Top Eastern European Countries To Outsource Software Development

For the past decade, digital technologies showed a steady growth trend. When you observe all these transitions, you try to move with the times. Businesses take steps to ensure that they meet the expectations of today’s customers. So, businesses are desperate to find the best technical specialists to create a new user-friendly app or platform to enhance consumer loyalty. Here is where software development outsourcing comes in handy.

Software development outsourcing is not something new for the tech industry: many businesses have already saved money by hiring a remote team rather than investing in in-house development. Also, in connection with recent events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the transition to remote work mode, it is even more profitable to choose software development outsourcing.

According to figures, the global outsourcing market is projected to expand to $481 billion by 2022. Also, it is not even a question of whether to outsource or not if you are planning to minimize the software development budget in 2021. The big question is, which countries are the best for comfortable outsourcing?

In this post, we will discuss one of the most popular outsourcing destinations – Eastern Europe.

Top IT Outsourcing Destinations

Central and Eastern Europe, China, India are the major hubs for outsourcing around the world.

Talking about the top countries for outsourcing, the main points to consider are the country’s IT market, prices, and employees’ qualifications. The commitment made to corporate education is one of the most significant factors that businesses pay attention to when selecting an outsourcing firm. Employers choose workers for you with a strong focus on qualifications, preferring people who have completed both high school and higher education. According to a variety of data, Eastern Europe and Asia are two regions where professional education is the top priority. On the other hand, rates of offshore contracting firms are typically much smaller. In general, India is the least expensive outsourcing region, with Argentina being among the most expensive.

Here you can find more information about outsourcing destinations.

What Eastern Europe can offer you?

You could seriously opt for nearshore outsourcing in Eastern Europe if your business is located in western Europe. The advantages are obvious: deep cultural proximity, geographical location, and high-quality software development experts.

Ukraine, Poland, and Romania are the most preferred Eastern European destinations for software development outsourcing.

With so many options accessible to you, choose which country or area to explore first may be difficult. According to Clutch, this area has around 2,000 offshore software development businesses. Almost 1000 of them are based in Ukraine, over 800 in Poland, and 300 in Romania. So, we’ll now present an overview of the Eastern European IT industry.

Ukraine

Ukraine is Europe’s largest country and the world’s 44th largest. Over the years, the Ukrainian IT services sector has risen substantially. Ukraine, with over a thousand firms, offers a wide range of IT-related services, whether outsourcing, product development, or a potential startup business. 

Over 130 thousand IT professionals work in banking, healthcare, gaming, automation, manufacturing, management, IoT, and AR/VR software, according to the DOU.UA. What makes Ukrainian software outsourcing really unusual is its focus on markets other than Western Europe. Many enterprises cooperate with the United States and Canada, as well as Israel and Arab nations, but the majority of their CEE competitors are only interested in Germany, the United Kingdom, and the Nordic nations.

As a result, Ukraine appears to be significantly more cost-effective than other Eastern European IT outsourcing companies.

Romania

Romania has around 60,000 citizens working in the IT sector. This figure represents about 20% of the IT outsourcing in Central and Eastern Europe. As part of the EU, Romania has one of Central and Eastern Europe’s most rapidly developing IT markets.

Following Romania’s joining the European Union in 2007, multinational technology businesses become interested in this destination such as Huawei, Oracle, and Microsoft. The country is the sixth most qualified IT expert in the world, with over 100,000 in particular. There are more than 115,000 experts, and Clutch includes more than 150 IT outsourcing businesses. IT outsourcing prices are reasonable, although higher than in Ukraine.

Poland

Poland is a fast expanding EU nation. In Poland, several organizations build software and employ IT experts with great technology and software expertise. Poland has around 100 firms with more than 255,000 expertise in software. Poland is an EU member and hence it complies with encompassing legislation and rules on data privacy.  The country has a low level of inflation and excellent tax benefits.

Polish developer prices ranged from $25 to $100 per hour, according to Clutch and Upwork. In smaller towns like Katowice, the lowest prices as 25-50 dollars may be obtained, with big technology hubs like Warsaw and Krakow being the highest rate.

All these elements make it worth considering outsourcing software development services in Poland.

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is another popular IT outsourcing location in both Western Europe and North America. This industry is teeming with specialists who provide low-cost software development solutions. Nowadays, the Czech IT sector employs over 150,000 people in hundreds of IT companies.

Software development outsourcing of Czech origin charge higher rates in the Eastern Europe region than, for example, Ukraine or Belarus. According to Clutch, most firms have charges ranging from $50 to 149, with the option of finding a new-to-market provider with a $25 per hour pricing. The Czech Republic is a favorite for many IT firms throughout the world due to its technological excellence, vast IT talent pool, convenient location, and Western-oriented culture.

Hungary

Hungary is a little less popular choice for software development outsourcing, but it has good potential. IT is regarded as one of the first Eastern European countries to begin exporting software. As a member of the EU, Hungary’s legislative and political environments are friendly to software development and IT outsourcing firms. The comparatively modest size of this nation has no bearing on the extent of the local IT talent pool – the Hungarian IT industry houses 150 thousand people. Furthermore, the physical proximity of Hungarian companies makes them desirable for nearshoring among German-speaking countries.

Hourly salaries for Hungarian software engineers vary from $25 to $149/hour, which is normal for the EU area, according to Clutch.

Bulgaria

Bulgaria is another appealing country for IT outsourcing in Europe. Bulgaria’s European Union membership and relatively high English language fluency make it a standout on the software development outsourcing map. There are more than 24,000 developers and 400 organizations in the IT industry.

Many European and American major organizations select Bulgaria for IT outsourcing services because of a rising talent pool of experienced IT professionals and an appealing price-to-quality ratio. According to Clutch, the majority of software development companies charge between $25 and $99 per hour.

To sum up

Eastern Europe is a desirable location for outsourcing for numerous reasons, including an extensive technological stack, English language skills, inexpensive prices, talent pool dimensions, and an established cultural value. Ukraine, Poland, and Romania are the most common outsourcing destinations. Not only in one of these countries may an offshore development center be formed, but a remote team may also be built.