The cost of hiring a full stack developer is not just an hourly rate, and that’s exactly why most companies get this wrong. You’re really trying to answer:

• Can we afford to build this properly?

• Are we about to make a very expensive mistake?

• Is outsourcing going to save us… or haunt us for the next 12 months?

• Why does every agency quote something wildly different?

• What am I not seeing yet that will blow up the budget later?
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UK-based developers

• £60–£100+ per hour

• £90,000–£120,000+ per year (salary, before overheads)

Offshore full stack developers

• £20–£45 per hour (depending on region and seniority)

• £30,000–£55,000 per year equivalent

Yes, offshore is significantly cheaper on paper.

No, that doesn’t automatically mean it’s better value.

So are you looking for lower costs or better value?

Because when you ask about the cost of hiring senior full stack engineers, what you’re really asking is: “How much will it cost to get this done properly, without babysitting, rewrites, or future disasters?”

Developer cost ≠ project cost.

The cost of a freelance full stack developer is appealing for many reasons. Lower overhead, lower salary, and pay-as-you-go convenience. It’s great for rapid prototyping, troubleshooting, and streamlined communication.  

But the costs aren’t really as low as you think. Because there’s usually a likelihood that a £25/hour freelance full stack developer will:

• Misinterpret requirements

• Build exactly what was written (even when it makes no business sense)

• Need constant clarification

• Produce code no one wants to touch later

And there’s also a chance that this will ultimately cost more than a £40/hour developer who:

• Thinks in systems

• Flags problems early

• Understands why a feature exists

• Builds for scale, not just “done”

If this is your first time outsourcing software development, it’s good to know that even speed is not always about the speed of delivery or how quickly you can launch. Speed is about how little rework you need. Because most cost overruns don’t come from ‘too many hours’. They come from having to redo the wrong work.

Additionally, a freelancer has no "institutional memory." When they leave, the knowledge of how your app actually works leaves with them.

If hiring a freelance full stack developer feels like too much work, your next instinct may be to hire a full stack developer in-house.  

It’s a great idea for the long term, but keep in mind that when you see a salary of £80,000, your brain thinks £80,000. Your bank account, however, may also see the following:

• National Insurance & Pension: Add roughly 12-15%.

• Recruitment Fees: Usually 15-20% of the first year's salary.  

• Equipment: A MacBook Pro, plus a monitor.

• The Ramp-Up: No one ships perfect code on Day 1. You are paying for 3 months of them asking "Where is the documentation?" only to be told "There isn't any."

So in reality, your £80k developer actually costs your business closer to £115,000.

But what if choose to hire a junior full stack developer? Perhaps they have a great portfolio and the drive to learn a lot and build great stuff.  

This too is a great idea. But keep in mind that junior developers require senior oversight. Every hour your £100k senior spends explaining an API to the junior is an hour you are paying £50 for, for the senior to not build your product.

When you choose to hire a freelancer or an in-house developer, if you’re comparing quotes purely on an hourly rate, you’ve got to remember the 3 things that could negatively affect your ROI.
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1. The Cost of Misunderstood Requirements

You’ll likely find your new developers to be highly competent when it comes to coding what you need them to. But many have also been trained to:

“Build what’s written. Nothing more.”

So you get:

• Features that technically work

• Flows that feel wrong

• Edge cases ignored

• Business logic implemented without context

And fixing these later is far more expensive than preventing them upfront.
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2. The Cost of Management Overhead

Ask yourself honestly:

• Who is translating business goals into technical decisions?

• Who is reviewing architectural choices?

• Who is catching bad decisions before they become expensive?

If the answer is “you”, then your real cost of your full stack development includes:

• Your time

• Your cognitive load

• Your delayed decisions elsewhere in the business

Cheap developers with expensive oversight are not cheap.
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3. The Cost of Technical Debt

If you predict to experience in the long run:

• Slow features

• Brittle systems

• Fear of touching core code

• “Let’s not change that, it might break everything”

That’s technical debt, and it compounds.

A slightly higher upfront cost that avoids this is almost always cheaper over 12–24 months.

This is where we talk about us. Or rather, people like us.

When you see an agency quote, your first instinct is to clutch your chest. "Why is this more than hiring that freelancer, Dave?"

Because "Dave" is a single point of failure. If Dave gets the flu, your roadmap stops. If Dave gets a better offer from a crypto startup, your roadmap vanishes.  

A full stack development agency gives you:

1. Redundancy: If one dev is out, another steps in.

2. Breadth: You get a slice of a Designer, a slice of a DevOps engineer, and a slice of a Project Manager, all for the price of one full-time "Full-Stack" dev.

3. Backbone: We are paid to tell you "No." A salaried employee often says "Yes" to bad ideas because they want to keep their job. We say "No" because we want to keep our reputation (and your ROI).

The drawback is that you’re paying higher costs, again, on paper. But you’re really getting better value, especially when you’ve chosen the right full stack development agency for your business.  

Because there are plenty of wrong agencies as well. Agencies that code well, but do what freelancers do:

• Deliver code

• Complete tasks

• Close tickets

Whereas high-ROI agencies do the above but with a simple mindset shift. They:

• Solve problems

• Make better decisions upstream

• Reduce errors downstream

• Builds a product for long-term growth

Good question. We’re sure you’ve heard it: "AI is going to make developers 10x faster! Salaries will drop!"

Well, we’ve also been waiting for that "paperless office" since 1998.

Here’s a take you probably have not heard, though: AI doesn't make developers cheaper; it makes them a little dangerous.  

Because a mediocre developer can now generate a mountain of bad code in seconds. And that will mean you now need smarter (and more expensive) humans to verify that the AI hasn't hallucinated a security flaw that exposes your customer’s data to a bored teenager on the other side of the world.

AI is a powerful tool in the hands of those who know how to use it.  

For that, you still need a fully trained full stack developing human if you want to build a strong, scalable, and future-proof project – not a junior with Cursor Pro.  

So here’s a better question than “How much does a full stack developer cost?”:

“How quickly does this investment start paying me back?”

Consider:

• Speed to market

• Reduced rework

• Fewer internal bottlenecks

• Earlier customer feedback

• Systems that don’t need rebuilding in 6 months

A developer who helps you launch 3 months earlier can be worth more than one who’s 30% cheaper.

So here’s where we’ll be blunt. Many agencies:

• Quote low to win the deal, upsell senior oversight later

• Hide behind “scope creep”

• Optimise for utilisation, not results

So what should you realistically expect to pay for full stack development? For most businesses outsourcing offshore full stack development properly:

• Early-stage / MVP builds: £15k–£40k

• Mid-sized internal platforms: £40k–£120k

• Ongoing product teams: £3k–£8k per developer per month

Those numbers assume:

• Proper discovery

• Ongoing senior oversight

• Developers who understand business intent

By the time cost becomes the problem, the real problem already happened earlier:

• In discovery

• In communication

• In decision-making

• In architecture

The businesses that win with offshore full stack developers don’t obsess over hourly rates. They obsess over momentum, clarity, trust, and not having to fix the same thing twice

If you want a developer who’s cheap, you’ll find one.

If you want a development partner who makes your roadmap feel lighter instead of heavier, that’s a different calculation entirely.

And it’s one worth getting right.

If you hire based on the lowest hourly rate, you are optimising for spending. If you hire based on expertise, alignment, and a willingness to challenge your assumptions, you are optimising for earning.

• Got a tiny budget and a lot of time? Hire a Junior and a book on management.

• Got a clear project and a mid-range budget? Hire a Freelancer (and pray they don't move).

• Got a business to run and no time for oversight? Let’s talk.

Because at Octogle, we’ve figured out a way to deliver agency-level results at slightly higher than freelancer rates. We may not be the cheapest line on your spreadsheet, but we are usually the most profitable one.  

If you’d like to learn more about what we can offer your project and at what price, connect with us for a free 30-minute strategy consultation.  

Is it cheaper to hire a freelance full stack developer or an agency?

Freelancers are cheaper on paper. A freelancer usually costs less per hour, but you’re also buying:

• A single point of failure

• No backup when they disappear

• No design, DevOps, or architectural safety net

An agency costs more upfront because you’re not just paying for code. You’re paying for continuity, oversight, and decisions that don’t need fixing later. If the project matters, “cheapest” and “lowest risk” are rarely the same thing.

Why do full stack developer quotes vary so much for the same project?

Because you’re not being quoted the same thing.

Some quotes assume:

• No discovery

• No edge cases

• No future scaling

• No responsibility if things break

Other quotes price in:

• Planning

• Senior oversight

• Risk management

• Long-term maintainability

If one quote is half the price of the others, it’s usually because something important is missing — and you’ll pay for it later.

Is offshore full stack development actually worth it?

Yes, if it’s done properly.

Offshore development works best when:

• Requirements are clearly translated into business intent

• There’s senior oversight, not just task execution

• Communication is proactive, not reactive

Offshore fails when companies chase the lowest hourly rate and then spend the next year fixing misunderstandings. The cost savings are real, but only when paired with strong process and accountability.

What are the hidden costs of hiring a “cheap” full stack developer?

The bill doesn’t stop at the hourly rate.

Hidden costs usually show up as:

• Rewrites

• Delays

• Technical debt

• Founder time spent managing instead of running the business

A £25/hour developer who needs constant correction can easily cost more than a £45/hour developer who builds it right the first time. Cheap code is often the most expensive code you’ll ever ship.

Should I hire a junior full stack developer to save money?

You can if you’re ready to manage them. Junior developers need:

• Clear direction

• Frequent reviews

• Senior guidance

That “saved” salary often gets spent in senior time, slower delivery, and mistakes that aren’t obvious until later. Juniors are great for growing teams, not for critical, time-sensitive products without leadership in place.

Does AI reduce the cost of full stack development?

Not in the way people think.

AI speeds up writing code, not thinking. That means:

• Good developers become more productive

• Bad developers ship broken systems faster

AI increases the need for experienced engineers who can spot bad decisions, security issues, and architectural flaws. It doesn’t remove the need for senior judgment — it amplifies it.

How should I really compare full stack development costs?

Stop comparing hourly rates. Start comparing outcomes. Ask:

• How fast can we launch?

• How much rework will this create?

• Who owns decisions when things are unclear?

• Will this scale without being rebuilt?

The best development partner isn’t the cheapest. It’s the one that lets you move forward without dragging yesterday’s mistakes behind you.

Is it actually safe to hire offshore full stack developers?

The horror stories that you're really worried about come from skipping discovery, unclear ownership, and hiring purely on price.

Offshore development fails when:

• Requirements are vague

• No senior engineer is accountable for decisions

• “Cheap” developers are left to guess business logic

Offshore development succeeds when:

• Architecture is owned by a senior

• Decisions are documented

• The team understands why features exist

The risk isn’t geography. It’s lack of leadership.

What’s the biggest mistake companies make when hiring a full stack developer?

Optimising for rate instead of responsibility.

A £25/hour developer who needs:

• Daily clarification

• Constant review

• Rewrites after launch

Is more expensive than a £45/hour developer who:

• Flags bad ideas early

• Makes trade-offs intentionally

• Builds once, not twice

Cheap code is rarely cheap to own.

Can one full stack developer really build an entire product?

Technically? Yes. Practically? Only for a while.

Early on, one strong full stack developer can move fast. But as the product grows, you also need:

• Design input

• DevOps thinking

• QA discipline

• Architectural consistency

That’s why “one hero dev” products often hit a wall at scale. They don’t fail because of code; they fail because everything lives in one person’s head.

How do I know if I need a freelancer, an in-house dev, or an agency?

Ask yourself one question:

“Who is responsible when this goes wrong?”

• Freelancer: You are

• In-house hire: Eventually you

• Good agency: Them

If you enjoy managing technical decisions, freelancers can work well.

If you want progress without constant supervision, an agency earns its keep.

What should I realistically budget for full stack development this year?

Very roughly:

• MVPs: £15k–£40k

• Internal tools / platforms: £40k–£120k

• Dedicated offshore teams: £3k–£8k per dev per month

If someone quotes far below this, ask:

• What’s missing?

• Who owns architecture?

• What happens when assumptions are wrong?

If they can’t answer clearly, the savings are imaginary.