IT Strategy

What Is the Best Country to Outsource Software Development?

Save your costs by outsourcing your web development project to the right country. Learn how you can make your web app cost-effective.

Outsourcing your project to an external team has become a hugely popular practice among businesses around the world, and if you are planning on building your own website, you might need some help here. According to the data by Statista, the global outsourcing market is worth more than $92.5 billion dollars and shows no signs of slowing down.

Outsourcing your project nearshore or offshore is a good idea if you want to save some money, but what is the best place to outsource software development to, and how to choose the best partner for the job? Well, that is exactly what we are going to find out today.

What Makes a Country Good for Outsourcing?

There are countries out there that have become synonymous with outsourcing, and while some of those would actually be great destinations for you to explore, the others might not be as good as people say. 

There are three types of outsourcing: onshoring – hiring outside of your company in your own country; nearshoring – hiring from a country nearby, and offshoring – hiring from a far-off country. There are differences between onshoring, nearshoring, and offshoring in terms of cost-efficiency, quality of communication, and the managerial control you get, but let’s face it, most companies just want to save money.  

There are many factors that might influence your choice: time zones, availability of skilled resources, the cost of hiring, development cost, and many more. You must consider your individual preferences and pressure points to determine which option is a better one for you.

We are going to give you an overview of the most popular outsourcing destinations, give you the evaluation of their pros and cons, and give you an idea of where to outsource software development project you are working on. 

Canada

Canada is one of the best outsourcing destinations for US companies for a whole bunch of reasons. First and foremost, Canada is a neighboring country that speaks the same language and shares lots of cultural similarities with the US. Though these are two different nations, you can tell that Americans and Canadians get along quite nicely, which makes hiring people in Canada a great idea for any US-based company.  

The average software developer's annual salary in the US is $68.330 and in Canada, it is around $54,150 CAD or roughly $42,960 USD. Obviously, you can save up a lot of money by hiring people in Canada rather than in the US, which allows you to allocate the saved cost to pursue other business objectives. By saving roughly $25,000 each year on a single web developer, you can already make an investment into your further projects or improve the current operations of your business. 

Cost-efficiency is not the only benefit. Compared to other countries on our list, Canada truly is the closest one to the US in terms of culture. That cultural matching is what we, here at Intersog, put a huge emphasis on.

Whenever you cooperate with freelance or remote developers, you want to feel connected to those people, you want them to understand your worldview and the way you do business. And that is where Canadian software application developers truly shine. They operate in a similar business environment, they understand the needs of the North American audience, and they follow the latest trends in software development. 

Overall, Canada is easily one of the best countries to outsource software development to for the US-based company. With that knowledge in mind, you can find a suitable partner for your software development project, hire professional developers, and save money in the process. Understanding the advantages of hiring people in Canada, Intersog has a delivery center in Toronto, so we can get the developers you need fast.

Mexico

Mexico is another country bordering the US, which makes it much easier for the US companies to hire there and maintain effective collaboration with the remote teams. Yes, Mexico is not an English-speaking country but many people actually do speak good English there. This is especially true for younger people and those who are involved in modern industry domains such as software development.

The average software developer base salary in Mexico is around 195,600 Mexican Peso per year, which is roughly $9,500. This is extremely cheap for an American company, and you can surely take advantage of that. Despite the proximity to the US, the economic disparity between the two countries makes cooperation with the Mexican developers extremely lucrative for both sides. 

If you are working on a software app for your business, hiring developers from Mexico would be a cost-efficient solution that may give you a strong competitive advantage. Saving tens of thousands of dollars is a great way to promote your business’ interests elsewhere, so you should totally consider that option.

Mexico is not the only country in the LATAM region known for the quality and cost-efficiency of outsourcing. Countries like Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and Argentina are really affordable for US employers, so you can hire people almost anywhere across Latin America with impressive cost efficiency. The average hourly rate across LATAM is somewhere between $35 and $70, which is higher than in Asia or Central Europe but still is rather comfortable for most American employers.

Ukraine

Now we are moving overseas to see what European countries can offer in terms of professional workforce and sheer talent. Ukraine is a developing economy in Central Europe and the country’s IT sector has been growing steadily over the past decade. As is the case with literally any country you might consider, Ukrainian developers charge much lower rates than American developers do.

The average salary of a software developer in Ukraine is 288,000 Ukrainian Hryvnia a year, which is roughly $10,900. This is just slightly higher than in Mexico and extremely lower than in the US. Despite the price that might seem too good to be true, Ukrainian developers are as competent as any developer can be, so you can count on an impressive performance for a relatively low cost. 

What you want to keep in mind is that there’s a considerable time gap between the US and Ukraine, so you can expect some communication lag. Another problem is that English is not that popular among the general population. However, a large portion of the IT employees actually do speak good English, which makes the language barrier less of a concern for the American clients.

Despite a time zone gap between the US and Ukraine, at least some of the working hours in these two countries do overlap, and with many people willing to adapt their working schedules to the clients’ needs, the time gap should not be a problem. The other benefit here is that the Ukrainian talent pool is not too large compared to other offshoring options you might have. Fewer developers means that these guys push for quality rather than quantity. Basically, a Ukrainian developer would be as good as anyone you’d hire in the US and they would work even harder while charging a much lower hourly rate. 

Poland

The apparent benefit of hiring Polish developers among other offshore experts is their cultural proximity. Poland is a European country with prevalent western values, the people there are rather hardworking and responsible, they share the values common for the western societies, and they put professionalism at the forefront of their approach. 

Despite the obvious disadvantages of offshoring as a whole such as the time gap and language barrier, Poland is one of the best destinations in Europe to outsource your project to. A spectacular cost to quality ratio makes this country a perfect fit. 

The average software developer’s salary there is around 72,000 Zloty a year, which equals roughly $18,000. Not the cheapest offshoring option but it would certainly be a worthy investment on your part. Again, if the cost is a major concern to you, hiring people in Poland is your best way to outsource software development and get spectacular results at a low price.

India

India is well-known for its huge talent outsourcing pool and being the world’s leading country in terms of the sheer number of IT professionals. Outsourcing to India has been a huge trend throughout the 2010s, but along with the country’s popularity came a whole bunch of problems. With such a high market saturation, it actually becomes hard for the potential clients to distinguish between a good development partner and a not-so-good one. Nonetheless, the country still remains one of the global leaders in the IT domain.

The main factor that contributed to the popularity of India as an international IT hub is ridiculously low hourly rates for most types of developers. Anybody, from a junior front-end developer to a senior full stack developer, would charge times less than the same kind of developer in the US would. 

The average annual salary of a software developer in India is 308,000 Rupee, which is somewhere around $4,100. This is exceptionally cheap by all standards, and that is why you might want to consider hiring people there. 

As it is always the case with offshore developers, you would be facing some inherent issues such as considerable time gap and language barrier. The tame gap between India and the US makes synchronous work nearly impossible, which is not ideal for a smooth collaboration with the team. Despite most developers speaking at least somewhat decent English, the language barrier might still be an issue here. 

Vietnam

You must consider all the pros and cons when choosing the country to outsource your project to, and Vietnam has a fair share of pros and cons. You would have access to a vast talent pool there, but that would also leave you wondering which of the available developers is actually worth hiring. 

Vietnamese software developers make around 13,500.000 VND a month, which is just under $600 in USD. So, the yearly salary of a software developer in Vietnam is just around $7,200, which is one of the lowest you’d find among offshore developers. If cost saving is your main concern, you can make that bet and hire people in Vietnam.

The problem you have to keep in mind is cultural matching; you will be dealing with people who have a completely different worldview, and that might result in certain hiccups along the way. There are different companies out there, though, and some of them adopt western values to better cater to the needs of their western clients. This is good news for the American companies trying to hire people in far-off countries like Vietnam. 

Vietnam is not the biggest talent hub out there but there surely are great developers out there. You must try your best to hire developers who truly match your requirements and give the recruitment process a fair share of your attention. That way, you’d be able to determine who of the potential software development partners truly matches your culture and your overall expectations for the project.

Final Thoughts: Which Country to Choose?

There’s a wealth of countries you can outsource your project to, not just the ones we have on our list. Intersog operates globally; we have experience working with developers in many countries, including the US, Canada, Mexico, Ukraine, and more.

Hiring in each of those countries has its benefits, so you have to take all of them into account – price to quality, availability of resources, innovative potential, language barriers, time zones – all of that is important.

Whichever country you choose, you can rely on Intersog as your outstaffing partner. We can get you a team of developers from around the world in a matter of days and get your project going with confidence and speed. All you need to do is to make that first step and we will handle the rest.

IT and talent solutions
Intersog is a leading IT solutions provider in the United States and other countries. The company has provided agile software engineering and staffing services for Fortune 500 corporations, tech startups, and SaaS businesses for over eighteen years. Why Intersog.
Intersog does not engage with external agencies for recruitment purposes. Learn more about this here.