Hire the Best
Freelance Flask developers & Programmers

Flask is a Python microframework for web development. While most frameworks aim to give you everything you need to build a website out of the box, Flask takes a minimalist approach, providing only the bare essentials: routing, request and error handling, templating, cookies, unit testing, debugging, and a development server. Flask is based on Werkzeug, a toolkit for Web Server Gateway Interface (WSGI) applications, and Jinja, a Python web templating engine.

Flask leaves other common web framework features such as the database abstraction layer, form validation, and ORM up to the developer, giving them creative freedom over how to build out their technology stack. 

The first step to determining the cost to hire a Flask developer will be to define your needs. Rates can vary due to many factors, including expertise and experience, location, and market conditions.

Cost factor #1: project scope

The first variable to consider when determining scope is the nature of the work that needs to be completed. Not all Flask projects are created equal. Building a static website with basic HTML and CSS via Flask’s templating engine will typically take less time than creating a web app from scratch.

Tip: The more accurately your job description describes the scope of your project, the easier it will be for talent to give you accurate cost estimates and proposals.

Cost factor #2: Flask developer experience

Choosing the right level of expertise for the job is closely tied to how well you determined the scope of your project. You wouldn’t need an advanced Flask developer to set up a handful of web templates for a business landing page. On the other hand, incorporating a recommendation engine into your ecommerce website would require the skills of a seasoned Python programmer. 

Beyond experience level, you need to consider the type of experience the talent possesses. The following table breaks down the rates of the typical types of Flask developers you can find on Upwork.

Rates charged by Flask developers on Upwork

Cost factor #3: location

Location is another variable that can impact a Flask developer’s cost. It’s no secret that you can leverage differences in purchasing power between countries to gain savings on talent. But it’s also important to factor in hidden costs such as language barriers, time zones, and the logistics of managing a remote team. The real advantage to sourcing talent remotely on Upwork is the ability to scan a global talent pool for the best possible person for the job. Location is no longer an obstacle. 

Cost factor #4: independent contractor vs. agency

The final variable regarding talent cost is hiring an independent contractor vs. an agency. An agency is often a “one size fits all” model, so you’ll often have access to a designer, a project manager, an engineer, and more. When hiring individuals you have total autonomy regarding who is responsible for which part of the project, but you’ll need to source each of those skills separately.

The trade-off between hiring individuals vs. hiring an agency is the level of administrative overhead you incur personally in coordinating tasks among all members of the team. Project scope and personal preference will determine which style is a better fit for your needs.

DRY (don’t repeat yourself)

If you find yourself writing the same code for the same action multiple times, chances are high you could probably refactor it into a leaner, more performant block of code. If you can save time by using the factory pattern, do it. The DRY principle encourages readability, flexibility, testability, and efficiency when writing code. 

Take advantage of the data scientist community’s affinity for Python

Python’s laconic syntax and low learning curve allowed it to quickly become a favorite programming language among data scientists. As a result, there are lots of libraries and tools available for Flask developers that other web developers won’t immediately have access to unless they already know Python. 

Here are some examples of popular Python data science libraries:

• NumPy is perfect for scientific computing and performing operations on arrays.
• Matplotlib can help you generate charts, scatterplots, and other data visualizations for your website.
• Scrapy is a popular web scraping library that can help you build your own web crawlers.
• Keras is a high-level neural networks API.
• TensorFlow is a popular machine learning framework developed and maintained by Google. 

Using microservices with Flask

The microservices architectural style involves designing software applications as suites of modular, self-contained, independently deployable services. These services are often self-contained via containers such as Docker and utilize REST APIs to communicate with one another. 

Flask’s minimalist approach to web development synergizes nicely with microservices architectures and can be a great choice for building modern enterprise web applications. Splitting your application development into self-contained units increases testability, reliability, and security. It also allows your apps to take advantage of parallel processing for enhanced performance.