How to Estimate Your Website Design Cost: Your 2023 Guide

Online presence is detrimental to modern business success. And an appealing, user-friendly, and engaging website is essential for establishing it. But how should you approach building one?
You can create a website in multiple ways, and they all differ in website design cost and outcomes possible. For example you can hire a web design agency, turn to a freelancer, or use a ready-made template or website builder. Each approach has its pros and cons we’ll discuss in detail below.
As a UI/UX design agency, we at DigitalSuits have created unparalleled design experiences for businesses of all sizes. So we know first-hand that the question of web design costs is critical for any business owner, especially when it comes to startups and small businesses.
Unfortunately, it’s impossible to provide a clear-cut answer on how much your website will cost you. However, we’ll do our best to guide you through all the specifics of budgeting such a project. We’ll break down what factors are at play and how price ranges differ based on your design partner’s location.
Let’s kick off with a review of the three most common ways to get a website design:
Some examples of popular website builder tools are Squarespace, WordPress, and Wix. With their help, you can create your website from a blank page or get a free or paid theme. Let’s have a look at the most significant pros and cons of this solution.
Pros:
Cons:
Another option is to go to a freelancer marketplace like Upwork or Fiverr and hire your website designer there. While you oversee the project, they gather your requirements and build a website depending on your needs. Let’s discuss the benefits and drawbacks of this choice.
Pros:
Cons:
Finally, you may turn to an agency and ask them to build your website. Its team gathers your requirements, research on your target audience, and creates your website, from wireframes to deployment and user testing.
Pros:
Cons:
Out-of-the-box solutions (ready-made themes and website builders) are excellent for personal or semi-professional use. They can be enough to create a portfolio website or run a travel blog. However, they’re not suitable for business needs in the long run. This option won’t make you stand out and will reduce the flexibility of your design and functionality.
Hiring a freelancer may seem like a better alternative. But there’s too much risk involved. Freelancers can’t rival agencies in their skill set. Moreover, you risk stumbling upon a problematic contractor. You’ll also need to cope with all the project management yourself.
Thus, we highly recommend turning to a web design agency if you need a scalable and high-quality commercial website for your business. This approach ensures complete flexibility since you can choose the best technology stack and get the results you expect. You’ll also have total control over your website when it comes to maintaining, upgrading, and scaling it.
Launching a website itself comes with particular one-time and recurring costs. For example, you’ll need to pay for a domain name, get an SSL certificate, and find a reliable web hosting provider.
But while those are easy to estimate, custom website design costs are anything but. So why don’t agencies just publish their web designing prices, like “single-page website – $1,000”?
Well, that’s because every web design project is unique, and so are the costs. Here are the four factors defining your project’s price tag.
This factor encompasses two aspects of your website: structural complexity (the number of pages, the navigation’s complexity, and more) and functionality (the features’ number and complexity).
For example, designing a single-page website for a company isn’t as resource-consuming as creating a custom online store as we did for Vit Health. The reason? The underlying website structure and functionality differ wildly.
The look of your website is also a player in its cost. Will you need custom photos for your product or service pages? If so, include a photographer’s services. Will your website require unique illustrations? Most likely. And you’ll remunerate a graphic designer for their work.
But these are just the essentials. You may also want to follow the latest web design trends, like animated transitions and micro-animations. They are more challenging to implement and require a motion designer on board.
Website design isn’t just about, well, the design itself. For example, you’ll need to research your target audience. Without it, you’ll end up guessing your users’ preferences – and those predictions rarely pan out.
Here’s a brief overview of the auxiliary services your web design project may require:
All the factors above also define the critical determinant of website design costs: your team’s composition. For example, if your website requires complex animations, you’ll need a motion designer. And if you can’t do user research in-house, you should seek professional analysts’ services.
Your team’s size will also depend on your website’s complexity in terms of features, structure, and visuals. And the more professionals you need, the higher the final price tag for website design services.
The bare minimum for a web design team typically include a project manager, a web developer, a UI/UX designer, and a QA specialist.
This team is usually enough for small business website design projects. If you don’t have an SEO specialist in your in-house marketing team, your web design team should include one. Your business will also need a content writer and a marketing strategist.
How does a web design cost differ worldwide? Let’s go on a trip to four regions and break down the average web design rates in North America, Western and Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia.
Note: we calculated all percentages based on Clutch.co data and excluded agencies without their hourly rates published.
Regions and countries | Average hourly rate bracket |
---|---|
North America | $100-149 |
The United States | $100-149 |
Canada | $100-149 |
Western Europe | $150-199 |
The United Kingdom | $150-199 |
Germany | $150-149 |
Italy | $100-149 |
Eastern Europe | $25-49 |
Ukraine | $25-49 |
Poland | $25-49 |
Romania | $25-49 |
South and Southeast Asia | N/A |
India | Up to $25 |
The Philippines | $100-149 |
This region has diverse hourly rates, depending on the country. Overall, most agencies’ website design pricing falls into the $100-149 per hour category (52.68%).
It’s also the case for US-based web design agencies. Most (54.19%) charge $100-149 per hour. This country is the absolute web design powerhouse in the region. It’s home to the majority of North American web design agencies registered on Clutch.co (90.76%). It’s also the number one country in the platform’s ranking of popular destinations (based on traffic).
The same pricing trend rings true in Canada. 41.27% of Canadian web design agencies charge between $100 and $149 per hour. Mexico, however, is an outlier. The most common hourly rate falls into the $25-49 category.
Now, let’s move to Western Europe. According to the Clutch.co data, it’s an even more expensive region for hiring web design services. In fact, 42.84% of regional agencies have a $150-199 hourly rate, while 21.44% set their web design services pricing at $100-149 per hour.
The United Kingdom is among the leaders in the region, with 62.49% of Western European agencies (over 6,000) having an office in this country. It’s also the main driver behind the high average hourly rates for the entire region. 59.11% of agencies with published rates offer their services at $150-199 per hour.
As for other countries, the runners-up are Germany (850 firms), Spain (689), and Italy (517). German and Italian firms typically have an hourly rate of $100-149. Spain is an outlier, with most agencies setting the price at $25-49 per hour. Competitive prices earned this country a spot on Clutch.co’s popular locations list.
Eastern European countries are located in the same (or almost the same) time zone as their Western European counterparts. Nevertheless, they come with web design hourly rates that are easier on the pocket. Eastern European agencies are also well-known for their excellent quality of work and communication skills.
According to Clutch.co, most agencies (48.86%) in this region set the website design pricing at $25-49 per hour. At the same time, 31.31% fall into the $50-99 per hour category.
Ukraine is the home to around a fourth of web design agencies in the region. Most Ukrainian agencies (63.53%) charge between $25 and $49 per hour. Moreover, Ukraine and Poland, made it to Clutch.co’s popular web design locations list.
Speaking of Poland, the country is runner-up in popularity and also has competitive rates: 50.12% of agencies charge $25-49 per hour. The next most common price range bracket is $50-99 (40.33%).
Clutch.co doesn’t provide data on the region, but India and the Philippines made it to its list of popular locations for web design services (India even secured the number two spot). Thus, omitting these two countries in our overview would be unfair.
India is the cheapest location on our list. The average cost for web design services falls under $25 per hour: 51.08% of agencies charge that much. The second most common price range is $25-49 (36.55%). However, India has earned a somewhat murky reputation as an outsourcing destination due to subpar output quality and communication skills.
As for the Philippines, this island country is popular thanks partly to English as one of its two official languages. However, it can’t boast a huge selection of web design firms. The prices range widely, from $100-149 (30.4%) to under $25 (25.7%) and $25-49 (24.3%) per hour.
So, how much does website design cost? Unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. There are too many factors at play. The complexity of your website’s design and functionality, the auxiliary services required, and the location of your web design partner are just a few to mention.
We advise you to carefully consider your long-term goals to zero in on your best approach to web design – and how much you’re willing to invest in it upfront.
Would you like to get an estimate of your website’s cost? We at DigitalSuits would be happy to sit down with you, discuss your needs, and prepare a proposal. Drop us a line to kickstart the conversation.
Content Marketing Specialist at DigitalSuits
and receive tech news right to your inbox!
Related Articles
7 Design Tactics for Your Shopify Website
Read our new article with Shopify store design tips that will help you engage with your customers and turn them to loyal audience.Read more7 Design Tactics for Your Shopify Website
Read our new article with Shopify store design tips that will help you engage with your customers and turn them to loyal audience.Read moreDigitalSuits Is One of the Top Custom Software Development Companies in Ukraine on DesignRush
DigitalSuits was named one of the top custom software development companies in Ukraine according to a DesignRush rating. Read about the rating and what it means to us.Read moreWhat happens next?