Find a realistic contractor rate range for your role, then calculate what you keep after tax and the structure that applies to you.
73roles tracked4cities coveredCA$119/hourtop day rate5roles with rising rates
How to use these rates
Start with the benchmark for your role, check the usual range, then use the calculator to see what the rate means for your own working pattern and structure. City pages are useful when location is part of the decision.
All contract day rate benchmarks
Featured technology roles appear first, followed by the full set of verified contractor benchmarks.
At the top end
Roles with the highest current rate benchmarks
Rates on the move
Where matched data shows the biggest rises
Software Engineering
Principal Software Engineer
CA$98/hour
CA$95/hour – CA$101/hour
+6.5% YoY
Software Engineering
Lead Software Engineer
CA$115/hour
CA$110/hour – CA$120/hour
+4.0% YoY
Data & Analytics
Data Engineer
CA$94/hour
CA$91/hour – CA$97/hour
+8.0% YoY
Artificial Intelligence
AI Product Manager
CA$109/hour
CA$106/hour – CA$113/hour
+11.0% YoY
Product, Design & Delivery
Technical Product Manager (TPM)
CA$92/hour
CA$88/hour – CA$94/hour
+5.5% YoY
Product & Design
Product Manager
CA$78/hour
CA$74/hour – CA$80/hour
+3.0% YoY
Cloud DevOps & Platform
DevOps & CI/CD Engineer
CA$98/hour
CA$94/hour – CA$102/hour
+7.5% YoY
Cloud & Cybersecurity
Cloud Security Specialist
CA$104/hour
CA$101/hour – CA$108/hour
+10.0% YoY
Cloud DevOps & Infrastructure
Cloud Architect (AWS / GCP / Azure)
CA$104/hour
CA$101/hour – CA$108/hour
+8.5% YoY
Enterprise Systems
SAP / Oracle ERP Cloud Consultant
CA$106/hour
CA$103/hour – CA$109/hour
+8.0% YoY
Cloud Infrastructure
Network & Cloud Connectivity Engineer
CA$92/hour
CA$88/hour – CA$95/hour
+6.5% YoY
Cloud Infrastructure
Senior Cloud & Infrastructure Lead
CA$119/hour
CA$116/hour – CA$122/hour
+11.0% YoY
Software Engineering & Development
Frontend Engineer
CA$78/hour
CA$74/hour – CA$80/hour
+4.0% YoY
Software Engineering & Development
Backend Engineer
CA$92/hour
CA$88/hour – CA$94/hour
+6.0% YoY
Software Engineering
Full-Stack Engineer (React / Next.js / TypeScript)
CA$92/hour
CA$88/hour – CA$94/hour
+6.0% YoY
Data & Analytics
Data Scientist
CA$94/hour
CA$91/hour – CA$97/hour
+8.0% YoY
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity Architect
CA$119/hour
CA$116/hour – CA$122/hour
+12.0% YoY
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity Engineer (SOC / IAM)
CA$90/hour
CA$85/hour – CA$95/hour
+8.0% YoY
Software Engineering & Development
Site Reliability Engineer (SRE)
CA$104/hour
CA$101/hour – CA$108/hour
+8.0% YoY
Product, Design & Delivery
Product Designer / UX Designer
CA$83/hour
CA$81/hour – CA$85/hour
+5.0% YoY
Software Engineering
Java Developer
CA$78/hour
CA$74/hour – CA$80/hour
+4.0% YoY
Quant & FinTech
Quantitative Developer (C++ / Python)
CA$119/hour
CA$116/hour – CA$122/hour
+12.0% YoY
Software Engineering
Python Developer
CA$78/hour
CA$74/hour – CA$80/hour
+4.0% YoY
Project & Change
Scrum Master
CA$78/hour
CA$74/hour – CA$80/hour
+3.0% YoY
Software, Platform & SaaS Engineering
QA Automation Lead
CA$85/hour
CA$82/hour – CA$88/hour
+5.0% YoY
Smart City & Deep Tech
AI Strategy & Solutions Architect
CA$119/hour
CA$116/hour – CA$122/hour
+14.0% YoY
AI, Machine Learning & Deep Tech
Generative AI / LLM Engineer
CA$109/hour
CA$106/hour – CA$113/hour
+13.0% YoY
Smart City & Deep Tech
Data Center Facilities Manager / Architect
CA$119/hour
CA$116/hour – CA$122/hour
+12.0% YoY
Web3 Blockchain & Payments
Web3 Security Engineer
CA$119/hour
CA$116/hour – CA$122/hour
+12.0% YoY
Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
NLP Specialist
CA$106/hour
CA$103/hour – CA$109/hour
+12.0% YoY
Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
AI / ML Engineer
CA$100/hour
CA$95/hour – CA$105/hour
+11.5% YoY
Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
AI Research Scientist
CA$109/hour
CA$106/hour – CA$113/hour
+11.5% YoY
Data & Analytics
MLOps Engineer
CA$109/hour
CA$106/hour – CA$113/hour
+11.5% YoY
Quant & FinTech
Algorithmic Trading Systems Engineer
CA$119/hour
CA$116/hour – CA$122/hour
+11.0% YoY
Security & Risk
GRC Lead
CA$106/hour
CA$103/hour – CA$109/hour
+10.0% YoY
Security & Risk
Incident Response Specialist
CA$106/hour
CA$103/hour – CA$109/hour
+10.0% YoY
Data & AI
AI Safety Engineer
CA$100/hour
CA$95/hour – CA$105/hour
+10.0% YoY
Cloud & Cybersecurity
Application Security (AppSec) Engineer
CA$98/hour
CA$94/hour – CA$102/hour
+9.5% YoY
Cybersecurity & Risk
Identity & Access Management (IAM) Engineer
CA$98/hour
CA$94/hour – CA$102/hour
+9.0% YoY
Architecture & Integration
API & Integration Architect
CA$106/hour
CA$103/hour – CA$109/hour
+9.0% YoY
Quant & FinTech
Core Banking Systems Specialist (Temenos / Mambu)
CA$106/hour
CA$103/hour – CA$109/hour
+9.0% YoY
Data AI & Analytics
Data Governance & Privacy Lead
CA$106/hour
CA$103/hour – CA$109/hour
+9.0% YoY
FinTech & Payments
Payments Platform Engineer
CA$106/hour
CA$103/hour – CA$109/hour
+9.0% YoY
Security & Risk
Security Operations Center (SOC) Lead
CA$106/hour
CA$103/hour – CA$109/hour
+9.0% YoY
Web3 Blockchain & Payments
Smart Contract / Solidity Developer
CA$106/hour
CA$103/hour – CA$109/hour
+9.0% YoY
Web3 Blockchain & Payments
Virtual Asset Payment / API Engineer
CA$106/hour
CA$103/hour – CA$109/hour
+9.0% YoY
Software, Platform & SaaS Engineering
Platform / Internal Developer Tooling Engineer
CA$104/hour
CA$101/hour – CA$108/hour
+8.5% YoY
Security & Risk
Penetration Tester / Red Team Specialist
CA$98/hour
CA$94/hour – CA$102/hour
+8.5% YoY
Enterprise Systems
Salesforce / CRM Architect
CA$106/hour
CA$103/hour – CA$109/hour
+8.0% YoY
Emerging & Specialist
Blockchain / Web3 Developer
CA$90/hour
CA$85/hour – CA$95/hour
+8.0% YoY
Cloud & Cybersecurity
GRC Analyst / Consultant
CA$90/hour
CA$85/hour – CA$95/hour
+8.0% YoY
Cybersecurity
SOC Analyst
CA$90/hour
CA$85/hour – CA$95/hour
+8.0% YoY
Data & Analytics
Data Architect
CA$101/hour
CA$97/hour – CA$103/hour
+7.5% YoY
Software Engineering
Solutions Architect
CA$98/hour
CA$94/hour – CA$102/hour
+7.5% YoY
Data & Analytics
Analytics Engineer
CA$88/hour
CA$85/hour – CA$90/hour
+7.0% YoY
Data AI & Analytics
Business Intelligence (BI) Lead
CA$106/hour
CA$103/hour – CA$109/hour
+7.0% YoY
Quant & FinTech
Front-Office / Trading Floor Application Support
CA$93/hour
CA$91/hour – CA$96/hour
+7.0% YoY
Software Engineering
Engineering Manager
CA$117/hour
CA$113/hour – CA$121/hour
+6.0% YoY
Software Engineering
Enterprise Architect
CA$117/hour
CA$113/hour – CA$121/hour
+6.0% YoY
Cloud DevOps & Infrastructure
Database Administrator (DBA)
CA$92/hour
CA$88/hour – CA$95/hour
+6.0% YoY
Software, Platform & SaaS Engineering
Mobile Developer (iOS / Android / Flutter)
CA$88/hour
CA$85/hour – CA$90/hour
+6.0% YoY
Emerging & Specialist
IoT / Embedded Systems Engineer
CA$85/hour
CA$82/hour – CA$88/hour
+6.0% YoY
Cloud DevOps & Infrastructure
FinOps Specialist
CA$90/hour
CA$85/hour – CA$95/hour
+6.0% YoY
Infrastructure & Cloud
Platform Engineer
CA$90/hour
CA$85/hour – CA$95/hour
+6.0% YoY
Data & Analytics
BI Developer
CA$83/hour
CA$79/hour – CA$85/hour
+6.0% YoY
Data & Analytics
Data Governance Specialist
CA$83/hour
CA$79/hour – CA$85/hour
+6.0% YoY
Product, Design & Delivery
Project / Program Manager
CA$92/hour
CA$88/hour – CA$94/hour
+5.0% YoY
Enterprise Applications
Business Systems Analyst
CA$85/hour
CA$82/hour – CA$88/hour
+4.5% YoY
Software Engineering
.NET Developer
CA$78/hour
CA$74/hour – CA$80/hour
+4.0% YoY
Software Engineering
Go Developer
CA$78/hour
CA$74/hour – CA$80/hour
+4.0% YoY
Enterprise Applications
Salesforce Developer / Architect
CA$78/hour
CA$74/hour – CA$80/hour
+3.0% YoY
Enterprise Applications
SAP Consultant
CA$78/hour
CA$74/hour – CA$80/hour
+3.0% YoY
Leadership
Chief Information Security Officer
CA$119/hour
CA$116/hour – CA$122/hour
+10.0% YoY
Contractor rate intel
Day rates move. Most people find out too late.
We track UK contractor rate movements across tech roles each month. Get our monthly contractor rate roundup: what's up, what's down, and where demand is shifting.
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See how contractor day rates vary across Canada cities.
Contractor day rates in Canada vary significantly by role and seniority. The highest benchmark on this page is AI Strategy & Solutions Architect at CA$119/hour. Use the role cards below to find benchmarks for your specific discipline.
Annualise your day rate over expected billable days, then use the Canada Day Rate Calculator to compare incorporated vs sole proprietor take-home under 2026 federal + Ontario rates, CPP, and EI.
Year-on-year signals are shown on each role card where matched prior-year data exists. Currently the fastest-growing contract rate tracked is AI Strategy & Solutions Architect at +14.0% YoY.
Use the range for your role as the evidence base, then adjust for seniority, specialist skills, contract length, location, and whether the rate needs to cover unpaid time or business costs. A benchmark is a starting point for negotiation, not a guaranteed offer.
Use the days you realistically expect to invoice, not every weekday in a year. Allow for holidays, public holidays, gaps between contracts, sick time, training, and non-billable administration. The calculator lets you test the assumption rather than relying on a single annualised number.
A headline rate does not show the effect of tax, unpaid leave, insurance, pension saving, equipment, or the structure through which you work. Model the rate with realistic billable days and your local calculator before comparing it with a permanent salary.