Hiring a full-time full-stack developer typically costs about $7,000–$8,000 per month.

Adding a part-time project manager brings the total to roughly $10,000–$12,000 per month in most setups. If you also include some design or additional support, expect $12,000–$15,000 per month total.

Hiring an AI automation specialist or consultant typically costs:

Very advanced AI profiles (deep computer vision or specialized AI agents) may reach $10,000–$12,000+ per month depending on experience and market demand.

Beyond the engineer's base salary, you should budget for:

With staff augmentation rates ($7,500–$9,000/month for senior engineers), labor costs, equipment, benefits like health insurance, and internet stipends are already included in the monthly fee.

Staff augmentation provides dedicated people who become part of your team and culture, while project-based development delivers a defined scope and then exits.

Key benefits of staff augmentation:

Project-based works better for tightly defined, one-off scopes when you don't need ongoing capacity.

Hiring a HubSpot developer (mid-level) through staff augmentation in Latin America typically costs about $7,500–$9,000 per month all-in. This monthly rate includes the developer's salary, benefits, equipment, and the vendor's margin. There are no separate upfront recruitment fees or replacement fees—it's a single predictable monthly cost.

Hiring a full development team for an MVP typically costs around $20,000–$25,000 per month.

A common setup and cost breakdown:

This puts a standard two-developer + QA + PM MVP team at roughly $25,000 per month in burn rate.

Between 2020 and 2022, software engineer salaries in Latin America surged dramatically—in many cases nearly doubled. This was driven by the remote-work boom and strong demand from U.S. companies paying in USD. Rates largely standardized across LATAM, with engineers benchmarking compensation in dollars rather than local currency. Since around 2025–2026, salaries have been readjusting downward, making LATAM talent highly competitive again for international companies.

QA engineers typically cost less than software developers:

The difference reflects the specialized skills required for automation testing versus manual QA work.

Hiring a mid-level full-stack Ruby (Ruby on Rails) developer from a nearshore Latin American team typically costs about $7,000–$8,000 per month (roughly $80,000–$90,000 per year). This rate is all-inclusive—covering salary, local taxes, benefits, and vendor margin—and is usually billed monthly with no extra fees.

Nearshore engineering in 2024 is typically priced as an all-inclusive monthly fee per engineer:

Rates usually include salary, equipment (e.g., MacBook), benefits, PTO, payroll, and local taxes, with provider margins around 15–20%. No extra finder or replacement fees are charged in most quality providers.

In typical staff augmentation models, around 75–80% of the monthly rate goes directly to the developer. The company keeps roughly a 20–25% gross margin, from which it pays for equipment (e.g., new MacBook Pro or equivalent), benefits, local labor costs, and career/retention programs. This split ensures developers are well-compensated while the provider can maintain quality services and support.