Introduction
In today’s fast-moving digital world, every CTO and founder are under constant pressure to maintain a balance between users’ expectations and budget. Budget is the main reason for 70% of companies offshoring. While 60% of global enterprises hire offshore developers for better scalability and access to specialized skills. Going offshore is the best way for SaaS startups to save money and speed up development, but where you offshore matters. India, Latin America, and Eastern Europe each offer different benefits. Some have better time zone overlap, others have deeper tech expertise or more competitive pricing. It’s important to find the right offshore development company to launch faster, keep costs low, and grow smoothly.
In this blog, we will compare India, Latin America, and Eastern Europe to show how each region performs across cost, talent, time zones, and risk management. So you can find the best offshore fit for your product and business goals.
Why SaaS Startups Choose Offshore Development in 2026?
SaaS product development is growing fast, and experts say it can generate around $818.8 billion in global revenue by 2029. As competition rises and speed becomes an important factor, not only startups, enterprise businesses are choosing to offshore development to launch faster, save on costs, and scale without growing large in-house teams.
Below are the key benefits of hiring an offshore development team for a SaaS startup.
#1. Faster MVP
When you have ready-made dedicated teams, you can easily build an MVP and launch without delay. Offshore partners are highly experienced and follow structured workflows and use time-saving tools. Hence, it’s perfect for startups who have a tight budget and want to launch an MVP within a shorter timeframe.
#2. Cost-Efficiency
With offshoring, you can hire a custom development, technical team at a much cheaper cost than hiring a full-time custom developer. Especially, countries like India and Eastern Europe offer skilled talent with lower hourly rates. Whether you choose a long-term collaboration or a managed service, you can reduce your project budget without compromising on quality.
#3. 24/7 Productivity
When you hire offshore developers from different time zones, your development gets completed faster as teams from every region work turn by turn according to their timing.
Eventually, a distributed technical team can support 24/7 progress, which is useful for quick bug fixes, continuous testing, or faster deployment cycles. This kind of working style works best in dedicated teams or retainer-based engagements, where consistency and quick response times really matter.
#4. Access to Specialized Skills
With offshore development services, you can easily fulfill any advanced development needs such as AI/ML, DevOps, cloud computing, and more. Offshore teams are already up-to-date and expert in the latest tech stacks, hence useful to meet AI and other complex needs of the project.
#5. Flexible Scaling
Whether you’re launching a new feature or entering a growth phase, you can quickly expand your technical team without long-term commitments. This is especially useful in retainer or long-term collaboration models, where you can adapt your team size as your needs change without worrying about full-time hiring overhead.
India vs Latin America vs Eastern Europe: Offshore Talent Availability
| Region | Talent pool size | Key Strengths | Language & Communication | Team Extension |
| India | Very large & growing | Full-stack, mobile, backend development; English fluency | Strong English proficiency | Easy to scale dedicated teams quickly |
| Latin America | Medium, growing fast (e.g., Brazil, Mexico) | Frontend, QA, DevOps, Web, mobile, US nearshoring | High overlap with U.S. time zones | Ideal for retainer or managed service models |
| Eastern Europe | Mid-to-large | Security, compliance, backend, AI/ML expertise | Moderate English; culturally aligned with EU | Scalable R&D, managed/custom development |
Offshore Hiring for SaaS Cost Comparison: Hourly Rates and Engagement Models
Offshoring can definitely save you a lot of budget, especially when you have a budget allocated and are comparing options before finalizing your RFP or SOW. But hourly rates vary across regions, and that can impact your decision.
Let’s understand below regional rates of different countries to plan better.
- India: The price of offshoring developers in India usually ranges between $18-$45/hr. It is the decent and affordable pricing as compared to other countries, and great for building long-term, dedicated teams or getting MVPs built quickly with full-stack or mobile devs.
- Latin America: The prices to hire offshore developers in Latin America range from $30 to $80/hr. This can be slightly costlier but works best for projects that need active engagement.
- Eastern Europe: The rates in Eastern Europe range from $30 to $70/hr. It is known for strong engineering and best for projects that need strong technical depth or compliance.
However, your total cost also depends on the engagement model you choose. Whether that’s hiring a dedicated team, working on a retainer, or using a managed service. Each model will offer you a different level of control, flexibility, and pricing structure.
Choosing the right region with a model helps you optimize costs without compromising on quality, and this is what every Saas startup looks for.
Communication, Time Zones, and Project Management Fit for SaaS Offshore Developers
When you’re working with offshore developers, smooth communication and aligned time zones can either make or break your project timeline. Whether it’s your project starting, mid-sprint feedback, or the final launch, you must be able to connect with your team easily when required and fix things.
India offers round-the-clock support. Teams here are used to working in asynchronous ways and handle Agile delivery well, giving you overnight progress if you’re in the West.
LATAM works in sync with U.S. hours, so if you prefer real-time collaboration or daily check-ins, this region is great for that.
Eastern Europe fits well with EU or UK time zones and follows a hybrid Agile and Waterfall approach. Hence, they are best-suited for projects with strict delivery schedules and well-defined SOWs.
Security, Compliance & Risk Management for SaaS Offshore Development Team
Around 65% of compliance failures in offshore projects happen because companies don’t check the provider’s background carefully before hiring them. 57% of businesses globally depend on an outsourcing provider to handle their core IT services and development. Security and compliance are the undeniable factors when working with an offshore team from different parts of the world.
- Indian developers have a solid experience with large enterprise clients and follow well-known standards like ISO and GDPR. They have been working with some of the biggest brands and closely with compliance consultants and technical program managers to ensure data protection is built into the process.
- Latin America is constantly improving its data protection standards, like GDPR, by placing obligations such as strong encryption, secure access controls, and regular security audits. You may need to double-check local regulations or work with your own security experts.
- Eastern Europe is strong on cybersecurity and often follows EU data laws. Countries like Poland and Ukraine have a good reputation for handling sensitive information securely. Hence, if you don’t mind spending more budget and prioritize data security more, then hiring experts from Eastern Europe can be the best idea.
No matter the region, make sure your offshore team understands data privacy rules, follows your SOW or contract terms, and supports regular security audits. It’s always better to plan upfront than fix issues later.
Offshore Hiring Models for SaaS Startups: Freelance, Agency, or Managed Team?
Every factor equally contributes towards the quality of an offshoring project. The hiring model you choose and the location where you hire offshore developers are crucial points.
Let’s understand the basics of each hiring model and the pros and cons according to regions to help you weigh down and compare accordingly.
#1. Freelance Developers
You hire individual developers on a freelance basis from platforms like Upwork, Toptal, or Fiverr. They work remotely with you on suitable projects or an hourly basis.
Here, you post a job, select a freelancer and manage the project yourself, like assigning tasks, tracking hours, and reviewing progress.
Pros
- In India, you can find the lowest cost option.
- You get more flexibility and can easily scale up or down anytime.
- Freelancers are easy to hire for small, short-term tasks. No lengthy recruitment process is needed for this.
Cons
- It can be harder to manage across time zones (especially LATAM and Eastern Europe).
- Sometimes freelancers can be less reliable because they might switch to other projects mid-way.
- You need to manage all by yourself: communication, reviews, and delivery.
Overall, the freelance model is best for early-stage SaaS startups who are just testing MVPs with limited budgets but have a high involvement from founders.
#2. Development Agency
Development agency is an app development company that offers software development as a service. They provide you expert offshore team who works with you, but the whole management is done by the agency, including developers, timelines, and delivery.
You share your goals or requirements, and the agency assigns a team to your project based on the requirements. You also get a project manager and pay per milestone or retainer.
Pros
- They provide you with a well-qualified and experienced professional team with diverse skill sets (strong in India and Eastern Europe).
- Agencies handle hiring, onboarding, and quality checks.
- Faster development process and launching as compared to building your own team.
Cons
- It will cost more than freelancers (especially in LATAM).
- Less control over which developers are on your project.
- Risk of over-promising if you choose the wrong agency.
Overall, it is best for SaaS companies with funded MVPs or clear SOWs, who need faster results without managing developers directly.
#3. Managed Team or Dedicated Team
Dedicated teams are a team of experts that focuses exclusively on your project for better results and productivity. It is a kind of long-term partnership where a vendor builds and manages a team just for you, like your extended in-house team offshore.
Here, you get a dedicated team (engineers, QA, PMs) who work only on your product. The vendor handles HR, compliance, and office setup, while you stay involved in planning, sprint reviews, and timelines.
Pros
- High reliability and team continuity.
- Full control over roadmap, priorities, and delivery schedule.
- Works well for growing SaaS products with long-term goals.
Cons
- Higher upfront commitment (suitable for funded teams).
- It might take time to onboard, and you will need to train the team a little bit.
- Needs a clear product roadmap and technical leadership.
If you are a SaaS scale-up or a funded startup planning long-term development with steady product evolution, go for dedicated team hiring.
If you are looking to outsource or searching for your dream dedicated team, Best Remote Team can be your trusted technology partner you can count on. We offer dedicated teams and retainer-based outsourcing models to deliver stability and scale business with predictable results. Moreover, you get long-term support from talent that fits your tech stack, time zone, and goals.
Real-World Scenarios: Region-Wise Use Cases
Choosing an offshore region becomes easier when you see it in action. Let’s read below case studies to know how startups across the U.S. and EU successfully used offshore teams from India, LATAM and Eastern Europe.
- A U.S.-based fintech startup hired a 5-member offshore team from India to build its MVP. By hiring an affordable offshore team from India through Best Remote Team, they launched a functional MVP in just 3 months. Constant communication and the cooperative nature of indian developers delivered the MVP before the expected deadline and saved over 50% in development costs. The client used the extra budget for marketing and growth.
- A California-based healthtech company needed a dedicated support team to handle customer tickets, maintain product quality and fix bugs in real time. As the location is California, LATAM developers were the perfect fit due to similar time zones, good English communication and strong service culture. The company onboarded a 4-member LATAM team within 10 days, which helped reduce support response times and improve customer satisfaction. Hiring developers from LATAM regions also offered user support during U.S. hours.
- An AI SaaS company from Germany was in need of experienced engineers to handle critical backend and DevOps tasks. They were looking for developers with strong technical depth, EU compliance understanding, and excellent coordination with their in-house product team. As Eastern Europe is known for advanced technologies and expertise in complex tasks, the client chose developers from Eastern Europe. This improved deployment times by 30% and optimized system uptime.
How to Choose the Right Offshore Region for Your SaaS Product?
The very first thing in managing an offshore technical team is to carefully assess your project requirements, potential locations, providers’ availability, communication, and other things. Before you go for comparing offshore vs onshore teams, here’s a quick checklist to help you compare regions based on what really matters to SaaS founders and CTOs.
#1. Budget
Budget is the no #1 factor that impacts the project execution thoroughly, even if it’s for the short term. India offers the most affordable rates, that is $18 to $40. The rates may fluctuate depending on your technology and functionality requirements. Hence, it’s overall a decent choice for startups or bootstrapped products. While LATAM and Eastern Europe cost more, but can suit funded teams seeking regional alignment.
#2. Tech Stack
Not every region specializes in every technology. India has a wide talent pool for full-stack, backend and mobile development. Eastern European countries have the best developers in system-level programming, cybersecurity and enterprise tools. On the other side, LATAM is growing in modern frontend frameworks and cloud platforms. Match the region’s strengths with your tech stack to avoid skill gaps and project delays.
#3. Delivery Timeline
If you are dealing with tight launch schedules, then India supports 24/7 development, which helps you build faster through continuous work cycles. Latin America (LATAM) and the United States have overlapping time zones because many LATAM countries share the same or adjacent time zones as the U.S., especially the Eastern, Central and Mountain Time Zones, so it can be a good choice for quick feedback loops.
Choose based on how fast you need to go live and whether your team can support async or prefers real-time updates.
#4. Data Sensitivity
Data handling rules and standards are different for every country. If your SaaS product handles sensitive user data or requires compliance (like GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2), your region choice really matters. Eastern Europe aligns closely with EU data laws. India has deep experience in global enterprise compliance. Some countries are solid, others need more vetting. Always ask for security protocols, data handling practices, and SOW clarity.
#5. Collaboration Needs
The end results of the project depend on the way you collaborate with a team. Even ignorance of minor communication can lead to missed points and raise an issue in the future. Prioritize regions that focus on real-time communication and instant fixing of errors.
LATAM is best for U.S.-based startups who need close collaboration during business hours. Eastern Europe works well for European companies or hybrid teams. Indian developers can coordinate globally with strong async workflows, Slack/email updates and structured Agile methods. Choose based on your working style, communication tools and team availability.
Why Best Remote Team Is the Right Offshore Partner for SaaS Startups?
Best Remote Team is the perfect destination to hire dedicated developers according to different technological needs. Since 14 years, we have been serving enterprise-grade offshore development services to worldwide clients by helping them find suitable developers quickly at an affordable price. Our developers are trained to build secure, high-performing products with modern practices like CI/CD and performance-first architecture.
Whether you need help with your existing project or want to start from scratch, our startup-friendly rates make us the leading choice of funded startups, product teams, and global consultancies.
Conclusion
Hope this article helped you to get an overall idea about offshoring in different regions like India, LATAM, and Eastern Europe. Offshore development is no longer about just cutting costs; it’s about strategic scaling, faster rollouts, and enterprise-grade delivery. Hence, it’s important to follow the holistic approach, keeping the project requirements, budget, and other preferences like language, collaboration, flexibility and cultural mindset in mind.
Every region has its own pros and cons. You must decide offshore development company according to your present and future growth plans.
Best Remote Team can be your trusted technology partner for all offshoring needs. We have the best pre-vetted developers that are talented and scalable to support your long-term goals. Let’s connect today to know how we can help you with offshoring needs.
