Studio, outstaff, or your own team?
A candid CTO comparison: who reaches peak faster, who costs less over time, and how you avoid vendor lock-in.
NineLab can build a contour turnkey, embed seniors in your team, or run servers on retainer.
Pick a modelWhen to use which
You need an outcome by peak date
No strong senior core, hard deadline, architecture ownership can’t be outsourced to random freelancers.
How we engage
Discovery → Build a High-Load contour with 1–2 week demos; code and IaC in your Git.
Typical entry: Discovery from 80,000 ₽
Turnkey High-LoadYou have a team, missing seniors
Hiring takes 2–3 months; release is in six weeks. You need people in your Jira/Git now.
How we engage
Senior Dev / DevOps in your process in 3–7 days. Squad Dev+Ops if deploys block delivery.
from 4,000 ₽/hour · start in days, not months
Senior outstaffServers without a full-time SRE
Manual CI, no alerts, night SSH is normal. A full-time SRE is early or too expensive.
How we engage
Infra audit → retainer: updates, monitoring, incidents, small changes.
Retainer from 120,000 ₽/mo
DevOps / sysadminQuick comparison
Not “we’re always best” — selection criteria. Highlighted: the model that most often covers peak.
NineLab studio
Owns stage outcomes
Architecture + code + load in one loop
Code and IaC stay yours
Costlier than junior hours, cheaper than peak downtime.
Senior outstaff
Fast start in your process
Flexible hours
Can grow into a Build project
Stage outcome still needs your coordination.
In-house team
Full control of culture and priorities
Domain knowledge compounds inside
Pays off over years, not a quarter
Slow senior hiring; peaks rarely wait.
FAQ
Studio sells a stage with success criteria. Outstaff reinforces your delivery under your PM.
Yes — common path: seniors stop the bleeding, then we lock Discovery for the contour.
SaaS is faster early. Own the contour when load, data, or compliance won’t fit someone else’s plan and SLA.
No: repos, IaC, runbooks, and acceptance criteria are in the contract.
Match the model to deadline and risk
Tell us load, peak date, and team gaps — we’ll suggest studio, outstaff, or retainer.
