Transparent hourly rate of 95 € per hour for Shopware, PHP and Symfony development - without agency markup.
Pricing & Hourly Rate
My hourly rate as a Shopware freelancer is 95 € per hour (plus VAT, as of 2026). This applies equally to Shopware development, PHP and Symfony projects, migrations, performance optimization and technical maintenance - with no hidden surcharges and no agency overhead.
Why I publish my pricing openly
Most agencies and freelancers only reveal prices after several calls. I consider that unnecessary friction: you want to know what technical support costs before investing time in conversations. For comparison: Shopware agencies in the German-speaking market typically charge between 120 € and 180 € per hour, because project management, sales and administration are priced in. With me, you work directly with the developer who solves your problem.
What the hourly rate includes
- Direct communication with the developer - no handover losses between project management and implementation
- Traceable billing based on actual effort, with clear documentation of the work done
- Clean handovers: code, decisions and open items are documented so any other developer can continue the work
- An honest assessment up front: if a topic can be solved in 2 hours, I will not sell you 10
Typical effort ranges
Every project is different, but as a rough orientation from real projects:
- Small plugin adjustment or bugfix: often 2-8 hours
- Custom Shopware plugin: depending on scope, from about 2-5 development days
- Technical analysis of an existing store: usually 4-8 hours for a reliable assessment
- Shopware migration: highly project-dependent - after a short analysis you receive a concrete effort estimate
Before any larger project you receive an effort estimate, so you know what to expect.
Ongoing maintenance at a fixed price
If your store needs continuous support, there are plannable monthly packages: Shopware 6 administration starting at 897 € per month - including updates, plugin maintenance and basic technical support.
How I work
Three principles that apply in every project
Understand before building
First the short technical assessment: what is the actual problem, where is the lever, what makes economic sense? Then the implementation.
Build instead of forwarding
You talk to the developer who does the work – no handover chain, no black box, clear status updates and early warning about risks.
Hand over instead of holding on
Code in your repository, tests, documentation and a deployment process your team understands. No vendor lock-in – your system does not depend on me afterwards.
Background
Experience at a glance
- Today
- Senior freelancer in ongoing Shopware projects of several agencies and merchants – at home in foreign repos, processes and deadlines.
- Since 2021
- Self-employed as Stefan Pilz Ltd. – remote for merchants and agencies: Shopware 5 and 6, Symfony, migrations, maintenance.
- 2015 – 2021
- E-commerce backends: inventory, PIM and Amazon/eBay integrations for around 3.5 million products, then the Drillisch mobile-carrier web stores.
- Since 2012
- Full-time web developer – first at an agency: websites and stores with Joomla, xt-Commerce and Shopware.
- 2002
- Completed vocational training as a software developer (C/C++). First own PHP websites from 2004.
See current and completed projects Career and stack in the CV
Good fit
Works well when...
- you have an existing Shopware system with a concrete technical issue.
- you need direct PHP/Symfony support without agency overhead.
- you expect clear analysis, clean implementation and traceable handover.