How to Hire a WordPress Developer Without Regret

Write a one-page brief, shortlist three to five candidates, check the live sites in their portfolios, interview them with the same questions, run a short paid trial and sign a written contract. The seven steps on this page take most people one to two weeks.

In the US, freelance WordPress developers typically charge about $50 to $150 per hour. A basic five-page site often costs $500 to $2,000, a custom business site $2,000 to $5,000 and a WooCommerce store $5,000 to $10,000. Agencies usually charge more. These are published ranges, not quotes. My own fixed prices start at $1,080 for a business website.

Freelance marketplaces such as Upwork and Fiverr give the widest choice. Vetted networks such as Codeable and Toptal pre-screen developers at higher rates. Agencies offer a team, and referrals from people you trust are often the safest. Whichever you choose, vet every candidate with the same checks.

A freelancer usually costs 20 to 40 percent less and gives you direct access to the person doing the work. An agency offers a team, project management and cover if someone is unavailable. For most small business sites a proven freelancer is better value. For large or fast-moving projects an agency can be safer.

Open the live sites in their portfolio and test them on your phone for speed, working forms and broken pages. Ask what their exact role was, put the same technical questions to every candidate and run a short paid trial on a staging site before you commit.

Yes. A paid task of about four to eight hours shows how a developer communicates, how clean their work is and whether they meet deadlines. Unpaid tests tend to attract the wrong people and are rarely fair. Run the trial on a staging copy, never on your live site.

Create a separate administrator account for them with a strong, unique password and two-factor login if possible. Never share your own login or your hosting password, work on a staging copy where you can, take a backup first and remove the account when the project ends.

Scope and deliverables, price and milestones, payment dates, who owns the code and content, the number of revisions, a fix period after launch, confidentiality and how either side can end the agreement. Splitting payment into thirds, at signing, at the midpoint and at launch, keeps both sides motivated.

Hiring usually takes one to two weeks when you follow a clear process. A small business website then commonly takes two to six weeks, depending on content, features and how quickly you give feedback. Custom themes and online stores take longer.

A page builder helps you edit content, but a developer sets it up properly, keeps it fast, adds custom features and fixes conflicts when plugins break. Many small sites need a developer for the build and then only occasional help.