Devvista is a software development and growth agency that places and manages dedicated WordPress developers and small WordPress teams for businesses in the US, UK, Australia, Canada and the UAE. Work is billed hourly, by the team, or as a fixed-price project.
WordPress, according to wordpress.org, is open source software and the platform of choice for millions of sites. Below: what our WordPress developers build, how WordPress compares with Shopify and a custom build, what a hire costs, how to check a developer and how hiring works from your country.
What our WordPress developers build
Business sites built to be edited
A theme built to your design, with page layouts your team can change without a developer, tested on phones and checked for speed before launch.
Custom plugins
Functionality your site needs that no existing plugin does, such as a booking rule, a quote form or a member area, written so a later developer can read it.
WooCommerce shops
Stores on WooCommerce, which describes itself as the open source commerce platform for WordPress, including product setup, payments, shipping and tax. We say plainly when Shopify would serve you better.
Integrations
Connections between the site and your CRM, accounting, email tool or booking system, with a way to see when a transfer fails.
Care, speed and security
Updates, backups, monitoring, speed work and fixing a site that has broken or been hacked, on a monthly retainer or as one-off hours.
WordPress, WooCommerce, Shopify or a custom build: what to hire for
Choosing the platform decides which developer you need. The table sets out the options, and the last column is our view.
| Option | Best for | Who looks after it | Our view |
|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress site | A business site with pages and a blog that your team edits | You or a developer host, update and secure it | A strong default for content-led sites |
| WordPress with WooCommerce | A shop on a content-heavy site, or deep control of the store | The same, plus the store extensions | Good when content and shop share one site |
| Shopify | A product-led store that wants little upkeep | Shopify runs the platform; you manage apps, theme and content | Often better for a store with no content site |
| Custom build | A workflow no platform fits | Whoever builds it, so ownership matters | Only when the other options clearly do not fit |
Our guide on how to hire a WordPress developer and our WordPress development cost guide go deeper on the choice and the money. Our hire ecommerce developers page covers online stores beyond WooCommerce. Our Daligners case study shows a custom WordPress theme running a marketing site and two portals.
What it costs and how you can hire
Devvista prices WordPress developers work as a fixed price from $500 to $100,000 depending on complexity, or hourly from $10 to $100 an hour depending on the type and level of developer. Quotes are in US dollars.
| Model | Best for | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| Dedicated WordPress developer by the hour | Site care, updates, speed work and small improvements each month | By developer level |
| Small WordPress team | A new site that needs a developer, a designer and testing together | Hourly, per person |
| Fixed-price build | A defined site, plugin or store with a written scope and page list | By complexity |
| Scoping first | You know the goal but not the pages, the plugins or the platform | A short engagement that ends in a written spec |
Illustration (an estimate, not a quote): a 12-page business site with a custom booking form, built from an approved design, at an assumed $40 an hour:
| Work | Hours |
|---|---|
| Discovery, page list and written spec | 14 |
| Theme built from the design | 46 |
| Custom booking form and plugin | 28 |
| Content entry and page set-up | 20 |
| Speed, security and backup set-up | 16 |
| Testing on phones and browsers | 12 |
| Launch and handover | 8 |
| Total | 144 hours, about $5,760 at $40 an hour |
A simpler site without the custom form falls below that, and a WooCommerce shop with many products rises above it. Send your page list and we will price your own version.
Which WordPress developer profile you need
WordPress work covers several skills, and one person rarely does all of them well.
| Profile | What they do | Ask to see |
|---|---|---|
| Theme developer | Builds the design into a theme your team can edit | A theme they built and how fast it loads on a phone |
| Plugin developer | Writes custom functionality as a plugin | A plugin and how it handles updates |
| WooCommerce developer | Builds and tunes stores, payments, shipping and tax | A store they built and its checkout |
| Site care engineer | Handles updates, backups, security and speed | A maintenance routine and a recovery plan |
Common situations and what to hire
WordPress work ranges from a new site to rescuing an old one.
| Your situation | What to hire | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A new business site with no developer yet | A fixed-price build from an approved page list | The pages and the design are settled first, so the price holds |
| An existing site that is slow, broken or out of date | A developer by the hour for a clean-up, then monthly care | A first audit shows what to fix before anything new is added |
| A shop on WooCommerce that is struggling | A WooCommerce developer, with a Shopify review | Sometimes the better move is a new platform, and we say so after looking |
What the first month of a WordPress hire looks like
- Week one: access to the site and hosting, a full backup, and a written list of pages, plugins and problems.
- Week two: the first fixes or the first built pages, on a staging copy so nothing breaks the live site.
- Week three: speed, security and backup work, plus the content and forms checked on phones.
- Week four: a review of what changed, a test of a restore from backup, and a plan for monthly care.
How to check any WordPress developer before you hire
Use these questions whoever you hire, including us. A good answer is specific and names a trade-off.
- Will you build a custom theme or customise an existing one, and what do I own afterwards?
- Which plugins will the site depend on, and who updates them?
- How do you test updates before they reach the live site?
- How are backups taken, and when was a restore last tested?
- How will the site load on a phone, and what will you measure?
- Who owns the hosting, the domain and the code at handover?
- Ask for a small paid trial task before you commit: one real page or a small plugin feature with a note on how it is tested and updated.
A confident timeline with no written scope behind it is a reason to keep looking.
Mistakes to avoid when hiring WordPress developers
Most WordPress problems start with a hire made on price alone.
- Buying a heavy multipurpose theme that no one on your team can edit safely.
- Stacking plugins until updates break the site, with no one testing them first.
- Paying for the build and nothing for care, so the site is out of date within months.
- Letting the agency register the domain and hosting in its own name.
Hiring from the US, UK, Australia, Canada and the UAE
From the US to the UAE, WordPress developers are placed remotely, and we do not keep local offices. Hours that overlap your working day are agreed before the start.
Who this is for, and who it is not
| A good fit | Not a fit |
|---|---|
| A business that needs a site, plugin, WooCommerce shop or site care from a developer it can reach | A request for guaranteed search rankings or traffic |
| A team that wants to add a WordPress developer by the hour | A project that needs developers on site |
| Owners who will approve a page list and a written scope | A shop that is really a Shopify project, which we will say after a short look |