NEARSHORE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

25 Years of Nearshore Software Development Services

Nearshore is partnering with seasoned development teams in Latin America for all of your software development needs

Real-time collaboration, no overnight delays

English-fluent engineers who know US business

Significant savings without the offshore friction

AI-trained engineers driving outcomes faster

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Our Risk Free Guarantee
Why Hire A Nearshore Development Company?

Time Zone and Cultural Fit Matter
‍More Than Most People Think

Hourly Rate Is Not Value

Skilled engineers move faster, make fewer mistakes, and need less direction. The total cost of slower, lower-quality work almost always exceeds the savings on paper.

Communication is more than English

The best teams push back, ask hard questions, and catch bad decisions before they ship. That only works when communication is frictionless.

Cultural Fluency Is a Technical Skill

US business norms, industry terminology, and user expectations aren't in any technical spec. Engineers who grew up with them bring context that no amount of documentation can replace.

Relationships That Last

Our clients average over three years with us. More than 25% have stayed five or longer. Heredia is a five-hour flight from New York. That's not a coincidence.

Faster Project Delivery

Real-time collaboration with senior engineers, not overnight handoffs and morning surprises.

Fundamentally Different

AI Is Changing What Software Development Skills You Need

The Engineer You Need Has Changed

AI raises the floor. The developers who thrive now are critical thinkers with broad system knowledge and strong communication skills, not order-takers executing specs.

AI Executes. Engineers Decide.

AI tools can write code, run tests, and crank through tasks fast. What they can't do is define the right problem, challenge a flawed requirement, or own the outcome. That still takes a developer.

Volume Models Are Losing Their Edge

AI is replacing the repetitive, well-defined execution that offshore teams competed on. Smaller, more senior nearshore teams now deliver better results, faster, at a lower total cost.

AI Development Services
Understanding the Differences

Onshore vs. Nearshore vs. Offshore

As the technical needs are changing, understanding the differences between these three models is the most important decision you'll make before choosing a development partner.

Onshore Outsourcing

Maximum alignment, maximum cost. Beyond hourly rates, add benefits, taxes, workers' comp, and retirement. Strong for long-term hires, but expensive and slow to staff. Not practical for short-term needs or shifting technology requirements.

Nearshore Outsourcing

Your time zone, your language, your pace. Latin American engineers are fluent in English, experienced with US clients, and comfortable working with everyone from fast-moving startups to enterprise teams managing compliance at scale.

Offshore Outsourcing

Lowest rates on paper, but time zone gaps of 9 to 11 hours make real-time collaboration nearly impossible. Cultural distance limits judgment and initiative. Volume-based models built on junior execution are exactly what AI is replacing first.

COMPARE YOUR OPTIONS

Nearshore Software Delivery, No Tradeoffs

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Your Options
Traditional Offshore Vendors
Hiring In-House
U.S. time zone alignment
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Flexible engagement models
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Ramp up/down capacity as needed
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Direct access to dedicated full-time engineers
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Built-in management support and oversight
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High team tenure & employee satisfaction
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Enterprise security + SOC 2 Type 2 Compliance
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30-day risk-free guarantee
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The Benefits of Nearshore Software Development

Real-time Collaboration, AI Fluency, and Talent that Stays.

1.
Real-Time Collaboration

Same workday. Same rhythm. Questions answered in real time, not overnight. Video standups, reviews, and planning sessions that drive efficiency. Your team is never more than two hours away.

2.
A Deep, Educated Talent Pool

A number of Latin American countries, particularly Costa Rica, offers a world-class tech ecosystem and industry employers produce exceptional talent. We recruit from our community of 25,000+ and field a team of 175+ engineers, designers, QA, DevOps, and more.

3.
Low Employee Turnover

Turnover kills momentum. First Factory has industry-low turnover, an eNPS in the top 10% globally, and an average employee tenure of over four and a half years. People stay because they want to be here.

4.
Flexibility to Scale

Need one specialist or a full scrum team? We move fast — typically two to six weeks to assemble. As your needs shift, we scale with you. Many clients start small and grow into multi-year, multi-engineer partnerships.

5.
Meaningful Cost Savings

Nearshore development typically runs 30 to 50 percent less than comparable US-based talent. You’re getting professionals on par with direct hires who communicate proactively, and exercise real judgment.

6.
AI-Enabled

AI executes. Engineers decide. The best developers today define problems, orchestrate agents, and validate output. That demands critical thinkers, not volume. Smaller, more senior nearshore teams now outperform large offshore ones in quality, speed, and cost.

Why First Factory?

25 years of nearshore. Proven before it was popular.

Meeting the demanding needs of clients in financial services, healthcare, eCommerce, sports, and enterprise software.

Serious About Our Craft

SOC 2 Type 2 certified. AWS Partner. Five-time Inc. 5000 honoree. Industry-low turnover. An eNPS in the top 10% globally. We focus on building software that scales and delivers measurable client outcomes.

Lasting Relationships

Our average client tenure is over three years. More than 25% have been with us five years or longer. We don’t just deliver value today, we help key stakeholders identify business opportunities and take ownership in their outcomes.

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TECHNICAL EXPERTISE

From AI to Cloud Infrastructure, Delivered by Exceptional Engineers

ReactJS
JavaScript
Ruby on Rails
Angular
Node.js
TypeScript
our testimonials

Customer experiences that
speak for themselves

CTO, Equity Estates
"Their practical knowledge on the AI side... is also highly impressive."

"The quality of their resources has been exceptionally high and consistent. Their backbench of technical expertise is a game-changer."

CEO, Patient Studio
"The degree of engagement and communication exhibited by their team was remarkable."

"I can confidently say that my experience working with First Factory left me entirely delighted with both the process and the end result."

Director of Technology, Bellator MMA
"Since launching our platform, our audience has been growing exponentially."

"First Factory's agility and development speed were their most impressive assets. Whenever we requested something, their turnaround time was commendable. There was nothing First Factory could have improved on."

VP, Outsourcing Financial Services Company
"First Factory’s responsiveness to our requests and issues is excellent."

"First Factory’s resources are very technically skilled. Additionally, they provide strong customer service and are very adaptable to our processes."

CTO, FinTech & Services
“I always trust them to get the work done”

“First Factory is always on point with execution. They’re thorough and often finish ahead of schedule.”

COO, Telemedicine Provider
“Exactly what we needed.”

“We were able to successfully launch our mobile app because of the work that they provided, which was a huge cost savings driver for our company.”

VP Engineering, Software Company
"Everything has been great."

"First Factory has great cost and relationship management, strong performance management, and quality candidates."

Executive, Reti360
"The application is incredibly well-designed and has some of the highest-quality work we’ve seen."

"We were really impressed with their grasp and understanding of the problems we brought to them. First Factory was flexible and accommodating to ensure we had the right individuals working on the project."

President & CEO, OneWorld Inc.
"They’re always on time, and they’re committed."

"Their flexibility and project management are the highlights of working with them, especially because you never know what will happen in our industry."

CTO, Equity Estates
"Their practical knowledge on the AI side... is also highly impressive."

"The quality of their resources has been exceptionally high and consistent. Their backbench of technical expertise is a game-changer."

CEO, Patient Studio
"The degree of engagement and communication exhibited by their team was remarkable."

"I can confidently say that my experience working with First Factory left me entirely delighted with both the process and the end result."

Director of Technology, Bellator MMA
"Since launching our platform, our audience has been growing exponentially."

"First Factory's agility and development speed were their most impressive assets. Whenever we requested something, their turnaround time was commendable. There was nothing First Factory' could have improved on."

VP, Outsourcing Financial Services Company
"First Factory’s responsiveness to our requests and issues is excellent."

"First Factory’s resources are very technically skilled. Additionally, they provide strong customer service and are very adaptable to our processes."

CTO, FinTech & Services
“I always trust them to get the work done”

“First Factory is always on point with execution. They’re thorough and often finish ahead of schedule.”

COO, Telemedicine Provider
“Exactly what we needed.”

“We were able to successfully launch our mobile app because of the work that they provided, which was a huge cost savings driver for our company.”

VP Engineering, Software Company
"Everything has been great."

"First Factory has great cost and relationship management, strong performance management, and quality candidates."

Executive, Reti360
"The application is incredibly well-designed and has some of the highest-quality work we’ve seen."

"We were really impressed with their grasp and understanding of the problems we brought to them. First Factory was flexible and accommodating to ensure we had the right individuals working on the project."

President & CEO, OneWorld Inc.
"They’re always on time, and they’re committed."

"Their flexibility and project management are the highlights of working with them, especially because you never know what will happen in our industry."

our process

From Alignment to Delivery,
Without the Chaos

  1. Intro Call
    Review business goals, scope, timelines, expectations, and an understanding of what success looks like.
  1. Building Your Team
    Finalize the approach and quickly assemble a team that can deliver on our promise.
  1. Defining Requirements & Estimations
    Detailed features and stories are created for clarity and facilitating collaboration. Tasks are estimated and team sprints are planned.
  1. Delivering with Confidence
    The effort formally kicks off as we offer continuous visibility into progress and alignment with milestones.
ENGAGEMENT MODELS

Built Around How You Work

Consulting

Expert guidance to evaluate software solutions, compare build vs. buy options, and optimize your development processes through strategic analysis and recommendations.

Staff Augmentation

Dedicated full-time resources who integrate seamlessly into your existing team, working in your time zone and participating in all your Agile ceremonies and workflows.

Scrum Teams

Self-organizing teams of developers, testers, and a product owner who deliver software in two-week sprints with regular demos and continuous stakeholder collaboration.

Milestone-Based Projects

Fixed-price custom development with clearly defined scope, scheduled demos, and guaranteed pricing that includes UAT windows and post-release support.

Service Contracts

Ongoing maintenance and support agreements available as fixed-price annual contracts or hourly arrangements with specific SLAs tailored to your post-launch needs.

Implementation Partner

Trusted by SaaS vendors, offering structured, repeatable, high-volume implementations that quickly deliver customer value without burdening internal vendor teams.

Service Contracts

Protect and evolve your live product with flexible service contracts, dedicated engineers, and SLA-backed maintenance.

Agile Scrum Team

Deploy cross-functional Scrum teams that deliver working software every sprint with full ownership, accountability, and nearshore alignment.

Staff Augmentation

Scale faster with nearshore senior engineers who integrate seamlessly, align to your stack, and deliver with accountability.

Implementation Partner

Turn platform potential into measurable outcomes with expert SaaS implementation, cloud deployment, and enterprise integration support.

Milestone-Based

Deliver complex software with fixed pricing, clear milestones, and full-stack teams. No scope creep. No surprises. Book a call.

Software Consulting

Results-driven software consulting for AI strategy, architecture design, and product roadmaps. Clear plans built for execution.

Frequently asked questions

Everything you want to know explained clearly

Book a 15-Minute Call
Where is your nearshore development center?

Our office is in Heredia, Costa Rica, about five miles from the San Jose International Airport. Costa Rica does not observe Daylight Saving Time, so our team is one to two hours behind Eastern Time depending on the time of year.

Are your engineers fluent in English?

Yes. All First Factory employees must be fluent in written and spoken English as a condition of employment. They engage directly with clients every day.

What is your team's experience with AI?

Deep, and growing every day. Over 80% of our clients now require or have approved AI-assisted development tools like Cursor, Copilot, and Claude Code. Every First Factory engineer is trained on these tools before applying them on a client project.Our engineers don't just use AI. They understand how it works, where it adds value, and where it needs guardrails. Beyond tooling, we have built AI-powered products across natural language processing, computer vision, intelligent chatbots, and enterprise AI using OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, LangChain, LangGraph, and AWS Bedrock — spanning industries from financial services to healthcare to missing persons recovery.

What is your no-risk commitment?

At First Factory, we don't just place developers, we build lasting partnerships. That's why every resource we put on your team comes with a no-risk commitment: if you're not fully satisfied within the first 30 days, you won't be billed for the hours worked.

But this isn't about hedging against failure. It's about demonstrating the confidence we have in our people and our process. We hold ourselves to this standard throughout the entire life of your engagement, not just at the star. We're looking to earn your trust for the long term, and we'll always make it right.

What technologies does your team work with?

Our engineers work across a wide range of technologies including .NET, Java, Node.js, Python, PHP, Ruby on Rails, React, Angular, React Native, iOS, Android, AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and a growing set of AI frameworks including OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, LangChain, LangGraph, and AWS Bedrock.

How quickly can you assemble a team?

We can typically staff a team in two to six weeks depending on the skills required and the size of the engagement.

What does it take to get started?

We typically start with a conversation about your goals, your team, and what you're trying to build. From there we'll scope the engagement, propose a team, and get the paperwork in place. The standard documents are an NDA, a Master Services Agreement, and a Statement of Work.

See how we can help

Accelerate your software development

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