Hiring Brazilian developers from Canada
Yes, and the time zone is the reason it works: Brazil sits 1–2 hours ahead of Toronto and shares 7–8 hours of an ordinary working day with Eastern Canada — the same overlap a New York team gets. A senior engineer costs $4,900 a month flat, about 29% below the Canadian median base wage, with no payroll, no CPP or EI, and no entity to open.
The hours line up the same way they do for a U.S. team
This is the part that costs us nothing to offer and is worth the most to you: Canada sits in the same four time zones as the United States, so every overlap figure on this site applies to you unchanged.
| Where your team is | Zone | Brazil is ahead by | Shared working hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto, Montréal, Ottawa, Waterloo | Eastern | 1–2 hours | 7–8 hours |
| Calgary, Edmonton | Mountain | 3–4 hours | 5–6 hours |
| Vancouver, Victoria | Pacific | 4–5 hours | 4–5 hours |
On ordinary Brazilian hours, 9 AM to 6 PM, against a 9-to-5 working day. Nobody works a night shift for this.
What it costs, compared with the number you actually know
Most vendors quote Canadians the savings they calculated for Americans. Those figures are real and they are not yours: a senior engineer in Canada already costs well below one in the United States, so the gap you are buying is narrower than the one in the brochure.
- Canadian median, software design engineer: CAD 56.49 an hour — about $82,334 a year at 1.4271 CAD to the dollar.
- A senior through us: $4,900 a month, $58,800 a year, flat and all-inclusive.
- The difference: about 29% — and that is against base wage only. CPP, EI, vacation accrual and benefits land on the Canadian number and never on ours.
Sources: Government of Canada Job Bank, wage data, Software Design Engineer (NOC 21231), November 2025 release, 2023–2024 reference period · exchange rate from the Bank of Canada, daily exchange rate (FXUSDCAD), 2026-10-09. Both are hand-checked constants on this site, not a live feed: if the rate has moved since that date, redo the division with today's and the comparison still holds its shape.
What is the same as for any other client
- Flat monthly rate per engineer: Mid-level engineer $3,500 · Senior engineer $4,900 · Tech lead / staff engineer $6,400.
- Month to month, 30 days notice, no recruiting fee and no conversion fee.
- One invoice for services in U.S. dollars. No payroll, no CPP, no EI, no entity in Brazil.
- Written IP assignment running from the engineer to us to you — the whole contract is published.
- Candidates with a short video answering your brief, so the first call you take is your own interview.
Where Canada is not the right question
If what you are really comparing is countries rather than suppliers, the developer rates by country table puts seven of them in one list, ordered by price — which puts two above us. Read that one first; it will tell you faster than we can whether Brazil is even the right conversation.
Frequently asked questions
How does the cost compare with hiring a developer in Canada?
Job Bank puts the national median for a software design engineer at CAD 56.49 an hour (November 2025 data, 2023–2024 reference period) — about $82,334 a year at 1.4271 CAD to the dollar. Our senior rate is $58,800 a year, roughly 29% less, and that compares against base wage alone: your CPP, EI, vacation accrual and benefits sit on top of the Canadian number and not on ours. We quote the honest version — against a U.S. hire the gap is far wider, and if you have seen a vendor claim those U.S. percentages for Canada, they were selling you someone else’s arithmetic.
Is the time-zone overlap the same as for a U.S. company?
Identical, because the zones are the same. Eastern Canada gets 7–8 hours, Mountain 5–6, Pacific 4–5. Brazil also abolished daylight saving in 2019 while Canada did not, so the gap shifts by an hour in March and November — the engagement states the agreed window, which is why it does not drift in practice.
Do we need a Canadian entity, or to worry about CRA rules?
No entity. The engineer is contracted by the studio in Brazil and you receive one invoice for services, the same as any other foreign supplier — your accountant treats it as a service expense, not payroll. We are not your tax advisers and we will not pretend to be: ask yours how your province treats a foreign contractor invoice before you sign.
What currency do you invoice in?
U.S. dollars, monthly in advance, by wire or ACH. If your finance team needs CAD, say so in the first email — we would rather sort that out before a contract than after.
Does the contract assume a U.S. client?
Not any more. The agreement sets the engineer’s hours as the window agreed with you in writing, not "U.S. business hours" — it used to say the latter, which was simply false on paper for a Canadian buyer. It is still governed by Delaware law, which Canadian companies routinely sign; if yours needs Ontario or British Columbia instead, ask in the first email. The whole contract is published on this site.
Tell us the role from Toronto, Vancouver or anywhere else
Written quote the same day, no call required. If your case is better served somewhere other than Brazil we will say so in writing.