labs@atheron:~/build-vs-hire$ compare --studio --in-house --months 12
Build with us, or hire?
The honest numbers, over a year.
The same work, priced two ways over a year: from us, or with people you hire. Short projects usually favour us. Long-running work at full pace usually favours hiring. Here is where your project lands.
// compare
Pick what to compare.
A typical project, or your own estimate. Then a country to hire in, and what happens after the build.
After the build
Hiring is cheaper over the year, by about CAD 191,300.
When the work keeps going at full pace, salaries cost less than our rates once people are hired and up to speed.
Prices in your currency are estimates from today's Bank of Canada rate. All invoicing is in CAD or USD.
From us, the build takes 14 to 21 weeks. In house, about 31 weeks, recruiting and ramp-up included.
// From us
- The build
- ≈ US$85,000CAD 121,100
- Building on, a month
- CAD 50,810
- Weeks to done
- 14 to 21
- 12 months in all
- ≈ US$369,000CAD 525,600
// Hiring, Canada
- QA engineer
- CAD 96,000 / yr
- Back-end developer
- CAD 100,000 / yr
- Machine learning engineer
- CAD 96,000 / yr
- Plus 17% employer costs
- Recruiter's fees
- CAD 58,400
- 10 weeks to recruit
- 20 weeks to get up to speed
- Weeks to done
- 31
- 12 months in all
- ≈ US$235,000CAD 334,300
Show the figures
| Months | From us | Hiring |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | CAD 30,000 | CAD 0 |
| 2 | CAD 60,000 | CAD 0 |
| 3 | CAD 90,000 | CAD 78,100 |
| 4 | CAD 119,900 | CAD 106,600 |
| 5 | CAD 170,000 | CAD 135,100 |
| 6 | CAD 220,800 | CAD 163,500 |
| 7 | CAD 271,600 | CAD 192,000 |
| 8 | CAD 322,400 | CAD 220,500 |
| 9 | CAD 373,200 | CAD 248,900 |
| 10 | CAD 424,000 | CAD 277,400 |
| 11 | CAD 474,800 | CAD 305,900 |
| 12 | CAD 525,600 | CAD 334,300 |
// how it is worked out
The comparison, plainly.
- The work is your estimate's hours, by area of work, counted the same way for both.
- Hiring: a person for each area with at least a tenth of a year's work in it, enough people to finish inside the year, at the country's salary for that area.
- Each hire costs a recruiter's fee, the employer's costs on top of salary, the weeks to recruit, and half speed while getting up to speed. A salaried hire is paid to the end of the year, work or not.
- From us: the build at the middle of its range, spread over its weeks, then the support plan, or the same hours a month at our price when the work keeps going.
- Hosting and hardware cost the same either way, so both leave them out. All figures in CAD.
// sources
Where the salary figures come from.
Government wage data, salary surveys and recruiter fee studies for each country, checked when the figures were last updated.
- Job Bank Canada wages by occupation, national median hourly x 2,080 (NOC 21222, 52120, 21234, 21232, 21211, 21231)
- web3.career Canada averages for Solidity and blockchain developers
- CRA CPP 2026 rates
- CRA EI 2026 rates
- Recruiter fees by country
- Time to fill for tech roles
- Ramp-up for technical hires
- BLS OEWS May 2025 national medians via wagedex (15-1252, 15-1253, 15-1254, 15-1255, 15-1299)
- ML engineer median base
- Blockchain developer median base
- web3.career US blockchain engineer
- Social Security wage base 2026
- KFF 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey
- SHRM 2025 recruiting benchmarks
- IT Jobs Watch median permanent salaries, six months to 2026-10-02
- Employer National Insurance 15% above 5,000 GBP
- Auto-enrolment pension 3%
- Stepstone Gehaltsreport 2026 and per-title medians
- web3.career Germany
- AOK social insurance rates 2026
- Contribution ceilings 2026
- Bitkom IT skills study 2025
- Glassdoor India salaries 2026
- Indeed India ML engineer
- Flexiple Solidity salary
- Recruitment agency fees in India 2026
- Bulldogjob IT Community Report 2025, employment contract medians
- Zarobki w IT 2026
- Employer ZUS rates
- Recruitment fees in Europe
// start
Or do both.
Many clients start with us and hire as the product settles. We hand over everything, and can help you interview.