Software Engineer Salary in Poland: Official 2026 Figures

What software engineers earn in Poland

Software and applications developers and analysts in Poland earned PLN 15,629.51 gross a month on average in October 2024, according to Statistics Poland (GUS). That is about €3,558 at the National Bank of Poland rate of 6 November 2026 (our calculation). GUS runs this survey every 2 years, so October 2024 is the latest occupation-level figure.

The figure is 1.75 times the PLN 8,944.79 average for all employees and 2.11 times the median of PLN 7,404.69, which means half of all employees earned less than that. It covers people on employment contracts in organisations with 10 or more staff. Contractors who invoice through their own business are not in it.

For a more recent signal, GUS reports that average gross pay in the information and communication sector reached PLN 15,680.11 a month from January to September 2026, up 6.5% on the same months of 2025. That sector figure includes every role in the sector, from developers to sales and support staff, so it is not a developer salary, but it shows the direction of pay since the 2024 survey.

Pay by occupation code

GUS groups occupations with the Polish classification KZiS, which follows the international ISCO-08 codes. Software engineers, developers, programmers and systems analysts sit together in minor group 251. Database administrators and network specialists are in group 252, and IT and telecoms managers in group 133.

ICT service managers had the second-highest average pay of any occupation group in Poland, PLN 21,489.76 a month, behind only managing directors and chief executives. Database and network professionals earned PLN 13,934.67. GUS does not report a separate average for software developers (unit group 2512) in its publication text, so this page uses the group 251 figure as the closest official measure. All values are averages across every level of seniority, so individual offers vary.

How Poland compares in Europe

The only official source that compares countries on the same basis is Eurostat's Structure of Earnings Survey. Its latest edition covers 2022. Professionals working in the information and communication sector in Poland earned €29,721 a year on average, 51.7% of the EU 27 level of €57,522. In Czechia the same group earned €43,077, in Romania €40,037 and in Germany €78,189.

Eurostat has not published a newer survey, so this is a 2022 snapshot. For candidates, it is a useful reference when weighing an offer from an employer abroad against local pay.

Employee or B2B contractor

Polish developers work either on an employment contract or B2B, as a sole business that invoices the client. On an employment contract, the employee pays 13.71% of gross pay in social contributions (pension 9.76%, disability 1.50%, sickness 2.45%), and then health insurance and income tax are deducted, so take-home pay is well below the gross figures above.

On B2B, the contractor pays their own tax and contributions. Under the lump-sum tax act, revenue from software-related services can be taxed at 12% of revenue, for businesses with up to €2,000,000 of revenue in the previous year; some other IT services fall under different rates. The Labour Code is clear that work done under a client's direction, at a place and time the client sets, counts as employment whatever the contract is called. A B2B day rate and an employee salary are therefore not directly comparable: compare them after tax, contributions, paid leave and sick pay.

What an employer pays on top

An employer in Poland pays 20.48% of gross pay in social contributions at the standard accident rate, plus 1.5% for Employee Capital Plans (PPK) if the employee joins. At the group 251 average of PLN 15,629.51 a month, that is PLN 187,554.12 a year in pay, PLN 38,411.08 in employer contributions and PLN 2,813.31 in PPK, or PLN 228,778.51 in total (our calculation). Pension and disability contributions stop once pay in the year passes PLN 282,600.

Hiring in Poland? Our guide to hiring developers in Poland covers the talent pool, time zones and routes to employ. We do placement, not employer of record: we deliver a shortlist of 3 vetted candidates within 21 days for a flat fee of $6,500, or your deposit back, with a 12-month replacement guarantee. See how placement works, or post a job for $299, live for 60 days.

Looking for your next role? Browse remote jobs open to people in Poland or join our Land a Great Remote Job program.

How we got these figures

All pay figures are gross, before employee contributions and tax. Occupation figures come from GUS, Structure of wages and salaries by occupations for October 2024, published in February 2026, which covers employees in organisations with 10 or more staff and excludes civil law contracts. The sector figure comes from GUS's monthly release of 23 October 2026 for firms with more than 9 employees. Cross-country figures come from Eurostat table earn_ses22_49 (2022, firms with 10 or more employees, in euros). We converted zloty to euros at the NBP mid rate of 4.3925 on 6 November 2026 and rounded to the nearest euro; monthly euro values in the Europe table are annual values divided by 12. Checked 7 November 2026.

More guides

• Hiring in Poland: employer costs and labor laws
• Average salary in Poland
• Cost of living in Poland
• Minimum wage in Poland
• Software engineer salaries in Europe, compared by country
• Remote engineering jobs open to people in Europe