Backend often pays slightly more on average, but both pay well at top companies. Your skill level and the company tier matter more than which side of the stack you work on. A strong frontend engineer at a top product company out-earns a weak backend engineer at a service company.

Freshers: 4 to 8 LPA at service companies, 8 to 15 LPA at mid-tier product companies, and 15 to 25+ LPA at top product companies and unicorns. Senior frontend roles at top companies can go much higher.

Because backend roles often involve deeper systems knowledge and systems thinking, which is scarcer in supply. But skilled frontend engineers, especially for complex UI work, are in strong demand too, so the difference is small at top companies.