Best place to hire PHP developers

However, with thousands of freelance PHP developers to choose from, where’s the best place to hire PHP developers? This question can be daunting, especially if you’re a non-technical person. There are many platforms to choose from, and developers have years of experience with different PHP frameworks.

To help you find the perfect dev (or devs) for your project, we’ve identified eight of the best sites to help you find PHP developers. These sites vary in their approach. They also cater to different timelines and budgets. Some will do the legwork for you and match you with a suitable candidate, while others will provide you with a list of candidates.

Before we jump to these sites, let’s consider the most important factors when looking for the best place to hire PHP developers.

Factors to consider when hiring PHP developers

There are many factors to consider when you want to find PHP developers for your project, so clearly understanding what you’re looking for is crucial.

First, consider what matters most to you, such as professional experience, academic qualifications, project history, or cost. Then, make sure you understand your project’s requirements.

There are many freelance sites for PHP developers, but there are several things to remember when selecting a platform. The following questions can help you narrow down your options:

What’s your timeline for hiring a PHP developer?
Is PHP the best programming language for your project, or would Python, Java, or another language be more suitable?
How much experience do you have in hiring web developers?
Are you willing to work with remote workers?
Are you equipped to assess technical skills?
How many developers do you need to hire?
What level of experience do you require?
What are your budget constraints?

Okay, now that you’ve identified PHP as your number one language of choice, it’s time to look at the best place to hire PHP developers.

We’ve broken this list of sites into different categories.

First up, we have the job boards. These can be the best sites to hire PHP developers, but you’ll have to manage the hiring process. You basically post a job and wait for developers to apply.

Popular job boards include Glassdoor, Indeed, and ZipRecruiter.

If you decide to go down the job board route, our PHP developer job description template may help you.

Next, we have freelance marketplaces, including Upwork and Fiverr. These marketplaces let you connect with developers immediately.

Freelance marketplaces can be an excellent choice if you have the time and confidence to interview candidates. However, you’ll have to handle all the hiring details yourself.

Finally, we have agencies like DevSpace and Gun.io. Agencies are excellent for companies who need help hiring but are short on time. However, they’re often more expensive.

Let’s dig deeper.

Job boards

#1: Indeed

With over 250 million unique monthly visitors, Indeed is one of the biggest players in the job-hiring space. It operates in more than 60 countries and has been helping job seekers and companies since 2004. So let’s start by looking at its pricing.

Pricing

Free plans are available on Indeed, letting you post unlimited jobs. Paid subscriptions are also available.

A paid subscription gives you various features, such as setting up alerts and reaching out to candidates. There are two types of subscriptions available – Standard and Professional:

Standard subscription: $120/month or $1,150/year
Professional subscription: $300/month or $2,880/year

What sets Indeed apart from most job boards is that it lets you search and view resumes for free. But when you find a candidate you want to contact, there’s a monthly fee.

On the Standard subscription, you can contact up to 30 job seekers a month. However, you’ll need a Professional subscription to contact up to 100 candidates.

Contact credits get deducted from your subscription each time you contact a candidate. Each additional contact credit costs $3.

Optional pay-per-click (PPC) for job advertising is also available. Advertising means your job listings appear above free listings in Indeed’s search results. In other words, it’s like Google.

Indeed PPC starts at $5/day, and you can set your budgets. You’re charged per candidate application response. However, you only pay when people click on the job.

Pros and cons of Indeed

Indeed is popular and often cited as the best place to hire PHP developers. This popularity is because Indeed helps employers get their job listings in front of as many potential candidates as possible. The site also aggregates job postings from other job sites and cross-posts them.

You can also post unlimited jobs for free and view applicant resumes online. These features make it a strong choice for small businesses needing to hire quickly and cost-effectively.

However, you may receive applications from candidates who have mass-applied for numerous jobs. This can make the hiring process lengthy and cumbersome. The applicant tracking tool is also limited, and subscribing to its add-ons can be expensive.

#2: Glassdoor

Founded in 2007, Glassdoor is an American site that lets current and former employees anonymously review their workplaces.

Glassdoor is popular with employers who want to promote their company culture to job seekers. It’s also possible for companies to post jobs through this platform via Indeed. In 2020, Glassdoor and Indeed formed a partnership to streamline job postings.

Pricing

Just like Indeed, a free plan is available on Glassdoor. This free plan lets you see employee insights, respond to reviews, and update your company information.

You can also upgrade to a custom-priced paid plan. Unlike Indeed, sponsored job ads are included in paid plans.You can expect to pay around just over $1,000/month for 21-50 job ads.

Pros and cons of Glassdoor

Glassdoor gives you a free company page. It also gives you branding features and the ability to manage reviews, and you can post an unlimited number of jobs on the free plan.

However, the free plan does not include branded job postings and job advertising, and no resume search tool is available. Additionally, the platform lacks an applicant tracking system (ATS).

Finally, Glassdoor, unlike Indeed, does not provide a feature to search for resumes of passive job seekers and contact them.

#3: ZipRecruiter

Another popular place to find PHP developers is ZipRecruiter.

ZipRecruiter has been a leading job board for over a decade, connecting more than 110 million job seekers with over 2.8 million businesses. The site’s AI-matching technology creates opportunities to connect employers and PHP developers.

You can use over 500 customizable templates to post a job on ZipRecruiter. The platform will then send the job opening to over 100 job sites.

Its AI technology invites the most suitable candidates to apply, and you can auto-send pre-written messages to the best candidates. The platform also sends job alert emails and mobile notifications to candidates.

Pricing

Pricing is straightforward and depends on the number of job postings needed. After a free trial, the Standard plan costs $16 per day per job, and the Premium plan costs $24 per day per job.

Alternatively, you can pay a flat monthly rate for each job posting. This is helpful if you know your job could take a while to fill.

The flat rates are as follows:

Standard plan – $299 per job per month
Premium plan – $419 per job per month
Pro plan – $719 per job per month

Pros and cons of ZipRecruiter

One of the best features of ZipRecruiter is its AI-matching technology. This tech can save you time and effort when hiring PHP developers.

Also, when you post a job on ZipRecruiter, the site posts it on over 100 job sites. This means you can receive applications within minutes of posting. You can also try the platform for free for four days and choose from hundreds of job templates.

Despite its advantages, ZipRecruiter may not be the best answer to where to find PHP developers. Compared to Glassdoor and Indeed, ZipRecruiter offers fewer features, and it’s expensive for small businesses with just one job opening.

Freelance marketplaces

#4: Upwork

Upwork is one of the largest freelance marketplaces on the internet. To this end, it boasts millions of freelancers and thousands of active jobs.

The site lets you hire PHP developers for simple coding tasks or full-suite projects. To get started, you provide details about your project and say whether it’s a part-time, contractual, or full-time opportunity.

Next, you’ll receive proposals. You can then screen, vet, and interview candidates to ensure they’re the right fit.

Pricing

With Upwork’s Client Marketplace plan, you pay a 5% fee on all payments. So, for example, if your payment is $100, you’ll be charged an additional $5 by Upwork.

However, eligible clients in the U.S. who pay with a checking account can enjoy a discounted rate of 3%. In this case, you’ll only pay an additional $3 for a $100 payment.

Under the Client Marketplace plan, features include:

Access to Upwork’s Rising Talent, Top Rated, and Top Rated Plus freelancers
Inviting up to 30 freelancers to your job
Extra reporting options

Also, you only have to pay a fee when making payments instead of a monthly subscription cost.

Pros and cons of Upwork

Because of Upwork’s vast network, you’ve got thousands of PHP developers to choose from. The hiring process is also entirely in your hands.

These two points are both pros and cons.

While Upwork is an excellent option for hiring PHP developers on a budget, hiring can be time-consuming. It also requires a basic understanding of the programming language. This is because you’re responsible for the entire process, including interviewing and vetting candidates.

#5: Fiverr

Fiverr is a marketplace that provides freelance services at a minimum cost of $5.00 per project. In addition, it lets employers connect with PHP developers worldwide.

Pricing

Freelancers set their pricing. Their “gigs” range between $5.00 and $995.00 per project, and the freelancer keeps 80% of each transaction.

When you place an order to work with a freelance PHP developer, you pay Fiverr the gig price plus a 5% service fee. The minimum service fee is $2.

Fiverr holds your payment until the freelancer completes the work. Once complete, the freelancer gets paid. The website administrators provide support in case of a dispute or incomplete order.

Pros and cons of Fiverr

Just like Upwork, Fiverr seems like an obvious choice when looking for the best place to hire PHP developers. You’ll have thousands of talented developers to choose from. However, there will be duds. Because the entire hiring process is in your hands, you need to know your stuff to find qualified freelancers.

While customer support can resolve disputes, Fiverr won’t refund you if a freelancer doesn’t have the skills you’re after.

#6: Hired.com

With millions of vetted candidates, Hired is right up there with Upwork as one of the largest marketplaces for hiring developers.

Hired helps employers find software engineers and developers through its custom-matching software. The platform offers a range of features that lets employers create a company profile, search for candidates using their search algorithm, and request interviews with candidates.

Pricing

With Hired, two pricing options are available.

The first option is Pay Per Hire. This option is for employers who need flexibility, costing 15% of the first-year base salary per hire.

The second option is Unlimited Hiring. This option is a custom annual subscription for teams that want predictability. Employers pay a fixed yearly fee for unlimited hiring and premium customer support.

Pros and cons of Hired.com

Hired’s search algorithm matches you with a pool of developers. The algorithm also eliminates gender and racial identifiers. This matching means you can find PHP developers based solely on their technical skills and experience.

You can also send customized assessments to potential hires for free and run programming challenges in real-time or asynchronously. Challenges like this with a complete coding playback let you see how the devs work.

However, employers must still have some technical experience to send customized assessments to candidates. This assessment stage is a crucial step in the hiring process. It’s also unclear how much an annual subscription would cost a company. Again, prices are customized, and employers must apply for a demo to learn more.

Agencies

#7: DevTeam.space

DevTeam.space is an agency that uses an AI-powered agile process to connect businesses with development teams. They work with companies that want to avoid handling product development themselves.

To do this, they can tap into their network of PHP developers to help you with your project. Whether it’s building mobile or web apps, security expertise, or something else, they’ve got something for everyone.

Pricing

Pricing varies from project to project, depending on the scope.

Pros and cons of DevTeam

DevTeam has a rigorous screening, vetting, and testing process to identify developers with skills. The site also lets you request experts specializing in specific PHP frameworks, meaning you can find developers for most tasks.

However, their pricing isn’t disclosed on-site, and exactly how they match PHP programmers to jobs is unclear.

#8: Gun.io

Finally, we save the best till last!

At Gun.io, we make hiring PHP developers effortless by streamlining the entire process. Our clients appreciate our quick and easy hiring experience, with an average time-to-hire of 13 days. In addition, we’ve implemented a strict vetting process and built a network of top developers. Our developers average 8+ years of experience.

Pricing

We don’t have standard prices on Gun.io. Instead, we offer flexible retainers based on your needs, the project, and the developers’ salary expectations.

These retainers start at $5,000 per month. This price includes Gun.io’s fee, and you’ll see the total price upfront on developers’ profiles. There are no extra fees.

We charge full-time placements a 20% fee of their negotiated first-year salary at your company. But you only pay when you start working with a candidate you love.

Pros and cons of Gun.io

Hundreds of companies – from startups to Fortune 500s – have been served through our platform. What’s more, 70% of currently engaged PHP developers have 10+ years of experience.

Developers on our platform go through a rigorous screening process. This screening includes an algorithmic screening, a background check, and a live technical interview with one of our senior engineers. As a result, approximately 100 developers get to work with Gun.io clients each month out of 1,000 who apply.

Of course, we’re a little biased, but we know we’re one of the best sites to hire PHP developers!

Meet available, vetted talent today!

So if you’re asking yourself what’s the best place to hire PHP developers, we’ve got you covered!

Here at Gun.io, we’ve helped hundreds of large and small companies hire elite software professionals. Click the button below to begin your talent search!

Whether you’re looking for some temporary help or your next full time developer, let Gun.io help you find the right person for the job.

Learn more