Software developer salaries in Pakistan

A senior software engineer in Pakistan earns a median of about $7,102 a year (1,967,669 PKR). Here's pay by level and stack, contractor rates, and how Pakistan's hours line up with UK and US teams.

Senior salary: $7,102; median per year
Senior contractor: $20–$45; per hour
Overlap London: 3.5h; UTC+05:00
Overlap New York: No overlap; English: low

Salary by level

Level	PKR	USD	GBP
Junior (0–2 yrs)	1,049,206	$3,787	£2,982
Mid (3–5 yrs)	1,508,437	$5,445	£4,287
Senior (6+ yrs)	1,967,669	$7,102	£5,592

Annual medians. USD at the 2026-10-14 rate.

Senior salary by stack

Specialism	USD / year	Contractor / hr
Frontend	$6,108	$17–$39
Backend	$7,812	$22–$50
Mobile	$6,818	$19–$43
DevOps & Cloud	$8,522	$24–$54
Data & AI	$8,735	$25–$55

Country median adjusted by global specialism premiums (Stack Overflow 2025).

The Pakistan developer market

About 2,497,496 developers on GitHub (2026).
English proficiency: low (EF EPI rank 67).
IT exporters and freelancers registered with PSEB pay a 0.25% withholding tax on foreign remittances received through banks (1% if unregistered). Reports say Budget 2026-27 extended this regime to June 2029; this is unverified against FBR.
Arc lists Lahore among the cheapest freelance cities, at $22–45/hr for seniors. Karachi and Islamabad are the other main hubs.
Pakistan earned $856M from freelance computer and information services in Jul 2025–Mar 2026, up about 50% year on year (reported figure).

Hiring from Pakistan?

Vetted engineers at about $30/hr all-in.

Contracts, payroll and compliance handled. A senior in-house hire costs about £48/hr loaded in the UK and $82/hr in the US.

Hire in Pakistan

FAQ

How much does a senior software developer earn in Pakistan?+

The median senior software engineer salary in Pakistan is about 1,967,669 PKR a year (about $7,102), against about $5,445 for mid-level and $3,787 for junior developers. Senior remote contractors typically charge $20–$45 an hour.

What is the time difference between Pakistan and the UK or US?+

Pakistan runs on UTC+05:00 in winter. A 09:00–17:30 working day there overlaps 3.5h with London and no overlap with New York.

How much does it cost to hire a developer from Pakistan through OctogleHire?+

OctogleHire publishes one client rate: about $19/hr for a mid-level engineer and $30/hr for a senior, including vetting, contracts and payroll, with no placement fee. A comparable senior in-house hire costs about £48/hr loaded in the UK and $82/hr in the US.

Sources · Q4 2026

Method notes: Junior is PayScale's Software Engineer early-career (1–4 yrs) average total pay. Senior is PayScale's Senior Software Engineer average base salary (its mid-career 5–9 yr average total pay is higher, PKR 2,346,621). Mid is the midpoint of the two. The senior contractor band is Arc's 2026 country 'senior freelance' range. The mid band runs from ProjectCostEstimator's freelancer low ($16) to its median ($31). That estimator uses a South Asia-wide band, not Pakistan-specific data, so the mid band is low confidence. Salary basis: PayScale Pakistan, Software Engineer (updated 8 Jul 2026) and Senior Software Engineer (updated 9 Mar 2026).