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Instant result, no sign-upUpdated Oct 2026

In-house vs outsourced team cost calculator.

Build a team by role and seniority, pick where you would hire, and compare the full cost of employing it with a dedicated Nexzem team. Hidden costs included.

Your team

In-house team location
Roles, seniority and headcount
  • Software developer
    3
  • QA engineer
    1
  • UI/UX designer
    1
  • Project manager
    0
  • DevOps engineer
    0
Hidden-cost assumptions
%
USD
%

Each leaver costs a new recruiting fee plus 2 months of salary in vacancy and ramp-up.

Salaries, USA$734,543

+ employer on-costs$337,890

+ hiring, kit, attrition$155,420

Year-one saving with a dedicated team

In-house year one $1,227,852. Dedicated team $186,000–264,000.

For 5 people: in-house in USA costs about $102,321 a month in year one, all costs in.
In-house, USA$1.2M
Dedicated Nexzem team$186K–264K
SalariesEmployer on-costsHiring, kit, attritionNexzem, low to high

In-house a month (year one)

$102.3K

Nexzem a month

$15.5K–22K

In-house time to fill

39 days + notice

Nexzem start after interview

A few days

Salary basis: BLS OEWS, May 2025. Nexzem rates are indicative ranges from our pricing page, confirmed in a written quote.

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Email me the full report.

  • Cost per role: salary, on-costs, recruiting, equipment and attrition
  • Year one versus ongoing years
  • Time to hire and notice periods for your country
  • A printable summary for budget planning

No spam. Your inputs go to one consultant.

How it works.

  1. 01

    Pick where you would hire

    Salary medians come from government statistics where they exist (BLS, ONS, Jobs and Skills Australia) and from published salary guides where they do not.

  2. 02

    Shape the team

    Add developers, QA, design, project management and DevOps, each at mid, senior or lead level. Seniority moves salary along the published pay distribution.

  3. 03

    Check the hidden costs

    Employer on-costs are set by country. Recruiting, equipment and attrition are yours to adjust under Hidden-cost assumptions.

  4. 04

    Compare year one

    The in-house total includes hiring. The dedicated team uses the indicative monthly ranges on our pricing page, with recruiting, equipment and replacements included.

Assumptions and sources.

Every default you can change, and where each figure comes from. Figures are as of 2026.

AssumptionValue usedSource
USA developer median$135,980 a yearUS Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: median annual wage for software developers, May 2025.
UK developer median£56,914 a year ($75,350)ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2025 (provisional), programmers and software development professionals, full-time median.
Australia developer medianA$131,924 a year ($91,790)Jobs and Skills Australia, software and applications programmers: A$2,537 median full-time weekly earnings (ABS, May 2025) × 52.
UAE developer (mid-level)AED 240,000 a year ($65,350)Mid-level base pay in 2026 recruiter salary guides (about AED 18,000 to 28,000 a month, before housing and transport allowances). No official median is published.
New Zealand developer (mid-level)NZ$110,000 a year ($61,760)Recruiter salary guides (Hays New Zealand and others), 2026. Stats NZ publishes no developer median.
India developer₹9.5 lakh a year ($9,790)AmbitionBox, software engineers with 1 to 5 years of experience, 2026 (₹8.8 to 9.7 lakh).
Role factorsQA 0.77, design 0.76, PM 0.75 of a developerBLS medians, May 2025: QA analysts and testers $104,300, web and digital interface designers $104,000, project management specialists $102,320. DevOps is modelled as a developer.
SenioritySenior 1.29x, lead 1.58x the medianBLS software developer pay distribution, May 2025: the 90th percentile ($214,670) is 1.58x the median. Senior sits halfway.
Employer on-costsUSA 46%, Australia 12%, UAE 5.75%, NZ 3.5%, India 2.5%, UK calculatedBLS ECEC June 2026 (benefits 31.5% of compensation); UK employer NI 15% above £5,000 plus 3% pension minimum; Australian Super Guarantee 12%; UAE gratuity 21 days a year; KiwiSaver 3.5% from April 2026; India gratuity on basic pay.
Recruiting, equipment, attrition15% of salary, $3,000 a year, 13% a yearAdjustable assumptions, not statistics. Each leaver costs a new recruiting fee plus two months of salary in vacancy and ramp-up.
Time to fill39 days (median)SHRM recruiting benchmarking: median time to fill for nonexecutive roles. Notice periods come on top.
CurrencyUSDConverted at 3 October 2026 market rates: £0.7553, A$1.4373, NZ$1.7811 per US dollar; AED pegged at 3.6725; rupees at the site-wide planning rate of ₹97.
Nexzem ratesMid $2,500-3,500, senior $3,500-5,000 a monthIndicative ranges from our pricing page, applied to every role. Leads are quoted per brief and modelled at $5,000. Your quote is fixed in writing.

Why salary is only part of the cost

An employee costs more than their salary. Employers pay payroll taxes, pensions or superannuation, insurance and paid leave, and in the USA benefits alone make up about 31.5% of total compensation for full-time private-industry workers. Then come the costs that never show up on a payslip: recruiter fees or internal hiring time, laptops and software licences, and the cost of replacing people who leave, including the months a seat sits empty and the time a new hire needs to become productive.

A dedicated development team moves most of those costs to the partner. You pay a monthly fee per person, and recruiting, equipment, payroll and replacements are the partner's job. What stays with you is product direction, priorities and review, which is where your time is best spent anyway.

When in-house is still the right call

Some roles belong inside the company: a CTO or head of engineering, people who own core intellectual property, and anyone who needs to sit with customers or operations every day. Many companies run a hybrid, with a small in-house core that sets direction and a dedicated team that adds capacity. Our comparison of in-house vs outsourcing and of staff augmentation vs a dedicated team walks through the trade-offs.

Whatever you choose, compare like for like: the same seniority, the same hours of overlap with your time zone, and the same responsibilities for QA and project management. Our guide to hiring dedicated developers from India covers how to judge a partner beyond the monthly rate.

Go deeper

Dedicated development teamIT staff augmentationIn-house vs outsourcingPricing and engagement modelsHiring dedicated developers from India

Team cost questions, answered

Something else on your mind? Ask a consultant and get a reply within one business day.

What is the true cost of hiring a software developer?

Salary plus employer on-costs (payroll taxes, pension or super, insurance, paid leave) plus the costs of hiring and keeping the person: recruiting, equipment and software, and replacing people who leave. In the USA, benefits alone add about 46% on top of wages for full-time private-industry workers, based on BLS data.

Where do the salary figures come from?

Government statistics where they exist: the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the UK Office for National Statistics and Jobs and Skills Australia. For the UAE, New Zealand and India there is no official developer median, so we use published 2026 salary guides and say so in the assumptions table.

Why do the UAE figures exclude allowances?

UAE packages are usually split into basic pay plus housing, transport and other allowances. The guides we cite quote base pay. If you pay allowances, use the Other country option and enter your full package in US dollars for a closer figure.

How much does a dedicated Nexzem developer cost?

Our indicative ranges are about $2,500 to $3,500 a month for a mid-level developer and $3,500 to $5,000 for a senior developer, with lead and specialist roles quoted per brief. See our pricing page. Recruiting, equipment and replacements are included, and you get a fixed monthly figure in writing after a free consultation.

How fast can a dedicated team start?

Once you approve profiles and interviews, onboarding usually takes a few working days for access, NDA and setup. Hiring in-house typically takes about six weeks to fill a role (SHRM median of 39 days) plus the candidate's notice period.

What is included in employer on-costs for each country?

USA: all benefits from the BLS employer cost survey. UK: employer National Insurance and the auto-enrolment pension minimum. Australia: the 12% Superannuation Guarantee. UAE: end-of-service gratuity. New Zealand: the 3.5% KiwiSaver employer minimum. India: gratuity on basic pay. Items that vary widely, such as private health cover or payroll tax, are left out and noted.

Why is attrition a cost?

When someone leaves you pay to recruit again, the seat sits empty for a while and the new hire needs time to become productive. The calculator charges each leaver a recruiting fee plus two months of salary. Set attrition to your own turnover rate.

Is outsourcing always cheaper?

Usually on cash cost, but not always on total value. Weigh time-zone overlap, communication, domain knowledge and how much management time you will spend. A good partner reduces that management load with a team lead, QA and clear reporting.

Do I own the code a dedicated team writes?

With Nexzem, yes. Contracts assign all intellectual property to you, code lives in repositories you control, and an NDA is available on request.

Can I mix in-house and dedicated developers?

Yes, and many teams do. A dedicated team can work inside your sprints, tools and code review alongside your own engineers. See IT staff augmentation for that model.

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