Listed, and based in Pennsylvania
EPAM Systems gives its principal executive offices as Newtown, Pennsylvania. Its predecessor was founded in 1993, and its shares trade on the NYSE under EPAM.
Source: Form 10-K for 2025EPAM Alternative for Scale-Ups: StepTo vs EPAM
StepTo is a 15-20 engineer team in Belgrade that publishes its rates. EPAM is a NYSE-listed engineering services company of about 62,850 people. This page uses EPAM’s own SEC filings to show where each one fits.
Reviewed by Igor Gazivoda, Founder & CEO of StepTo · Published · Updated
Is StepTo a Realistic Alternative to EPAM?
For a scale-up building one product, yes; for an enterprise programme, no. StepTo is a Belgrade software company that has run dedicated teams on Central European Time since 2014, with 15-20 engineers and a public rate card. EPAM is a global digital engineering and consulting company that reported about 62,850 employees on 30 June 2026.
Buyers in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Benelux often shortlist EPAM because the name is safe. The useful question is whether the work in front of you needs a company of that size. If it is a web or mobile product with an AI feature and a backend to tidy, it usually does not, and a nearshore team you can price from a web page is the simpler buy.
What Do EPAM's Own Filings Say?
Three facts from documents EPAM files with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, read on 25 September 2026. Each card links to the filing it comes from.
About 62,850 people
Total headcount was approximately 62,850 on 30 June 2026, of whom about 56,650 were delivery professionals. India is its largest delivery location, followed by Ukraine, Poland, Belarus and Mexico.
Source: Q2 2026 resultsMostly time-and-materials
EPAM generates the majority of its revenue under time-and-materials contracts billed at hourly, daily or monthly rates, with fixed-price work alongside. Revenue for 2025 was $5.457 billion.
Source: Form 10-K for 2025EPAM also recruits in Serbia: its careers page for Serbia lists offices in Belgrade and Novi Sad. So a European buyer comparing the two is not choosing between Serbian and non-Serbian engineers, but between a company where Belgrade is one office among many and a company where Belgrade is the only office.
Which One Fits What You Need?
Start from the need, not the vendor. Half of these rows point to EPAM, and we mean it.
| If you need | Better fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Several hundred engineers across disciplines and countries | EPAM | StepTo has 15-20 engineers in total. |
| Strategy, experience design and engineering from one contract | EPAM | Its 10-K describes consulting through EPAM Continuum on top of engineering delivery. |
| A vendor already on a Fortune-scale approved-supplier list | EPAM | Large procurement functions often prefer a listed supplier with audited filings. |
| Three to eight senior engineers on one product | StepTo | That is the only engagement shape we sell, so it gets the whole company’s attention. |
| A price you can put in a budget before any meeting | StepTo | Published: $25-85/hr by seniority, three engineers from $13.5K/month. |
| Starting next month, not next quarter | StepTo | Profiles in days, a two-week paid trial, and a working team in 2-4 weeks. |
What Changes Day to Day With a Small Supplier?
With a global firm, the people who sell the engagement, the people who staff it and the people who build it usually belong to different parts of the organisation. That division of labour is how a company of EPAM's size stays reliable, and it is also why a three-person engagement tends to meet more process than it needs.
At StepTo those roles collapse into a handful of people in one office. You interview the engineers who will actually join, the founder is on the escalation path, and the first two weeks are a paid trial in which a replacement costs you nothing. Every engagement also carries an AI strategy layer, because StepTo designs AI into the architecture from the first sprint rather than selling it as a separate practice.
What you give up is breadth. There is no in-house strategy consultancy, no design agency and no bench of hundreds to draw on if the roadmap suddenly triples. If those matter, EPAM or a firm like it is the right call.
EPAM vs StepTo: What Buyers Ask
How big is EPAM compared with StepTo?
EPAM reported approximately 62,850 employees on 30 June 2026, about 56,650 of them delivery professionals, and $5.457 billion of revenue for 2025. StepTo is 15-20 engineers in Belgrade. The two are not competing for the same programmes; they overlap only when a scale-up is deciding whether it needs a global firm at all.
Does EPAM also have engineers in Serbia?
Yes. EPAM’s careers site advertises roles in its Belgrade and Novi Sad offices, as well as hybrid or remote work from Serbia. So the difference between EPAM and StepTo is not access to Serbian engineers; it is whether those engineers sit inside a 62,850-person global company or form the whole of a 15-20 person one.
What does EPAM charge, and what does StepTo charge?
EPAM does not publish rates. Its 10-K says most revenue comes from time-and-materials contracts billed at hourly, daily or monthly rates, so pricing is agreed per engagement. StepTo publishes its rate card: $25-85/hr depending on seniority, and from $13.5K/month for a three-engineer team including management and HR, with equipment agreed per engagement.
Is StepTo in the same time zone as our team in Germany or the Netherlands?
Yes. Belgrade runs on Central European Time, the same clock as Berlin, Munich, Amsterdam, Vienna and Zürich, so a StepTo team shares your full working day. For US companies the same CET day gives 3-4 hours of overlap with the East Coast.
When should a scale-up choose EPAM over StepTo?
When the programme needs many teams at once, consulting and design as well as engineering, or a supplier that already passes a large enterprise’s procurement. Choose StepTo when one product needs a small senior team that stays: StepTo engineers average 2.5+ years on a client engagement.
More on Nearshore Teams in Belgrade
How a dedicated development team works at StepTo, what nearshore development from Serbia means for DACH and Benelux teams, the rate card, and the full table of providers we compare ourselves with. For the in-house question, see dedicated team vs in-house, and for delivery evidence, the dedicated React team case study and the best nearshore countries in 2026.
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