Salaries · Software developer · Colombia · Updated November 2026
Software developer salary in Colombia
Foreign businesses that hire a software developer in Colombia directly pay $2,500–$4,583 a month full-time, in published job ads and salary guides. Local employers there pay $5.54–$16.26 an hour ($960–$2,818 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–$26.44 | $2,500–$4,583 | 2 published figures |
| Local employers in Colombia | $5.54–$16.26 | $960–$2,818 | 3 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 Colombia runs about 1.9× local pay, midpoint to midpoint. Budget from the direct-hire figures, not the local ones.
Colombia against other countries
Of the 10 countries with published direct-hire figures for this role, Colombia has the 6th lowest starting figure.
Every figure behind these numbers
Hiring directly (remote work for foreign businesses)
- range · full-time pay$2,500–$3,200/month Get on Board, live remote job ads (public jobs API + each ad page) (ads posted 2026-09-09 to 2026-09-15, live on 2026-10-28). Checked Oct 2026. Range of the gross monthly pay published in 2 live remote job ad(s) on Get on Board (a Latin American tech job board) by 2 employer(s) based outside Latin America (company country on the board: US 2), open to residents of Colombia (worldwide-remote ads or ads whose residence list includes Colombia or its region).
- range · full-time pay$35,000–$55,000/year Himalayas, live remote job ads (public search API) (ads posted 2026-10-09 to 2026-10-09, 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 Colombia, whose ads restrict applicants to a country list that includes Colombia.
Local employers
- average · local employersCOP 3,032,890/month Indeed Colombia, 'Desarrollador/a de software' salary page (updated Oct 15, 2026). Checked Oct 2026. Average base salary from 414 salaries published on Indeed for 'Desarrollador/a de software'. Indeed's typical range: COP 1,216,405 to COP 7,561,974 a month.
- average · local employersCOP 3,290,157/month Computrabajo Colombia, 'Desarrollador de software' salary page (last 12 months (seen Oct 2026)). Checked Oct 2026. Snippet: 'Desarrollador de software ... $ 3.290.157 al mes'. Computrabajo estimate from company, user and employee sources over the last 12 months.
- middle 50% · local employersCOP 3,600,000–COP 8,900,000/month Glassdoor, 'Software Developer' salaries in Bogotá (updated Mar 9, 2026). Checked Oct 2026. Snippet: 'range of COP 3.6M - COP 8.9M/mo', based on 367 submissions. Bogotá only; self-reported total pay.
- medianCOP 122,108,057/year Levels.fyi, Software Engineer salaries in Colombia (updated Oct 25, 2026). Checked Oct 2026. Median total compensation (base, stock and bonus) for Software Engineer, all levels, from 240 salaries reported to Levels.fyi. Page also shows 25th percentile COP 83.39M, 75th COP 180.98M, 90th COP 225.31M. 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 and doesn't separate local and foreign employers, so it runs far above the monthly job-board averages.
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 Colombia?
Hiring directly, foreign businesses pay $2,500–$4,583 a month full-time (Get on Board, Himalayas, checked Oct 2026). Local employers in Colombia pay $5.54–$16.26 an hour ($960–$2,818 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 Colombia?
Published full-time pay for remote work for foreign businesses is $2,500–$4,583 a month. Local employers pay $960–$2,818 a month. Both use 40 hours a week and are in USD.
Why is hiring directly different from local pay in Colombia?
They measure two different markets. Local pay is what employers in Colombia 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 1.9× the first, midpoint to midpoint, so local pay isn't a good guide to what a remote hire will cost.
How does Colombia 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 Colombia, published figures come to $14.42–$26.44 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.