We'll say this up front: we're Ryz Labs, and Hire With Near (often just "Near") overlaps with us when the role is an engineer. We think we're the stronger pick for engineering teams, and we're clear about when Near fits better. Facts about Near come from its own site, linked below.
For engineering hires, Ryz Labs is the better choice for most US teams. Engineering is our whole business: top 1% senior Latin American engineers who work on your team on US business hours, and AI pod teams that build in your cloud and ship to production. You see a plan, a price and the names of the people before you start. Fortune 500 engineering teams trust us for this.
Hire With Near is an Austin and Buenos Aires staffing and recruiting agency that helps US companies hire Latin American talent "across all industries and all departments": SDRs, accountants, marketers, assistants and engineers. It says 950+ US companies have hired through it. It fits if you're hiring across many functions and want to set each person's pay yourself. For engineers and AI teams, pick Ryz.
Engineering specialists vetting engineers. Near recruits across every department, and for technical roles it runs assessments through a partner network. Our pipeline is built for engineers. Recruiters source, our in-house ARC system ranks candidates, and every one goes through a structured NTRVSTA AI interview with recruiter review before and after. AI scores are advisory; people decide. Only the top 1% of tens of thousands interviewed make it. Read the vetting process.
AI pod teams. Near recruits individuals. When you need an AI system built, we bring a dedicated pod of senior engineers, typically about 7 people including a tech lead, an ML engineer and backend engineers, working in your cloud, your repos and your CI, with weekly demos. Pods have shipped fraud detection that has confirmed $5.94M in fraud for a global fleet company and an AI voice platform with 1M+ outbound calls. See our case studies.
Senior engineers on your team from week one. Our engineers join your standups, repos and roadmap and report to your leads, on US business hours, so code review happens the same day.
A price you can plan with. Near publishes compensation benchmarks but not its fee. We publish our all-in ranges per engineer, so a VP of Engineering can size a budget before the first call.
Direct hire too. If you want to hire an engineer yourself, we also run direct-hire placement and executive search, remote or on-site.
You meet a dedicated recruiter, align on the role, and review sample profiles. Near's AI scans its 160,000+ candidate database, sourcers search actively when needed, and recruiters review every match. You get a shortlist with videos in under five days, interview your top picks, and Near supports the offer. Near says most companies hire in under 21 days, placements average three years, and it has placed 3,500+ professionals. It offers a one-time placement fee or a monthly fee per hire, and a 180-day replacement guarantee on placements. Near ranked #118 on the 2026 Inc. 5000.
Near doesn't publish its fee. It publishes example monthly pay ranges by role: for a mid-level software engineer, $4,500-$6,000 a month, before Near's fee. On a 20-minute call it shows the expected range, its fee and how they add up. You only pay if you hire.
Ours is published as an all-in range. Typical Ryz cost is $7,000-$15,000 per engineer per month, mostly mid-level to senior. Mid-level (comparable to Amazon L5 / SDE II) is $7,000-$10,000. Senior (comparable to Amazon L6) is $10,000-$15,000. Leads are $15,000+, quoted per team. You get a plan, a price and the names of the people before you start. For context, see our LatAm developer salaries guide.
Near's published pay benchmarks exclude its fee, so ask for the total monthly cost for the same engineer, then compare it with our all-in range. Also compare what's included: we bring engineering-specific vetting and AI pod teams.
This page compares us with Hire With Near, at hirewithnear.com. If you searched for "Near" LatAm staffing, that's most likely the company you mean.
Near recruits individuals, including AI developers. It doesn't sell a team that builds and ships a system. Our AI pod teams do exactly that, in your cloud and repos.
Ryz engineers work on your team, reporting to your leads. Talk to us to scope your team.
We checked Hire With Near's site in October 2026. Fees and terms change, so confirm them with Near before you sign.
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