Guide · 9 min read

How much does a website redesign cost in 2026?

Real numbers, no hedging - what a modern redesign actually costs, what drives the price up, and the hidden costs nobody quotes.

TL;DR

In 2026, most business website redesigns cost $5,000-$20,000. Freelancers: $2K-$6K. Mid-tier agencies: $8K-$30K. Enterprise: $50K+. The biggest cost drivers are page count, custom design, CMS complexity and integrations - not "hours."

2026 pricing by tier

Freelancer or template redesign: $1,500-$6,000

A solo designer or developer working from a template. Fine for one-page portfolios, hobby sites and very early startups. Expect basic SEO, limited responsiveness testing, and no strategy work. You get what the template gives you.

Small studio / senior freelancer: $6,000-$15,000

Custom design, real strategy, mobile-first, CMS in Webflow or WordPress, and someone senior enough to say "no" when your idea won't convert. This is the sweet spot for most small businesses and growing SaaS.

Full-service agency: $15,000-$50,000

Multi-page custom design, dedicated PM, UX research, copywriting, a formal design system, CMS with editor training and full SEO migration. Right fit for scale-ups, mid-market B2B and any brand where the site is the primary sales channel.

Enterprise redesign: $50,000-$250,000+

Complex information architecture, custom development, headless CMS, hundreds of pages, integrations with CRM, DAM and localization systems, multi-language rollouts and legal reviews. Real six-figure territory - and usually worth it when the site drives millions in pipeline.

What actually drives the price

  • Page count. More unique layouts = more design and dev hours. A 5-page site is not "half of" a 10-page site - it's less than half.
  • Custom vs template. Custom design typically adds 40-100% to the total. Sometimes worth it. Sometimes not.
  • CMS complexity. A blog is easy. A resource library with filters, categories and gated content is not.
  • Integrations. CRM, marketing automation, calendars, payment, membership - each adds real dev time.
  • Content. If you don't have it, someone has to write it. Good copywriters charge $150-$400 per page.
  • SEO migration. Doing it right adds 5-15% to the total. Skipping it saves that - and can cost you 50% of your organic traffic.

Hidden costs nobody quotes up front

  • Hosting & CDN: $20-$300/mo depending on platform.
  • Premium plugins & licenses: $200-$1,500/year on WordPress.
  • Maintenance: $100-$500/mo for security, updates and backups.
  • Copy & photography: $2,000-$10,000 if you don't have them.
  • Post-launch fixes: Budget 5-10% for the "one more thing" list.

The SEO risk nobody talks about

The biggest hidden cost of a redesign isn't dollars - it's lost Google traffic. Every year we see businesses drop 30-70% of organic traffic overnight because the new site was launched without a URL map, without 301 redirects, or with a "cleaner" URL structure that abandoned every ranking they'd built. If your current site brings in organic traffic, insist on an SEO-safe migration plan before you sign anything.

How to get an honest quote

Ask for a fixed price, not an hourly estimate. Ask what's not included. Ask specifically about the SEO migration plan. And ask to see three sites they built - live, not screenshots - and run them through PageSpeed Insights yourself. A good agency will love those questions.

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