TL;DR: A Sydney senior developer costs an employer about A$200,800 to A$236,200 a year once 12% super and NSW payroll tax are added. A Philippine developer with 5 to 9 years' experience costs about A$30,000, including statutory benefits and a $599-a-month employer of record fee. On local pay data, that is 85% to 87% less.
Australia's tech workforce shrank in 2025 for the first time on record, by 0.3% to about 967,000 people, according to the ACS. Senior pay did not follow it down. Recruiters still quote A$170,000 to A$200,000 base for a senior software engineer in Sydney in 2026.
- 1NSW payroll tax adds 5.45% on wages and super, but only for employers paying more than A$1.2 million a year.
- 2Philippine statutory costs add 16.7% to a mid-career salary, and half of that is the 13th-month payment.
- 3Sponsoring one 482 worker for four years costs a large business A$11,965 in government charges.
- 4A peso salary costs about 16% less in Australian dollars than it did a year ago.
Developer Salaries: Australia vs the Philippines
A mid-range Australian software engineer earns A$111,000 to A$205,000 a year in total pay, depending on the city. Those are the 25th to 75th percentiles on Levels.fyi, where the Sydney median is A$158,947 and Melbourne's is A$147,033.
The senior bands come from the AussieTechTalent Senior Tech Salary Guide 2026, which covers engineers with 8 or more years' experience. Sydney runs A$170,000 to A$200,000 and Melbourne A$155,000 to A$180,000, both as base salary plus super.
In the Philippines, Payscale's 2026 data quotes software engineer pay by experience. At the European Central Bank reference rate for 21 September 2026, A$1 buys ₱44.82.
| Experience | Philippines, a year | In AUD |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1 year | ₱310,361 | A$6,925 |
| 1 to 4 years | ₱431,170 | A$9,620 |
| 5 to 9 years | ₱763,872 | A$17,043 |
| 10 to 19 years | ₱977,738 | A$21,815 |
Local averages are a floor. JobStreet puts the national software engineer average at ₱45,000 to ₱55,000 a month, but ₱100,000 in Mandaluyong and ₱75,000 in Taguig.
What an Australian Developer Costs the Employer
Super is the one cost every Australian employer pays. Since 1 July 2025, the Superannuation Guarantee has been 12% of ordinary time earnings, the last of the scheduled rises. Since 1 July 2026, Payday Super has required employers to pay it with each pay run, not quarterly. Super stops at the maximum contribution base, A$270,830 a year for 2026 to 2027, so every salary in this post attracts the full 12%.
Payroll tax depends on the state and on the size of the whole payroll, so a small startup may pay none. It applies to wages including super:
| State | Rate, 2026 to 2027 | Tax-free threshold |
|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | 5.45% | A$1.2 million |
| Victoria | 4.85% | A$1 million |
| Queensland | 4.75%, or 4.95% above A$6.5 million | A$1.3 million |
Sources: Revenue NSW, the State Revenue Office Victoria and Queensland Revenue Office.
For a Sydney senior on A$170,000, super and payroll tax add A$30,777, taking the cost to A$200,777. At A$200,000 the total is A$236,208. Workers compensation is small for software firms: Victoria's 2026 to 2027 industry rate for computer system design is 0.36% of wages.
Leave is set by the National Employment Standards at four weeks a year. The 17.5% annual leave loading is not part of those standards, and it applies only where an award, agreement or contract provides it, so many developers on award-free contracts do not get it. Long service leave is set by each state: in NSW, an employee earns two months after 10 years.
What a Philippine Developer Costs the Employer
A Philippine employer's biggest extra cost is the 13th-month payment, one twelfth of a year's basic pay, due by 24 December under the labour department's statutory benefits handbook. Three social insurance contributions follow, each with a cap:
- SSS: 10% of the monthly salary credit, capped at ₱35,000, per Grant Thornton, plus ₱30 a month for employee compensation.
- PhilHealth: half of a 5% premium, on income up to ₱100,000 a month.
- Pag-IBIG: ₱200 a month, 2% of a fund salary capped at ₱10,000.
On a ₱763,872 salary, the four lines come to ₱127,513, or 16.7%. The SSS cap means a better-paid developer costs proportionally less: at ₱977,738 the share is 15.4%. Our Philippines payroll, benefits and tax guide covers the monthly mechanics.
Time zones add no cost for Australian teams. Manila runs on UTC+8 with no daylight saving, the same clock as Perth. It is 2 hours behind Sydney and Melbourne on standard time and 3 hours behind in daylight saving.
A 9am to 5pm Sydney day is 7am to 3pm in Manila, or 6am to 2pm in summer, outside the 10pm to 6am window that triggers the 10% night-shift differential.
- 12% super, with every pay run
- 4.75% to 5.45% payroll tax above the state threshold
- 4 weeks annual leave, plus workers compensation
- 13th-month pay, one twelfth of basic
- 12.5% SSS and PhilHealth, both capped
- 5 days service incentive leave, plus holiday pay at 200%
Total Annual Cost of One Developer
An Australian company without a Philippine entity hires through an employer of record, which employs the developer locally and invoices monthly. With that fee included, a developer with 5 to 9 years' experience costs A$29,959 a year. A Sydney senior costs A$200,777 at the bottom of the recruiter band.
The Philippine totals use Deel's $599 monthly list price, A$10,071 a year at A$1 to US$0.7138. Other providers list between $459 and $699 a month:
The currency has moved in Australia's favour. On 22 September 2025, A$1 bought ₱37.52 at the ECB reference rate, against ₱44.82 now, so the same ₱891,385 senior package has fallen from A$23,760 to A$19,888 before the EOR fee. A company paying in pesos carries that swing unless its contract fixes the rate.
These totals use local pay data, and developers who work for foreign companies usually earn above the local average. That is why teams hiring through us typically save 50-70% against an Australian hire rather than 85%. The cost to hire in the Philippines page prices ten roles, and cost to hire in Australia gives the local side.
Melbourne and the Cost of a Team
Melbourne is cheaper than Sydney on both salary and tax. Victoria charges 4.85% payroll tax against the NSW rate of 5.45%, and its senior band starts A$15,000 lower. The same method gives these annual employer costs:
| Developer | Base salary | Super at 12% | Payroll tax | Employer cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney senior, low end | A$170,000 | A$20,400 | A$10,377 | A$200,777 |
| Sydney senior, high end | A$200,000 | A$24,000 | A$12,208 | A$236,208 |
| Melbourne senior, low end | A$155,000 | A$18,600 | A$8,420 | A$182,020 |
| Melbourne senior, high end | A$180,000 | A$21,600 | A$9,778 | A$211,378 |
Payroll tax is shown for an employer above its state threshold, and workers compensation is left out because it is under 0.4% of wages. All four figures are our calculations from the recruiter bands and the published rates.
Most Australian companies that hire in the Philippines keep some roles at home. Take a team of five.
Five Sydney seniors at the bottom of the band cost A$1,003,885 a year. One Sydney lead at A$200,000 plus four Philippine developers with 5 to 9 years' experience, hired through an employer of record, cost A$356,044. The split keeps architecture and client-facing work in Australia and moves the build capacity offshore.
Recruitment and Visa Costs in Australia
Australian recruitment agencies charge 20% to 30% or more for senior roles, calculated on base plus super, according to Experis. On a A$170,000 Sydney senior, that is A$38,080 to A$57,120. Filling a permanent IT role now takes 8 to 10 weeks, up from five to six, says Emanate Technology.
Sponsoring a developer from abroad on a Skills in Demand (subclass 482) visa adds government charges. The visa application charge rose from A$3,210 to A$4,015 on 1 July 2026. The employer also pays the Skilling Australians Fund levy each year of the nomination: A$1,200 a year under A$10 million turnover and A$1,800 above it.
Over a four-year nomination, a large business pays A$11,965 before migration agent fees. A sponsored developer must also earn at least the Core Skills Income Threshold, A$79,499 from 1 July 2026, which any senior developer clears. A separate Specialist Skills stream applies to salaries from A$146,717.
The Talent Market Behind the Numbers
Australia's tech workforce fell to about 967,000 people in 2025, the first fall on record, while the sector contributed A$142 billion in the 2025 financial year, according to ACS Digital Pulse 2026. The ACS still expects the country to need 259,000 more technology professionals by 2035.
The Philippine IT and business process industry employed 1.9 million people in 2025 and earned over $40 billion in export revenue, according to IBPAP. The Philippines ranks 28th on the EF English Proficiency Index 2025, second in Asia after Malaysia. Our guide to engineering talent in the Philippines covers the stacks, and the Philippines vs UK comparison runs the same numbers for a London team.
Hiring a Filipino Developer from Australia
We match Australian teams with vetted developers from the Philippines, usually within 24 hours, at 50-70% lower payroll than an Australian hire. We can employ them for you through our Philippines employer of record, so you need no local entity. There is no cost until you hire. Tell us who you need.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I pay super on a developer in the Philippines?
Not when they are employed in the Philippines through a local employer of record. That employer pays SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG instead, and bills you for them with the salary.
Which Australian city shares Manila's time zone?
Perth. Both run on UTC+8 all year, so a Perth team and a Manila developer keep the same hours. Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are 2 hours ahead, and Sydney and Melbourne move to 3 hours ahead in daylight saving.
What exchange rate does this comparison use?
The European Central Bank reference rates for 21 September 2026: A$1 to ₱44.82 and A$1 to US$0.7138. The Reserve Bank of Australia's own rate that day was US$0.7124.
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