Free Tool

In-house vs Agency vs Offshore: Dev Cost Comparator

The sticker rate is never the real cost. Compare the true total of building software three ways. Every assumption is editable. It's an honest estimate, not a sales pitch.

Your project

Developers Seniority

Duration (months) Hours / week

In-house region

In-house base salary (USD/yr)

Agency rate ($/hr) Offshore rate ($/hr)

True-cost assumptions (% of salary)

Employer payroll tax% Benefits & insurance% Office & overhead% Equipment & software% Recruiting (amortized)% Management overhead% Attrition risk%

Estimates for 2026; adjust to your situation. Effective hourly assumes ~1,800 productive hours/year.

In-house team

$198,000

Effective $110/hr · true cost incl. burden over 6 months

Local / Western agency

$312,840

$150/hr · costs $114,840 (58%) more than in-house

Offshore team

Taapti

$52,140

$25/hr · saves $145,860 (74%) vs in-house

Get an exact quote

~2,086 engagement hours. Figures are estimates for planning, not a binding quote.

Once you know which of the three you are choosing

All three price the same scope. What moves the total is which team carries it and how much of the architecture they own, and that is worth deciding before you compare rates again.

Backend development servicesAPIs, data models and microservices development in Java/Spring Boot or Node.js.Custom web app developmentThe product layer on top, in React and Next.js, with React Native where mobile matters.

The offshore figure assumes one team owning the whole scope, which is the dedicated development team model. Split the same scope across a vendor and someone in-house holding it together and the coordination lands in the total too. It just stops showing up as a rate.