In our “Freelance Radar” survey conducted in January 2026, 735 members of our community shared their insights about their current project situation, rates, skills and business prospects.
📋 The results at a glance
| Aktuelle Projektsituation | The positive trend of recent months has not been maintained and the participants are again slightly negative in their assessment of their project situation. |
|---|---|
| Aktuelles Projekt | More than a quarter of those surveyed are currently looking for a project - a significant deterioration compared to the last few quarters. |
| Aktueller Stundensatz | A significant increase of € 3.00 to € 97.70. |
| Aufgabenbereiche | The proportion of participants working in backend development has fallen by 8 percentage points to 35%. This is followed by full stack, frontend and IT architecture. |
| Arbeitsort | The proportion of respondents who work from home has increased slightly to 74%. |
| Projektakquise | More than a quarter of respondents have acquired a project from their own network in the last quarter. |
| Geschäftsausblick | The outlook for the next 6 months has improved to the best value since Q1 2025. |
| KI Nutzung | The use of AI tools is decreasing slightly compared to the last few quarters. |
| KI Prognose | Respondents are much more negative about the future impact of AI than in the past. |
Aktuelle Projektsituation
Ist deine aktuelle Projektsituation besser oder schlechter im Vergleich zu vor 3 Monaten?
The positive trend of recent months has not been maintained and the participants are again slightly negative in their assessment of their project situation.
Aktuelles Projekt
Bist du derzeit in einem Kundenprojekt?
More than a quarter of those surveyed are currently looking for a project - a significant deterioration compared to the last few quarters.
Aktueller Stundensatz
Wo liegt dein aktueller Stundensatz?
A significant increase of € 3.00 to € 97.70.
Aufgabenbereiche
In welchen Bereichen hast du in den letzten 3 Monaten gearbeitet?
The proportion of participants working in backend development has fallen by 8 percentage points to 35%. This is followed by full stack, frontend and IT architecture.
Arbeitsort
Wo hast du in den letzten 3 Monaten hauptsächlich deine Arbeit verrichtet?
The proportion of respondents who work from home has increased slightly to 74%.
Projektakquise
Über welche Kanäle hast du in den letzten 3 Monaten Neukunden akquiriert?
More than a quarter of respondents have acquired a project from their own network in the last quarter.
Geschäftsausblick
Wie wird sich deine Projektsituation voraussichtlich in den nächsten 6 Monaten entwickeln?
The outlook for the next 6 months has improved to the best value since Q1 2025.
KI Nutzung
Inwieweit nutzt du in deiner täglichen Arbeit KI-Tools?
The use of AI tools is decreasing slightly compared to the last few quarters.
KI Prognose
Wird sich die weitere Etablierung von KI-Tools deiner Einschätzung nach eher positiv oder negativ auf deine Arbeit auswirken?
Respondents are much more negative about the future impact of AI than in the past.