Levi9 Alternative
A Belgrade-founded, senior-led team since 2014 — not a delivery center for a Dutch-headquartered firm. Direct access to the engineers building your product.
Reviewed by Igor Gazivoda, Founder & CEO · Updated
The Best Levi9 Alternative for a Belgrade-Founded, Senior-Led Team
StepTo is a direct alternative to Levi9 for companies that want a Belgrade-founded, senior-led team instead of engaging a delivery center for a company headquartered elsewhere. StepTo was founded and has been run from Belgrade, Serbia since 2014, with a 15-20 person engineering organization. A 3-person dedicated team costs a fixed $15K-25K/month, onboards in 2-3 weeks, and stays together at a 95% retention rate.
Levi9 is a genuinely established technology services company — founded in 2005, headquartered in the Netherlands, with Serbian operations that reportedly employ around 450 engineers across delivery centers in Novi Sad and Belgrade (a fourth delivery center opened in Zrenjanin in 2026). It is part of a larger organization reportedly employing 900+ people across Eastern and Central Europe, serving 50+ customers.
That structure is a real advantage for companies that want the stability of an established, Netherlands-headquartered parent organization. It is also, structurally, a different kind of engagement — Serbia hosts the delivery centers, but the headquarters and much of the corporate decision-making sits elsewhere. StepTo offers a different model: founded, headquartered, and run entirely from Belgrade, with no separate parent company setting priorities from another country.
This page compares the two models across structure, size, access, and pricing — so you can decide which fits how you actually want to build.
Levi9 vs StepTo: Side-by-Side Comparison
How a Dutch-headquartered firm's Serbian delivery centers and a Belgrade-founded team compare
| Factor | Levi9 | StepTo |
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | Headquartered in the Netherlands; Serbia hosts delivery centers | Founded and headquartered in Belgrade, Serbia since 2014 |
| Company Size | Reportedly 900+ employees across Eastern and Central Europe | 15-20 engineer team, single Belgrade office |
| Serbian Footprint | Reportedly 450 engineers across 2 Serbian delivery centers (Novi Sad, Belgrade) | One Belgrade team, built and run from Serbia since founding |
| Client Base | Reportedly 50+ customers | A focused client roster, each with a dedicated team rather than shared capacity |
| Pricing Structure | Not publicly disclosed at the individual-engagement level | $25-85/hr by seniority; a 3-person dedicated team from $15K-25K/month |
| Continuity | Not publicly disclosed at the individual-engagement level | 95% retention, 2.5+ year average developer tenure |
Levi9 figures (headquarters, employee count, delivery centers, client count) are drawn from publicly available company information as of 2026, not confirmed directly with Levi9. Verify directly with the provider before deciding.
Why Companies Look for Levi9 Alternatives
A larger, Netherlands-headquartered firm is a strong fit for some engagements. These are the friction points mid-sized product teams sometimes hit with a delivery-center model.
A Delivery Center, Not the Company Itself
Levi9 is headquartered in the Netherlands. Its Serbian offices — reportedly around 450 engineers across Novi Sad and Belgrade — operate as delivery centers for a Dutch-headquartered technology services company, rather than being the company's own home base.
A Larger, Multi-Region Organization
Levi9 reportedly employs 900+ people across Eastern and Central Europe, with a fourth delivery center opened in Zrenjanin in 2026. That scale is a real strength for large, multi-region programs — it also means a mid-sized product team is one client among a reported 50+.
A Shared Client Roster
Serving a reported 50+ customers across a distributed delivery-center model means engineering capacity is allocated across a genuinely wide client base, rather than concentrated on a small number of deep, dedicated relationships.
Layered Corporate Structure
As a subsidiary of a Netherlands-headquartered parent company, Levi9's Serbian operations sit within a larger corporate structure — a real advantage for stability and process maturity, but a different setup than a founder-led company built and run directly from Belgrade.
Delivery Center vs Founded Company: A Structural Difference
A firm structured like Levi9 optimizes for the stability of an established parent organization — Netherlands headquarters, multiple Serbian delivery centers, and the resources of a 900+ person business across Eastern and Central Europe. A Belgrade-founded company optimizes for directness — one location, one team, no headquarters elsewhere. Both are valid; they solve different problems.
Operating as a delivery center means the Serbian office executes work for a headquarters and corporate structure based in another country. That is not a criticism — it is simply how larger, internationally headquartered service providers are typically organized.
StepTo is built differently by design: founded in Belgrade in 2014, and run from Belgrade ever since, with no separate headquarters elsewhere. A client engagement is not routed through a corporate structure based in another country — the people setting priorities and the people writing the code are in the same place.
Over time, that structure also supports continuity: a 95% retention rate means the same people who ramped up on your codebase are still the ones working on it a year or two later — visible and specific at this size, rather than an average across a much larger, multi-region delivery-center network.
None of this takes away from what an established, internationally headquartered provider does well — for companies that specifically value that structure and scale, it is a real asset. It simply reflects a different goal: if you want a team founded and run directly from the country where the work happens, the Belgrade-founded model is structurally better suited to it.
Why StepTo Is the Right Levi9 Alternative
What you get when you choose a Belgrade-founded, senior-led team over a delivery-center engagement
Belgrade-Founded, Not a Delivery Center
StepTo was founded in Belgrade in 2014 and has been run from there ever since. There is no separate headquarters elsewhere — the Belgrade team is the company, not one delivery center among several for a parent business based abroad.
Fixed, Predictable Monthly Pricing
Rates run $25-85/hr by seniority, with a 3-person dedicated team starting at $15K-25K/month — sized for the mid-market engagements that are the entire focus of the business.
2-3 Week Ramp-Up
A pre-vetted pool of Serbian engineers means qualified candidates are presented within days, with a full team contracted and productive within three weeks.
95% Developer Retention Rate
Developers stay with client engagements an average of 2.5+ years. In a company this size, that continuity is directly visible — not a statistic diluted across hundreds of employees and dozens of clients.
Single CET Timezone, One Office
Serbian engineers work CET/CEST with 6+ hours of daily overlap with the US East Coast — and Belgrade is not one of several delivery centers, it is the whole company.
Direct Access to the People Building Your Product
At this size, clients work directly with the co-founder and the senior engineers on their project — not through a delivery-center structure reporting into a headquarters elsewhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is StepTo different from Levi9?
Levi9 is headquartered in the Netherlands, with Serbian delivery centers reportedly employing around 450 engineers across Novi Sad and Belgrade, part of a larger organization of 900+ people. StepTo is a Belgrade-founded and Belgrade-run company — the whole business is a 15-20 engineer team, senior-led, based in Serbia since 2014, not a delivery center for a headquarters elsewhere.
Is Levi9 a good option, and when would I choose it over StepTo?
Levi9 is a strong choice for companies that want a larger, established technology services provider with the stability and process maturity of a Dutch-headquartered parent company, multiple delivery centers, and a track record serving 50+ clients across Eastern and Central Europe. StepTo is the better fit for a mid-sized product team that wants a small, senior-led group focused exclusively on their codebase, founded and run directly from Belgrade, with direct access to the people doing the work.
What does StepTo cost compared to Levi9?
Levi9 does not publish standard rates publicly, and as a subsidiary of a larger Dutch parent company its pricing is likely scoped and negotiated per engagement. StepTo's pricing is transparent and sized for smaller engagements: $25-85/hr by seniority, with a 3-person dedicated team starting at $15K-25K/month as a fixed rate that includes management, HR, and equipment.
Does it matter that Levi9 is headquartered in the Netherlands rather than Serbia?
It depends on what you value. A Netherlands headquarters can bring corporate stability, EU-based governance, and the resources of a larger parent organization. A Belgrade-founded company means the leadership, the decision-making, and the day-to-day work all happen in the same place — no separate headquarters elsewhere setting priorities for a delivery center. Neither is universally better; it is a real structural difference worth knowing about before you choose.
Does StepTo compete with Levi9 on the same kind of work?
Partially. Both run engineering teams out of Serbia for outsourcing and staff-augmentation style engagements. Where they differ is structure and scale: Levi9 operates as Serbian delivery centers for a larger, Netherlands-headquartered organization serving 50+ clients, while StepTo has been a single, Belgrade-founded and Belgrade-run 15-20 engineer team since 2014, with no headquarters elsewhere.
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