Oktara

Oktara is a nearshore software development company based in Costa Rica, founded on a philosophy summarized by the local expression "Pura Vida"—which translates to "pure life" and reflects a commitment to both quality work and sustainable practices. The company operates with a team of roughly 30–35 developers, architects, QA engineers, and support staff led by CEO Federico Castillo. Oktara positions itself as a nearshore alternative to offshore development, emphasizing minimal time zone friction with North American clients, same-day travel feasibility, and cultural alignment with the US market. The company works across the full stack: frontend, backend, mobile, product management, DevOps, and QA.

Services and capabilities

Oktara's core offering breaks into six service lines. Frontend development covers React, Vue.js, Angular, Bootstrap, Foundation, jQuery, HTML5, CSS3, SASS, Flexbox, D3.js, Grunt, and Gulp. Backend work spans PHP, C# (.NET), Node.js, and Java, with databases in MySQL and Microsoft SQL Server. The company deploys to Rackspace, Bluehost, DigitalOcean, InMotion, and Amazon Web Services. Mobile development includes native iOS and Android work in Swift, Objective-C, and Kotlin, as well as cross-platform tools like React Native, Flutter, and Ionic. The company handles Google Play and Apple App Store publication.

On the operations side, Oktara offers product and project management to guide teams through delivery cycles, budgets, and quality gates. DevOps services apply agile methodology to microservices and cloud software, shortening development cycles through continuous integration and deployment. Quality assurance includes functional testing, test automation, manual regression, test case design, and formal reporting. Teams can work embedded with client staff or independently.

How they work

Oktara offers two engagement models. The first is team augmentation on a time-and-materials basis: clients pay monthly for engineers and assign work as though the team were in-house, suited for companies with multiple projects and steady workload. The second is fixed-price project delivery, where Oktara commits to defined scope, timeline, and budget—better for one-off or time-critical needs. The company emphasizes real-time coordination and same work-day overlap with US time zones. All personnel are English-fluent. No pricing is disclosed on the public site.

Team and credentials

The team roster lists 28 named staff members across development, QA, operations, architecture, UX/UI design, and database administration. Federico Castillo leads as CEO; Diego Avendaño serves as Director of Operations & Technology. Architects include Alejandro González and José Estrada. The QA function is headed by Daniel Araya, with four named QA engineers: Alden Prendas, Javier Ávila, Juan Carlos Brenes, and Marcos Castro. The company employs an English teacher (Temujin Hawkins) on staff, suggesting formal language training is part of onboarding. No third-party certifications (ISO 27001, SOC 2, HIPAA), partner status, or awards are mentioned in the available material. No G2 or Clutch ratings appear on the site.