Stefan SchulzFreelance developers charge between $37 and $72 an hour on average, depending on the language or framework. The spread inside a single skill is wider than the gap between skills. A JavaScript developer on a public freelance profile might list $20 or $225, and both are real.
This page breaks down low, high and average hourly rates for 35 programming languages, frameworks, content management systems and ecommerce platforms.
Two factors move the number more than the technology does. Experience is the obvious one. Location is the larger one, because a rate that reads as cheap for a developer in San Francisco is a strong living in much of the world.
Freelancers also cost more per hour than the hourly equivalent of a salaried developer. They cover their own self-employment tax, insurance and overhead, and they absorb the unbilled weeks between contracts.
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Freelance Developer Rates
These rates were collected in August 2023 from public profiles on freelance marketplaces. Treat them as a baseline for comparing skills against each other rather than as live market pricing.
Programming Languages
| Skill | Low Hourly Rate | High Hourly Rate | Average Hourly Rate | Hiring Guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
C | $15 | $120 | $59.73 | Hire C Developers |
C# | $12 | $120 | $63.13 | Hire C# Developers |
C++ | $25 | $150 | $63.18 | Hire C++ Developers |
Java | $20 | $100 | $53.17 | Hire Java Developers |
JavaScript | $20 | $225 | $48.98 | Hire JavaScript Developers |
Kotlin | $15 | $60 | $36.58 | Hire Kotlin Developers |
PHP | $15 | $90 | $54.02 | Hire PHP Developers |
Python | $25 | $150 | $52.88 | Hire Python Developers |
R Language | $35 | $100 | $51.33 | Hire R Developers |
Frontend Frameworks
| Skill | Low Hourly Rate | High Hourly Rate | Average Hourly Rate | Hiring Guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Angular.js | $22 | $160 | $59.96 | Hire Angular.js Developers |
Backbone.js | $33 | $100 | $57.64 | |
D3.js | $30 | $120 | $55.29 | Hire D3 Developers |
Ember.js | $15 | $150 | $54.22 | |
Foundation | $10 | $90 | $49.38 | |
jQuery | $15 | $120 | $58.58 | Hire jQuery Developers |
React.js | $35 | $200 | $59.29 | Hire React Developers |
Semantic UI | $9 | $80 | $37.85 |
Backend Frameworks
| Skill | Low Hourly Rate | High Hourly Rate | Average Hourly Rate | Hiring Guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
ASP.NET | $35 | $130 | $60.67 | Hire ASP.NET Developers |
CakePHP | $8 | $85 | $46.92 | Hire CakePHP Developers |
Django | $20 | $100 | $50.78 | Hire Django Developers |
Express | $32 | $140 | $52.42 | |
Flask | $20 | $250 | $58.07 | |
Laravel | $30 | $100 | $50.20 | Hire Laravel Developers |
Ruby on Rails | $30 | $100 | $50.20 | Hire Rails Developers |
Spring Boot | $32 | $210 | $60.59 |
Content Management Systems
| Skill | Low Hourly Rate | High Hourly Rate | Average Hourly Rate | Hiring Guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Drupal | $8 | $200 | $63.35 | |
Joomla | $34 | $85 | $50.73 | |
WordPress | $12 | $110 | $44.13 |
Ecommerce
| Skill | Low Hourly Rate | High Hourly Rate | Average Hourly Rate | Hiring Guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
WooCommerce | $20 | $125 | $59.00 | Hire WooCommerce Developers |
Shopify | $5 | $120 | $59.11 | Hire Shopify Developers |
Magento | $20 | $80 | $47.96 | Hire Magento Developers |
Miscellaneous
| Skill | Low Hourly Rate | High Hourly Rate | Average Hourly Rate | Hiring Guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Android | $20 | $160 | $55.48 | |
iOS | $30 | $100 | $53.04 | |
SalesForce | $35 | $130 | $72.42 | |
Unity | $35 | $125 | $54.77 |
How We Collected These Rates
The figures are oddly specific because they are averages of real listed rates, not rounded estimates.
We ran agencies for years and kept hitting the same problem. To quote a client fairly we needed to know the going rate for the labour, and there was no good reference broken down by skill. Salary data for staff roles was everywhere. Freelance data was not, even though most freelance platforms publish hourly rates on public profiles.
So we built a system that aggregated those public profiles into a database and grouped the rates by skill, location and reviews. The tables above are the output of that work.
The collection has not run since August 2023. The relative picture it shows still holds up, since the gap between a Kotlin developer and a Salesforce developer does not swing quickly. The absolute numbers are the part that has aged.
How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Developer?
The hourly rate is the smaller half of the question. Scope decides the bill.
Start with what you are willing to spend, then take that number to several developers with a written scope of work. A detailed brief is what lets them estimate hours instead of guessing, and it is what makes three quotes comparable to each other.
Many will come back with a fixed bid rather than an hourly rate. You can work backwards from it. A $15,000 bid on a Django project implies roughly 295 hours at the $50.78 average in the table above.
That arithmetic ignores design, project management, and the experience that lets a senior developer do in 4 hours what takes someone else 20. A bid may also carry padding for scope creep. It still tells you whether a quote sits in a sane range or at twice what the work should cost.
If the numbers come back too high, the lever is usually scope rather than rate. Cutting requirements moves the total further than shaving $10 an hour off a good developer, and it costs you less in rework.
Our guide to hiring a freelance developer covers how to run the search itself.
