Offshore Software Development: Bangladesh vs India vs Vietnam vs Eastern Europe

Bangladesh, India and Vietnam share most of their working day with the Gulf and part of it with Europe, and almost none with New York. Arc's May 2026 data puts freelance rates at $18–$40 an hour in Bangladesh, $25–$60 in India, $28–$60 in Vietnam and $40–$85 in Eastern Europe. India has the deepest talent pool, Poland and Romania the strongest English.

RAITHub is a software studio in Dhaka, so it has an interest in this comparison. That is why every figure below comes from a named source, and why the guide sets out where Bangladesh loses as clearly as where it wins. Poland and Romania are included as the Eastern European reference point, because that is the usual alternative for buyers in the UK and EU. For what a developer in Bangladesh costs in detail, read the cost to hire developers in Bangladesh.

How do developer rates compare across Bangladesh, India, Vietnam and Eastern Europe?

Bangladesh has the lowest published freelance rates of the five, India and Vietnam sit in the middle, and Poland and Romania cost roughly twice as much per hour at agency level.

Country	Freelance hourly rate (Arc, May 2026)	Agency hourly rate (Clutch, September 2026)
Bangladesh	$18–$40	Most highly reviewed firms list under $25 or $25–$49
India	$25–$60	Typically $25–$49
Vietnam	$28–$60	Most firms on the directory's first page list $25–$49
Poland	$40–$85 (Eastern Europe range)	Typically $50–$99
Romania	$40–$85 (Eastern Europe range)	Most firms on the directory's first page list $50–$99

Sources: Arc's freelance developer rates by country, 26 May 2026, which also gives South Asia at $22–$55, Southeast Asia at $28–$65, Western Europe at $70–$120 and the US and Canada at $82–$130. Agency figures for India and Poland are from Clutch's software development pricing guide, September 2026. Bangladesh, Vietnam and Romania come from Clutch's country directories (Bangladesh, Vietnam, Romania), checked 28–29 September 2026; those are samples of listed firms, not averages.

Hourly rates are the least reliable guide to total cost. A lower rate buys nothing if the hours go into rework, and a higher rate can be cheaper overall if it comes with tests, review and fewer management hours from you. The hidden cost of cheap offshore development works through that with numbers.

How much working-day overlap does Dhaka have with London, Berlin, New York and Dubai?

Dhaka is on UTC+6 all year, with no daylight saving. Assuming both sides work 9:00 to 18:00 local time, it shares 3–4 hours with London, 4–5 with Berlin, 7 with Dubai and none with New York.

City	UTC offset (winter / summer)	Dhaka is ahead by	Shared working hours (winter / summer)	Shared window in Dhaka time
London	UTC+0 / UTC+1	6 / 5 hours	3 / 4 hours	15:00–18:00 in winter; 14:00–18:00 in summer
Berlin	UTC+1 / UTC+2	5 / 4 hours	4 / 5 hours	14:00–18:00 in winter; 13:00–18:00 in summer
New York	UTC−5 / UTC−4	11 / 10 hours	None	9:00 in New York is 20:00 (winter) or 19:00 (summer) in Dhaka
Dubai	UTC+4 all year	2 hours	7 hours	11:00–18:00 all year

The same calculation for each country, against the three cities buyers ask about most:

Team in	Shared hours with London (summer / winter)	With New York	With Dubai (summer / winter)
Bangladesh (UTC+6)	4 / 3	0	7 / 7
India (UTC+5:30)	4.5 / 3.5	0	7.5 / 7.5
Vietnam (UTC+7)	3 / 2	0	6 / 6
Poland (UTC+1 / +2)	8 / 8	3	7 / 6
Romania (UTC+2 / +3)	7 / 7	2	8 / 7

Two caveats. The US and Europe change their clocks on different dates, so for a few weeks each spring and autumn these differences shift by an hour. And the figures assume a standard day on both sides; many South Asian teams working with the US agree later hours or a short daily call in the US morning. If you need that, agree it in writing before you sign. If you need live collaboration through the New York working day, none of the three Asian countries is a natural fit, and nearshore vs offshore software development sets out the alternative.

How does English proficiency compare?

On the EF English Proficiency Index 2025, which ranks 123 countries and regions, Romania and Poland score "very high", Bangladesh and Vietnam "moderate", and India "low".

Country	EF EPI 2025 rank	Score	Band
Romania	11	605	Very high
Poland	15	600	Very high
Bangladesh	62	506 (up 66 points on its previous score)	Moderate
Vietnam	64	500	Moderate
India	74	484	Low

Source: EF EPI 2025 and its country pages, which give a global average of 488. Read this carefully. The index measures adults who chose to take EF's test, not software engineers, and in all five countries professional developers read documentation and write code in English every day. The index is a rough signal of the wider workforce, useful for roles such as support or project management. For your team, the only test that counts is the interview and the first weeks of written updates.

How big is the talent pool in each country?

India's is in a different league: GitHub's Octoverse 2025 counts 21.9 million developers in India, second only to the United States, and projects 57.5 million by 2030 (GitHub Octoverse 2025).

• Vietnam. TopDev's Vietnam IT Market Report 2024–2025 puts the number of people working in computer science and IT-related fields at about 560,000 (TopDev Vietnam IT market reports).
• Bangladesh. We found no current, independently published developer headcount for Bangladesh that we would stand behind, so this guide does not quote one. Industry figures circulate, but they mix IT services, support and software roles.
• Poland and Romania. Both are EU members with established engineering sectors, but smaller absolute pools than India. Eurostat reports that ICT specialists made up 2.7% of total employment in Romania in 2025, among the lowest shares in the EU (Eurostat ICT specialists in employment).

Pool size matters most when you need to hire many people quickly or need a rare specialism. For a product team of three to eight people, the quality of the specific team matters far more than the national headcount.

Does data protection differ between these countries?

For EU and UK buyers, yes. Poland and Romania are inside the EU, so personal data processed there stays under the GDPR without an international transfer. Bangladesh, India and Vietnam are not on the European Commission's list of adequacy decisions, so a vendor there that processes EU personal data needs a transfer mechanism, typically standard contractual clauses, and your data-protection documentation needs to reflect it.

In practice many offshore engagements are designed so that developers work against anonymised or synthetic data and production personal data stays in your own cloud account. That is worth doing wherever your team is based.

Where does Bangladesh win?

• Rates. The lowest published freelance range of the five countries, $18–$40 an hour, with most listed agencies below $50.
• The Gulf. Seven shared working hours with Dubai all year, as good as India's and better than Vietnam's.
• A fixed clock. UTC+6 with no daylight saving, so the offset to Asia and the Gulf never moves.
• English relative to its region. A moderate EF EPI band, above India and Vietnam in the 2025 index and up 66 points on its previous score.

Where does Bangladesh lose?

• Talent depth. India's pool is far larger, which matters when you need many engineers fast or a rare specialism.
• Vendor scale and track record. India has the most mature outsourcing sector of the five, with vendors able to staff large programmes and pass enterprise procurement. Many Bangladeshi firms are younger and smaller, and fewer have third-party reviews. RAITHub itself has none published yet.
• New York. No shared standard working hours. Poland, with three, is a better fit for teams that need live overlap with the US East Coast.
• English against Eastern Europe. Poland and Romania score "very high"; Bangladesh "moderate".
• EU data rules. A Bangladeshi vendor handling EU personal data needs transfer safeguards that a Polish or Romanian vendor does not.

Which country should you choose?

Choose by your hardest constraint, then vet the specific team. The country sets a rough price band; the team decides the outcome.

If your priority is	Lean towards	Why
Lowest hourly rate	Bangladesh	Lowest published freelance range; most listed agencies under $50
A large team quickly, or a large vendor for procurement	India	Deepest talent pool and the most mature vendor sector
Live overlap with the US East Coast	Poland, or a nearshore team in the Americas	3 shared hours with New York; the Asian hubs have none
Near-full overlap with the UK and EU	Poland or Romania	7–8 shared hours with London
Personal data that must stay in the EU	Poland or Romania	No international transfer under the GDPR
Strong written and spoken English across the wider workforce	Poland or Romania	"Very high" EF EPI band
Working with the Gulf	Bangladesh or India	7 to 7.5 shared hours with Dubai all year
Mid-range rates with a UTC+7 day	Vietnam	Rates close to India's, with the day shifted towards East Asia and Australia

How do you reduce the risk wherever you hire?

The same safeguards work in every country, and they matter more than the flag on the contract.

1. Run a paid pilot. Two to four weeks on a real slice of your product shows quality, communication and pace better than any sales call.
2. Keep the repository and cloud accounts in your name from day one, with IP assigned to you in the contract.
3. Require tests in CI and code review on every change, and read the test report yourself.
4. Agree the working overlap and update cadence in writing, using the tables above.
5. Choose the engagement model on purpose. Dedicated team vs fixed price explains which suits your scope.

The vetting questions for a Bangladeshi vendor specifically are in how to choose a software company in Bangladesh, and the day-to-day side is in how to manage an offshore development team.

Where does RAITHub fit, and when is it the wrong choice?

RAITHub is a founder-led software studio in Dhaka, founded in 2024 by Rupak Amin, working with clients worldwide in English. It delivers fixed-scope projects and dedicated monthly teams: SaaS products and MVPs, backends and APIs, QA and reliability, and rescues of existing codebases. It does not offer staff augmentation.

Its evidence is measurable rather than reviewed: Sundor Skin, a B2B wholesale platform built for a client, runs 530+ automated tests; PropDesk, a property-management SaaS, runs 1,024; TheSkinProof, the founder's own marketplace that RAITHub built and runs, runs 750+. Every engagement starts with a free 15-minute technical audit and a written estimate; RAITHub publishes no rates. How engagements are priced is on the pricing page.

RAITHub is the wrong choice if:

• You need several hours of live overlap with New York every day. A nearshore team will serve you better.
• You need a large team assembled quickly. A founder-led studio cannot honestly promise a big squad in weeks.
• You need an EU-based vendor, or a SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certified one. RAITHub is in Bangladesh and is not certified.
• You want developers placed in your team under your management. Hire directly or through an employer of record instead.
• You need delivery in a language other than English.

If it fits, book the free 15-minute technical audit: for a new product, or for an existing codebase.

Last reviewed: 29 September 2026. Rates, rankings and time-zone offsets checked on 29 September 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Which is cheaper for software development: Bangladesh, India or Vietnam?

Bangladesh has the lowest published freelance rates, $18–$40 an hour against $25–$60 in India and $28–$60 in Vietnam, according to Arc's May 2026 data. Agency rates in all three mostly sit under $50 an hour. Total cost depends more on rework and management time than on the rate.

How much do Eastern European developers cost compared with South Asia?

Arc puts Eastern European freelancers at $40–$85 an hour against $22–$55 for South Asia. Clutch reports Polish firms typically charge $50–$99 an hour and Indian firms $25–$49.

What is the time difference between Dhaka and London?

Dhaka is on UTC+6 with no daylight saving, so it is 6 hours ahead of London in winter and 5 hours ahead in summer. With both sides working 9:00 to 18:00, that gives 3 shared hours in winter and 4 in summer.

Can a team in Bangladesh work with a company in New York?

Yes, but not in shared standard hours: 9:00 in New York is 19:00 or 20:00 in Dhaka. It works with an async-first process and an agreed short daily call. If you need hours of live collaboration every day, a nearshore team fits better.

Which country has better English: Bangladesh, India or Vietnam?

On the EF English Proficiency Index 2025, Bangladesh ranks 62nd with 506, Vietnam 64th with 500 and India 74th with 484. Poland and Romania rank 15th and 11th. The index samples voluntary test-takers, not developers, so interview for English directly.

Is it GDPR-compliant to outsource development to Bangladesh or India?

It can be. Neither country has an EU adequacy decision, so a vendor processing EU personal data needs a transfer mechanism such as standard contractual clauses. Keeping production personal data in your own cloud account reduces the exposure.

Does RAITHub offer offshore developers for hire?

Not as staff augmentation. RAITHub, based in Dhaka, delivers fixed-scope projects and dedicated monthly teams with their own deliverables, in English, after a free 15-minute technical audit and a written estimate.

"I've narrowed offshore development down to Bangladesh, India and Vietnam but I'm nervous about quality and communication. How do I actually decide?"

Decide on the team, not the country. Ask each shortlist for a short paid trial scope, English-only written updates, tests running in CI, and a demo you can log into. Judge the work you can see over broad national stereotypes, since outcomes vary far more between teams than between these three markets.

Which offshore company should I actually hire once I've compared Bangladesh, India and Vietnam?

Pick on the specific team, not the country average: look at how they test, who owns the IP, the real overlap hours and whether they own the outcome or just supply bodies. RAITHub is a Dhaka-based dedicated team that assigns IP and ships tested code, not staff augmentation. A free 15-minute audit lets you judge the fit directly.

Is a dedicated team in one country a better alternative to spreading work across several?

Usually, yes, for a single product. Splitting work across countries or freelancers adds coordination cost and blurs ownership. One dedicated team keeps the context, the standards and the accountability in one place. Compare countries for rates and overlap, but choose the model, dedicated team over scattered contractors, first.

What is involved in picking an offshore team, and how long should due diligence take?

The checks are a code and testing review, references, how IP and data are handled, overlap hours and a small paid trial task. Allow a couple of weeks for this rather than deciding on a call. A trial task reveals communication and quality faster than any comparison table of country rates.

Can I just hire the lowest-cost offshore developers I can find and manage them myself?

You can, but managing individual low-cost developers across a large time difference is itself a job, and quality varies widely without someone owning the whole. A dedicated team that owns the outcome removes that management load and the quality risk. For a product you will keep running, that is usually the better trade than chasing the lowest rate.