In general terms, the main difference between onshore, offshore and nearshore is the distance that separates the contracting company and the contracted company. For example, in the case of a firm from United States:

• Onshore: it would mean hiring a national software development company.
• Offshore: would involve partnering with an Asian or European.
• Nearshore: it would mean opting for a Latin America America provider or a nearby country.

Opting for a provider depend of how open mind are the companies to work with companies from another countries that speak another language. To know the difference is very important when companies are going to hire developers through a IT Staff Augmentation provider because this could give them good arguments to choose one or other.