An engineering team in Bengaluru at a stand-up around a screen in a modern office

/Delivery models · Offshore

Offshore software development.

Offshore software development means building with engineers in a distant country, usually many hours ahead of the US. Through partner firms we select and manage, that means India, the Philippines or Egypt. This guide covers which work suits the model, what it asks of your team, and how to run it well.

What offshore software development means

The team works from a country far from yours, with a large time difference. India runs on UTC+5:30 and the Philippines on UTC+8, with no daylight saving in either, so both are most of a working day ahead of US time zones. Egypt runs on UTC+2, or UTC+3 in summer since it restored daylight saving in 2023. That leaves a short overlap with the US East Coast if the team starts and finishes later.

The model trades shared hours for lower cost and access to large engineering markets. Work moves forward while your own team sleeps, as long as it’s clear enough to proceed without a conversation. The practical question for a US team is how much of each day needs a live answer.

Source: IANA Time Zone Database

Searching for offshore development in Mexico?

Mexico is nearshore for US companies. Searches for offshore development services in Mexico, or offshore software outsourcing from Mexico, usually describe nearshore delivery: a team that shares your working day, with costs below onshore.

If live collaboration is what you need, the nearshore page is the right place to start.

Nearshore software development Engineering teams in Mexico and Colombia, in your hours. Software development teams in Mexico Dedicated engineering teams for US companies.

Benefits and trade-offs

Offshore is the lowest-cost of the three delivery models. India, the Philippines and Egypt have large pools of engineers, which helps when you need to add capacity or cover a wide range of skills. A team ahead of you in time can pick up yesterday’s reviewed work and have results ready by your morning.

The cost is coordination. A question asked at the end of your day may wait until the next. Specifications, acceptance criteria and decisions must be written down.

Your leads spend more time on review and handoffs, and visits are long-haul. Budget for that time when you compare prices.

Which work fits offshore, and in which shape

Offshore suits work with clear inputs and a clear definition of done: features built to a written spec, test automation and manual QA, maintenance and bug backlogs, migrations with defined acceptance criteria, and support for stable systems. Early product discovery and unsettled architecture fit poorly, because they depend on fast back-and-forth.

Dedicated teamStaff augmentationProject-based
Who directs daily workA partner tech leadYour engineering managersThe partner, against an agreed scope
Offshore fitLong-running QA, maintenance or platform workSpecific skills with an overlap windowWell-defined builds and migrations
Watch forNeeds written priorities each sprintYour managers carry the time differenceScope changes need a change process

Writing work that survives the time gap

Every unclear ticket costs a day. If an offshore engineer hits a question you didn’t answer, they either guess or wait for your morning, and both are expensive. The fix is to write work so it can be finished without a conversation.

A good offshore ticket answers four things: what should change, why it matters, how you’ll know it’s done, and what’s out of scope. Link the design, the API contract or the failing test. If a decision is still open, say so and name who decides.

  • Acceptance criteria someone outside the room can check, written before work starts.
  • Links to the design, API contract, logs or failing test, not a summary of them.
  • Open questions listed at the top, each with a named owner.
  • A written end-of-day handoff: what’s done, what’s blocked and what needs an answer.
  • Decisions recorded where the code lives, in the pull request or a short decision record, not in a chat thread.
  • A recorded demo whenever a change touches behavior a user will see.

Choosing between India, the Philippines and Egypt for engineering

India has the largest engineering market of the three and the widest range of stacks. At UTC+5:30 it’s nine and a half to ten and a half hours ahead of US Eastern time, so any shared window needs someone to shift their day.

The Philippines, on UTC+8, is twelve or thirteen hours ahead of the US East Coast. Its late evening is your morning, which works for teams that agree a shifted schedule.

Egypt sits closest to US hours, about seven hours ahead of US Eastern time for most of the year. A team that starts late can share a few hours of your East Coast morning.

We choose per team: the skills and stack first, then the overlap your leads need, then cost. Ask us which country fits your work, and we’ll explain the reasoning.

Offshore against onshore and nearshore

A general comparison for software work. Use it to frame questions for any partner.

OnshoreNearshore (Mexico, Colombia)Offshore (India, Philippines, Egypt)
Relative costHighestMiddleLowest
Overlap with US hoursFullMost or all of the dayShort, or none without shifted hours
Communication styleLiveLiveMostly written, with a set overlap
Best fitRegulated or US-resident rolesArchitecture, product work, ambiguous problemsWell-specified build, QA, maintenance
Onshore vs nearshore vs offshore The full comparison across every service line.

How to run an offshore team

Distance makes engineering discipline more important. In every team we manage, senior engineers lead the work and review every change. AI-assisted practices are standard: help in code review, generated tests that engineers check, and documentation that stays current, which matters more when most communication is written.

These habits aren’t our invention. DORA, the long-running research program on software delivery, links practices like small changes, fast code review and healthy documentation to better delivery performance.

Source: DORA research program

  • A fixed daily overlap window for questions, review and decisions.
  • Small pull requests, so a review fits inside the overlap window.
  • Every pull request reviewed by a senior engineer before merge.
  • A weekly written summary of progress, risks and decisions for your leads.
  • Access through your SSO with least-privilege roles, revoked on exit.
  • Code in your repositories, and IP assignment to your company in the contract.

What drives the cost

We don’t publish rates, but the cost drivers are the same for any offshore team. Seniority comes first: a senior-led team costs more per engineer and usually needs less of your leads’ time. Then come the roles and stack, the team size and how much daily overlap you need.

The hidden part is your own time: writing specs, reviewing work and answering questions across the gap. Add it to the rate before you compare offshore with nearshore, or the cheaper option may not be cheaper.

Choosing an offshore development partner

Most offshore firms can show a portfolio. Fewer can show how they’d run your work across the time gap. These questions test that, whoever you hire.

  • Meet the senior engineer who’d review the team’s work, not only the person selling the engagement.
  • Ask for a sample ticket, handoff note and weekly summary from a current team, with client details removed.
  • Ask which country each role would sit in, why, and what the daily overlap window would be.
  • Ask how engineers are interviewed, and whether your own engineers can join the interviews.
  • Ask how attrition is handled and how knowledge stays when someone leaves.
  • Check that the contract assigns IP to your company, covering the partner firm’s engineers too.
  • Start with one team or one well-defined piece of work, and agree what decides whether it grows.

Blending offshore with nearshore

Many companies get the best result from a blend. Senior architecture and product work sits nearshore, in your hours. Well-specified build, QA and maintenance run offshore, with the nearshore leads writing specs and reviewing the output.

Teams are delivered through partner firms OTRO selects and manages, under one contract and one point of contact. You don’t have to blend on day one: start with one model and add the other when the work calls for it.

Choosing an outsourcing partner The questions to ask before you sign. Case studies Products and platforms we’ve shipped.

Frequently asked questions

Is Mexico offshore or nearshore?

For US companies, Mexico is nearshore. Most of the country stays on UTC−6 all year, within two hours of every mainland US time zone, so the team shares most of your working day. Offshore refers to distant countries such as India, the Philippines and Egypt, where the working day barely overlaps with yours unless someone shifts their hours.

What’s the difference between offshoring and outsourcing?

Outsourcing is about who does the work: an outside firm instead of your own staff. Offshoring is about where it happens: a distant country instead of your own. They often overlap, since many companies outsource to an offshore partner, but either can happen alone. A company can open its own office abroad, or outsource to a firm in its own country.

How much does offshore software development cost?

It’s the lowest-cost of the three delivery models, below nearshore and onshore. The exact figure depends on the roles, seniority and how much overlap you need, so we don’t publish rates. Remember the hidden part: the time your leads spend writing specs, reviewing work and answering questions across the gap. Compare total cost, not hourly cost.

What’s the best country for offshore development?

There isn’t one best country; it depends on the work and the overlap you need. India has the largest engineering market of the three. Egypt sits closest to US hours, about seven hours ahead of the East Coast. The Philippines is furthest ahead, at twelve or thirteen hours. We pick per team: skills first, then overlap, then cost.

How do you manage an offshore development team across time zones?

Set a fixed daily overlap window and move everything else into writing. Use the window for questions, code review and decisions. Outside it, the team works from tickets with acceptance criteria, posts a written handoff at the end of its day and records demos. Keep pull requests small, so a senior engineer can review them inside the window instead of a day later.

How much time-zone overlap is there with an offshore team?

Little, unless someone shifts their hours. India is nine and a half to ten and a half hours ahead of the US East Coast, and the Philippines twelve or thirteen. Egypt can reach a short overlap with East Coast mornings if the team starts later. We agree a fixed overlap window at the start of every engagement, so nobody guesses when answers will come.

What work shouldn’t be offshored?

Keep work nearshore or in-house when it depends on fast back-and-forth. That includes early product discovery, architecture that’s still being decided, incident response on systems the team doesn’t know yet, and anything where requirements change every week. Offshore teams do their best work with clear inputs and a clear definition of done, so send them the build once the decisions are made.

What is a follow-the-sun development model?

It’s a setup where work passes between teams in different time zones, so it keeps moving around the clock. A US team ends its day with written handoffs, an offshore team picks them up overnight, and results are ready by the US morning. It works for testing, maintenance and well-specified features. It fails when handoffs are vague, because every open question waits a full day.

How do you protect our code and IP offshore?

Through the contract and through access control. IP assignment to your company is written into the contract, code stays in repositories you own, and access runs through your SSO with least-privilege roles that are removed when someone leaves. Ask your counsel to review the IP and confidentiality clauses, and ask any partner how they handle laptops, secrets and offboarding.

Plan your offshore or blended team

Tell us what you need built or maintained, your stack and the hours your leads keep. We’ll come back with a written plan: which work goes where, the team shape and the overlap window we’d set.

Plan your team