Backend developer salary

The median salary for a backend developer in Germany is estimated to be €63,259. The expected range for Junior to senior backend developers is between €55,000 and €75,000. That’s what the majority of backend developers in Germany are earning according to data from Glassdoor. 

That being said, developers can far exceed this range depending on the company, their skills, and their experience. The highest reported backend developer salaries in Germany are from tech companies that have paid senior engineers €105,000 base salary plus bonuses and equity (totaling €126,000). 

For entry-level positions, with less than one year of experience, you can expect a starting salary of at least €44,000. Working students at big tech companies have reported lower salaries starting at €30,000.

Below we’ll break down the median salaries based on experience for backend developers in Germany. Keep on reading to discover backend developer salaries by tech stack, city, and company.

Median salary by experience (EUR):

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Backend developer salary by role and technology

According to StackOverflow, it’s estimated that Go developers earn the highest pay for backend developers at €83,700. Python developers can earn approximately €66,000 on average, while PHP developers earn the lowest at €47,000. Since these are worldwide averages, salaries might vary slightly in the German market. 

Backend developer salary by technology (EUR):

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Average and median backend developer salary in Germany

According to Glassdoor, the average salary for a backend developer in Germany is €60,000 while the median salary is €63,259 per year. That’s taking into account all developers with a range of backgrounds. The median salary for a senior backend developer in Germany is around €74,270 per year while junior developers can expect to earn around €49,022 on average with a median of €57,387. 

Backend developer salary over time

Here is the average backend developer salary by year in Euros. This is worldwide backend salary data from the StackOverflow survey (2017-2022).

Backend salary over time (EUR):

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The lowest and highest backend developer salaries reported

We’ve already put together a list of the highest software developer salaries but to quickly mention, base salaries of €105,000 have been reported. 

If you have no hands-on experience you’ll probably be earning less than or equal to €30,000 per year. It’s common in German for graduates or soon-to-be graduates to get work experience with companies in Germany (essentially a paid internship). Engineering working students have reported part-time salaries of between €10,000 and €15,000 per year. 

Top paying locations for backend developers in Germany

Backend developers are reported to earn the most in Munich with an annual salary of €68,900. This is quite a bit higher than Berlin which offers €62,100 on average. Salaries are generally higher in Munich to match the higher cost of living. But both cities offer plenty of job opportunities for backend developers. Hamburg is the lowest-paying city out of this sample, offering an average salary of about €10,000 less than Munich. 

Median backend developer salary by city (EUR):

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Top paying companies in Germany 

According to levels.fyi, the top-paying companies in Germany are Facebook, SeatGeek, Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, VMware, Stripe, Elastic, Wayfair, and GitHub. The below list includes the job position (seniority) and the total base pay.