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How Much Does A Website Cost? I wish I could give you a straight, simple answer. It’s like asking how much does a car cost — a very basic car with no options might cost $15,000 while a luxury car might cost $50,000 and an exotic fully loaded car might cost $250,000+.
It’s the same when it comes to web design — there’s a huge range of prices depending primarily on who you hire and the type of website you need designed. This article will act as a 100% unbiased guide to understanding who the players are in web design, what the costs are, and how much your website will end up costing at the end of the day.
Let me start by saying that this article is not meant to be an outline of our web design prices at Simple SEO Group. The only way for us to accurately assess your project is to request a consultation. These are simply industry averages and pricing models so you can better understand the process of finding a web designer to work with.
The 4 Pricing Models
Each and every single website out there is different, which is why it’s impossible to give a flat price rate for any specific site without having extensive knowledge into the website itself and the requirements of the website. When it comes to providing a website, different web developers use different methods for calculating a cost. There’s four main ways that web designers price their packages:
- Per Page Web Design
- Web Design Packages
- Hourly Web Design
- Per Project Web Design
Per Page Web Design:
Per page web design is exactly that — the designer will charge a flat fee for each page on the website which typically starts at as little as $50 for a very basic page and ranges up to $1,000+ per page. In our experiences the industry averages are between $100 and $250 per page. In general this type of pricing structure is not that common. Generally designers with less experience charge per page since they don’t know how to budget per project, and this pricing model also is more common in rural areas and outside of major cities.
Web Design Packages
Many web designers who we refer to as “website factories” utilize web design packages for all their websites. These are typically made by designers who build hundreds or thousands of websites per year and have very simple packages and prices for each package. This is great if you need a basic website, but if you need custom features it is often difficult to incorporate that in as it doesn’t fall within the package. However most designers with packages will allow you to add customizations for a fee.
Hourly Web Design
It’s fairly common for web designers to charge by the hour. The hourly rate varies widely based on the location, level of experience, and complexity of the task at hand. Rates can range from $10 per hour for a freelance designer to $500 per hour for a high level web designer and consultant. There is a huge disparity in these prices but there is also a huge difference in the quality of the final product. In general average web design hourly rates range between $80 and $200 per hour.
Per Project Web Design
This is what we use at Simple SEO Group 99% of the time as we believe it delivers the best experience for both the designers and clients. Per project web design is 100% custom and flexible and is assessed on a case by case basis. The web designer understands your needs and what the website will require, then gives a flat fee based on what they believe it will cost. A good design firm will give you a customized proposal in writing outlining exactly what they plan on doing and the costs associated with it.
Comparing Bids To Decide On A Vendor
The largest mistake most web design clients make is gather a handful of bids and go with the lowest option. Quite frankly that’s a terrible way to go about choosing any service provider because you generally get what you pay for. The best thing to do is talk to a few designers until you find one who seems to genuinely care about your project and offer practical solutions for your website. They should be reasonably priced, not necessarily the most affordable but also not necessarily the most expensive, and should be eager to work with you on your new website.
In addition to these qualities, you should understand that a new website is a very personal item and is really a form of art. With that said, everyone has different taste and opinion as to what a good website looks like, so be sure to review each designer’s portfolio to better understand their approach to building websites and what types of websites they build. Someone with experience in building websites for bands might not be the right choice for a corporate website and someone with experience in building websites for attorneys might not be the right choice for a photography website.
Common Final Website Prices
There’s no such thing as a standard website, so there’s no such thing as a standard price for a website. But we can provide ranges and estimates from various industry sources to understand what types of websites are available for what purposes and the approximate costs associated with them.
A Small, Basic Website
- Outsourced overseas or by a freelance designer: $200 up to $2,500
- US Based Designer: $500 up to $3,500
- US Based Design Firm/Agency: $750 up to $5,000
A Standard Business/Corporate Website
- Outsourced Overseas or by a freelance designer: $500 up to $15,000
- US Based designer: $2,000 up to $20,000
- US Web Design Firm/Agency: $3,000 up to $50,000
These prices will vary from designer to designer based on their level of experience, current workload, and other factors.
Quick Tip: If you aren’t in a hurry for your website, ask your designer if they can offer a slight discount to build the website when they have some down time. Many designers have busy periods followed by slow periods, and if they can build your site during a slow period they might be able to be a little flexible on the final price.
Interactive/Custom Coded Business/Corporate Websites
- Outsourced Overseas or by a freelance designer: $1,500 up to $20,000
- US based designer: $4,000 up to $35,000
- US Web Design Firm/Agency: $10,000 up to $100,000
These prices will vary from designer to designer based on their level of experience, current workload, and other factors. An interactive and complex/custom website has an enormous amount of back end, behind the scenes programming involved. The more complex the features, the more time it takes to build/code them and the higher level of expertise required for your project. In this case the size of the website isn’t necessarily the factor that determines the cost, it’s more about building custom applications and codes to power the custom features of the website.
A Basic Guide For About 20 Hours Of Work (A Standard Website)
- Student: $200-$400 ($10-$20 per hour)
- Freelancer: $400-$2,000 ($20 to $100 per hour)
- Expert Designer: $1,000-$4,000 ($50 to $200 per hour)
- Design Company/Firm: $1,400 to $5,000 ($70 to $250 per hour)
Project Prices & Addons (The Bottom Line)
- Logo Design: $150 up to $750
- Brochure Design: $500 up to $2,000
- A Simple Website: $200 up to $5,000
- A Business Website: $500 up to $50,000
- A Complex Website: $1,500 up to $100,000
- Social Websites/Interactive: $5,000 up to $40,000
- Custom Applications & Design: $2,500 up to $100,000+
It’s important to remember that when it comes to websites and any sort of custom design work, you often get what you pay for. Shop around, look at samples, and talk to people until you find someone who you feel comfortable working with. A designer isn’t just about their skill in building your website, you should also assess their level of customer service, availability, whether they’re available for ongoing maintenance, and how well you think you can work with them. All of these are important when it comes to picking the right provider for your new website.