Our rates are set by the market, not by us.
Every labor category we bill is synced weekly against awarded federal contract rates in the GSA CALC database, and our published rate is that median rounded up to the nearest $5. When the market moves down, our rate moves down with it. No automatic annual increase, no number pulled out of the air.
12 of 12 categories shown.
A 10% annual increase isn't a pricing strategy. It's a habit.
Most agencies raise rates every year because that's what agencies do. We'd rather let the market decide. If awarded rates for a category fall, ours fall too.
Your rate sheet is locked
Sign with us and your rates are fixed for the term. Nothing on this page changes what you're already billed — it only sets the number on the next sheet.
Competitive on every bid
We bid against the same awarded rates our competitors bid against. Benchmarking to CALC keeps us inside the range evaluators already consider reasonable.
Public math, not a negotiation
CALC is open data from real awarded federal contracts. You can check our number against the same source we used to set it.
Down as well as up
Two of our twelve categories are cheaper than they were at the start of the record. We published the lower number instead of quietly holding the old one.
Every Monday at 6:00 AM ET, in four steps.
Query CALC
One exact awarded labor category per row, under SIN 54151S, filtered to a fixed experience band we do not re-tune between syncs.
Require a real sample
A category needs at least twenty awarded rates to be benchmarked. Below that we publish no median rather than one drawn from a handful of contracts.
Round up to the nearest $5
Our rate is that median rounded up to the nearest $5 — never below it, never more than $4 above. Both numbers are in the table, so you can see the gap on every row.
Rebuild this page
Every Monday the site rebuilds, re-runs the query, and records the reading. The timestamp above is the run that produced these numbers.
What each category actually means
Titles vary wildly between vendors, which is half the reason rate comparisons go sideways. Here's what we're pricing.
Design & research
UI/UX Designer
$120/hrResearch, IA, interaction design, and production UI. Runs usability testing and owns the design system.
Experience level: Typically 5+ years of product design workBenchmarked to CALC “UI/UX Designer”, 3–12 yrs experience · 23 awardsWeb engineering
Web Developer I
$105/hrSemantic, accessible front-end build to spec. HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and template integration under review.
Experience level: Up to 5 years building production front-endBenchmarked to CALC “Web Developer I”, 0–5 yrs experience · 60 awardsWeb Developer II
$130/hrOwns features end to end, including CMS theme and block development in WordPress or Drupal, and integration work.
Experience level: Typically 2–8 years, working independently on a buildBenchmarked to CALC “Web Developer II”, 2–8 yrs experience · 58 awardsWeb Developer III
$145/hrArchitecture, performance budgets, and code review. Leads a build team, owns technical decisions, and handles Section 508 remediation.
Experience level: Typically 4–12 years, with time leading a build teamBenchmarked to CALC “Web Developer III”, 4–12 yrs experience · 43 awardsSoftware & mobile engineering
Software Engineer I
$105/hrFeature work on mobile and web applications under review. Native and cross-platform screens, API integration, and test coverage.
Experience level: Up to 5 years building production applicationsBenchmarked to CALC “Software Engineer I”, 0–5 yrs experience · 192 awardsSoftware Engineer II
$130/hrOwns features end to end across iOS, Android, and cross-platform builds, plus the services behind them. App store release and device testing included.
Experience level: Typically 2–8 years shipping production applicationsBenchmarked to CALC “Software Engineer II”, 2–8 yrs experience · 214 awardsSoftware Engineer III
$155/hrApplication architecture, offline and sync strategy, performance and battery budgets, and mobile accessibility. Leads the build team and owns technical decisions.
Experience level: Typically 4–12 years, with time leading an application teamBenchmarked to CALC “Software Engineer III”, 4–12 yrs experience · 185 awardsDevOps Engineer
$165/hrCI/CD, infrastructure as code, monitoring, and hardening. Handles ATO-adjacent work and incident response.
Experience level: Typically 6+ years in cloud infrastructure and release engineeringBenchmarked to CALC “DevOps Engineer”, 6–12 yrs experience · 22 awardsContent operations
Webmaster
$95/hrDay-to-day site upkeep: updates and patching, uptime and backups, small content and template changes, and accessibility spot fixes.
Experience level: All experience levelsBenchmarked to CALC “Webmaster”, all experience levels · 21 awardsWeb Content Administrator
$105/hrContent modeling and editor experience across headless and traditional CMS platforms. Migrations, publishing workflows, and ongoing maintenance.
Experience level: All experience levelsBenchmarked to CALC “Web Content Administrator”, all experience levels · 32 awardsDelivery & program
Project Manager
$155/hrSingle point of contact for scope, schedule, and status. Runs ceremonies and keeps the burn transparent.
Experience level: Typically 4+ years running client-facing digital projectsBenchmarked to CALC “Project Manager”, 4–9 yrs experience · 643 awardsSenior Project Manager
$175/hrMulti-workstream programs, subcontractor coordination, and federal reporting. Owns risk and CPARS-grade delivery.
Experience level: Typically 10+ years, including multi-team or federal programsBenchmarked to CALC “Senior Project Manager”, 9–25 yrs experience · 65 awardsMission discounts
We don't discount for volume — the rate is the rate. We do discount for nonprofits and education, benchmarked the same way everything else on this page is.
One discount per agreement — they don't stack. Ranges reflect what comparable agencies publish for mission-driven clients; ours sit mid-range on purpose.
How to buy
The same rates apply on every path below.
Questions we actually get
Something not covered here? Ask us directly.
No. You lock a rate sheet when you sign, and that sheet governs the whole term. This page is what a new agreement would be priced from.
CALC is built from rates on contracts that were actually awarded, it's public, and it's the same reference our federal clients use. A survey tells you what people say they charge; CALC shows what buyers agreed to pay.
Most don't map perfectly. We build the estimate from the categories that fit and tell you which ones we used and why. Fixed-fee and retainer work is priced from these same hourly numbers.
Only through the nonprofit and education discounts above. Everyone in the same situation gets the same number, which is the entire point of publishing it.