Rates, 2026
What should a DevOps engineer charge in a major city?
About $1,225 a day for a DevOps engineer who is working and booked in a major city like Chicago, Atlanta, Miami or Austin. $900 in the first years, $1,550 when senior. An infrastructure project runs about $9,775. Also called: aws, kubernetes, ci/cd.
Other markets: New York or LA · remote · a smaller market
First years
$900
a day · $125 an hour
Working, booked
$1,225
a day · $150 an hour
Senior, sought after
$1,550
a day · $200 an hour
The rate card, working level
- Day rate$1,225 per day
- Hourlyfor anything that does not fit a day$150 per hour
- An infrastructure project$9,775 per project
- Monthly retainermonitoring and on-call$8,075 per month
Sold by the day, a monthly retainer, a project fee. The day is the unit; half days run 60%.
What to charge for each thing
Ranges for a major city like Chicago, Atlanta, Miami or Austin: the low end is the first years, the high end is senior. Working and booked sits in the middle.
- CI/CD setup$1,700 to $6,800 each
- Cloud migration$4,250 to $25,500 each
- Monitoring and on-call$1,700 to $5,100 per month
- Cost review$850 to $2,550 each
How the number is made
DevOpss at this level in this market day at about $1,225 ($900 to $2,000 in New York and LA). Put in the year you actually want on the perfect price page and the number moves with it.
An infrastructure project runs $3,000 to $20,000 and takes about 40 hours of your time; at your hourly that is $6,000. The number is the higher of the two, because the client is buying the outcome, not the hours.
A retainer is the month, not the hours: monitoring and on-call. It is priced about 20% under the same work bought one at a time, in exchange for the certainty; three months minimum, or it is not a retainer.
Questions
- What is a fair day rate for a DevOps engineer in a major city like Chicago, Atlanta, Miami or Austin?
- About $1,225 a day for someone working and booked, $900 in the first years, $1,550 when senior and sought after. Half days usually run 60% of the day.
- How much is an infrastructure project?
- $9,775 at a working level in this market. The client is buying the outcome, so the price is the higher of what the market pays for it and what your hours in it are worth.
- What does a monthly retainer look like for a DevOps engineer?
- Around $8,075 a month: monitoring and on-call. About 20% under the same work bought one piece at a time, in exchange for certainty; three months minimum.
- Are these rates a rule?
- No. They are US 2026 ranges for the role, placed by level and moved for the market. What a client actually paid you beats all of it. The tool has a box for that, and it wins.
Your number, in five seconds.
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