Side by side
| Staff augmentation | Project outsourcing | |
|---|---|---|
| Who manages day to day | You | The vendor |
| Pricing | Hourly or monthly per person | Fixed price or time-and-materials per project |
| Control over process | High | Lower |
| Best for | Ongoing products, changing priorities | Well-defined scopes with clear deliverables |
| Knowledge retention | Higher: they work in your systems | Lower unless documentation is contracted |
| Your effort | Leadership, reviews, backlog | Requirements and acceptance |
Choose staff augmentation when
You have a tech lead and a backlog, priorities change often, and you want the work done your way.
Choose outsourcing when
You need a defined deliverable (an MVP, a migration, an integration) and don’t have the capacity to manage it.
A middle path
A dedicated team gives you a full squad with its own lead that still works only on your product.
