If you were to Google “how much does a custom web design cost”, you’d get around 346 million results.
But with so many results, it can still be difficult to get a clear answer to that question. And that’s why we created this infographic.
In this infographic, we first shed light on why the price question is not so easy to answer. Then, we get into real examples with actual prices.
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Recap
Here’s a little recap of the infographic:
Why It’s Complicated
In 2018, a gallon of milk costs (on average) $3.15. A dozen eggs cost (on average) $2.32. If eggs and milk have a specific price, why is it so difficult to find out how much a custom web design costs?
Before we cover the cost of a custom web design, let’s first look into other examples where the “what does it cost?” question is a little complicated as well.
How Much Does a Car Cost?
If you ask a car enthusiast how much a car costs, you won’t get a helpful answer unless you provide further information.
Factors that Impact the Price of a Car
- Features (ex: horsepower)
- Quality of manufacturing (ex: Mazda vs. BMW)
Example Prices of a Car
- 2001 Mazda 626: $500+
- BMW 7 Series: $75,000+
How Much Does a House Cost?
Just like the car enthusiast who can’t easily answer the “how much does it cost?” question, asking a home builder the same question will give similar results.
Factors that Impact the Price of a House
- Features (ex: bedrooms, bathrooms, location)
- Quality of builder and materials
How Much Does a Custom Web Design Cost?
A massage therapist can get away with a $18/month SquareSpace website. In fact, if a massage therapist came to us with a $10,000 website budget, we’d probably advise her to start with something non-custom, like SquareSpace.
She most likely does not need to start out with a custom website and will probably not get a high ROI on a custom website. For a professional company, however, a custom web design is usually a must.
Pricing by Hours
Almost every custom web design agency will end up pricing your website project based on the number of hours it will take and their hourly rate.
Example Hourly Rates
While hourly rates vary, in the USA, hourly rates will typically be:
- $50/hour (cheap)
- $75-$125/hour (moderate)
- $125-$200/hour (premium)
Example Project Cost
Just like in building a house, there are seemingly endless options for a custom website, all of which directly impact cost. When building a website, you need to think of every feature as directly impacting scope (or cost).
Example Project Specifications
- Fully custom website
- 10-20 pages
- Built onto a content management system (CMS) like WordPress
- 4 templates (ex: Home, informational pages, contact page, landing page)
- Responsive web design (mobile-optimized)
- 2 forms (ex: contact form)
Hours for Example Project
You might estimate a total of 120 hours for your project, which breaks down like so:
- Design: 45 hours
- Development: 45 hours
- Testing & Quality Assurance: 10 hours
- Content Loading: 10 hours
- Deployment and Post Launch Testing: 5 hours
- Training: 5 hours
Based on that example project of 120 hours, a cheap website (at $50/hour) would cost $6,000 to create, a moderately priced project (at $100/hour) would be $12,000, and a premium website (at $150/hour) would run you $18,0000.
Invest Intentionally
As a professional company, your website is often the primary channel that potential clients and partners use to judge you. Don’t skimp. But don’t spend blindly.
Invest intentionally.
Summing Up
A good custom web design doesn’t come cheap. And with any big purchase that you make, it’s important to know what exactly you’re paying for, so you can make sure you’re really getting your money’s worth.
Why would one developer quote you $5,000 and another $10,000? To find out the answer, you’ll want to ask how many hours they each estimate the project to take–and make sure you have a solid understanding of what the finished product will be like.
Want to find out how much we charge for a custom web design? Get in touch for a free quote.
Note: This infographic was originally published on January 7, 2015 and has been updated for consistency and accuracy.
