Buyer guide
What affects the cost to hire Microsoft Dynamics 365 developers?
Short answer
The cost to hire a Microsoft Dynamics 365 developer depends on the rate basis, role, seniority, product, allocation, duration, location, management, quality assurance and onboarding. A supplier's rate can include recruitment, screening and replacement that an employer pays separately. This MS Dynamics Guys guide shows how to compare a rate with a salary. It quotes no market rates.
Rate basis: what one unit of the price buys
Two offers with the same rate can lead to different totals over a year. The rate basis explains why: it sets the unit you pay for and what that unit covers.
Offers for a developer use one of three rate bases:
- Hours or days of a named person. You pay for the time the developer records against your work. Time spent waiting for access or answers can be billed too, if the developer records it.
- A monthly allocation. You reserve a share of one person's working month, for example half of it or all of it. You pay for the reservation, also in a quiet month.
- A package price. You pay an agreed price for a defined result with acceptance criteria, as in an outsourced work package. The supplier plans its own hours inside that price.
The rate basis usually follows the engagement model. Staff augmentation versus project delivery compares the models by who directs the work and who carries the risk.
A rate alone tells you little. Ask every supplier the same questions, and write the answers next to each rate:
- What is the smallest unit you bill: an hour, half a day or a full day?
- Who records the time, in which tool, and who on our side approves it?
- Do you bill onboarding, such as the first days spent on accounts, walkthroughs and reading existing code?
- How much notice do we give to reduce or end the work, and is there a minimum term?
- With a monthly allocation, what happens to unused days, holidays and sick days?
Ten drivers of the cost of a Microsoft Dynamics 365 developer
Each driver can raise the total cost, and each one has an input that you control. The last column lists what a supplier needs from you to estimate that driver.
| Driver | What raises the cost | Your input |
|---|---|---|
| Rate basis | A large minimum billable unit, or inclusions that nobody wrote down | Hours or days, a monthly allocation or a package price |
| Role | A rarer or broader skill than the work needs, paid at that skill's rate | The first tasks the developer will take from your backlog |
| Seniority | Design decisions that the developer must make alone, without a reviewer | The decisions the developer will own, and who reviews the rest |
| Product | Work in X++, the programming language of Finance and Supply Chain Management, needs a development environment for each developer. On-premises systems need secure remote access for outside people. | The app and version, and whether it runs online or on-premises |
| Allocation | A part-time allocation that must stretch for release peaks, when extra days are hard to arrange at short notice | Days per week, and the weeks with peaks |
| Duration | Short engagements that repeat onboarding for every new person | The expected length, and the notice you need |
| Location | Long daily overlap with a team in a distant time zone, which can mean shifted working hours | Your time zone, and the overlap hours you need each day |
| Management | No lead on your side, so direction must come from the supplier | Who directs the work, and who accepts it |
| Quality assurance (QA) | No automated tests, so each change needs manual retesting | Your review and test rules, and the tests you have today |
| Onboarding | No accounts, licenses or sandbox on the first day, so paid time goes to waiting | Day-one readiness: accounts, licenses, a sandbox and a first task |
The drivers interact. A senior developer with clear first tasks and a ready sandbox can cost less in total than a cheaper developer who waits for access. Judge offers by the total for the same work, not by one driver.
How does a supplier's rate compare with a salary?
A salary and a supplier's rate pay for different things. Compare them line by line before you compare totals. The supplier column describes common arrangements; each proposal states its own.
| Cost item | Employed developer | Developer from a supplier |
|---|---|---|
| Base pay | The salary, paid in every month of employment | Part of the rate, for the hours, days or allocation that you buy |
| Employer taxes and benefits | Payroll taxes, insurance, pension and other benefits, set by local law and your policies | The supplier's cost, carried inside the rate |
| Recruitment and screening | Advertising or recruiter fees, interviews and technical tests | Usually inside the rate: the supplier's search and its assessment before introductions. Our assessment process shows what an assessment can cover. Your interview time stays yours. |
| Tools | A laptop, software subscriptions and development tools | Usually the supplier's cost. If your security rules require your own devices, agree who provides them. |
| Training | Courses, exams and the working time they take | The supplier's cost. Training on your own processes stays with you. |
| Paid absence and idle time | Holidays and sick leave as your policy and local law set them, plus quiet weeks at full salary | Depends on the rate basis: time-based offers bill the time recorded, while a monthly allocation is billed whether or not you use it |
| Replacement | A new recruitment round when the person leaves, then onboarding for the successor | The replacement process agreed in writing. Onboarding the newcomer still takes your team's time. |
| Supplier margin | None | Part of the rate. It covers the supplier's overheads, risk and profit. |
| Direction and review | Your lead's time | Your lead's time when the developer joins your team; inside the price only when the supplier provides the lead |
| User licenses and environments | Yours | Usually yours as well; confirm this in the proposal |
Compare two totals: the cost of employing a developer for a period, and a supplier's cost for the same work over the same period. Do not divide a salary by working hours and set the result next to an hourly rate. The salary leaves out most rows of this table, and the rate already contains many of them.
Which costs sit outside the developer's rate?
Some costs belong to your tenant, whoever writes the code, and they differ by product. Check them before you compare offers, because a developer's rate does not usually cover them.
| Product | Environments for development and testing | Licenses and access | Update work |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer relationship management (CRM) apps on Dataverse, such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales | A sandbox with the Microsoft Dynamics 365 apps enabled, because free developer environments cannot run these apps. Each new sandbox needs at least 1 gigabyte (GB) of free database capacity in your tenant. Extra capacity is bought as an add-on. | An invited guest needs a license assigned in your tenant and a security role. A license from the guest's own company does not count. | Two release waves a year, from April and from October. Early access lets your team test custom code in a sandbox first. |
| Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central online | Premium and Essentials subscriptions include one production and three sandbox environments. You buy extra production environments through your Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partner, and each one adds three sandboxes. Sandboxes allow only limited test runs. Large test runs belong in a container-based environment, which someone must host and pay for. | License checks apply in sandboxes as they do in production. The license on each tester's account decides which features that person can test. | Two major updates a year, in April and October, plus monthly minor updates. Test each extension before a major update reaches production. |
| Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management | One unified developer environment (UDE) for each X++ developer. A UDE is a sandbox meant for a single developer. Each new one needs at least 1 GB each of free Dataverse and operations database capacity. | Creating a UDE needs a license that allows it, such as Finance or Supply Chain Management. A Power Platform or Microsoft Dynamics 365 administrator role also allows it. | Microsoft releases four service updates a year, and you must take at least two. Test your extensions against each update you take. |
| Power Apps and Power Automate | Each developer who signs up for the free Power Apps Developer Plan gets a development environment with Power Apps, Power Automate and Dataverse. It is for building and testing only. | Your administrator must allow the plan in your tenant. A guest who works in your Dataverse environments needs a license assigned in your tenant. | Two release waves a year, with a release plan published before each wave. Check each plan against your apps and flows. |
Microsoft updates each product on its own schedule, so update testing is a recurring cost. Reserve time for it in the developer's allocation, or regression work will push other tasks aside.
One cost is missing from every supplier's invoice: the hours that your lead, reviewer and testers spend with the developer. Budget them as carefully as the rate.
Example: an employee or a part-time developer for one year
Cost worksheet: answer these questions before you ask for quotes
Print this table, or copy it into a shared document. Fill in the last column with the person who will direct the developer, and send it with every request for a quote. Each supplier then prices the same assumptions.
| Driver | Question | Your answer |
|---|---|---|
| Rate basis | Do you want to buy hours or days, a monthly allocation or a package price? | |
| Role | Which backlog items will the developer take first? | |
| Seniority | Which design decisions will the developer make, and who reviews the rest? | |
| Product | Which app and version do you run, and does it run online or on-premises? | |
| Allocation | How many days a week, and in which weeks do you expect peaks? | |
| Duration | How long do you need the developer, and how much notice do you want? | |
| Location | What is your time zone, and how many hours of overlap do you need each day? | |
| Management | Who directs the work, who reviews it and who accepts it? | |
| Quality assurance | Which review and test rules apply, and which automated tests exist today? | |
| Onboarding | Will accounts, licenses, a sandbox and a first task be ready on the first day? |
The worksheet works on paper and needs no script. This page has no cost calculator on purpose. A calculator needs approved rates, and this guide quotes none. Without real rates, a calculator could only show invented numbers.
How an estimate from MS Dynamics Guys starts
Each step produces something you can check. No step has a fixed duration; the pace depends on how complete your first answers are.
Your answers
Send the worksheet, or the answers you have so far. Real backlog items tell us more than a job title.
Fit review
We check whether a developer is the right answer to the work. If configuration, a project or another provider fits better, we say so.
Role and seniority
We agree the role, the product skills and how independently the developer must work. These choices shape the rate.
Written proposal
The proposal states the rate basis, the minimum billable unit, how time is recorded, billed onboarding, notice and replacement. It lists what the rate includes and excludes, with licenses and environments on separate lines.
Your interview
Each developer passes our technical assessment before an introduction. You interview each one and decide who joins.
Agreement
Commercial terms are agreed in writing per engagement and signed before anyone receives access to your systems.
What this guide is based on
This guide uses two kinds of material, and it labels both:
- Microsoft documentation. Product statements, such as environment quotas, capacity rules and update cycles, come from Microsoft Learn. Each page is listed at the end of this guide with the date it was checked. Microsoft changes these rules, so read the current page before you set a budget.
- Reasoning, not market data. The drivers, the salary comparison and the worksheet show how costs arise. The example is invented and labeled as such. No rate or salary comes from job boards, surveys or other suppliers, because such figures mix countries, roles and years.
A supplier's statements about its developers need a separate check. Ask how candidates are assessed, who reviews the work and what the assessment cannot show. Our answers to those questions are on the page about how we assess specialists.
When MS Dynamics Guys fits
MS Dynamics Guys fits buyers who want a developer estimate built on their own answers. The rate basis and its inclusions are written down before work starts. If your own hire or another provider suits you better, we say so.
A good fit when
- You can answer most of the worksheet questions, or you want help answering them with your lead.
- You want to compare an external developer with an employee, for the same work and the same period.
- Your CRM apps on Dataverse need a C# developer for plug-ins, integrations or custom controls.
- Your Business Central extensions need a developer who writes AL, the programming language of Business Central.
- Your apps and flows in Power Apps and Power Automate need a developer.
- Your Finance or Supply Chain Management extensions need an X++ developer.
Choose another route when
- You want a rate card before anyone has described the work. We quote a rate only in a written proposal for a defined role.
- You want to employ the developer yourself. We provide developers under a services agreement between two companies, and we do not recruit for your payroll.
- You will choose on the hourly rate alone, without the other drivers on this page.
How does MS Dynamics Guys price a Microsoft Dynamics 365 developer?
We price from your answers, in a written proposal for one defined role. This site lists no rates, because each driver on this page changes the rate.
The proposal uses the rate basis of the engagement model you choose:
- Staff augmentation: the hours, days or monthly allocation of each developer who joins your team.
Microsoft licenses, environments and capacity appear on separate lines of the proposal, as your costs. Notice, minimum term, replacement and overlap hours are agreed in writing per engagement.
Questions about the cost of Microsoft Dynamics 365 developers
What is the hourly rate for a Microsoft Dynamics 365 developer?
This guide gives no figure, because one number would mislead. A rate depends on the role, seniority, product, allocation, duration and location, and on what the rate includes. Published figures mix countries, roles and years, so they rarely match your work. Send the same worksheet to each supplier, ask for the rate basis in writing and compare totals for the same work.
Why is a supplier's rate higher than a salary divided by working hours?
The two numbers cover different costs. A salary divided by hours leaves out employer taxes and benefits, recruitment, tools, training, paid absence and quiet weeks. A supplier's rate carries those costs, plus the supplier's margin. Compare the total cost of the same work over the same period instead.
Is a part-time developer cheaper than a full-time one?
Per month, yes, at the same rate. Per finished task, it depends. A part-time developer needs the same onboarding as a full-time one, and work can stall between their days on your system. Peaks carry the main risk: before a Microsoft update or a release, extra days may not be free at short notice. Plan the peaks into the allocation from the start.
Do CRM, Business Central and X++ developers cost the same?
Not necessarily. Each product needs different skills, and the costs around the developer differ too. CRM developers write C# plug-ins on Dataverse, and each sandbox with Microsoft Dynamics 365 apps uses your tenant's capacity. Business Central developers write AL, the Business Central programming language, and three sandboxes come with the subscription. Each X++ developer needs their own UDE. Compare offers within one product, because a rate for one product says little about another.
Does a lower rate in another country cut the total cost?
Not by itself. The rate is one line of the total, and distance moves cost into lines that no invoice shows. Your lead writes fuller specifications and waits longer for answers and fixes. A long daily overlap can also raise the rate, because the developer works outside usual hours. Price the same worksheet with each supplier, then compare totals that include your lead's time.
Request a scoped estimate
Send the role, the app and version, the allocation and the expected length. Add your time zone, the overlap you need and who will direct the developer. We reply in writing, and we tell you plainly if we cannot staff the role.
Product documentation referenced on this page
- Production and sandbox environments (Business Central) Microsoft Learn, checked October 5, 2026
- Licensing in Business Central Microsoft Learn, checked October 5, 2026
- Testing the application overview (Business Central) Microsoft Learn, checked October 5, 2026
- Running a container-based development environment (Business Central) Microsoft Learn, checked October 5, 2026
- Business Central update cycles Microsoft Learn, checked October 5, 2026
- Programming in AL Microsoft Learn, checked October 5, 2026
- Manage Microsoft Dynamics 365 apps that run on Microsoft Dataverse Microsoft Learn, checked October 5, 2026
- Plug-ins and supported customizations in Dataverse Microsoft Learn, checked October 2, 2026
- Create and manage environments in the Power Platform admin center Microsoft Learn, checked October 5, 2026
- Dataverse capacity-based storage details Microsoft Learn, checked October 5, 2026
- Invite users with Microsoft Entra B2B collaboration Microsoft Learn, checked October 5, 2026
- Create users (Power Platform admin) Microsoft Learn, checked October 5, 2026
- Power Apps Developer Plan Microsoft Learn, checked October 5, 2026
- Unified environment types and templates for finance and operations apps Microsoft Learn, checked October 5, 2026
- Tutorial: provision a new environment with an enterprise resource planning (ERP) template Microsoft Learn, checked October 5, 2026
- X++ language reference Microsoft Learn, checked October 4, 2026
- Service update availability for finance and operations apps Microsoft Learn, checked October 5, 2026
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 release schedule and early access Microsoft Learn, checked October 5, 2026