An honest comparison
Kordis vs Instawork: your own crew or a gig marketplace? (2026)
Last updated . Competitor facts checked against the sources at the bottom of this page.
These two are not competing for the same job. Instawork is a gig marketplace: a business posts a shift and Instawork's own pre-vetted workers fill it, at roughly a 35% markup on the hourly rate, with a $2,500 fee to hire someone permanently. In Canada it is live in Toronto and Vancouver.
Kordis is software for the agency itself. The workers stay yours, the client stays yours, and the margin stays yours. If you own an agency, a marketplace is not a tool you are choosing between: it sells to the businesses you call clients, and it recruits from the same workers you do.
Kordis is built specifically to run the daily work of a Canadian temp staffing agency, and the answer to a marketplace is being faster than one. Confirmation texts go out on their own, the quiet ones get called, and fills are staged for your OK.
What is Instawork good at?
Instawork runs one of the largest gig marketplaces in North America, with an 8-point vetting process and company-reported fill rates above 90%. For a warehouse or a caterer that needs six hands tomorrow and has no agency on call, it is a genuinely fast solve. That is exactly why it turns up in conversations you are already in.
- A pre-vetted worker pool available on demand, with no recruiting to do
- Company-reported fill rates above 90%
- All-in hourly pricing that bundles pay, taxes, and insurance
- Fast for a one-off surge when nobody has a crew standing by
How do Kordis and Instawork compare?
| What matters | Kordis | Instawork |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Software for YOUR agency and YOUR workers | A marketplace: the workers and the client are Instawork's |
| Pricing | Flat per agency (founding rate, then $499 a month), not per user | About 35% markup per hour worked, plus a $2,500 direct-hire fee |
| Canada | Ontario, BC, and Alberta rules built in: province of work, site scope, and readiness gates | Live in Toronto and Vancouver |
| Worker ownership | Your crew, your relationships, your repeat teams | Pool workers; repeat teams not guaranteed |
| Shift filling | ShiftFill and Call-Out Cover: confirmation texts and calls go out on their own; fills and backfills are staged for your OK | Marketplace matching from its own pool |
| Compliance | You stay the employer of record; Kordis keeps the records | Instawork handles pay and coverage for its workers |
Instawork's business pricing (about a 35% markup on the hourly rate, $2,500 direct-hire fee) is published in its help center, checked July 2026. Its fill rate is a company-reported figure, not an independent audit, and its Canadian coverage comes from its own city pages.
Pick Instawork if
- You are the business that needs hands tomorrow, with no crew and no agency on call: that is who a marketplace is built for
- You would rather pay a premium every hour than own a worker relationship, which is the opposite of running an agency
Pick Kordis if
- You run an agency: a marketplace's pool never becomes yours, and neither do its clients
- The roughly 35% markup on every hour is margin you would rather keep
- You staff Ontario, BC, or Alberta and want the provincial rules built in rather than bolted on
- You want repeat crews your clients recognize, confirmed automatically with your OK
- You would rather be the fastest option in your own city than the fallback
Common questions
Is Instawork cheaper than running my own crew?
Per hour, no: a $20 role costs about $27 all-in through a 35% markup marketplace. Marketplaces win on speed when you have no crew. An agency with its own workers keeps that margin, which is the point of being an agency.
Is Instawork a competitor to Kordis?
No. Instawork is an agency in its own right: it holds the workers, it bills the client, and it sells to the same businesses you do. Kordis is the software you run your agency on. A marketplace arriving in your city is the argument for being faster than it, not for buying from it.
Does Instawork operate across Canada?
Not widely. Within Canada it is live in Toronto and Vancouver, and its scale is in US cities. An agency staffing Mississauga, Hamilton, Calgary, or Edmonton is not up against it in those markets yet, checked July 2026.
Can an agency use both?
Some agencies use marketplaces as an overflow valve for surge demand while running their own crew for everything repeat. The risk is training your clients to go around you; the fix is making your own crew as fast to confirm, which is Kordis's job.
Sources
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