In-House vs Offshore vs Agency: The True Cost of Engineering Talent

The Hiring Math

Founders need to build software, but they struggle with how to staff the project. Let's break down the real costs.

1. In-House (High Cost, Slow Speed)

Hiring a Senior Full-Stack Engineer in the US or UK costs $150k+ base salary, plus benefits, equity, and a 3-month recruiting process. If you need a designer and a QA person, your burn rate is over $400k/year before you write a line of code.

2. Offshore Freelancers (Low Cost, High Risk)

You can find developers for $20/hour. However, the hidden costs are massive: time zone mismatches, cultural barriers, high turnover, and poor architectural decisions that lead to expensive code rewrites.

3. The Premium Agency (Predictable Cost, High Velocity)

Hiring an agency like Oktuv gives you an instant, cohesive team (PM, Designer, Architects, Engineers). While the monthly retainer might equal an in-house salary, the velocity is 3x faster, meaning your total cost to launch is drastically lower, and the code quality is guaranteed.