Nearshore Software Development in the Balkans
If you have decided to look at the Balkans for software development, the next question is which country. Here is how the six compare, with the source for every number, written by a company in one of them.
We are based in Prishtina, so read this as interested rather than neutral. We have tried to make it useful anyway, because most comparisons of the region are written by a vendor in one country quietly arguing for it, and they rarely show where their numbers come from. Ours are linked at the bottom of the page, with the year each one describes.
One warning before any figures. The countries measure their tech sectors differently. Some count software companies, some count the whole ICT sector including telecoms, and Albania's figure includes call centres. The numbers below tell you the order of magnitude and the ranking with some confidence. They do not support precise comparisons, and we have said so wherever it matters.
What do the Balkan countries have in common?
More than the differences suggest. All six work Central European Time, the same as Berlin, Paris and Stockholm and an hour ahead of London, so any of them gives a UK or EU client a full shared working day and gives the US East Coast an afternoon of overlap. None of them is an EU member state, and none has an EU adequacy decision for data protection, so personal data sent to a team anywhere in the region is a third country transfer handled under standard contractual clauses.
They also share a shape: tech sectors that are younger and smaller than their Central European equivalents, and that grew up selling abroad. For the Europe wide argument for working in your own timezone at all, see our nearshore software development in Europe page. This page assumes you are past that and choosing between countries.
How big is the tech workforce in each Balkan country?
Serbia is in a different league from the rest. The Statistical Office of Serbia, as reported by the US International Trade Administration, puts the ICT sector at around 115,000 people in more than 4,000 companies, and Serbia's ICT services exports reached a record 4.55 billion euro in 2025. If you need a large delivery organisation inside the region, Serbia is the only country that can plausibly staff one.
The middle of the range is North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. MASIT, the Macedonian ICT chamber, counts 23,948 people employed in the ICT sector in 2024, with 664 million euro of ICT services exports. The Foreign Trade Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina counts more than 1,100 IT companies and more than 12,000 employees, with IT services exports above 800 million convertible marks in 2025. Albania's investment agency reports 27,000 people in ICT and BPO combined, which includes call centres and outsourced back office work, so the software share is considerably smaller.
Kosovo and Montenegro are the smallest. STIKK, the Kosovo ICT association, counts roughly 120 software businesses employing around 3,000 IT professionals. For Montenegro we could find a count of around 800 ICT companies but no reliable headcount, and we would rather leave the gap visible than fill it.
Which Balkan countries are closest to joining the EU?
EU status changes nothing about data protection today, since none of the six is a member. It does say something about the direction of each country's regulation and contract law, which matters to some procurement teams. As the European Commission and the European Parliament describe it in 2026:
- /Montenegro is furthest along: a candidate since December 2010, negotiating since 2012, with every screened chapter opened.
- /Serbia has been a candidate since March 2012 and has opened 22 of 35 negotiating chapters, two of them provisionally closed.
- /Albania has been a candidate since June 2014 and has opened all of its negotiating clusters.
- /North Macedonia applied in 2004 and has been a candidate since December 2005, but no negotiating chapters have been opened yet.
- /Bosnia and Herzegovina became a candidate in December 2022, and the decision to open negotiations was taken in March 2024.
- /Kosovo is a potential candidate. It submitted its membership application in 2022 and has had a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU in force since April 2016.
Where is English strongest in the Balkans?
The EF English Proficiency Index is the only cross country measure most buyers will see, so it is worth knowing exactly what it says. In the 2025 edition, which covers 123 countries and regions, North Macedonia ranks 17th, Bosnia and Herzegovina 21st and Serbia 25th, all in the high proficiency band. Albania ranks 42nd, in the moderate band.
Kosovo and Montenegro are not ranked at all. That is an absence of data rather than a low score, and anyone quoting a national English ranking for either country is quoting something that does not exist. In our experience English across the Kosovo tech sector is at a professional working standard, but the honest evidence for that is a call with the engineers, not an index. The same advice holds everywhere in the region: the index measures adults who took a test, not the specific people who will be on your project.
Kosovo vs Albania vs Serbia: which should you choose?
It depends mostly on how many people you need, and only then on everything else.
For a team of fifty, or a supplier with a long track record and several hundred engineers on staff, Serbia is the realistic answer inside the Balkans, and it has the deepest bench by a wide margin. For ten to twenty engineers, North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have more depth than Kosovo or Montenegro and strong English on paper. Albania shares a language with Kosovo and has a larger workforce, though its headline figure is less software specific.
Kosovo is the right answer for a narrower but common case: a few engineers to about twenty, from a sector where 85 percent of companies export and 39 percent work only for foreign clients, so the working habits are already built around someone like you. The trade is scale and recognition. There are fewer people, the senior bench is thinner because the industry is young, and the country name is unfamiliar to most boards. If that last point alone is a risk your board will not accept, that is a legitimate reason to choose elsewhere.
Whichever country you pick, the vendor matters more than the flag. Ask how long their engineers have been with them, who exactly will work on your product, and who owns the code. Those answers vary far more between companies in the same city than between the countries on this page.
What the numbers on this page do not tell you
Four limits worth knowing before you build a business case on any of the above.
- /The workforce figures use different definitions and years. Serbia and North Macedonia count the ICT sector, Bosnia and Herzegovina counts IT companies, Albania includes BPO and Kosovo counts software firms. Use them for order of magnitude, not for ratios.
- /We found no single salary source that measures all six countries the same way, so we have not printed a cost comparison that would look precise and not be. In our experience costs are broadly similar across the region and well below Western Europe, but compare actual quotes rather than country averages.
- /Export totals show where the sector sells, not how good any individual vendor is.
- /Population sets the ceiling. By World Bank estimates for 2025, Serbia has about 6.5 million people, Bosnia and Herzegovina 3.1 million, Albania 2.3 million, North Macedonia 1.8 million, Kosovo 1.6 million and Montenegro 0.6 million. A small country can staff your team. It cannot staff a hundred.
Where these numbers come from
- /European Parliament, The Western Balkans fact sheet (April 2026) accession progress across the region, Kosovo's 2022 application and North Macedonia's unopened chapters.
- /European Commission, Montenegro candidate status since 2010 and all screened chapters opened.
- /European Commission, Serbia candidate status since March 2012, 22 of 35 chapters opened and two provisionally closed.
- /European Commission, Albania candidate status since June 2014 and all negotiating clusters opened.
- /European Commission, North Macedonia application in 2004 and candidate status since 2005.
- /European Commission, Bosnia and Herzegovina candidate status since December 2022 and the March 2024 decision to open negotiations.
- /European Commission, Kosovo potential candidate status and the Stabilisation and Association Agreement in force since April 2016.
- /European Commission, adequacy decisions the list of countries with an adequacy decision, which includes none of the six.
- /US International Trade Administration, Serbia ICT market around 115,000 ICT employees in more than 4,000 companies, citing the Statistical Office of Serbia.
- /Tanjug, Serbian ICT services exports in 2025 ICT services exports of 4.552 billion euro in 2025.
- /MASIT, ICT industry growth in 2024 23,948 ICT employees and 664 million euro of ICT services exports in North Macedonia in 2024.
- /BIT Alliance, Bosnia and Herzegovina at GITEX Europe 2026 more than 1,100 IT companies, more than 12,000 employees and IT exports above 800 million KM, citing the Foreign Trade Chamber.
- /AIDA, Albania ICT and BPO fact sheet 2025 27,000 people employed across ICT and BPO in Albania.
- /STIKK, Kosovo IT Barometer around 120 software businesses, 3,000 IT professionals, and the 85 percent / 39 percent export figures.
- /US International Trade Administration, Montenegro ICT sector around 800 ICT companies in Montenegro.
- /EF English Proficiency Index 2025 ranks and proficiency bands, and the absence of Kosovo and Montenegro.
- /World Bank, population total 2025 population estimates for all six countries.
Work we have actually shipped
What a Balkan nearshore team looks like in practice, from Prishtina:
A UK healthcare staffing platform launched in ten weeks, then a multi year retainer with a dedicated team working UK hours from Kosovo.
Regulated UK payroll logic, including HMRC compliant reporting, built end to end by a team in Kosovo on UK working hours.
A Swiss AI company with an absolute hosting requirement: Swiss infrastructure and self hosted speech, delivered from outside the EU without any data leaving Switzerland.
Six years in production with the same engineering team, the most useful answer we have to the retention question every Balkan buyer should ask.
Questions we get asked
Which Balkan country is best for software outsourcing?
It depends on team size. Serbia has by far the largest ICT workforce, around 115,000 people, and suits large teams. North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina sit in the middle. Kosovo, with around 3,000 software professionals, suits teams of a few engineers to about twenty. All six work Central European Time.
Are any Western Balkan countries in the EU?
No. Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are EU candidates, and Kosovo is a potential candidate that applied in 2022. None has an EU adequacy decision, so personal data sent to a team in any of them is a third country transfer under standard contractual clauses.
Kosovo vs Serbia for software development?
Serbia has the scale: around 115,000 ICT workers against roughly 3,000 software professionals in Kosovo, and ICT services exports of 4.55 billion euro in 2025. Kosovo suits smaller teams that want a sector built around foreign clients, with 85 percent of its tech companies exporting. Both work Central European Time.
Kosovo vs Albania for software development?
They share a language and a working culture. Albania reports 27,000 people in ICT and BPO combined, a figure that includes call centres, and ranks 42nd in the EF English Proficiency Index. Kosovo counts around 3,000 software professionals and is not ranked in the index. Compare the vendors rather than the countries.
Which Balkan country has the best English?
On the EF English Proficiency Index 2025, North Macedonia ranks 17th, Bosnia and Herzegovina 21st and Serbia 25th, all rated high proficiency, with Albania 42nd at moderate. Kosovo and Montenegro are not ranked, which means no data rather than a low score.
Is the Balkans cheaper than Poland or Romania?
Generally yes, and well below Western Europe, but we could not find one salary source measuring all six Balkan countries the same way, so treat any precise country by country cost table with suspicion and compare real quotes. Seniority mix and on-call move the number more than the country does.
Related
Tell us what you are building
We will tell you honestly whether we are the right team for it, including when the answer is no. First reply usually comes the same working day.