Rates and pricing
Development work is priced by the hour, by role, and usually bought by the month. This page shows the bands and everything that goes around them: what the rate covers, what is billed separately and how an invoice is reached.
The full rate card goes out on request, because the right figure depends on the seniority, the length of the contract and the overlap hours you need. A person reads each request and sends the rate card, a personal calculator or a written quotation. The first conversation and a written estimate cost nothing.
Hosting and third-party costs are never mixed into the rate. They are listed separately and stay in your own accounts.
The rate bands
The leading digits of each figure are shown here. A person reads your request and sends the full rate card, a personal calculator or a written quotation.
Rate bands
Full rate follows an approved request
| Role | Hourly | Monthly* |
|---|---|---|
| Frontend / WordPress | $3? | $4,8?? |
| Backend / API | $3? | $5,1?? |
| Full-stack | $3? | $5,6?? |
| Mobile (React Native / Flutter) | $3? | $5,6?? |
| DevOps / Cloud | $4? | $6,4?? |
| AI / Automation engineer | $4? | $7,2?? |
| QA / Test engineer | $2? | $4,0?? |
| UI / UX design | $2? | $4,4?? |
*160 hours a month, full time, in US dollars. A question mark stands for a digit sent on request. Rates depend on seniority, contract length and overlap hours. Hosting and third-party costs are separate.
See full pricing
What the hourly rate covers
The rate is the whole cost of the person. Nothing is added at invoice time.
- The engineer's time, including stand-ups, code review and the questions you ask them
- Payroll, hardware, software licences for our own tools, office and holiday cover
- Source control, issue tracking and a staging server on our side if you do not have one
- Documentation written as the work goes, not invoiced as a separate item
- A written estimate before any work starts, and a timesheet with every invoice
What you pay for separately
Passed through at cost, in your own accounts.
- Hosting, domains, SSL certificates and cloud usage
- Paid APIs, SaaS subscriptions and app store fees
- Stock imagery, fonts or third-party licences the project needs
From estimate to invoice
Four steps, none of them a surprise.
Request
You ask for the full pricing or describe the work. A person replies within one business day with the rate card, a calculator link or a range and the roles we would put on it.
Scoping
For a project, a paid discovery of one to two weeks produces a scope and a firm figure for the first release. For a developer by the month, a short call to agree hours, overlap and start date.
Working
Hours are logged against tasks you can see. The engagement runs month to month, and you can scale it up or down at the end of any month.
Invoice
Monthly, in US dollars by bank transfer. Clients in India are invoiced in rupees with 18% GST added, as the law requires.
Paying from India and from abroad
The rate card is in US dollars because most of our clients are outside India. The invoice uses the exchange rate on the day.
Clients in India
Invoiced in rupees, with 18% GST on top.
Clients abroad
Invoiced in US dollars. This is an export of services from India, so GST is not normally added.
Agencies
White-label work is invoiced to you, never to your client.
Longer engagements
Six months earns 5% off, twelve months 10%.
About the numbers
Why are some digits hidden?
A rate means little without the seniority, contract length and overlap behind it, so a person reads each request and sends figures that fit. The bands here are enough to tell whether a conversation is worth having.
How do I see the full figures?
Fill in the form beside the rate bands. A person replies within one business day. Nothing is sent automatically, and you are not added to any list.
Can I get a fixed price?
Yes, after a paid discovery, for a defined first release. A fixed figure offered before discovery is a guess, and the guess always carries a margin you end up paying.
Does seniority change the rate?
Yes. The bands are for a solid mid-level engineer, which is what most work needs. We say which seniority we are proposing, and the rate for it, before you commit.
Is there a minimum?
Forty hours a month on a support retainer. Below that we would rather point you to a freelancer than take the work.
Do you charge for the estimate or the first call?
No. Discovery is paid because it produces a scope and a data model you can take anywhere; the conversation before it is free.
Ask for a firm number
Two or three sentences about what you need and when. We reply within one business day with a figure, not a sales call.