Pricing is straightforward and transparent. You pay a flat hourly or monthly rate that already includes salaries, benefits, equipment, management overhead, and local taxes. No recruitment fees, no hidden mark-ups. Rates vary by seniority and automation skill set, but most clients fall between USD 35–65 per engineer-hour. Because the developers remain on smartbrain.io’s payroll, you skip employer-of-record fees, healthcare contributions, and holiday accruals entirely. In addition, we invoice only for productive hours logged in our time-tracking system—pauses, breaks, and meeting overruns are not billed. Many CTOs report saving 30–45 % versus comparable in-house hires once you factor in HR, real estate, and tooling costs. Finally, should you decide to convert an engineer to full-time staff, a modest one-time conversion fee—clearly specified in your master service agreement—applies. This makes scaling your QA team both predictable and budget-friendly while maintaining complete cost control.