Alternatives · Offshore and nearshore teams
An offshore development team alternative: 24/7 delivery without the time-zone tax.
An offshore dedicated team lowers the hourly rate and raises the coordination cost: overlapping hours, stand-ups at odd times, a manager on each side. Ship in Hours removes the hourly rate altogether. One fixed price per scope, an EU legal entity under GDPR, and a system that works around the clock while you communicate in writing at your own hours.
Two ways to buy
Offshore lowers the rate. A fixed price removes it.
The offshore model is an answer to cost per hour. The fixed-price model is an answer to cost per result. They behave differently when the project runs long.
A dedicated team abroad, billed monthly or hourly
An offshore or nearshore dedicated team is a group of developers employed by a vendor in a lower-cost country and assigned to one client, usually billed per person per month or per hour. The client typically supplies product direction and often a technical lead; the vendor supplies people, equipment and HR. Time-zone overlap, communication practices and legal jurisdiction vary by vendor and country.
- Developers employed by the vendor, dedicated to the client
- Billed per person per month or per hour; cost grows with duration
- Client supplies product direction and often technical leadership
- Overlap hours, meeting times and jurisdiction depend on the vendor's location
A defined scope at a fixed price, delivered as tested code packages
AIPOS OÜ sells a result, not people or hours. The architecture and specification are designed in-house by AIPOS OÜ and agreed with you in writing; a multi-agent system then builds, tests and documents production code around the clock. Twenty-four hours of its work equals four to eight weeks of a small software company, measured on AIPOS OÜ's own production systems.
- A written scope description before any money changes hands
- A trial build: a real piece of your plan, delivered within 72 hours of written confirmation, for a fixed 9,900 euros
- The full scope at one fixed price, quoted in writing after the trial; the trial price deducted in full
- Architecture and specification by AIPOS OÜ, agreed with you before any code is written; the multi-agent system builds, tests and documents 24/7
- Every change tested and reviewed by an independent review agent before you see it; delivered as a tested package at every milestone
- Full intellectual property to you; remote only; all communication in writing
24/7 from sign-off
Your project starts. It never stops.
Whichever route you compare it with, the delivery model is the same: from the moment your scope is signed off, an autonomous development system works on it 24/7 — no nights off, no weekends, no handovers. Months of team output, delivered in days.
Starts within hours
Work begins within hours of your written scope sign-off. No recruiting, no onboarding, no waiting for a sprint to open.
Runs around the clock
Autonomous and continuous until delivery: no nights off, no weekends, no handovers, no pauses.
Progress you can see daily
Every change is tested and committed in AIPOS OÜ's own secure development environment. You receive a written progress report every day, and tested code of your product is delivered at agreed milestones — in full after final payment.
Architecture agreed first
The architecture and specification are designed in-house by AIPOS OÜ and agreed with you in writing before any code is written.
Choose this if you need serious development capacity fast, without hiring a team.
Side by side
An offshore team versus a fixed-price build from an EU entity.
The comparison is structural on purpose: it describes how each model works, not how good any individual provider is. Prices and durations on the other side vary by provider and market, so they are stated only where published.
| Dimension | Offshore dedicated team | Ordering from Ship in Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Unit of price | Per person per month or per hour. | Per confirmed scope; fixed and known before work starts. |
| What happens when the project runs long | The monthly cost continues. | The price does not change for the confirmed scope. |
| Time zones | Overlap hours must be arranged; stand-ups and calls at inconvenient times. | No overlap needed. The system works 24/7; all communication is in writing at your hours. |
| Management | A manager on the client side and usually one on the vendor side. | You confirm the scope, read the daily report and accept against the criteria. Nobody to manage. |
| Architecture | Often the client's lead; sometimes the vendor's. | Designed in-house by AIPOS OÜ and agreed with you in writing before any code is built. |
| Legal entity and data protection | Depends on the vendor's country. | AIPOS OÜ, registered in Estonia, European Union; GDPR applies. |
| Security of your codebase | Vendor's office network and devices; practices vary. | Separate disposable environment per project in AIPOS OÜ's infrastructure; no connection to your systems; every delivery scanned and reviewed. |
| Quality control | The vendor team's process. | Test suite plus an independent review agent before every merge. |
| Intellectual property | Per contract and the vendor's jurisdiction. | Full IP in the deliverables transferred to you; platform and methodology stay with AIPOS OÜ. |
Where each route fits
When each option is the better choice.
Most large organisations end up using both. The question is which parts of the plan go where.
You want a long-term team you direct yourself
- A multi-year product team with your own technical leadership
- Work steered daily rather than specified in scopes
- Roles that need calls, meetings or customer contact
- You want to interview and know each team member
You want scopes delivered without coordination overhead
- Specifiable scopes with deadlines
- A fixed budget per scope rather than a monthly run rate
- A preference for written, asynchronous communication
- An EU legal entity and GDPR as requirements
The process
What switching to a fixed-price build looks like.
There is nothing to onboard and nobody to interview. The sequence is identical for every project and every country.
Describe the project
Send the project description, technology, approximate scope and deadline through the form. You receive a written scope description for a trial build.
Trial build, 72 hours
After your written confirmation, a real piece of your plan is delivered within 72 hours as tested, documented code with full IP. Fixed price 9,900 euros.
Fixed quote for the full scope
You judge the result on the preview link and in the delivered package. If you continue, you receive one fixed price for the whole scope; the trial price is deducted in full.
Continuous delivery
The system builds, tests, reviews and documents in 24/7 cycles until the scope is complete. Scope changes are agreed in writing before they are built.
Trust & delivery standards
Your systems stay untouched. Your product arrives tested.
All development happens in AIPOS OÜ's own secure environment. We never connect to your code hosting, servers, cloud accounts or development environment, so no outside party enters your systems and your supplier and security risk stays small. You receive tested code as a clean package, not half-finished changes in your main branch, and you follow progress every day without watching any technical tools.
How the code is built and handed over
- Tests and independent review. Every change passes the automated test suite and an independent review agent before it is merged.
- Documentation, tests, history. You receive the documentation, the tests and the complete git history of your product's code.
- No dependency on our tools. Code and intellectual property transfer to you without any dependency on AIPOS OÜ's tooling: the product builds, tests and runs from the delivered package with publicly available tools.
- 30 days of free fixes. Defects found within 30 days of hand-over are fixed free of charge, within the written scope description.
How you verify the work without seeing our environment
- Specification first. A written specification with measurable acceptance criteria, prepared by AIPOS OÜ and confirmed by you before development starts.
- A written report every day. By e-mail: what was done, which tests passed, where the work stands against the criteria, the next step, and whether anything needs your answer.
- Preview at every milestone. A password-protected preview link where you try your product working, at every milestone.
- Code you can audit. At every milestone, a test report and the product's code at that point as a file package: run it yourself or have an independent developer audit it. The complete code follows final payment.
- Written acceptance. You accept in writing against the agreed criteria. 50% is paid on scope confirmation and 50% only after acceptance; then 30 days of free defect fixing within the written scope. All communication is by e-mail.
Company details, security, warranty, payment and VAT terms in one place: Trust & delivery standards. The binding wording is in the terms of service.
Prices
Two steps, both at a fixed price.
You see the price before any work starts. There is no hourly billing and no staff rental. The trial build is a real piece of your plan, and its price comes off the main project in full.
A real part of your development plan, delivered within 72 hours of your written scope confirmation as a preview link, a test report and a code package. Full intellectual property to you. 50% on sign-off, 50% after written acceptance; 30 days of free defect fixing. Deducted in full from the main project.
The first three clients receive the trial build for 4,900 euros in exchange for a public reference once the work is delivered.
The whole scope at one fixed price, delivered in days and weeks. Every change is tested and committed. Every project is built on a software architecture and technical specification designed in-house by AIPOS OÜ — reviewed and agreed with you in writing before development begins.
Questions
Questions from buyers comparing offshore teams with a fixed-price build.
Is Ship in Hours an offshore development company?
No. AIPOS OÜ is an Estonian company in the European Union, and it does not sell teams or hours. It sells a defined scope at a fixed price, delivered as tested commits. The work is done by a multi-agent system against an architecture and specification designed in-house by AIPOS OÜ and agreed with you in writing.
How does written-only communication work across time zones?
It removes the time zone from the problem. You write when it suits you; the scope description, questions and delivery notes are in writing; the system works continuously. There are no calls to schedule.
Where is our code processed, and under which law?
AIPOS OÜ is registered in Estonia, European Union, and the GDPR applies to personal data we process. Each project runs in a separate, disposable environment with isolated containers and a locked-down network. Work runs through commercial AI model APIs; the details are in the contract.
How can a fixed price compete with a low hourly rate?
A low rate multiplied by an unknown duration is not a low price. A fixed price is known before work starts, and the trial build lets you measure the system's throughput on your own code in 72 hours before you commit to the main project.
Can you take over part of what our offshore team does?
Yes. Specifiable scopes can be ordered at a fixed price and delivered as tested packages while your existing team keeps the rest. Scopes are separated in writing so the streams do not collide.
Why is no specific offshore vendor named?
Because the comparison is between models. Terms, locations and quality differ widely between offshore vendors, and naming one would not be representative.
Read before you decide
Guides for this decision
Code ownership and IP when outsourcing development
Assignment versus licence, possession of the code at every milestone, third-party components, vendor platform lock-in, and the questions to ask before signing.
Read the guideSecurity when AI agents build your software
The threat model for autonomous coding agents building a client's software and the controls that address it, from isolation and zero access to client systems to scanned deliveries and provider terms.
Read the guideFixed price vs time and materials for large projects
Who carries the risk under each contract model, when each one is right, and how to make a fixed price work on a large project.
Read the guideOrder the scope. Keep your mornings.
Describe the project in the form, in your own hours. You receive a written scope description for a trial build at a fixed price, delivered within 72 hours of confirmation.