FOR WEB DESIGNERS · PRICING · 2026
How much to charge for a website
The designer's side of the question: what web designers and agencies charge in 2026 by project, by hour and by month — every figure from a named, dated source — and a simple way to set your own price.
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The short answer
A small-business website typically sells for $2,000 to $5,000, a landing page for $500 to $1,500, and managing a site after launch for $100 to $500 a month (Website Profit Course, 2026). Hourly, freelancers average about $75 an hour (FreshBooks), and agencies listed on Clutch typically charge $100 to $149.
Those are market ranges, not rules. Where you land depends on your niche, your area, how fast you deliver and — most of all — what the monthly service includes. A lower build price with a monthly plan that keeps the client found is easier to sell than a high one-off fee, and it's the part of the work that continues.
Asking as a business owner what a website should cost you? That's how much does a website cost — every route's price, from building it yourself to hiring an agency.
MARKET RATES · SEPTEMBER 2026
What web designers charge in 2026
US prices, read off each publisher's page. Full source list at the foot of the page.
| What you're pricing | What the market charges · source |
|---|---|
| A landing page or one-page site | $500–$1,500 · Website Profit Course |
| A small-business website | $2,000–$5,000 · Website Profit Course; about $6,760 for a basic site including first-year upkeep · FreshBooks |
| A larger or e-commerce site | $5,000–$10,000 and up · Website Profit Course |
| Freelance hourly rate | About $75 an hour on average; $30–$80 for design work · FreshBooks |
| Agency hourly rate | $100–$149 an hour for agencies listed on Clutch; $25–$49 for work on website builders · Clutch |
| Monthly management after launch | $100–$500 a month · Website Profit Course; upkeep of about $500–$1,000 a year · FreshBooks |
Ranges are typical, not quotes — scope, pages, niche and location move every one of them.
SET YOUR PRICE
How to price a website, step by step
Six steps from a client brief to a number you can defend.
Write down the scope
Pages, features (forms, booking, a store), who writes the words, who supplies photos, and how many rounds of changes. A price without a scope is a guess.
Estimate your hours honestly
Build, content, revisions, meetings and launch. Then add a buffer — first projects always take longer than the estimate.
Multiply by your rate
Freelance design averages about $75 an hour (FreshBooks). New designers often start lower and raise the rate with every client who says yes too quickly.
Check it against the market
Compare the total with the published ranges above. Far below them and you're leaving room; far above them and you'll need a portfolio that justifies it.
Add the monthly service
Price the work that continues separately: Google Business Profile upkeep, reviews, changes, new pages and a monthly report. Published monthly management runs $100–$500 (Website Profit Course).
Quote a package, not an hourly bill
Clients buy outcomes at fixed prices. Offer two or three packages, put them in a one-page proposal, and take a deposit before you start.
Count what each site costs you to run
Your price has to cover the stack each client site runs on. On self-hosted WordPress that's hosting, a domain, premium plugins and the hours to keep it all updated — the running cost the old agency model passed on to every client, every month.
WordPress itself is free, but running it isn't: about $111 a year at the bare minimum (a domain and shared hosting, with you doing the updates), and about $735–$4,095 a year once managed hosting and someone to keep it updated are in (WPBeginner; Codeable, March 2026).
A builder that hosts, secures and updates client sites itself turns most of that into one per-site plan. On Zarla there's no agency fee, building and previewing client sites is free, and each site goes on a per-site plan when it goes live — current prices are on the pricing page. Either way, count it before you quote.
Charge less for the build. Keep the client longer.
When the site takes minutes, the client's budget can go to the work that gets them found. Apply to Zarla Partners — free to apply, no agency fee.
Free to apply · A person reads every application · No agency fee
Pricing mistakes that cost web designers
- Billing by the hour. The faster you get, the less you earn per job. Fixed packages reward speed.
- No monthly plan. Without one, every month starts at zero clients.
- Unlimited revisions. Write the number of rounds into the proposal.
- Hiding the running costs. If hosting and upkeep come later as a surprise, the client stops trusting the first number.
- Pricing against the cheapest freelancer. Price against what a new customer is worth to the client instead.
Pricing a website: common questions
For a landing page or a simple one-to-three-page site, it's at the top of the published $500–$1,500 range (Website Profit Course, 2026). For a full small-business site with several service pages, it's below the typical $2,000–$5,000 — reasonable for a new designer building a portfolio, or when a monthly plan carries the ongoing work.
A basic small-business site commonly sells for $2,000 to $5,000 (Website Profit Course), and a one-page site for $500 to $1,500. FreshBooks puts the average basic site at about $6,760 once setup, content, training and first-year upkeep are included.
Most web designers charge a fixed project price for the build, often half up front and half at launch, plus a monthly fee for management after launch. Hourly billing is common for changes outside the scope. Put the scope, the price, the payment terms and the number of revisions in a written proposal.
About $75 an hour on average for freelancers, with design work at $30–$80 an hour (FreshBooks). Agencies listed on Clutch typically charge $100–$149 an hour, and $25–$49 for work on website builders like Wix, WordPress or Squarespace.
Published monthly management runs $100 to $500 a month (Website Profit Course, 2026); FreshBooks puts yearly upkeep at about $500 to $1,000. Price it by what's included — hosting, updates, changes, reviews, Google Business Profile work, a monthly report — not by the hour.
Enough that you'd happily do it again — usually the lower end of the published ranges, with the scope written down. Your first clients buy trust more than polish, so a fair price, a fast draft and a monthly plan that keeps them found matter more than the number.
One the client can say yes to and that covers your hours, the cost of running the site, and a margin. For a small-business site that usually sits inside the $2,000–$5,000 market range, with a monthly price for the work that continues.
No. The agency dashboard, client reports and partner listing are free; building and previewing a client site is free, and each site goes on a per-site plan when it goes live. Current prices are on the pricing page.
More for people who build websites for clients
- How to start a web design business
- How to find web design clients
- How to sell websites to local businesses
- Web design proposal, contract and questionnaire templates
- Moving client sites off WordPress without losing SEO
- A GoHighLevel website builder alternative for agencies
- Zarla for agencies and freelancers
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page is read off a published source, dated below. They're US figures and typical ranges, not rules — the owner-side cost guide cites the same Clutch and FreshBooks pages.
- Website Profit Course — How Much to Charge for a Website: 2026 Pricing Guide — dated February 14, 2026, read September 27, 2026
- FreshBooks — How Much Do Web Designers Charge? A Pricing Guide — dated August 5, 2026, read September 26, 2026
- Clutch — Web Design Company Pricing Guide 2026 — dated September 21, 2026, read September 26, 2026
Sell results, not builds.
Sites in minutes; a monthly service that keeps clients found. Apply to Zarla Partners — a person reads every application, usually within 3 business days.
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