Offshore development with an Indian studio typically costs 50 to 70 percent less than hiring locally in the US or UK. It works when there is real timezone overlap, written communication discipline, a named accountable lead and clear contracts — and fails when it is treated as a way to buy the cheapest possible hours.
We are an Indian studio and most of our clients are not in India. Rather than pretend the model has no trade-offs, here is exactly how we handle each of them.
Cost difference
Daily overlap
Invoiced in your currency
Assigned in contract
Our day overlaps US Eastern mornings and UK afternoons. For Pacific teams we shift start times to keep live hours.
Daily async updates, decisions in the repository, and questions asked before we sign off rather than after.
A named person responsible for delivery who you can escalate to, not a rotating account manager.
IP assignment, NDA, defined notice periods and payment terms in USD, GBP, AUD or CAD.
Code in your repositories, deployments in your cloud accounts, access revocable by you at any time.
The engineers you meet are the engineers who work. We do not sell senior and staff junior.
Almost always for four reasons: no timezone overlap, weak written communication, no accountable lead, and buying on price alone.
| Failure mode | How we address it |
|---|---|
| Zero overlap hours | Guaranteed 4+ hour daily window, meetings in your time |
| Questions blocking overnight | Async updates and questions raised before sign-off |
| Bait and switch on staffing | You interview and approve the actual engineers |
| No accountability | One named lead owns delivery and escalation |
| Cheapest bid wins | Fixed scope with a real estimate, not a race to the bottom |
| IP and contract ambiguity | IP assigned from the first commit, in writing |
| US senior hire | Offshore engineer | |
|---|---|---|
| Loaded monthly cost | $12,000–$18,000 | $3,500–$6,500 |
| Recruitment time | 2–4 months | 1–2 weeks |
| Recruitment fee | 15–25% of salary | None |
| Timezone | Full overlap | 4+ hours overlap |
| Cultural context | Native to your market | Requires explicit context |
| Flexibility | Permanent commitment | 30 days notice |
The trade you are making is timezone and market context in exchange for cost and flexibility. For engineering work with a clear specification, that trade is usually good. For work requiring deep customer intuition in your local market, it is less so — and we will say that during scoping.
We are happy to answer all seven on a first call. Any vendor that deflects on staffing or escalation is answering the question by not answering it.
India Standard Time (UTC+5:30). That gives four to five hours of overlap with UK afternoons and US Eastern mornings. For US Pacific teams we shift start times to preserve a live window.
Yes. If an engineer needs to change for any reason, you meet the replacement and there is an overlap period for handover.
We work within your infrastructure and accounts, sign data processing agreements, and can restrict access so personal data is not processed outside your chosen region.
Yes, and we are happy to arrange a reference call with a client in your region and timezone before you commit.
There is a two-week trial and a 30-day notice period. You keep everything produced. We would rather end an engagement early than argue about a bad fit.
Indicative ranges in USD. Every engagement is quoted to a written scope before work starts, so the number you approve is the number you pay.
$3,500 – $6,500 / month
Full time, ongoing
Best for: Extending an existing team
$14,000 – $20,000 / month
Ongoing
Best for: Delivering a roadmap
Quoted per project
Defined upfront
Best for: A specific build with clear requirements
How we think about this work, in more depth.
Offshore development
A 30-minute call, then a written proposal with scope, price and timeline within two to three working days. No retainer required to get a real number, and no obligation if the answer is that we are not the right fit.