Calculating the Cost of Your Website Design: A Step-by-Step Guide

Your website is where your visitors will interact with you, read your content, check your
services, and decide whether they’d like to purchase. A well-designed website helps you
achieve customer retention and build customer engagement. It can significantly reduce the
bounce rate, ensuring your visitors find your content and web design engaging. However,
before you get started with web designing, you might want to calculate the cost of the project.

Let’s face it—web design isn’t something that you can DIY unless you are a web developer
yourself. You will need a team of professionals that consists of QA analysts, business analysts,
UI/UX developers, testers, etc. So, how much will each of them charge? In this post, we will
show you the breakdown of the web design cost. Keep reading.

Estimating Web Development Cost

Web designing is not a one-man job. Plus, you can’t expect your website to be completed
within a few days of outsourcing the job to professional developers. It consists of several
phases and people specializing in different areas of development. Note that we have only
shared a rough estimate of what the web development might cost. To get an accurate idea, you
can use a website cost calculator and input your requirements. It will give you a clear picture of
the total web development cost.

Below we are going to explore the different phases of website development and how it affects
the price.

UI/UX Design

When it comes to web design, the user interface and user experience matter the most. It’s not
only about the aesthetics of a website, but its functionality is equally important. Developing a
high-quality website is all about researching your target audience, checking your competitor's
UI, and designing an interface that aligns with your brand and looks flawless on all screens.
Business analysts must take time to understand your business type and the industry before
suggesting designs.

Once they are done with these initial stages of research, they will come up with the wireframe,
which shows which element would go where. They will confirm the design with the client and
proceed with the development stage. On average, the UI/UX design will cost around $750-
$4000, although the total price might vary depending on who you hire.

Front-End and Backend Development

When you visit a website, you are taken to its homepage with several buttons placed
strategically throughout the page. When you click on one of these, say Registration, you will be
redirected to another screen that requests your email, phone number, and other details for
completing registration. That’s the front end.
Simply put, front-end refers to all the elements, designs, and features that the visitor can see
on the website. The cost of front-end development depends on how complex the animation
and the front-end design are. The more visual elements you add to your website and the more
complex structure you choose, the higher the development will cost. On average, it starts at
$1000 and can go up to $12000.

Backend refers to working on the server side of the website, i.e. the areas that you can’t see.
Backend developers handle the database, logic, and architecture, ensuring that everything
works well on the website. It can cost between $4000 and $12000.

Content Management System

The next step is choosing a suitable content management system. You can opt for WordPress,
which is currently one of the leading CMS platforms for web developers. Or, you can stick to
Shopify, Drupal, Joomla, BigCommerce, and other eCommerce marketplaces. It all comes down
to your preference and the type of website you are building. The cost of your web development
also depends on which content management system you use.

Who Will Build Your Website?

The most important factor in calculating your website development cost is the team that builds
the frontend, backend, and overall website. You can build an in-house team of web developers
who work full-time for your company. You can communicate and collaborate with them in
person, and regularly, ensuring smooth completion of each phase of the development cycle.

While it’s easy to communicate with your in-house team and get regular updates about the
project, it can be super expensive in the long run. The team can cost you around $500,000
annually, including their salaries, taxes, employee benefits, and office maintenance. Plus, hiring
and onboarding them can be a real challenge. These professionals will also require ongoing
training.

Outsourcing the Project

Or, you can outsource the project to a third party that specializes in website development. This
will save you the cost and time of building an in-house team of developers. You can outsource
the entire development project to a professional web development agency and they will take
care of it from start to finish. It’s comparatively cheaper than the in-house web designers.

The downside, however, is a lack of proper communication due to differences in the language,
time zones, and work culture. Plus, you won’t have much control over the quality and efficiency
of your website. The web design agency will quote a fixed price or hourly rate. The average
price per hour is around $100, but it differs depending on where the agency is based, the total
experience it has, and the complexity of your web design.

Maintenance
A website needs ongoing maintenance so that it keeps attracting new visitors. Website
maintenance mainly covers fixing broken links, updating content regularly, and ensuring that
each page on your website is in optimal condition and working well. They will also ensure the
website loads quickly and functions properly. The maintenance comes at an extra price.

Bottom Line

These were the few crucial factors affecting the cost of web designing. If you are also
considering developing a website for your business, feel free to use an app estimator. It will
help you calculate the cost of development based on factors, like your website niche, the
developers you are hiring, the complexity of your web design, the features you want to add,
and so on.