How Much to Charge for a Website? 2026 Pricing Guide

By Umair Ali Sadaqat · Updated October 25, 2026 · Editorial policy

Freelancers typically charge $500 to $1,500 for a basic site, $1,500 to $5,000 for a custom small business site and $5,000+ for stores and complex builds. How to set your price, with a worked formula and monthly plans, September 2026.

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Short answer (updated September 19, 2026): most freelancers charge $500 to $1,500 for a basic template-based site, $1,500 to $5,000 for a custom small business site, and $5,000 or more for online stores and complex builds, plus $50 to $300 a month for ongoing care. The right price for you comes from your target hourly rate multiplied by honest hours, not from what others charge.

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This guide gives you a formula, market ranges to check it against, and the monthly plans that turn one-off projects into steady income.

TL;DR

Beginner: $300 to $1,000 a site, or $25 to $50 an hour.
Experienced freelancer: $1,500 to $5,000 for a small business site.
Stores and complex builds: $5,000 to $15,000+.
Care plans: $50 to $300 a month per client.
Formula: (hours x target hourly rate) x 1.2 buffer + platform costs.

How much to charge to make a website: market ranges

Project	Beginner	Experienced freelancer	Specialist or senior
One-page site or landing page	$200 to $600	$600 to $1,500	$1,500 to $4,000
5-page small business site, template	$300 to $1,000	$1,000 to $2,500	$2,500 to $5,000
5 to 10 page custom design	$1,000 to $2,500	$2,500 to $6,000	$6,000 to $15,000
Online store, under 100 products	$1,500 to $3,000	$3,000 to $8,000	$8,000 to $20,000
Redesign of an existing site	$500 to $1,500	$1,500 to $5,000	$5,000 to $12,000
Monthly care plan	$30 to $75	$75 to $200	$200 to $500

These are typical ranges from freelance marketplaces and published freelancer price pages in 2026, and they vary widely by country. Use them to sanity-check your own number, not to set it.

The pricing formula

Project price = (estimated hours x target hourly rate) x 1.2 + direct costs.

Step 1: find your target hourly rate

Work backwards from what you need to earn:

Decide your yearly income target, for example $60,000.
Add business costs: software, equipment, insurance, tax set-asides. Say $10,000.
Estimate billable hours. Freelancers rarely bill more than 60% of working time; 1,000 to 1,200 billable hours a year is realistic.
Target rate = $70,000 / 1,100 hours = about $64 an hour.

The freelance rate calculator does this in a minute.

Step 2: estimate hours honestly

For a typical 5-page small business site:

Task	Hours
Discovery call and brief	2
Sitemap and structure	2
Design or template customisation	8 to 15
Building pages and mobile layouts	8 to 12
Copy editing and content loading	4 to 8
SEO basics, forms, analytics	3
Revisions (2 rounds)	4 to 6
Launch, domain and handover	2
Total	33 to 50

Step 3: apply it

At $64 an hour and 40 hours: 40 x $64 = $2,560, x 1.2 buffer = $3,072, plus any direct costs like premium plugins or stock photos. Round to $3,000 or $3,100 and present it as a fixed project price.

The 1.2 buffer covers the unbilled work every project has: emails, waiting for content, small extras. Most new freelancers skip it and quietly lose money.

Hourly vs project vs value pricing

Hourly suits small edits and unclear jobs. Clients tend to watch the clock, and you earn less as you get faster.
Fixed project pricing suits full builds. Write the scope down: pages, revision rounds, what the client supplies, and what counts as a change request.
Value pricing ties the price to what the site is worth to the client. A site that brings a law firm ten clients a year can justify a higher fee than one for a hobby. It needs confidence and a good discovery call.

For agencies and freelancers packaging these into tiers, the agency pricing calculator helps set Good, Better, Best prices.

Charge for the monthly plan, not just the build

One-off projects make income lumpy. Care plans smooth it. A freelancer with 20 clients on a $100 a month plan has $2,000 a month before starting any new project. Typical plans bundle hosting, updates, backups, monitoring and an hour or so of edits. We cover structure and tiers in detail in website care plans, and what clients typically expect to pay in website maintenance cost.

The catch is your cost per site. If each client site sits on its own builder subscription at $20 to $40 a month, a $100 plan leaves a thin margin. A white-label website builder fixes that: all client sites run under your brand on one bill.

We.Inc white-label pricing is tailored to your volume and setup, so you get your exact price on a 30-minute demo. Divide that quote by your number of client sites to get your cost per site, then compare it with your care plan price. The reseller margin calculator runs the numbers for your own prices, and white label for freelancers explains the setup.

How to raise your prices

Raise for new clients first. Existing clients can stay on old rates for a while.
Raise after every few wins. Ten to twenty percent at a time is common.
Show outcomes, not features. "Your booking form now gets 12 requests a week" sells better than "responsive layout".
Build faster, charge the same. AI builders cut the build hours. On We.Inc you can generate a client's first draft from a description in minutes, then refine it, which frees your hours for strategy and copy, the parts clients value most.
Say no to projects that do not fit. Underpriced work crowds out better clients.

What to put in your website quote

A clear quote stops scope creep before it starts. Whatever you charge, write these down:

Pages and features: the exact page list, plus any forms, booking or shop features.
Who supplies what: copy, photos, logo and product data, and the date you need them.
Revision rounds: usually two, with the price of any extra round.
Payment schedule: deposit, milestone and final payment.
After launch: what the monthly plan covers and what counts as new work.
Ownership: the client owns the domain and content once the invoice is paid.

Send it as a one-page summary with the total price near the top. Clients compare totals first, so lead with yours.

Common pricing mistakes

Quoting before a proper brief.
Unlimited revisions.
Not charging for content entry or copywriting.
Registering the client's domain in your own account. Keep it in theirs.
No deposit. Take 30% to 50% up front.

The bottom line

Set your website price from your target hourly rate and honest hours, then check it against the market ranges above. For most freelancers that means $1,500 to $5,000 for a small business site plus $50 to $300 a month in care. The buyer's side of this conversation is in how much it costs to build a website and website design cost; read them so you know what your clients are comparing you against.

Build your client website free today. Sign up free, start from a template site and publish it free on a we.inc address. AI builds from one prompt on paid plans from $20/mo. Prefer a head start? Start from the design for web design agencies, marketing agencies or consultants.

Frequently asked questions

How much should I charge to make a website as a beginner?

Beginners commonly charge $300 to $1,000 for a small site on a template, or $25 to $50 an hour. Price low enough to win your first three to five projects and collect testimonials, then raise prices with each new client.

How much should I charge for a 5-page website?

Typically $1,000 to $4,000 as a freelancer, depending on whether you write the copy, design from scratch or customise a template, and on your market. Template-based builds sit at the low end; custom design with copywriting at the high end.

Should I charge hourly or per project for websites?

Per project for full builds, so clients know the total and you are rewarded for working efficiently. Hourly for small changes and ongoing work outside a care plan. Many freelancers quote a project price calculated from an hourly target.

How much should I charge for website maintenance?

Care plans commonly run $50 to $300 a month for a small business site, covering hosting, updates, backups and a set amount of edit time. Recurring plans are where most freelancers build stable income.

How do I know if my website price is too low?

If you win almost every quote, you are probably too cheap. If your effective hourly rate after revisions and admin falls below what you need to live on, you are definitely too cheap. Track hours on every project for a few months and check.

Should I charge clients for hosting?

Yes, if you manage it. Most freelancers bundle hosting into a monthly care plan at a margin over their cost. A white-label website builder makes this easier because every client site runs under your brand on one bill.

How much do people charge to make a website?

Most freelancers charge $500 to $1,500 for a basic template site, $1,500 to $5,000 for a custom small business site and $5,000 or more for stores and complex builds, plus $50 to $300 a month for ongoing care. Your own number should come from your target hourly rate and honest hours.

Should I ask for a deposit before building a website?

Yes. Taking 30% to 50% up front is common and protects you if the project stalls. Take the rest at launch, or split it across milestones on bigger builds.

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