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Software Service Prices in the U.S. by Robert C. Brenner, MSEE, MSSM ©1999 Brenner Information Group So you've learned that program so well that you feel skilled and wonder if you could get paid for providing software services. You're not alone. As skills improve using a particular software package, some people begin to wonder how much they could get paid for doing this work for others. Their entrepreneurial juices begin to flow and they envision earning "easy" money during their off hours. Perhaps they want to earn extra money for that new car, vacation, or gift for their favorite other. But finding the "going rate" for applying software application skills can be quite a challenge. This is why my company was formed. We collect, process, package and distribute pricing information. We often share our findings with others.
Here are some real billing rate statistics covering software services. It is based on prices
contained in my company's online searchable database, Real Prices Confidential. For this article,
I accessed the database and pulled pricing results for a wide range of programs. It's a snapshot
look at U.S. prices.
If you're skilled using Microsoft Word, the range of billing rates is between $10 and $100 an
hour. The average price is $40.21 an hour. WordPerfect services has the same range of prices
but the average is two dollars lower ($38.69 an hour). There are over twice the number of shops
offering Word services as there are offering WordPerfect services. Table 1 compares the
average billing rate for each program.
------------------------------------------------------------------ Table 1. Average word processing service prices
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This quick look at rates for using graphic design software revealed the following statistics.
CorelDraw prices in the U.S. range between $15 and $250 an hour and average $50.66 an hour.
Freehand work is billing out at $54.59 an hour on average within a wide range of $10 to $200 an
hour. Illustrator work is averaging $56.67 an hour within a range of $12 to $250 an hour. In
graphic design, Illustrator was the most prevalent followed by Freehand and then CorelDraw.
Table 2 compares the average billing rates for graphic design services.
------------------------------------------------------------------ Table 2. Average graphic design service prices
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For those of you who generate presentations using Persuasion or Powerpoint, be aware that the
number of shops offering Powerpoint services exceed the number using Persuasion by a 4:1
margin. Persuasion prices are between $25 and $75 an hour. Powerpoint rates are between $25
and $125 an hour. As shown in Table 4 the average price for Persuasion services is $46.82 an
hour, while the average rate for Powerpoint services is $52.98 an hour.
------------------------------------------------------------------ Table 4. Average prices for desktop presentation software services.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Next I looked at page layout prices. In this snapshot the principal programs used by service
providers are FrameMaker, Pagemaker, Publisher, and QuarkXPress. FrameMaker services fall
in the range $25 to $85 an hour, averaging $50.83 an hour. Pagemaker work is going for $15 to
$125 an hour, averaging $46.76 an hour. Publisher services are going from $15 to $100 an hour
with an average rate of $33.24 an hour. QuarkXPress work averages $54.04 an hour within a wide
range of $12 to $250 an hour. As expected, the popularity of these applications goes from
QuarkXPress (the most popular) to Pagemaker, to Publisher, and then to FrameMaker. (See Table 5.)
------------------------------------------------------------------ Table 5. Average page layout prices
------------------------------------------------------------------
Without real competition, Photoshop is used by almost all graphic arts professionals. Billing rates
run from $12 to $250 an hour, averaging $55.03 an hour.
When I looked at software used for Web site design and development, the following Web page
layout programs were noted: Dreamweaver, FrontPage, HomePage, and PageMill. Dreamweaver
rates range from $30 to $150 an hour. FrontPage is going for $20 to $150 an hour. HomePage
goes for $20 to $100 an hour. and PageMill services are selling for $15 to $75 an hour. In order
of popularity they are FrontPage, Dreamweaver, PageMill and HomePage. FrontPage rates
average $57.83 and hour. Dreamweaver averages $75 an hour. PageMill averages $41.33 an
hour, and HomePage averages $60 an hour. Table 6 compares the average prices for Web page
design software services.
------------------------------------------------------------------ Table 6. Average prices for Web page layout software services.
------------------------------------------------------------------
For support software related to Web site design and development, I found CGI scripting, DHTML,
HTML authoring, Fusion, Fireworks, Flash, Java, JavaScript, Perl, and Shockwave. Of the
companies offering CGI services, the prices range from $25 to $160 an hour with an average rate
of $73.54. DHTML work goes for $15 to $90 an hour (averaging $56.39 an hour). HTML authoring
runs from $10 to $250 an hour (averaging $58.83). Fusion services run $65 to $150 an hour
(averaging $96.36 an hour). Fireworks work is selling at $50 to $125 an hour (averaging $83).
Flash animation averages $78.97 within a range of $20 to $250 an hour. Java work runs $15 to
$160 an hour (averaging $71.82 an hour). JavaScript, on the other hand, averages $59.10 within
a range of $20 to $150 an hour. Perl services run $25 to $200 an hour (averaging $74.66 an hour).
And Shockwave is averaging $78.30 within a range of $50 to $150 an hour. (See Table 7.)
------------------------------------------------------------------ Table 7. Average prices for other Web site software services.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Then there’s other programs such as Acrobat. With this program, service providers can earn
between $15 and $200 an hour. The average billing rate for Acrobat services is $72.50 an hour.
Director work is going for $15 to $250 an hour (averaging $75 an hour). GoLive services are
selling for $45 to $75 an hour, averaging $62.86 an hour. Premiere is running between $15 and
$125 an hour, averaging $44.67 an hour. RealAudio work averages $76.07 an hour within a range
of $40 to $150 an hour. RealVideo services average $70.83 within the same price range.
SoundEdit work goes for $15 to $90 an hour (averaging $39.44). QuickTime services are averaging
a respectable $102.50 an hour within a range of $60 to $150 an hour. Table 8 shows the average
prices for other software services.
------------------------------------------------------------------ Table 8. Average prices for other software services.
------------------------------------------------------------------
For hard-core programmers, C++ is running $45 to $250 an hour. The average rate for C++ services
is $89.47 an hour. COBOL services are going for $50 to $65 an hour ($58 an hour average). For
those of you who can program in VRML, it goes for $50 to $130 an hour (averaging $90 an hour).
Visual Basic services are averaging $66.88 an hour ($50-$110 an hour range). Table 9 compares
the average prices for programming services.
------------------------------------------------------------------ Table 9. Average prices for programming services.
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Finally I found InDesign averaging $103 an hour, MS Office averaging$37.12 an hour, OmniPage
OCR services averaging $51.67 an hour, and Quickbooks services going for $38.12 an hour. Even
TrapWise work is going for $96.67 an hour.
As you can see, there’s plenty of money to be made offering your skills as a software applications
programmer. This is how many freelance entrepreneurs started out. And it’s how many sole
proprietorships are thriving today. If you’ve got the skills and the time, the opportunities for added
income are definitely there.
This article was based on data found in an online, searchable database of actual prices. <Click Here To Order> <Real Prices Confidential description page>
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©Copyright 2001, Brenner Information Group, All rights reserved.
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