Cloud skills that pay the most in South Africa

OfferZen’s 2025 Developer Salary Benchmarking report has revealed that South African developers working with Amazon Web Services (AWS) earn more than those using Google Cloud or Microsoft Azure.
AWS skills offers the highest average salaries across various levels of experience, starting at R30,735 for developers with up to two years of experience in 2025.
This is up from an average of R24,792 in 2024.
“Cloud knowledge remains a popular skill for South African developers, with AWS and Azure remaining the most popular,” said OfferZen.
“That’s reflected in AWS having the highest average salaries among South African cloud platforms.”
In comparison, the average salaries for developers using Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud with similar levels of experience in 2025 are R24,645 and R22,400, respectively.
Average salaries for Google Cloud developers with up to two years of experience increased from R18,139 in 2024. However, Microsoft Azure developer’s average pay dropped from R25,130.
Regardless of the platform, average salaries markedly increase with experience. In 2025, AWS developers with two to four years of experience earned an average of R35,588, up from R35,262 in 2024.
This is the only category in which Microsoft Azure skills offer higher average salaries than AWS. Microsoft Azure developers with two to four years of experience earned R38,513 on average in 2025. This is up from R32,755 in 2024.
Google Cloud developers with similar levels of experience earned the least on average, taking home roughly R34,177 per month in 2025, up from R34,044 in 2024.
AWS developers with six to ten years of experience earned an average of R75,740 per month in 2025, up from R69,917 in 2024.
Google Cloud developers with similar levels of experience were paid an average of R70,217 per month in 2025, up from R64,722 last year.
Microsoft Azure developers with similar experience levels earned the least, taking home roughly R64,284 monthly in 2025, up from R62,155 in 2024.
Developers who use AWS and have more than 10 years of experience earn over R100,000 per month on average. These developers will take home roughly R101,539 per month in 2025.
This figure increased from R96,568 in 2024.
Google Cloud developers with over 10 years of experience saw their average salaries decline to R91,652 in 2025 from R92,192 in 2024.
At the same time, Microsoft Azure software developers saw a marked increase in their average salaries, growing from R87,928 in 2024 to R92,530 in 2025.
The table below summarises OfferZen’s findings and compares the average salaries of developers in South Africa who use AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud with varying levels of experience in 2024 and 2025.
Platform | Year | 0-2 years | 2-4 years | 4-6 years | 6-10 years | 10+ years |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Amazon Web Services | 2024 | R24,792 | R35,262 | R50,587 | R69,917 | R96,568 |
2025 | R30,735 | R35,588 | R52,605 | R75,740 | R101,539 | |
Google Cloud Platform | 2024 | R18,139 | R34,044 | R44,946 | R64,722 | R92,192 |
2025 | R22,400 | R34,177 | R41,556 | R70,217 | R91,652 | |
Microsoft Azure | 2024 | R25,130 | R32,755 | R48,240 | R62,155 | R87,928 |
2025 | R24,645 | R38,513 | R48,404 | R62,284 | R92,530 |
Cloud services booming in South Africa
Randburg-based BMIT’s latest SA IT Services Market report revealed that the South African IT services market reached an estimated value of R104.9 billion in 2024.
Moreover, its value is expected to increase to around R182 billion by 2028. This represents a compound annual growth rate of 14.8%.
According to BMIT, demand for cloud services is the primary driver behind the market’s anticipated growth over the next three years, and it was the driver behind its growth in the past two years.
BMIT Managing Director Chris Geerdts says the cloud services space’s ongoing dominance is supported by cloud-driven digital transformation projects across the country.
He added that these “are reshaping the IT landscape”.
Geerdts also believes the generative artificial intelligence (AI) space will also see significant growth in the coming years, further contributing to the consumption of cloud services.
He says generative AI has the potential to revolutionise content creation, customer services, and other business functions.