Offshore AI development from India, on terms that keep it safe
Webify.AI is an offshore AI development company headquartered in Ahmedabad, India, and an IBM Partner. US and UK companies can outsource AI development to named engineers they interview first, with the IP in all code assigned to them.
Your NDA first
We sign it before the first call.
IP assigned to you
All code is yours and lives in your repositories.
Private models if you need them
Open-weight models on your own servers when data cannot leave.
What does an offshore AI development company do?
An offshore AI development company builds AI systems for clients in another country, usually at lower rates than local hiring. Webify.AI does this from Ahmedabad, India. Our engineers build AI agents, retrieval over documents and LLM features. They deploy them on IBM watsonx, open-weight models or hosted models.
AI development outsourcing takes two forms. You can hire offshore AI developers into your own team and direct them yourself. Or you can hand a defined project to the provider. Webify.AI offers both, and most of this page applies to either.
We are also the company behind the AI agents in our Bot Store, which covers many industries. So our engineers work on agent projects of our own, not only on client tickets.
An offshore AI development team is not a cheaper copy of a local one. It works across a time difference, under a contract written for another country, with your data travelling further. The sections below cover how to handle each of those.
How does outsourcing AI development to Webify.AI work?
Define the problem and how you will measure success. Choose between staff augmentation and a fixed project. Set data rules, then shortlist providers and ask about IP, data and replacement. Interview the named engineers, sign the NDA and contract, and start with a short trial on real work, measured against your test set.
- 1
Write down the problem and the measure of success
Describe the task in a paragraph. Then collect a few dozen real examples with the answer you would accept. That set becomes your test.
- 2
Choose an engagement model
Pick staff augmentation if you will direct the work, or a fixed project if you want the provider to own it. See AI staff augmentation for the trade-offs.
- 3
Set your data rules
Decide which data the engineers may see, and remove personal data where it is not needed. Decide whether data may reach a hosted model at all.
- 4
Shortlist providers and ask the hard questions
Ask who owns the IP, who will do the work, whether they subcontract, and what happens if an engineer leaves. Get the answers in writing.
- 5
Interview the named engineers
Meet the people who will do the work, not only a sales lead. Ask them how they would test your system.
- 6
Sign the NDA and the contract
Sign the NDA before you share details. Check that the contract names the engineers and assigns the IP in all code to you.
- 7
Run a short trial on real work
Give the engineer a small, measurable task. Judge the result against your test set, not against a demo.
- 8
Set the working rhythm
Agree overlap hours, a daily written update and a weekly demo. Keep code, prompts and documents in your own systems from day one.
With Webify.AI, steps five to seven follow our standard terms. We send two named profiles within 48 hours, sign your NDA before the first call and start every engagement with a two-week trial.
Our rates
Published prices in US dollars. Monthly plans are 160 hours, about 15% below the hourly rate.
Mid-level developer
3 to 5 years
$25 / hour
$3,400 a month (160 h)
Senior developer
6 or more years
$35 / hour
$4,750 a month (160 h)
AI / LLM engineer
Agents, RAG, IBM watsonx
$45 / hour
$6,100 a month (160 h)
Senior AI engineer
Leads AI architecture and delivery
$60 / hour
$8,150 a month (160 h)
Two-week trial with the developer you choose. No charge if you stop within the first five working days. US Eastern clients get 09:00 to 12:00 US Eastern time through an evening shift, at 15% extra. Full pricing and comparisons.
Why hire AI developers in India?
Hire AI developers in India for lower rates, a large software industry and useful overlap with UK and US hours. The Reserve Bank of India reports $204.7 billion of software services exports in 2024-25. Of that, 52.9% went to the US and 15.5% to the UK. Rates vary by provider, so compare named engineers, not countries.
Those figures come from the Reserve Bank of India. They show that buying software work from India is routine for US and UK companies, not an experiment.
The time difference helps too. An Indian working day overlaps with the UK morning at no extra cost, and an evening shift covers the US Eastern morning. Work is delivered from our centre in Ahmedabad, and all client communication is in English.
| Region or provider | Rate | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Asia, senior developer | $31 to $41 an hour | Accelerance, 2026 |
| Latin America, senior developer | $60 to $75 an hour | Accelerance, 2026 |
| Central and Eastern Europe, senior developer | $64 to $76 an hour | Accelerance, 2026 |
| Webify.AI, India: senior developer | $35 an hour | Our published rate |
| Webify.AI, India: AI / LLM engineer | $45 an hour | Our published rate |
| Webify.AI, India: senior ai engineer | $60 an hour | Our published rate |
Accelerance's regional figures cover senior software developers in general, not AI specialists, so compare them with our senior developer rate.
What are the risks of offshore AI development, and how do you reduce them?
It can be, if the contract and working practices protect you. The provider should sign your NDA, assign the IP in all code to you and name the engineers. It should not subcontract without consent or put your code into public AI tools. Ask which security certifications it holds, and ask to see them.
Most checks are the same for any provider, and our security page lists them with our answers. Working with an offshore AI development team adds a few risks of its own. Use this checklist with any AI outsourcing company.
| Offshore risk | What to check |
|---|---|
| Your data crosses a border | Where data is processed, and whether any of it must stay in the UK or the US. Write the answer into the contract. |
| The contract spans two legal systems | Which law governs the contract, where disputes are heard, and whether the IP assignment works in your country. Ask your lawyer. |
| People you never meet get access | That the engineers are named in the contract, and that access is granted person by person, not to the whole company. |
| Work passes to a third party | That subcontracting needs your written consent. |
| Turnover at a distance | What happens when an engineer leaves, how fast they are replaced and how the handover works. |
| Code pasted into public AI tools | A written rule on AI coding tools, and who reviews AI-assisted code. |
| Certificates you cannot verify | Ask for the certificate or audit report itself, not a logo, and check its scope and date. |
How Webify.AI answers these points:
- Data-protection terms are agreed before an engineer touches personal data. If data cannot leave your network, we can build on open-weight models on your own servers.
- Engineers are named in the contract and never swapped without your agreement. We do not subcontract without your consent.
- Free replacement within five working days, with a handover overlap, for as long as the contract runs.
- A person reviews all AI-assisted code, and your code never goes into public AI tools.
- We hold no security certifications: no ISO 27001, SOC 2 or Cyber Essentials. If your buyers require a certified supplier, check this first.
How do you keep code and IP ownership with an offshore AI team?
You should, but only if the contract says so. Code written by an outside company does not usually belong to the client by default, in the UK or the US. Ownership passes through a written assignment. At Webify.AI, the contract assigns the IP in all code to you, and the code lives in your repositories.
AI projects involve more than code, so check each part of the work separately.
| Part of the work | Who owns it | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Code written for you | You, when the contract assigns it | The assignment covers all code, including scripts and tests |
| Prompts, test sets and configuration | Depends on the contract wording | Keep them in your repository, and confirm the assignment covers them |
| Your data | You | The contract limits use of your data to your project |
| Third-party models | The model's owner; you use it under licence | Read the model licence or the provider's terms, especially for commercial use |
| Open-weight model files you run yourself | The publisher, under its licence | Some licences restrict certain uses, so check before you build |
| Fine-tuned versions of a model | Depends on the base model's licence and your contract | Agree in writing who owns the tuned version |
| The provider's own tools and products | The provider | Ask whether anything in your system depends on them |
If you are unsure, ask the provider to list every component they did not write for you. That list shows what you own outright and what you use under licence.
This is general information, not legal advice. Ask your own lawyer to review the IP clause before you sign.
How do I keep data private when an offshore team builds AI?
Share the least data the work needs. Give engineers sample or anonymised data where possible, and decide in writing whether data may reach a hosted model. If it must stay inside your network, run an open-weight model on your own infrastructure. Agree data-protection terms before anyone touches personal data.
- Give access system by system, not blanket admin rights, and remove it when the work ends.
- Use separate model and cloud accounts for development, with spending limits.
- Log which data is sent to any model, and review the logs.
- Keep secrets in a secrets manager, never in code or chat.
- Decide where data is processed, and write it into the contract.
Our rule on AI coding tools helps here too. Your code never goes into public AI tools, and a person reviews all AI-assisted code before it reaches your repository.
For the strictest cases, our offline LLM development service builds systems on open-weight models that run without sending data outside your network.
How do I avoid lock-in with an offshore AI development team?
Keep everything in your own systems from day one. Code goes in your repositories, documents in your wiki, and model and cloud accounts in your company's name. Make sure the contract assigns the IP in all code to you. Then any engineer, from the provider or from your own team, can carry the work on.
- Accounts: model provider, cloud and IBM watsonx accounts belong to your company, with the engineer added as a user.
- Documentation: a short design note for each major part of the system, kept up to date.
- Tests: a test set that anyone can rerun to check the system still works.
- Runbooks: how to deploy, roll back and rotate keys.
- Handover: a written handover before any engineer leaves, and an overlap with the replacement.
At Webify.AI, the last point is part of our terms. Free replacement within five working days, with a handover overlap, for as long as the contract runs.
What is an AI offshore development centre (ODC)?
An AI offshore development centre, or ODC, is a team in another country that works only for one client over the long term. It runs like an extension of the client's own engineering department. At Webify.AI, an AI offshore development center is a dedicated team of named engineers in Ahmedabad, built up one engineer at a time.
Some providers mean something larger by an ODC, such as a separate office and staff hired only for one client. Webify.AI's version is simpler: the engineers work only on your product, follow your processes and are named in your contract.
| Staff augmentation | Offshore development centre | |
|---|---|---|
| Size | One engineer or a few | A standing team that grows over time |
| Time frame | Weeks to months | Months to years |
| Who directs the work | Your team | Your team, often through a lead inside the ODC |
| Processes | Yours | Yours, plus the team's own rituals |
| Typical reason | Extra skills or capacity | A long-term second engineering base |
Both models use the same terms at Webify.AI: named engineers, IP in all code assigned to you, and free replacement.
Start an ODC small. One senior AI engineer can set up the architecture and the working practices before you add more people. A team grown this way keeps its knowledge in your systems.
How do working hours overlap with an offshore AI development team?
For UK teams, overlap runs from 09:00 to 13:00 UK time every working day, inside a normal Indian working day, at no extra cost. For US teams, an evening shift covers 09:00 to 12:00 Eastern at 15% extra. That is 08:00 to 11:00 Central and 06:00 to 09:00 Pacific.
| Client location | Overlap | Extra cost |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 09:00 to 13:00 UK time | None |
| US Eastern | 09:00 to 12:00 ET, on the evening shift | 15% |
| US Central | 08:00 to 11:00 CT, on the evening shift | 15% |
| US Pacific | 06:00 to 09:00 PT on the evening shift, or asynchronous work | 15% for the evening shift |
Spend overlap time on decisions: stand-ups, design reviews and the questions that block work. A written handover at the end of each Indian working day keeps your team up to date.
Invoices follow your location. US clients pay in USD, and we provide a W-8BEN-E form on request. UK clients pay in GBP.
Frequently asked questions
Is offshore AI development cheaper than hiring locally?
Per hour, usually. KORE1 lists US staffing-agency rates for AI / ML engineers at $140 to $240 an hour in 2026. A Webify.AI AI / LLM engineer costs $45 an hour. A lower rate only saves money if the work is good, which is why we start with a trial.
What is the difference between offshore and nearshore AI development?
Offshore means a provider far away, often in a very different time zone, such as India for US and UK clients. Nearshore means a nearby country with closer hours, such as Latin America for the US. Accelerance's 2026 figures put senior developers at $31 to $41 an hour in Asia and $60 to $75 in Latin America.
How do UK companies pay for offshore AI developers?
In pounds sterling. AI / LLM engineers cost £36 an hour (£288 for an 8-hour day), and senior AI engineers £48 an hour (£384 a day). For comparison, IT Jobs Watch puts the UK median for a contract software developer at £525 a day.
How do US companies pay an offshore AI development company?
In US dollars. Hourly plans are billed every two weeks against timesheets, and monthly plans in advance. We provide a W-8BEN-E form on request for your accounts team.
Will you sign an NDA before we share project details?
Yes. We sign your NDA before the first call, so you can share details of the project from the start.
Do you subcontract work to other companies?
Not without your consent. The engineers who work on your project are named in the contract and are never swapped without your agreement.
What happens to our code if we stop working together?
It stays with you. Engineers commit to your repositories, and the IP in all code is assigned to you, so ending the engagement does not affect your ownership.
Can we outsource AI development as a fixed project?
Yes. If you have a defined scope and would rather not manage engineers yourself, we can deliver it as a project. Describe it through our contact form, with how you will judge success.
Can offshore machine learning engineers work in our cloud account?
Yes, with the access you grant. Keep the account in your company's name and add the engineer as a user with only the permissions the work needs. Check the engineer's experience with your cloud in the interview.
Do you work with IBM watsonx?
Yes. Webify.AI is an IBM Partner and deploys AI on IBM watsonx, as well as on open-weight and hosted models. Tell us which platform you use when you request profiles.
How quickly can an offshore AI development team start?
We send two named profiles within 48 hours of a request. After you interview and choose, the engineer starts on the date you agree. A larger team takes longer, because you interview each person.
Ask for two offshore AI engineer profiles
Tell us the role and when you need someone. We'll email two named engineers with their experience and availability within 48 hours, and you choose who to interview.
- No cost to receive profiles
- Two-week trial with the developer you choose. No charge if you stop within the first five working days.
- Invoiced in USD or GBP; IP assigned to you.