CodersLink pricing explained: how we charge, what is inside the rate, and what we will not publish

Most nearshore vendors handle the pricing question one of two ways: publish a rate card that will be wrong for your role, or hide everything behind "contact sales". We do a third thing. This post explains how CodersLink charges for each of its five services, what sits inside a Staff Augmentation monthly rate, which starting rates we publish and which numbers we will not, what other vendors publish that we do not, and how to compare quotes across vendors so that the cheapest-looking line item does not turn out to be the most expensive engagement.

How does CodersLink charge for each service?

Five services, five structures. Staff Augmentation is a fixed monthly rate per engineer. MESHubs is a markup plus a transfer fee when the team moves onto your entity. Nearshore RPO is a monthly cost per dedicated recruiter plus a success fee. Direct Hire is a one-time placement fee as a percentage of annual salary. EOR is a markup with a floor, embedded inside Staff Augmentation and MESHubs so it does not compound.

Two things follow from the table. First, EOR and Direct Hire are mechanisms inside the ladder, not products we sell on their own; if you only need payroll for a person you already found, a platform such as Deel or Remote will be cheaper than us, and we say so below. Second, the commitment levels are the part a buyer can use to self-select: a twelve-month minimum on a hub is a different decision from a month-to-month engineer, and the comparison hub lays the three intensities out.

What is inside a Staff Augmentation monthly rate?

One invoice, three components: the engineer's compensation, the engineer-care package, and CodersLink's fee. Nothing is deducted from what the engineer earns. Nobody on your team administers Mexican payroll, benefits or equipment, and there is no separate platform, EOR or onboarding line.

1. The engineer's compensation. Benchmarked to the market using our own Mexico Tech Salaries Report, so the number is defensible against the data rather than against a recruiter's instinct. In RPO, the same data is built into offers to stop the over-payment that unbenchmarked nearshore hiring tends to produce.
2. The engineer-care package. Staff Augmentation engineers engage through a Mexican contractor structure that CodersLink designed and carries. We add back, voluntarily, what a contractor arrangement usually strips out: private major medical with dental and vision, paid time off, paid Mexican holidays, a home-office allowance, an end-of-engagement bonus and performance reviews. We run an engineer-care function, not a payroll function.
3. CodersLink's fee. Negotiated with you, the employer, and never taken out of the engineer's pay. This is the difference between us and a marketplace that skims the contractor's rate: the engineer knows what they earn, and it is not a function of what you were charged.

Which CodersLink rates are published?

Starting rates on Staff Augmentation: from $6,500 per engineer per month for a mid-level engineer, $7,500 for a senior and $10,500 for staff-plus, all-in. MESHubs runs on a markup as low as 12%, with 15% standard from ten FTEs, plus a transfer fee when the team moves onto your entity. Your exact rate depends on seniority, stack, volume and term.

"Starts from" means exactly that. A senior backend engineer in a mainstream stack sits near the floor; a staff-level engineer in a scarce specialisation with client-facing C1 English does not. What we will not do is publish a ceiling, a range by role family, or a payment term, for a reason we explain next. What we will do is put the rate for your specific roles in writing within 24 hours of a scoping call, before you sign anything.

What will CodersLink not publish, and why?

We do not publish rate ceilings, ranges by role, our margin, discount thresholds, payment terms or minimum project sizes. A published markup is permanent and gets quoted back in every negotiation; a quoted rate is specific to your roles and negotiable. You still get a number in 24 hours, in writing, before you start.

This is the honest trade-off. Some vendors publish a full split or an hourly card, and we list them below because you should know it. The cost of a published card is that it is set for the average role, and your roles are not average: seniority, stack, English level, volume and term all move the number. The cost of our approach is that you have to ask. We try to make asking cheap: a thirty-minute scoping call, and the structure above plus the rate for each of your roles in writing within a day. If you see a directory profile quoting a minimum project size or an hourly figure for CodersLink, it was not authorised by us and it is not how we charge.

What do other vendors publish that CodersLink does not?

Several competitors publish amounts or splits, and that is a legitimate point in their favour. Howdy publishes an 85/15 split, Teilur a 20% flat fee, TECLA all-inclusive hourly rates, Arc.dev an hourly band and a 20% full-time fee, Deel and Remote flat monthly EOR fees. The table quotes each as published on the vendor's own site on 5 September 2026.

"Does not publish" means we could not find the term stated publicly on the date given; it never means the term does not exist. The right way to read the table is by model, not by number: an 85/15 split, a $599 EOR fee and a fixed monthly rate are answers to three different questions. Our side-by-side pages walk through the model differences vendor by vendor, for example CodersLink vs Howdy, CodersLink vs Toptal and CodersLink vs TECLA.

Why does EOR not add a second fee at CodersLink?

Because EOR sits inside Staff Augmentation and MESHubs rather than alongside them, it does not compound on top of those engagements. A buyer who pairs a recruiter with a $599 or $699 platform fee is paying for two things; the monthly rate above already includes the legal employment layer where it applies.

This is the one pricing-adjacent fact that helps us and costs you nothing to check. Where a client contracts directly with CodersLink MX S.A. de C.V., that entity holds the relevant Mexican registrations, including REPSE, and the obligations that come with them. An EOR platform makes employment legal; it does not find the engineer, vet the engineer, or replace the engineer when they leave. If you already have the candidate and a strong employer brand, the platform is the right buy and we will tell you so. If you need ten engineers in Mexico and have no pipeline there, the EOR is the rail; the engagement is the train.

How should you compare quotes across nearshore vendors?

Compare total cost of a working engineer over the term you actually intend, not the headline rate. Seven items move the real number: trial versus replacement terms, platform fees stacked on staffing fees, conversion or buy-out fees, notice periods, who pays for equipment, currency, and what the engineer receives, because that drives retention.

Run the same seven items past every vendor on your shortlist. Where a vendor cannot answer one in writing, that is the line item that will surprise you later.

What do the market benchmarks say, and what do they not say?

The Mexico Tech Salaries Report 2026 is public market data: 10,246 verified respondents across 36 roles and 32 states, a median technology salary in Mexico of MXN 55,000 net per month, and engineers with C2 English earning 2.03 times those at B1. It is what engineers earn, not what CodersLink charges.

Use it to sanity-check any vendor's quote, including ours: if the compensation component implied by a rate sits far below the market median for the role and English level, the engineer will leave. The report is cited by other vendors' own benchmarks, which is a reasonable sign it is reference data for the category rather than marketing. On the savings question, clients report 30–57% savings versus comparable US hiring, and the published Q2 case study documents roughly $600K saved in the first nine months of a 57-person integration. It is a real number and, as we say elsewhere, the least interesting one.

The other posts in this series cover the questions this one raises: CodersLink review 2026 answers what clients and competitors say, and Is CodersLink legit? covers entities, registrations and the year we restructured.

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Frequently asked questions

How much does CodersLink cost per month?

Staff Augmentation starts from $6,500 per engineer per month for a mid-level engineer, $7,500 for a senior and $10,500 for staff-plus, all-in. Your exact rate depends on seniority, stack, volume and term, and it is put in writing within 24 hours of a scoping call, before you sign.

Does CodersLink charge a placement fee?

On Staff Augmentation, no: it is a fixed monthly rate per engineer. Direct Hire carries a one-time placement fee as a percentage of annual salary, Nearshore RPO a monthly cost per recruiter plus a success fee, and MESHubs a markup plus a transfer fee. We never take a cut of the engineer's pay.

Is there a minimum project size or minimum term?

We do not publish a minimum project size, and any directory figure you see was not set by us. Staff Augmentation is the lowest commitment in the stack; MESHubs carries a twelve-month minimum; Nearshore RPO a three-month minimum.

Does CodersLink take a percentage of the engineer's salary?

No. Our fee is negotiated with the employer and is never deducted from what the engineer earns. That is the structural difference from marketplaces that skim the contractor's rate.

Does EOR add a separate fee on top of staff augmentation?

No. EOR sits inside Staff Augmentation and MESHubs rather than alongside them, so it does not compound. Where you contract with CodersLink MX S.A. de C.V., that entity holds the Mexican registrations, including REPSE.

Is there a free trial?

No. Our equivalent is open-ended: unlimited free replacements on Staff Augmentation with no time limit, no cap and no fee, with sourcing restarting within one business day.

Sources and dating

Every competitor term above was read on the vendor's own site on 5 September 2026 unless marked third-party. "Does not publish" means we could not find the term stated publicly; it does not mean the term does not exist. Vendors change terms; re-check before you sign. This article is general information, not legal, tax or immigration advice.

• Howdy — FAQ (85/15 split)
• Teilur Talent — homepage (20% flat fee)
• TECLA — pricing
• Hire South — homepage
• Alcor — IT recruitment services Mexico
• Arc.dev — pricing
• Toptal — pricing
• Revelo — pricing
• Near — pricing
• Deel — pricing
• Remote — pricing
• CodersLink — Mexico Tech Salaries Report 2026
• CodersLink — Q2 case study

Written by Carlos A. Vázquez. Part of the CodersLink vs the market series. Reviewed quarterly.