Insights · staffing
C2C vs C2H vs FTE: choosing without the jargon
Archit Agarwal · 19 July 2026
Strip the acronyms and every staffing model answers one question: who carries the employment risk, and for how long?
C2C — flexibility first
Corp-to-corp contracting keeps everything liquid. You buy capacity monthly and can reshape the team as the roadmap moves. The trade: less knowledge lock-in, and the best contractors are always one renewal away from another offer.
C2H — proof before permanence
Contract-to-hire is a working interview that pays for itself. Three to six months of real sprints tell you more than any interview loop ever will. Conversion terms agreed up front keep incentives clean on all three sides.
FTE — compounding knowledge
Full-time hires cost more up front and return it in retention. For roles touching your core architecture or customer knowledge, the compounding effect of a permanent engineer beats any rate arbitrage.
The honest test: write down how confident you are the role exists, unchanged, in twelve months. Above 80% — hire. Below 50% — contract. In between — C2H exists precisely for that zone.
Key takeaways
- Choose C2C when scope may change; C2H when you want proof before commitment; FTE when the role is core
- Total cost differences are smaller than they look once mis-hire risk is priced in
Archit Agarwal
Founder & CEO
In tech since 2013. Built and scaled platforms to 15M+ mobile users before founding Inventurs to make AI-augmented teams and GCCs accessible to mid-market companies.