Engineer Hiring Cost Compare is a free AI skill that works out the real 12-month cost to hire a software engineer six ways, from a US employee to an international hire, with one formula and your own numbers. Salary is only part of it: in June 2026, benefits were 30% of private-sector employer compensation cost (BLS).
Most cost calculators online are built by someone selling one of the options, and so is this one: it is published by Ruzora, a staff augmentation company. That is why every option runs through the same formula you can check, on your numbers only, and why the sample below includes a run where the employee wins. Where you have no quote, it computes a break-even price instead of inventing a market rate.
What you get
- A 12-month table: cash cost, start date, months lost to delay, productive months, cost per productive month, your management hours, exit terms and top risk, for all six options.
- Break-even prices for every option you have no quote for, so a blank becomes a number to negotiate with.
- How each option fails, the check that catches it, and three conditions that would flip the answer.
- Two options worth pricing for real, with the numbers to collect. Not a verdict. You decide.
Sample output
From a real run. The input: a 9-person seed-stage logistics software company with about 20 months of runway, hiring a senior Python engineer to own carrier integrations. Four numbers: a $175k salary offer in Denver, a $110/hr contractor, a $95k fixed bid for a 4-month phase 1, and a $9,500/month staff augmentation quote for an engineer in Colombia.
Option Weeks to start Productive months Cost per productive month A US employee 10 8.19 $24,674 (lean: $21,568) B US contractor 4 9.58 $22,010 (if he leaves at month 6: $25,373) D Agency / dev shop 3 4 (phase 1 only) $23,750 / $29,688 / $35,625 E Staff augmentation 6 9.11 $11,064
Location versus model. The $13,610 per productive month gap between A ($24,674) and E ($11,064) prices a US salary against a Colombian engineer, so most of it is probably geography, not the engagement model. Within one labor market the model barely matters: B against A, both US, differ by about 11%, and A wins at lean benefits.
Its second shortlisted option was an EOR or direct contractor in Colombia, "the like-for-like test of E's premium".
A second run where the employee wins. A 40-person Series B in Columbus, Ohio needs a senior Go engineer for its payments platform, permanently. They have a $140k referral who can start in 2 weeks, a 22% benefits load, a $18,500/month US-based staff augmentation quote with a 6-month minimum, and a $110/hr freelancer who only wants 6 months. Their investor says staff augmentation is always cheapest.
The short answer to your question: I can't confirm it. On your own numbers, staff augmentation is not the cheapest option.
Option Cost per productive month A US employee (referral) $16,360 E Staff augmentation (US-based) $21,265 C Marketplace freelancer $25,373, months 7-12 uncovered
Two runs, two different winners. The formula does not change; the inputs do.
How it works
Cost per productive month, never hourly rate. Each option is paid only for the months it is engaged in the next 12, and output is discounted for ramp-up on your codebase (25%, 50%, 75% in the first three months).
Location is not the model. When options sit in different labor markets, the memo says how much of the gap is geography, and compares like with like (staff augmentation against an EOR in the same country).
The loaded cost of an employee is about 1.43x salary. The BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation release for June 2026 puts wages at 70.0% of private-industry compensation cost and benefits at 30.0%. It is an average: the skill shows a lean 1.25x case and uses your real benefits cost if you give it.
A contractor managed like an employee is a tax problem. The IRS judges worker status by behavioral control, financial control and the relationship, not the contract label. If a full-time, open-ended 1099 role is reclassified, IRC 3509 sets back taxes at 1.5% of wages plus 20% of the worker's FICA share (doubled if no 1099s were filed), plus the full employer share.
Only employees hand you the code by default. Under 17 U.S.C. 101, contractor work is generally not a "work made for hire", so every non-employee option needs a written IP assignment. In every option, you own the repo and cloud accounts.
This is general information, not financial, tax or legal advice.
How this compares
A spreadsheet makes you build the ramp and break-even logic yourself, and a chatbot asked cold tends to quote salary averages it cannot source. This skill tags every figure by source and prices any missing quote as a break-even.
How to install and use
Claude.ai: download the skill's .zip from this page and upload it under Customize > Skills in Claude (any plan, including Free; code execution must be on). Then paste your numbers.
Claude Code: run /plugin marketplace add Remutopia/ruzora-skills, then /plugin install hire-plan@ruzora-hiring. Ask what the hire will cost.
Any other AI (ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot): copy the prompt version from this page and paste it as your first message.
Give it the role, how many months of work you are sure of, any quotes you have, your runway and how many hours a week you can manage someone. About 10 minutes.
Frequently asked questions
What is the true cost to hire a software engineer in the US?
Salary plus benefits and payroll taxes (about 1.43x wages on the BLS average), plus recruiting, equipment, the months before they start and the ramp-up. The skill adds it all on your own salary figure.
Is a contractor cheaper than a full-time employee?
Sometimes per productive month, because contractors start faster. It depends on the rate, start date and horizon, and a full-time contractor managed like staff carries misclassification risk.
Does it recommend staff augmentation or any other model?
No. It ranks six options on the same formula and shortlists two to price for real. Which wins depends entirely on your numbers.
Is it free?
Yes. No signup and no email gate. Use it, change it and share it under CC-BY-4.0.
Have a quote for one row and not the others? Our flat monthly pricing for senior engineers in Latin America, working US hours, is published, so it can fill one row of your table; get the others from the vendors you are weighing. Or request a shortlist. For the hidden costs of leaving a seat empty, read the true cost of an open engineering role.