The times of associating software development outsourcing primarily with India are long gone, with Central and Eastern Europe gaining momentum as a growing IT talent hub.

The countries that were once isolated by the Iron Curtain of the Soviet regime are now quickly gaining force as capable competitors to India and other Asian countries traditionally chosen as suppliers of the IT labor force.

The report prepared by Qubit Labs on the rates of software developers across Central and Eastern Europe provides detailed by-country information for clients planning their outsourcing budgets and considering various locations to outsource software development.

Here are some basic facts about countries in this region offering excellent outsourcing opportunities and worth being considered as outsourcing destinations. If you are interested in other outsourcing regions as well, please check this Outsourcing Guide by Country.

10 Reasons to Outsource to Eastern Europe

Outsourcing to Eastern Europe has grown in popularity in recent years for many reasons.

Eastern Europe Software Outsourcing Market Analysis by Country

IT outsourcing in Eastern Europe is not homogeneous since all countries in the region are unique and varied in terms of salaries, the pool of talent, and work terms.

Therefore, it is strongly recommended to consider each of the best countries in Eastern Europe for outsourcing software projects separately and analyze the IT outsourcing market existing there to make a wise decision for the long-term objective. So, let’s find out which of the following countries is the top outsourcing destination?

Belarus is thus far largely under-explored as an IT outsourcing location though the IT sector occupies 3rd place in its economy. The country has a vibrant talent pool exceeding 77,000 programmers, and over 16,000 new specialists enter the sector every year after graduation from universities.

There are four major IT hubs to outsource software development in Belarus: Minsk, Grodno, Gomel, and Vitebsk, while developers charge $1,200 – $4,100 for their services on average. If you wish to hire a Java developer here, you will need to pay from $1,500 for a junior-level specialist to $3,125 for a senior-level expert.

PHP development costs from $1,500 to $4,500.

Belarus is a highly affordable country both in terms of living and in terms of IT outsourcing.

For instance, the cost of living in Minsk, the country’s capital, is estimated at around $442 per month for a single person, while a four-person family might need $1,597 without rent to live a well-to-do life here.

The state has seven airports and is also quite comfortable to travel to and from. For example, it takes only 3 hours to travel from Minsk to Tel Aviv, 2 hours 40 minutes – to London, and 9.5 hours – to New York.

Bulgaria is another popular IT outsourcing destination in Eastern Europe, with over 400 IT companies functioning in the market and guaranteeing the country’s leadership in the region.

Companies prefer to outsource software development to Bulgaria because of a great talent pool exceeding 50,000 IT specialists (50% of which are ICT-certified) and a high English proficiency level among Bulgarian programmers (with English included as a compulsory subject in the higher education curriculum).

Companies prefer to establish outsourced teams and R&D centers here because of the expertise and variety of programming languages supplied by the Bulgarian workforce.

The country has received a score of 87.2 out of 100 by HackerRank, which granted it the 12th position among other states. Local developers charge on average from $1,300 to $3,500 per month, with the most popular technologies of specialization including Java, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SQL, and C#.

There are four major Bulgarian IT hubs, including its capital Sofia and large cities such as Varna, Burgas, and Plovdiv.

The country has five international airports to and from which business clients can easily get to any corner of the world.

For instance, it takes only 2 hours 53 minutes to get to London, 10 hours to reach New York, and 2 hours 17 minutes – to get to Tel Aviv.

The cost of living in Bulgaria is affordable in the context of average regional indicators; for instance, a single person may live comfortably on $503.57 per month without rent, while a family of four needs $1,756 for comfortable living.

Life in Burgas is cheaper, with $449.56 needed for one person for comfort, while a family of four requires a monthly income of $1,547.23.

Hungary is another location that companies preferring to outsource software development to Eastern Europe may consider as an option.

It is not that famous as an IT outsourcing hub, but due to its under-explored potential, it offers a great number of advantages in this sector.

First, the EU membership and a central location make the country closer to Western Europe in terms of mindset, legislation, financial institutions, and time zone, thus ensuring better cohesion between the in-house and outsourced teams.

Second, over 2% of the country’s population is actively employed in the IT sector, making IT outsourcing Hungary a hub with a great talent pool and a diversity of candidates to choose from.

There are over 80,000 software developers in Hungary, and their number increases exponentially, with around 21,000 tech university graduates joining the talent pool every year.

The IT sector brought the country 3.7% in corporate revenue.

The country occupies 12th place in the HackerRank rating with a score of 87.2 and offers a workforce in a variety of technologies with JavaScript, C#, Java, Python, and Ruby prevailing.

In terms of salaries, companies should be ready to pay from $1,500 to $4,000 per month to local developers.

Five large cities are considered IT hubs here: Budapest, Debrecen, Miskolc, Szeged, and Veszprem. Hungary has only four international airports, but they are easily reachable because of the country’s small geographical area, which makes business travel convenient and fast.

In this way, clients from London can get to Budapest in 2 hours, clients from New York reach Hungary in 9 hours 20 minutes, while a trip from Tel Aviv takes only 3 hours.

Hungary is also attractive in terms of the cost of living.

One person living in Budapest needs around $577 for comfortable expenditure, while a family of four requires $1,967 for a well-to-do lifestyle.

Life in other cities is even more affordable, with a single-person budget for living in Debrecen constituting $505.5 and $477 in Szeged.

Poland is a top-rated IT outsourcing destination in Eastern Europe because of its labor market’s maturity, the long-standing EU membership, the Western culture and mindset, and high English language proficiency.

The software companies in Poland boast an impressive developer talent pool exceeding 70,000 people, with over 15,000 university graduates entering the sector every year. In terms of technical skills, Polish coders enjoy a very high HackerRank rating of 98 out of 100.

When it comes to IT outsourcing Poland, clients can find a handful of skills and talent, with programmers specializing in both common and rare technologies, while the commonest specialization includes Java, C#, C/C++, JS, .NET, and Python.

There are five major tech hubs in Poland: Krakow, Warsaw, Wroclaw, Lodz, and Poznan, while rates charged by programmers across the state range from $650 to $5,000.

The cost of living in Poland is higher than in many other neighboring states; a single person requires $523.5 without rent for comfortable living in Krakow, while the cost of living in Warsaw amounts to $554 per month for one individual.

There are 11 airports in Poland, which makes it very easy for clients to get to their outsourcing teams on business. The time needed for travel is also moderate; it takes 9 hours 18 minutes to get from Krakow to New York, 2 hours – to get to London, and 3 hours 20 minutes – to Tel Aviv.

Romania has all chances to take the lead among Eastern Europe software outsourcing locations.

It takes first place in the region in terms of IT outsourcing and exhibits quick growth in this area.

Reasons for which clients prefer Romania outsourcing companies to others are the multilingual talent pool (with English, French, Italian, and German enjoying the highest popularity), expert IT knowledge (the HackerRank score of 81.9 out of 100), and affordable rates ($1,000-$7,000).

The most popular technologies in the IT sector here are PHP ($1,600 to $3,750), Java ($1,000 to $2,750), and JavaScript ($1,300 to $3,900).

The cities in which IT outsourcing Romania talent is concentrated include Bucharest, Galati, and Cluj.

There are only four airports in Romania, but given the country’s small area, this number still ensures the convenience of getting to any major city by air.

It takes 2 hours 20 minutes to get from Bucharest to Tel Aviv, 10 hours – to New York, and 3 hours – to London.

The cost of living in Romania is generally more affordable than in many neighboring countries.

For instance, the monthly cost of living in Bucharest constitutes $488 for a single person and $1,706 for a family consisting of four persons. For comparison, living in Cluj costs $460 per person and $1,593 per four-person household without rent.

Ukraine

The largest talent pool attracts companies that choose to outsource software development to Ukraine in Eastern Europe (over 160,000 programmers) and immense growth potential that the country reveals (18 local outsourcing companies included in the IAOP Global Outsourcing 100 list).

Ukrainian developers are ranked 88.7 out of 100 by HackerRank and specialize both in common programming technologies and in rare, even exclusive, ones.

Software developer salaries in Ukraine range from $500 to $3,500 per month on average here.

The cost of living in Ukraine is highly affordable, ranging from around $350-400 per one person (maximum $405 in Kyiv). There are 21 airports in the country.

In addition, the ease of travel to and from Ukraine is impressive: it takes only 3 hours to get from Kyiv to London, 10 hours – to New York, and 3 hours – to Tel Aviv.

Average Annual Salaries of Eastern European Developers by Technology

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The Best IT Outsourcing Companies in Eastern Europe

Qubit Labs 

Qubit Labs is a company that has extensive experience in hiring developers for various business models. The company’s professionals can match you with top-notch programmers, be it mobile or web development, game design, or FinTech. The company provides legal support, takes care of payrolls and onboarding, and ensures hassle-free and transparent hiring processes.

SCAND

The company aims for long-term business relationships by providing tailored development services options. SCAND has extensive experience in the area of outsourcing and provides services in web and mobile application development, cloud computing, and UI/UX.

Accedia 

Accedia helps clients scale their team size and finds the developers with the required skills to minimize operational overhead. It has clients from many countries and provides great opportunities for leveraging remote collaboration.

IncQuery Labs

The company is one of the leaders in IT outsourcing Hungary. It provides tailored business solutions and helps clients to streamline team adaptation and technology transfer. They have many successful cases, including the ones in the aerospace industry.

Being a trusted IT company Poland, JCommerce can be rightfully referred to as the top-rated local outsourcing vendor. It has experience in projects in e-learning, healthcare, and e-commerce.

This is one of the leading Romania players in the IT outsourcing market, which has 20+ years of experience. AROBS is capable of developing projects in the Automotive, IoT, and travel & hospitality industries.

Qubit Labs: Your Trusted Outsourcing Partner in Ukraine

Based on the provided data, Eastern Europe seems to be a perfect outsourcing location where the pool of programming talent is impressive, and its combination with low rates is ideal for any employer.

If you have decided to outsource software development to this region, Ukraine is offering the best cost-benefit balance.

Hiring developers in Ukraine is not hard because of the abundance of talent and availability of diverse tech stack here; Qubit Labs can help you with the recruitment process by completing the hiring of any complexity – from a single specialist to the entire coding team.

We offer excellent scaling opportunities for clients by finding one or two programmers according to their requirements at first, then expanding the team with additional staff, and even helping the clients open their R&D office in Ukraine.

Get started with outsourcing to Eastern Europe together with Qubit Labs, your trusted professional recruiter!