What a website redesign really costs

The short answer

Website redesign costs vary widely. WebFX, a large US agency, publishes (as of 2026) a range of $3,000 to $75,000 for a redesign, with agencies at $5,000 to $75,000 per site, freelancers at $3,000 to $10,000 and DIY or in-house work at $800 to $5,000. Those are one agency’s published figures, not quotes, and your number depends on scope.

What moves the price most is not the visual design. It is how many pages need rewriting, what the site has to connect to, whether you are changing platforms, and how carefully existing search rankings need to be protected. This guide explains each cost driver, the hidden costs to plan for, and how to decide whether you need a full redesign or a smaller refresh.

What drives redesign pricing

WebFX lists size, design, functionality, integrations, content, responsive design and ongoing marketing as the factors that affect redesign price. In our experience, here is how each plays out:

• Number of unique page types. A site with 40 service pages built from one template costs less than a site with 15 pages that each need a different layout.
• Content. Rewriting pages is often the largest hidden cost. Moving old text into a new design is cheaper but rarely fixes what was wrong.
• Platform change. Moving from one platform to another, such as a hosted builder to WordPress, adds migration and testing time.
• Integrations. CRMs, booking tools, payment systems, inventory feeds and member portals each need setup and testing.
• E-commerce. Product catalogs, variants, shipping rules and customer accounts add a lot of build and test time.
• Custom functionality. Calculators, quote builders, portals and search filters are priced on their own.
• SEO protection. Mapping every old URL to a new one, keeping what ranks and checking Search Console after launch takes real hours, and skipping it is often the most expensive mistake.
• Accessibility and speed targets. Building to clear accessibility and performance targets adds design and testing effort, and saves rework later.

DIY, freelancer or agency: what the price difference buys

The three price bands in WebFX’s figures reflect different amounts of work and risk, not just different hourly rates.

• DIY or in-house works for a small, simple site when someone on staff has time and the current site has little search traffic to lose. The hidden cost is that person’s hours and the mistakes that come with doing it once.
• A freelancer suits a defined project with a clear brief, especially a refresh on the same platform. Ask who handles content, redirects, testing and support after launch, since one person may not cover all of it.
• An agency brings strategy, design, development, content and SEO under one roof, which matters most when the site has integrations, many pages or real search traffic to protect.

Whichever you choose, the scope brief below is what keeps the price honest.

Redesign or refresh: how to decide

Not every tired website needs a full rebuild. Use these decision rules:

A quick test: list the five things you most want the new site to do. If four of them are about appearance, a refresh may do. If most are about leads, structure, editing or integrations, you need a redesign.

Costs people forget to budget

• Content and photography. New photos of your team and work, and someone’s time to write or approve pages.
• Your staff’s time. Reviews, approvals and gathering information take longer than most owners expect.
• Licenses. Premium plugins, fonts, form tools and stock images.
• Hosting and maintenance. Ongoing updates, backups and security after launch. Our guide to website maintenance costs covers this.
• A temporary dip in leads if redirects and tracking are not handled. Google says a site move can take a few weeks for most pages of a small to medium site to be processed, with ranking fluctuations along the way.

Want a second opinion on your site?

Book a free 30-minute call. We look at your website, search and marketing with you and tell you what we would change first, whether you hire us or not. Pick a time that works for you.

How to scope a redesign so quotes are comparable

Quotes vary wildly partly because each agency imagines a different project. A one-page brief makes quotes comparable:

1. Goals: what the site must achieve, in numbers if possible (calls, forms, bookings, sales).
2. Page inventory: current pages, which stay, which go, which are new. Pull the list from your analytics.
3. Top pages to protect: the pages that bring in most search traffic and leads.
4. Integrations: every system the site must connect to.
5. Content: who writes, who supplies photos, how many pages need new copy.
6. Editing: who will update the site and how often.
7. Timeline and must-hit dates.

Then ask each provider to price the same brief and list what is included and excluded.

Protect your rankings, or the redesign costs twice

A redesign that loses search traffic can cost more in lost leads than the project itself. Google recommends permanent server-side redirects (301 or 308) from old URLs to their new equivalents and, for site moves, keeping redirects for at least a year. Ask every bidder how they map URLs, how they test redirects before launch and what they check in Search Console afterward. Our guide on redesigning a website without losing SEO walks through the process.

Red flags in redesign quotes

• No mention of redirects or SEO at all.
• A fixed price with no page list or scope.
• You will not own the site, domain or content.
• A proprietary platform that only the agency can edit.
• A launch date that leaves no time for content and testing.

How JLB USA approaches redesigns

JLB USA has redesigned websites for growing businesses for more than 15 years, starting in Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton, with 500+ clients and 1,000+ projects. We build custom WordPress websites that usually launch in 6 to 10 weeks. You can edit your own site, you keep it if you leave, and we set up redirects from your old pages so rankings carry over. You can see examples on our before and after page.

Related services

• Web design services
• Redesign without losing SEO
• Website before and after examples
• Small business website cost