Move over, India and China. There’s a new mobile development outsourcing hub in town.
Eastern Europe.
Countries in the region, like Poland and Croatia, offer an unbeatable combination of affordable rates, a large pool of talent, and a great cultural fit.
And with more than 3,380 software development agencies in Eastern Europe as of 2023, clients are spoiled for choice.
But if you’re looking for the best of the best, here are the top mobile app developers in Eastern Europe that deserve your consideration.
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DECODE
DECODE is a mobile app and software development agency headquartered in Zagreb, Croatia. It was founded in 2011 by three engineers from the University of Zagreb.
The company currently has a roster of more than 80 developers across a wide range of skills and experiences.
This talent pool allows us to work on complex projects efficiently, whether it’s a bespoke messaging app or an Internet of Things (IoT) project.
But despite DECODE’s excellent service, technical capabilities, and extensive portfolio, we’re also one of the more cost-effective agencies in Eastern Europe.
Rates range from $50 to $99 an hour.
Droids on Roids
Droids on Roids is one of Poland’s top mobile app agencies, offering both mobile app and web development services.
The company was founded in 2011 and has amassed an impressive list of 130+ international clients since then.
These include well-known brands like Disney, Knorr Bremse, and NCC.
Droids on Roids offer the full spectrum of mobile app development, including native apps and cross-platform solutions using Flutter and Dart. The firm also covers UX and UI design.
One of their unique offers is their trial scheme. This allows clients to try them out for two weeks and keep the code if they cancel.
Their agile methodology also lets them provide a working demo within seven days of project kick-off.
Droids on Roids cater very well to startups and mid-sized companies in e-commerce, fintech, and the Internet of Things. Their rates start at $50 per hour.
Empat
Empat touts itself as a human-oriented software development company, reflected in its focus on creating app ecosystems centered around the user experience.
As such, they’re very proud of their UX and UI design capabilities.
The agency was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Empat offers a full-stack mobile app development service called Startup Studio. This includes everything from hatching up an idea to executing and even marketing it.
They also cover business aspects like metrics and analytics.
Empat mostly serves the education, financial services, and healthcare industry.
For example, one of their notable projects is a dental care app that helps users identify the right treatments based on their diet, lifestyle, and behavior.
Among their key clients are notable names like Porsche, Panasonic, Obimy, and the Austrian Embassy. Price-wise, Empat is quite affordable, with hourly rates at $25-$49.
itCraft
itCraft is another Polish mobile app agency, based in the capital city of Warsaw.
Founded in 2010, the company is one of the country’s top development houses, boasting a team of over 100 developers, UX designers, and specialists.
They also have auxiliary roles like project managers and QA engineers.
The result is that they can offer a full-stack development service for various industries and companies, ranging from startups to global conglomerates.
Key clients include Deloitte, DHL, Sodexo, and Bank BPH.
They also have over 350 successful projects to their name across comprehensive niches like booking apps, R&D, ride-hailing platforms, and streaming solutions.
Given that itCraft is ISO27001 and ISO9001 certified, you’d think they have rates comparable to American standards.
But that’s not the case, as they typically only charge $50-$99 an hour for development work.
Miquido
Miquido is another veteran agency in the Polish app development scene.
Since 2011, they have completed over 150 successful software projects in the fintech, e-commerce, entertainment, and healthcare niches.
One of Miquido’s key competencies is artificial intelligence. They have extensive technical skills in data science, natural language processing (NLP), and computer vision.
Miquido prides itself on a full-stack service that covers not just app development but also the business side.
Because of this, they often enter long-term partnerships that allow them to manage and maintain app projects for clients.
As such, they have earned an impressive list of clients, including Nestle, BNP Paribas, Dolby, and HelloFresh. But yet, their rates are fairly reasonable at around $50-$99 per hour.
Netguru
Netguru is a software project headquartered in Poznan, Poland, with a presence in Berlin and London.
Founded in 2008, it’s one of the most respected agencies in the country, trusted by the biggest names in the world, like UBS, Volkswagen, and Ikea.
Netguru offers a full spectrum of software development services beyond mobile apps. They’re also proficient in web design, big data consulting, and cloud consulting.
The firm mostly serves mid-sized companies (those with sizes of less than $1 billion) and multinational enterprises. That gives you an idea of the maturity and capability of their services.
Thanks to their technical skills and innovativeness, nomtek has worked with respectable brands like Siemens, Qualcomm, Unicity, and AREA15.
To serve them, the firm employs more than 100 consultants and developers, including support staff in Germany and North America.
As of 2023, their development rates are at $70 per hour on average, making it pretty reasonable, given the expertise they provide.
SoftwareHut
SoftwareHut is an award-winning agency based in Poland.
While relatively young (founded only in 2015), they’ve already won numerous accolades, such as the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 and Financial Times Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies.
The agency also has an impressive presence worldwide, with eight international offices in key hubs like North America, the UK, Germany, and France.
SoftwareHut focuses on serving large enterprises and conglomerates by creating business services and app solutions.
Their key clients include big companies like Microsoft, SafeLaw, Orbis Information Systems, and Skyscanner.
For example, SoftwareHut created an app solution for a healthcare provider and a software platform for Poland’s largest energy distributor.
All in all, the agency has completed over 450 projects.
It owes much of this success to its pool of over 200 employees, which includes skilled developers and scrum masters.
Plus, they’re one of the lowest-priced agencies in Poland, charging only $25-$49 per hour.
Tapptitude
Tapptitude is a Romanian mobile development agency geared towards smaller businesses and startups.
They also prefer to enter long-term partnerships that allow them to nurture app projects from start to finish.
The agency offers a full-stack service, from idea generation to execution and maintenance.
They’re also proficient in various niches like AI, product strategy, and product growth, giving them the flexibility to handle any project.
You can see their capabilities in the functional and visually pleasing apps they create.
Tapptitude has over 100 developers, UX designers, managers, and strategists among its ranks.
Over them, they have created over 120 successful apps across ten industries. And with such an experience, they still charge a reasonable $50-$99 per hour for their services.
Wolfpack Digital
Another Romanian developer, Wolfpack Digital, was founded back in 2015.
Yet, at such a relatively young age, the firm has already earned recognition from the European Technology Awards in the app development category.
They’ve also been featured in Fast Company and TechCrunch.
Wolfpack Digital provides full app development services, including product strategy, app development, UI/UX design, QA, and maintenance.
Their niche focus tends to be on medical, fintech, and IT services.
For instance, the agency developed Ikigai, a beautifully-executed wealth management and banking app.
Wolfpack Digital comprises a relatively lean team of 85 employees, each with vast experience in app development, UI design, project management, and quality assurance.
Rates are quite reasonable at just $50-$99 per hour.
You Are Launched
This agency’s name gives you a clear idea of what it’s all about—launching successful apps for startups and smaller businesses since 2016.
You Are Launched is a firm proponent of the lean startup methodology.
They’re well-suited for creating MVPs and prototypes for startups wanting to get their apps to market as soon as possible.
And they have already launched over 70 successful and innovative startup projects.
You Are Launched’s service speed and agility matches their offer well.
Project kick-off is in a week, and you can even try them out first for two weeks and are covered by a money-back guarantee.
And with an hourly rate of less than $50 an hour, it’s an agency well-suited to the short timeframes and small budgets of startups.
Which agency should you go for?
We hope we’ve enticed you to consider Eastern Europe for your next outsourced app project. Right now, it’s one of the most cost-effective ways to build successful apps.
Of course, you can only reap these benefits if you hire the right agency.
There are several factors to consider when doing this, which could spell the success or failure of your project.
To help you out, we’ve written an excellent article on how to pick the right agency. Click here to read it.
And once you’ve read it, feel free to contact us and we’ll set up a quick call to see how we can meet your needs.
Marko started DECODE with co-founders Peter and Mario, and a decade later, leads the company as CEO. His role is now almost entirely centred around business strategy, though his extensive background in software engineering makes sure he sees the future of the company from every angle.
A graduate of the University of Zagreb’s Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, he’s fascinated by the architecture of mobile apps and reactive programming, and a strong believer in life-long learning. Always ready for action. Or an impromptu skiing trip.
