If you are a US tech company hiring engineers in Brazil in 2026, five names keep coming up: BairesDev, Howdy, Revelo, Ubiminds, and Kaptas Global. They are not five versions of the same product, and they are not priced like each other either. The right pick depends on what you are actually trying to buy: a pool to search, a team to staff, or a search someone runs for you.
How we picked these five
We limited the list to agencies US tech companies actually use to hire in Brazil today, not general staffing conglomerates built for local employers. All five are compared for engineering and technical roles. A leadership search runs on different mechanics, which is why Executive Mapping is a separate service.
Four things decide where each one lands:
- Brazil depth: how much of the business is Brazil specifically, versus one market inside a broader Latin America offering.
- Model: marketplace, staffing platform, staff augmentation, or a partner that runs the search directly. Different products, different price tags.
- Seniority focus: a large pool built for volume solves a different problem than a short, filtered shortlist of senior engineers.
- Operating layer: what happens after the offer. Contracts, payroll and compliance decide whether you need a Brazilian entity, and PJ contractor versus employer of record is usually the first thing a US founder has to settle.
Everything below about the other four comes from what each company publishes about itself.
The five tech recruitment agencies in Brazil side by side
| Agency | Model | Brazil focus | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| BairesDev | Staff augmentation, dedicated teams, and outsourcing | One of dozens of countries served | Staffing a whole project or team |
| Kaptas Global | Direct hire and staffing, run as a search, covering compliance and payroll if needed | Brazil only | Founder-led US teams that want the search run for them |
| Howdy | Staffing and vetting platform with employer-of-record support | One of several Latin American markets | Hiring across several countries at once |
| Revelo | Talent marketplace with payroll and compliance layer | One of 18 Latin American markets | Searching a large pool yourself |
| Ubiminds | Staff augmentation with employer-of-record support | Latin America focused | Embedding engineers in your own team |
1. BairesDev
BairesDev is a nearshore software development company selling three engagement models: staff augmentation, dedicated teams, and full software outsourcing. It has grown into one of the larger nearshore providers serving US clients, with delivery spread across dozens of countries.
Brazil is part of that footprint rather than a specialty, and the account management around it is built for enterprise-size engagements. Because the three models sit under one vendor, you can start with one engineer and scale to a whole team without changing supplier.
Other options may suit you better if you want a boutique relationship with the people doing the work, or if you are filling one or two senior roles instead of staffing a project.
Pricing is not published; terms are set in a sales conversation rather than on a page.
2. Kaptas Global
Kaptas Global is the only one of the five that works Brazil exclusively. Its founders have spent 20 years in the Brazilian market, which is why it stays in one country. It headhunts for founder-led US tech companies with 1 to 100 employees, matched to the hard and soft skills each role asks for, with the founders on the calls.
It offers tailored recruitment solutions covering mainly staff augmentation and direct hire, doing an end to end service when needed, covering recruitment, payroll, compliance management and ongoing support, with the contractor reporting directly to you.
Other options may suit you better if you want to browse a database yourself, or if you need volume hiring across several countries at once.
Kaptas Global is also the only one of the five that puts its pricing on the page. Contractor staffing, the main model, comes as one flat monthly invoice, with compliance and payroll handled when you need it. Direct Hire runs 18% of first-year pay, billed only after the person starts, and comes with a 90 to 180 day replacement guarantee. Put those two together and it is the lowest cost of the five.
3. Howdy
Howdy is a staffing and vetting platform that pairs recruitment with employer-of-record support, closer to an all-in-one hiring layer than a traditional outsourcing agency. It runs physical hubs, called Howdy Houses, in roughly ten Latin American cities, two of them in Brazil (Florianopolis and Sao Paulo) alongside Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay.
If you are hiring in three countries at once and want the same onboarding and compliance layer in each, that footprint is the whole point. Recruitment, contracts and payroll come through one vendor, so there is one invoice and one point of contact per country.
Other options may suit you better if Brazil is the only market you care about, or if you want a small team running the search personally instead of a platform doing it at scale.
Pricing is not published; the site routes you to a conversation with the team instead of a fee schedule.
4. Revelo
Revelo runs as a nearshore talent marketplace: you search the pool yourself, and Revelo handles payroll, benefits, taxes and compliance for whoever you hire through it. Brazil is one of 18 Latin American countries on the platform, not a specialty inside it.
The product is built for teams that want pool size and self-serve access more than they want someone running a search on their behalf, and that compliance layer is what makes it workable without a local entity. Sourcing sits with you, so the hire is only as good as your own screening.
Other options may suit you better if you want a partner who owns the search end to end, or if you need someone who knows the Brazilian market specifically rather than the region as a whole.
Pricing is not published. The site says you only pay on a successful hire, but the number itself sits behind a demo call.
5. Ubiminds
Ubiminds is a staff-augmentation firm built for US and Canadian companies that want engineers embedded in their own team rather than picked out of a marketplace. Placements come with employer-of-record support, so you do not need to open a Brazilian entity.
It also sells software development outsourcing and AI product and engineering consulting, so the relationship tends to look like an operating partner rather than a pure sourcing shop. It keeps its recruiting network tight around Brazilian tech talent instead of spread across a continent.
Other options may suit you better if you want a large database to browse yourself, or if you are hiring at a volume a boutique, relationship-driven shop is not built to handle.
Pricing is not published; you still need a call to get an actual number.
Which recruitment agency in Brazil is the right fit for you?
Match the model to the problem you have, not to the biggest name. Staffing an entire project across several countries is a different purchase from filling one or two senior Brazilian roles, and only you know which one you are making.
Whoever you end up talking to, ask for the fee in writing before the call ends. If the answer moves depending on who is asking, that is your answer.
If what you need is the second kind of purchase, that is the search we run. Book a call with Kaptas Global and compare what we say against everyone else on your list.