logo

Does an in-house developer cost less than buying agency hours?

A Canadian software developer's median wage equals 83 agency hours a month at C$100 an hour, before employer costs. Updated October 19, 2026.

By Martin DejnickiUpdated

Short answer

A Canadian software developer's median wage of C$8,334 a month equals 83 agency hours at C$100 an hour, according to Job Bank (NOC 21232, 2023 to 2024) and Deploi's pricing page, read October 18, 2026. The US equivalents are 108 hours for a web developer and 158 for a software developer. All are wages before employer costs, computed by Deploi.

A Canadian software developer's median wage, before employer costs, equals 83 agency hours a month at C$100 an hour

Monthly cost in Canadian dollars of agency hours at C$100 an hour, for the hours chosen (83 in the default view), against one developer's median wage before employer costs; US wages converted at 1.3978

83 hours a month of agency work at C$100 an hour against one developer's median wage

At 83 hours a month, agency work costs C$8,300 against a Canadian software developer's median wage of C$8,334, before employer costs; US wages are converted at 1.3978.

Showing: Agency hours a month: 83 hours. Reset

Agency cost a month at C$100 an hour, by hours

40 hours
C$4,000
83 hours
C$8,300
108 hours
C$10,800
158 hours
C$15,800

  • How this is calculated: Agency cost is the hours entered times Deploi's published rate of C$100 an hour for a prepaid bank of hours, before tax (Deploi's pricing page). Each wage bar is a median monthly wage before employer costs and does not change with the hours: for Canada, Job Bank's C$48.08 an hour (NOC 21232, 2023 to 2024) times 2,080 hours divided by 12; for the United States, the BLS OEWS May 2025 annual median divided by 12, converted at the Bank of Canada's 2025 average of 1.3978 Canadian dollars per US dollar. Computed by Deploi.
  • The agency rate is Deploi's own published price, C$100 an hour for a prepaid bank of hours before tax; Deploi is the agency in this comparison.
  • Monthly wage is the median annual wage divided by 12; for Canada, the hourly median times 2,080 hours divided by 12. Computed by Deploi.
  • US wages are converted at the Bank of Canada's 2025 average of 1.3978 Canadian dollars per US dollar.
  • Wages are before employer costs; in the United States they are 68.5% of full-time private-industry compensation (BLS, June 2026), so hiring costs more than the wage alone and the break-even is higher.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025 and ECEC June 2026), Job Bank (NOC 21232), Bank of Canada and Deploi's pricing page. Monthly costs computed by Deploi. Read on .

What this means for your decision

  • Hiring or buying hours? A Canadian software developer's median wage, C$8,334 a month, equals 83 hours at Deploi's C$100 an hour, computed by Deploi from Job Bank's 2023 to 2024 median and Deploi's pricing page. If your Shopify work runs well below 83 hours a month, buying hours costs less than the wage alone; well above it, a hire can cost less.
  • Counting what a hire costs? The wage bars and the break-even hours use wages before employer costs. In the United States wages are 68.5% of compensation for full-time private-industry workers (BLS, June 2026); grossed up with that all-worker share, a median web developer's wage would cost an employer an estimated US$11,271 a month, so a hire costs more than its wage bar shows and the real break-even is higher. The dataset holds no Canadian employer cost.
  • Using the US figures? A US web developer's median wage for May 2025 equals 108 agency hours a month and a software developer's 158, converted at the Bank of Canada's 2025 average of 1.3978. They describe general occupations, not Shopify specialists, so read them as a pay benchmark.
  • Comparing agencies? C$100 an hour is Deploi's own published price for a prepaid bank of hours before tax, not a market rate, and Deploi is not affiliated with Shopify. Divide the same monthly wage by another agency's hourly rate to find its break-even.
  • Pricing your own workload? Deploi's pricing sets out the bank of hours. Contact Deploi to estimate the hours your store needs.

How many agency hours equal one developer's wage?

One developer's median monthly wage equals 108 agency hours for a US web developer, 158 for a US software developer and 83 for a Canadian software developer at C$100 an hour, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (May 2025), Job Bank (2023 to 2024) and Deploi's pricing page, read October 18, 2026. Deploi computed the hours.

Enter the hours of work you need a month to compare their cost at C$100 an hour with one developer's median monthly wage. The chart draws that cost in Canadian dollars against three wage bars, and the presets include the break-even hours above. A developer's wage costs less than agency hours only when the work exceeds the break-even hours a month. Below that, buying agency hours costs less than the wage alone. Employer costs raise the break-even, as a later section shows.

What do developers earn in the United States and Canada?

The median US web developer earned $92,650 a year and the median US software developer $135,980 in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' OEWS release. Job Bank gives a median of C$48.08 an hour for a Canadian software developer, NOC 21232, for the reference period 2023 to 2024. Deploi converts these to monthly wages for the comparison.

Role Published median wage Wage a month
US, web developer $92,650 a year ($44.54 an hour) $7,721
US, software developer $135,980 a year ($65.38 an hour) $11,332
Canada, software developer C$48.08 an hour (2023 to 2024) C$8,334

Monthly wage is computed by Deploi: the annual wage divided by 12, or for Canada the hourly wage times 2,080 hours divided by 12.

How are US wages compared with a Canadian-dollar agency rate?

US wages are converted at the Bank of Canada's 2025 average of 1.3978 Canadian dollars per US dollar, so Deploi expresses C$100 an hour in US dollars at that rate for the US rows. The agency rate is Deploi's own published price, read on its pricing page October 18, 2026.

The break-even hours are the monthly wage divided by the agency rate in the wage's currency. The chart draws the two US wages in Canadian dollars at the same exchange rate. Computed by Deploi from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' May 2025 medians, they are C$10,792 a month for a web developer and C$15,839 for a software developer.

What does employing a developer cost beyond the wage?

Wages are 68.5% of employer compensation costs for full-time private industry workers in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics for June 2026. Grossed up with that all-worker share, the median wage would cost an employer an estimated $11,271 a month for a web developer and $16,543 for a software developer, computed by Deploi.

The dataset holds no Canadian employer cost share, so Deploi shows no Canadian employer cost and does not estimate one. The wage bars in the chart use wages alone, so hiring costs more than the chart shows.

Are these Shopify developer wages?

The wages are for general occupations, not Shopify specialists: web developers and software developers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (May 2025) and software developers from Job Bank (2023 to 2024). The sources do not state a Shopify developer wage, so Deploi shows none. Read the hours as a benchmark for developer pay in general.

Wages for a developer with Shopify experience may differ from the medians shown. The sources do not give that difference.

What is the agency rate in this comparison?

The agency rate is Deploi's own published price of C$100 an hour for a prepaid bank of hours before tax, read on Deploi's pricing page October 18, 2026. Deploi is the agency in this comparison and is not a Shopify Partner or affiliated with Shopify. The rate is one agency's price, and the dataset holds no market average.

Other agencies charge other rates. The dataset holds no data on them, and it contains no client data.

The data

Each chart on this page is drawn from the numbers below. Units are in the column headers.

A Canadian software developer's median wage, before employer costs, equals 83 agency hours a month at C$100 an hour. 83 hours a month of agency work at C$100 an hour against one developer's median wage
Agency hours a month (hours per month)Cost comparedMonthly cost, CAD (CAD per month)
10Agency hours1,000
10Canada, software developer8,334
10US, web developer10,792
10US, software developer15,839
20Agency hours2,000
20Canada, software developer8,334
20US, web developer10,792
20US, software developer15,839
30Agency hours3,000
30Canada, software developer8,334
30US, web developer10,792
30US, software developer15,839
40Agency hours4,000
40Canada, software developer8,334
40US, web developer10,792
40US, software developer15,839
50Agency hours5,000
50Canada, software developer8,334
50US, web developer10,792
50US, software developer15,839
60Agency hours6,000
60Canada, software developer8,334
60US, web developer10,792
60US, software developer15,839
70Agency hours7,000
70Canada, software developer8,334
70US, web developer10,792
70US, software developer15,839
80Agency hours8,000
80Canada, software developer8,334
80US, web developer10,792
80US, software developer15,839
83Agency hours8,300
83Canada, software developer8,334
83US, web developer10,792
83US, software developer15,839
90Agency hours9,000
90Canada, software developer8,334
90US, web developer10,792
90US, software developer15,839
100Agency hours10,000
100Canada, software developer8,334
100US, web developer10,792
100US, software developer15,839
108Agency hours10,800
108Canada, software developer8,334
108US, web developer10,792
108US, software developer15,839
110Agency hours11,000
110Canada, software developer8,334
110US, web developer10,792
110US, software developer15,839
120Agency hours12,000
120Canada, software developer8,334
120US, web developer10,792
120US, software developer15,839
130Agency hours13,000
130Canada, software developer8,334
130US, web developer10,792
130US, software developer15,839
140Agency hours14,000
140Canada, software developer8,334
140US, web developer10,792
140US, software developer15,839
150Agency hours15,000
150Canada, software developer8,334
150US, web developer10,792
150US, software developer15,839
158Agency hours15,800
158Canada, software developer8,334
158US, web developer10,792
158US, software developer15,839
160Agency hours16,000
160Canada, software developer8,334
160US, web developer10,792
160US, software developer15,839

Download In-house developer wages versus agency hours, United States and Canada as CSV · All 15 columns on the dataset page

Methodology

Reading the chart: A Canadian software developer's median wage, before employer costs, equals 83 agency hours a month at C$100 an hour

  • How this is calculated: Agency cost is the hours entered times Deploi's published rate of C$100 an hour for a prepaid bank of hours, before tax (Deploi's pricing page). Each wage bar is a median monthly wage before employer costs and does not change with the hours: for Canada, Job Bank's C$48.08 an hour (NOC 21232, 2023 to 2024) times 2,080 hours divided by 12; for the United States, the BLS OEWS May 2025 annual median divided by 12, converted at the Bank of Canada's 2025 average of 1.3978 Canadian dollars per US dollar. Computed by Deploi.
  • The agency rate is Deploi's own published price, C$100 an hour for a prepaid bank of hours before tax; Deploi is the agency in this comparison.
  • Monthly wage is the median annual wage divided by 12; for Canada, the hourly median times 2,080 hours divided by 12. Computed by Deploi.
  • US wages are converted at the Bank of Canada's 2025 average of 1.3978 Canadian dollars per US dollar.
  • Wages are before employer costs; in the United States they are 68.5% of full-time private-industry compensation (BLS, June 2026), so hiring costs more than the wage alone and the break-even is higher.

Caveats: In-house developer wages versus agency hours, United States and Canada

  • The wages are for general occupations (web developers, software developers), not Shopify specialists. The sources do not state a Shopify developer wage.
  • The agency rate is Deploi's own published price, C$100 an hour for a prepaid bank of hours before tax. Deploi is the agency in the comparison; it is not a Shopify Partner and not affiliated with Shopify.
  • Monthly wage is the median annual wage divided by 12. For Canada it is the hourly median times 2,080 hours divided by 12. Break-even hours are computed by Deploi and use wages before employer costs.
  • US wages are converted at the Bank of Canada's 2025 average of 1.3978 Canadian dollars per US dollar. Employer cost uses the share of wages in full-time private industry compensation (68.5%, June 2026) and is shown for US rows only; the dataset holds no Canadian employer cost.
  • Median wages describe the occupation across all employers, and the sources do not break them down by experience or by region.

Deploi's charts and compilation are licensed CC BY 4.0. The underlying facts belong to their sources, which are named on every page. How Deploi Shopify Data works.

Sources

Tier A sources are primary documents: filings, official releases and official price pages. How sources are ranked.

Cite and reuse

Deploi's charts and compilation are licensed CC BY 4.0. The underlying facts belong to their sources, which are named on every page.

APA

Deploi. (2026). Does an in-house developer cost less than buying agency hours? [Web page]. https://deploi.ca/shopify/data/in-house-shopify-developer-vs-agency Retrieved October 19, 2026.

BibTeX

@misc{deploi_in_house_shopify_developer_vs_agency_2026,
  author = {{Deploi}},
  title = {Does an in-house developer cost less than buying agency hours?},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://deploi.ca/shopify/data/in-house-shopify-developer-vs-agency},
  note = {Accessed 2026-10-19}
}

Embed this chart

Embed code

<iframe src="https://deploi.ca/embed/shopify/data/developer-vs-agency-monthly-cost" title="A Canadian software developer&#39;s median wage, before employer costs, equals 83 agency hours a month at C$100 an hour" loading="lazy" style="width:100%;height:510px;border:0"></iframe>
<p style="font:12px/1.4 Arial,sans-serif;margin:4px 0 0">Source: <a href="https://deploi.ca/shopify/data/in-house-shopify-developer-vs-agency#chart-developer-vs-agency-monthly-cost">Deploi, A Canadian software developer&#39;s median wage, before employer costs, equals 83 agency hours a month at C$100 an hour</a></p>

Keep the credit line under the embed. It is the license condition.

Downloads

  • Chart: A Canadian software developer's median wage, before employer costs, equals 83 agency hours a month at C$100 an hour PNG
  • Data: In-house developer wages versus agency hours, United States and Canada CSV

Questions

How many agency hours equal a developer's salary?

At C$100 an hour, a Canadian software developer's median monthly wage of C$8,334 equals 83 agency hours, according to Job Bank's median for 2023 to 2024 and Deploi's pricing page read October 18, 2026. The US equivalents, from May 2025 wages, are 108 hours for a web developer and 158 for a software developer.

What does a Shopify developer earn?

The sources do not state a Shopify developer wage. For general occupations the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a May 2025 median of $92,650 for US web developers and $135,980 for US software developers, and Job Bank reports C$48.08 an hour for software developers in Canada for the 2023 to 2024 reference period.

Does the comparison include benefits and payroll costs?

No. The break-even hours use wages before employer costs. In the United States wages are 68.5% of full-time private industry compensation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics for June 2026, so the full cost of hiring is higher than the chart shows.

What is Deploi's hourly rate?

Deploi's published rate is C$100 an hour for a prepaid bank of hours before tax, with no retainer, according to Deploi's pricing page read October 18, 2026. Deploi is not a Shopify Partner and is not affiliated with Shopify.

What exchange rate does the comparison use?

US wages are converted at the Bank of Canada's 2025 average of 1.3978 Canadian dollars per US dollar. Deploi uses it to express the C$100 agency rate in US dollars for the two US rows, read October 18, 2026.

More on Costs and fees

Changes

  1. · In-house developer wages versus agency hours, United States and Canada
    First release. Three wage rows, the agency rate, the exchange rate and the employer cost share, read on October 18, 2026, and a calculator grid computed by Deploi: 76 rows, 19 hours values for each of the 4 benchmarks (rowType, hoursPerMonth, benchmark and monthlyCostCad).
Deploi is not affiliated with Shopify. Questions about this data: contact@deploi.ca.