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Software QA outsourcing in 2026: costs, engagement models and how to choose a testing partner

Hourly and monthly QA rates by region, manual versus automated testing, Playwright versus Selenium, and the questions that separate good QA partners from bad ones.

September 8, 20269 min readTexas Solutions QA practice · Quality assurance

Short answer: outsourced QA engineers cost about US$70 to US$120 an hour in the US, £50 to £90 in the UK and €35 to €85 in Eastern Europe. A managed QA team costs roughly US$4,000 to US$8,000 a month. The best value usually comes from automating regression tests and keeping skilled manual testers for new features.

Which QA engagement model fits?

  • Project-based testing: a defined release or product launch.
  • Managed QA: a partner owns the test strategy, automation and reporting.
  • QA staff augmentation: named testers join your sprints and tools.

Playwright, Cypress or Selenium?

Playwright is the strongest default for new web projects: fast, reliable and cross-browser. Cypress suits teams already invested in it. Selenium remains useful for legacy suites and large browser grids. Choose the tool your team can maintain.

Questions to ask a QA partner

  1. How do you measure coverage: by code line or by user journey?
  2. How do you handle flaky tests?
  3. Will the test suite live in our repository and CI?
  4. What does a defect report include?
  5. How quickly can testers join our sprints, and how do you handle turnover?
QA outsourcingTest automationSoftware testing cost

Turn the reading into a number

The calculator uses the same published ranges referenced in these articles. Seven questions and you have a figure in your own currency.

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