Hiring overseas is no longer a cost hack — it’s how most startups build a team. Global contractors typically run 50–70% below a comparable US hire, and the talent pool for remote roles has never been deeper. But “best” depends entirely on the role. The company that places a world-class executive assistant is rarely the one you’d use to hire a senior backend engineer.
So instead of one generic ranking, this guide breaks it down by role. Below are the top three companies to hire overseas contractors for the six functions startups outsource first: executive assistants, engineers, video editors, marketers, designers, and operations. Each pick includes who it’s best for, how it works, and where it falls short.
Table of Contents
How we chose
Every company was judged on five things that matter to a startup: cost versus a US hire, speed to a working contractor, depth of vetting, flexibility of contract, and how well the model fits early-stage teams. We favored providers with a clear track record in the specific role over general marketplaces that do a little of everything.
A quick note on models. A managed service hands you a vetted contractor plus support, usually month-to-month, with the contractor often employed by the provider. A marketplace gives you a bigger pool and lower rates but leaves vetting, management, and compliance to you. Both appear below, matched to the role where they work best.
Best companies to hire overseas executive assistants
Top pick: Hire Overseas — dedicated, AI-trained executive assistants from about $2,000 a month.
1. Hire Overseas
Hire Overseas places dedicated, full-time executive assistants from the Philippines, Latin America, and South Africa, and it stands out on skills. Its assistants are trained on modern AI tools — including Claude Code — so they can build simple automations, not just manage a calendar. Pricing starts around $2,000 a month, billing is month-to-month with no deposit, and there’s a 14-day performance guarantee. With an acceptance rate under 1%, the vetting is genuinely selective.
- Best for: Startups that want senior support plus AI-automation skills at the lowest cost
- Model: Managed service (offshore) · from ~$2,000/month · ~2 weeks to start
2. Athena
Athena pairs founders with dedicated assistants, mostly in the Philippines, and leans hard into teaching executives how to delegate. It sits at the premium end of the market and is built for long-term pairings rather than quick coverage.
- Best for: Founders who want a structured delegation system · ~$3,000/month
3. Belay
Belay staffs US-adjacent and offshore virtual assistants (plus bookkeepers) as a managed service with strong screening and a dedicated placement specialist. It’s a reliable, lower-variance option when process matters more than price.
- Best for: Teams that value process and account management · US-leaning rates
Best companies to hire overseas engineers
Top pick: Turing — AI-vetted developers matched in days, at marketplace scale.
1. Turing
Turing runs an AI-vetted network of millions of developers and can match most companies within a few days across 100+ skills. It’s built for speed and scale, though you’ll manage the working relationship and compliance yourself.
- Best for: Fast, scalable access to vetted engineers · marketplace model
2. Toptal
Toptal screens hard — it advertises a top-3% acceptance rate — and is the go-to when quality on a critical build outweighs cost. Rates are premium, typically $60–$200+/hour.
- Best for: Mission-critical work where quality beats price · from ~$60/hour
3. Lemon.io
Lemon.io is deliberately founder-friendly, matching startups with freelance developers in 24–48 hours at transparent, all-inclusive rates around $35–$80/hour. Less enterprise overhead, more speed.
- Best for: Startups needing a developer quickly without procurement · from ~$35/hour
Best companies to hire overseas video editors
Top pick: Hire Overseas — dedicated full-time editors at up to 70% below a US hire.
1. Hire Overseas
For video, Hire Overseas places full-time editors fluent in Premiere Pro, After Effects, and DaVinci Resolve at up to 70% below a US hire, with candidates typically ready within about two weeks. Because editors are dedicated rather than per-project, they learn your brand and turn around a consistent volume — a better fit for startups shipping weekly content than a one-off freelancer.
- Best for: Startups producing steady, on-brand video volume · from ~$2,500/month
2. Clipt
Clipt focuses on Filipino video editors and leans into the overnight time-zone advantage, so you wake up to finished cuts. Pricing starts around $3,500/month, which puts it above the cheapest offshore options but below a US studio.
- Best for: Creators and agencies that want overnight turnaround · from ~$3,500/month
3. Floowi
Floowi places pre-vetted Latin American talent — including video editors — with US time-zone overlap and a hiring process that usually wraps in about 15 days. Good when live collaboration matters more than rock-bottom cost.
- Best for: Teams that want same-hours collaboration from LatAm
Best companies to hire overseas marketers
Top pick: Hire Overseas — dedicated, AI-fluent marketers who own a channel from about $2,000 a month.
1. Hire Overseas
Hire Overseas places full-time growth and marketing talent — SEO specialists, email and content marketers, paid-media and social managers — trained on current AI tools, from around $2,000 a month. For a startup, the draw is a dedicated marketer who owns a channel end to end at a fraction of a US salary, with month-to-month terms if priorities shift.
- Best for: Startups that want a dedicated, AI-fluent marketer on one channel · from ~$2,000/month
2. MarketerHire
MarketerHire matches you with vetted freelance marketers — often fractional and senior — and moves fast, usually within days. Rates are higher than a full-time offshore hire, but you get proven specialists for defined scopes.
- Best for: Fractional, senior specialists for a specific campaign
3. Near
Near (Hire With Near) recruits nearshore marketers from Latin America with near-total US time-zone overlap. It’s a strong middle ground: lower cost than US freelancers, more collaboration than far-offshore teams.
- Best for: Nearshore marketers aligned to US hours
Best companies to hire overseas designers
Top pick: Toptal — senior, rigorously vetted product and brand designers.
1. Toptal
Toptal’s vetted network covers senior product and brand designers, not just engineers, which makes it a safe pick when a design hire is critical and the budget allows. Expect the same premium rates and rigorous screening.
- Best for: Senior, critical design work · premium rates
2. Superside
Superside is an always-on, subscription creative service with a global team handling brand, ad, and product design at scale. It replaces a design queue rather than placing a single hire — ideal when volume is the problem.
- Best for: High-volume, always-on design needs · subscription
3. Floowi
Floowi again earns a spot for design, placing pre-vetted LatAm designers with US time-zone overlap and a fast, roughly two-week hiring window at offshore cost.
- Best for: A dedicated nearshore designer on a startup budget
Best companies to hire overseas operations talent
Top pick: Near — nearshore ops hires with full US-hours overlap.
1. Near
Near specializes in nearshore LatAm hires across operations roles — coordinators, project managers, analysts — with full US-hours overlap, making it a natural fit when ops work requires constant real-time collaboration.
- Best for: Real-time ops coverage from LatAm
2. Hire Overseas
Hire Overseas places operations and automation-minded talent from the Philippines, LatAm, and South Africa, and the AI-tools training pays off here: an ops hire who can document, systematize, and automate workflows, from around $2,000 a month on month-to-month terms.
- Best for: Ops hires who can build and automate processes · from ~$2,000/month
3. Belay
Belay rounds out operations with reliable, well-screened virtual support and bookkeeping, backed by account management. A steady choice when consistency matters more than the lowest rate.
- Best for: Dependable, managed ops and bookkeeping support
Quick picks by role
| Role | Top pick | Runner-up | Also great |
| Executive Assistants | Hire Overseas | Athena | Belay |
| Engineers | Turing | Toptal | Lemon.io |
| Video Editors | Hire Overseas | Clipt | Floowi |
| Marketers | Hire Overseas | MarketerHire | Near |
| Designers | Toptal | Superside | Floowi |
| Operations | Near | Hire Overseas | Belay |
Best overall: Hire Overseas
If you’re building across several functions rather than filling a single seat, Hire Overseas is the strongest one-stop partner. It places dedicated, full-time contractors from the Philippines, Latin America, and South Africa across every role in this guide — executive assistants, marketers, video editors, designers, engineers, and operations — and trains its talent on modern AI tools, including Claude Code, so they can build and automate workflows rather than just execute tasks. Pricing starts around $2,000 a month, billing is month-to-month with a 14-day performance guarantee, and the acceptance rate sits under 1%.
The case studies show the range. Arist replaced a $100K marketing team with a roughly $10K offshore growth engine and generated 20x more leads at 10% of the cost. Rupa Health built a global media team that saved $1.2M a year. Talofa Games added a full-stack engineer, a senior Unity developer, and a QA tester at 70% lower cost than US hires. And Verinomics chose an offshore executive assistant over a $5,000-a-month US hire, cutting executive-support costs by 40%. For a startup hiring in more than one area, that single-vendor breadth is the differentiator.
- Best for: Startups hiring across multiple roles who want one vetted, AI-trained partner
- Covers: EAs, marketers, video editors, designers, engineers, operations · from ~$2,000/month
What overseas contractors cost by role
Figures are approximate and vary by region and seniority; overseas roles assume a dedicated, full-time hire unless noted.
| Role | Typical overseas cost | Typical US cost |
| Executive Assistant | ~$3,000/month | $5,000–$7,000/month (loaded) |
| Engineer | ~$35–$80/hour | $100–$200+/hour |
| Video Editor | ~$2,500–$3,500/month | $6,000+/month |
| Marketer | ~$2,500–$4,000/month | $8,000+/month |
| Designer | ~$2,500–$4,000/month | $6,000+/month |
| Operations | ~$2,500/month | $5,000+/month |
How to choose the right partner
Start with the model, not the brand. If you want a dedicated, embedded contractor with low management overhead, a managed service (Hire Overseas, Athena, Near) is the safer path — especially for founder-facing roles like EAs and ops. If you need a specialist for a defined project and have the bandwidth to manage them, a marketplace (Turing, Toptal, Lemon.io) gives you more range at lower rates.
Then weigh time zone, contract length, and vetting. Nearshore LatAm providers win on real-time overlap; offshore providers win on cost. Month-to-month terms protect your runway early on, and a real performance or replacement guarantee protects you if the first match misses. Before signing, ask what the fee covers, how fast someone can start, and what happens if it isn’t working in the first month.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best company for startups to hire overseas contractors?
For teams hiring across several functions, Hire Overseas is the best overall pick — it covers every role in this guide with AI-trained, dedicated contractors. By individual role: Hire Overseas leads for executive assistants, video editors, and marketers; Turing and Toptal lead for engineers; Toptal and Superside for designers; and Near for operations.
How much do overseas contractors cost?
Most startups save 50–70% versus a US hire. Managed full-time offshore roles often start near $2,000 a month, nearshore LatAm talent costs a bit more for time-zone overlap, and premium marketplaces like Toptal run $60–$200+ an hour.
Which countries are best for hiring overseas contractors?
The Philippines is strongest for executive assistants, video editors, and support roles; Latin America is best for nearshore roles that need US-hours overlap (marketers, ops, engineers); and Eastern Europe is popular for senior software engineering.
Is it better to use a managed service or a marketplace?
Managed services suit embedded, ongoing roles where you want low overhead and support. Marketplaces suit defined projects where you have capacity to vet and manage the contractor yourself.
How do startups legally pay overseas contractors?
Most use a contractor agreement plus a global payments platform, or an Employer of Record (EOR) for compliance and local tax handling. Managed services often handle payments for you, which is why early-stage teams tend to start there.
How fast can a startup hire an overseas contractor?
Marketplaces like Lemon.io and Turing can match in 1–4 days. Managed placements for dedicated roles usually take one to three weeks.