What is the Average Website Design Cost in 2024? | Fiverr (2024)

Did you know that 94% of first impressions and 75% of web credibility come from your site’s design? And that 89% of online shoppers will switch to a competitor after a poor user experience (UX)?

Shocking to know, but reveals the importance of having a website that stands out, while meeting the needs of your target audience.

On average, you can expect to pay $20-$100 per hour and $500-$10,000 per project for web design. Actual costs will depend on the nature and size of the project, approach, platform choice, and pricing model, among other factors.

This pricing guide breaks down the typical website design costs and factors that can impact your final price tag.

What determines the cost to design websites?

How much you’ll pay for a website design will depend on various factors, including:

• Project size: Do you need a full site design from scratch or specific elements? Is it a simple or complex website design? For example, a small business website may be cheaper than an advanced, cutting-edge enterprise-level site.

• Type of website: Your site design will influence the overall costs, depending on the website content, complexity, and capabilities. Examples of website types include portfolios, corporate sites, or online stores.

• Design approach: Will you design your own website (DIY), or outsource design services to a freelance web designer, contractor, or agency?

• Pricing model: Will you pay hourly or project-based rates?

• Your budget: How much will you allocate to web design? This will depend on your unique business needs and goals. For instance, designing a new website from scratch will cost more than investing in a redesign or refresh.

• Additional functionalities: What other elements will you add to your web design project, like templates, extensions, plugins, and more?

With these factors in mind, let’s look at the average cost of website design based on hourly and project rates.

Website design costs per hour

On average, you can pay $20-$100 per hour for web design, but rates can be as much as $300 per hour for designers with a top reputation and in an upmarket location.

Website design costs per project

Project-based web design costs run anywhere from $500-$10,000. How much you’ll pay depends on the approach you take, like doing it yourself (DIY website), hiring an in-house web designer, or outsourcing to a freelancer or professional web design agency.

If you design the site yourself, the average costs would be $0-$300, which includes a domain name and additional or custom elements.

Other options include:

• Hiring an in-house web designer: $4,000-$7,500 per month (or $50,000-$91,000 annually)

• Outsourcing to a freelance web designer: $500-$5,000+ per project

• Outsourcing to a web design agency: $500-10,000+ per project

How much you’ll pay freelancers or web design agencies will depend on your chosen freelancer or agency:

• Experience and skill

• Size and scale of your website

• Scope of design needs

DIY website design costs

DIY site design is ideal for startups or small business owners with a tight budget. You can use a website builder or design from scratch if you have technical and coding skills.

It’s easier to design with a website builder, as it doesn’t require coding or technical web development knowledge. Simply drag and drop features and design your site to your liking.

Plus, you can get a free website builder, or for more advanced features, purchase a premium tool and pay $10-$500+ per year, depending on the platform and pricing plan you subscribe to.

Additional website costs

There are a few other expenses to consider when designing your website. Below, we’ll walk you through the additional elements you must pay for and their average costs.

Domain Name: $10-$30 per year

Many top web hosting plans offer free domain names, but you can buy one separately for $10-$30 per year depending on the domain name registrar and the domain extension, like .com, .org, .co, or .io.

Some domain name registrars also have special offers that lower the cost down. A prized top-level domain (TLD) or premium domain may cost a lot more, depending on the popularity of the keywords in the domain.

Web hosting: $1-$500 per month

After purchasing a domain name, you’ll need somewhere to host your website so people can visit and see what’s on it.

Many website hosting providers exist, like Hostinger, SiteGround, or Bluehost. Some domain name registrars, like Namecheap, and some website builders, like Wix or Squarespace, offer hosting services. However, a separate web hosting service may be better if you want more control over your site and access to extra features.

Web hosting costs also depend on the type of hosting service you choose. According to Hostinger, these are the costs you’ll pay on average based on the hosting type:

• Shared hosting: $1-$15 per month

• Dedicated server hosting: $80-$500 per month

• WordPress managed hosting: $3-$200 per month

• Cloud hosting: $10-$200 per month

• VPS web hosting: $10-100 per month

Several factors also influence website hosting costs, such as:

• Amount of data storage allowed

• Bandwidth/site traffic

• Number of sites

• IP addresses

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• Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate

• Customer support options

• Customization

• Additional fees and add-on services (setup fees, SEO, extra security)

Website builder subscription: $0-$500+ per year

If you use a website builder to design your site, subscription costs can range from $0-$500 per year, which includes plugins, themes, hosting, and an SSL certificate. You’ll also incur annual website builder maintenance costs ranging from $0-$5,000+.

Check out our top picks for the best website builders for small businesses.

Security features: $0-$600 per year

You’ll also need to purchase security tools to protect yourself, your customers, and your site, like security plugins. These cost $0-$600 per year, depending on your plugin choice.

Most web hosts and web builders include security features, like:

• DDoS protection

• SSL certificate

• Brute force protection

• Login protection

• Virus and malware scanning

If you hire a web designer, discuss the security features you want built into your site. Some designers may already include security tools in their fees while others may require you to purchase them ad hoc.

SSL certificate: $0-$1,000

An SSL certificate is a security feature that:

• Authenticates your site’s identity

• Enables encrypted connection

• Builds site visitors’ confidence that your site is trustworthy

• Prevents unauthorized people from accessing sensitive data

• Allows you to take online payments (ecommerce stores)

Many web hosts and web builders offer free SSL certificates, while others provide it for $8-$1,000 per year, depending on:

• Certificate provider

• Number of domains covered

• Validation process

• Warranty

• Certificate authority

Add-ons and plugins: $0-$100+ per year

Add-ons and plugins enable specific functionalities to your website or existing applications to further customize your site. Basic add-ons and plugins are generally free, but you may need to purchase premium ones, which cost between $5-$100+.

Hiring a webmaster: $15-$10,000+

If you’re rolling out a large website, consider hiring a webmaster for content management and website maintenance work.

The cost to hire a webmaster on a contractual or full-time basis ranges from $71,000-$132,000 per year. If you just need someone to manage your site for a couple of hours per month, it could be $15-$100+ per hour or $50-$350+ per month.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): $50-$10,000+

Your website may have a beautiful and professional design, but it won’t rank on search engine results pages (SERPs) by chance. It takes work and a solid SEO strategy.

Hiring an in-house or freelance SEO expert may cost anywhere from $500-$10,000 per month, $50-$200 per hour, or $1,000-$10,000 per project, depending on the project scope.

“Typically, for SEO services, monthly retainers with our agency range from $750 to $5,000,” says Steve Pogson, founder of First Pier, an ecommerce agency. “These rates vary significantly due to the scope and scale of the project, the current digital stature of the business, and the competitive landscape of the industry we're operating within. On a project basis, the costs are highly variable but always calculated to ensure a positive ROI.”

Images and design: $60-$7,000+

Your website will also need high-quality artwork, graphics for landing pages or social media posts, interactive elements, and videos, whose costs can add up quickly.

Tapping into free stock images from sites like Pixabay or Pexels, or creating your own using AI content creation tools may be cheaper, but they won’t always give you a competitive edge.

Hiring a photographer for a product photoshoot may cost between $100-$500+ per hour and $60 to upwards of $600 per image, depending on the product size, complexity, and volume. Alternatively, you can hire a graphic designer for $10-$200+ per hour, $50-$1,000+ per project, or $53,000-$92,000 per year, to create professional graphics for your website.

If you use a website builder, you can access free themes and templates to customize your site, or purchase premium templates that cost anywhere between $20-$200+ per template.

Ecommerce functionality: $0-$7,500+

Ecommerce tools, like inventory managers, shopping carts, and point-of-sale software, let you sell products on your website. Most website builders and web hosts include ecommerce plans in their subscription plans, and the price ranges from $0-$300+ per month.

If you’re starting an ecommerce business, you can build one on Shopify or other ecommerce platforms. Then, customize the look of your store and get set up to accept payments.

Alternatively, you can hire an ecommerce web designer or agency to design a custom website at $30-$200+ per hour, $4,000-$7500 per month, or $500-$10,000+ per project.

📚Learn more:10 Stunning Ecommerce Website Examples to Inspire Your 2024 Design

Now that you know the average cost of web design, let's discuss some factors that influence the final price tag.

What factors affect the cost of website design?

A host of factors influence how much you’ll pay for website design. We’ve outlined some of the key ones to consider below.

Project complexity

A basic website design will cost less than a large, complex, and intricate site with custom features. Similarly, designing a website from scratch costs more because of the extra research and planning required compared to refreshing an existing design.

Expect to pay more if your project requires more time, resources, and effort. For example, the number of pages your site needs will increase costs since it requires in-depth research, wireframes, time, and more.

The website development method you choose—custom-built, content management system (CMS), or website builder—will also affect design costs as it determines your project’s complexity.

Project duration

A short-term web design project with a tight deadline may incur rush fees to compensate for the shorter time frame compared to one with a longer project timeline. The time needed to design a website will depend on the website type and platform choice.

Experience and expertise

Web designers or agencies with more years of experience and specialized skills or teams charge more than generalists or junior designers.

Experienced designers with expertise in various web design tools and niches, and knowledge of CSS, JavaScript, HTML, and other scripting languages are costlier than those only proficient in one language.

Type of website

Some website types are simpler to design and customize. For example, you’ll pay more for a dynamic ecommerce store than a portfolio website, which requires fewer features and web pages, and less complex research and planning.

Ecommerce stores require additional functionality, like shopping carts, checkout pages, payment gateways, and integrations, which increases costs. Similarly, building a corporate website requires more in-depth planning to align product pages with company goals and generate revenue.

Approach

Web design costs vary depending on your website-building approach. For example, outsourcing to an agency may cost more due to their comprehensive offerings than hiring a freelance web designer with more flexible rates.

Freelance and in-house web designers charge differently, with freelancers offering more flexible pricing, which covers their operational expenses. But they may charge more for short-term projects and lower rates for longer-term projects in exchange for retainers that offer better income stability.

Meanwhile, an in-house web designer’s salary covers software licenses, working equipment, training, and more.

Customization level

The level of customization and personalization you want for your site, the higher the web design costs. For instance, a template edit for a small business website will cost less than a custom design for an enterprise-level website.

Custom web design costs more since you must manually plan everything from scratch, like the site’s layout, sitemap, visual elements, and more. You’ll also pay higher for custom assets, like a logo, icons, fonts, styling, and graphics, since creating them requires more time and effort.

Location

Web designers in upmarket locations typically charge higher rates than those in other regions.

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