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Website Design Pricing - How much does a New Website cost?

If you’re thinking about getting a new website and want to learn more about website design pricing, or how much a website should cost, then you’re in the right place.

If you send the same web design proposal to 4 different website companies and you will get back four different quotes. Often with a very wide range regarding pricing.

As you might have noticed already, website design pricing can be tricky. Because of this, the question shouldn’t be “how much will my new website cost?”. Rather you should ask yourself the question, “what should my expectations be for the budget I have?”

Generally speaking, website design pricing can range from free, to over $100,000. Therefore the best solution for you will not just depend on price. Rather how you, your goals and your budget align together.

With this in mind, this article will give you a sense of exactly what you can expect from a new website at any price range. Furthermore, we also offer suggestions and solutions that might be right for you based on your budget.

Alignment

To make the right decision about what price you should pay for your website, your goals, budget, and personal involvement will all need to be factored in together.

YOU - First, how involved do you want to be in the process? Because with no budget you will be the designer, developer, project manager, content writer, and marketer. As your budget increases, this will reduce the amount of time and energy you need to devote to the project.

GOALS - Second, what kind of a website do you want? By that I mean, do you want a website that looks “good enough”? Better than your competitors? Or the leader in your industry? Because each of these goals is different and your budget will have to adjust accordingly.

BUDGET - Finally, your budget will be affected by your goals for the site and how much involvement you want to have in the project. In other words, the higher quality website and less involvement in the deliverables, the higher your budget will have to go.

Website Design Pricing Table

	FREE	$1,000	$2,500	$5-10K	$10-25K	+25K
TEAM
Firm
Developer
Project Manager
Content Writer
UI/ UX Designer
DESIGN
Wireframe Mockups
Photoshop Design
Revisions			2-3	3-5	5-10	10-20
Landing Page Design
UI/ UX Prototyping
Branding
DEVELOPMENT
CSS/ HTML
CMS
Theme	Template	Template	Semi Custom	Custom	Custom	Custom
QA Testing
Sitemap Architecture
Front End Devlopment
Backend Development
External API Integration
FEATURES
Pages	NA	5-10	5-10	15-20	50-1K+	1K-50K+
Page Templates				3-6	7-15	15+
On Page SEO
OffPage SEO
Search Engine Marketing
Mobile Responsive Design
Training/ Support
Content Marketing
Contact Form Integration
Payment Processsing
Web Application

Website Design Pricing, Free Websites

If you want a new website but don’t have any money, that’s no problem! There are plenty of free options available. However most of these solutions are free website builders which offer you a limited range of templates to choose from.

In addition to website builders another option is to install a free WordPress theme on a self-hosted server. In this case you’ll still need to pay for hosting, which isn’t free and this option will require a lot more technical knowledge to implement. Provided that you have the time and the patience this is a viable option.

• What You Get
  • TEAM: Yourself
  • PLATFORM: Online Website Builder
  • DESIGN: Pre-Made Template
  • SPECIFICATIONS:
    • Pages - N/A
    • Page Templates - N/A
    • Revisions - N/A
    • SEO - None
    • Responsive Design - Not usually
    • Social Media Integration - N/A
• Pros and Cons
  • PROS:
    • Affordable
    • Quick Setup
  • CONS:
    • Generic template design
    • “Free” Branding on site
    • Lack of customization
    • Lack on S.E.O.
    • Unprofessional look
• Who is this right for?
  • First time blogger
  • Personal website
  • Small club or group
• Resources
  Summing things up, here are some of the better free website builders available:
  • www.wix.com
  • www.webs.com
  • www.weebly.com

Website Design Pricing, -$100 Websites

If you have a little bit of money to spend your options expand. You can basically go in a a couple directions. Either you can use some more expensive website building platforms such as Sqarespace.com or Godaddy’s website builder. Or you can purchase a premium theme on a site like Themeforest and upload it to your own self-hosted WordPress site. If you go with the WordPress option it will require a bit more technical skill and more time to implement. In any case you will be trading your time for cheaper cost.

• What You Get
  • TEAM: Yourself
  • PLATFORM: WordPress
  • DESIGN: Pre-Made Template
  • SPECIFICATIONS:
    • Pages - N/A
    • Page Templates - N/A
    • Revisions - N/A
    • SEO - None
    • Responsive Design - Maybe
    • Social Media Integration - N/A
• Pros and Cons
  • PROS:
    • Someone to help you design & develop your website
    • Some customization to your design
  • CONS:
    • Difficulty in communication
    • Difficult to manage your project
    • Inconsistent results, often unusable
• Who is this right for?
  • Individuals with small budgets who are comfortable managing their project.
• ResourcesHere are some of the better free website builders available:
  • www.upwork.com
  • www.squarespace.com
  • www.godaddy.com

Website Design Pricing, -$2,500 Websites

Overall, if you have up to $2,500, then you will likely be hiring a local freelance web designer to help you modify a premium theme.

Generally speaking, when working at this price-point you are paying for a ‘semi-custom’ or ‘customized’ design. Although in some cases designers at this price-range don’t fully disclose that they are selling ‘template’ websites. By that token, if you are only paying $2k-$3k for a website it is almost certainly not a custom website.

• What You Get
  • TEAM: Local solo designer
  • PLATFORM:
    • WordPress
    • Joomla
    • Straight CSS / HTML
  • DESIGN:
    • In summary, these designers often use templates though claims to be custom
  • SPECIFICATIONS:
    • Pages - 5-10
    • Page Templates - 2-3
    • Revisions - 2-3
    • SEO - None
    • Responsive Design - Maybe
    • Social Media Integration - Limited
• Pros and Cons
  • PROS:
    • Local person to communicate with
    • Decent quality work
  • CONS:
    • All in all not high enough quality work for small and medium sized businesses
    • As has been noted, uses templates without informing clients
    • Usually overbooked with work and rarely delivers on time
• In summary, who is this right for?
  • Definitely good for an individual marketing their personal services who is on a budget
    By and large, good for a very small business starting out who needs a web presence
• Resources
  • All things considered, yelp is probably the best place to find a freelance web designer. Obviously the quality varies greatly depending on who you hire:
    • www.yelp.com

Website Design Pricing, $5-10k Websites

Once you reach the $5k-$10k range you have way more options. First, you will be working with a legit design firm. Second, you will getting truly custom design. Third, you won’t just be getting a designer and developer. Instead, you will be working with a dedicated project manager. Additionally your project manager will help to organize and manage the entire design and development process, making your life a whole lot easier.

Although, beware, some companies at this price range will still try to sell you a ‘semi-custom’ template without letting you know. Therefore be sure to do your due diligence before hiring a firm.

To sum things up, at this price point you are getting a ‘real’ website for a ‘real’ business.

• What You Get
  • TEAM:
    • Agency
    • Project Manager
    • Designer
    • Developer
  • PLATFORM:
    • WordPress
    • Joomla
    • Drupal
  • DESIGN:
    • Custom Design
    • Layered Photoshop Design
  • SPECIFICATIONS:
    • Pages - 15-50
    • Page Templates - 3-7
    • Revisions - 3-6
    • SEO - On page
    • Responsive Design - Yes
    • Social Media Integration - Yes
• Pros and Cons
  • PROS:
    • Generally speaking, professional quality
    • Significantly better design
    • Hands on project management
    • Notably higher quality development
  • CONS:
    • Obviously, more costly
• In summary, who is this right for?
  • By and large, small or medium-sized businesses looking to refresh their website design. Of course, quality still varies depending who you hire.

Website Design Pricing, $10-25k Websites

As usual, there are many factors that affect website design pricing in the $10-$25k. First you should consider the type of agency you work with.  Next, the scope of your project and the functional requirements of your project. So, to give you an example a $20k project might be a tiny 4-5 page micro-site from a large agency for a pharmaceutical company or it could be a 300 page brochure type website from a local design firm. In summary at this price-point you are paying for the reputation of the firm and are more concerned with quality of the work and the assurance of a project being successfully brought to completion.

• What You Get
  • TEAM:
    • Agency
    • Project Manager
    • Designer
    • Developer
    • Copywriter
  • PLATFORM:
    • WordPress
    • Joomla
    • Drupal
    • Magento (for shopping cart websites)
    • Proprietary CMS
  • DESIGN:
    • Custom Design
    • Layered Photoshop Design
  • SPECIFICATIONS:
    • Pages - 50-300
    • Page Templates - 8-12
    • Revisions - 7-12
    • SEO - Yes
    • Responsive Design - Yes
    • Social Media Integration - Yes
    • Custom front end functions
    • Extensive backend database management
• Pros and Cons
  • PROS:
    • Professional Design
    • Professional Development
    • Project Management
    • Dedicated Support
    • Custom Functionality
    • Content Writer
  • CONS:
    • Higher costly
• Who is this right for?
  • Medium sized businesses with a +100 pages website

Website Design Pricing, +$25k Websites

Once you have reached the +$25k range for website design pricing, you are fulfilling a very specific need. You may be looking for a high functioning e-Commerce website. Or perhaps a web application, like a membership site with robust back-end functionality. In other cases, you might need a very big website with thousands of pages, or a flashy high-functioning website with a unique front-end interface. In any of these cases, you will mostly be engaging with larger design firms.

• What You Get
  • TEAM:
    • Agency
    • Project Manager
    • Designer
    • Developer
    • Copywriter
  • PLATFORM:
    • Custom Application development.
    • Sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Yelp are not websites, they are web applications. At
    • this price range you are getting a web application with much more sophisticated custom
    • function than a ‘regular’ website.
  • DESIGN:
    • Custom Design
    • Layered Photoshop Design
  • SPECIFICATIONS:
    • Pages - 50-300
    • Page Templates - 8-12
    • Revisions - 7-12
    • SEO - Yes
    • Responsive Design - Yes
    • Social Media Integration - Yes
    • Custom front end functions
    • Extensive backend database management
• Pros and Cons
  • PROS:
    • Professional Design
    • Professional Development
    • Project Management
    • Dedicated Support
    • Custom Functionality
    • Content Writer
  • CONS:
    • Large agency pricing
    • Work handled by junior staff
    • Expensive overages and delays
• Who is this right for?
  • Large businesses with several thousand employees and high-security needs.

E-Commerce

If you thought website design pricing was all over the map for ‘regular websites,’ that’s nothing compared to an E-Commerce website.

Because you’re dealing with so many additional factors such as payment processing, security, fulfillment, inventory, and inputting much different products skews an E-Commerce website is typically far more expensive and complex than a regular website.

However, if you’re looking for an affordable option to having an E-Commerce website, sites such as Shopify offer a turnkey solution for opening a store online.

Otherwise, when working with a reputable design and development firm, be prepared to pay anywhere from $10,000-$50,000 and above for an E-Commerce website.

Opportunity Cost

Warren Buffet, the world’s greatest business investor and the second richest person on the planet, said that the key to making good business decisions is understanding Opportunity Cost.

Opportunity Cost is not just asking ‘Will I get a good return on my investment’ it is asking the question ‘Of all the things I could do with this money, is this the overall best thing I could do’

So, when choosing a new website designer the question most people ask is ‘How much will this website cost’ but that’s actually not the best question to ask. The real question to ask is ‘Which website is going to produce the most value for my business overall?’

If someone gets a “free” website, they might think they got a better deal than someone who paid $5,000 for their website.

But the $5,000 website might have generated more traffic, more leads and more business than the “free” website and regarding total dollars, the “free” website might have cost the business $100,000 in lost business it might have otherwise gained.

Conclusion

As you can see website design pricing is a little all over the map. It’s hard to have an apples to apple comparison because the quality of what you get is so different from one option to the next.

First, consider your goals for the project and the value of your time. Next put together a budget that works for you and that you can afford. Finally, search for a solution that works with your given budget and goals. It may not be the perfect solution, but it could be the perfect solution for your situation right now.

Remember to do your homework be for you hire a web designer.

If you have a website project you need help with and you think our pricing may be a fit for you based on this article, please inquire about our Free Mockup Offer and how we will make a custom mockup of your new website at no cost and with no future obligation. Read below to learn more.