Nearshoring: definition

Nearshoring: Nearshoring is the practice of hiring or outsourcing work to a country geographically close to the home country, typically with overlapping working hours and cultural similarity.

Also called: nearshore development · nearshore outsourcing

Last reviewed April 29, 2026

Nearshoring is offshoring with the geography fixed. For a US company, "nearshore" usually means Latin America (1-3 hour time difference). For a Western European company, it means Central or Eastern Europe (≤1 hour time difference) or Southern Europe. For the UK specifically, CEE is the dominant nearshore destination.

The economic case: most of the cost advantage of offshore engineering, with fewer of the friction costs. Time-zone overlap means you can ship synchronously, not asynchronously. Cultural similarity means fewer translation costs. Travel for the rare in-person meeting is a single short flight.

CEE is the most-cited nearshore destination for European companies because of three things: a deep engineering talent pool (Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Serbia all have strong CS programs), salary bands at 40–60% of Western European rates, and EU/EEA membership for most of the region (simpler legal frameworks, GDPR-compliant by default).

Nearshoring: Nearshoring is the practice of hiring or outsourcing work to a country geographically close to the home country, typically with overlapping working hours and cultural similarity.

Also called: nearshore development · nearshore outsourcing

Last reviewed April 29, 2026

Other terms in the glossary

Employer of Record (EOR)An Employer of Record (EOR) is a third party that legally employs a worker on a client company's behalf — handling payroll, tax, benefits, and compliance — while the client directs the day-to-day work.Dedicated teamA dedicated team is a group of engineers who work exclusively for one client company on a long-term basis, but are sourced, employed, and managed by an external partner.Staff augmentationStaff augmentation is the practice of hiring external engineers (usually through an agency) to fill specific skill gaps on a temporary or hourly basis, without changing the structure of the in-house team.CEE (Central and Eastern Europe)CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) refers to a group of European countries — typically including Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, and the Baltics (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia) — known for strong engineering talent at lower salary bands than Western Europe.