Developer day rates in the UK, and what a fixed price compares to

The median developer day rate in the UK is 525 pounds for a contract software developer, measured over vacancies advertised in the six months to 24 October 2026. A web developer is advertised at a median of 463 pounds, a full stack developer at 500 and a lead developer at 550. The middle 80 percent of software developer roles sits between 363 and 617 pounds a day.

Those figures come from IT Jobs Watch, which tracks the rates in UK contract vacancies. They are advertised rates, not rates paid, and they cover contracts across London and the rest of the UK. This guide sets out the rates per role, what IR35 does to them, what an employee costs per working day by comparison, how agencies price, and how to turn a fixed project quote into days so you can compare like with like.

Day rates by role in 2026

London pays a little more: the median for a contract software developer there was 543 pounds a day in the same six months, against 525 for England as a whole. Outside London and the South East, rates for the same role are often advertised below the national median, and fully remote contracts tend to settle near it. For a buyer, the location of the work matters less than whether the contractor must come to an office; a remote role widens the pool and narrows the spread.

The medians barely moved in a year for most roles; web developer rates rose about 9 percent. The spread matters more than the median: a senior specialist in London asks far above the median, a mid-level generalist outside London below it. Rates for a specific stack, from Next.js to .NET, follow the same range with a premium for scarce skills.

Day rate or hourly rate

UK contractors quote by the day; agencies in many other countries quote by the hour. A UK contract day is usually seven and a half or eight hours, so a 525-pound day equals about 66 to 70 pounds an hour. When you compare a UK day rate with an hourly quote from abroad, convert at the same number of hours and check what the hour includes. How hourly rates compare across Europe and the US is in developer rates by country, and the website side of the market in web developer hourly rate.

What IR35 does to the rate

IR35, the off-payroll working rules, decides whether a contractor who works through a personal limited company is taxed like an employee. Since April 2021, a medium or large client in the private sector decides the status for each contract, and carries the tax risk if it gets it wrong. A small client leaves the decision to the contractor's own company.

• Outside IR35The contractor invoices through their company and pays corporation tax and dividends. Rates are quoted gross, and the contractor carries the risk.
• Inside IR35Tax and National Insurance are deducted as if the contractor were employed, usually through an umbrella company or the agency's payroll. Contractors ask more to make up for it, or accept less in take-home pay.

The median advertised rate for IT contracts inside IR35 was 444 pounds a day in the six months to 24 October 2026. Inside and outside rates are not directly comparable, because the roles differ, but the rule of thumb in the market is that a contractor needs a higher gross rate inside IR35 to take home the same.

IR35 concerns individuals working through their own company. A project contract with an agency whose own employees do the work is a different arrangement; ask your adviser to confirm for your case.

What an employee costs per working day

The median advertised salary for a permanent software developer in the UK was 65,000 pounds in the six months to 24 October 2026. What it costs you per working day:

How UK agencies price

No public source tracks agency day rates the way IT Jobs Watch tracks contractors, so treat any single figure with care. An agency day is more than a developer day: it includes project management, design, testing, a second developer who knows the code, holidays covered and the risk of the estimate. That is why agency day rates sit well above contractor medians.

The more useful comparison is per outcome. Ask each supplier for the price of the same module, described in the same way, and compare the totals rather than the rates. Our software requirements template helps you describe the module once for every supplier.

Turning a fixed price into days

A fixed price hides the day rate, which is the point: the supplier carries the risk of the estimate. To compare a fixed quote with a day-rate quote:

1. Divide the fixed price by the median day rate of the role you would otherwise hire. A fixed quote of 30,000 pounds equals about 57 software developer days at 525 pounds.
2. Ask yourself, or a developer you trust, whether 57 days is enough for the module. If it looks tight, the fixed price protects you; if it looks generous, negotiate the scope.
3. Add your own time. A contractor needs a product owner on your side every day; a fixed-price supplier needs decisions at set moments.
4. Check what is included: testing, deployment, documentation, a period of fixes after go-live.

What custom software costs per type of project, whoever builds it, is in custom software development cost.

Hiring across the Channel

A team in the EU is not automatically cheaper. Belgian labour costs are among the highest in Europe, above Germany and France; Poland and Portugal cost about 55 percent less per hour of IT work. What a Continental team can offer a UK buyer is a fixed price, a shared working day with one hour of difference, and no IR35 question on a project contract with a company. How that works in practice is on bespoke software development for UK companies.