Thinking about giving your website a facelift but feeling lost on what it might cost? You’re not alone! Website design pricing can be confusing, with different elements and options impacting the final bill. After working in the industry for more than 20 years, we’ve created this guide to break it all down in a way that actually makes sense.
A well-designed website isn’t just about looking good—it’s about creating a seamless experience that helps you attract and retain customers. Whether you’re launching a new site or revamping an old one, knowing what goes into the cost of website design will help you make smart decisions and budget effectively. Let’s dive in!
What affects website design costs?
Website design pricing isn’t one-size-fits-all. It very much depends on several key factors, including:
1. The Complexity of Your Website
A simple, one-page website will cost far less than a full-fledged eCommerce store with hundreds of products. The more features, integrations, and customization you need, the higher the cost.
2. Customization vs. Templates
Want something unique to your brand? Custom websites cost more because they require extra time and expertise. On the other hand, using a pre-designed template can save you money, but it may not offer the flexibility you need.
3. The Platform You Choose
Different website platforms come with different costs. WordPress, for example, is cost-effective, especially with Elementor for customization. Meanwhile, custom-built websites using advanced coding will be more expensive.
4. Additional Features
Think about what your website needs. Online stores, membership portals, booking systems, and multi-language support all add to the complexity—and the price.
How different website designers charge
Some bill by the hour, some fixed pricing, some value-based. Which structure will work best for you depends on what you need from your website designer.
Fixed Pricing
Most projects we take on have a fixed-price quote upfront, so you know exactly what you’re in for. We prepare a well-defined scope on your quote, so you know exactly what you’re getting.
Any additional features you think of during the build, or after are billed at an hourly rate, secondary fixed quote, or at our discretion (for smaller adjustments) we may be able to do within the initial scope.
We find this means everyone knows what to expect in the process and there are no hidden costs that can bite you later down the track. We pride ourselves on price transparency!
Hourly Rates
On rare occasion, or when scope creep arises, we have simply billed at our usual hourly rate for all time spent. We have a minimum 30 min charge, so recommend any small tweaks be sent together in batches to maximise value for our time.
Billing by the hour is usually the go to for projects that are open-ended or need a greater level of flexibility.
This model sometimes requires a minimum number of hours paid as a retainer each month (whether used or not) with other designers, to hold your spot with them.
Value-Based Pricing?
Some designers charge based on the impact your website will have on your business rather than just time spent designing it. This can be great for businesses that expect a big return on their investment, however it is not a practice we have at Thorn Creative.
We know the value of what we bring to the table, and will not charge you more just because your old website gets lots of traffic and you’re going to make lots of sales through our new one.
Average costs of website design elements (in Australia)
To give you some ideas, here’s a rough guide of what designers charge for different website elements in Australia (and how we compare).
What you get (WordPress)
Freelancer (low quality, may be language barrier)
Agency (high end, fancy offices)
Thorn Creative
Single page landing website with form
$200-$2000
$2000-$5000
$1000-$1500
Basic website, 2-20 pages with contact forms
$1000-$6000
$4500-$20,000
$1500-$5000
eCommerce website (WooCommerce)
$2000-$30,000
$20,000+
$5,000-$15,000+
Domains
Most don’t offer these, you have to do it yourself
$40-100 per year
$25-$50 per year
Hosting (depends on size of website and traffic)
Most don’t offer this, you have to do it yourself
$40-$300 per month
$28-$85* per month
WordPress maintenance (backups, updates)
Don’t offer it. Once your site is live, they may dissappear
$250+ per month
$55-$149* per month
Ongoing support
N/A
$$$$$ large team, may speak to different person each time
free-$$ depends on request. Always speak to the same person.
Keep in mind that these prices can vary based on the scope of your project and who you hire. As a general rule, WHO you employ to build your site will be almost more important than what type of site you need.
If you’re a large organisation with a big budget for a splashy advanced website, then an agency would be the ideal partner for you – with a larger team capable of tackling complex and heavily custom websites.
However, if you’re like the remaining 99% of business owners and just need a solid, clean website, maybe a basic membership portal and/or eCommerce shop… an agency is an enormous cost you simply don’t need (nor can likely afford!)
So where does that leave you?
Should you DIY or hire a pro?
I wrote a whole article about this some time ago (the analogy still very much applies!).
In all our years working with small and medium business owners, one thing is consistent across the board – they are extremely time poor. So DIY, although the technology has improved quite a bit, still requires a learning curve and big time investment. Which in turn, may result in lost revenue with a delayed website launch.
However, dirt cheap freelancers may be more work than they’re worth. Jump on Fiverr, Upwork or Freelancer and you’ll find thousands of “website designers” that are offering ridiculous prices and big promises for your project. You might get lucky, however I have personally taken on many, many projects that had been abandoned, half finished or extremely poorly executed by ‘experts’ on these platforms.
Half the time, the language barrier makes it near impossible to get the right message across and costs you many hours explaining and re-explaining your concepts.
So where does that leave you? Hire an insanely expensive agency, waste away in frustrating DIY purgatory, or take a gamble on Upwork?
This right here is the gap that Thorn Creative fill. Unlike agencies, we work closely with a limited number of clients and do not work with their competition. Unlike freelancers, we continue to work with our clients over the long term. Unlike agencies, we enable YOU, the business owner to take control over your website content, ownership and are happy to work with your marketing team whether in house or 3rd party.
We also specialise in building quality websites for authors and support our local community through websites for not-for-profits too.
Get in touch if you’d like to discuss your project with us! We offer a free initial consult and no-obligation quote.
