Short answer
Our booking app example takes about 1,132 h in every case. Priced at mid rates, that is $97,000 with an employed US team (BLS wages plus benefits), $84,000 with a US development company (Clutch), and $60,000 with a Latin American partner (Accelerance, half senior).
One project, six teams
| Who builds it | Blended mid rate | Mid | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| US in-house team (employer cost) | $85.40/hr | $97,000 | $63,000 to $170,000 |
| US development company (Clutch, $50-$99/hr) | $74.50/hr | $84,000 | $48,000 to $151,000 |
| Clutch app-company average ($25-$49/hr) | $37.00/hr | $42,000 | $24,000 to $75,000 |
| Europe outsourcing (Accelerance) | $52.50/hr | $59,000 | $46,000 to $88,000 |
| Latin America outsourcing (Accelerance) | $53.25/hr | $60,000 | $45,000 to $92,000 |
| Asia outsourcing (Accelerance) | $31.75/hr | $36,000 | $26,000 to $55,000 |
What an employee really costs
The BLS median wage for software developers was $65.38 an hour ($135,980 a year) in May 2025. Employers pay more than the wage: in June 2026, wages were 70.0% of private-industry compensation costs and benefits the other 30.0% (BLS ECEC). Dividing by 0.70 gives about $93.40/hr an hour, or $194,000 a year, for a median developer. The calculator prices designers, testers and project managers the same way from their own BLS medians.
Beyond the hourly rate
- Hiring time. An employed team takes months to recruit; a firm can usually start sooner.
- Knowledge. People who built the app are the cheapest people to change it. That favours employees or a long-term partner for a core product.
- Overlap. Latin American teams generally share working hours with US clients; Asian teams generally do not. Rework from misunderstanding is a real cost no rate table shows.
- Exit. A fixed-scope contract ends; a team does not. Check who owns the code and the accounts before signing.
For the wider cost of hiring engineers, see EngineeringHiringCost.com. To price your own scope against each option, use the calculator and switch step 6.
Questions
Is it cheaper to hire a developer or use an agency?+
Per hour, an employed US developer at the BLS median costs about $93.40/hr once benefits are included (our arithmetic from BLS OEWS and ECEC), which sits in the upper half of Clutch's $50 to $99 band for US development companies. But an employee costs that for every working hour of the year, busy or not, and you also carry recruiting time and management. For a single project with an end date, buying hours is usually simpler; for a product you will keep developing, a team you employ builds up knowledge you would otherwise rent.
How much does it cost to employ an app developer in the US?+
The BLS reports a median annual wage of $135,980 for software developers in May 2025. Wages were 70.0% of private-industry employer compensation costs in June 2026 (BLS ECEC), so the total employer cost of a median developer is roughly $194,000 a year. Recruiting fees, equipment and software licences come on top.
Is offshore development worth it?+
On rate alone, often: Accelerance's 2026 survey puts senior developers at $60 to $75 an hour in Latin America and $31 to $41 in Asia. Our booking app example drops from $84,000 with a US company to $60,000 with a Latin American team at a 50/50 senior mix. Accelerance itself advises looking beyond hourly rates to the total cost of software development; time-zone overlap, communication and rework decide whether the saving survives.
Sources for this page
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). Software Developers (SOC 15-1252), national, May 2025 estimates. www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151252.htm (read 2026-10-02)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS. Web and Digital Interface Designers (SOC 15-1255), national, May 2025 estimates. www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151255.htm (read 2026-10-02)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS. Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers (SOC 15-1253), national, May 2025 estimates. www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151253.htm (read 2026-10-02)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS. Project Management Specialists (SOC 13-1082), national, May 2025 estimates. www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes131082.htm (read 2026-10-02)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC). Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026. www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm (read 2026-10-02)
- Clutch (Software Development Pricing Guide). Software Development Company Pricing Guide, updated September 21, 2026. clutch.co/developers/pricing (read 2026-10-02)
- Clutch (App Development Pricing Guide). App Development Pricing Guide, updated September 21, 2026. clutch.co/directory/mobile-application-developers/pricing (read 2026-10-02)
- Accelerance (blog post by Peter Griffin, November 24, 2025, summarising the Accelerance 2026 Global Software Development Rates & Trends Guide). Price Pressure and Performance: The New Equation for Global Dev Rates. www.accelerance.com/blog/2026-outsourcing-rate-trends-asia-europe-latam (read 2026-10-02)
Hours are this site's own planning assumptions, set out line by line on the methodology page. Full quotes for every figure are on the sources page.