Website Redesign Cost: What a Redesign Should Cost and What a Quote Should Include
There is no single price for a website redesign, because the word covers very different projects. Most confusion comes from three separate costs being treated as one: DIY platform fees, freelancer or agency project fees, and ongoing hosting and maintenance. Start with the cost guide to see what drives each one.
Why there is no single price
"Redesign" can mean a fresh look on the same pages, a new structure and content, or a full rebuild on a different platform. Those are different amounts of work, so they get different prices.
Public posts from people in the trade show how wide the spread is. In one r/UXDesign thread, a designer says they have built a site of a similar size for as little as $5k and as much as $60k. In an r/webdev thread, a business owner reports quotes from $4,000 to $8,000, plus a few between $13,000 and $17,000. These are individual accounts, not benchmarks, but they show why a single headline number is a poor guide.
What moves a price is scope: how much content exists already, how much design and strategy is needed, what the site has to do, and who looks after it afterwards.
The three costs buyers mix up
When people ask "what does a redesign cost?", they are often comparing numbers that measure different things.
- DIY platform fees. A subscription to a site builder. It is usually recurring, and it pays for the tool and often hosting. It does not pay for someone to plan, design, write or build your site. You still supply that work, or pay for it separately.
- Freelancer or agency project fees. A project fee for planning, design, build, content and launch work, set by the scope you agree. It is mostly a one-off cost, though some providers quote in stages or by retainer.
- Ongoing hosting and maintenance. The cost of keeping the site online, secure, updated and fixed after launch. It can be bundled into a platform plan, sold as a separate care plan, or left to you.
A site-builder subscription is not a redesign quote, and a project fee is not the full cost of owning a site. Put each quote or plan into one of these three buckets before you compare anything.
Start here: the cost guide
The cost guide sets out indicative ranges, tied to stated assumptions, for each route, and explains what pushes a project towards the low or high end. It is the best first read if you only have time for one page.
If you are still choosing a route, DIY site builder vs hiring a freelancer or agency lays out what each one actually costs. The full set is in the guides hub.
Judging quotes and scoping a project
Two quotes for the same "redesign" can describe different projects. Compare them on scope, not on the headline figure.
Before you ask for quotes, decide what you can answer yourself:
- How many different page layouts do you need, not just how many pages?
- Is the copy and photography written and ready, or does someone need to create it?
- Does anything need to move or be redirected from the old site, so existing pages keep working?
- What does the site need to do: forms, bookings, payments, a blog?
- Who handles hosting, updates and fixes after launch?
- Is accessibility part of the brief? The W3C advises building it in from the start of a project rather than adding it later.
The scope checklist shows what is usually included and what tends to cost extra. How to compare website redesign quotes explains why quotes vary so much and what to ask when they do.
Who publishes this site
Website Redesign Cost is published by Dance Technologies, which builds AI website and marketing products. We write these guides as a plain-language cost and scoping resource, and we do not claim independence, product testing or expert review.
Treat the ranges as indicative starting points, check any figure against the provider's own page, and compare quotes on scope. More detail is on the about page.
Questions
Why can't a website redesign have one standard price?
Because "redesign" covers projects of very different size, from a visual refresh to a rebuild with new structure, content and features. Price follows scope: content, design, functionality, migration and who maintains the site afterwards. People who build sites for a living describe results from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands for sites of similar page count.
Is a site builder subscription the same as a redesign cost?
No. A subscription pays for the platform and usually hosting. It does not include the planning, design, writing and building that a freelancer or agency would price in a project fee, so you either do that work yourself or pay for it separately. Keep platform fees, project fees and ongoing maintenance in separate columns when you budget.
How much does a small business website redesign usually cost?
It depends on scope, so any single number would mislead. The cost guide gives indicative ranges with the assumptions behind each, and the quotes guide shows how to check that two quotes cover the same work.
Where can I learn what a redesign quote should include?
The scope checklist lists what is normally included and what often costs extra, such as content creation, redirects, accessibility work and post-launch support. Use it to ask each provider the same questions so their quotes can be compared fairly.
Who is behind this site?
Dance Technologies, a company that builds AI website and marketing products, publishes it. The site does not claim independence, testing or expert review. The about page has more detail.