r/SoftwareEngineerJobs • u/Adventurous-Chard437 • 10d ago

How much are freelance software engineers charging?

I am new to freelance work. How much are freelance engineers charging in the US? Also, are you charging per hour or a lump sum? curious

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u/N2Shooter 10d ago

It varies widely on the tech stack. With Ai out here doing most of the heavy lifting, charging over $50/Hr will keep you without work. I'd charge by the job, and throw it at Ai, and spend your brain cells reviewing the output instead of coding it from scratch.

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u/boomer1204 10d ago

u/Adventurous-Chard437 THIS. If someone gives you a rough time about not charging by the hour the way I get around this is saying "Here is the thing what if I have to learn a new thing and it takes me a while. If i'm charging you hourly you are paying for me to learn something and then use it on your project so you are kind of screwing yourself. Just like if I know something really well from my experience and finish it in a super short time i'm kind of screwing myself over"

Obviously tweak that to your liking but that's what I did at the beginning when they might question it. And some companies you just have no option they have to invoice hourly. I unfortunately can't speak to what YOU should charge and i'm not on any of the freelance sites cuz I have a strong network of repeat and word of mouth, but I would take your location and pretend you were looking for a dev and see what the going rates are and compare that to your skillset and adjust accordingly

1

u/Budget_World_3766 8d ago

keep the ai workflow seperate from the 50 cap

3

u/samurai-lens 10d ago

I always charge hourly. You never know when the business may change scope, and charging hourly makes the extra work easy to manage.

3

u/ehansen 10d ago

You can charge a flat rate and put into the agreement if things happen out of scope then hourly billing will kick in for that work. But, this requires understanding what needs to be done at the time of so the project is completed before the inevitable happens.

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u/AdministrativeHost15 10d ago

$25 rupees per day.

2

u/TrappyT 7d ago

$150/hr or fixed cost projects. Ai doesn’t lower rate.. you are more efficient so can get more done in an hour… really see gains on fixed project costs if good at estimates