BairesDev Alternative: StepTo vs BairesDev
StepTo is a 15-20 engineer team in Belgrade on Central European Time. BairesDev staffs 4,000+ engineers from Latin America on US hours. The right choice depends mostly on where your own team sits.
Reviewed by Igor Gazivoda, Founder & CEO of StepTo · Published · Updated
Should You Hire in Latin America or Eastern Europe?
StepTo is the Eastern European alternative to BairesDev: a Belgrade software company that has run dedicated teams on Central European Time since 2014, with 15-20 engineers and published rates. BairesDev is a Latin American talent company whose homepage offers 4,000+ timezone-aligned engineers, working on its clients' hours.
The honest answer turns on your clock. If your engineers are in the US and pair with the contractors all day, Latin America is the better fit and BairesDev is built for it. If your team is in London, Berlin or Amsterdam, or you are a US company that can run on a shared morning with Europe, a CET team becomes the simpler choice, and a small one means the whole company knows your product.
What Does BairesDev Publish About Itself?
Read on bairesdev.com on 25 September 2026. The site does not name a headquarters city, so this page does not either.
- Origin. "Founded in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2009"; it entered the US market in 2012 through San Francisco (About).
- Talent. Engineers are mostly based "across Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and other LATAM countries", and the company says it hires only the top 1% of Latin American talent (Staff augmentation).
- Models. Staff augmentation, dedicated teams and full software outsourcing, "from a single engineer to multiple pods" (Home).
- Price. No rate card. Its only pricing claim is relative: engineers "typically run 30-50% less than the fully loaded cost of a local hire" (Staff augmentation).
Which One Fits Your Team?
A US team that pairs all day
Better fit: BairesDev
It says its engineers “work your hours and overlap fully with your team’s schedule”. StepTo overlaps with the East Coast for 3-4 hours and cannot match that for a US team working across time zones.
Source: BairesDevA US company that can split its day
Better fit: Either
If a morning block of 3-4 hours with New York covers standups, reviews and decisions, a CET team works. The rest of the day becomes focused time on both sides.
A company in the UK, Germany or the Netherlands
Better fit: StepTo
Belgrade shares the whole working day with Berlin and Amsterdam and all but one hour with London. For Europe, Serbia is the nearshore option and Latin America is not.
Anyone who needs a price before a sales call
Better fit: StepTo
StepTo publishes $25-85/hr by seniority and from $13.5K/month for three engineers. BairesDev publishes no rate card; the nearest it gets is a saving relative to a local hire.
Source: BairesDevWhen Should You Not Choose StepTo?
When your developers sit on the US West Coast or in the Central time zone and expect a live partner through their afternoon. A Belgrade team will be asleep. When you need dozens of engineers within weeks: a company offering 4,000+ can find them, and 15-20 cannot. And when Spanish or Portuguese matters as much as English, for example on a product for Latin American users.
StepTo earns its place in the other cases. The whole company works one day, in one office, on a short list of clients. Engineers average 2.5+ years on a client engagement, every engagement includes an AI strategy layer, and the rate card is public. For the wider trade-off, see nearshore vs offshore development.
BairesDev or StepTo: Questions and Answers
Where are BairesDev’s engineers, and where are StepTo’s?
BairesDev says most of its engineers are based across Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and other Latin American countries. The company was founded in Buenos Aires in 2009. Every StepTo engineer works from one office in Belgrade, Serbia, on Central European Time.
How big is BairesDev compared with StepTo?
BairesDev’s homepage offers access to “4,000+ timezone-aligned, AI-augmented software engineers across 100+ technologies”. StepTo has 15-20 engineers. BairesDev can start anywhere from a single engineer to multiple pods; StepTo is built for teams of roughly three to ten on one product.
Is StepTo a nearshore option for US companies?
Not in the usual sense. For a US company, Serbia is an offshore, Eastern European option: the CET working day gives 3-4 hours of overlap with the East Coast and little or none further west. BairesDev’s Latin American engineers are the nearshore choice for the US. StepTo is nearshore for Europe and the UK.
What does BairesDev cost compared with StepTo?
BairesDev does not publish rates. Its staff augmentation page says its engineers “typically run 30-50% less than the fully loaded cost of a local hire”, which depends on where you are hiring. StepTo publishes its numbers: $25-85/hr by seniority, and from $13.5K/month for a three-engineer team including management, HR and equipment.
How quickly can each one start?
BairesDev’s staff augmentation page says it typically stands up teams in 2 weeks, and elsewhere on the same page gives 2-4 weeks. StepTo presents candidate profiles within days and has a team contracted and working in 2-4 weeks, starting with a two-week paid trial, and a replacement within the first 30 days costs nothing.
Related: staff augmentation, dedicated development teams, outsourcing to Serbia, nearshore development for European teams, the best nearshore countries in 2026, a dedicated React team case study, and every provider we compare.
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