Hire an MQL5 programmer, or generate the Expert Advisor (EA) yourself?
This page lays out the real cost of both routes — including the parts that never appear on a quote. It also says plainly when you should hire a programmer instead of using this site.
What hiring actually costs
Real open jobs and their stated budgets from the MQL5 Freelance board (checked 5 August 2026):
| Open job on MQL5 Freelance | Buyer's budget (USD) |
|---|---|
| Pip Sure EA Modification Requirements | $30–50 |
| EA based on SSL Hybrid indicator | $58+ |
| Rectification of existing Apps | $70+ |
| An Expert Advisor Based on MACD for MT5 | $80+ |
| I need help with expert adviser for MetaTrader 4 | $100–300 |
| Professional MT5 / cTrader Expert Advisor Development | $30–1000 |
Note these are buyers' stated budgets, not final agreed prices — real quotes often land higher, and complex work reaches four figures. Prices change; check MQL5 for current figures.
Four costs that aren't in the price
On the number alone, a $30–50 modification job and our $29.99 look similar. The difference isn't the sticker:
| Hiring a programmer | This site | |
|---|---|---|
| When you learn if the strategy works | After delivery — you've already paid | Before you unlock: reports are never paywalled |
| Changing a parameter and retesting | New conversation, possibly a new invoice | Edit the flowchart, 5 credits to re-run |
| Delivery time | Days to weeks | Minutes |
| Communication overhead | Explaining the idea, revisions, acceptance disputes | One sentence, then verify on the flowchart |
| Who owns the source | Whatever your contract says — put it in writing | Entirely you (licence) |
The first row is the expensive one. Hiring means paying first and finding out afterwards that the strategy doesn't have an edge. This site inverts that order: you see the A–F grade and the out-of-sample column first, then decide whether to spend the 100 credits on source code.
When you should hire a programmer instead
Honestly — this site cannot do the following. Don't waste your time or money:
- External data: news APIs, economic calendars, third-party signals, cross-platform arbitrage.
- Non-standard order logic: elaborate grid/martingale variants, basket hedging, cross-instrument correlation sizing.
- Specific broker or system integration: custom APIs, bridges, multi-account management.
- Anything with a "it depends" step — logic that needs human judgement and can't be written as explicit rules.
- Modifying an existing .mq5: we generate from scratch; we don't edit your existing code.
What this site is good at is the other category: rule-based, indicator-driven strategies you want to validate quickly.
A middle path
Plenty of people use both. Spend $29.99 here first to pressure-test the idea, confirm it has a statistical edge, and walk away with compiling .mq5 source — then take that working code to a programmer for custom extensions. Your money goes toward the part that genuinely needs a human, instead of toward "please turn an EMA crossover into code", and you skip most of the back-and-forth explaining what you want.
See the backtest before you decide to buy.
Sign-up includes 40 credits — enough to fully evaluate one strategy, report unblurred.
Full costs on pricing · ownership on the licence page
FAQ
Is generated MQL5 code as good as hand-written code?
It comes from a fixed template engine — we don't let an AI free-write code — so the structure is consistent, and every delivery is compiled in MetaEditor (zero errors) before you get it. We also diff the generated EA against our own engine trade by trade in the MT5 Strategy Tester: 48 of 48 entry prices matched on single-timeframe tests (methodology). What it can't do is anything outside the template — which is exactly the section above.
If I hire a programmer, do I own the EA source code?
That depends on your contract. Default marketplace terms and verbal agreements may not match your expectations — state source-code delivery and ownership in the job description before you order. There's no grey area here: unlocking gives you the .mq5 source, and ownership plus resale rights are entirely yours. See the licence page.
What exactly does $29.99 buy?
150 credits — roughly one complete EA: AI flowchart (5) + nine backtest iterations (5 × 9) + source unlock (100). Once unlocked, that strategy can be re-downloaded forever. See pricing.