Offshore Software Development Rates Calculator by Region

Offshore software developers cost $29–$95 per hour in Eastern Europe (median $52) and $16–$62 per hour in South Asia (median $31) as freelancers, against $88–$218 per hour in the US (median $135), according to the Project Cost Estimator rate database's custom-development row. Agencies in the same regions run $65–$168 (median $105) in Eastern Europe, $36–$109 (median $63) in South Asia and $145–$385 (median $232) in the US.

The saving at the freelancer median is ($135 − $52) / $135 = 61% for Eastern Europe and ($135 − $31) / $135 = 77% for South Asia. For a full-time developer at 160 hours a month, that is $52 × 160 = $8,320 a month in Eastern Europe, $31 × 160 = $4,960 in South Asia and $135 × 160 = $21,600 in the US.

Poland, Ukraine, Romania and the Baltics all sit in the engine's Eastern Europe region. India, Pakistan and Bangladesh sit in South Asia. The engine does not split rates by country, and this page does not invent a split. The calculator above runs the engine's freelance niche and gives a project band for any scope and market; the tables below give the hourly rates and work a monthly team example from them.

The custom-development row from the rate database, all six regions, freelancer and agency. Bands are low to high with the median in brackets. This is the row for general software work: APIs, web apps, integrations, anything not tied to a specific CMS or store platform.

Two things the table makes plain. An Eastern Europe agency ($105 median) costs the same per hour as a Western Europe freelancer ($105) and less than a US freelancer ($135); that is the usual trade for teams that want a company on the contract without paying US agency rates. And the top of the Eastern Europe freelancer band ($95) overlaps the bottom of the US band ($88): a senior Polish or Ukrainian contractor is not cheap, just cheaper than the US median.

The cost index tracks how these regional multipliers move over time; the website cost by country page applies them to full project bands.

Hourly rates become budgets through hours. Full-time is taken as 160 hours a month (40 hours × 4 weeks). Every figure below is rate × 160, then × team size × months. No overhead is added; the next section explains what overhead to add.

One full-time developer, per month (median × 160)

Three developers for three months (monthly × 3 × 3)

The low and high ends matter when you hire real people rather than medians. At the bottom of the Eastern Europe freelancer band a developer is $29 × 160 = $4,640 a month; at the top, $95 × 160 = $15,200. In South Asia the floor is $16 × 160 = $2,560. At the top of the US freelancer band, $218 × 160 = $34,880.

A blended team is common: one senior through an Eastern Europe agency at the $105 median and two freelancers at the $52 median is ($105 + $52 + $52) × 160 = $209 × 160 = $33,440 a month, less than two US freelancers at the median ($21,600 × 2 = $43,200).

The cost to hire pages give the same arithmetic per role if you need a designer or a tester in the team as well.

If you are buying a project rather than hours, the engine's freelance niche prices it directly. Web app scope, all six markets. Bands are median × 0.7 to median × 1.4, rounded to $50. Engine timeline: ~7.5 weeks for a freelancer, ~5.5 weeks for an agency, in every market. Running cost after launch: $176/mo.

The project medians fall in the same proportion as the hourly medians: the Eastern Europe freelancer web app ($11,150) is ($28,700 − $11,150) / $28,700 = 61% below the US figure ($28,700), the same 61% as the hourly table. That is by construction; the engine's market multipliers are the rate table. It means you can switch between hourly and project pricing without the number changing, which is the check to run on any offshore quote: hours × their rate should land inside the band for their region.

The web app development cost page explains what the web app scope contains and has the larger scopes if your project is bigger than one feature.

The rate is what the developer is paid per hour of work. These are the costs that sit around it, and they are the reason the 61% saving on paper is smaller in practice. None has an engine price; estimate them as hours and multiply by your own team's rate.

1. 1. Your management time. Someone on your side writes specs, reviews work and answers questions. With a time-zone gap, that person's day shifts. Budget hours for it.
2. Overlap hours. Eastern Europe overlaps the US East Coast for a few hours each morning; South Asia overlaps very little. Decisions that take ten minutes in the same room take a day across a gap.
3. Onboarding. Every new developer spends their first days reading your code. With contractors who rotate, you pay that repeatedly.
4. QA. The hourly rate is a developer. Testing is a separate role or separate hours.
5. Contracts and IP. A contract that assigns intellectual property and holds under the developer's local law. Legal advice is a one-time cost; getting it wrong is not.
6. Payments. International transfer fees and currency movements between your invoice currency and the developer's.
7. Churn. Good offshore developers get hired away. A rate at the bottom of the band predicts turnover.
8. Security. Device policies, access control and code review standards you enforce rather than assume.

A realistic rule: if your side cannot put in at least a few hours a week of management, the saving shrinks fast. If it can, the rates in the table are real.

Same region, different contract. In Eastern Europe the agency median ($105) is $105 / $52 = 2.02 times the freelancer median ($52). In South Asia it is $63 / $31 = 2.03 times. The multiple is higher offshore than in the US ($232 / $135 = 1.72) because the agency layer adds more relative to a lower base.

The agency premium buys continuity and someone else's management hours. If you have a technical lead in-house who will run the team daily, the freelancer rate is the right one. If you do not, the agency rate is the real cost of the freelancer rate plus the management you would otherwise have to hire.

1. Open the calculator or use the embedded one above and pick the freelance niche.

1. 2. Choose the scope that matches the work: business site, online store or web app.
2. Choose the market where the developers sit. Poland, Ukraine and Romania are Eastern Europe; India and Pakistan are South Asia.
3. Read the project band and median. For hourly hiring, use the rate table on this page instead.
4. For a team budget, multiply the regional median by 160 for one full-time developer a month, then by team size and months.
5. Add your own management hours at your own rate, plus QA, onboarding and legal.
6. Check any quote: hours × the vendor's rate should fall inside the engine band for their region. Below the band, something is missing. Above it, ask which scope they priced.

The methodology page explains how the rate table and the market multipliers are produced.

1. What is the hourly rate, and is it inside the band for your region in the rate database?

1. 2. Which hours of my working day will you be online?
2. Who is actually writing the code: the person I interviewed, or someone assigned later?
3. What happens if that person leaves mid-project?
4. Is QA included, and who does it?
5. Which law governs the contract, and does it assign IP to me on payment?
6. How is time tracked and reported, and can I audit it?
7. What is the notice period on both sides?
8. Which currency are invoices in, and who carries the exchange risk?
9. Can I speak to a client you worked with for more than a year?

A vendor who answers all ten is quoting the rate in the table. One who stalls on questions 3 and 4 is quoting a rate for a person you may never meet.

Hourly rates on this page: Project Cost Estimator rate database, custom-development row by region (source: Clutch Apr 2026, Talmatic Global Snapshot, Arc.dev, Upwork medians, TechReviewer). Project bands: Project Cost Estimator engine, calibrated against 600+ project quotes and public rate benchmarks across 6 markets, freelance niche, web app scope; band = median × 0.7 to median × 1.4, rounded to $50. Monthly, team, percentage and blended figures are arithmetic on those numbers, shown in full.

1. 1. https://projectcostestimator.com/rate-database — hourly rates by region and platform, including the custom row used here.
2. https://projectcostestimator.com/methodology — how the engine and the rate database are produced.

Figures used. Custom row, freelancer: US $88–$218 ($135), UK $72–$190 ($120), Australia $72–$190 ($120), Western Europe $65–$168 ($105), Eastern Europe $29–$95 ($52), South Asia $16–$62 ($31). Custom row, agency: US $145–$385 ($232), UK $130–$319 ($202), Australia $130–$334 ($202), Western Europe $116–$283 ($185), Eastern Europe $65–$168 ($105), South Asia $36–$109 ($63). Monthly at 160 hours: $21,600, $19,200, $16,800, $8,320, $4,960; agency $37,120, $32,320, $29,600, $16,800, $10,080. Three developers for three months: $194,400, $151,200, $74,880, $44,640; agency $334,080, $266,400, $151,200, $90,720. Band ends × 160: $4,640, $15,200, $2,560, $34,880. Blended team $209/h and $33,440; two US freelancers $43,200. Freelance niche web app: US $20,100–$40,200 ($28,700) and $34,500–$68,950 ($49,250); UK and Australia $17,900–$35,750 ($25,550) and $30,050–$60,050 ($42,900); Western Europe $15,650–$31,300 ($22,350) and $27,500–$55,000 ($39,300); Eastern Europe $7,800–$15,600 ($11,150) and $15,650–$31,300 ($22,350); South Asia $4,700–$9,400 ($6,700) and $9,450–$18,900 ($13,500). Running cost $176/mo.