For a decade, the default for a European company that could not hire at home was to hire in Eastern Europe: Poland, Romania, the Baltics, Portugal. It is a good default, and for some roles it is still the right one. It is also no longer the only serious option. The fair way to decide is role by role, not region by region.
Why Eastern Europe became the default
- Proximity. Short flights, similar time zones, easy visits in both directions.
- One legal and data framework. If you are an EU company, hiring inside the EU keeps you inside one set of rules on data and employment principles.
- Strong technical education and established engineering communities.
- A cost gap against Western European salaries large enough to matter.
All of that was real, and most of it still is.
Where Eastern Europe still wins
- You need someone in the room regularly. If quarterly on-site weeks or frequent client visits matter, a short flight beats a long one.
- Your data has to stay in the EU. Some contracts and some regulators make this a hard line. If it applies to you, it settles the question for that role.
- You want a local employment relationship inside the EU, for legal or customer reasons.
If one of these is true for a role, hire that role closer to home and do not look back.
What India offers that is different
A deeper pool for most roles. Engineering, QA, data, design, content and support all draw on a very large professional workforce. That makes it easier to find the right level for a specific seat.
A different price point. The cost gap between Western Europe and the main nearshore hubs has narrowed as those markets matured. India sits at a different point. Here are mid-level seats in a SoTalented Satellite Office, all-inclusive, per month:
| Role | Mid level, per month |
|---|---|
| Full-stack developer | $2,800 to $4,200 |
| QA engineer | $2,200 to $3,200 |
| Data analyst | $2,200 to $3,200 |
| Customer support rep | $1,500 to $2,200 |
An office, not a laptop at home. The common complaint about hiring far away is rarely the person’s ability. It is the setup: working from home, unsupervised, with nobody noticing when things slip. A satellite office puts your person in a premium co-working office in India, with IT support and someone accountable on site.
Time zone. Your person works in your time zone. The schedule is agreed during onboarding, so the overlap is designed, not left to chance.
The blended answer
Most companies that think this through end up with a blend, decided role by role.
- Keep close to home: roles that need regular physical presence, roles bound by EU-only data rules, and roles where your customers expect a local employer.
- Place in a satellite office in India: roles defined by clear output and good briefs, such as engineering, QA, data, design, content and support. These are the roles where a deeper pool and a lower cost per seat change what your plan can carry.
The question to ask for each role
Does this person need to be physically near us, or legally inside the EU?
- If yes: hire nearby.
- If no: compare the options on the full cost and the full setup, not the salary line alone.
Compare models on /compare, see what a seat costs on /pricing, or talk to us.