Eastern Europe Software Development Cost Calculator
What agencies in Poland, Romania, Ukraine and the Baltics charge to build software in 2026, by role and sprint, against US rates.
Updated · By Niraj Kumar · 4 sources
https://checkpre.com/ai/software-development-cost-eastern-europe
Project
The baseline: a React front end with a Node or serverless back end.
Unique layouts, not every page: a product page template counts once.
CRM, ERP, shipping, tax, analytics… 32 hours each.
Features
Email and social login, password reset; SSO or MFA is complex.
Profile pages, preferences and account deletion.
Who can see and do what; complex means custom policies.
Organisations, invitations and data isolated per customer.
Manage users, content and settings without a developer.
Listings, variants, cart, checkout and orders.
Stripe or similar: plans, invoices, webhooks and refunds.
Full-text search and facets; complex means a search engine.
Transactional email, push and in-app alerts.
Uploads to object storage, previews and image resizing.
Messaging over WebSockets, read receipts and history.
Maps, geocoding, distance search or live tracking.
Charts, exports and scheduled reports for users.
Chat assistants, summaries or retrieval over your data.
Translated interface, locale formats and RTL support.
Works without a connection and syncs changes later.
Design and quality
Team
Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Bulgaria and the Baltics.
More developers shorten the calendar, not the hours.
A reserve for scope that changes once work starts. 15 to 20% is usual; more for a vague brief.
- Total effort
- 2,306 hours
- 1,001 hours of development
- Timeline
- 14 weeks
- 7 sprints of 2 weeks, up to 20 weeks if the scope grows
- Blended rate
- $46 an hour
- Across every role on the team
- Maintenance after launch
- $19,000 a year
- About 18% of the build: updates, fixes and small improvements
- Lowest-cost region
- Philippines & Vietnam
- $73,500, $32,000 less
- 1Front-end development$23,000
- 2Back end, platform and integrations$19,500
- 3Project management$16,500
- 4Contingency reserve$14,000
- 5UI/UX design$13,000
- 6QA and testing$8,000
- 7Hardening and launch$4,300
- 8DevOps and CI/CD$3,800
- 9Discovery (sprint 0)$3,100
| Sprint | Focus | Hours | Cost | Running total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sprint 0 | Discovery, backlog, architecture and first designs | 212 | $10,000 | $10,000 |
| Sprint 1 | Project setup, Sign-up and login and 2 more | 353 | $16,500 | $26,500 |
| Sprint 2 | Roles and permissions, Teams and multi-tenancy, Admin panel / CMS | 325 | $15,000 | $41,000 |
| Sprint 3 | Admin panel / CMS, Payments and subscriptions, Search and filtering | 325 | $15,000 | $56,000 |
| Sprint 4 | Search and filtering, Email and push notifications and 2 more | 325 | $15,000 | $70,500 |
| Sprint 5 | Reports and dashboards, Integrations | 325 | $15,000 | $85,500 |
| Sprint 6 | Hardening, acceptance testing and launch | 141 | $6,400 | $92,000 |
| Role | Hours | Rate | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Project manager / BA | 364 | $50/h | $18,000 |
| UI/UX designer | 302 | $45/h | $13,500 |
| Senior developer | 488 | $55/h | $27,000 |
| Mid-level developer | 601 | $42/h | $25,000 |
| QA engineer | 250 | $32/h | $8,000 |
| Total | 2,005 | $46/h | $92,000 |
- 1Philippines & Vietnamoffshore$73,500
- 2Indiaoffshore$77,000
- 3Eastern Europeoffshore$106,000
- 4Latin Americanearshore$119,000
- 5Canadaonshore$220,000
- 6Western Europeoffshore$226,000
- 7Australiaoffshore$249,000
- 8United Kingdomoffshore$250,000
- 9United Statesonshore$278,000
How is software development cost estimated?
Mid-market agencies in Eastern Europe bill a blended $46 an hour across developers, design, QA and project management. A SaaS product with teams, billing and reporting comes to about $106,000. That is 62% less than a US agency, after adding the 8% extra coordination a US client should expect.
build = Σ features (hours × complexity × stack) + screens × 10 h + integrations × 32 h + 40 h setup
total = discovery + design + build + 10% hardening + QA % + DevOps + PM (12% + time-zone overhead)
cost = Σ role hours × regional rate × agency tier; likely = cost × (1 + contingency)
sprints = 1 + ⌈build ÷ (developers × 40 h × weeks × 0.8)⌉ + hardeningThis page uses the same method as the Software Development Cost Estimator, which explains each term and assumption in full.
Worked example
A B2B SaaS product on Next.js: 25 screens, team accounts, roles, Stripe subscriptions, an admin panel, notifications and a reporting dashboard, three integrations, custom UI/UX and standard QA. Priced at mid-market rates in Eastern Europe and United States, 15% contingency included.
- 1Eastern Europe: 2,306 hours at a blended $46 an hour = $106,000
- 2United States: 2,152 hours at a blended $129 an hour = $278,000
- 3Coordination overhead: 8% of hours in Eastern Europe, 0% in United States
A team in Eastern Europe costs $173,000 less, 62% below a US agency, for the same hours.
Frequently asked questions
What do Eastern European agencies charge per hour?
Accelerance's 2026 guide puts developer rates at $25 to $55 an hour across Poland, Romania, Ukraine and Bulgaria. Mid-market agencies bill about $42 for mid-level developers and $55 for seniors; Polish firms sit at the top of the range, Ukrainian and Romanian ones a little lower. The estimate adds 8% project management for the six-to-seven-hour gap to US Eastern time.
Why do US companies choose Eastern Europe over Asia?
Strong computer science education, senior engineers at mid-range rates, EU data protection rules in Poland and Romania, and a working day that overlaps the US East Coast morning. It costs more per hour than India or Vietnam but often needs less oversight, which the smaller coordination overhead reflects.
How much does a mobile app cost to build with a team in Eastern Europe?
For the scope on this page, about $89,000, with a range of $70,000 to $116,000 at mid-market rates: 1,945 hours at a blended $46 an hour, delivered in about 12 weeks by 3 developers. Change the features and team above for your own scope.
Sources
- Accelerance, 2026 Global Software Development Rates & Trends · checked
- Accelerance, 2026 outsourcing rate trends in Asia, Europe and Latin America · checked
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2025 · checked
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Software Developers, QA Analysts and Testers · checked
Related calculators
- Software Development Cost EstimatorEstimate what an agency will charge to build your app, by feature, sprint and role: design, development, QA and project management, priced in nine regions.
- US vs Eastern Europe Software Development CostA US agency against a team in Poland, Romania or Ukraine on the same scope, with rates, overhead and time-zone overlap compared.
- Poland B2B Salary CalculatorTurn a US-dollar B2B rate into take-home pay on a Polish JDG, on the 12% ryczałt or 19% linear tax, after 2026 ZUS and health contributions.
- Romania PFA Salary CalculatorSee what a US-dollar rate leaves a Romanian PFA after 2026 CAS, CASS and 10% income tax, and the employment salary it matches.
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