How to Staff a Yacht Without Paying for a Subscription (2026)
Published 1 September 2026. All pricing is quoted from each company’s own published pricing page or terms and conditions on that date, in the currency they publish, and excludes VAT where they state it does.
First, a correction to something people get wrong
The subscription that matters when you are staffing a yacht is the employer’s, not the crew’s.
There is a widespread belief that the big job boards make crew pay to apply for work. On Yotspot — the one people usually mean — that is not the case. Its published free jobseeker account explicitly includes creating a profile, applying for jobs on yachts, applying for shorebased roles and receiving job alerts. The £30-per-three-months Platinum tier buys visibility and speed — earlier alerts, a badge, video cover letters, seeing when an application has been viewed — not the right to apply.
Crewseekers is different: it has no free crew tier at all, at £75 for six months up to £135 for eighteen. So the “crew pay to apply” complaint is true somewhere. But if you are the one doing the hiring, none of that is your bill.
Your bill is the employer subscription, and it is a great deal larger.
What the employer subscriptions actually cost
| Platform | What an employer pays | Placement fee on top? |
|---|---|---|
| Yotspot | Posting a job is free. A subscription to search the database, see full CVs and contact candidates directly is £995 / 3 months or £1,995 / 12 months for a yacht under 30m, rising by length: 30–69m £1,245 / £2,495; 70–89m £1,995 / £3,995; 90m and over £2,995 / £5,995. Recruitment agencies £1,745–£4,495; management companies £2,245–£5,495. Plus VAT. | No — they state subscriptions include unlimited hiring with no commissions or placement fees |
| Bluewater ONE Account | Annual, by length: 0–34m €1,500–€5,100 depending on tier; 35–44m €2,100–€6,000; 45–54m €2,400–€7,200; 55–64m €3,000–€9,000; 65–84m €4,200–€12,600; 65m+ €5,400–€16,500. Twelve-month minimum, ex-VAT. | Yes. Their terms state a placement fee of “45% (discounted from the standard 85%) of the candidate’s salary” when a crew member is successfully employed |
| Crewseekers | Free for owners and skippers to register and post | No |
| Find a Crew | Boat accounts pay the same as crew: A$75 / 30 days to A$450 / 365 days | No |
| ZipYacht | Free. Post unlimited jobs, receive applications, search crew profiles | No — no placement fee, no per-hire charge |
Yotspot figures are from its Employer Account terms and conditions, not the marketing page, which shows only a “from £995 to £5,995” range. Bluewater figures are from its ONE Account terms, version 9.8 dated 25 June 2025; the placement-fee clause is quoted verbatim and we are not going to interpret whether the percentage applies to monthly or annual salary — ask them.
The number to sit with. A 90-metre yacht paying Yotspot’s twelve-month rate is spending £5,995 plus VAT for database access. A 65m+ yacht on Bluewater’s top ONE tier is at €16,500 a year and still owes a placement fee when someone actually joins. Whatever else is true, those are large numbers to pay before a single crew member has walked up the passerelle.
Route one: platforms that charge nothing
01 ZipYacht
Free for crew and free for employers. Post unlimited jobs, receive applications and search verified crew profiles at no cost. No tiers, no subscription, no placement fee and no per-hire charge, on either side.
The reason it works that way: ZipYacht is not a recruitment business. The job board sits alongside yacht management software, charter, brokerage and a 300+ business marine services directory, and those are what the company sells. Charging a deckhand to read job ads — or a captain to see who applied — was never the model.
Use it for: permanent and rotational hires, day work, and any position where you would rather keep the money than spend it on database access. Post a job free · How to hire yacht crew
02 Crewbay
Advertises itself as free on both sides — free crew profiles, free profile adverts — and their support pages confirm there is no annual plan. No premium pricing is displayed publicly. Broader than superyacht: a lot of sailing, delivery and mile-building traffic alongside professional roles.
03 DayWork123
Describes itself as a free worldwide yacht and maritime crew bulletin board covering 387+ ports. It is a noticeboard rather than a placement service, and it is where a great deal of Fort Lauderdale day work actually gets filled. No pricing published because there is nothing to pay.
Use it for: day work and short-notice cover, especially during a yard period or a boat show week.
Route two: a crew agency — you pay on success, not monthly
This is the option people forget when they are looking for a way around a subscription. A crew agency has no monthly cost at all. You brief them, they screen and shortlist, and you pay a fee only when a candidate actually joins the vessel. If nobody joins, you pay nothing.
The trade-off is real and worth stating: the fee on a successful placement is usually larger than a year of database access. Which is cheaper depends entirely on how many people you are hiring and how much of the screening you want to do yourself.
What agencies charge employers
Almost nobody publishes it. Two do:
| Agency | Published employer fee |
|---|---|
| The Crew Network | Long-term and full-time placements are charged at the equivalent of one month’s salary for the position placed. Temporary placements up to 60 days are 20% of total remuneration, minimum €200. Clients are invoiced only once the candidate joins the vessel. |
| Bluewater | Their ONE Account terms state a placement fee of “45% (discounted from the standard 85%) of the candidate’s salary” — on top of the annual subscription. |
Luxury Yacht Group, YPI Crew, Northrop & Johnson and Camper & Nicholsons all publish nothing and quote on request. Florida Trend reported in December 2025 that Cotton Crews earns one month’s salary per crew member placed, which suggests one month is the going rate in this market rather than an outlier.
The rule that explains why agencies never charge the crew. Under the Maritime Labour Convention 2006, Standard A1.4, recruitment and placement services may not pass fees for finding a seafarer work on to the seafarer, directly or indirectly — the only permitted exceptions being things like a statutory medical certificate, a national seafarer’s book and a passport. Bluewater, YPI Crew and Northrop & Johnson all cite this rule explicitly in their own crew terms.
So if you are a captain wondering whether using an agency costs your crew anything: it does not, and legally it cannot. ILO MLC guidance.
South Florida crew agencies
Thirteen agencies with a verified South Florida presence, listed alphabetically rather than ranked. Several are crew desks inside brokerage or management houses rather than standalone agencies — that is noted, because it changes who you are actually dealing with.
Cotton Crews
Founded 2013. Places full crews and individual dayworkers, and runs its own crew housing — their site cites 250+ beds. Florida Trend reported around 200 crew placed a year and a fee of one month’s salary per placement.
Notable for: doing daywork properly alongside permanent placement, and the housing, which matters if you are hiring someone who needs to land in Fort Lauderdale on Monday.
Camper & Nicholsons
Crew placement from entry level to senior, private and charter, within a long-established brokerage house. No fee disclosure published on either side.
Crew Solutions by Beverly Grant
Chefs, pursers, stews and captains, with a stated chef-vetting specialism. Site claims over thirty years in the business.
Crewfinders International
Describes itself as an online-based crew referral service. Free for crew to enrol — the owner pays the fee. Captains, chief stews, pursers and mega-yacht crew, and explicitly covers daywork and temporary jobs. Their crew obligations page notes the owner contract obliges payment for any work done within a year, and asks crew to report daywork earnings.
The Crew Network
The most transparent agency we found anywhere — the only one publishing both its MLC no-fee position to crew and its employer rate card (one month’s salary; temp 20%, minimum €200; invoiced only on join). Deck, interior, engineering and galley, entry-level to senior, with seasonal, year-round, dayworker and temporary contracts. Sits within the Fraser group; their page claims over 35 years.
Notable for: being the one agency where you can work out what it will cost before you pick up the phone.
Denison Yacht Crew
Captain, interior, exterior, chef and engineer placement inside the Denison brokerage. A crew desk rather than a standalone agency — their site names a single lead coordinator.
Elite Crew International
Megayacht crew including new-build teams. States operating since early 1998, and displays MIASF, PYA, ISS and Warsash affiliations.
Hill Robinson
Superyacht crew alongside private estate and corporate placement, inside a large yacht management group. Runs its own training arm, the Hill Robinson Academy.
Luxury Yacht Group
Captains, officers and interior teams. States its Find Work side stays free to crew forever per MLC 2006. Employer pricing is not published — their pricing page currently says the public price list is being finalised. Site references 25 years, and ISM, ISPS and MLC compliance capability.
Meridian
A hiring platform rather than a consultant-led agency. Free for crew — their site states membership is always free — with employers paying. Lists 40+ role types. Scale figures on their site are self-reported.
MTS Yachts
Primarily a yacht management company with crew services as one line of the offering. Worth knowing if you already want management and crewing from the same house.
Northrop & Johnson Crew Services
A genuine, role-detailed crew desk running from Fort Lauderdale and Antibes: captain, chief officer, chief stew, engineer, chef, stew, bosun, deckhand and specialty roles including dive and wellness. Publishes MLC no-fee wording to crew. Brokers stated to be certified and bonded by the state of Florida.
SPORTAble Crew
Places engineers, pilots and able-bodied seamen through to chefs, stewards and estate managers — a broader domestic-and-marine remit than most. Site copyright runs 2007–2026.
Viking Crew
Yacht, cruise and shoreside placement. The strongest published accreditation set of any agency on this list — ISO 9001, MLC, UK Chamber of Shipping, Superyacht UK, PYA and ISS. UK-headquartered and cruise-heavy as well as yacht, so ask who is actually handling your brief.
Names you will find that are no longer what they were
South Florida crew agency lists elsewhere on the web are badly out of date. These came up repeatedly in directories and are worth knowing about before you waste a morning:
- Bluewater USA, Fort Lauderdale — third-party directories still list a 17th Street Causeway address, but Bluewater’s own offices page lists only Antibes, Palma, Monaco, Dubai and Zug. We could not confirm an operating Fort Lauderdale crew office. Check before relying on it.
- Crew Unlimited — the domain now redirects to Blue Oceans Yachting. Bluewater’s own legacy page describes the merger as the end of an era. A historic brand, not a current agency.
- Flagship Management — the domain now resolves to a for-sale page. Appears defunct.
- The Crew Hunter — redirects to a UK recruitment operation. No South Florida presence confirmed.
- Smart Move Crew — real business, wrong category: it is crew housing and furnished short-term rentals on Miami Road, not placement.
- Yacht Crew Center — a supplier-directory platform connecting crew with vetted suppliers, not a placement agency.
- Quay Crew, Wilson Halligan, YPI Crew, Faststream — all real and all good, none with a South Florida office. Quay Crew’s US desk is in Dallas; YPI Crew is Antibes only.
So which route is actually cheaper?
It depends on one number: how many people you are hiring this year.
- One or two hires a year, and you are happy to screen candidates yourself. A free platform wins outright. There is nothing to weigh up — you spend nothing.
- One or two hires, and you want someone else to screen. An agency at one month’s salary is likely cheaper than a £2,495 annual subscription plus your own time, and you only pay if it works.
- A full crew change, or a fleet. This is the only case where a database subscription genuinely earns its keep — unlimited hiring for a flat fee starts to beat per-placement pricing somewhere around the fourth or fifth hire. Run the arithmetic against your actual salary bands before you commit.
- Day work and short-notice cover. Free boards and the daywork-focused agencies. Nobody should be paying a four-figure subscription to find a dayworker for a wash-down.
The combination most Fort Lauderdale boats actually use. A free board for day work and junior deck and interior roles, and an agency for the captain, chief engineer and chief stew — the three hires where a bad appointment costs far more than a placement fee. Paying for a database subscription and an agency, which plenty of boats do without noticing, is the one combination that rarely makes sense.
Whichever route you take
- Check the agency states its MLC position. The good ones publish it. If an agency is vague about whether crew pay anything, that is worth a direct question.
- Ask when the fee falls due. The Crew Network invoices only once the candidate joins. Ask every agency the same question and get it in writing.
- Ask about the guarantee period. If the hire leaves in six weeks, what happens? This is rarely published and always negotiable.
- On a subscription, check the length band. Both Yotspot and Bluewater price by LOA, so a boat sitting just over a threshold pays the next tier up for the whole term.
- Watch for the double charge. Bluewater’s ONE Account is a subscription and a placement fee. That is unusual and it is in the terms, not the marketing.
- Get the contract right regardless. An MLC-compliant seafarer employment agreement is your obligation, not the agency’s, however you found the person.
Frequently asked questions
How can I staff a yacht without paying for a subscription?
Two ways. Use a platform that charges nothing — ZipYacht is free for crew and free for employers to post jobs and hire, with no placement fee — or use a crew agency, which has no monthly cost and charges you only when a candidate actually joins the vessel, typically one month’s salary. Both avoid the employer database subscription entirely.
How much does Yotspot cost for employers?
Posting a job is free. A subscription to search the database, see full CVs and contact candidates directly is priced by yacht length in Yotspot’s employer terms: £995 for three months or £1,995 for twelve on a yacht under 30m, £1,245 / £2,495 for 30–69m, £1,995 / £3,995 for 70–89m, and £2,995 / £5,995 for 90m and over. Recruitment agencies pay £1,745–£4,495 and management companies £2,245–£5,495. All plus VAT. Yotspot states subscriptions include unlimited hiring with no commissions or placement fees.
Does Yotspot charge crew to apply for jobs?
No. Yotspot’s published free jobseeker account includes creating a profile, applying for jobs on yachts, applying for shorebased roles and receiving job alerts. The £30-per-three-months Platinum tier buys visibility and speed — earlier alerts, a badge, video cover letters, seeing when your application has been viewed — rather than the right to apply. Crewseekers is the one that has no free crew tier, at £75 to £135 depending on term.
Do crew agencies charge the crew?
No, and legally they cannot. Under the Maritime Labour Convention 2006, Standard A1.4, recruitment and placement services may not pass fees for finding a seafarer work on to the seafarer, directly or indirectly, with narrow exceptions for things like a statutory medical certificate, a national seafarer’s book and a passport. Bluewater, YPI Crew and Northrop & Johnson all cite this rule in their own crew terms.
What do crew agencies charge employers?
Very few publish it. The Crew Network publishes the equivalent of one month’s salary for a long-term placement, and 20% of total remuneration with a €200 minimum for temporary placements up to 60 days, invoiced only once the candidate joins. Florida Trend reported in December 2025 that Cotton Crews also earns one month’s salary per placement. Luxury Yacht Group, YPI Crew, Northrop & Johnson and Camper & Nicholsons publish nothing and quote on request.
Is a crew agency or a job board cheaper?
It depends on how many people you are hiring. For one or two hires a year a free platform costs nothing at all, and an agency at one month’s salary is usually cheaper than an annual subscription plus your own screening time — and you only pay if it works. A database subscription starts to win somewhere around the fourth or fifth hire in a year, which is why it suits full crew changes and fleets rather than single boats.
Which crew agencies are in Fort Lauderdale?
Verified agencies with a Fort Lauderdale presence include The Crew Network on SE 10th Avenue, Luxury Yacht Group on SE 17th Street, Northrop & Johnson Crew Services at Lauderdale Marine Center, Crewfinders International on SE 17th Street, Elite Crew International, Hill Robinson, Viking Crew, Denison Yacht Crew, Camper & Nicholsons, SPORTAble Crew and MTS Yachts. Cotton Crews operates from West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale.
Is ZipYacht really free for employers?
Yes. Post unlimited jobs, receive applications and search verified crew profiles at no cost, with no tiers, no subscription, no placement fee and no per-hire charge. Crew are free too. The job board sits alongside yacht management software, charter, brokerage and a marine services directory, and those are what the business sells.
Where do I find dayworkers in Fort Lauderdale?
Free boards and the daywork-focused agencies. DayWork123 is a free bulletin board covering 387+ ports and fills a great deal of Fort Lauderdale day work. Cotton Crews and Crewfinders both handle daywork alongside permanent placement, and ZipYacht’s job board covers day work at no cost. Paying a four-figure subscription to find someone for a wash-down makes no sense.
What should I ask a crew agency before briefing them?
When the fee falls due — on offer, on join, or on completion of a probation period. What the guarantee period is if the hire leaves early. Whether they charge crew anything, which a good agency will answer instantly by citing MLC 2006. And whether the person handling your brief specialises in your vessel size and the role you are filling.
Start hiring
Post a job on ZipYacht — free for you and free for the crew who apply. If you want the process itself rather than the platform, how to hire yacht crew covers screening, sea trials and MLC-compliant contracts, and yacht crew salaries covers what to offer.
Comparing platforms rather than routes? Best platforms to find yacht crew and why ZipYacht is free both go deeper.
Pricing compiled 1 September 2026 from each company’s published pricing pages and terms and conditions, quoted in the currency published and excluding VAT where stated. Agency details are from each agency’s own website unless another source is named. Nobody paid to appear on this page and no links are affiliate links. Companies change pricing without notice — confirm before you commit. Something wrong, or an agency we should add? Tell us.