Ukraine IT Outsourcing: Market Overview

Top IT companies: Ukraine IT market

IT outsourcing is gaining momentum. According to Statista, the value of IT services companies delegate to external suppliers is expected to exceed approximately $413.72 billion by the end of 2021.

In the meantime, Eastern Europe houses over 1,3M developers and they are in demand: for example, more than half of German and Dutch businesses prefer Eastern Europe as an IT outsourcing destination. h

Ukrainian software development market takes the 2nd position in the list of IT professionals in Eastern Europe. Software development companies based in Ukraine are providing various outsourcing services to a number of businesses from Europe and the USA today.

IT outsourcing in Ukraine is the 2nd largest export services industry expected to generate $8.4 billion in revenue by 2025. So, let's consider, why Ukrainian IT market is so popular? Why do so many tech providers сhoose Ukraine outsourcing companies?

Here are some key figures and facts uncovering the secret of Ukraine IT outsourcing companies high-demand:

Every outsourcing development company falls under one of the categories:

According to Clutch.co ranking, among the leaders of IT software outsourcing in Ukraine in 2020 that are renowned on the international arena is the following ten:

1. ImageX (Kyiv-based, 50+ employees);
2. Django Stars (Kyiv-based, 100+ employees);
3. KindGeek (Lviv-based, 100+ employees);
4. Steelkiwi (Odessa and Vinnytsia-based, 50+ employees);
5. GBKSOFT (Kyiv and Zaporizhzhya-based, 100+ employees);
6. Binary Studio (Lviv, Kyiv, and Kharkiv-based, 100+ employees);
7. TechMagic(Lviv-based, 100+ employees);
8. FRESHCODE (Zaporizhzhya and Kharkiv-based, 100+ employees);
9. JustCoded (Kharkiv-based, 50+ employees);
10. Cleveroad (Dnipro and Kharkiv-based, 100+ employees).

As you can see, outsourcing software development in Ukraine is mostly concentrated in Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Odessa, Dnipro, and Zaporizhzhya.

Next top IT outsourcing companies have establishments for outsourcing in Ukraine:

• EPAM (USA-based, 10000+ Ukrainian employees);
• Luxoft (Switzerland-based, 3500+ Ukrainian employees);
• TEAM International Services (USA-based, 300+ Ukrainian employees).

They employ hundreds of specialists and work on huge projects for international corporations. Few of them would be interested in a small-time startup contract. If your budget is only 10,000 to 15,000 USD, and you have 2 to 3 months to get your idea off the ground, I suggest you steer clear of large providers and hire an outsourcing team of a smaller scale.

How to find the right it outsourcing provider in Ukraine?

There are many ways to reach the full-stack development company you are interested in. You can use:

• Google search
• Business platforms, like Clutch or GoodFirms
• Social media outreach through professional profiles
• Networking and personal recommendations

If you have no time to spare, there are two more efficient ways to outsource web application development:

IT outsourcing in Ukraine. Small to medium-size companies

Let's discuss the prospective nearshore software development partners for startups, their services, and the best ways to learn more about them before signing the contract. Small outsourcing companies are harder to find, as the media rarely mention their names.

Clutch.co, GoodFirms.co, and UpWork.com are the best websites for selecting a Ukrainian web application development company with 250 employees or less.

To develop a list of 100 top outsourcing companies in Ukraine, I used these criteria:

• Ukraine-based headquarters
• Up to 250 employee

The development services range including:

Let's take a closer look at the companies from the top 25% of the list. For this analysis, I have chosen seven vendors:

1. Yalantis (Kyiv and Dnipro-based, est. 2008, 300+ employees);
2. RubyGarage (Dnipro-based, est. 2013, 120+ employees);
3. Cleveroad (Dnipro and Kharkiv-based, est. 2011, 100+ employees);
4. SteelKiwi (Odessa and Vinnytsia-based, est. 2011, 50+ employees);
5. Freshcode (Zaporizhzhya and Kharkiv-based, est. 2014, 100+ employees);
6. GBKSOFT (Kyiv and Zaporizhzhya-based, est. 2011, 100+ employees);
7. IT CRAFT (Kharkiv-based, est. 2001, 100+ employees)

I concentrated on the companies that are based outside Kyiv, as regional development agencies offer lower rates. They get fewer clients, though their quality is on par with the capital-based companies. These outsourcing software development companies have significant experience and employ enough app developers in Ukraine to suit the startup's needs.

All seven of the providers outsource iOS development, produce turnkey Android, as well as web solutions, and offer ongoing support and maintenance after launch and deployment.

Each of the seven companies has completed 100+ projects for clients from all around the world, including the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, Denmark, Israel, UAE, Sweden, and more.

Freshcode, GBKSOFT, and IT Craft overview

Let's start with a short overview of mentioned IT outsourcing companies based in Ukraine. IT vendors in this section provide strong solutions for startups in need of MVP development with an average budget of $7,000 to $15,000. At the same time, the companies' portfolios include high-profile clients, like KPMG, Intel, and Pepsi.

These companies on my software companies list possess experience in developing small to large-scale projects for:

• Real Estate
• Education
• Business Analytics
• E-commerce

Freshcode

Well, it's our turn to introduce ourselves! :) Freshcode was founded in 2014 by developers from Eastern Europe and now has 100+ team members. The main industries Freshcode is creating products for are EdTech, FinTech, and HealthTech. The full industries and services overview you can check on our website.

We are proud of working with Clojure among other programming languages in our tech stack. Our team is developing Clojure-based products for 7 years and this becomes an amazing journey full of discoverings and achievements (here you can find our eBook "Mythbusters: Why You Shouldn't Be Afraid of Clojure").

GBKSOFT

GBKSOFT company was born in Zaporizhzhya and already for 10 years, they provide a wide range of IT services in such industries as EdTech, HR and Recruiting, Fitness and Sport, Travel and Booking with deep expertise in different tech domains.

It Craft

IT Craft company has more than 15 years of experience in providing software development services worldwide. Their tech stack includes Swift, Kotlin, Java, JS, and much more. Note, the wide range of programming languages and tools Ukrainian developers are offering is one more reason for such popularity of Ukraine within the outsourcing IT marketplace.

Yalantis, RubyGarage, Steelkiwi, and Cleveroad overview

Here are more outstanding players of the Ukrainian IT outsourcing market and we are glad to introduce them.

Yalantis

Yalantis is a software engineering and IT consulting company with offices in Kyiv and Dnipro. The company has 12 years of software engineering experience and over 150 projects under the belt. Yalantis provides IT education for more than 6 years and organizes thematic events for developers and other specialists in the software development industry.

RubyGarage

The next one is Ruby Garage. This IT company provides web and mobile development services since the 2011 year. Ruby Garage is known for its strong expertise in Ruby and Ruby on Rails. In addition to outsourcing software development services, they develop their own software product and offer training for developers.

Steelkiwi

Steelkiwi provides a full range of software development services and mostly specializes in creating web apps using Python and Django, Python's most popular framework. They also engage newcomers to the training, organize tech talks, and hackathons, and we at Freshcode shooks our colleagues' hands for their initiatives and activities that boost the Ukrainian IT community's growth.

Cleveroad

And here is Cleveroad, a full-cycle web and mobile app development company creating digital products for mobiles, desktops, wearables, and TVs. This company implements AR/VR, data science, and IoT solutions, keeping fingers on the pulse of cutting-edge technologies.

IT outsourcing: workflow stages at Freshcode

Here is a short Freshcode business process outsourcing step-by-step guide from the first client's request till the start of developing his or her product.

1. Receiving client's request (via email, Linkedin, website contact form, or other communication channels)

2. Freshcode Manager contacts client within one business day

3. If the Client has requirements for product development, he sends it; if not then we send him follow-up questions for creating a requirements list and reviewing the project fully; at this stage, we sign an NDA to keep Clients' ideas confidential

4. Freshcode Manager fills out a brief and hands it over to Business Analyst

5. Business Analyst reviews Client's requirements. If the Client's requirements list is not exhaustive, BA creates a list of follow-up questions and requests Сlient's design/mockups/wireframes

6. Client sends design/mockups/wireframes. If he or she has no designs at all, BA creates tough wireframes (or as an additional stage we offer a Discovery Phase); the client makes changes to the wireframes if it's necessary

7. If design/mockups/wireframes are agreed and requirements are being enough to form a rough cost estimate BA creates it

8. BA decomposes all the tasks associated with a project and creates a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

As appropriate:

• Creating Gantt Chart showing all the key stages of a project and their duration as a chart with the time-scale
• Creating Delivery (Development) Plan describing all expected deliverables for the timely execution and project management

9. If the Client wants a Fixed Price contract we offer a Discovery Phase; if the Client prefers the Timing and Material model we prepare detailed follow-up questions

10. Discussing all details of the project workflow and rough cost estimation results via video call involving all stakeholders and amending findings if it's necessary

11. If the Client is all right with rough cost estimation and he is ready to collaborate BA creates a final accurate estimation

12. We sign a contract and start the project

Ready to try IT outsourcing in Ukraine?

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Do you want to know the most efficient digital solutions for your business and ways to implement them through outsourcing services? The Freshcode team is ready to help! Book a free consultation or contact our Chief Operation Officer via LinkedIn.