Netfork Alternative
One fixed, co-located Belgrade team instead of staffing drawn from a 1,500+ person global network, so the same engineers stay on your product.
Reviewed by Igor Gazivoda, Founder & CEO of StepTo · Updated
Which Netfork Alternative Gives You One Fixed Team?
StepTo is a direct alternative to Netfork for companies that want the same, fixed team staying on their product rather than staffing drawn from a large, distributed network. We have run dedicated teams from a single Belgrade office (CET) since 2014, with a 15-20 person engineering organization. Three engineers cost a fixed $15K-25K/month, start inside 2-3 weeks, and then stay.
Netfork describes itself as a global community of over 1,500 handpicked software development experts across 30 countries, with 200+ projects completed. It covers six service categories, cloud, cybersecurity, data and AI, talent and staffing, digital products, and strategic managed services, with named case studies including Wonder Dynamics and Zenegy, and other clients shown including Autodesk, Conga, Tobii and Levi9.
This is not an argument about talent quality, both models can field strong engineers. It is an argument about structure: a community network of 1,500+ people can pull in a specific specialist quickly from a wide bench, while a single, fixed team of 15-20 gives you the same people, in the same room, for the life of the engagement.
We keep a deliberately short client list and everyone works from one room in Belgrade. For the wider market context behind nearshore engineering in the region, see our Serbia Software Development Industry Report 2026.
Below: what a fixed team versus a large network actually changes day to day, what each supplier costs, and where a broader specialist network is plainly the stronger choice.
How Do Netfork and StepTo Differ on Structure?
A community network versus a fixed team, including the row where the network wins
| Factor | Netfork | StepTo |
|---|---|---|
| How much of the supplier your account represents | One engagement inside a stated network of 1,500+ experts across 30 countries | A meaningful share of a 15-20 person company |
| Where your engineers physically sit | A distributed community model, not a single office | One Belgrade office, everyone in the same room |
| Breadth of specialists available | Can reportedly draw on 1,500+ handpicked experts across cloud, cybersecurity, data/AI and more | A fixed team of 15-20 engineers, not a network to pull from |
| How pricing works | Not published; pricing is quoted per engagement | Published bands: $25-85/hr by seniority, three engineers from $15K-25K/month |
| Team continuity | Community-sourced staffing, composition can vary by project | The same engineers stay on your product, an average of 2.5+ years |
| Who handles your account | Coordination across a distributed, community-based delivery model | The founder and the senior engineers on your project |
Netfork figures (network size, project count, client list) are drawn from publicly available company information as of 2026, not confirmed directly with Netfork. Verify directly with the provider before deciding.
Why Do Companies Look for Netfork Alternatives?
Not over engineering quality. Over wanting the same, fixed team rather than staffing drawn from a large community network.
A Network, Not a Single Team
Netfork describes itself as a global community of over 1,500 handpicked software development experts across 30 countries. That model is genuinely well suited to pulling in a specific specialist quickly, and it also means the people staffed on your engagement are drawn from a large, distributed pool rather than a single, co-located team you can meet in one room.
Composition Can Vary by Project
A community-sourced staffing model can reassemble a team's composition project to project as the required specialists change. That flexibility is a real advantage for varied, short-lived requirements, and it is a different guarantee than a fixed team that stays with your product for years.
No Published Rate Card
Pricing is not published on Netfork's site; engagements are quoted individually, which is typical for a network model spanning many specialisms and geographies.
No Public Team Page for a Specific Engagement
Because staffing is drawn from a large community, you generally will not see named individual profiles for your specific team until an engagement is scoped, unlike a small company where every engineer is a known, checkable person.
Which Two Questions Should You Ask a Network-Style Supplier?
Netfork and StepTo represent two different answers to the same problem: how do you staff a software team well. Netfork does it by maintaining a community of over 1,500 handpicked experts across 30 countries and matching specialists to each engagement. StepTo does it by keeping one fixed team of 15-20 engineers who work together every day.
The first question worth asking any network-style provider is how staffing actually works for your specific engagement: are the same people staying on your project, or can the roster shift as the community's availability changes? A network model can genuinely provide access to a wider bench of specialists than a small, fixed team could ever carry, which is the honest advantage on Netfork's side.
The second is about continuity and proximity. StepTo removes the staffing-composition question entirely: the same 15-20 engineers, working from one Belgrade office, are the people on your product, with an average tenure of 2.5+ years. There is no community to draw from because there does not need to be one, the team was assembled once and stays.
Where that logic reverses: if your need is a specific, narrow specialist skillset that changes project to project, cybersecurity one quarter, a data pipeline the next, a network with 1,500+ people to draw from is built for exactly that kind of variety in a way a fixed 15-20 person team cannot match.
Why Is StepTo the Right Netfork Alternative?
What a single, fixed team buys you that a 1,500+ person community network cannot
Few Enough Clients to Count on One Hand
StepTo deliberately runs a short client list, because 15-20 engineers cannot serve a long one honestly. Your engagement is a visible share of the company rather than one project inside a network of 1,500+.
Published Rates, No Negotiation Cycle
Rates are $25-85/hr by seniority and three engineers start at $15K-25K/month, with management, HR and equipment inside the figure. You can build a budget from this page instead of waiting on a per-engagement quote.
Assembled Once, Then Left Alone
Candidate profiles arrive within days and the team is contracted and productive inside three weeks. After that the composition stays put; nobody is swapped out to fill a different project's specialist need.
Engineers Who Do Not Rotate Off
Engineers stay on client engagements an average of 2.5+ years, so the person who learned your product is still the person maintaining it, rather than a composition that can shift with community availability.
One Office, One Room
Everybody works CET/CEST from the same Belgrade office, so architecture debates happen at a desk rather than across a distributed network. There is 3-4 hours of afternoon overlap with the US East Coast and a full shared day with the EU and UK.
The Founder Is on the Call
Escalation goes straight to the founder. There is no community-coordination layer, so a problem is raised with the founder and the senior engineers on your project and resolved in the same conversation.
What Do Buyers Ask When Comparing StepTo and Netfork?
How is StepTo different from Netfork?
Structure, mainly. Netfork describes itself as a global community of over 1,500 handpicked software development experts across 30 countries, with 200+ projects completed and named work for clients including Wonder Dynamics, Zenegy and Autodesk. StepTo is a single Belgrade office of 15-20 engineers. Netfork's network model can draw a specific specialist quickly from a large pool; StepTo gives you the same fixed, co-located team for the life of the engagement.
Is Netfork a single company or a network?
By its own description, Netfork operates as a community model, a network of over 1,500 handpicked software development experts across 30 countries, rather than a single co-located team. That is a genuinely different structure from a company like StepTo that runs one office and staffs every engagement from the same 15-20 person team.
What does StepTo cost compared to Netfork?
Netfork does not publish standard rates; pricing is quoted per engagement. StepTo publishes: $25-85/hr by seniority, and $15K-25K/month for three engineers, with delivery management, HR and equipment included.
When is Netfork the better choice?
When you need access to a specific specialist skillset, cybersecurity, data and AI, or a niche technology, that a fixed 15-20 person team might not carry in-house, or when your requirement is a series of varied, shorter projects rather than one product needing the same team for years. A network model is built for exactly that kind of flexibility.
Will the same people stay on my project with a network model?
That depends on how the specific engagement is staffed, and it is a fair question to ask any community-sourced provider directly. StepTo's model removes the ambiguity: the same fixed team, drawn from our 15-20 engineers, stays on your product, with an average tenure of 2.5+ years. For wider market context see our Serbia Software Development Industry Report 2026.
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