How much should a web developer working in a US startup charge per hour?

First of all, what is your value? what it would take to replace you? If you "one of many" you should charge market rate. If your knowledge it critical and hard to replace, you can double your rate and also talk about equity / options. Ron, http://www.enteros.com

Another approach is to flat rate the project on an achievable requirements document and project schedule  $10-25K.  With established Rails shops starting at at 25-50K for simple, its not a bad option.  Then you go to an hourly rate after, because it always needs changes and maintenance.   Its not for the faint of heart, but it prevents a runaway effort.  Developers tend to not like this, but several friends have had very good results with this approach. As of today: PHP $10-25 an hour, $50 for a core site with proven expertise HTML5 $25-50 Ruby (not RoR) $50-150 Python $50-100 This all depends on many things, but actual demonstrated experience is really important

I charge $95-$100/hr initially to clients. If they're easy to work with, communicate well and pay on time, then I'll lower it down to $75/hr. I admit that I'm skeptical that you provide as much value as your US counterparts. But that's just due to poorly made overseas-made software I've personally been paid to fix. See if the following applies to you as well as me: I'm able to get work at this rate because of my good communication skills, adaptability and intelligence — I learn what the client's business is all about and figure out how to make their clients happy; my proven record of successful projects I can point to, and the bad experiences my clients have had with less expensive developers. (A few months ago, I made a couple of thousand in a weekend to re-write an unworkable app which had just been delivered by a foreign outsourcing firm.) I focus on giving my clients extreme value: software that actually works (not something to be taken for granted in today's market) and is made according to modern best practices. I only bill my clients for how long a task should have taken, even if it took me longer. If I need to research general info to solve a problem, I make a point of not billing my clients, but showing this time I spent on their invoices so they can see the value they're receiving. More about me: I live in Portland, OR. I work for clients here and remotely. I have 18 years' experience with Linux and software dev, and have written articles in techie magazines.