Developer Hiring Cost Calculator
The true cost of hiring a developer is far more than salary. See the full year-one cost — taxes, recruiting, equipment, management — versus a subscription.
A developer’s salary is only part of what they cost. Employer taxes, benefits, equipment, software, recruiting fees, and the management time every hire consumes can add 50% or more on top of the headline number — and that is before the one-to-two months of ramp before they are fully productive.
This calculator breaks down the real, fully loaded cost of hiring in-house, line by line, and compares the year-one total to a fixed monthly subscription. It is built for founders deciding whether to take on the risk and overhead of a permanent hire, or get senior output another way.
A developer costs far more than their salary. A senior developer on an €85,000 gross salary in Western Europe typically costs €120,000–€145,000 in the first year once employer taxes (~30%), a recruiting fee (15–25% of salary), equipment and management time are added, plus lost output during a one-to-two month ramp. An AsyncForge subscription is a fixed €2,000–€8,000 per month — €24,000–€96,000 a year — with no recruiting, payroll, equipment or commitment. The calculator below breaks the true cost down line by line for your role and region.
Rates last reviewed July 2026
The hire
What it really costs to put someone on payroll.
Advanced assumptions
Your time, per person, per month.
Months to full productivity.
48-hour turnaround
True first-year cost of hiring in-house
€144,183
€10,008/mo loaded · €120,100/yr ongoing
Where the money goes (year one)
| Base salary (gross) | €85,000 |
| Employer taxes, benefits, equipment | €25,500 |
| Recruiting fee (one-time) | €17,000 |
| Management & coordination time | €9,600 |
| Onboarding ramp (lost output) | €7,083 |
| Total first-year cost | €144,183 |
Hire in-house
€144,183
first year, fully loaded
AsyncForge Standard
€48,000
€4,000/mo · cancel anytime
≈ €96,183 less in year one — with no recruiting, payroll or management overhead.
Assumptions
- Employer on-costs default to 30% of gross salary — social charges, pension, benefits, equipment and software.
- Recruiting defaults to a one-time 20% of first-year salary, the middle of the 15–25% agency fees we have paid.
- Management and coordination default to €800 per hire per month of founder or lead time.
- Ramp defaults to two months before a new senior hire is at full output.
Based on our own hiring in the Netherlands, 2021-2026. These are our numbers, not an industry study — adjust any assumption to match your own situation.
How this estimate is calculated
Salary is the starting point, not the total
We start from a typical gross salary for the role, seniority, and region, then add employer on-costs — social charges, benefits, pension, equipment, and software — at a configurable rate (30% by default).
The costs that hide off the payslip
On top sit a one-time recruiting fee (15–25% of first-year salary is typical), your own management and coordination time per person, and the lost output during onboarding while a new hire ramps to full productivity.
The subscription comparison
The year-one total is set against an AsyncForge subscription — a fixed monthly fee with no recruiting, no payroll, no equipment, and no commitment. One subscription is one senior stream of work; for founders who need output without fixed cost, the year-one math is rarely close.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the true cost of hiring a software developer?
How much does it cost to hire a developer beyond salary?
Should I hire a developer or use a subscription service?
Keep exploring
Software Development Cost Calculator
Compare every build path for a whole project.
Subscription vs Building a Team
Subscription vs assembling your own dev team.
AsyncForge Pricing
Fixed monthly plans, cancel anytime.
How AsyncForge Works
From signup to shipped code, without the overhead.
Other free tools
Software Development Cost Calculator
Estimate what your software project really costs across in-house hiring, freelancers, an agency, and a fixed monthly subscription — free and transparent.
MVP Cost Calculator
How much does an MVP cost to build? Pick your features and get an instant estimate across in-house, freelancers, an agency, and a fixed-price MVP package.