Parvessh Agarwal
Founder & CEO
An entrepreneur at heart. He links business analysis, strategy, clear goals and ROI to practical technology.
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WordPressHire WordPress developers
who write custom code and use fewer plugins.
A dedicated WordPress developer, or a team, who takes responsibility for your theme, your plugins and your site's security. They do more than clear a ticket queue. Each developer is vetted on real WordPress builds before they touch yours. They work inside your codebase and stand-ups, and you can scale up or down monthly without a hiring cycle. You meet the developer who would work on your theme before a contract is signed.
Interview before signing · Scale monthly
14-day trial
Try before you commit
Start Your 14-Day Risk-Free Trial
Work together on a real brief for up to 14 days, then decide whether to scale.
What you get
Hiring a WordPress developer through PixelCrayons gets you a vetted engineer who writes custom themes and plugins inside your team. They work in your code on custom themes, Gutenberg blocks, ACF, WooCommerce and headless builds. A named coordinator backs them. You interview the actual person first and scale monthly.
- Vetted on live WordPress buildsEvery developer has shipped live WordPress work, held to our weekly code review and release standard.
- Cover for regular security patchesA named coordinator, an escalation contact and a second developer who keeps patches on schedule.
- Working inside your teamYour code, hosting panel, Slack and stand-ups, shipping through your own release routine.
Our work
See what we've built
and the results it brought.
Real projects for real clients, with results we can show.
2004
Established
500+
Agencies served
4,500+
Projects delivered
340%
Revenue growth · 7 months
eCommerce
+127%
Organic traffic · 5 months
SaaS
85%
Faster delivery · backlog cleared
via agency partner
Where the work happens
Monthly rate for this hire
From $2,400per month, 160 hoursSenior specialists from $4,000, quoted per person.
Direct prices for brands and companies buying for themselves.
What they cover
WordPress skills
that keep your site easy to maintain.
This is not a plugin installer who happens to know WordPress. Their job is the code itself. That means what it costs to run, what breaks it, and the records that prove both are under control.
Core WordPress development
- Custom theme development: template hierarchy, hooks and filters, PHP
- Gutenberg block development (block.json, React-based custom blocks)
- ACF and custom-fields architecture for structured content
- Custom plugin development, properly namespaced and update-safe
- WordPress core APIs: REST endpoints, custom post types, taxonomies
WooCommerce, headless, security and speed
- WooCommerce customisation: checkout flows, custom extensions, product logic
- Headless WordPress: WPGraphQL and REST API integrations with a decoupled front end
- Site security: least-privilege roles, hardened authentication, staged updates
- Speed and caching: object cache, page cache, image handling and Core Web Vitals (Google's page speed and stability scores)
- Hosting and server setup, including multisite
Clean-ups, upkeep and handover
- Migration and cleanup of legacy sites: plugin-bloat audits, redirect mapping
- Maintenance discipline: staged updates, automated backups, a tested restore path
- Working inside an existing plugin-heavy codebase without triggering an unnecessary rewrite
- Notes and handover that let any capable team pick up the code
- Clear reports you can share, tied to what shipped
In practice
What a WordPress developer
looks after between releases.
Practical notes on the role: the routine, the interview, the access to have ready and the jobs to pass on.
Updates, blocks and quiet fixes
A typical week mixes upkeep with building. They apply plugin and core updates on staging first. They check the key pages and forms, then push live with a backup ready. They build or adjust Gutenberg blocks so editors can create pages without calling them. They speed up a slow query. They replace a plugin that does one small job with a few lines of custom code. They fix whatever the content team reported. They also check uptime alerts, security scans and the error log. The best WordPress developers leave a site with fewer plugins than they found.
Signs of a strong WordPress candidate
Ask how they would choose between a plugin and custom code for a feature, such as an events listing. A strong candidate weighs upkeep, the plugin's security history and how much of it you would really use. Ask how they build custom blocks, and how they stop editors breaking layouts. Ask about a time an update took a site down and what they changed afterwards. Good answers mention staging, version control and a rollback they had already tested. Be wary of anyone who edits theme files on the live server, or cannot explain hooks and filters clearly.
Access and lists for day one
Grant access to the Git repository if one exists. If the site has never been under version control, that becomes the first job. Provide hosting or server access, a staging site and an admin account in their name. Add access to DNS or your CDN. Export a list of active plugins and note which premium licences you hold, since updates stop when licences lapse. Share analytics and Search Console access, so they can see which pages matter most. Tell them who edits content day to day, and what those editors struggle with.
Jobs that need a different role
A WordPress developer is not always a designer, an SEO specialist or a copywriter. They do work closely with all three. If the site needs a new look, bring in a designer first and have the developer build from their files. If traffic dropped after a migration, an SEO specialist should find the cause while the developer fixes it. You may sell at scale with complex stock, pricing and ERP links. Then check whether WooCommerce still suits you before hiring for it. And a site that only needs the odd update may suit a maintenance plan better.
How it works
Brief to embedded,
interview before signing.
Start
Brief and a call
We sign an NDA and talk through the site, the plugin list and the gap you need filled.
Once the brief is complete
Proposal and interview
We confirm when your proposal arrives and propose the developer whose delivery history fits. You interview them before anything is signed; if the fit isn't right, we propose again.
Your decision
You sign off
You confirm the scope, the payment and the access we need. Nothing starts before this.
Typically 2 to 3 business days later
The developer starts
Repo and hosting access granted, the plugin list and security posture audited, your stand-ups joined.
Every month
Scale either way
Add a second developer ahead of a migration or a launch; step down once the backlog clears. Capacity on the site resizes monthly, so a migration surge never becomes a headcount decision.
You make requests, give approvals and see the weekly review in your Prism workspace. Each decision is written down with the result it was meant to bring. See how Prism runs the work →
Get a Proposal
Meet the people who will do the work before you sign
Why through us
Why hire through us:
the developer and the patch checks behind them.
A WordPress developer hired on their own gives you their code. Hiring through a company that delivers this work every day adds regular security patches and cover. That keeps a plugin-heavy site out of trouble.
Vetted on live WordPress builds
Every developer in our team has shipped live WordPress work before yours. Those sites met our own delivery standards. Code was reviewed weekly against the same release standard you will see. A plugin list on a CV is easy to claim. We would rather see how someone has kept a live site patched. We also want to know what they did the week an update broke something.
Cover for regular security patches
You get a named coordinator, an escalation contact and a second WordPress developer named from the start. The second developer is briefed on your site from day one. They follow the security and patch schedule the first developer keeps. If the first developer is on leave or moves on, the second keeps patches on schedule without a slow start. A lone freelancer cannot offer this. An in-house hire needs a whole team to cover it. You get a developer and the upkeep checks behind them.
Working inside your team
Your code, your hosting panel, your Slack, your stand-ups. Dedicated means shipping through your own code and release routine. Site fixes never get lost in someone else's ticket queue.
Quality checks you can see
You get a weekly written review in Prism, tied to what shipped. Pull requests are reviewed before merge. The plugin and security audit is kept up to date in writing. If you wonder what you are paying for, the merged pull requests and plugin audit answer first.
Side by side
Hiring on your own,
compared with hiring through us.
A full-time in-house hire is worth it once WordPress work is a permanent, central job for you. We will tell you plainly when that is. This page covers every other case.
| Hiring it yourself | Through PixelCrayons | |
|---|---|---|
| Time to a productive developer | A full recruiting cycle: sourcing, interviews and notice periods, then weeks spent just reading your plugins and theme code | Eligible engagements can typically start within two to three business days after scope, payment and required access are confirmed |
| Vetting | CV checks and interviews: claimed WordPress experience gets tested on your live site | A track record on real WordPress builds and rescues, held to our own standards and reviewed weekly |
| Management work | All yours: goals, reviews, career growth and leave cover | A named PM and escalation path are included; you review the patch log instead of managing a hire |
| Scaling | A full hiring cycle either way: months to find someone, an awkward exit to let them go | Resize monthly: add a developer for a migration, step down once it ships |
| Risk when it doesn't work | A poor hire quietly takes on your plugin clutter and missed security patches, until something breaks on the live site | If the fit is wrong, we propose someone else; the new developer gets the plugin audit and patch log |
Who is accountable
The people responsible
for your work.
Saundaraya Gupta
Technical Manager
Brings technical work, client updates and project management together, so work moves smoothly from brief to launch.
LinkedIn →Every engagement
A named coordinator and escalation contact
Know who coordinates your engagement, who owns the work and how to escalate an issue.
All engagements. Roles may be combined and vary with your engagement.
Before you sign
Our commitments
Each one says where it applies and links to its full terms.
14-Day Risk-Free Trial
For eligible managed specialists. Up to 14 calendar days or 80 logged working hours, whichever comes first. End within the trial and pay nothing for eligible trial hours. Continue beyond it and those hours are billed at the agreed rate. Unpaid trial work remains ours if you stop.
Eligible managed-specialist roles only, one trial per customer. Not offered for AI, chatbot, prompt, automation, API-integration or QA work. Brand and graphic designers, brand strategists, video editors, content writers, copywriters and content marketers start with a paid pilot.
Full termsTime-zone overlap
At least four hours a day inside your core working hours. Two hours plus a daily written handover for the US West Coast.
Managed specialists only; not a staffing promise for project teams.
Full termsClear IP & Ownership Terms
Your materials remain yours. Bespoke deliverable rights, licences and handover are agreed before work starts.
All engagements.
Full termsClear Delivery & Escalation Ownership
Know who coordinates your engagement, who owns the work and how to escalate an issue.
All engagements. Roles may be combined and vary with your engagement.
Full termsWhy not just hire a freelancer?
A freelancer can be the right choice for a single, well-defined task. We are set up for work that needs an accountable team: a named coordinator, delivery reviewed by QA and a senior lead before release, and continuity arrangements written into the engagement. Confidentiality, ownership and escalation terms are agreed in writing before work starts.
How does time-zone overlap work?
Your engineers work at least four hours a day inside your core working hours. We set the window with you before the engagement starts and hold it for as long as the engagement runs. For the US West Coast the live overlap is two hours each morning, with a written handover at the end of every Indian day. We do not run night shifts: engineers who work nights leave quickly, and keeping the same people on your team matters more to us than a longer overlap.
Can we try you before we commit?
For eligible managed specialists, yes: up to 14 calendar days or 80 logged working hours, whichever comes first. Stop within it and eligible trial hours are free; continue and they're billed at the agreed rate. Unpaid trial work stays ours. Project work and other roles get a paid pilot with scope, acceptance criteria, duration and fee agreed first.
What if we want to stop?
Cancellation, notice and any renewal terms are written into your proposal or statement of work before you accept it. If an engagement ends early, we hand over completed, paid-for work and list any unfinished work separately. For an eligible specialist trial, you can stop within the trial window and pay nothing for eligible trial hours.
How we handle claims, credentials and your data: group credentials, dated ratings, how case figures are signed off, client permissions and data handling.
How we vet
How we vet a WordPress developer
who leaves fewer plugins behind.
Without vetting, claimed WordPress experience gets tested on your live site. Our vetting checks plugin choices and blocks built for editors. It also checks what the developer learned from an update that went wrong.
- 01Shortlist on real builds and rescuesWe put forward the developer whose record on real WordPress builds and rescues fits your site and gap. Their work met our standards and was reviewed weekly. Real plugin and theme code they have shipped is available under NDA on request.
- 02Ask about plugins or custom codeAsk how they would choose for a feature, such as an events listing. A strong candidate weighs upkeep, the plugin's security history and how much of it you would really use. Ask how they build custom blocks and stop editors breaking layouts.
- 03Ask about an update that took a site downGood answers mention staging, version control and a rollback they had already tested. Be wary of anyone who edits theme files on the live server, or cannot explain hooks and filters clearly.
- 04The trial: the plugin and security auditIf you take the trial, it runs on a scope agreed before it starts. Expect your theme, plugins and security to be checked and written up first. Then updates go on staging before going live, with a backup ready.
Questions
Frequently
asked.
Once we have a complete brief, we confirm when your proposal arrives. You interview the proposed developer before anything is signed. Eligible work can typically start two to three business days after scope, payment and required access are confirmed. An inherited plugin list or known security gaps get audited before new feature work.
The NDA comes first, then repo, hosting and plugin access. The developer reviews the current theme and plugin list and writes up what they found before the first month's priorities are agreed. They attend your stand-ups from week one, so learning the site happens inside your workflow, not off to one side.
Weekly and written: what shipped, what's in review and what's queued next. Pull requests are reviewed against your existing conventions before merge, and update and patch decisions are documented each month. Agencies placing a WordPress developer on a client site get this reporting in their own templates.
One is the normal starting point: a single WordPress developer covers most sites comfortably. A second pair of hands (a WooCommerce specialist, or extra capacity for a migration) joins when scope justifies it, and the monthly resize works in both directions. We'd sooner start with one developer than sell you a team before the site needs it.
Yes. Our WordPress developers also work white-label: an NDA covers the work, and our promise not to compete for your clients is in writing. Weekly reporting arrives in your own templates, so a WordPress expert keeps your client's site patched under your brand.
Raise it early and we'll propose another WordPress developer as a matter of course. Whoever replaces them inherits the plugin audit, patch log and decisions the first developer logged, so the switch costs days, not a restart. The proposal names the second developer and says whether their cover comes within the monthly rate.
Use criteria you can check, not claims. Interview the developer who would touch your theme, and ask what they did when an update broke a live site. Confirm pull requests are reviewed before merge and there's a clear exit if the fit is wrong. Through us you interview first, and reviewed pull requests and propose-again are built in.
Interview the person,
not the pitch deck.
Brief us on the site and the plugin list, and meet the actual developer before anything is signed. If what you really need turns out to be a fixed-scope migration rather than a person, we'll say so on the first call.
Interview before signing · Scale monthly
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