If you are trying to hire WordPress developers, then you are likely looking to create a great WordPress website. You’re probably looking to hire a complete WordPress development team for a more complex, custom website.

The good news is that you have come to the right place, and I will now show you how to hire the best WordPress developers. 

In this article, I will describe how to hire high-quality professional WordPress developers, the costs involved, the top 5 companies that offer quality WordPress engineers, and where you can hire the best WordPress software developers. 

WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS) around. W3Techs reports that 43.4% of all websites are WordPress websites. 36.28% of the top 1 million websites in the world use WordPress, according to HubSpot.   

You need to be aware of several options when it comes to WordPress. You can either use the open-source WordPress.org or WordPress.com, a paid version that includes managed hosting, which might suit you more. 

Either way, you will need skilled WordPress developers to create WordPress websites that stand out from the crowd. My guide to hiring top-quality WordPress developers will show you which type of WordPress engineers you need and where you can hire them.

In this article

1. The Cost of Hiring a WordPress Developer
2. The Cost to Develop a WordPress Website in 2024
3. The Type of WordPress Developers You Need to Hire
4. 5 Steps to Hire WordPress Developers
5. Top 5 Companies to Hire WordPress Developers in 2024

Latest WordPress Web Development Trends

Gartner recently released a report that highlights that application leaders and business executives are increasingly “under pressure to rationalize and modernize” their web content management systems (WCM) like WordPress via the implementation of more comprehensive digital experience platforms (DXPs). 

A DXP is a set of tools that help create and manage a website’s digital experience. Examples include content creation, analytics, experience optimization, e-commerce, etc. These integrated tools improve the website creation and maintenance while boosting user satisfaction.   

The fact that application leaders feel so much pressure demonstrates how businesses must keep up with the latest technological trends to stay competitive. The software and software development world is constantly changing, and those who wish to get an edge over their competitors must innovate to get ahead. 

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The Cost to Develop a WordPress Website in 2024

Before I jump into how to hire a WordPress developer, I will start with how much it costs to hire WordPress developers. I will cover developer costs by country so that you plan to hire in a region that fits your budget. After I have done so, I will break down the cost of hiring developers by state in the USA. 

United States/developers’ cost

Assuming you plan to hire an intermediate or experienced WordPress developer on a full-time basis, the hourly rates can range from $55 to $300. The monthly estimated cost could be within $10,400-$48,000.

Are you wondering why the range is so large? That’s because your hiring source and choice influence the cost, e.g.:

• An expensive software development company in cities like New York or San Francisco can charge $300 per hour or $48,000 monthly for a full-time WordPress developer.
• The cost will vary depending on which US-based software development company you hire from.
• Hiring an in-house employee will mean cheaper per-hour costs, but you then sacrifice the ability to scale up and down your team as and when you want to.
• If you hire freelance WordPress developers, then the costs can be lower, but the risks are greater.

A point to remember when hiring US-based WordPress experts: You should hire WordPress web designers and developers from a company with offices in the US. Exercising your legal rights will be easier in that case if the company doesn’t deliver according to the contract. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of cultural alignment either. For example, do you know which countries have Friday as a day off?

Western Europe/developers’ cost

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The hourly rate for a full-time mid-level to senior WordPress developer in Western Europe can vary from $45 to $200. This roughly translates to $8,000-$32,000 per month. Once again, your hiring preference will determine the exact cost.

Eastern Europe/ cost of developers

You can hire a full-time intermediate-to-senior level WordPress developer for $35-$150 per hour in Eastern Europe. The monthly costs will be $5,600-$24,000, again, depending on your hiring preference and source.

India/ WordPress developers

While choices about the hiring process and source can influence the costs, full-time mid-level to senior WordPress developers can cost $10-$65 per hour in India. You will need to spend between $1,600 and $10,400 per month.

Cost of United States’ Mobile App Developers by Region:

The following are the costs of hiring an in-house developer by state in the USA. Keep in mind that the costs are lower than those listed above, simply because hiring a full-time worker will save you money as you are employing them directly.

• California (San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco): $103,677 – $154,250 per year
• Colorado (Denver, Colorado Springs, Greenwood Village): $111,000 – $124,000 per year
• Illinois (Chicago, Buffalo Grove, Deerfield): $106,228 – $123,440 per year
• Maryland (Fort Washington, Baltimore, Annapolis): $90,001 – $115,000 per year
• Massachusetts (Boston, Worcester, Springfield): $112,500 – $113,875 per year
• New York (Albany, New York, Brooklyn): $112,500 – $166,400 per year
• Texas (Austin, Houston, Dallas): $93,917 – $121,811 per year

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The Cost to Develop a WordPress Website in 2024

You will likely want an idea of the cost of developing a WordPress website. WordPress development costs greatly depend on the complexity of WordPress projects. 

You might have a simple project to develop a simple WordPress site, and the project might involve standard WordPress maintenance. Alternatively, you might have a medium or highly complex project. This obviously makes it impossible to give you an exact cost, so I instead detail the number of WordPress developers you need for different types of sample projects, from which you can estimate yours. I will also provide approximate cost estimates and timelines. 

1. A simple WordPress project

The cost estimates for a simple WordPress project could be between $5,000 and $50,000.

You might need a simple WordPress site to convey information to users. The site might offer simple functionality, e.g., signing up users to try a product or service that will be developed soon. 

Your project will likely require standard WordPress themes and plugins, and you might need minimalistic design. The project might involve minor search engine optimization (SEO) work.

You will need 1 to 2 intermediate-to-expert WordPress developers for such a project. They should need between 1 week to a month to develop and launch such a WordPress website. 

2. A medium-complexity WordPress project

You might need to spend between $50,000 to $250,000 for a medium-complexity WordPress project. The project can take 1.5 to 6 months. 

Such a project might involve creating a WordPress site that offers multiple functionalities. A combination of commonly available premium WordPress themes and plugins can deliver these functionalities. 

Take the example of a publisher selling its books via its website. While the website must offer multiple functionalities like customer onboarding, order management, etc., the WordPress platform has the required premium themes and plugins for them. Therefore, the project might need only minor theme customization. 

You might need 2 or more mid-level or experienced WordPress developers for such a project.

3. A complex WordPress project

A complex WordPress project can cost upwards of $250,000, and might require 6 months or more to complete. 

This kind of project might involve implementing a large number of functionalities including complex features. The website might need non-standard functional requirements. WordPress sites like this might have stringent non-functional requirements (NFRs) like performance, scalability, security, etc. Think of a large eCommerce website, for example.

Although the WordPress ecosystem has evolved highly for over a decade, you might not find suitable WordPress themes and plugins for this project. This kind of WordPress website nearly always needs custom themes and plugins. 

Even before developing the website, WordPress developers might need to undertake custom theme development and custom plugin development. The project might need an API integration too. 

Take a look at the example of a complex WordPress project. The website is a moms-for-moms community. Users can ask questions, share their experience of motherhood, and offer advice. The site needed a custom profile, forum engine, and messaging system. The team developed a custom plugin as well as incorporated API integration. 

Such a project team needs at least 6 WordPress experts or more.

Defining Your WordPress Website Features

The above guidelines should provide an idea of the costs to develop a WordPress website, however, defining the features of the site will help you get a more concrete idea. 

Depending on your business needs, you could have a range of features, e.g.:

• User onboarding and account management;
• Login;
• Forms to collect email addresses for future marketing purposes;
• Product listing;
• Order management;
• Reviews;
• Customer support, including chat.

If you need help zeroing in on the features, you can review the following WordPress projects:

• A fractional investment platform for high-quality real estate: The website has features like custom user profiles, an investment performance dashboard, investment services integration, payment processing integration, and more.
• A website for an infrastructure agency: This website was developed for a Silicon Valley AI startup. In addition to supporting multiple languages and providing an offer feature, the site sends emails to users with relevant information.
• An eCommerce site: This is an eCommerce multisite for a provider of premium windows, doors, and siding. The site serves content, products, and offers based on the user’s location.  

Assuming you have decided on the features, you can create a cost estimate using the above guidelines. Unless your organization self-funded your project, you will need to raise funds. You need a blueprint of the site to raise funds from external sources, which means you must complete at least the discovery and design phases of the project. 

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The Type of WordPress Developers You Need to Hire

You can choose from 3 types of WordPress developers: junior developers, intermediate developers, and expert developers. Specify the experience level required when writing the WordPress developer job description.

Junior WordPress developers

1. WordPress web development: Junior WordPress developers need the essential WordPress web development skills sufficiently, e.g.:
2. WordPress CMS: Such developers need good knowledge of the WordPress CMS.
3. Programming languages: WordPress developers at this beginner level should know important languages like PHP, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and SQL to a good extent.
4. Database: They need a thorough understanding of MySQL.
5. WordPress core: Junior WordPress developers must understand how WordPress core works.
6. Hosting: They need enough understanding of WordPress hosting. Professional WordPress developers, even if inexperienced, should have familiarity with prominent WordPress hosting providers like HostGator, Bluehost, DreamHost, InMotion, etc.
7. Terminologies: Developers need good knowledge of WordPress terminologies.
8. Themes and plugins: The right developer, even if less experienced, needs familiarity with well-known WordPress themes and plugins. 
9. WordPress configuration: Junior WordPress developers should know how to set up themes and plugins.
10. Important software development practices: Such developers need sufficient knowledge of web design, responsive design, version control, data security, testing, etc.
11. WordPress maintenance: They should have a good knowledge of the essential WordPress maintenance activities.
12. Soft skills: Junior WordPress developers need a good level of communication skills, teamwork, and problem-solving skills.

Please note that it is very unlikely that you will hire a lone junior developer. These developers need the help and support of senior WordPress developers to ensure code quality. 

Intermediate WordPress developers

Needless to say, mid-level WordPress developers need all of the skills of junior developers, and that too, at a very good level. In addition to that, intermediate WordPress developers need the following skills:

1. Customization of WordPress themes and plugins: Developers should be able to carry out complex customization of WordPress themes and plugins.
2. Simple WordPress theme development: Mid-level WordPress developers should be comfortable with simple theme development.
3. Simple custom plugin development: Intermediate WordPress developers should be able to develop simple plugins.
4. SQL: Robust knowledge of SQL will help mid-level WordPress developers considerably. 
5. WordPress website performance tuning: Intermediate developers should be able to improve metrics of page load speed, etc.
6. API integration: Developers should know how to integrate 3rd party APIs into a WordPress website.
7. User experience (UX) design: Mid-level WordPress developers need a good understanding of UX design to implement UX best practices.
8. Software development methodologies: They need a good understanding of important software development methodologies like agile.   
9. Software engineering processes: Intermediate WordPress developers should understand software engineering practices like estimation, code review, defect prevention, etc. well. 
10. Competencies like empathy: Intermediate WordPress developers should understand the perspective of clients. They also need commitment and passion for excellence.

WordPress experts

WordPress experts require every skill needed by intermediate developers, and they need them at an advanced level. On top of that, such senior WordPress developers must have the following skills:

1. Extensive knowledge of the WordPress ecosystem: Senior WordPress developers should be WordPress fanatics, and they should know the large ecosystem of WordPress like the back of their hand. They should be able to identify suitable themes and plugins for custom requirements quickly.
2. Complex custom theme development: Well beyond customizing themes, WordPress experts need the know-how to develop complex custom WordPress themes.
3. Complex WordPress plugin development: Advanced-level WordPress developers should be able to develop WordPress plugins that cater to unique and complex requirements.
4. Comprehensive web development knowledge: Senior WordPress developers need advanced-level knowledge of web development including interactive websites, progressive web apps, etc. They need a thorough understanding of software architecture. They should have the knowledge to develop RESTful or GraphQL APIs.
5. The ability to provide advice on complex technical matters: WordPress experts should be able to provide advice to their clients on a variety of complex technical matters such as web security, improving the scalability of a website, performance monitoring, etc.
6. Leadership skills: Advanced-level WordPress developers are very important to complex WordPress projects, and they need to demonstrate sound leadership skills.

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5 Steps to Hire WordPress Developers

You now have a good idea of the skills that different levels of WordPress developers need. I assume that you now want to onboard the best WordPress developers as quickly as you can get; therefore, do the following:

1st step: Finalize project requirements; subsequently, decide the kind of developers needed (a fundamentally important step)

Define and document the project requirements, if you haven’t done it already, for human resources and budgeting purposes. You must now identify the number and seniority of WordPress developers needed for your project requirements.

For example, let’s review a WordPress project for an insurance broker. The project involved custom theme development. Furthermore, the team needed to create a script for CMS migration. You certainly need top-quality WordPress developers to develop such custom solutions. 

Find out how many senior or intermediate WordPress developers you need for your project requirements. 

2nd step: Identify the right platform to hire WordPress developer (an important step)

Assuming you don’t plan to hire a new employee at your location, you will hire a remote developer or a remote development team; you have 2 options. These are as follows:

Hiring competent WordPress Developers from a Software Development Company vs Hiring Freelance WordPress Developers.

As I will now explain below, hiring WordPress developers from a trustworthy and well-known software development company gives you the best chances of success: 

Advantages of outsourcing professional WordPress developers from reputable software development companies:

1. Reputed and dependable software development companies typically have a large community of experienced WordPress developers who work for the platform full-time. Such developers have the breadth and depth of skills required on most projects, furthermore, they have a success-oriented attitude.
2. Renowned software companies follow a stringent vetting process, therefore, you will get WordPress developers already fully vetted systematically.
3. Trustworthy and successful software development companies provide not only individual WordPress developers but cohesive software development teams, too, if you need them.
4. Reliable software development companies offer project management support, therefore, you get complimentary support from a dedicated tech account manager.
5. Not just complementary project management support but you get access to robust project management tools.
6. To protect your interests and intellectual property (IP), trustworthy software development companies sign the relevant legal agreements with you.
7. Well-known software development companies provide complimentary quality assurance services to assure you of their delivery quality.
8. You get a risk-free one-week trial period if a developer doesn’t turn out to be the right developer for your project. 

Your other choice is to hire freelance talent. You can hire them on various WordPress freelancer platforms since many WordPress professionals work as freelancers. Freelance platforms can help you access the large pool of freelancers, and hiring freelance WordPress web designers and developers can be a reasonable option. 

You should, however, make yourself aware of the risks. After all, yours isn’t just a test project; you need high-quality, experienced professionals.

The risks of hiring a freelance WordPress web developer include:

1. Freelance WordPress developers often work on multiple projects. You won’t get dedicated effort from them, and your project schedule might suffer due to this.
2. You need to devote plenty of time and effort if you want to hire freelancers. You will need to post your project on multiple freelance platforms, interview developers, and verify their backgrounds. Freelancers might show you an impressive portfolio of projects. Will you actually be able to verify that the client websites they list on their portfolio were developed by them?
3. The very nature of the freelancing career is such that freelancers continuously look for opportunities that offer higher pay. Freelancers can leave your project mid-way, so you will need to hire a WordPress developer again!
4. You need to guard your intellectual property carefully if you hire freelancers. Otherwise, you might find your WordPress website project idea implemented elsewhere!
5. The WordPress community is large, and it includes a fair share of sub-par WordPress developers. If you hire such a developer on a freelance platform, then you’re really on your own. Freelance platforms don’t take responsibility for such developers, and hiring a replacement developer can take time.
6. Some WordPress development projects can be complex, and your project managers might be stretched. You won’t get any project management support from freelance platforms, that’s for sure.

3rd step: Review profiles, shortlist candidates for interview, and interview them (the crux of the hiring process)

Note that hiring freelancers can be a process that involves You ought to use a comprehensive WordPress developer job description template to create an effective job posting. That can bring your job posting to the notice of the right candidates. You will then need to review resumes, shortlist candidates, and take detailed interviews.

When you hire WordPress developers from a trustworthy software development company, your interview process will be a bit shorter. That’s because such companies follow stringent vetting processes for developers in their community. 

Regardless of your hiring source, you still need to take comprehensive interviews. I strongly recommend a 3-step interview process, which is as follows:

Initial screening

You should use the initial screening round to shortlist only the genuinely skilled WordPress developers. Therefore, you need to ask questions that test the core WordPress concepts of developers. Avoid commonly asked questions since most developers will answer them. 

Ask questions that are suitable for the experience level that a candidate claims. You should follow this guideline diligently, especially for freelance WordPress developers. You will then know whether a developer claiming to be a WordPress expert is indeed a high-quality WordPress developer. 

Use a comprehensive set of questions, e.g., our WordPress interview questions and answers. Only after you are convinced that a candidate has the required WordPress skills can you discuss the rate and T&Cs.  

Technical interview

You should utilize this phase of the interview to test the coding capabilities of WordPress developers. Plan ahead for this interview phase since you need to budget sufficient time. 

You need a WordPress expert along with yourself to verify how a developer codes when you provide a project requirement. Also, identify project requirements that are sufficiently complex for different experience levels.

Final assessment

You should try to assess the relevant experience of candidates during this phase of the interview. This crucial step can be hard when you interview candidates from WordPress freelancer platforms. 

Additionally, evaluate problem-solving skills, communication skills, and the ability to work in a team. Ask WordPress developers to solve practical problems, including problems from your project.  

An important suggestion for interviewing WordPress professionals   

You should insist on live video conferencing when interviewing WordPress web designers and developers. Ask for a live video call with a shared screen with the recording feature on. 

Developers can use the shared screen to show their past projects or the code of their recent projects. You can view the recording later if you want to check their code again after the interview. 

Candidates who refuse to do this might actually not have worked on projects they show on their portfolio. 

4th step: Diligently verify references

I can hardly overstate the importance of checking references since the success of your WordPress project is at stake. Sadly, I have heard of many start-ups and even large companies that didn’t treat reference checks seriously and have suffered the consequences. Always count on verified reviews, rely only on trustworthy and reputed review mechanisms, and go through the references carefully.

5th step: Onboard the suitable WordPress developer that you hired

While you have largely completed the process of hiring developers, even top-quality WordPress developers need effective onboarding to become productive quickly. The onboarding process of your organization must adequately cover all key aspects of the WordPress development project at hand, e.g.:

1. Check whether the WordPress professionals know the important software development methodologies, e.g., Agile, Waterfall, etc.
2. Ensure that the new WordPress development team uses a suitable task tracker; alternatively, they should be ready to use your tracking tools.
3. Explain your WordPress website development project and your development processes to the new WordPress developers.
4. Mutually agree with the WordPress developers on the modalities of tasks like development, review, testing, etc.
5. Decide on the communication tool to use, e.g., Slack. 

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Top 5 Companies to Hire WordPress Developers in 2024

By now, you have a thorough idea of the WordPress web development process and hiring a WordPress developer. Now is the right time to go over the top 5 companies to hire WordPress developers.

1. DevTeam.Space

A United States-based trustworthy and reputed software development company, DevTeam.Space boasts of a professionally managed community of 1,200 developers and 60 expert software development teams. 

Their developers and teams are from the US, Canada, and Europe. DevTeam.Space backs its application development teams and developers with its proprietary AI-powered Agile process.

A consistent project success rate of 99% since 2016 amply demonstrates the considerable software development capabilities of DevTeam.Space. 

Their well-conceived software development approach, innovative tools, and comprehensive methodology of DevTeam.Space has made this impressive track record possible. Little wonder then that DevTeam.Space has helped giants like Disney, NEC, and Airbus, as well as many startups, to meet their business needs and project requirements by leveraging its community of expert developers.

While DevTeam.Space should be your first choice of platform to hire WordPress developers; there can be a few exceptions, e.g.:

• You have a very small and simple WordPress website development project that even junior WordPress developers can execute;
• Your project involves only minor enhancements to an existing WordPress site;
• You can afford to interview many freelancers;
• Your risk appetite allows a failed small project that costs less than $5k.

In such cases, hiring freelancers might be fine. Take a look at the following companies from where you can hire freelancers for WordPress jobs:

2. Upwork

While several freelance platforms exist for general skills, Upwork, a freelance platform headquartered in the US, is arguably the largest of them. As is the case with such platforms, freelancers from different functional areas are on Upwork, which includes software development. Freelance WordPress developers are on Upwork, too. 

You can create an account and post your WordPress job. Since Upwork is a large platform, many freelancers can potentially see your job post and apply. You need to interview them and hire a suitable freelancer using the Upwork contracting process. You might be able to hire a freelancer with a low hourly rate; subsequently, you need to manage all risks.   

3. Freelancer

Headquartered in Australia, Freelancer is a general self-service marketplace for freelancers much like Upwork. It’s a large platform covering all kinds of skills like accounting, digital marketing, copywriting, software development, etc. 

Many WordPress developers are in this community. Therefore, many WordPress developers can see your job listing. 

The platform operates similar to Upwork. That means that posting a WordPress job, interviewing freelancers, hiring them, and managing their work is entirely your responsibility.

4. Fiverr

A company with its headquarters in Israel, Fiverr is yet another general freelance platform covering all skills. You can post all kinds of projects on Fiverr, including WordPress projects. 

Fiverr is a well-known and large freelance platform. Naturally, your job listings are visible to many freelancers. As with all freelance platforms, you need to interview freelancers, hire them, and ensure they deliver the project.   

5. Toptal

While Toptal, a company headquartered in the US is a freelance platform, it has a focus on software development. The platform does cover some more freelance skills; however, it’s better known for freelance software developers. WordPress developers are very much on Toptal, too. 

The claim of Toptal that it has the top 3% of the freelance talent could mean an advantage to you since you can get a WordPress expert. Having said that, you still have the large workload of interviewing, hiring, and managing a freelancer.  

Conclusion

You should now have a fair idea of how to hire a suitable WordPress developer. However, do you want to hire the ideal WordPress developer or a top-rated WordPress development team? You should pick DevTeam.Space for hiring such quality WordPress development talent. 

Our smooth processes enable us to assign an individual WordPress expert, multiple developers, or a full-fledged WordPress development team to your project and get them started within 72 hours. As you see, our speed helps you scale up your team quickly.

Whether you hire WordPress web designers, talented developers, or a cohesive WordPress development team, they offer transparent and fair pricing. You get a risk-free trial period in the unlikely event that a developer isn’t the right fit for your project, DevTeam.Space reassigns the developer at no cost to you. 

However, the assignment of such a developer to your project isn’t likely to happen in the first place! After all, DevTeam.Space has an enviable track record of completing over 300 projects with a 99% project completion success rate.     

They assign a complimentary account manager to you when you hire developers or a WordPress development team from DevTeam.Space. You get considerable project management support from their account managers, who are experienced in delivering different projects. Our account managers have experience in many industry verticals, including yours. 

Another key value they offer is our complimentary QA service. Their QA experts will test your WordPress site functionality thoroughly, and they will closely review aspects like WordPress design and website setup. Your project manager can rest assured that defects, if any, will be detected before your WordPress website goes live. 

Do you want to know more about our WordPress development services? Fill out the DevTeam.Space WordPress developer hiring form. A dedicated account manager from our team will soon contact you and answer your questions on a complimentary discovery call.

DevTeam.Space is an innovative American software development company with over 99% project success rate. DevTeam.Space builds reliable and scalable custom software applications, mobile apps, websites, live-streaming software applications, speech recognition systems, ChatGPT and AI-powered solutions, and IoT solutions and conducts complex software integrations for various industries, including finance, hospitality, healthcare, music, entertainment, gaming, e-commerce, banking, construction, and education software solutions on time and budget.

DevTeam.Space supports its clients with business analysts and dedicated tech account managers who monitor tech innovations and new developments and help our clients design, architect, and develop applications that will be relevant and easily upgradeable in the years to come.

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