We break down the current prices of web design, how much web design should cost, and the general average costs of running a website in 2025.
So... you either need a new website, or you're starting out and looking for a website to get started for your business. After all, it's the digital shop window and it should be one of the first places to begin when starting a business.
In this article, we breakdown the exact different models different freelancers and agencies may charge in our industry, and what you should expect to pay for a website.
We unlock some secrets here that most web design freelancers won't tell you... so we think this article will be super helpful for your hunt.
The short answer: A web design freelancer will aim to make anywhere between £20-80/hr when building a website for a client, an agency can range from £30-90/hr.
But the pricing model often isn't priced per hour, and is often fixed rate or done as a package to make it cost effective for the client, so this figure can often change, let's explain that in today's article.
We drop it all, as a web design agency ourselves, the costs, how costs work for websites, and how much should you be charged for your new shiney website.
Take it from us, a web design agency, that there are many factors at play when it comes to the cost of your website, I'm going to break these down very simply, because when a web design agency is charging a fixed rate cost, what they're actually saying is, we will charge you this, for xyz website.
The factors at play are;
There's not too much more than this, and when you're having the discovery call, this is often the questions you'll be posed with.
So for instance, for a 25 page website, with custom functionality, content written by the agency and it built from scratch - you could be looking at easily into the £4-6k mark, however, often in our highly competitive landscape, this bill won't be the bill you'll pay...
Obviously, for the slightly more simple 4-8 page websites, yet still impressive and SEO optimised, these very often fall quite under the £1,000 mark, but let's explain why pricing works differently today in the Web Design landscape.
As an agency, we often understand in our global competitive market that hitting a client with a £4-6k bill upfront is not attainable for some businesses, especially where us web design agencies are often working with clients who are at the beginning phase of their business.
So often, when you go to a web design agency, you'll be hit with the split-cost model, an attainable, affordable price between £399-£1399 with a maintenance and hosting package attached to it.
Why? Because the agency or freelancer can make an ongoing margin, be there to support you in your growth, and satisfy some loss in the beginning.
This is what most web design agencies or freelancer are doing in 2025.
So how does that typically look?
We'll break it down.
Jim comes to a web designer looking for an 8 page snazzy website, with SEO optimisation, something that will look great on all mobile devices, and he's unsure what he's looking for, so he knows he's going to need a good few revision rounds until he gets it perfect to what he looks like.
To the web design agency: they know this could easily be a 44 hour endeavour to get it perfect and make sure it really is a website that will deliver for his business, so on an example rate of £35/hr, they'd need to charge £1540 in the proposal to cover their time.
The web design agency opts to add to their current overheads a margin £15/mo, of an expected client lifetime of 3 years.
Instantly, Jim's website is now £1000, with an example rate of £25/mo.
This is purely an example, but is very common in the web design agency industry. Plus, often, during the lifetime of the business, this ongoing rate will come with some customer support and minor changes.
This is purely a representative example, but is worth noting as it's very common in our industry.
A growing trend, is pay monthly bespoke websites, for instance nothing upfront, but a much higher price per month for website maintenance and website cost. Often these are essentially leased websites, so we wouldn't recommend these as you do not own your website, and often you can be trapped into 24 months contracts of £100+/mo.
The landscape is flexible however, and if you're struggling, you could find a package like this suitable for your business, most web design agencies are flexible to discuss increasing monthly retainers for a lower upfront cost, so feel free to negotiate this when working with your agency.
Most agencies are willing to lose some hours in the beginning to instead gain a relationship and a long-term client, but they will only take on a project if it's worth their time, and if your agency is willing to do everything for nothing, they're either just starting out, or are not an agency we could recommend.
In general, this is hard to give a direct answer to, as every web design quote is different dependent on the requirements, but we will give some examples.
If you're asking for a relatively simple 4 page brochure website, and the cost is over £500 upfront, in today's industry, this is leaning to the more expensive side, so check the agencies case studies & experience to see if this is worth the extra cost.
If you're asking for an 8 page website, with no complexities, and the cost is over £900 upfront, in today's industry, this is leaning to a more expensive quote. Utilise the same advice above.
If your quote is over £1500, your website should at least be eCommerce, over 14 pages or include some complexity/bespoke functionality or other services such as content writing/hosting included.
We highly recommend those looking for a website just booking some discovery calls and getting some proposals into your inbox, so why not start out with the agency that told you all the website pricing secrets, and is ready to share with you case studies in your industry on how we build websites that actually land you leads & grow as you grow.
Whether you're a large multinational company, or a local tradesman, we've got a package that'll suit you, so get a quote today. We usually send out a message with a price indication, or an invitation for a discovery call within 24 hours.
Anywhere between £300-1500 for a non-complexity website, £1000-£3500 for eCommerce or bespoke functionality, £3,000+ for complex websites or 24+ pages.
Anywhere between 1000AED-4000AED for a non-complex website, 5000AED-10,000AED for eCommerce or bespoke functionality, 15,000AED+ for complex websites or 25+ pages.
In central Dubai, you can expect rates with companies with offices to fluctuate slightly, but as a general rule they follow the principal of general UAE average web design rates, with what we've seen, we expect the rates to be as follows:
Anywhere between 1000AED-4000AED for a non-complex website, 5000AED-10,000AED for eCommerce or bespoke functionality, 15,000AED+ for complex websites or 25+ pages.
