Top 10 offshore software development companies

We’re going to give it to you straight: Partnering with the right offshore software development company is the most important decision you’ll make when extending your organisation’s software development abroad. 

That said, the world of offshoring is vast, there are many different models to choose from, each with its own nuance, and it’s incredibly easy to fall into an offshoring partnership that looks great on paper but eventually leads to months or even years of wasted time and resources.

Over the past 10 years, we’ve seen many companies fall into bad offshoring traps, and helping you avoid them is exactly why we made this ranking.

We’ve picked 10 offshore development companies from around the globe that have a model that works for building long-term, high-performing teams. 

All of these companies have centred their approach around top talent recruitment, comprehensive turnkey operations, low attrition, and working closely with key tech decision makers in your organisation to make the most out of your offshore team.

Read on to see how we did it.

How were these offshore software development companies selected?

These are the key metrics that we used to pick these 10 companies:

• Offshore delivery model: We have chosen companies that build fully integrated offshore teams that work exclusively for you. These companies set up dedicated development teams, offshore development hubs, and other long-term partnership solutions such as Build-Operate-Transfer. 
• Tech talent experts: We have highlighted firms that build bespoke tech teams, with a focus on engineering and development roles.
• Recruitment: These companies recruit and headhunt roles for you, or source talent from large pre-vetted talent networks of over 5K engineers.
• Turnkey solutions: These companies offer turnkey offshoring solutions, handling all operations related to legal, taxes, compliance, InfoSec, HR, and payroll, and many also set teams up with hardware and a place to work. 
• Transparent pricing and contracts: We have done our best to include companies that have a transparent and non-predatory pricing model, offering some combination of no CAPEX, no upfront costs or hidden fees, and no vendor lock-in. 
• Reliability and market position: We have chosen companies that have either public reviews on Clutch (4.7/5 or higher), case studies and/or testimonials available online, and 5+ years of experience.

Top 10 offshore software development companies: Quick comparison

Seeing as these companies offer a range of different solutions across various global markets, we didn’t find it helpful to try and offer an ordered ranking. Instead, we’ve broadly organised this table by the scale of services offered, starting with more boutique firms that build team extensions and dedicated development teams, moving through to companies that primarily build offshore development and R&D centres, and then ending with those that offer larger scale services such as Build-Operate-Transfer.

How to make the most of this listing: Steps for picking the right offshore partner

Deciding on the best offshore software development company for you will depend on the type of solutions they offer, their location, and other factors such as cost-effectiveness and speed.

When narrowing down your search, here are some tips that you can keep in mind to make sure you’re working with a partner that will help you deliver on your goals.

Align on your offshoring solution

Different partners offer different services based on the projected size and depth of your team.

We’ve highlighted four broadly popular solutions below, which you can align to your offshore strategy and broader development roadmap.

The team numbers listed here are not set in stone and will vary based on a partner’s particular approach. That said, orienting your strategy around one of these solutions can help you narrow down your shortlist to partners that have experience building teams at the scale you’re after. 

Team extension

Best for: Integrating 2-5 engineers into an existing tech team

Setting up a development team extension lets you augment your current onshore development capacity with a few engineers. It’s a good way to fill skills gaps or boost your long-term development capacity while side stepping the prohibitive costs of at-home hiring.

This is a notably different strategy than staff augmentation, where you bring on contracted professionals, who are not directly managed by you, only for a short term engagement.

Dedicated development team

Best for: Core teams starting at 5 engineers

This is one of the most popular offshoring solutions, especially for SMBs.

A core dedicated development team may include engineers and developers, solution architects, DevOps, QA, data engineers, business analysts, and a scrum master.

More often than not, these pilot teams are scaled up to meet growing demand once a company has established itself offshore, adding more roles and complexity as needed.

Offshore development or R&D centre

Best for: More extensive teams of 10-50+ engineers

An offshore development centre or R&D centre is a good choice for organisations that want to centre their product development offshore.

These larger teams typically include engineers and developers, data scientists, business analysts, and other complementary roles.

Build-Operate-Tansfer

Best for: Teams that reach 100+ engineers

Once your offshore team hits a certain size, typically around 100 people, moving away from working with an offshore partner and establishing your own legal entity abroad is typically the more cost-effective option. This is a strategic offshore outcome known as Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT). 

After building and operating the team, a good offshore partner will help companies through the entire transfer process, helping them to register their business abroad, set up bank accounts, establish income tax and payroll, and find office space, while advising them on how to manage day-to-day IT and admin operations.

“Having a partner to help companies through the BOT process is also key for brand recognition,” says Adith Khan, Director of Partner Success at The Scalers. Your offshore partner should have already helped you establish a strong and recognisable brand presence in the local market before the transfer, which is especially important if your company is new to a particular foreign market. BOT typically emerges as an option after a few years of a successful partnership. But if you already know that you want to pursue a BOT model for your offshore team from the get-go, pick a partner that has experience with this solution.

Decide between nearshoring and offshoring 

Deciding whether to nearshore or offshore development is often a core decision when moving development abroad.

Eastern Europe and LATAM are two of the most popular nearshore destinations globally, with European tech hubs like Poland and Ukraine serving UK and EU businesses, and US companies often setting up in Latin American hotspots like Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil.

Major offshore destinations like India serve all of these markets with varying amounts of time zone overlap depending on the location of your HQ.

Picking whether to nearshore or offshore development typically comes down to balancing talent availability, time zone overlap, costs, and your company’s working style and culture.

In general, nearshoring will give you more time zone overlap but access to a smaller and more costly talent pool, while offshoring gives less time zone overlap but access to a wider pool of talent, and a more cost-effective team. Offshoring also offers the possibility for extended development hours, where one team works while the other sleeps.

As a rule of thumb, align your nearshoring or offshoring strategy to your broader business goals, workflows, and communication style, and narrow down offshore partners based on the depth of their market position in that offshore location.

Get to know their recruitment process

One of the easiest ways to figure out if a partner is right for you is by diving into their recruitment process and seeing how they’re actually going to get you the top talent they’ve promised.

Check the size of their talent network 

Generally, your partner should be recruiting roles from a country’s full talent pool rather than sourcing candidates from a small, pre-vetted network of engineers who are currently available to work.

The fact of the matter is that the best engineers, especially in-demand and niche ones, often aren’t actively looking for work, which is why having a partner who can headhunt them for you is so crucial.

If you are considering working with a partner that does source candidates from a curated pool of talent, these talent numbers should be in the thousands, not the hundreds. And, check to see if they also offer recruitment and headhunting services for specialist roles.

Companies that advertise having a few hundred engineers ready to work are not offering true offshoring but rather outsourcing, which is not the best model for long-term offshore partnerships.

Analyse the complexity of their talent strategy and recruitment

A partner should have a proven, multi-step recruitment process in place catered to that offshore market.

A comprehensive recruitment flow should check for both hard and soft skills, with space for your company to also vet candidates directly.

A high-quality recruitment process will include:

Exceptional talent strategies also offer:

Check the speed of setting up a team

Unlike other offshore software development models that prioritise speed above all else, such as outsourcing, the time to set up a team is highly variable among offshore development partners.

How fast they’re able to set up a team will be dependent on a whole host of factors, such as the number of roles you aim to hire, how many niche or specialised profiles you need, as well as local labour practices in that particular offshore location (i.e, notice periods). 

Companies that are pulling talent from smaller, more curated networks will be able to set up a team for you faster (in many cases, around one month), while partners that are doing fully catered recruitment and headhunting will need at least one month and typically up to three or more to get you up and running.

In general, when you’re setting up an integrated team for the long term, speed should not be the main factor driving your decision to partner with one company or another. Instead, base your decision around the quality of their recruitment process, their strategy for keeping your team productive and engaged, and how they plan to support you on an ongoing basis.

If a company is promising hires in less than one week or even a few days, this is not true offshoring, and is rather an outsourcing arrangement that’s unlikely to serve you in the long run.

Look at the scope of their turnkey operations 

The main reason that companies decide to partner with an offshore software development company is that they don’t have the time, know-how, resources, or scope to set up their own legal subsidiary abroad.

Partnering with a company allows you to set up a fully compliant team in months as opposed to years.

Full-service offshore partners will offer a range of turnkey ops that extend far beyond recruitment alone.

The most common services include:

Full-service partners will also offer:

See how they approach culture and retention

Partnering with a company that has proven strategies in place to keep attrition and churn low is a must in today’s market, especially when offshore destinations are becoming more and more competitive by the day.

Benchmarks for retention rates can vary among offshore locations, but across the board, your best bet will be partnering with a company that takes retention seriously and has methods in place to keep engineers happy, productive, and engaged. 

At a minimum your partner should have:

They go above and beyond if they offer:

Understand how the company will support your long-term success offshore 

The best offshore partnerships don’t just end when your team is recruited and onboarded.

Most offshore companies will set you up with a direct point of contact on their side who will be available to discuss team performance and strategy on an ongoing basis, track objectives, and work out ways for you to make the most of your offshore team.
This point of contact will typically be your dedicated account manager, who should be available to:

Top 10 offshore software development companies: Deep dive

Below you’ll find a quick deep dive into each of these 10 offshore partners. We’ve highlighted additional metrics such as key strengths and major partnerships, pulled from each company’s website and Clutch reviews.

The Scalers

• Operating since: 2014
• Builds teams in: Bangalore, India
• Recruitment: 7-step recruitment process secures the top 2% of talent from the city’s 1.5 million+ tech talent pool
• Services: Team extension, dedicated development team, offshore development centre, R&D centre, Build-Operate-Transfer
• Turnkey ops: Legal, taxes, and compliance, InfoSec, payroll and HR, onboarding, hardware, branded workspace, team management platform, ongoing talent support, retention
• Partnerships: Preqin, Fintua, allpay, Johnson Health Tech, PartyLite, Nextpoint, Ykone
• Key strengths: Headhunts for specialised and hard-to-hire roles, people-centric culture (Great Place to Work certified), low attrition (½ industry average), white-labeled service, no upfront costs or hidden fees, no vendor lock-in
• Best for: SMBs looking for a long-term, in-house software development team from 3 engineers upwards, and a hands-on offshore partner that will help them grow

The Scalers helps companies grow their tech workforce by building dedicated software development teams and offshore centres in Bangalore, India.

Since 2014, the company has set up 130+ teams for some of the world’s best businesses,  specialising in hiring for the FinTech, retail and ecommerce, and AdTech and MarTech sectors.

The company has experience setting up and scaling teams of all sizes, from dedicated development teams of 3+ engineers to full offshore R&D hubs made up of 450+ professionals.

Their broad experience makes them a good choice for organisations, particularly SMBs, that are looking to tackle the following issues:

The Scalers puts a serious emphasis on talent quality, hiring from the top 2% of talent in Bangalore – Asia’s Silicon Valley. They are also steadfast about culture and employee well-being. The company is Great Place to Work certified and has one of the lowest attrition rates in the industry, thanks to a people-centric approach that supports developers’ long-term engagement and professional growth.

What other partners appreciate about The Scalers:

ALLSTARSIT

• Operating since: 2004
• Builds teams in: 25 countries across Asia, Eastern Europe, LATAM, and Africa
• Recruitment: The company sources talent from a network of 250K professionals 
• Services: Dedicated development team
• Turnkey ops: Legal, taxes, and compliance, InfoSec, payroll, HR, onboarding, hardware, workspace, ongoing talent support, retention
• Partnerships: SAP, AT&T, fiverr, Oracle, Motorola, Johnson & Johnson
• Key strengths: Broad portfolio, hire in a wide range of countries, risk minimisation and talent replacement services

Best for: Companies looking to build a dedicated development team in a range of global locations

ALLSTARSIT has 20+ years of experience building offshore teams across the globe, from Eastern Europe to Asia. Their model aims to fix the pitfalls of traditional outsourcing by building high-quality, engaged teams that are fully managed by you. The company’s international reach makes them a strong option for businesses looking to set up teams in multiple locations, and their portfolio also includes work with many multinationals.

Mobilunity

• Operating since: 2010
• Builds teams in: 18 countries throughout Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and Latin America, plus in Asia and MENA
• Recruitment: Sources talent from a 5K+ pre-vetted talent network in 2-6 weeks, while also offering recruitment services
• Services: Dedicated development team 
• Turnkey ops: Legal, accounting, HR, admin, InfoSec, IT infrastructure, workspace, onboarding, performance assessments, retention
• Partnerships: Klevu, BowBridge, Byg-e
• Key strengths: Wide range of locations, quick to hire, custom project configurations, developer replacement, broad onboarding and retention strategies
• Best for: Companies looking to set up a dedicated development team in Eastern Europe, the Balkans, or LATAM, typically in 6 weeks or less

Mobilunity has built 150+ dedicated teams over the past 15 years for clients in over 20 countries. The company focuses on hiring experienced mid-level and senior developers that are 100% managed by you, while also having systems in place for strong team integration. Mobilunity’s 40+ Clutch reviews consistently highlight the speed at which the company is able to offer quality hires, and many of the company’s partnerships have been ongoing for 2+ years.

TurnKey Tech Staffing

• Operating since: 2019
• Builds teams in: 18 countries throughout Eastern Europe and LATAM
• Recruitment: 5-step recruitment process hires top 3% of talent from a combined 4 million+ tech talent pool in 30 days or less
• Services: Team extension, dedicated development team, R&D centre
• Turnkey ops: Legal, taxes, and compliance, InfoSec, payroll, HR, onboarding, hardware, workspace, ongoing talent support, retention
• Partnerships: Headspace, iScribe Health, Throne, MiResource, Sertifi, R1
• Key strengths: Fast to hire, very low churn, payment transparency, no deposit, capped fees, white-labeled service
• Best for: US companies looking to build low-churn teams of 3+ developers, or 50+ person R&D centres, either with nearshore talent in LATAM or offshore talent in Eastern Europe

TurnKey Tech Staffing was founded by two former SaaS entrepreneurs who had been burned by low-quality offshoring and wanted to create a company that offered a transparent, value-driven way to connect with global talent. The company has proven methods in place to keep churn low, a very straightforward hardware policy, extensive turnkey ops, and an extremely transparent pricing model. Because of their HQ in San Francisco, they’re a great option for US companies that want to have a local partner close by and on call. 

N-iX

• Operating since: 2002
• Builds teams in: 25 countries across Eastern Europe and LATAM
• Recruitment: Hires the top 2.6% of talent from a 500K-strong database, often in less than 4 weeks
• Services: Team extension, dedicated development team, offshore development centre
• Turnkey ops: Legal, taxes, and compliance, InfoSec, payroll, HR, admin, technical infrastructure, training and professional growth
• Partnerships: Bosch, Siemens, eBay, CircleCI, Credit Agricole
• Key strengths: Broad portfolio and deep industry experience, wide coverage of countries, relatively fast to hire
• Best for: US, UK, or EU companies looking to build and scale nearshore dedicated teams from 5 engineers upwards, or development centres of 50+
  

Over the years, N-iX has expanded their outsourcing offerings to include long-term offshoring partnership solutions. The company currently builds and manages dedicated development teams ranging from 5–50+ engineers, with 90+ partnerships based on this model, and development centres ranging from 50–100+ engineers. Their wide-ranging portfolio includes work with SMBs, multinationals, and Fortune 500 companies, making them a particularly strong choice for larger US, UK, and EU companies looking to set up a hub in Europe or LATAM.

nCube

• Operating since: 2008
• Builds teams in: Poland, Czechia, Ukraine, Romania, Moldova, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina
• Recruitment: Hires the top 1% of talent from a network of 200K engineers in as little as one month
• Services: Team extension, R&D centre
• Turnkey ops: Legal, taxes, and compliance, InfoSec, payroll, HR, onboarding, hardware, branded workspace, retention
• Partnerships: Rakuten Viber, Saks Fifth Avenue, Greenpeace, Life360, QCIFY, Netreo 
• Key strengths: Relatively fast to hire, broad client portfolio, no hidden fees
• Best for: Enterprises and SMBs wanting to centre development in LATAM or Central and Eastern Europe

nCube has built team extensions and R&D centres for a wide range of companies, from well-known global enterprises to SMBs. Their talent network allows them to hire relatively quickly, offering teams that have a high percentage of senior engineers. Like many companies on this list, their model forefronts clarity and transparency, with no surprise fees or extra charges hidden away in their pricing structure.

On the Spot

• Operating since: 2016
• Builds teams in: Warsaw, Poland
• Recruitment: Hires from a talent network of 60K with a unique multi-channel approach, while sourcing from the country’s wider 400K+ talent pool as well
• Services: Offshore development centre
• Turnkey ops: Legal, taxes, and compliance, InfoSec, payroll, HR, onboarding, hardware, office space, retention
• Partnerships: Karma, Via, Unity, Orca Security, Haptiq
• Key strengths: Diverse recruitment process, skilled in finding hard-to-hire roles, price transparency, no vendor lock-in, buy out options
• Best for: Companies wanting to set up a development hub in Poland

On the Spot is one of the few companies in this ranking that offers software development services directly alongside team building solutions. They’ve set up over 30 offshore development centres since 2016, with 80% of their customers having stayed with them for 4+ years. They specialise in building small and scalable teams that can start with as few as two engineers, and are particularly skilled at finding niche and hard-to-hire roles in Poland with their multi-channel recruitment approach.

Alcor

• Operating since: 2007
• Builds teams in: Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria
• Recruitment: 5-step recruitment process hires Silicon Valley-calibre talent in 2-6 weeks, with a fully established office promised in 2-3 months
• Services: R&D centre
• Turnkey ops: Legal, taxes, and compliance, InfoSec, payroll, HR, onboarding, hardware, workspace, team management platform, retention
• Partnerships: Intel471, Franki, Tonic Health, Gotransverse, ThredUP, People.ai
• Key strengths: No set-up fee, no buyout process, 3-month candidate warranty
• Best for: Companies looking to set up an R&D centre in LATAM or Eastern Europe, best for teams of 10+ that are looking to scale fast

Alcor’s model aims to avoid many of the main problems associated with traditional outsourcing, such as poor talent quality and retention, lack of control over teams, and restrictive contracts. Their client-centric processes forefront transparent pricing, high-quality talent, and relatively fast set-up. They specialise in R&D centres of 10+ people, with the potential to scale the centre quickly in one year.

CodersLink

• Operating since: 2016
• Builds teams in: Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and throughout LATAM
• Recruitment: Hires the top 3% of Latin American talent with a focus on Mexico, sourcing from a pool of 20-40K engineers
• Range of services: Build-Operate-Transfer
• Turnkey ops: Legal, taxes, and compliance, InfoSec, payroll, HR, onboarding, retention
• Partnerships: Pinterest, Q2, NetProtect, J2 Global, Udemy, Zapier
• Key strengths: Deep knowledge of the LATAM market, particularly Mexico, long-term partnership model designed for US companies, Great Place to Work certified
• Best for: US startups and tech companies looking to establish a long-term presence in Mexico with a Build-Operate-Transfer model

CodersLink’s BOT model has been purpose-built for US tech companies that want to set up in LATAM, particularly Mexico, and incrementally establish their own subsidiary. The company specialises in hiring tech roles, covering 45+ tech roles and 150+ stacks. Their minimum team size is typically around 5 engineers, supporting companies to grow and scale their team within a clearly defined BOT pathway.

ANSR

• Operating since: 2004
• Builds teams in: India, and globally
• Recruitment: Sources talent through a proprietary talent acquisition platform, Talent5000 
• Range of services: Managed teams, Build-Operate-Transfer
• Turnkey ops: Legal, taxes, and compliance, InfoSec, payroll, HR, onboarding, hardware, office space, retention
• Partnerships: Target, FedEx, Delta, IKEA, 3M, Uber, Nike
• Key strengths: Broad industry experience, strong client portfolio

Best for: Large companies and enterprises looking to set up an offshore team with the BOT model

Next steps: Get to know the people behind the company

Once you’ve narrowed down your list of partners and gone through some discovery calls covering the what and the how, it’s time to really get to know who is behind the offshore development company you’re considering working with.

Because, at the end of the day, if you’re setting out to build a long-term offshore partnership, you should want to work with that company.

Get to know the heads of the company as much as their model. Ask them tough questions and see how they respond; this can often be a great way to gauge how they handle difficult situations down the line. Or better yet, go to visit them in person to see how they operate on the ground. 

It’s often this human element that can make all the difference when choosing to go with one company over another, and is a sure-fire strategy that can help you get offshoring right the first time around.