The formation of a global remote work community has resulted in a slew of services that curate important information on the best destinations for working. This greater access to data has been the most positive contribution to the remote work movement.
Companies can use the information to hire from destinations known to attract and retain a strong remote work presence. Individuals, like the subset of remote workers known as digital nomads, can choose to work from the locations that best suit their professional and personal needs. And if you’re looking to permanently relocate to a new part of the world, these services can help you make a more informed decision on your ideal destination.
Here are five resources that will give you a complete rundown on the best places to work on the planet:
Picture a Google Map of the world only it’s covered in pulsating beacons signifying where startups, co-working spaces, media opportunities, and accelerators are located. That’s Startup Blink. Zoom into Tel-Aviv and see what kinds of resources might be available to you as a company or individual. Avoid areas where there might be little success connecting with the network you need to succeed. Or, dive into an ignored corner of the world and be the first to set up a community for others to join. Startup Blink’s interface can feel like the ultimate live war room for all things startup and new business. It's a fascinating experience to observe from a web browser, and incredible to think that all these blips on your screen are birthing new opportunities across the globe.
Teleport’s database is a collection of information that can help people relocate to where one’s personal and professional life may thrive. The service allows users to compare living costs, salaries, and quality of life, along with other personal criteria in over 150 destinations to find the right location match for you. The service takes it a step further by offering a digital planner and progress tracker to help you execute on your re-location plans. If at any point you get stuck in the relocation process, you can also hire a Teleport Scout to help you with the move.
Nomad Pass is still in its beta phase but is already tackling an ambitious undertaking for the digital nomad market. The service aims to create a social network or match-making service centered around remote workers. Users can create a profile (or “pass”) and use that profile to find other nomads either for frienship, access to accommodation, or to network on business ideas and freelance gigs. To help make you feel at place in your new environment, Nomad Pass will also offer a digital survival guide to smoothen your transition, as well as perks or discounts to local services and experiences. Loneliness in remote work circles is a tough problem to tackle, and a service like Nomad Pass hoping to solve this issue could tap into something that will be helpful to solo nomads.
Workform has amassed a community of over 13,000 remote workers--a mix of entrepreneurs and freelancers--who help to curate an ongoing database of the best venues to work from remotely worldwide. The collection of cafes, restaurants, coworking spaces, and other friendly work locations spans some 650 cities. It’s a helpful alternative to Yelp or Foursquare where information on WiFi connectivity, atmosphere or personal reviews of the location as a workspace aren’t considered. A good workspace can be hard to find in many cities, and access to this kind of data (contributed by real remote workers) is highly valuable information.
No list on remote work services is complete without Nomad List. The service, one of many created by highly energetic digital nomad Pieter Levels, is a flagship service for the remote work and digital nomad movement. The service boasts some 50,000 data points on over 1,000 cities around the world (and counting). The free service is bursting with features. Users can navigate through intricate search filters to find a destination that meets certain monthly living expenses; access to coworking spaces; fun things to do; safety for women and information from other nomads who have lived and worked there. For a small fee, users can access a 3,000 strong digital nomad Slack community that continually churns out conversations around where to go, where to stay, and where to work.
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