Originally published on my site.
Key takeaways
- The 2026 US market has three reference points: a $20 per hour marketplace median (Upwork), a $30.06 per hour employed average (Indeed), and a $40 to $90 independent freelance band averaging $69 (Contractrates.fyi).
- Match the tier to the job: configuration work belongs at the bottom, business-critical custom work in the middle bands, and coordination-heavy programs with agencies.
As of July 2026, a WordPress developer costs anywhere from $15 to $250 per hour, and every one of those numbers can be a fair price. The Upwork marketplace median sits at $20 per hour. Indeed puts the average employed US WordPress developer at $30.06 per hour.
Independent senior freelancers mostly bill $40 to $90. The spread isn't noise; it describes different products wearing the same job title. This guide breaks down what each band buys, using published 2026 data, plus my own rate card at the end.
How much does a WordPress developer cost per hour in 2026?
In 2026, published US sources put WordPress developer rates between $15 and $175 per hour, with most of the market inside $20 to $120. Each source measures a different slice of the market, which is exactly why quotes vary so much. Here's the data side by side.
| Source (2026) | What it measures | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|
| Upwork | Marketplace median, all levels | $20 (typical $15–$28) |
| Indeed | Employed US average, 136 salaries | $30.06 |
| Contractrates.fyi | Freelance contract average | $69 (most $40–$90) |
| HubSpot (Upwork data) | US freelance average | $70 (range $30–$175) |
| Codeable | Vetted WordPress-only experts | $80–$120 |
Notice what's happening: the marketplace median is a third of the vetted-expert floor. That's not a scam on either end.
A $20 per hour listing and a $100 per hour listing are usually selling different work, done by people with different experience, through channels with different overhead. The rest of this article unpacks those differences so you can place your own project on the map.
Why do quoted rates run from $15 to $250?
Four factors drive almost the entire spread in 2026: experience tier, geography, specialization, and channel overhead. Codeable, which only accepts vetted WordPress specialists, recommends $80 to $120 per hour, while general marketplaces list global talent starting near $15. Same skill name, different filters.
| Source (2026) | Hourly rate |
|---|---|
| Upwork median | $20 |
| Indeed US average | $30 |
| Contractrates.fyi | $69 |
| HubSpot average | $70 |
| Codeable experts | $80 to $120+ |
Experience is the obvious one: someone who has debugged 100 hacked sites charges more than someone on their fifth. Geography matters because WordPress is a global trade; a senior developer in a lower cost-of-living country can profitably bill a fraction of a US metro rate.
Specialization adds a premium: WooCommerce checkout logic, security forensics, and performance engineering all bill above generic theme work. And channel overhead quietly inflates everything: marketplaces take fees from both sides, and agencies layer project management, account management, and office costs on top of the developer's actual rate.
Here's the question that matters more than any average: which of those four factors are you actually paying for on your project? If the answer is "office costs and a project manager I'll never need", you're overpaying regardless of the number.
What do the four pricing tiers actually buy?
In 2026 the market clusters into four working tiers. Entry marketplace work runs $10 to $25 per hour, mid-level freelancers $30 to $60, senior independents $60 to $120, and agencies $120 to $250 (broadly consistent with cmsMinds' July 2026 range of $20 to $200+ per hour for the overall market).
Compare the total project cost, not just the hourly rate.
$10–$25 per hour, marketplace entry level. Template installs, plugin configuration, small content fixes. Fine for tasks you could almost do yourself. The hidden cost is rework: budget builds have a way of getting rebuilt within a couple of years, and the rebuild costs more than doing it properly once.
$30–$60 per hour, mid-level freelancers. Comfortable with themes and builders like Elementor, can customize CSS and light PHP. Good value for content sites and small business builds, as long as nothing unusual happens mid-project.
$60–$120 per hour, senior independent developers. Custom theme and plugin development, performance engineering, security forensics, API integrations. This tier can tell you why something should or shouldn't be built. Most business-critical WordPress work belongs here, and the $69 to $70 averages from Contractrates.fyi and HubSpot show it's where experienced freelancers cluster.
$120–$250 per hour, agencies. You're paying for coordination: project managers, account managers, and process. On large multi-stakeholder programs that coordination earns its keep. On a straightforward business site, a large share of the invoice never touches your code.
Hourly, fixed price, or retainer: which fits your project?
The pricing model changes your risk more than the rate does. Across 140+ projects I've delivered since 2018, the pattern is consistent: hourly suits uncertainty, fixed price suits defined outcomes, and retainers suit ongoing work. Choosing the wrong model costs more than choosing a slightly expensive developer.
The pricing model shifts risk as much as the rate does.
- Hourly fits open-ended work: maintenance, iteration, "we're not sure what's wrong yet." You carry the estimation risk, so demand time logs.
- Fixed price fits well-defined builds. You buy an outcome, and the developer carries the estimation risk. Most of my own projects run this way.
- Retainers fit ongoing product work. You buy guaranteed capacity and priority, usually at a small discount to ad-hoc hourly.
A developer who offers all three and recommends one for your case is signaling experience. One who only quotes hourly on a vague scope is signaling that the meter will decide the price.
What does the whole project cost, not just the hour?
Hourly rates mislead when you actually need a total. Published 2026 project figures from cmsMinds run $100 to $500 for small tasks, $1,000 to $3,000 for a basic business website, and $5,000 to $10,000 or more for complex custom builds. Those bands match what I see in real quotes.
Two habits protect your budget. First, get small defined tasks quoted fixed, not hourly; a $300 fix at "two to three hours, probably" has a way of becoming six.
Second, for full builds, compare totals rather than rates: a $30 per hour developer who needs 100 hours costs more than an $80 per hour specialist who needs 30, and the specialist's build usually performs better. I've broken down full-site budgets band by band in my guide to what a WordPress website costs in 2026.
How do you avoid overpaying at any rate?
The expensive mistakes in WordPress hiring aren't rate mistakes, they're diligence mistakes. After seven years of inheriting other people's projects, the same four red flags precede almost every rescue job I take on.
Ask what is custom versus templated before you sign.
- No questions about your business before quoting. A quote produced without questions is fiction with a dollar sign.
- "Unlimited revisions." Pricing that ignores rework economics usually hides rushed first drafts.
- No staging site in the workflow. Your live site becomes the test environment. Ask how changes get deployed before you sign.
- Screenshots instead of URLs. A portfolio you can't click and speed-test is a portfolio you can't verify.
And ask each bidder the same three questions: What exactly is custom versus templated? What are the ongoing license and hosting costs? Can I speed-test three live sites you built? Quotes that are thousands of dollars apart usually explain themselves inside those answers.
What I charge, in the open
I publish my rates, which is still rare enough in this market to be a differentiator. I'm Humza, a senior full-stack WordPress developer, working directly with US clients since 2018: no agency markup, no marketplace fee, the person who quotes your project is the person who builds it.
Elementor builds start at $250 fixed, custom WordPress at $600, and full-stack web development at $800, with hourly and retainer options alongside. One-off bug fixes run $50 to $1,200 depending on depth.
The full rate card, including hourly equivalents and what's included at each tier, is on the hire page. If you'd rather skip straight to a number for your specific project, describe it to me and you'll have a written quote within one business day. Qualified projects also get a free homepage mockup before any commitment.
Sources
- Upwork, WordPress Developer Hourly Rates & Cost to Hire, retrieved 2026-07-17.
- Indeed, WordPress Developer Salary in United States, retrieved 2026-07-17.
- Contractrates.fyi, WordPress Developer Hourly Rate (2026), updated June 2026, retrieved 2026-07-17.
- HubSpot, WordPress Developer Salary: Are You Getting Paid Fairly?, May 2025, retrieved 2026-07-17.
- Codeable, recommended expert rates, retrieved 2026-07-17.
- cmsMinds, How Much Does it Cost To Hire a WordPress Developer?, updated July 2026, retrieved 2026-07-17.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a WordPress developer charge per hour?
In 2026, most US WordPress work is quoted between $15 and $175 per hour. The Upwork marketplace median is $20, the US employed average is $30.06 per hour (Indeed), and experienced independent developers cluster between $40 and $90 per hour.
Is a $15 to $20 per hour WordPress developer any good?
Sometimes. At that rate you are usually buying template configuration and small fixes, often from developers in lower cost-of-living regions. It works for well-defined small tasks. It gets risky for custom code, performance work, or anything a business depends on.
How much should a small WordPress fix cost?
Typical small tasks run $100 to $500 as a fixed price (cmsMinds, 2026). My own one-off bug fixes range from $50 to $1,200 depending on how deep the problem goes. Get a fixed quote for defined fixes instead of paying hourly.
Why do some WordPress quotes differ by 10x for the same project?
Because the quotes describe different products: template configuration, semi-custom builds on Elementor, and hand-coded custom development all wear the same job title. Channel overhead matters too, since marketplaces add fees and agencies bill for project management on top of development.
How much does a full WordPress website cost in 2026?
Published 2026 ranges run $1,000 to $3,000 for a basic business site and $5,000 to $10,000 or more for complex custom builds (cmsMinds). Template-based sites can be done for under $1,500, and platform-grade projects exceed $20,000.
