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The Upwork Alternative
For US Product Teams
A Remote Dedicated Developer
A remote developer assigned only to your product, 160 to 172 hours a month, on one monthly invoice instead of an hourly Upwork contract. Live overlap with your Eastern morning, the W-8BEN-E provided, and a 7-day risk-free trial.
Years of Experience
Talented IT Professionals
Successful Projects
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Empiric Infotech vs Upwork
Upwork is built for one-off tasks billed by the hour, and it does that well. A US product roadmap is a different job. It needs the same engineer every week, someone who remembers why the billing code looks the way it does and shows up to the standup without being chased. Empiric Infotech is the Upwork alternative for US SaaS founders, agencies and product teams that want that consistency: one mid-to-senior developer, or a small dedicated team, assigned to your product full time and exclusively, instead of a contractor billing several other clients in the same week. If you have been comparing sites like Upwork, the difference is the model. There is no job post, no bidding and no hourly meter. You tell us the stack and the work, we introduce one developer who fits within 24 hours, and they start within 48 hours. Your developer overlaps 2 hours of your day, 8:00 to 10:00 AM ET (1 hour November to March), with a project manager until 1:30 PM ET. You pay one invoice a month in USD by ACH, wire or card, the W-8BEN-E is provided, and you can stop with seven days' notice.
Empiric Infotech vs Upwork vs a US in-house hire
| Empiric Infotech (dedicated, monthly) | Toptal / Arc.dev premium | Upwork hourly | In-house hire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who works on your product | One mid-to-senior developer, exclusive to you | A premium contractor, by the hour | A contractor shared with other clients | An employee |
| Monthly cost | One flat monthly fee per developer | $9,600 - $24,000 | Variable hourly, unpredictable | Median US software developer pay of $135,980 a year (BLS, May 2025) + benefits and payroll tax |
| How you pay | A single USD invoice each month: ACH, wire or card | Premium hourly rate | Hourly contract or milestone escrow | Payroll |
| Tax paperwork in the US | W-8BEN-E provided | 1099/W-9 (US contractors) | Per contractor | W-2 employee (full payroll tax) |
| Sprint commitment | Joins your standup and works your backlog | Capped by hourly cap | No sprint commitment | Full |
| Continuity | Same developer; free replacement | Manual rematch | Contractor can vanish mid-project | Re-recruit + re-onboard |
| Overlap with US hours | 2 hours, 8:00 to 10:00 AM ET (1 hour November to March); PM until 1:30 PM ET | Onshore contractors | Variable | Your hours |
| Time to start | 48 hours | 1-2 weeks | Variable, 1-30 days | 3 to 5 months to hire |
| Risk reversal | 7-day risk-free trial | 2-week trial | Milestone escrow, partial | 90-day probation |
Working hours across US time zones
Our team works 09:30 AM - 07:30 PM IST and a project manager is on call 07:30 AM - 11:00 PM IST, Monday to Friday. Here is exactly when that lands for clients in the US, Europe and Australia, your region first.
US Eastern (New York, Boston, Atlanta) - full team online 12:00 AM - 10:00 AM, project manager 10:00 PM - 1:30 PM (next day).Live cover across the edges of your day, your morning and your evening, with a project manager who replies the same business day.
US Pacific (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle) - full team online 9:00 PM - 7:00 AM (next day), project manager 7:00 PM - 10:30 AM (next day).We are online through your evening and overnight, and your project manager sets live calls in your morning so you are never blocked.
UK & Ireland (London, Dublin) - full team online 5:00 AM - 3:00 PM, project manager 3:00 AM - 6:30 PM.
Central Europe (Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, Madrid) - full team online 6:00 AM - 4:00 PM, project manager 4:00 AM - 7:30 PM.
Australia East (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane) - full team online 3:00 PM - 1:00 AM (next day), project manager 1:00 PM - 4:30 AM (next day).
Want it to the half-hour in your own time? Slide through your day and book a slot below.
When a US team should choose a dedicated developer over Upwork
Upwork solves discovery and payment protection for short, well-scoped tasks: a landing page, a script, a bug in a plugin. US teams run into its limits when the work becomes a roadmap. The contractor you hired for 20 hours this week may be booked elsewhere next sprint, the invoice moves with the hours, and every new contractor starts by reading your codebase from the beginning.
Hiring in-house fixes the continuity but brings a different bill. A US software developer's median pay is $135,980 a year (BLS, May 2025), before benefits and payroll tax, and the search typically takes three to five months.
A dedicated developer from Empiric Infotech removes the variable. One engineer works only on your product, joins the morning standup on Eastern time, takes tickets from your backlog and opens pull requests in your GitHub. Central teams get an hour from 8:00 AM CT outside November to March, and West Coast teams run the standup with the project manager and pick up a written handover each morning.
Paying for it is simple: one invoice a month in USD by ACH, wire or card, a W-8BEN-E for your accounts team, an NDA and IP assignment signed before work starts, and seven days' notice to stop. If the fit is wrong, you stop after 7 days at no cost or we replace the developer free.
US clients include Roamate, a travel app built by a single dedicated developer, Velvet Passport, a creator and brand marketplace built by a two-developer team, and EndoDNA, a HIPAA-compliant clinic platform built by a single dedicated developer. Typical US engagements run 6 to 18 months with one or two developers.
See how the in-house figure is calculated in our Software Development Cost Benchmark 2026.
Real client engagements, including US product teams
Roamate (United States, travel)
A travel companion app with personality-based matching and real-time messaging, built by a single dedicated developer. Live on the App Store and Google Play, rated 4.6/5, with more than 20 version updates since launch.
Read case studyVelvet Passport (United States, creator platform)
A two-sided iOS marketplace that connects creators with brands for collaborations, VIP events and perks. Built by a two-developer team and live on the App Store.
Read case studyEndoDNA (United States, healthcare SaaS)
Lab results, genetic data and an AI health assistant in one HIPAA-compliant workspace for clinics, with Stripe subscriptions per clinic. Built by a single dedicated developer.
Read case study“Having a development partner you can fully trust is invaluable.”
- Charli Sharp, Founder & CEO, Roamate
Replace Upwork churn with one developer who stays
Tell us the stack, the backlog and how many hours your contractors log each month. Within 24 hours we introduce one developer who fits; you meet them in your morning, and they can start within 48 hours on a 7-day risk-free trial. One USD invoice a month by ACH, wire or card.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
A dedicated developer on a monthly invoice. For a product you will build over 6 to 18 months, one engineer who works only on your product beats a rotating set of hourly contracts on continuity and on predictable cost. Empiric Infotech runs this with a 7-day risk-free trial, a free replacement guarantee and a live overlap with your Eastern morning.
Yes, and they work differently from a marketplace. On Upwork you post a job, compare bids and manage an hourly contract with a contractor who has other clients. With a dedicated development company such as Empiric Infotech, you describe the work, we introduce one developer within 24 hours, and that developer works full time on your product only.
A dedicated developer is one flat monthly fee for 160 to 172 hours of full-time work; the current rate is shown above. An Upwork contract is a variable hourly rate, so the monthly bill depends on the hours logged and on the contractor's availability. Per raw hour a marketplace can look lower; per shipped roadmap the flat fee is usually easier to plan around.
Two hours of live overlap with your morning, 8:00 to 10:00 AM ET (1 hour November to March), and a project manager until 1:30 PM ET. After the standup your developer spends the rest of their day on your backlog and leaves a written handover for your team.
One invoice a month in USD, paid by ACH, wire or card, with the W-8BEN-E provided. There is no escrow to fund for each milestone.
Yes. You meet the developer in a working session during your morning before anything is signed. If the first week is the wrong fit, the 7-day risk-free trial gives you a full refund, or we replace the developer free.
You do, fully. The NDA and IP assignment are signed before work starts, and your developer commits to your GitHub organization and deploys to your cloud, using your accounts.
Yes. One invoice for one month, and you stop with seven days' notice. No annual contract, no minimum term and no early-termination penalty, with the consistency of a full-time hire.
Yes. Roamate and EndoDNA were each built by a single dedicated developer, and Velvet Passport and Superintelligence by two-developer teams. Typical US engagements run 6 to 18 months.
