How Much Does it Cost to Hire PHP Developers?

Hypertext PreProcessor (PHP) is one of the most used scripting languages in web development and applications. According to Kinsta, 79.2% of websites will rely on PHP in 2023. PHP proves to be a good option for server-side scripting of dynamic pages, databases, sessions and receiving data and cookies.  If you are also looking forward to PHP solutions for your project, here is how to estimate the cost to hire PHP developers.

However, before that, we first need to explore the reasons behind its popularity. Here is why PHP can help you immensely with web development.

Why PHP Development?

Here are some compelling reasons to choose PHP for your project.

Multi-platform solution

PHP can run cross-platform, which means that the code developed with PHP can run on platforms like Windows, Linux, and macOS seamlessly. It also offers support for servers like Microsoft Internet Information Server, Personal Web Server, Apache, iPlanet, Netscape, Caudium, and much more.

Scale

PHP solutions can grow larger as businesses grow. Companies like Facebook and Wikipedia use PHP, which is a testament to the scalability of the language.

Cost-efficient

Developing and maintaining is mighty affordable with PHP compared to other technologies, as it comes with a number of integrated solutions from the outset.

Open-Source

The framework can be downloaded and used for free, so there are no costs attached to that, too. And since it is open-source, there is large community support available whenever you are stuck in the development process.

Factors Affecting The Cost

There are many factors that determine the development cost to hire PHP developers. The cost, first of all, will be different from project to project, and listed below are the other factors affecting the cost of hiring a PHP developer:

• The experience of the developer
• Experience with other technologies that are essential with PHP, such as Laravel and WordPress.
• Communication Skills
• Portfolio of the past work
• Duration of your project
• The hiring model of the developer
• Location

This will help you determine the PHP development costs for your project, especially when there are a lot of options available.

Cost to Hire a PHP Developer Based on Locations

The geographical location of the developer will be a big deciding factor when it comes to the cost of hiring a PHP developer. For instance, a development company from a developed country will cost you a lot more than a developing country. Here are the average salaries for PHP developers across countries.

Country	Annual Salary
Switzerland	$67,000
Denmark	$70,000
Norway	$68,000
United Kingdom	$52,000
India	$4,225 (base)
Israel	$47,000
Germany	$55,000
Netherlands	$45,000
Finland	$45,000
United States of America	$1,02,954

The average freelancer/outsourced PHP developer will vary from this number. According to Codementor, the average cost of hiring a PHP developer is $61/hr. On the lower side, the costs can be around $25-$30/hr, whereas the upper limit touches $120/hr as well.

Cost to Hire PHP Developers Based on Their Expertise

Since PHP is extremely popular, there is a large talent pool available to you when you are looking for a PHP developer for your project. This means, there are different levels of skills on offer by these developers. 

The skills and expertise you will require from your developer will depend a lot on the nature of your project. For example, for a simple but time consuming project, you can hire a less experienced PHP developer. It will save you money while getting your work done. 

There are also specializations available. The skills differ from framework to framework, the APIs, Git, JavaScript, and MySQL. The developers may charge based on their skills for specialized skills like that. According to UpWork, these are the North American rates per hour.

Type of PHP Developer	Description	Average Hourly Rate
Basic	Back-end fundamentals like RESTful API and Lambda functions, MySQL, CMS, Technology stacks like LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP).	$15+
Intermediate to Advanced	Specialization in a back-end server environment like AWS (Amazon Web Services), knowledge of more than onePHP frameworks like Laravel, Symfony, or Cake.	$30+
Full Stack	Mix of front-end and back-end technology expertise. Expertise working with Twig, Blade, and ReactPHP.	$45+

Hiring Models for PHP Developers

Another important factor affecting the development costs is the hiring model you choose while hire PHP developer. If you are just getting started with your project, in-house hiring can prove to be too much for you. There are many PHP development companies out there that can help you hire PHP developers with varying hiring models.

1. Part-time

When your project does not require full-time developers, you can hire part-time developers for a few months. It will be less expensive and great for the people who want the development services for a shorter time.

2. Hourly Hiring

This is even more temporary than the part-time hiring model and best for projects that are adding new features, migrating to PHP, or some additional tasks. Here, the cost will be calculated by multiplying the time taken by the developers with their hourly cost.

3. Dedicated PHP Development Team

This will be your full-fledged team of PHP developers, and they will work on different parts of the development project to bring your project to life. It will also have designers, testers, and a project manager, along with the PHP developers.

How to Hire a Good PHP Developer for Your Upcoming Project?

Now that you have a fair idea about the cost to hire PHP developers, now is the time to get into the hiring process. If you are willing to hire PHP developers for your project, here is the step-by-step guide to get started.

Steps to Hire a PHP developer

1. Define a candidate profile based on your project requirements
2. Start looking for resources on various platforms and companies
3. Filter out the best suited profiles for your project.

Technical Questions To Ask

In the interview, you can gauge the technical knowledge of the candidate and find out if they possess the technical expertise or specialized skills that you are looking for. Here are some questions to ask for PHP developer interview:

• How to define a constant in PHP?
• How to enable error reporting?
• How are HTTP headers used in PHP?
• Explain the difference between session and cookies.
• Explain the difference between echo and print.
• How will you compare objects in PHP?
• Explain constructor and destructor.
• What is a composer? What are the benefits of it?

Keep in mind that these are just some of the questions. Yours will change based on your requirements.

PHP Developer Skills

Here are some of the skills of PHP developers to look forward to, in your candidate.

• HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
• Business Communication Skills, leadership qualities
• Multitasking
• Web development, GIT, and Web services
• PHP frameworks, libraries, and other development tools

Once again, the right candidate for your project can only be decided by the project requirements. The skills will vary based on what you will need from the development team.

Conclusion

The cost of hiring PHP developers depends on the multiple factors and project requirements of the client. The process of estimating the costs and planning a budget may feel intimidating, but considering the factors most important to you can simplify this overwhelming process for you.

The cost will also depend a lot on the nature of the project and the skills required to accomplish it. A skilled firm will be able to give you a very close estimate, and if you are looking for PHP solutions for your project, discuss your requirements with us today and hire PHP developers at the most affordable prices.