $125-$300/hr block of hours option). GrowthExpert does not charge fees to hiring businesses or take a commission from experts hired through the platform.
Payment Plan Options: Hour blocks, monthly retainers, or long-term contracts
Vetted?: Yes, which you can read here. GrowthExpert has a .5% acceptance rate for talent.
Matching Services Provided?: Yes
Growth specializations: Growth leadership (Head of Growth/CGO), growth management, growth marketing

Now maybe you don’t have the time to find and vet someone through your own network and you’re antsy about approaching a business consulting firm that may not specialize in real growth tactics. Or you need more than just growth marketing from your growth consultant.

This is exactly why we created GrowthExpert.

At GrowthExpert, you get the same strict double-vetting process we apply here at GrowthMentor, but for fractional talent you can hire by hour blocks, monthly retainers, or extended contracts. You can even hire entire plug-and-play growth teams that are ready to roll within 48 hours.

Unlike other platforms, GrowthExpert focuses primarily on growth talent. So whether you need a head of growth, a growth manager, a growth marketer, or a growth product manager, we’ve got you covered.

And did we mention it’s free to post your job?

Getting started is simple. All you have to do is post your job, and if it’s a good fit for our talent pool, we’ll share it with them. Interested experts can request an intro and we’ll introduce both parties. If it’s a good mutual fit, you’ll work with the expert the same way you would any other contractor.

There are no commission, no fees. You can learn more about why in GrowthExpert’s manifesto.

Or, if you’re sold, schedule a call to get matched to the growth consultant you need.

Product Consultants

For those of you who need a consultant grounded in product, we recommend reading the following:

Short of finding a product consulting firm, your primary options (GrowthExpert, GrowthMentor, and MentorCruise) are already detailed in this article and the above.

Mentorship Programs

Maybe you don’t like the idea of a consultant doing your job for you. But, you’re not exactly sold on paying for a mentorship platform. In that case, a mentorship program may be a better fit for you.

Local Mentorship Programs

Of course, you always have the option to look through your local network and reach out to potential mentors in your area.

But, if you want a slightly less informal approach, look for mentorship programs at your local coworking spaces or networking groups. Large groups may even have formal mentorship programs.

If you’re in the United States, you may be able to find opportunities through your local Chamber of Commerce as well. Usually, CoCs will partner with an organization like SBA or SCORE to provide consistent mentoring sessions.

Marketing Mentorship Programs

For marketers, most options outside of mentorship platforms are directed at apprenticeships for new graduates or individuals looking to changes careers. But there are a few free-to-low-cost programs:

Content Marketing Institute

Cost: Free
Time Commitment: 6 months, but only 3 mentor-mentee meetings are required with options to attend other group meetings
Best for: Content marketers who want to expand their network and know-how

Official Website

AMA Triangle

Cost: $29 application fee for college students, $49 application fee for professionals with 1+ year experiences
Time Commitment: a few months, primary time commitment is for initial mentor matching with mentee-mentor meetings conducted on as-needed basis
Best for: Marketers who are either about to enter the workforce or have only been in marketing for a short time

Official Website

Product Marketing Alliance

Cost: Included in PMA membership cost, which runs from $42-$250 per month depending on the tier you pick
Time Commitment: Not specified
Best for: Product marketers (and more specifically, product marketers who are already members of PMA) who want to expand their network and know-how

Official Website

Other Mentorship Programs

Outside of marketing mentorship programs, there are some options for founders and product folks.

For founders, you can join The Founders Network—provided you can get an invite. There’s also always the option of joining an accelerator, but that comes with its own kind of cost. Personally, we think you’re better off joining a mentorship platform. It’s less expensive, less resource intensive, and you’ll get the advice you need faster.

Product peeps, you have a ready-made option with The Product Mentor. It’s a time commitment of 6 months and from what we can tell on the site, it’s free. But it has a waitlist of nearly 700 mentees, so you may be waiting a while before you get matched.

Mentorship Platforms

Here, we can get into the apples-to-apples comparison to GrowthMentor. Which type of platform you pick simply depends on whether you want a free platform, a paid platform that’s broadly targeted, or a paid platform that’s narrowly targeted.

Free Platforms

Free mentorship platforms can be a great way to test the waters on joining a platform. But, simply keep in mind that because all of the following are volunteer-based, there’s no vetting process involved for mentors. We always recommend caution in applying mentor advice from these platforms to pivotal business decisions.

ADPList

• Target Audience: Broad. ADPList covers a wide range of topics and skills related to the tech industry.
• Pricing: Free
• Types of Mentor Engagements: Offers both single-session and long-term engagements, but the platform leans more to single-session engagements.
• Diversity of Mentor Base: Diverse. Mentors on ADPList are volunteers and therefore can come from any background, skill-set or industry.
• Quality of Mentors: Not vetted. Mentors are volunteers and their applications are approved by ADPList, but the acceptance criteria are very loose: 5 years of experience in a field, 1 year of leadership experience, and a complete mentor profile.
• Mentee Community: Available via group mentoring sessions.

Because it’s free, ADPList is a great way to test-drive a mentorship platform. However, because it’s free and acceptance standards are incredibly minimal, you may find mentors are presenting themselves as “experts” rather than top performers in their fields.

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The Mentoring Club

• Target Audience: Extremely broad. The Mentoring Club covers a wide range of topics, some of which are even beyond the realm of tech.
• Pricing: Free
• Types of Mentor Engagements: The platform is geared towards single-session engagements.
• Diversity of Mentor Base: Diverse. Like ADPList, mentors on The Mentoring Club are volunteers and therefore can come from any background, skill-set or industry.
• Quality of Mentors: Not vetted. Mentors are volunteers and standards are not outlined clearly on the site.
• Mentee Community: Not available.

Just like ADPList, The Mentoring Club is a good way to test out mentorship. Unlike ADPList, however, it’s not outlined whether mentor profiles have any kind of approval necessary before joining.

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MicroMentor

• Target Audience: Fairly broad. MicroMentor covers a number of business-related mentorship topics.
• Pricing: Free
• Types of Mentor Engagements: The platform is geared towards single-session engagements.
• Diversity of Mentor Base: Diverse. As MicroMentor mentors are volunteers, they can come from any background, skill-set or industry.
• Quality of Mentors: Not vetted. Mentors are volunteers and standards are not outlined clearly on the site.
• Mentee Community: Not available.

Similarly to ADPList and The Mentoring Club, MicroMentor is another great free platform. It also comes with the bonus of being built by MercyCorps, a humanitarian aid NGO.

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Paid Platforms with Broad Target Audiences

If you’ve had objections to all the previous alternatives, it’s time to think about a paid mentorship platform. We’ll start with the ones with broad audiences:

Best Alternative for Long-Term Mentorship: MentorCruise

• Target Audience: Somewhat broad. While it could apply to anyone in the tech industry, offerings are better suited for engineers, designers, data scientists and product managers.
• Pricing: per session pricing options available or monthly fee for continuous mentorship, price range varies per expert and session type, starting at $39 for 20 minute intro call.
• Types of Mentor Engagements: Offers both long-term and single session options, but the platform is geared more towards long-term mentorship.
• Diversity of Mentor Base: Diverse. While Mentorcruise’s strengths lie in their coding, product management and design mentors, they also offer sales, leadership, and marketing mentors as well. Mentor industries are also varied within tech as well.
• Quality of Mentors: Vetted, but the vetting process and requirements are not outlined on the site.
• Mentee Community: Judging by the site and FAQs, Mentorcruise does not have a mentee community available.

MentorCruise and GrowthMentor share some similarities: we both value transparency (both platforms allow potential users to view full mentor profiles before signup) and we’re both bootstrapped companies.

But, as we mention in our MentorCruise alternatives article, we have completely different philosophies towards mentorship. GrowthMentor focuses on diverse, single-session mentorship, MentorCruise focuses on long-term mentorship with one mentor.

We have a huge amount of respect for Dominic (MentorCruise’s founder) and his team. So if you have your heart set on long-term mentorship, MentorCruise is a great choice.

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Best Alternative for DIY: Together

• Target Audience: Enterprise companies who want to build their own internal mentorship program
• Pricing: Plan tiers of free, $10K per year minimum, and $20K per year minimum.
• Types of Mentor Engagements: N/A. This will be determined by each individual company as they build their mentorship program.
• Diversity of Mentor Base: Not diverse. For an internal mentoring program, the mentor pool will come from senior employees within a company. Meaning both backgrounds and skill-sets will be limited.
• Quality of Mentors: N/A. Mentors are “vetted” in the sense that they are senior employees of the company chosen to be mentors.
• Mentee Community: N/A

So we admit this one is a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison because it’s a do-it-yourself mentorship platform. However, if you’re part of an enterprise company, you may have the resources available to start an internal mentorship program rather than rely on an external one.

Simply realize this route is going to take a large amount of time, money, effort, and team resources to build. And it’s not a one-time deal: once you build the program, you’ll have to have an entire team dedicated to maintaining it and keeping it active.

(Of all the DIY mentorship platforms, we had to give Together a shout-out as one of our mentors, Ryan Carruthers, used to work with them.)

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Best Alternative for Those that Like Phone Calls: Clarity.fm

• Target Audience: Broad. Clarity.fm covers a wide range of topics and skills related to the tech industry.
• Pricing: Per session pricing. Price range varies wildly per expert. It’s quite expensive: between $120 and $960 per hour on average. Clarity also offers an extra product, Clarity Live, but the pricing is not easily accessible on the site.
• Types of Mentor Engagements: The platform is more focused on single-session engagements with all sessions taking place over a call bridge (which feels very early 2000’s)
• Diversity of Mentor Base: Diverse. Clarity.fm’s mentors come from all types of industries, backgrounds, and skill-sets.
• Quality of Mentors: Vetted, but the vetting process and requirements are not outlined on the site.
• Mentee Community: Clarity.fm has a Quora-like community where mentors and mentees can answer questions. It does not appear to have alternate ways for mentees to engage with each other.

Clarity.fm does not have any skill areas you might consider “their specialties.” However, of all the alternatives on this list, it’s the only one that has a very large number and variety of business-focused mentors.

Just brace yourself for major sticker shock before you sign up.

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Best Alternative For Founders Seeking Mentors from Large Companies: Mentorcam

• Target Audience: Somewhat broad. While it could apply to anyone in the tech industry, offerings are better suited to those in sales and operations.
• Pricing: per session pricing, price range varies per expert but is not outlined on the site. Upon creating an account, most mentor pricing starts at $350 per hour, with a couple of exceptions at $250 per hour.
• Types of Mentor Engagements: More geared towards single session engagements.
• Diversity of Mentor Base: Narrow. While Mentorcam outlines several different areas of expertise on their site, there are only between 6-20 mentors under each category (for comparison, Mentorcruise’s expertise pages average from 150-400 mentors, and GrowthMentor’s from 50-250 mentors)
• Quality of Mentors: Vetted, but the vetting process and requirements are not outlined on the site.
• Mentee Community: Not available

Mentorcam takes a highly niche approach to mentorship. The majority of their mentors have worked for FAANG and Fortune 500 companies.

However, their pricing and mentor engagement models aren’t very transparent. Everything requires creating an account first. Like Clarity.fm, Mentorcam’s sessions can be quite expensive.

Also, for newer founders and companies just getting off the ground, it’s worth noting that the tactics that work for major corporations and VC-backed startups often don’t work for bootstrapped or early stage operations.

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Best Secondary Alternative For Founders Seeking Mentors from Large Companies: Intro.co

• Target Audience: Broad and not entirely career-oriented. Some offerings could apply to anyone in the tech industry, others aren’t career focused, and instead relate to fashion, health, home, or astrology experts.
• Pricing: per session pricing, price range varies widely per expert, with most experts costing upwards of $100. Sessions can also “sell-out” meaning you’re stuck on a waitlist.
• Types of Mentor Engagements: More geared towards single session engagements.
• Diversity of Mentor Base: Diverse. However, Intro isn’t very transparent about how many mentors are in each category/specialization on the platform.
• Quality of Mentors: Unknown. Experts are referred to as “in-demand”, but the site does not outline their vetting process.
• Mentee Community: Not available

Like MentorCam, Intro.co is about reputation. Also like Mentorcam, that reputation element comes with a much higher cost. Plus, unlike the other platforms listed here, Intro.co isn’t entirely career-focused. Which may be helpful if you want expert advice outside of your career, but it’s not the typical approach for a mentorship platform.

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Another Alternative for Long-Term Mentorship: Pelion

• Target Audience: Somewhat broad. According to Pelion’s mentor matching quiz, they cover most areas related to the tech industry.
• Pricing: per month retainer, with rates ranging from $300-$1000 per month and a 6% fee charged from Pelion.
• Types of Mentor Engagements: The platform is geared toward long-term mentorship.
• Diversity of Mentor Base: Unknown. Pelion does not offer a mentor catalog on their site and instead matches to 3-4 mentors via a quiz.
• Quality of Mentors: Vetted, but the vetting process and requirements are not outlined on the site.
• Mentee Community: Not available

Pelion combines the “big-name” approach of Mentorcam with the long-term mentorship focus of Mentorcruise. The mentor matching onboarding quiz may also prove a big bonus to some.

However, the best word to describe Pelion is, unfortunately, opaque. They don’t list all of their mentors in an easily accessible catalog and the homepage provides very limited information on how the platform actually works after you’ve joined.

And it’s not completely clear how many sessions you get for that monthly retainer (though Pelion does state: For most mentors, that means two hourlong video calls per month, and ad-hoc sparring over email in between.)
Thus, it’s hard to provide more information than what’s given above.

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Paid Platforms with Narrow Target Audiences

If you’re looking for advice in a specialty niche, you may be better off joining a mentorship platform with a narrow target audience.

Best Alternative for Engineers: Codementor

• Target Audience: Narrow. Targeted towards engineers or individuals needing dev/engineering mentorship.
• Pricing: Per session pricing. Price range varies widely per expert, but typically falls between $64-$120 per hour.
• Types of Mentor Engagements: Appears to be geared more towards single-session options.
• Diversity of Mentor Base: Incredibly narrow. While the specific industries of Codementor’s mentors may vary, they’re all developers and engineers focused on mentoring in coding.
• Quality of Mentors: Vetted, but the vetting process and requirements are not outlined on the site.
• Mentee Community: CodeMentor does offer a mentee community for users to work through code problems.

If you need help on the coding and engineering side of things, Codementor may be a good, affordable option for you. However, the platform is solely focused on coding, so it’s not a good option if you want mentorship outside of that arena.

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Best Alternative for Engineering Leaders: Plato

• Target Audience: Extremely narrow. Targeted towards engineering leaders.
• Pricing: Free community, but mentor calls are based on a credits system, $300 for two calls minimum, monthly subscription or one-time options available
• Types of Mentor Engagements: Appears to be geared more towards single-session options.
• Diversity of Mentor Base: Incredibly narrow. The mentors are not just engineers, but engineering leaders.
• Quality of Mentors: Vetted, but the vetting process and requirements are not outlined on the site.
• Mentee Community: Plato does offer a community for users to read content from others on the platform and offers live events and Q&As.

If you’re an engineering leader, Plato may be the best choice for you. Simply keep in mind that this platform is highly specialized, so you’re locked in to only improving in the area of engineering leadership.

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Best Alternative for Product People: The Product Folks Ally Mentoring

• Target Audience: Extremely narrow. Targeted towards individuals in product.
• Pricing: $35-$80 per month, depending on your seniority level.
• Types of Mentor Engagements: Appears to be geared more towards long-term options.
• Diversity of Mentor Base: Incredibly narrow. The mentors are limited to product roles only.
• Quality of Mentors: Unknown. There is an application process for mentors, but vetting and credential needs are not stated on the site.
• Mentee Community: Not available.

If you’re in the product world, Ally may be a good choice for you. However, keep in mind that you can’t join Ally unless you have 4 years of experience in product and qualify for the “Mid-Ally” membership.

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Which Platform Should I Pick?: The TL;DR Version

We know it’s a lot to read the above in depth, so we pulled together a “quick hits” list of who you should pick and when:

• If you want long-term mentorship: Mentorcruise or Pelion. Mentorcruise is less expensive.
• If you’re highly concerned about mentor vetting: GrowthMentor. We’re the only platform to outline our mentor vetting process on our site.
• If you’re a late stage startup: Clarity.fm, Intro.co or MentorCam. Both source mentors who are big name experts, but also come with a big price tag.
• If you’re a developer or engineer: Codementor, Plato, or Mentorcruise. All three cater to technical audiences.
• If price is your biggest deciding factor: GrowthMentor, MicroMentor, The Mentoring Club or ADPlist. ADPlist, MicroMentor, and The Mentoring Club are free but not vetted. GrowthMentor is strictly vetted, and max $199 per month for unlimited calls.
• If you’re a large company: Clarity.fm, MentorCam, Intro.co, or Together. Keep in mind the first three options will provide mentors, while Together is an internal, DIY software.
• If community is important to you: GrowthMentor. We’re the only option with a mentee-to-mentee community on our platform and on Slack.
• If you value transparency: Mentorcruise or GrowthMentor. Both platforms outline our mentor catalog and pricing options openly.
• If you’re in product management: Ally by The Product Folks or MentorCruise. Both have plenty of PM mentors.
• If you want a variety of perspectives and put a high value on diversity of thought: GrowthMentor. The plans are built to encourage connecting with multiple mentors.

There you have it: all of the alternatives to GrowthMentor on the market. We hope this has given you a good idea of what platforms would be a good choice for you.

And remember, if you need a platform focused on growth and marketing that values community and transparency at a fair price, join GrowthMentor.