Rates
Transparent rates, no surprises afterwards.
How my day rate compares to the market, and exactly what you get for it.
Discuss your project
What does a freelance Drupal developer cost?
With me: 75 to 95 euros per hour, or 650 to 800 euros per day, excluding VAT.
Where you land within that range depends on two things: how long the engagement runs and whether we work together regularly.
A short, one-off job sits at the top end.
A project running several months, or a client where structural work keeps coming, sits at the bottom end.
No setup costs, no minimum commitment and no intermediary's margin.
You pay for the hours you get.
| Type of engagement | Hourly rate | Day rate |
|---|---|---|
| Short or one-off work | up to 95 euros | up to 800 euros |
| Longer-running project | 75 to 95 euros | 650 to 800 euros |
| Ongoing collaboration | from 75 euros | from 650 euros |
How this compares to the market
I sit at the top end of the market.
How high that market sits depends heavily on what exactly you're measuring.
On Malt, where freelancers list their own day rate, Belgian Drupal profiles range between 400 and 600 euros per day, with a median around 550 euros.
Those are asking rates on a marketplace, not necessarily what ends up being paid.
For the broader Belgian IT freelance market, an average around 710 euros per day is often cited.
Freelance.nl quotes 70 to 90 euros per hour for Drupal developers in the Netherlands.
Be careful with the low averages that circulate online.
Many of those figures are undated, mix junior and senior profiles, or come from a category like webmaster that describes something different from architecture work.
An average of 400 euros a day works out to about 50 euros an hour.
In Belgium, no self-employed person can run a business on that: social contributions, leave, illness, admin and non-billable acquisition time all come off it.
That difference has two causes, and it's reasonable that you'd want to know them.
The first is the type of work.
Those averages mix implementation work with architecture work.
I'm usually brought in for the latter: complex migrations, technical direction, situations someone has already looked at.
That's different work from clearing tickets.
The second is that there's no one in between.
Through an agency or staffing firm you pay the developer's rate plus the agency's margin.
Count on twenty to thirty percent for that, typically.
A direct rate of 750 euros can in practice work out cheaper than 600 euros through an intermediary, while the developer keeps less in that second case.
SLAs: the agreement that saves the most money
This is the part I'm happiest to talk through, because in practice this is where most things go wrong.
A good SLA saves more money than any discount on an hourly rate.
An SLA sets out what happens when something happens.
Not just how fast I respond, but also what's covered, who's responsible for what, and when you're allowed to call me.
Without that agreement, every incident starts with a discussion about who pays for what, while your site is down.
That's exactly the wrong moment for that discussion.
What belongs in it, as far as I'm concerned:
- Response time and resolution time, named separately. Those are two different promises.
Responding quickly isn't the same as having it resolved quickly, and an SLA that only covers the first one doesn't promise much. - What's covered and what isn't. A security hole in core is different from a new feature request.
Put that line on paper, so you don't need to discuss it later. - Availability outside office hours. If something needs to keep running over the weekend too, that belongs in the agreement.
If it doesn't, you don't need to pay for it either. - Who's allowed at the controls. During incidents, unclear access is often the biggest delay, not the problem itself.
Emergencies, weekends and public holidays
If you have an SLA, the contract sets out how urgent work runs.
For a critical problem I can start right away for up to 3 hours to find the cause and limit the damage, without waiting for your approval. That time comes off your hour budget first, anything above it is charged at the hourly rate.
That's the point of an SLA: you make clear agreements upfront instead of negotiating in a panic afterwards.
If you don't have one, we agree a fixed price for urgent work outside office hours before I start.
What that price is depends on the urgency and on what needs to happen.
I don't charge open-ended: you know what it costs before anyone starts.
How an engagement usually starts
With a conversation and, if there's substance to it, with an assessment.
For a migration or taking over existing work, that assessment is a separate first step with its own price.
That's deliberate: only after that can anyone honestly say what the whole engagement will cost.
An estimate without an assessment is a number that turns out wrong later anyway.
For ongoing work, we usually agree a fixed number of days per month.
That gives you certainty about availability and me certainty about planning, and it's why the rate then sits at the bottom end of the range.
Frequently asked questions
What is a normal hourly rate for a freelance Drupal developer?
For experienced Drupal developers in Belgium and the Netherlands, roughly 70 to 95 euros per hour, or 400 to 800 euros per day.
On Malt, Belgian Drupal freelancers list rates between 400 and 600 euros per day, with a median around 550 euros.
For the broader IT freelance market in Belgium, an average around 710 euros per day is cited.
Be careful with lower averages circulating online: they're often undated and mix roles that aren't comparable.
Do you prefer to charge by the hour or by the day?
By the day, for work that takes longer than a couple of hours.
That saves admin for both of us and makes planning fairer: a day is a day, even if there's ten minutes of discussion in between.
For small, well-defined tasks I charge by the hour.
What does an SLA cost?
That depends on what your site needs. An SLA includes a fixed number of hours per month for updates, checks, questions and small changes. Extra work costs 75 euros per hour excluding VAT.
An SLA for a small business site is something quite different from an SLA for a platform with daily revenue running through it. We work it out based on what you actually need.
What is and isn't included, you can read on Drupal maintenance and support.
Do you charge call-out fees or setup costs?
No.
I work remotely from Herk-de-Stad, on CET.
Meeting on-site is possible, in Belgium and the Netherlands, and we discuss travel time upfront if it's a recurring arrangement.
What does a Drupal migration cost?
That can't be put in a single number, and anyone who does so without having seen your site is guessing.
It depends on the version you're coming from, how much custom code there is, and which integrations are attached.
That's why I start with an inventory: it gives a budget in days, so you know where you stand.
Can I hire you through my own agency or staffing firm?
Yes, and it happens regularly.
Keep in mind that party's margin gets added on top.
Working directly is usually more favourable for both sides, but if your procurement process runs through a framework contract, that's not a problem.
Curious what your situation would cost?
Tell me briefly what's going on, and I'll tell you whether it's a matter of a few hours, a project, or an inventory first. No sales pitch.
