Offshore vs onshore development cost
Compare hiring in-house, an onshore agency and an offshore partner for the same people and months.
Free, runs in your browser, no sign-up. Updated 2026-10-25.
Result
2 people for 12 months: in-house $353,500, onshore agency not entered, offshore at $50/hour $211,200. Cheapest entered: Offshore partner (OceanLab rate).
- In-house
- $353,500
- Onshore agency
- Enter price
- Offshore partner
- $211,200
- Offshore vs in-house
- saves $142,300
| Option | Per month | One-off | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| In-house hire (onshore) | $29,500 | $0 | $353,500 |
| Onshore agency or contractors | Enter price | $0 | - |
| Offshore partner (OceanLab rate) | $17,600 | $0 | $211,200 |
In-house cost is salary plus 30% on-costs. The offshore line adds 10% coordination time. The BLS figure is a median wage, not a quote.
Assumptions
Every number the result depends on, and where it comes from. Change any value and the result updates.
| Assumption | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| In-house salary per person | USD/year | US BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: software developers, median annual wage (May 2025)Checked 2026-10-25 |
| Employer on-costs on top of salary | % | OceanLab assumption. Benefits, payroll taxes, equipment and office. No primary source; it varies by country and company, so use your own figure.Reviewed 2026-10-25 |
| Extra coordination time for a remote team | % | OceanLab assumption. Hand-offs, written specs and calls across time zones, as extra paid hours. OceanLab planning assumption.Reviewed 2026-10-25 |
| Paid hours per person per month | hours | OceanLab assumption. 40 hours a week × 4 weeks. Planning assumption.Reviewed 2026-10-25 |
| Offshore partner rate | USD/hour | OceanLab's engineering rate. OceanLab charges $30-50 an hour depending on role and seniority.Reviewed 2026-10-25 |
Send this comparison to OceanLab
Opens an email to OceanLab with this result and a link to your inputs. Nothing is sent until you press send, and there is no sign-up.
How this is calculated
In-house: salary × (1 + on-costs) × people ÷ 12 each month, plus a one-off recruiting cost per hire. The salary default is the US BLS median for software developers; on-costs are a placeholder.
Onshore agency: your quoted hourly rate × paid hours per month × people. It starts empty until you enter a quote.
Offshore partner: the hourly rate × paid hours × (1 + coordination time) × people. The rate defaults to OceanLab's $50 engineering rate; coordination time is an OceanLab planning assumption.
Sources
Questions about this tool
Is the BLS figure what a developer costs?
No, it is a median wage. An employee also costs benefits, payroll taxes, equipment and recruiting, which the on-costs and recruiting lines add.
Why add coordination time offshore?
Remote teams across time zones need more written specs, hand-offs and calls. The 10% is a planning assumption; set it to your own experience.
Which time zones does OceanLab cover?
OceanLab engineers work remotely from India with overlap for the US (East and West), the UK and Europe, the Middle East and Australia and Asia, and can travel onsite when needed.
Is anything I enter sent anywhere?
No. The tool runs in your browser and there is no sign-up. Nothing leaves the page unless you choose to email your result to OceanLab.
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