TL;DR: Arc is the best all-round platform to hire a PHP developer in 2026: 12,209 vetted PHP developers, freelancers averaging $61 to $80 an hour, and 20% of salary for a full-time hire. Second Talent (our own service) employs full-time PHP developers from Asia for you from $2,700 a month, and Toptal suits senior Laravel or Symfony work with a paid-only-if-satisfied trial. Codeable is the specialist for WordPress, and LaraJobs reaches 40,000+ Laravel developers for $299 a listing.
PHP still runs 69.8% of the websites whose server-side language W3Techs can detect, and 27.8% of those PHP sites are on version 7, which lost security support in November 2022.
Most PHP hiring now splits three ways: Laravel product work, WordPress and WooCommerce sites, and upgrades of old code. The platforms below split the same way.
The 10 Platforms Compared
| Platform | Best for | Who vets | What you pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Arc | Freelance or full-time PHP hires | Arc screens; top 2% | $61 to $80 an hour PHP average; 20% for full-time |
| 2. Second Talent | Full-time PHP developers from Asia, employed for you | We vet | From $2,700 a month, all-in |
| 3. Toptal | Senior Laravel, Symfony and Magento contractors | Toptal screens; top 3% | Quoted; $79 a month subscription |
| 4. Upwork | Short jobs and budget work | You screen | $15 to $30 typical PHP rate, plus up to 7.99% |
| 5. Lemon.io | One senior contractor this week | Lemon.io screens; about 1% pass | Senior engineers from $55 an hour |
| 6. Codeable | WordPress and WooCommerce | Codeable screens | Estimate at $80 to $120 an hour, plus 17.5% |
| 7. LaraJobs | Hiring a Laravel developer yourself | You screen | $299 for a 30-day listing |
| 8. Freelancer | Contests and fixed-price bids | You screen | 3% or $3 per project |
| 9. PeoplePerHour | Fixed-price PHP fixes | You screen | £0.60 plus 10% per payment |
| 10. Guru | Long contracts on low fees | You screen | 2.9% handling fee |
- 1JetBrains' State of PHP 2025 found 64% of PHP developers work in Laravel, 25% in WordPress and 23% in Symfony, so pick a platform that tests your framework as well as PHP.
- 2PHP 8.2 loses security support on 31 December 2026, so an upgrade to 8.4 or 8.5 is a common first job for a new hire.
- 3Upwork adds a one-time fee of $0.99 to $14.99 to every new contract, rehires included, on top of its marketplace fee.
- 4Indeed puts the average US PHP developer salary at $87,058, the benchmark every full-time option here competes with.
We ranked them by fit for a company hiring PHP developers now: how much of the screening the platform does for you, what it publishes about price, and whether it covers the framework you run.
I run Second Talent, so read our #2 with that in mind.
1. Arc
Arc suits a company that wants to see vetted PHP profiles this week and decide later between a contractor and a full-time hire.
Its PHP hiring page lists 12,209 remote PHP developers and puts the average freelance PHP rate at $61 to $80 an hour. Its client logos include Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com.
Arc says it accepts the top 2% of applicants and holds a vetted network of 450,000. Freelancers can start within 72 hours and full-time hires close in 14 days.
Its pricing page lists AI applicant screening and AI sourcing on both plans, and the full-time plan also searches a pool of 20 million candidates outside the vetted network, so check which pool a shortlist came from.
Arc publishes its prices, which few platforms here do. Our Arc alternatives page compares it with the other vetted networks.
- Best for: teams that want to browse vetted PHP profiles and pay nothing until they hire.
- Watch out: a full-time hire abroad still needs a payroll or an employer of record, and that cost sits outside the 20%.
- What you pay: $15 to $110+ an hour across freelance roles, with a trial of up to two weeks; 20% of annual salary for a full-time hire.
2. Second Talent
Second Talent is for a company that wants a full-time PHP developer from Asia without opening an entity there.
We place pre-vetted PHP developers from Asia, senior engineers in Laravel, Symfony, WordPress and Magento, and employ them through our own entities, so you direct the work and pay one monthly rate.
A brief turns into 6 to 8 candidates within 24 hours, and most engineers start within one to two weeks.
Vetting covers a technical assessment, a test of how the engineer works with AI coding tools, an English check at C1 or above and a behavioural interview.
That AI check matters for PHP: JetBrains found 95% of PHP developers have tried AI tools and 80% use them regularly.
- $87,058 average salary (Indeed)
- Payroll tax, benefits and equipment on top
- From $2,700 a month
- Payroll, compliance and equipment included
Our pricing page sets the terms: a 90-day replacement guarantee and a 7-day trial with a full refund. The PHP developer rate card for the Philippines shows salaries by seniority.
- Best for: companies that want a full-time PHP developer who stays, with payroll handled.
- Watch out: we place full-time engineers, so a one-week bug fix is better sent to a marketplace.
- What you pay: from $2,700 a month on our PHP page, with $0 upfront.
3. Toptal
Toptal is for a funded team that needs a senior PHP contractor for architecture-level work: a Laravel monolith that needs splitting, a Symfony upgrade, a Magento store under load.
Its PHP page links to separate pages for Laravel, WordPress, Symfony, Magento, Drupal and WooCommerce developers, and clients rate its PHP developers 4.9 out of 5 across 14,168 reviews.
Toptal says it accepts the top 3% of applicants, matches in under 24 hours on average and can have a developer working in about 48 hours. The trial runs up to two weeks, and you pay only if you are satisfied.
The old refundable deposit is gone: the FAQ now describes a flat subscription of $79 a month once you go ahead with matching.
It publishes no hourly rates, so every engagement starts with a call. Our Toptal alternatives page lists vetted networks that do publish prices.
- Best for: senior Laravel, Symfony or Magento work where a wrong hire costs more than the rate.
- Watch out: no published PHP rates, and the premium shows on long engagements.
- What you pay: quoted per developer, plus the $79 monthly subscription.
4. Upwork
Upwork is for a team with a defined PHP job, a plugin fix or an API integration, and the time to screen applicants itself.
It is the largest open marketplace here, and its PHP cost page puts the median rate at $20 an hour, with most PHP freelancers between $15 and $30.
Nobody vets them for you: ratings, job history and your own test task do that work.
Those rates sit far below the vetted networks, and the gap is the screening you do yourself.
Upwork's client fees add a marketplace fee of up to 7.99%, or 3% for qualifying US clients paying by bank account, plus a contract initiation fee of $0.99 to $14.99 on every new contract.
If the $20 median tempts you, compare it with the freelance Laravel developer rates by region before you post. Our Upwork alternatives page covers the vetted options.
- Best for: short, well-specified PHP tasks and teams that can screen their own candidates.
- Watch out: quality varies widely at the same rate, and the fees stack on small contracts.
- What you pay: the freelancer's rate plus up to 7.99%, and $0.99 to $14.99 per new contract.
5. Lemon.io
Lemon.io suits a startup that needs one senior PHP contractor this week and no long contract.
Its PHP page offers developers who specialise in Laravel and WordPress, says about 1% of applicants make it through vetting, and matches in 24 to 48 hours.
Vetting runs in four steps, ending with a technical interview.
New clients get up to 20 prepaid hours that are risk-free, so you can see a developer work in your codebase before you commit, and a replacement guarantee covers a match that does not work out.
You can keep the developer on contract or hire them in-house.
Before the first call, it helps to know what to test. Our Laravel interview questions cover queues, Eloquent performance and testing.
- Best for: early-stage teams that need a senior Laravel or WordPress contractor fast.
- Watch out: a smaller bench than Arc or Toptal, so a rare stack can take longer to match.
- What you pay: senior engineers from $55 an hour.
6. Codeable
Codeable is the platform for WordPress and WooCommerce work only, and for most PHP buyers that is the job. You post a project, several vetted developers look at it, and Codeable returns a single estimate rather than a bidding war.
Its pricing page bases estimates on $80 to $120 an hour and adds a fixed 17.5% fee, with listed starting prices from $420 to $3,200.
The network is 500+ developers across 330,000+ completed projects, and every project carries a 28-day warranty for bug fixes. Version upgrades are a good fit for that model, because the scope is known before the estimate.
W3Techs counts 28% of PHP websites still on PHP 7 and 8% on PHP 5. WordPress runs on PHP, so moving an old theme and its plugins to PHP 8 is the kind of scoped job Codeable prices well.
For a full-time WordPress developer instead, see our WordPress developers page.
- Best for: WordPress and WooCommerce builds, fixes and PHP upgrades.
- Watch out: WordPress only; a Laravel or Symfony app needs another platform.
- What you pay: a single estimate at $80 to $120 an hour, plus 17.5%.
7. LaraJobs
LaraJobs is for a company hiring a Laravel developer onto its own payroll and running the process itself.
It calls itself the official Laravel job board, UserScape builds it with Laravel News, and its listing page says every job is emailed to 40,000+ Laravel developers.
A listing costs $299 and runs 30 days, with paid add-ons for more exposure. Prices adjust for purchasing power by the visitor's country, so a company posting from a lower-cost market pays less.
Current listings show the top of the market: a senior full-stack PHP and Laravel role for US-only candidates posted at $160,000 to $180,000.
You get applicants, not a shortlist, so the screening is yours. Our PHP interview questions are a starting point.
- Best for: in-house Laravel hires where you want the whole Laravel community to see the role.
- Watch out: a job board only; you screen, interview and employ.
- What you pay: $299 per 30-day listing, plus optional add-ons.
8. Freelancer
Freelancer suits a buyer who wants many bids on a fixed-price PHP job and is happy to sort them. Its PHP page showed 2,247 PHP developers online when we checked and says the first bid arrives in about 30 seconds.
Contests are its distinctive option: you post the brief, several freelancers submit work, and you award the one you want. Posting and awarding a contest is free.
Per its fees page, a fixed-price project costs the employer 3% or $3, whichever is greater, and an hourly project costs 3% of each payment.
- Best for: fixed-price PHP jobs where you want many quotes quickly.
- Watch out: no vetting, and the bid volume takes time to sort.
- What you pay: 3% or $3 per fixed-price project; 3% of each hourly payment.
9. PeoplePerHour
PeoplePerHour is for a small business that wants a PHP fix at a fixed price without writing a brief.
Freelancers sell packaged Offers, formerly called Hourlies, such as a bug fix or a WordPress update, and its PHP category lists 300+ freelancers with Offers from $10 to $325.
Its terms set the buyer fee at £0.60 plus 10% of each payment. Freelancers pay 20% on the first £250 billed to a client, 7.5% up to £5,000 and 3.5% after that, so rates tend to fall on long relationships.
It is strongest for WordPress and small PHP tasks; larger builds still need a proper brief and a test task.
- Best for: fixed-price PHP and WordPress fixes you can buy like a product.
- Watch out: the buyer fee of 10% plus £0.60 is high on tiny jobs.
- What you pay: the Offer price plus £0.60 and 10%.
10. Guru
Guru fits a company planning a long PHP contract that wants the lowest fees of the open marketplaces. Posting a job is free, and its handling fee for employers is 2.9%, offset by a 3% cashback when you pay by eCheck, check or wire.
Its homepage cites 800,000 employers, 1 million paid invoices and $250 million paid to freelancers. That history is the appeal for a long engagement: you can read years of reviews on a PHP freelancer before you sign.
The pool is older and smaller than Upwork's, and the search tools are simpler, so expect to do more of the screening.
- Best for: long PHP contracts where low fees matter more than a large pool.
- Watch out: no vetting and a smaller, older freelancer base.
- What you pay: the freelancer's rate plus 2.9%, or less when paying by bank.
Hire a Full-Time PHP Developer from Asia
If the list pointed you to a full-time developer rather than a contractor, tell us the framework and the role. We send 6 to 8 pre-vetted PHP developers within 24 hours, employ them for you, and charge nothing until you hire.
For contract rather than employee cost, the PHP Developer rate index compares freelance rates across nine regions by seniority. Get a PHP shortlist in 24 hours.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to hire a PHP developer in 2026?
Upwork's median PHP rate is $20 an hour, Arc's PHP average is $61 to $80, and Codeable estimates WordPress work at $80 to $120 plus its fee. A full-time US PHP developer averages $87,058 a year on Indeed.
Which PHP version should a new hire know?
PHP 8. Version 8.5 was released on 20 November 2025, 8.1 is out of security support, and 8.2 follows at the end of 2026. Ask candidates about typed properties, enums and readonly classes, and about an upgrade they have done.
Is PHP still worth hiring for?
Yes. The Stack Overflow 2025 survey found 18.9% of developers use PHP, and it still runs most of the web's server-side code.
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