Web design cost is hard to compare because quotes rarely describe the same thing. One price buys a template with your logo on it; another buys strategy, copy, design, build and handover. This guide uses my own published starting prices, in US dollars, to show what three price bands actually buy, which line items move a quote up or down, what is cheap now and expensive later, and a scope checklist to fill in before you ask anyone for a number, including me.
Key takeaways
- Compare quotes by what ships, not by the headline price.
- Page count matters less than page types, content and integrations.
- Copy and decisions on your side drive the timeline as much as design does.
- The line items cheapest to skip are often the most expensive to add later.
Three price bands and what each buys
These are starting prices from my rate card. Final quotes depend on scope, timeline and how much we build together, but the bands show where the real differences sit.
From $600: one page, one action
A single landing page, designed and built, starts from $600. The Launch package, from $700, adds a logo and mini brand kit (colours, type and usage), a connected contact or waitlist form, a mobile-first build ready for search, and two rounds of revisions. It takes two to three weeks.
This band buys focus. It suits a new idea, a waitlist, a launch or a single offer. It does not buy a site that has to serve several audiences: that needs a homepage that routes people, which is a different job, covered in landing page vs homepage.
From $1,200: a multi-page website
A multi-page website of up to six pages with a CMS starts from $1,200. The Grow package, from $1,500, pairs that site with a full brand identity and guidelines, copy direction, conversion-focused layouts, an animated logo or short motion piece, analytics and search setup, and three rounds of revisions. It takes three to five weeks.
This band buys a business site: a homepage, a page for each main service, proof, about and contact, all editable by you after launch.
From $2,500: a product and the site around it
A dashboard or web app MVP, designed and built as a working system, starts from $2,500. The Scale package, also from $2,500, covers product strategy and user flows, UI and UX for a web app, dashboard or MVP, a design system your team can reuse, a marketing website for launch, a launch film or product animation, and priority support through launch. It takes six to eight weeks.
This band buys software, not pages. The price moves with the number of screens, user roles and integrations rather than with marketing content.
| Option | Starts from | What ships | Typical timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Landing page | $600 | One page, designed and built | One to three weeks |
| Launch package | $700 | Logo and mini brand kit, one landing page, connected form, two revision rounds | Two to three weeks |
| Multi-page website | $1,200 | Up to six pages with a CMS | Three to six weeks |
| Grow package | $1,500 | Full identity and guidelines, website of up to six pages with a CMS, motion piece, analytics and search setup, three revision rounds | Three to five weeks |
| Scale package | $2,500 | Product strategy, web app or dashboard UI, reusable design system, marketing site, launch film | Six to eight weeks |
The line items that drive cost
Two quotes for "a five-page website" can differ widely, because page count is the least informative number in a brief. These are the items that actually move the price.
- Page types, not pages. Five pages built from one template cost less than three pages that each need their own layout. Count the distinct layouts.
- Copy. Writing from scratch, from interviews and notes, is real work. Supplying final copy shortens a project more than any design decision.
- Brand. With no identity yet, one has to be made first or alongside. On my rate card, brand identity work starts from $500 for a logo, colours, type and a short guide.
- Content and media. Moving old posts across, sourcing photography or producing product shots all take time.
- Integrations. Forms to a CRM, booking tools, payments, member areas. Each one is a build and a test.
- A CMS. A site you never update does not need one. A site with regular posts or a growing project list does.
- Motion. Custom animation is design and build work like any other. Motion graphics start from $300 for a piece up to 30 seconds.
- App screens. UI and UX design for web or mobile app screens is priced per screen, from $80 each, so the screen count drives the number.
- Speed of decisions. The biggest variable is often not design time but how quickly feedback and approvals arrive.
If the scope itself is unclear, a 90-minute strategy session, from $100, is the cheapest way to turn an idea into a brief someone can price.
Cheap now, expensive later
Some savings are real. Others move the cost to next year.
- Skipping structure. Going straight to visual design without a sitemap saves a week now and can cost a redesign later, when the site does not match how customers actually buy.
- Placeholder copy. Designing around dummy text is fast. Fitting real copy into those boxes afterwards is slow and usually breaks the layout.
- No CMS on a site you will update. Every small text change becomes a paid request.
- Ignoring search basics. Canonical URLs, a sitemap, structured data and clean headings are cheap at build time and fiddly to retrofit across a live site.
- Skipping accessibility. Contrast, focus states and alt text cost little when built in. Fixing them later means touching every page.
- Not owning the code, domain or logins. Free, until you want to change supplier.
- Splitting design and build to save on rates. The gap between the two is paid for in revision rounds; design and build in one team explains where that cost hides.
- A brand that is only a logo. Fine for a test. Expensive when every new page, deck and ad has to be invented from scratch.
Scope checklist before you ask for a quote
Fill this in before contacting anyone. It makes every quote comparable, because each supplier is pricing the same thing.
- The one thing the site must do for the business, in a sentence.
- The main audiences, and what each one needs to find.
- A list of pages, marked by which ones share a layout.
- Who will write the copy, and whether any exists today.
- Whether you have a brand identity, and whether it is working.
- Photography, video and product images: existing, to be shot or to be sourced.
- Integrations: forms, CRM, booking, payments, newsletters.
- Whether you will update the site yourself, and how often.
- Any motion, animation or film you want.
- The launch date, and whether it is fixed.
- Who on your side approves each stage.
- What you will own at the end: code, domain, content and logins.
Send that list with your enquiry and the reply can be a real number rather than a range. If it describes a site that needs design and build in one run, that is what web design services covers here.
FAQ
How much does a website cost?
Here, a single landing page starts from $600, a multi-page website with a CMS from $1,200, and a brand identity plus website package from $1,500. The final price depends on the scope items above.
Why do web design quotes vary so much?
Because they rarely describe the same work. Check what each one includes: copy, brand, CMS, integrations, revision rounds, search setup and ownership.
Is a template cheaper?
Up front, yes. The later costs are layouts that do not fit your content and a site that looks like many others. For a test or a short campaign, a template can be the right call.
What makes a project take longer than planned?
Slow decisions, copy that arrives late, and strategy changes after design is approved. The design and build work itself is rarely the cause.
Useful sources
- Rate card and packages, jerryonwuka.cc/pricing
- Core Web Vitals, web.dev
- Understanding SC 1.4.3: Contrast (Minimum), W3C WAI
- Build and submit a sitemap, Google Search Central