Salaries · Software developer · Brazil · Updated November 2026
Software developer salary in Brazil
Foreign businesses that hire a software developer in Brazil directly pay $2,500–$6,667 a month full-time, in published job ads and salary guides. Local employers there pay $6.12–$10.14 an hour ($1,061–$1,758 a month full-time).
The numbers
| What you're looking at | Per hour | Per month, full-time | Based on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hiring directly: full-time pay | $14.42–$38.46 | $2,500–$6,667 | 5 published figures |
| Local employers in Brazil | $6.12–$10.14 | $1,061–$1,758 | 2 published figures |
| For comparison: employees in the US | $50.58–$82.68 | $8,767–$14,331 | Wages only, before benefits and payroll taxes |
For this role, direct-hire pay in Brazil runs about 3.3× local pay, midpoint to midpoint. Budget from the direct-hire figures, not the local ones.
Brazil against other countries
Of the 10 countries with published direct-hire figures for this role, Brazil has the 8th lowest starting figure.
Every figure behind these numbers
Hiring directly (remote work for foreign businesses)
- range · full-time pay$2,500–$3,000/month Get on Board, live remote job ads (public jobs API + each ad page) (ads posted 2026-09-09 to 2026-09-09, live on 2026-10-28). Checked Oct 2026. Range of the gross monthly pay published in 1 live remote job ad(s) on Get on Board (a Latin American tech job board) by 1 employer(s) based outside Latin America (company country on the board: US 1), open to residents of Brazil (worldwide-remote ads or ads whose residence list includes Brazil or its region).
- range · full-time pay$5,000–$6,500/month Himalayas, live remote job ads (public search API) (ads posted 2026-10-02 to 2026-10-02, live on 2026-10-28). Checked Oct 2026. Range of the USD pay published in 1 live remote job ad(s) on Himalayas (remote-jobs board) by 1 direct employer(s) based outside Brazil, whose ads restrict applicants to a country list that includes Brazil.
- range · full-time pay$65,000–$80,000/year Himalayas, live remote job ads (public search API) (ads posted 2026-10-17 to 2026-10-17, live on 2026-10-28). Checked Oct 2026. Range of the USD pay published in 1 live remote job ad(s) on Himalayas (remote-jobs board) by 1 direct employer(s) based outside Brazil, whose ads restrict applicants to a country list that includes Brazil.
- average · full-time payR$24,000/month Olhar Digital, reporting TechFX 'Brazilian Global Salary' survey (survey Nov-Dec 2024, article 20 Mar 2025 (updated 1 Apr 2025)). Checked Oct 2026. Pay of Brazilian tech workers (pleno / mid-level) working for foreign companies; the article gives R$13 mil on average for juniors and R$35 mil on average for seniors, against about R$4 mil / R$7,8 mil / R$15 mil in the Brazilian market.
- average · full-time pay$6,100/month Olhar Digital, reporting a Transferbank survey (2023 data, article 9 Dec 2023). Checked Oct 2026. 'A remuneração média é de aproximadamente US$ 6,1 mil mensais' (about R$30 mil) for Brazilian developers working remotely for foreign companies; 300 developers from Transferbank's own customer base (a cross-border payments company).
Local employers
- average · local employersR$7,104/month Indeed Brasil, 'Desenvolvedor de software' salary page (updated 16 Oct 2026). Checked Oct 2026. Average pay for 'desenvolvedor de software' in Brazil, from 238 reported salaries (all levels)
- middle 50% · local employersR$5,344–R$8,855/month Glassdoor Brasil, 'Desenvolvedor De Software Pleno' salary page (not dated in the snippet). Checked Oct 2026. Snippet: mid-level ('pleno') software developer, average R$ 7.033, typical range R$ 5.344 to R$ 8.855, based on 655 anonymously submitted salaries; monthly base pay shown as R$ 5 mil to R$ 8 mil por mês
- medianR$176,857/year Levels.fyi, Software Engineer salaries in Brazil (updated 25 Oct 2026). Checked Oct 2026. Median total compensation (base, bonus and stock) for software engineers in Brazil, all levels, from 2,435 salaries reported to Levels.fyi; 25th percentile R$116K, 75th percentile R$262K, 90th percentile R$373K Listed for reference, not used in the range: it is a median of total pay including stock grants and bonuses, mostly at large tech employers.
Levels.fyi is yearly total compensation, mostly from tech companies, so it runs higher than the monthly base-pay figures from job boards.
What an agency charges for this role
Published by Outsourcing Insider, a VA MASTERS company. The example below is VA MASTERS' own published rate card, shown because it's public; other agencies' prices vary. About us
| Agency | Per hour | Per month, 160 hours | What's included |
|---|---|---|---|
| VA MASTERS Parent company | $12.00–$25.00 | $1,920–$4,000 | Recruitment, contract and payments, time tracking, an account manager and replacement at no extra cost. No setup fee. Source: VA MASTERS pricing page, checked Oct 2026. |
Hiring a software developer
- Software developer job description
- Software developer interview questions and a paid test task
- Onboarding checklist for the first 90 days
- Hiring checklist, from defining the job to day one
Cost guides
FAQ
How much does a software developer cost in Brazil?
Hiring directly, foreign businesses pay $2,500–$6,667 a month full-time (Get on Board, Himalayas, Olhar Digital, checked Oct 2026). Local employers in Brazil pay $6.12–$10.14 an hour ($1,061–$1,758 a month full-time), which is local pay, not the rate for remote work for a foreign client.
What is the monthly salary of a software developer in Brazil?
Published full-time pay for remote work for foreign businesses is $2,500–$6,667 a month. Local employers pay $1,061–$1,758 a month. Both use 40 hours a week and are in USD.
Why is hiring directly different from local pay in Brazil?
They measure two different markets. Local pay is what employers in Brazil pay local staff. Direct-hire figures come from job ads, salary guides and surveys for remote work for foreign businesses. For this role the second runs about 3.3× the first, midpoint to midpoint, so local pay isn't a good guide to what a remote hire will cost.
How does Brazil compare with hiring a software developer in the US?
Employees' wages in the US run $50.58–$82.68 an hour for the middle 50% of workers, before benefits and payroll taxes. Hiring directly in Brazil, published figures come to $14.42–$38.46 an hour, with full-time pay converted to an hourly figure. That's pay only: you'd still do the recruiting, contract and payments yourself.
What does an agency charge for a software developer?
Agencies set their own prices, and many don't publish them. As one published example, VA MASTERS (the parent company of this site's publisher) lists $12.00–$25.00 an hour for its Tech / Development category, all-inclusive. Ask any agency what its rate covers: recruiting, replacement, payroll and fees.