How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Software Developer

Need to figure out how much it costs to hire software developers? Many teams underestimate the budget or bring in the wrong people. That’s often enough to derail a particular software development project before it even starts.

In 2025, developer rates vary a lot. U.S. agencies, for example, charge $100–$180 per hour, while teams in Eastern Europe or Latin America offer skilled talent for $30–$60 per hour. But the average hourly rate tells only part of the story. A McKinsey report shows that 66% of software projects go over budget or miss deadlines. This happens mostly due to poor planning or mismatched teams.

As a SaaS development company with over 10 years of experience, we know the struggle. This guide shows you what to expect and how to avoid costly mistakes. We’ll explore:

• How factors like project complexity, experience level, and location shape developer rates
• What pricing models mean for your total budget
• How to structure a team that fits your goals and timeline

Whether you need to scope a new app build, launch an AI initiative, or have a stretched tech department, these insights will give you more clarity on what to expect when it comes to software engineers’ costs.

How Much Does It Cost To Hire A Software Developer?

The average salary of a full-time software developer in the U.S. ranges from $94,000 to $120,000 yearly.

The exact cost you’ll be billed by your developer often depends on a number of factors.

There are generic costing methods and developer-specific considerations that influence the overall price. However, we won’t focus on all pricing methods here, but only the most common ones. These include:

• The type of software
• The developer’s tech stack
• The experience of the developer involved
• The developer’s country of residence
• The type of team you’re hiring
• The cooperation model between the two parties

Let’s dissect what each of these entails.

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Cost By Software Type

The type of software you’re trying to create is the most significant factor influencing cost. There are different types of software, with the most common being websites and mobile apps.

Due to the varying technicalities involved in creating them, developers’ prices differ.

Below is a table showing the hourly rate for different types of software development. This price is the average estimate for developers in the United States.

Type of development	Cost, $ / hour
Mobile development	140
Full-stack development	130
Backend development	150
Front-end development	120

Applications require mobile app development services activities, while websites require input from frontend and backend developers.

Alternatively, you can hire a full-stack developer to handle all web application development services.

Another factor that influences software costs is the chosen tech stack.

Developers’ Cost By Technology

By technology, we mean the combination of programming languages, tools, and frameworks that the developer requires to create the website or mobile app.

Some stacks demand deeper expertise or take longer to implement. As a result, they often raise both the software development time and the overall cost of a project.

Here’s how the tech stack shapes your final price:

Software	Tech stack	Cost, $ (Hourly)
Web apps	Front end: Javascript, React, Vue, Angular, Typescript.	100
	Backend: Node.js, Laravel, Django, Python, Ruby on Rails.	150
Mobile applications	Cross-platform app: React Native, Flutter, and Xamarin.	150
	Native app: Swift (iOS), Objective-c, Java, and Kotlin (Android).	140

Prices here differ according to their capabilities, features, and resilience.

Besides, developers with specialized skills like Splunk, Blockchain, machine learning, DevSecOps, etc, charge higher fees due to language difficulty.

Wondering where to look for dedicated Laravel developers? Learn the step-by-step process in this guide on how to find a Laravel developer.

Experience is another factor that influences the average cost of onboarding software developers. Let’s help you understand how this works.

Cost By Experience

Experience is another factor that influences the average cost of onboarding software developers. Developers can be divided by experience into senior, middle, and junior programmers.

Below is the cost estimate based on the developer’s experience. The numbers are taken as an average for the US market from resources like Salary Solver and Built in:

Role	Typical Annual Salary (USD)
Entry-Level / Trainee	$70K–$90K
Mid-Level (3–5 yrs exp)	$95K–$115K
Senior Developer (6–10 yrs)	$120K–$145K
Architect / Lead	$145K–$180K+

 

 

Another important factor to consider is the developer’s country of residence.

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Cost By Location

The developer’s location affects the cost of hiring software development experts. For example, the cost of hiring senior software developers in the USA is approximately $200,000, whereas the same position costs around $70,000 in Eastern Europe.

This is primarily due to the difference in the cost of living in those areas.

Looking for quality and cost efficiency? Here are the best countries to outsource software development.

Here is a quick overview of how much does it cost to hire a software engineer, depending on the location:

Region	Typical Annual Salary (USD)
Australia	$80K–$130K
USA	$120K–$150K average; up to $300K+
UK / Western Europe	$90K–$150K (varies widely)
Eastern Europe	$25K–$55K
South Asia	~$30K (varies widely)

Now that you know how location affects hiring costs, let’s consider another cost-defining factor.

Cost By Team Type

Let’s take at the cost of hiring software developers as it relates to different team types. In the table below is a comparison of the cost of the mobile app of average complexity:

Type of Team	Cost, $
The local development company, the US	250,000
Freelance developers, the US	120,000
Outsource, Ukraine	60,000

Let’s explore this a bit further.

Local Development Company (US, Canada, Australia, Western Europe)

Local development companies are software agencies located within your startup’s geographical location. This option can be an expensive one for startups located in high-income countries like the United States, Canada, Australia, and Western European countries.

Freelancers

Freelance software developers are independent programmers who are not full-time employees of any organization. They accept contracts on a per-project basis and help build software according to given stipulations.

Outsourced Agency

The outsourced agency is an offshore outsourcing company that renders software creation and maintenance services to investment-backed startups and well-funded companies.

Cost By Cooperation Model

Cost is also determined by your chosen cooperation model.

When it comes to software development, the most common cooperation models are outstaffing and outsourcing. Each differs significantly in its engagement model and comes with its cost implications.

Cooperation Model	Cost, $
Outstaffing (Ukraine)	40,000 $
Outsourcing (Ukraine)	60,000 $

Outstaffing vs Outsourcing

Outstaffing entails temporarily hiring a software developer from an outsourcing agency to help create a specific solution.

The outsourcing agency still remains the employer and is responsible for the developer’s salary.

While the startup only provides the developer with tasks.

IT outsourcing entails an agreement whereby the startup contracts its entire project to an agency.

In this instance, the startup is responsible for all aspects of development. From UI/UX design to coding, testing, and launch.

Feature	Outstaffing	Outsourcing
Team control	You manage the developers directly	The vendor manages the team and project
Responsibility	You handle task assignment, timelines, and priorities	The vendor handles delivery and project management
Integration	Developers work as an extension of your in-house team	The outsourced team works independently
Hiring flexibility	You can scale the team up/down based on your needs	Usually tied to fixed project scopes
Expertise ownership	You need to provide technical leadership	The vendor provides technical leadership and expertise
Cost	Lower vendor markup; cost-effective for long-term work	Potentially higher, especially for end-to-end services
Best for	Long-term projects, staff augmentation, and scaling a team	Projects with clear scope, short-term or turnkey delivery
Communication	Direct communication with developers	Communication typically goes through a project manager
Onboarding time	Fast, especially when hiring a few roles	May take longer due to full project planning
Risk level	You carry more delivery and process risk	The vendor carries most of the project delivery risk

What Impacts Software Developer Hiring Costs?

Several key factors influence how much you’ll pay to hire software developers. These apply regardless of your location or the type of software developers you need.

The main cost drivers include:

• The complexity of your software project
• The technology stack required to build the product
• The number of developers you need and their experience level

In the next sections, we’ll break each of these down and show how they shape the final cost of your software development project.

1. Software Complexity

By complexity, we mean the features, number of roles, integrations, unique screens, and functionalities that should be in the software. Every character of the software affects its complexity.

As such, software with fewer features and characters is often less complex than that with more. Except in situations where fewer features are sophisticated ones, like AI or blockchain. In fact, AI’s impact is growing rapidly, and you might want to explore these AI statistics that highlight the trends you need to know.

Before determining the complexity of a solution, the software developer will first identify:

• The number of object types that need to be managed in the cloud
• Experience level required
• The number of external APIs
• The type of technology required to create the solution
• The skill set required
• Licenses and certifications are required

Let’s explore the software development cost breakdown depending on its complexity level.

Basic Complexity

Software with basic complexity is often that which passes information to viewers and sometimes gets very little information back. Generally, this usually involves website development with a homepage, a blog, and a number of information pages.

Average Complexity

Softwares of average complexity have multiple basic and a few sophisticated functionalities.

Our website, spdload.com is an example of a website with average complexity, as it has a homepage, pages for case studies, and a uniquely built on-site app development cost calculator.

Difficult Complexity

Highly complex software requires robust design, multiple functionalities, and in-depth knowledge of high infrastructure. An example of an app in this category is Duolingo.

This app is complex because of its highly advanced AI features, voice recognition, chatbots, and much more.

Another factor to consider is the tech stack you’d need to create the solution.

2. Tech Stack

The choice of technology for building and scaling your software plays a major role in determining development costs.

Each tech stack has its own advantages, but pricing can vary significantly depending on factors like developer availability, complexity, and performance. The right tech stack should be chosen based on your specific business requirements rather than cost alone.

For example, Java is generally cheaper to work with than Golang for backend development, mainly because Golang developers are less common and therefore more expensive.

Similarly, hiring TypeScript developers often costs more than hiring JavaScript developers because of its advanced features and stricter typing, even though JavaScript has a much larger developer community and broader talent pool. If you’re looking to hire JavaScript developers, this larger community can make it easier and more affordable to find the right talent for your project.

3. Developer Seniority

The seniority of developers hired affects software development. Software engineers can be divided into three categories, depending on their skill and experience. They are junior, middle, and senior software programmers.

Junior Developers

These are developers with a minimal skill set, little experience in a few programming languages, and 0-1 year of programming experience. Due to their common knowledge, they’re the cheapest type of developer to hire.

Here are the pros and cons of hiring junior developers:

Pros	Cons
They’re a cheap alternative and good for handling small tasks, They’re easier to hire and more readily available, Junior developers are more loyal to the company’s goals	They spend a longer time performing tasks. There’s a high likelihood of a mistake. Extensive time will be expended on teaching.

Middle Developers

Mid-level developers are programmers with the ability to independently solve problems. They’re familiar with standard templates, have 1-3 years of programming experience, and can create applications in their development.

Here are the pros and cons of hiring middle developers:

Pros	Cons
They’re cost-effective for building software with basic or average complexity. They can easily be groomed for the role of a senior developer. They’re flexible.	They still require guidance from senior developers in creating sophisticated programs.

Senior Developers

These are developers with over 3 years of experience in software engineering. Their expertise is crucial to developing complex solutions and always provides direction to junior developers.

Here are the pros and cons of hiring software developers:

Pros	Cons
Lower error rate. They write quality code. They provide insights into development processes. They help make the software more secure. They have good knowledge of rare programming skills. They’re often full-stack developers and can manage the entire development process.	They are expensive to maintain. They’re less flexible.

Hidden Costs By The Cooperation Model

To know the overall software development cost, you’ll need to consider some hidden factors. Here, we’ll discuss the hidden costs in each software development cooperation model.

Outsourcing

When you outsource a project, you hand over the entire development process to an external team. While this model can reduce management overhead and speed up delivery, it may come with extra costs depending on your location, contract terms, and company size.

One of the most common hidden costs is legal support. You may need legal advice to draft or review contracts, ensure data protection compliance, or handle intellectual property rights. (We cover these costs in more detail below.)

While outsourcing can simplify delivery, these less obvious expenses can raise the final price more than expected.

Outstaffing

If you would like to hire an engineer via an outsourcing software development company, there are many hidden costs to consider. These include:

Hidden cost	Description
Human Resource	The cost of human resources for a new staff hire in the US is estimated to be about $20,000. This cost covers interviews, coding practice, and verification of legal details. This cost also ensures that the recruiter is properly onboarded to the company. It makes sure the company has a high retention rate for top talent. Oftentimes, HR professionals use digital onboarding solutions to streamline and speed up the process.
Legal Support	An average contract drafted for outstaffing costs between $200 and $500 for a simple contract. A complex contract, on the other hand, ranges between $1000 and $5,000 for a complex contract.
Equipment	In the case of in-house outstaffing, hardware like computers, routers, and monitors has to be provided.  The cost of purchasing a high-powered Linux box and two 30” screens is $4,000. There’s also a cost attached to renting an office space if there isn’t one already available.

How To Choose The Right Developer

In the software development industry, picking the right developer is crucial to building the solution you want. Without the ideal developer, your project risks delays, extra costs, or missing key features.

To help you make the best choice, we’ll walk through important factors to consider before hiring a developer.

These factors include:

Software Complexity

Complex products require complex solutions. However, only top-notch senior developers can create a highly sophisticated solution that is scalable, predictable, and stable.

Thus, only hire experienced developers when you’re solving a rare problem.

And since great talents are expensive to retain. To create great and unique solutions, you should make competitive offers.

This won’t just help you retain their commitment to your startup.

UI/UX Design Requirements

This is attributed to full-stack and front-end designers.

Although there are some basic features of designs that are easily implementable.

Ensure the front-end programmer you’re hiring has experience implementing the design in your preferred tech stack.

Tech Stack

Your developer must know the right programming languages and frameworks for your project. For example, blockchain projects need Solidity or Rust expertise.

If your app runs in the cloud, or you are planning a cloud migration, a developer with DevOps skills is a big plus. Discover which DevOps trends are set to impact the future of software development. Specialized skills usually come with higher rates.

Your Business Model

Your app developer partner should understand the intricacies of your development project.

Your development partner should understand the challenges in the features you want to develop, advise that you focus on a technical perspective, and help make your app scalable.

To ensure that your business model is considered in development. It’s either you hire in-house tech advisors or business analysts.

An alternative is partnering with a company with one of those.

Preferred Collaboration Model

According to a report by Accenture, communication is very important to proper cooperation.

Software developers and development companies have their preferred communication models. Thus, you should ensure that you hire a developer who fits into the engagement needs.

For example, startups operating in the US should opt for a developer with great knowledge of the English language.

Beyond language, time-zone differences are another factor to consider.

This is a serious challenge in web and app development agency partnerships with startups on another continent.

For example, cooperation between startups in the US and India. However, you can manage the negative effects of the time-zone disparity.

Consult your development team for a workaround solution.

Soft Skills and Communication

Technical skills matter, but so do soft skills. Look for developers who communicate clearly, respond promptly, and work well in teams. These traits can, in fact, turn into significant cost savings and prevent pitfalls down the road.

Experience and Portfolio

Review candidates’ past projects and portfolios. Developers with experience in your industry or project type bring valuable insight and reduce risks.

Ready To Hire Your Dedicated Developers?

Hiring software developers can be challenging and costly. Software development prices depend on numerous factors we’ve mentioned here.

The best way to reduce software development costs is to build a team of dedicated developer that deeply understands your business goals and technical needs.

SpdLoad has the specialized expertise needed to deliver for your business.

Our development team integrates seamlessly with your workflows and provides ongoing maintenance, support, and optimizations so you can focus your resources on higher priorities.

Contact us now to get a free consultation on assembling a development team that becomes an extension of your business.