Outsourced QA vs in-house cost
How the cost of an outsourced QA engineer compares with an in-house hire: what a vendor rate includes, what the employee total includes, and one dataset example.
Figures from dataset v1.0, computed . Updated .
Outsourced QA is costed as a vendor hourly rate times billable hours; in-house QA is costed as the fully loaded employee total. The two figures cover different things. A vendor rate includes the vendor's salary costs, overhead and margin, and the employer adds no recruiting, ramp or equipment; the employee total includes all the employer's own costs for one person.
How the outsourced figure is built
The published formula computes the outsourced cost as:
- the aggregated vendor hourly rate for the region and role;
- times billable hours per month, taken from sources;
- times 12.
Vendor rates are aggregated from at least three vendor price lists, or one survey and two vendor price lists. No vendor is named on this site. The formula adds no recruiting, no ramp and no equipment, because the vendor carries them. A typical minimum engagement is shown where sources state one.
How the in-house figure is built
The in-house figure is the employee model: base salary, employer contributions, mandatory benefits, voluntary benefits, equipment and tooling, and recruiting and ramp each spread over 2.5 years. See the employee model.
Worked example
Worked example: a mid-level manual QA engineer in the United States. Employed, the median total is USD 107,256. Bought from a QA vendor at the North America rate of USD 70 to USD 90 an hour, 1,920 billed hours a year at the median rate of USD 80 come to USD 153,600.
| Model | Annual | Not included |
|---|---|---|
| Employee | USD 107,256 | voluntary benefits (not estimated); office space; management time; and bonuses and equity |
| Employer of record | USD 115,044 | voluntary benefits; office space; management time; and bonuses and equity |
| Contractor | not published | Not published: no contractor hourly rate for this role in the North America region meets the two-source rule. What is not published. |
| Outsourced | USD 153,600 | recruiting, onboarding ramp, equipment and your own management time |
Confidence grade (A, B or C, from the number and agreement of the sources): mid-level manual QA engineer in the United StatesConfidence B.
Sources: in the source list on this page, and next to each figure on the linked breakdown page.
Reading the two totals side by side
The totals are for one person-year of QA work. Several differences sit outside the numbers:
- Hours. The employee total pays for a year that includes leave and holidays. The outsourced total pays for billable hours only.
- Region. Vendor rates are aggregated by region, not by country, so the outsourced figure for a country reflects its region's rate.
- Minimum engagement. A vendor may require a minimum team size or contract length. The figure on this site is per person and does not apply a minimum.
- Management. The employer of an in-house tester manages that person. The cost of a vendor's own management layer is inside the vendor rate. The employer's time spent managing either arrangement is not estimated.
- One-off costs. Recruiting and ramp appear in the employee first-year figure. The outsourced figure has no first-year difference.
What the dataset does not estimate
The dataset does not estimate knowledge transfer at the start or end of an engagement, contract negotiation, vendor switching costs, or the effect on product quality of either arrangement. Those items depend on the engagement and are not sourced.
Where to see the figures for other combinations
The compare page shows employee, contractor, EOR and outsourced totals side by side for published combinations. The outsourced model page lists the outsourced totals by country. Vendor rate sources are counted, not named, on the sources page, and each outsourced figure footnotes them on its breakdown page.
Related pages
Sources
Sources of the figures in the examples and tables above, with the dates they were accessed and verified. Each linked breakdown page also footnotes them next to each figure.
- Built In. 2026 QA Engineer Salary in US | Built In
- Internal Revenue Service. Topic no. 751, Social Security and Medicare withholding rates
- PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries. United States - Corporate - Other taxes
- Internal Revenue Service. Topic no. 759, Form 940, Employer's Annual Federal Unemployment (FUTA) Tax Return
- U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration. UI Data Summary, 2nd Quarter 2026 Summary Tables
- Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services. Oregon Workers' Compensation Premium Rate Ranking (rates in effect January 1, 2024)
- U.S. Department of Labor. Vacation Leave
- Apple. Buy MacBook Air
- Apple. Buy MacBook Pro
- Testing tool list price (vendor not named)
- Testing tool list price (vendor not named)
- Linear. Linear pricing
- Manatal. Recruitment fees (agency fee guide)
- Apollo Technical. What is a placement fee for engineering hiring
- HeroHunt.ai. True Cost to Hire an AI Engineer in 2026
- Deel. Deel pricing
- Remote. Remote pricing
- Oyster HR. Oyster pricing
- Multiplier. Multiplier pricing
- QA vendor rate page (vendor not named)
- QA vendor rate page (vendor not named)
- QA vendor rate page (vendor not named)