PHP in 2024: How Much a Developer Earns and Where to Grow

PHP is alive, and that's no joke

Every time someone writes "PHP is dead," somewhere another WordPress site, Laravel application, or Bitrix core update is launched. According to W3Techs, PHP still powers 76% of all websites where the server-side language is known. Facebook, Wikipedia, Slack — they all use PHP. So if you think it's too late to learn PHP in 2024, you're wrong.

In this article, we'll break down the real market picture: how much PHP developers are paid, what skills are needed for growth, and how to avoid getting stuck at the "coded on the fly" level.

The PHP Market in 2024: Who Needs This Language?

PHP is the #1 backend language for the web. If you need to quickly build an online store, CRM, personal account, or API, PHP handles it better than most. The main consumers are:

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• Agencies and studios — sites on WordPress, OpenCart, Bitrix;
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• Startups — a quick prototype on Laravel in a week;
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• Large enterprise — Bitrix24, corporate portals, complex ERP;
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• Product companies — their own projects on Symfony or a custom framework.
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Demand for PHP developers is stable. Yes, the hype around Python and Go is higher, but there are more job openings for PHP programmers than for any other backend language (except JavaScript/Node.js).

PHP Developer Salaries: From Intern to Architect

Let's get straight to the numbers. Data is aggregated from hh.ru, habr.career, and surveys for 2024. We consider Russia and remote work.

Junior PHP Developer (0–1 year)

Salary: 40,000 – 80,000 ₽

What you need to know:

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• PHP 8.x basics: types, classes, exceptions;
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• MySQL or PostgreSQL;
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• Basic Git;
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• HTML/CSS (so you don't break the layout);
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• One framework — Laravel or Symfony (Laravel is better to start with).
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Example code a Junior should be able to write:

<?php\n\nclass User\n{\n    public function __construct(\n        private string $name,\n        private string $email\n    ) {}\n\n    public function getEmailDomain(): string\n    {\n        return substr(strrchr($this->email, "@"), 1);\n    }\n}\n\n$user = new User('Alexey', 'alex@example.com');\necho $user->getEmailDomain(); // example.com

Middle PHP Developer (2–4 years)

Salary: 120,000 – 200,000 ₽

What you need to know:

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• Advanced PHP: traits, generators, attributes;
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• OOP, SOLID, design patterns;
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• Working with queues (RabbitMQ, Redis);
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• Writing tests (PHPUnit);
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• Docker, CI/CD (at least basic);
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• Understanding REST API and GraphQL.
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Example — a Middle developer can write services with dependency injection:

<?php\n\ninterface PaymentGatewayInterface\n{\n    public function charge(float $amount): bool;\n}\n\nclass StripePayment implements PaymentGatewayInterface\n{\n    public function charge(float $amount): bool\n    {\n        // payment logic via Stripe\n        return true;\n    }\n}\n\nclass OrderProcessor\n{\n    public function __construct(\n        private PaymentGatewayInterface $gateway\n    ) {}\n\n    public function process(Order $order): void\n    {\n        if ($this->gateway->charge($order->total)) {\n            // send email, update status\n        }\n    }\n}

Senior PHP Developer (5+ years)

Salary: 220,000 – 350,000+ ₽

What you need to know:

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• Application architecture: CQRS, Event Sourcing, DDD;
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• Performance optimization: caching, indexes, profiling (Xdebug, Blackfire);
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• Microservices and asynchrony (Swoole, ReactPHP);
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• Mentoring, code review, process building;
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• DevOps skills: Ansible, Kubernetes (want