Contractor Management Built for SaaS Companies

SaaS companies run lean. You have a core team of 5-15 full-time employees, but you supplement with contractors for specialized work. A React developer in Poland for a 3-month feature build. A designer in Argentina for your rebrand. A technical writer in the US for documentation. A QA tester in India for release testing.

These contractors are essential to your velocity. They let you scale up for big projects without committing to full-time hires. They bring specialized skills your core team doesn't have. They work on your schedule, billing by the hour or project.

But managing them is a mess. You have contractors in 8 countries using 4 different payment methods. Invoices come via email, Slack, and sometimes GitHub issues. You're tracking hours in Linear, payments in a spreadsheet, and tax forms in Google Drive. Your finance person spends 10 hours per month just reconciling contractor payments.

Platforms like Deel or Remote.com charge $49-99 per contractor per month. For 15 contractors, that's $735-1,485/month or $8,820-17,820/year. You're paying for employee infrastructure—payroll, benefits, local entities—that independent contractors don't need. That's 2-3 months of runway you're burning on contractor admin.

The Linear + spreadsheet method: Most SaaS companies use Linear, Jira, or GitHub for task management. They track contractor work there, but payments happen in a separate spreadsheet. Someone (usually the founder or finance person) manually reconciles hours worked with invoices received, then processes payments via Wise or PayPal. It works until you have 10+ contractors and you're spending 2 hours every week just moving money around.

The Notion database: Some SaaS companies try using Notion for contractor management. They create a database with contractor profiles, hourly rates, payment history, and invoice tracking. It's better than spreadsheets, but Notion isn't built for payments. You still need to manually update payment statuses, track confirmations, and export data for accounting.

The accounting software workaround: A few SaaS companies try using QuickBooks or Xero for contractor management. These tools are great for accounting, terrible for contractor coordination. You can track payments, but you can't assign contractors to projects, track deliverables, or manage contracts. You end up with accounting software for payments and project management software for work, with no connection between them.

The expensive EOR platforms: Some SaaS companies bite the bullet and use Deel or Remote.com. They pay $735-1,485/month for 15 contractors, getting features built for hiring employees internationally—payroll processing, benefits administration, local entity setup. None of which applies to independent contractors who handle their own taxes.

SaaS companies don't need payroll processing or benefits administration. They need contractor coordination tools that integrate with their existing development workflow.

Developer-friendly contractor database: All your contractors in one place with their skills, rates, availability, and payment preferences. See who's available for your next sprint, who specializes in React vs. Vue, who's worked on similar projects before. No more Slack DMs asking "who did we use for that API integration?"

Project-based tracking: Assign contractors to features, sprints, or projects. Track deliverables, review code, approve work. Link invoices to specific GitHub PRs or Linear issues. See exactly what you paid for and what you got.

Hourly and project-based billing: Some contractors bill hourly. Others bill per project or milestone. Track both types, approve time sheets, review project deliverables. Pay based on actual work completed, not just invoices received.

Payment coordination: See who needs to be paid this week, who's waiting on payment, who's been paid. Batch payments by method (all Wise payments together, all PayPal together). Export payment records for accounting. Integrate with QuickBooks or Xero for seamless bookkeeping.

Tax documentation: Collect W-9s or W-8BENs automatically when contractors join. Track cumulative payments per contractor. Generate 1099-NEC forms at year-end. Everything your accountant needs, organized and ready.

Budget tracking: Set contractor budgets per project or sprint. Get alerts when you're approaching budget limits. See contractor costs vs. revenue per feature. Make data-driven decisions about when to hire contractors vs. full-time employees.

Absolutely. Many SaaS companies manage contractors manually for years. Here's what that looks like in practice.

The spreadsheet system: Create a master contractor spreadsheet with columns for name, email, skills, hourly rate, payment method, payment details, last payment date, and YTD total. Add columns for "current project" and "hours this month". Update it after every payment. Share it with your team via Google Sheets. Protect certain columns so people don't accidentally sort one column and break everything.

The Linear integration: Use Linear or Jira for task management. Create custom fields for "contractor" and "estimated hours". When contractors complete work, they comment with hours spent. Someone manually reconciles these hours with invoices received, checking that billed hours match actual work completed.

The payment process: Set aside 2-3 hours every Friday for contractor payments. Open your spreadsheet, check who needs to be paid. Cross-reference with Linear to verify work was completed. Log into Wise for international contractors, PayPal for domestic ones. Copy payment details, send money, screenshot confirmations, post them to Slack, update your spreadsheet.

The tax documentation: Create a Google Drive folder for tax forms. When you hire a contractor, send them a W-9 or W-8BEN form via email. When they send it back, save it to the folder with their name. At year-end, export your payment spreadsheet, calculate totals per contractor, and send the data to your accountant for 1099 generation.

The budget tracking: Create a separate spreadsheet for project budgets. Track contractor costs per project manually. Update it weekly. Compare actual costs to budgeted costs. Alert your team when projects are over budget. Export to Excel for board meetings.

This works. It's free (except for your time). It's flexible. But it takes 5-10 hours per month, and one mistake—a forgotten payment, a budget overrun, a missing tax form—can damage contractor relationships or create accounting headaches. As a SaaS company, you need to move fast and stay lean. Manual contractor management slows you down.

Kontrable is built specifically for SaaS companies managing independent contractors. No payroll processing. No benefits administration. No employee infrastructure. Just the tools you need to organize, track, and pay your contractor network efficiently.

Use your existing payment accounts: We don't try to be your bank. You already have Wise, PayPal, or Payoneer. They're great at moving money. We just tell you who to pay, help you track payments, and keep records for accounting. Your money stays in your account until you send it.

Developer-friendly workflow: Assign contractors to GitHub repos, Linear projects, or custom projects. Track deliverables, review work, approve invoices. Link payments to specific PRs or issues. See exactly what you paid for and what you got.

Budget tracking and alerts: Set contractor budgets per project or sprint. Get alerts when you're approaching limits. See contractor costs vs. revenue per feature. Make data-driven decisions about contractor vs. full-time hiring.

Automated tax documentation: Contractors fill out W-9 or W-8BEN forms when they join. We track cumulative payments automatically. At year-end, export 1099-NEC data for your accountant. Everything organized and ready.

Pricing that makes sense: $99/month for up to 25 contractors. No per-contractor fees. No transfer fees. No hidden costs. If Deel would cost you $735/month for 15 contractors, we cost you $99. You save $636/month, or $7,632/year. That's 2-3 months of runway back in your bank account.

Kontrable launches in Q1 2026. Early access users get 50% off for 6 months—$50/month instead of $99. Join the waitlist below to get notified when we open beta access.