Pricing | Second Talent
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Pricing tailored to every way you hire

Pick the engagement model that fits your team, switch or combine whenever you need. Fixed fees in your local currency, no hourly rates, no surprises.

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Monthly subscription

Developer on Monthly

Full-time, pre-vetted APAC engineers, fully managed.

Starting at

$2,999* / mo

*First-month price for new clients, then $4,999/mo. Rate varies by stack and seniority.

What's included

  • Developer's full salary, payroll & taxes
  • Compliant employment (EOR included)
  • Equipment & software licenses
  • Dedicated engineer partner
  • HRIS platform to manage your team

Guarantees

  • 30-day replacement guarantee
  • IP assigns to you + NDAs
  • No upfront fees, rolling monthly, cancel anytime
Request Custom Price →
Employer of Record

EOR

Employ full-time staff compliantly, no local entity needed.

Starting from

$129* / employee / mo

*Final rate varies by country, headcount, and benefits scope.

What's included

  • Legal employment in-country
  • Employment contracts
  • Payroll processing
  • Statutory compliance
  • Benefits administration
  • Tax & compliance reporting
  • HRIS platform included

Guarantees

  • IP & confidentiality protection
  • No upfront fees
  • Cancel with standard notice
Request Custom Price →
Permanent placement

Direct Hire

We find and vet, you hire directly. Pay once.

Starting from

20%* of annual salary

*Final fee varies by role, seniority, and hiring volume.

What's included

  • Sourcing & vetting
  • Shortlist of 3 candidates
  • Interview coordination
  • Offer management

Guarantees

  • 90-day replacement guarantee
  • No upfront fee — pay only on successful placement
  • IP assigns to you by default
Request Custom Price →

Every price above is a starting point. Your final rate is tailored to your exact requirements — stack, seniority, country, and volume. Request a custom quote and we'll send you an all-in figure with no hidden fees.

See your real savings

Compare the all-in monthly cost of hiring through Second Talent vs hiring in-house in your home market. Every figure includes salary, taxes, benefits, and overhead.

What are you looking for?

Hiring with Second Talent 🇵🇭

$3,300

to $6,300 / month

That's $40k–$76k / year

Save an avg. of $173,640/year

All expenses included. No hidden costs.

Hiring in United States 🇺🇸

$13,079

to $25,461 / month

That's $157k–$306k / year

75% Higher annual cost

Based on salary benchmarks including region-specific employment costs.

Rates vary by stack, location, and seniority. The figure you see is the all-in monthly fee. There are no recruitment commissions, hidden fees, or extras.

Hire Developers

Second Talent vs the alternatives

Second Talent In-House (US) Traditional Agency Freelancer
Total monthly cost (senior) $4,500 – $6,500 $13,000 – $25,000 $10,000 – $18,000 $7,000 – $12,000
Time to first shortlist 24 hours 4–8 weeks 2–4 weeks 1–2 weeks
Pre-vetted technical screening Sometimes
Full-time dedicated engineer
Employment, payroll & compliance You handle You handle You handle
Equipment & tooling included
Replacement guarantee Limited
IP assigned to you by default Negotiate Negotiate
Cancel / scale anytime Long contracts

Don't just take our word for it

Thanks to Second Talent, Open Campus quickly built a skilled tech team of 10 within two months, boosting productivity by 70% and accelerating our Web3 platform's development.

This success has strengthened our role in decentralized education and fueled our market expansion, highlighting our leadership in Web3 innovation.

Jonah L.

Jonah L.

Head of Portfolio (raised US$100m)

Animoca Brands

Second Talent helped Beyond Cars (acquired by Carro) swiftly build a top-tier tech team in just a month, accelerating our platform's development and boosting productivity.

This success allowed us to expand into new markets, ultimately leading to our acquisition by a major automotive e-commerce company.

Garry Y.

Garry Y.

Co-Founder (acquired by Carro)

Carro

Partnering with Second Talent has been a game-changer for our tech expansion.

Their ability to source top-tier talent from Vietnam helped us scale rapidly while maintaining quality. Their pre-vetted candidates integrated seamlessly, and their account management ensured smooth onboarding.

Tom F.

Tom F.

Co-founder (#1 US Real Estate Coach)

Tom Ferry

Second Talent played a key role in our tech expansion, quickly providing high-quality frontend talent that integrated seamlessly into our projects.

Their pre-vetted candidates, smooth onboarding process, and excellent support helped us build a strong, cost-effective team that drives our success.

Marco A.

Marco A.

Co-founder & CTO

Finno

Second Talent built our team of pre-vetted engineers who made our hiring decisions straightforward.

Once onboarded, our tech team saw a significant boost in productivity and development speed. Their excellent account management and responsive customer service also ensured smooth handling of all post-onboarding HR matters.

Jack N.

Jack N.

Director of IT (10,000+ employees)

Lane Crawford

Second Talent helped us rapidly scale by sourcing top-quality SDR talent from Indonesia.

Their pre-screened candidates fit perfectly, and their smooth onboarding and support built a strong, cost-effective team that helped to test and experiment sales with another market.

Leo W.

Leo W.

Co-founder (raised US$5m)

imbee

Pricing FAQs

EOR

Employer of record

What is an Employer of Record (EOR), and when do I need one?
An EOR is a third-party organization that becomes the legal employer for your remote workforce in countries where you do not have a local entity. Second Talent acts as the EOR, handling employment contracts, payroll, tax filings, benefits, and compliance with local labor laws. You need one whenever you want to hire someone in a country where you are not already set up to employ.
What's included in the EOR per-employee fee?
Employment contract drafting and execution under local law, monthly payroll processing and salary disbursement, tax filings and statutory contributions, benefits administration (health, leave, local statutory requirements), ongoing HR support, and employee onboarding and offboarding. Pricing starts at $129 per employee per month for our APAC core markets, and $249 per employee per month for 20+ country coverage with multi-currency payroll and full benefits administration. The Custom plan extends to 100+ countries with consolidated global payroll and SLA-backed guarantees.
Which countries does Second Talent cover for EOR?
We provide EOR services across nine Asian markets with dedicated compliance expertise and established local payroll infrastructure in each: Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, and Thailand. The $249 plan extends to 20+ countries, and the Custom plan reaches 100+ countries, covering most of EMEA, LATAM, and North America.
Are statutory contributions and benefits included in the price?
No, those are billed separately at cost. Employer-side social contributions, mandatory health insurance, leave provisions, and country-specific levies vary widely between markets, so we pass them through transparently rather than averaging them into the headline fee.
Is EOR faster and cheaper than setting up a local entity?
Almost always, yes, especially in the early stages of international hiring. Setting up a legal entity typically takes 3 to 6 months and costs tens of thousands of dollars in legal and registration fees, plus ongoing local accounting and HR infrastructure. EOR gets you hiring in weeks, with no upfront entity cost and no fixed local overhead. Once you cross 10 to 20 employees in a market and the entity math starts to work, you can transition off EOR.
Can EOR employees be converted to direct employees later?
Yes. Once you set up your own in-country entity, we transfer employment over with full continuity of service. Tenure, leave balances, and benefits carry across so the employee experience is seamless throughout.
What happens if I need to terminate an EOR employee?
We manage the full termination process in compliance with local law: notice periods, severance calculations, legal documentation, and final payroll processing. Always speak to your account manager before initiating a termination so we can advise on the right process for the specific market.

Monthly engineers

Monthly Talent Subscription

When do I start paying, and are there upfront costs?
$0 upfront fees, ever. You only start paying once a developer you approved is officially onboarded. No recruitment fees, no hidden costs, no platform charges. One simple monthly fee per developer, no service fees on top.
What's included in the monthly subscription fee?
Everything: the developer's full salary, payroll and taxes, social contributions and benefits, compliant employment as the legal employer of record, equipment and software licenses, your dedicated engineer partner, and our replacement guarantee. One flat number, in your local currency.
Is there a long-term contract or commitment?
We don't lock you in. Subscription engagements run on rolling monthly contracts with reasonable notice periods. You can scale up, scale down, or part ways without penalty fees. We keep clients because the service works, not because of contract terms.
What if the engineer isn't the right fit?
Two layers of protection. First, a 7-day trial period at the start, with a full refund if it does not work out. After that, we back every developer with a 90-day satisfaction guarantee, and for the duration of your contract, replacements are unlimited at no additional cost.
How long does it take to onboard an engineer?
You'll have a shortlist of 6 to 8 pre-vetted candidates within 24 hours of your brief. We have 100,000+ senior engineers across Asia ready to interview. Interviews typically happen in the first week. From first conversation to engineer starting, most clients are looking at 1 to 2 weeks for common roles, slightly longer for highly specialised or senior positions.
Can I scale a team up or down?
Yes, both ways. Add engineers with a fresh shortlist in 24 hours when you need to ship faster. Wind down with reasonable notice when a project ends. No long contracts, no minimum team size, no penalties. For subscription clients, scaling is handled entirely by us: payroll, contracts, compliance.
How much can I save compared to hiring in the U.S.?
Most clients save 60-75% compared to equivalent U.S. salaries. A senior full-stack engineer in the U.S. costs $12,000 to $18,000/month, fully loaded. Through Second Talent, the same calibre of developer costs $3,000 to $6,000/month, fully loaded with payroll, compliance, and account management included. No benefits, equipment, or service fees stacked on top.
Do these prices include taxes and benefits?
Yes, all of it. The price you see is the all-in monthly fee. Engineer salary, payroll taxes, social contributions, statutory benefits, and our service fee are all bundled. The only thing not included is project-specific tooling beyond the standard dev kit (e.g. specialty SaaS subscriptions you choose).

Permanent hire

Direct Hire

How does the Direct Hiring fee work?
One-time fee on successful placement. Single hires: 25% of the candidate's total annual fixed compensation. Volume hiring (3 or more roles): 20% per placement. Fee is invoiced within 30 days of the start date. No subscription, no ongoing platform fee.
What counts as "annual fixed compensation" for the fee?
Base salary plus any guaranteed cash components (e.g. fixed 13th-month, signing bonus, guaranteed quarterly draw). Variable pay (commissions, performance bonuses, equity vesting) is excluded from the fee calculation.
What is the replacement guarantee on Direct Hiring?
60 days for Single hires and 90 days for Volume hiring, in line with our brand-wide 90-day satisfaction promise on placement work. If the candidate leaves or is let go within the guarantee window for performance or fit reasons, we run a free replacement search and deliver a new shortlist at no additional cost.
Do you handle interview coordination and offers?
Yes. We coordinate interviews end-to-end (scheduling, reference checks, take-home reviews), prepare comp benchmarks, and handle offer management including negotiation. You get a clean shortlist of 3 vetted candidates per role.
Is the candidate employed by Second Talent or by us?
By you, directly. Direct Hiring is a placement-only service. The candidate signs an employment contract with your entity once the offer is accepted. If you do not have a local entity in the candidate's country, switch to our EOR product to take them on without one.
Why should I trust Second Talent over other platforms?
200+ companies served, 8,000+ engineers placed, 98% client satisfaction. G2 rated #1 in Global Hiring. Trustpilot Excellent. Clutch Top Global B2B. Transparent: $0 upfront fees, no hidden costs, and replacements at no additional cost. We were founded by people who have hired across Asia for years, so we built the operating model and the platform from operator instinct, not from a recruiter rolodex.
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Tell us what you're building. We'll have a vetted shortlist in front of you within 24 hours. No job boards, no CV pile, no time wasted on your end.

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