How to use the Development Team Cost Calculator
This calculator estimates what a software team costs per month and over the whole project. It adds up the people you set across five roles, multiplies the headcount by a fully loaded monthly cost per person for the rate tier you pick, then multiplies by the project length. It is for founders and buyers budgeting a build or comparing a monthly team against a fixed-price quote.
Step by step
-
Set the team by role
Enter how many people you need in Product / project managers, Designers (UI/UX), Frontend engineers, Backend engineers and QA / testers. The page starts with 1, 1, 2, 2 and 1, a team of 7. The arrows move in whole people, up to 20 per role or 40 for frontend and backend, and you can type 0.5 for a half-time role.
-
Choose a rate tier
Under Talent location / rate tier, pick Offshore at $6,000 per person per month, Blended at $13,000 or US onshore at $22,000. These are loaded rates that already include salary, benefits, tooling and management overhead. Blended is selected at first.
-
Set the project length
Drag the Project length slider from 1 to 36 months. It starts at 6 mo and the value shows beside the label.
-
Read the burn and the total
The Monthly team burn at the top updates on every change. Below it, a formula line and the cards show the total for the whole project, so you can try different team shapes and tiers side by side.
Reading the result
- The large figure is the monthly burn: headcount times the cost per person. The default team of 7 on the Blended tier burns $91,000 a month.
- The formula line spells out the sum, for example 7 people x $13,000/mo (blended) x 6 mo = $546,000, and the heading under it repeats the total over the chosen months.
- Total project cost is the monthly burn times the months, $546,000 with the defaults. Team size is the headcount, and Cost per person / mo is the rate for the tier you picked.
- The bars split the monthly burn into Product / delivery (managers and designers), Engineering (frontend and backend) and QA, shown in thousands. With the defaults they read $26k, $52k and $13k.
- If every role is 0, the burn shows $0 with a note asking you to add at least one person.
Tips and common mistakes
- Switching only the tier changes the default team's burn from $42,000 a month offshore to $91,000 blended and $154,000 US onshore, so check the tier before comparing quotes.
- Not every role is needed for every month. A designer often works mostly at the start and QA mostly toward the end, so a whole project figure with full headcount throughout is an upper bound.
- Compare the total against a fixed-price quote for the same scope. A monthly team suits changing scope, but the total grows with every month the project runs over.
- Treat the rates as planning averages. Real rates vary by seniority, country and vendor, so use the result as a range rather than a quote.
Privacy and limits
The figures are calculated in your browser from the inputs on this page. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved, so reloading the page returns it to the default team.
How it works
Custom software is delivered by a cross-functional team, so the cost is driven by who sits on it and for how long. This calculator adds up the people you select across five roles (product/project management, design, frontend, backend and QA), then multiplies the total headcount by a fully loaded monthly cost per person.
The rate tier sets that per-person figure. Offshore talent (India, Latin America, Eastern Europe) lands near $6k per person per month fully loaded; a blended or nearshore mix sits around $13k; senior US onshore engineers run about $22k. These are loaded rates, meaning they already account for salary, benefits, tooling and management overhead rather than base pay alone. For firms in the first tier, see our custom software development companies India ranking.
Monthly burn is your run rate while the project is active. Multiply it by the number of months and you get the total project cost — the number most buyers actually budget against.
team = PM + design + frontend + backend + QA · monthly burn = team × loaded cost per person · total = monthly burn × months
Once you know the team-based number, it is worth comparing it against a fixed-scope estimate. See the software development cost calculator for an hours-based view, or weigh a custom build against off-the-shelf tools with the build vs buy calculator. If the team you are costing will build a client portal or PSA, see our client portal and PSA builds for services firms and the GoodFirms bands that page quotes.
FAQs
What does "fully loaded cost per person" include?
It covers more than salary: benefits, payroll taxes, software and infrastructure, recruiting and the management overhead of keeping the person productive. Using loaded rates is why the monthly burn here is close to the true cost of running the team, not just take-home pay.
Why is US onshore so much more expensive than offshore?
Senior US engineers command $150k–$280k a year fully loaded, while equivalent offshore talent often costs a third of that. Blended and nearshore models split the difference, mixing senior onshore leads with offshore delivery to balance cost, time zones and communication.
Is a monthly team cost cheaper than a fixed project price?
Not necessarily. A monthly team is flexible and open-ended, which suits evolving scope, but the total can drift if the project runs long. A fixed price transfers scope risk to the vendor and gives you one number up front. Comparing both is the fastest way to see which fits your project.
