I often see people saying the average Bubble developer rate is around $50/hour, but that hasn’t matched my real-world experience with agencies so far.
With almost 3 years in the market, working on real production systems, the majority of opportunities I encounter are capped at $15/hour or less. The only exception I consistently see mentioned is NotQuiteUnicorns, which naturally attracts a huge share of senior devs.
This makes me question where the disconnect is. Is the $50/hour figure mostly related to US/EU-based developers? Is it tied to freelancing rather than agency work? Or is it more about positioning, network, and perceived seniority than actual delivery?
I’d really like to hear concrete experiences:
– Are any of you earning above this range while working for agencies?
– Or is freelancing with direct clients realistically the only path to higher rates in Bubble today?
For my agency, we hire at a range. The most skilled developers get paid more. If I can give them any project that comes my way, they will get paid more. Also, they get raises if they continue to do good work with us.
None of my developers are at $15/hr. We only hire in the US, so that would not cut it. That isn’t even minimum wage in some states.
How long have you been using Bubble for? (Your profile says you joined the forum 1 hour ago) What sort of projects do you have in your portfolio that you are allowed to share without violating NDAs? Do you have any projects you built on your own from scratch? If you don’t have anything to show, then build something that you can show.
As a US-based agency owner, when I’ve hired devs in the past I always paid $50+/hr.
That being said, freelancing with direct clients is always going to put more in your pocket than working for an agency that takes a cut. However, that tradeoff may be worth it to you if you don’t want to find and manage clients.
Rates vary depending on region, it’s just how it is. People in cheaper countries naturally are willing to go lower for rates and it pushes prices down. Clients (perhaps unreasonably) expect that your rates are in line with the market in which you live.
Now, as for data, I have that data, so, that’s cool. This is what people are publicly charging (though doesn’t necessarily mean they get work).
the median developer indeed charges about $50 an hour
$100/hr puts you in about the top 10% percentile
$150/hr puts you in about the top 2%
Only about 10% of people are charging less than $25/hr
Somehow Philippines pulled to the top of the average starting hourly rate by country Followed by the usual suspects. Smallish dataset and about a year old.
As for tips:
Most traditional agencies (I believe @J805 is a bit different as a lot of their work is coaching / mentoring / very customer facing) will hire the vast majority of their talent from developing countries, simply because it’s cheaper. There are large Gold tier agencies that outsource their work to smaller agencies ( ) and that’s only possible because the small agencies have such a low cost base if their devs are all based in India/Pakistan/Nigeria etc.
A few tangible bits of advice and thoughts (though keep in mind, I kinda just fudge my way through building an agency business, only have a few years doing it, and am by no means perfect at it - your mileage may vary)
The cheapest clients are the highest maintenance. If you want better clients, just charge more.
People think that means they’ll get less work, but actually for the good clients, $15/hr is a red flag. They are largely price insensitive, they just want a good job done (these are the ones we hire).
You’ve gotta be more than a developer. Like I said in the other post above, if you market as a developer, you’re no different to the thousands of other Bubble developers. How is a non-technical employer going to assess you fairly? They’ll just go for the cheapest guy or girl they vibe with.
Speaking of vibes, social skills are important. Be easy to work with, reliable, good at communication. Clients can sense if a developer ‘just gets it’ and is enjoyable to work with. It might sound bad but I’ve rejected some applicants to our agency just because they were boring in an interview. People want to grow a team full of people that they’re excited to work with, so just being cool goes a long way.
Most of the time you’ll make more as a freelancer than for an agency, unless you’re a top tiny percent, in which case an agency will pay you a lot because you can provide so much value there (you basically become the chief technical unblocker/problem solver). These developers are excellent and want to build, not manage a business, so they like working with an agency like us.
You need a way for people to find you. Gig platforms can work, though it’s often a price war you’ll always lose. I’ve been sorting out social media presence and building a personal brand. I’m not going for followers/engagements, I’m targetting leads. If the content you put out shows you know your stuff, people come to you and they get on a call knowing they want to work with you and just looking to finalise next steps. You don’t have to hard sell if leads come to you already warm because they can see that your public content resonates with them. Most of my work came through forum initially, but not everyone uses the forum, so now I’m on socials.
More than half of my current team I’ve reached out to and asked to apply. If you can see someone saying sensible things about building on Bubble, then I know they’re a good candidate. If they have a forum history of saying sensible things, it’s an easy hire. Likewise, the opposite is also true. So, again, contribute in public. You’ll also learn a lot. That’s how I learned.
Developers frequently undercharge/overcharge compared to their ability ALL the time. I honestly think the rate a freelancer charges might have zero correlation to their actual ability.
Followed by the usual suspects. Smallish dataset and about a year old.
) and that’s only possible because the small agencies have such a low cost base if their devs are all based in India/Pakistan/Nigeria etc.
I would feel duped.