The average salary for a frontend developer in South Africa is R477,000
The Average salary for a fronted developer in South Africa is estimated to be R477,000. That’s R39,750 per month or R31,000 per month after tax (20.5%). This works out to be around $26,000 USD per year.
Entry-level software developers in South Africa positions start at around R415,368 per year (talent.com). Experienced senior software developer positions earn upwards of R1,391,000 per year with bonus and equity options. We’ve included a few estimates from various salary sites in South Africa to give you a more accurate picture of the average developer salary. You can check out our salary calculator for more specific information.
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Note: One dollar (USD) is equivalent to 18.40 South African Rand (ZAR).
Salary by Experience
The entry level salary data seems low as an average, so make sure you cross reference with specific company data. This average takes into account all frontend developers regardless of company and education. The better your education and company the higher your entry salary will be. The same goes for mid to senior roles. Let’s explore salary ranges for the three main categories junior, mid, and senior.
Taxes in South Africa 🇿🇦
It’s important to understand how taxes in South Africa affect your take home pay. Your contract might state R40,000 monthly gross pay but your bank account will only receive R32,000. As a software developer working in South Africa, you’ll most likely pay 20% in tax. Here’s an example of net pay versus gross pay.
On a R477,000 salary, your take home pay will be R378,775 after tax and Unemployment Insurance. This equates to R31,565 per month and R7,284 per week. If you work 5 days per week, this is R1,457 per day, or R182 per hour at 40 hours per week.
South African tax brackets:
Salary by type and technology
Depending on what frontend technology a developer is skilled in, pay might vary. For example a Vue.js developer might receive a higher salary than a React developer. A lot of the differences have to do with job opportunities and availability of skilled developers. The less developers, the more demand, the higher the salary can be negotiated. Here’s a breakdown of salary by technology.
Average salary by city
Looking at these median software developer salary figures across South African cities, one can't help but notice the stark differences. Johannesburg is the clear leader with a whopping R 1,465,335 per year, likely due to high demand for skilled developers in the area. Pretoria follows suit at R 874,643, with Cape Town not far behind at R 570,638. Durban's median salary is a bit lower at R 638,462. The most striking contrast, however, is Port Elizabeth's low median salary of R 208,584, which could be attributed to a less developed tech industry or lower cost of living. These disparities may sway software developers when deciding where to work and could also impact the growth of the tech sector in each city.
Salary by Company in South Africa
Salary averages only go so far, sometimes it’s more helpful to see specific salaries at real companies to get an idea of what other software developers are earning. These are not the best companies in South Africa but a handful of some of the larger companies in the country where devs have reported salaries. Majority of these companies are paying software developers between R400k - R500k. While far from the highest paying developer salaries, these salaries are generally considered to be good
