The 21 Best Tech Companies in Austin

Tech companies in Austin are taking over the job landscape. And there’s good reason for that.

The tech jobs in Austin that have given birth to its ‘Silicon Hills’ makeover have some of the best perks of ANY jobs in the famously laidback city.

Elon Musk, the tech world’s leading voice, presided over the latest of the top tech companies to move into Austin. Musk told podcaster Joe Rogan that his team chose Austin as their top choice outside of California for a new factory. When he asked for a second choice, the room was silent.

But this tech hub transition has been driven by more than the migration of big tech companies. In Austin Chamber’s 2019 estimate, there were over 7,200 tech companies in Austin. Texas’s tech renaissance is centered on the city.

You better believe that it’s more than just a handful of the biggest tech companies in Austin driving this growth.

What are the best tech companies to work for in Austin?

Forget Oracle, Amazon, and Tesla’s high-profile relocations for a moment. The following are some of the best tech companies operating in Austin right now.

Why Austin Is a Growing Tech Hub

Let’s not skip the obvious — Texas has no state income tax.

You don’t have to look too deep to see what the spate of recent tech company relocations have been driven by. NerdWallet found a 98% higher cost of living in San Francisco compared to Austin. Differences include:

• Housing costs — 242% higher
• Transportation costs — 52% higher
• Food costs — 37% higher
• Entertainment costs — 32% higher
• Healthcare costs — 20% higher

This is one reason for San Francisco leading the nation in its tech workforce exodus, whereas Austin leads all cities on new tech arrivals. According to LinkedIn, Austin gained 217 tech workers for every 10,000 existing tech workers from May 2020 to April 2021.

How does that measure up to San Francisco? The city lost 80 techies for every 10,000 at the start of the count.

Despite its rising cost of living, Austin has something that keeps it ahead of other growing tech hubs.

Ethan Parker, founder and CEO of Austin-based public relations firm Treble, is part of the Silicon Valley to Silicon Hills movement. He explained the area’s appeal to industry publication CMSWire:

“The number one advantage that Austin has is its culture. The ‘Keep Austin Weird’ mantra has deep roots, and there is a priority on work-life balance here that is alluring to recruiting and keeping top talent. The pressures of scaling a venture-backed startup are immense, but companies in Austin seem to have found that optimal balance between working hard and playing hard.”

Best Tech Companies to Work for in Austin

Everyone knows that the big tech companies have a standing competition for delivering the most outrageous perks. Gourmet food, on-site child care, and on-call masseuses are standard at Google, Facebook, and Apple.

These companies don’t have to sacrifice much to give their employees the royal treatment. A 2019 analysis by industry analyst PostBeyond found that Facebook makes over $634,000 in profit per employee.

Can you guess how much the average Facebook employee makes? Hint: it’s less than that.

We’ve organized the best of the rest by company description, GlassDoor job rating, and perks. Read on to see what the inside of this growing tech hub actually looks like.

A Cloud Guru

• GlassDoor rating: 4.2
• Careers page: https://acloudguru.com/careers
• Remote work perks: Subsidy for improved home office, weekly lunch allowance, free Headspace access, monthly snack box delivery
• Parental leave: Gender-neutral paid parental leave above the required minimum
• Bonding activities: Virtual happy hours, lunchtime trivia, and socially distanced movie screenings
• Professional development: Rewards for completing certifications, two hours a week dedicated to skill building

A Cloud Guru offers courses and labs dedicated to training individuals and organizations in cloud services and infrastructure. Since the Austin-headquartered firm started up in 2015, they’ve shown over 2.2 million learners and 4,000 organizations “the way to cloud.”

ActiveProspect

• GlassDoor rating: 4.7
• Careers page: https://activeprospect.com/careers/
• Professional development: Continuing Education stipend, ‘lunch and learns’, group brainstorming sessions
• Work perks: Beer on tap, ping pong, team workout sessions at Dane’s Body Shop
• Awards: Built In Austin’s “Best Places to Work Austin 2021” recognition for small companies

ActiveProspect is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform which seeks to make consent-based marketing the most scalable, efficient, and safest method for customer acquisition.

AppSumo

• GlassDoor rating: 4.8
• Careers page: https://appsumo.com/careers/
• Flex work: The option of working from home or coming into their East Austin office with fully stocked kitchen, daily catered lunches, weekly happy hours, and canine companionship
• Four weeks of PTO per year — minimum: Employees are encouraged to take mental health days or impromptu getaways any time
• All-inclusive company retreats: Costa Rica and Hawaii are top of the list once group travel recommences

AppSumo is a ‘daily deals’ website that seeks to make entrepreneurship accessible for everyone. AppSumo has helped launch over 1,500 startups — like Mailchimp, Evernote, and Dropbox.

Atlassian

• GlassDoor rating: 4.6
• Careers page: https://www.atlassian.com/company/careers
• International options: Atlassian has offices in 13 countries, and allows employees to work up to 90 days a year outside their home office location
• Professional perks: A learning budget, five paid days a year to volunteer at a charity, equity awards, unlimited vacation policy

Atlassian is an Australia-based SaaS company that builds collaborative tools like Jira, Confluence, Bitbucket, Trello, and OpsGenie.

BazaarVoice

• GlassDoor rating: 4.2
• Careers page: https://www.bazaarvoice.com/careers/
• Paid sabbaticals: After five years with Bazaarvoice, employees can apply for an eight-week paid sabbatical
• Work perks: On-site gym, beer on tap, mental health programs, flexible work-from-home policies

BazaarVoice has an extensive global retail network, engaged community, and software offerings designed to drive their clients’ revenue, extend their reach, gain them actionable insights, and create loyal customers.

BeatStars Inc.

• GlassDoor rating: 5.0
• Careers page: https://www.beatstars.world/jobs
• Remote work: BeatStars is a fully-remote workplace — they even subsidize your home internet bill
• Company-sponsored equipment: They cover the costs of all tools, technology, and professional development that employees need
• Lifetime BeatStars membership: Every employee gets lifetime membership in BeatStars creative community

If you’ve listened to Lil Nas X’s hit “Old Town Road,” you’ve heard of BeatStars. The hip-hop star bought the beat for his signature track on the music marketplace for $30, giving these disruptors the best example yet of their platform’s potential.

BigCommerce

• GlassDoor rating: 4.3
• Careers page: https://careers.bigcommerce.com/
• International presence: Offices in London, Sydney, and San Francisco in addition to its Austin HQ
• Ethical underpinnings: Diversity training, resource groups, cross-functional training support, a commitment to hiring from within
• Insurance: In addition to the standard medical, dental, and vision, BigCommerce also offers employees pet insurance

BigCommerce is another Australia-founded company that made its way to Austin. Its chief product is a hosted shopping cart. Its SaaS has been used by 60,000 online stores in 120 countries.

Bloomfire

• GlassDoor rating: 4.6
• Careers page: https://bloomfire.com/careers/
• Flex work: Employees can choose to work remotely or from the office
• On-site gym: Working from the office has its perks
• Unlimited vacation policy: “When you treat people like mature responsible adults, they act like mature responsible adults. Our employees love it and they don’t abuse it.”
• Bonding activities: Company lunches, happy hours, costume competitions, and off-site team-building activities that range from surfing to axe throwing
• Awards: Recognized as one of Austin Business Journal’s “Best Places to Work” in multiple years
  

An Austin in-mover, Bloomfire specializes in SaaS. The company creates web-based applications that target workplace information sharing.

Bold Commerce

• GlassDoor rating: 4.9
• Careers page: https://boldcommerce.com/careers
• Work perks: Ping-pong, bubble hockey, arcade games, and an on-site gym with a Peloton bike
• Clubs for all interests: Toastmasters, D&D, book club
• Stake in the company: Through the Employee Share Ownership Program (ESOP)
• Professional development: Education funding, ‘lunch and learns’, 48-hour hackathons
• Community involvement: 20 working hours a year dedicated toward volunteering

Bold Commerce is a software company which provides ecommerce technology to more than 90,000 brands in 170 countries worldwide.

Bumble

• GlassDoor rating: 4.5
• Careers page: https://team.bumble.com/
• Ethical underpinnings: “Every one of our team members, from the top down, helps support our efforts to foster an inclusive workplace. Our dedication to diversity in all its forms has helped propel Bumble’s vision forward.”
• Professional development: Mentorship program, commitment to hiring from within
• Out-of-office perks: Relocation assistance, fitness subsidies, commuter benefits

Bumble is a social network with several modes. In the popular dating application, women must contact their male matches first. Bumble also offers Bumble BFF and Bumble Bizz to fill in the gaps in users’ friendship or networking lives.

Canva

• GlassDoor rating: 4.8
• Careers page: https://www.canva.com/careers/
• Getting involved: Recreational clubs, volunteering, partnering with nonprofits
• Professional development: Continuing Education stipend, ‘lunch and learns’, group brainstorming sessions
• Exceptional extracurriculars: Cocktail classes, DIY pottery nights

Canva is another Australia-based tech company that’s opened a US office in Austin. Canva is a graphic design platform which is used to create over 229 million social media graphics, presentations, posters, and other documents per month.

Duo Security

• GlassDoor rating: 4.7
• Careers page: https://duo.com/careers
• Catchphrases: ‘Most Loved Company in Security,’ Duo + Cisco = Disco
• Culture: “We’re committed to cultivating and preserving a culture of inclusion, connectedness, and belonging.”
• Monetary considerations: Employee stock purchase plan, matching of charitable contributions, performance bonuses, tuition reimbursement, paid volunteer time

Duo has more than 25,000 customers worldwide, including Bird, Facebook, Lyft, University of Michigan, Yelp, and Zillow. Duo is now part of Cisco Systems. Their mission is to “democratize security by making it easy and effective for everyone to use.”

Indeed

• GlassDoor rating: 4.4
• Careers page: https://www.indeed.jobs/
• Professional development: Indeed offers up to $5,250 a year towards education costs after one year of employment
• Adoption assistance: Indeed provides up to $10,000 in employee adoption expenses
• Backup family care: When your care arrangements fall through, Indeed offers subsidized child and elder care
• Swag: Employee gear is branded: “I help people get jobs.

Indeed is the most popular job site in the world, with over 250 million unique visitors every month. Their emphasis on putting job seekers first applies to their own employees — which number around 10,000.

Khoros

• GlassDoor rating: 4.0
• Careers page: https://khoros.com/about/careers
• Work perks: All the top-grade perks — from recreational options to professional development to unlimited vacation days
• Awards: Built In Austin’s “Best Places to Work Austin” awards for best-paying companies, perks and benefits, and overall honors

Khoros is an SaaS company with offices around the world, headquartered in Austin. Formerly called Spredfast + Lithium, Khoros provides online community management, social media marketing, analytics, and content management software and services.

LogicMonitor

• GlassDoor rating: 4.5
• Careers page: https://www.logicmonitor.com/careers
• Sweet digs: Located on the 17th floor overlooking downtown Austin and Lady Bird Lake, LogicMonitor’s new office boasts panoramic views
• Facilities: Outdoor terraces, a 4,786-square-foot fitness center, and two on-site restaurants

LogicMonitor is a leading SaaS-based IT monitoring and AI platform for businesses.

Orchard

• GlassDoor rating: 4.8
• Careers page: https://orchard.com/careers
• Generous paid leave: New parents get up to 18 weeks off with their newborns, plus a one-month transitional period. Those who need to care for sick family members can take up to 10 weeks of paid time off
• Awards: 2020 and 2021 “Best Places to Work” awards from GlassDoor, Built In Austin, Fast Company, and Inc.
• Employee testimonial: “You feel the impact of your individual work and there is plenty of mentorship and guidance every day.” — Ali P., software engineer

Orchard is a home-selling intermediary which aims to take the stress and logistics out of moving house. They handle all the details of home sales, and advance the cash needed to make a non-contingent offer on a new home.

RetailMeNot

• GlassDoor rating: 3.7
• Careers page: https://www.retailmenot.com/corp/careers/
• Engineering perks: The firm hosts several hackathons a year and weekly tech talks
• Playful office design: STG Design created RetailMeNot’s 100,000-square-foot office in 2015, whose inventive spaces reflect the consumer-centric vision of the company

RetailMeNot is the internet’s leading coupon aggregator, and yet another Australia-Austin tech connection. It’s more corporate than many other entries on this list, born of VC money and operating a slew of companies under the auspices of its parent company, Los Angeles-based J2 Global Inc.

Silicon Labs

• GlassDoor rating: 4.5
• Careers page: https://jobs.jobvite.com/silabs
• International reach: This Austin-headquartered company has a presence in 13 countries worldwide
• Pledge 1% members: They dedicate 1% of their profits to charity, as well as 24 hours of annual paid volunteer time off
• Employee empowerment: Silicon Labs employees have more than 1,500 patents
• Awards: Austin American Statesman, Austin Business Journal, and Fortune all named Silicon Labs a top workplace

Silicon Laboratories designs and manufactures semiconductors, silicon devices, and software for Internet of Things infrastructure applications. It first came to prominence in the late 1990s for its modem and cell phone components.

Snow Software

• GlassDoor rating: 3.9
• Careers page: https://www.snowsoftware.com/careers
• Culture: Snow advertises a “start-up culture without the usual start-up uncertainties.” Their software team prizes “agile development with a hint of mad scientist”

Snow Software is a Sweden-headquartered SaaS company with offices in 18 countries — the Austin branch is their only US office. They have more than 4,000 customers worldwide.

TicketCity

• GlassDoor rating: 4.2
• Careers page: https://www.ticketcity.com/careers-at-ticketcity.html
• Creed: “We strive to build an experience suitable for every fan, including ourselves, because at the end of the day we’re just fans helping fans find tickets.”
• Sports-centric perks: An in-office putting green, ping pong table, TVs with live sports coverage, bowling competitions
• Unique job benefit: All employees get $200 in quarterly credit towards events sold through TicketCity

Founded in 1990 by a University of Texas at Austin scalper, TicketCity predates the online marketplace. In 1998, it became one of the first online ticket brokers. Through acquisitions, it gradually expanded its access to ticket markets nationwide.

WP Engine

• GlassDoor rating: 4.5
• Careers page: https://wpengine.careers/austin/
• Out-of-office perks: Commuter reimbursements, discount membership at an off-site gym (if employees prefer it to WP Engine’s on-site gym), generous time off policy
• Female focused: Named one of the “Best Workplaces for Women” by Great Places To Work. The Austin office has two dedicated mother’s rooms
• Family first: WP Engine allows for 16 weeks of paid time off for primary caregivers and five weeks for secondary caregivers
• National gatherings: All Hands and Hackathons are opportunities for the national WP Engine team to converge on Austin

30% of all websites are built with WordPress, and WP Engine hosts a good number of them. This premium hosting service is part of the WordPress corporate family, so it shares back-end development. Its speed and integration are the big draws for the half-million websites that use the service.

Find Your Next Tech Job in Austin

Has the tech movement to Austin already hit its peak

Keith Nealon, CEO of Bazaarvoice, doesn’t think so. He told CMSWire that Austin would become a tech boomtown — an assertion that Elon Musk has echoed.

Nealon foresees something special in this tech company convergence, a creative synergy. “We will continue to see the different types of technology flourish,” he said, “from software, to AI, to healthcare, to fintech. With all the brainpower relocating to Austin, definitely expect innovation to accelerate.”