How much does a website redesign cost?
Website redesign costs by scope, from a visual refresh to a full rebuild and platform move, with the hours behind each and how to protect your rankings.
In this article
- What a website redesign costs, by scope
- Why a redesign can cost more than a new website
- Accessibility: the cost most redesigns inherit
- What else makes a redesign more expensive
- Should you capitalise or expense a redesign?
- How to keep a redesign on budget
- Is a redesign worth the cost?
- People also ask about website redesign costs
Key takeaways
- ✓A website redesign costs $2,000 to $70,000, set by scope, page count and whether you change platform.
- ✓A visual refresh is cheapest; a redesign with a platform move is the most expensive.
- ✓Migration (URL mapping and redirects) protects your search traffic, so never cut it from the budget.
- ✓Most redesigns also inherit accessibility fixes: 95.9% of home pages fail automated checks.
A website redesign typically costs between $2,000 and $70,000. A visual refresh of a small site sits at the bottom of that range; a full rebuild that also moves you to a new platform sits at the top. Three things move the price: how much changes (styling, structure or platform), how many pages you have, and the migration work needed to keep the search traffic you already earn. The table below shows the hours behind each type, so you can judge any quote you receive.
What a website redesign costs, by scope
A redesign is priced like any web project: hours multiplied by a rate. The table shows our planning ranges at two illustrative rates, $50 an hour (lean studio or senior freelancer) and $100 an hour (full-service agency). For context, the median US web developer earns $92,650 a year, and agencies bill above salary to cover design, project management, testing and overheads.
| Redesign type | What changes | Hours | At $50 an hour | At $100 an hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visual refresh | New styles and layouts on the same platform and URLs | 40 to 120 | $2,000 to $6,000 | $4,000 to $12,000 |
| Full redesign, same platform | New structure, templates and content, most URLs kept | 150 to 350 | $7,500 to $17,500 | $15,000 to $35,000 |
| Redesign and platform move | New design, new CMS, every URL mapped and redirected | 300 to 700 | $15,000 to $35,000 | $30,000 to $70,000 |
These are budgeting estimates, not quotes. Page count matters inside each band: a 15-page company site and a 300-page catalogue can both be a "full redesign", but the second needs far more templates, content work and redirects.
Why a redesign can cost more than a new website
A new website starts from nothing. A redesign starts with an asset you must protect, and three jobs exist only in a redesign:
- A content and performance audit. Before anything changes, find which pages bring traffic, rank for valuable searches and produce enquiries. Those pages must survive.
- URL mapping and redirects. Every changed address needs a permanent server-side redirect (301 or 308) to its new home. Google's site move guidance says to keep those redirects for at least a year and to expect rankings to fluctuate temporarily while a medium-sized site takes a few weeks or more to move.
- Content migration. Moving, cleaning and reformatting existing pages, images and documents takes time, especially out of an old page builder.
Accessibility: the cost most redesigns inherit
Most older sites have accessibility problems that a redesign either fixes or carries forward. The WebAIM Million 2026 analysis found that 95.9% of the top million home pages had detectable WCAG failures, with an average of 56.1 errors per page.
Building to WCAG 2.2 level AA during a redesign costs far less than retrofitting it later. Ask for it in writing.
What else makes a redesign more expensive
- Changing platform. Moving CMS means rebuilding templates and migrating content, not restyling it.
- Rewriting content. New positioning or new service pages need writing, and good copy takes time.
- Integrations. CRM, marketing automation, booking or product data connections need rebuilding and testing.
- Custom features. Calculators, configurators, portals and gated resources add development.
- Approvals. More stakeholders mean more review rounds. Agree who signs off before the project starts.
Should you capitalise or expense a redesign?
Finance teams ask this before they approve the budget, and the rules are changing. Under US GAAP, FASB's ASU 2025-06 moves website development costs into the internal-use software rules, effective for annual periods beginning after 15 December 2027. In broad terms:
| Invoice line | Typical treatment under ASU 2025-06 |
|---|---|
| Developer build fees and initial graphics | Assessed for capitalisation |
| Content input and migration | Expensed |
| Search engine registration | Expensed (advertising) |
| Hosting | Expensed over the period |
| Maintenance after launch | Expensed |
How to keep a redesign on budget
- Start with data, not taste. Pull your top pages by traffic and enquiries before discussing design.
- Fix the scope in writing. A page list, feature list and integration list turn a vague redesign into a fixed quote.
- Reuse what works. Strong pages often need a new template, not a rewrite.
- Phase it. Launch the pages that matter most first, then add the rest.
- Ask for a dated plan. See how long a website redesign takes for what is realistic.
Collecting proposals from several agencies? A short brief makes quotes comparable: our guide on how to write an RFP for a website redesign has an outline you can copy.
Is a redesign worth the cost?
It is worth it when the current site costs you business: it loads slowly on phones, ranks for nothing your buyers search, cannot be updated by your team, or turns visitors away without enquiries. If that sounds familiar, first read why websites stop generating leads, because some problems need targeted fixes rather than a redesign.
We judge redesigns the same way, by enquiries before and after. One packaging manufacturer in our case studies went from no enquiries to about 10 a week after a rebuild that also fixed a canonical error pointing Google at a dead domain.
People also ask about website redesign costs
What is the average cost of a website redesign?
There is no single average because scope varies so much. A visual refresh runs about $2,000 to $12,000, a full redesign $7,500 to $35,000, and a redesign with a platform move $15,000 to $70,000, depending on page count and rates.
How much should a small business website redesign cost?
A small site of 5 to 15 pages usually falls in the visual refresh band or the low end of a full redesign. The biggest swing factors are changing platform and who writes the content.
Is it cheaper to redesign or build a new website?
A refresh on the same platform is cheaper than a new build. A full redesign with a platform move costs about the same as a new build plus migration, because you rebuild and also move what already works.
Will a website redesign hurt my Google rankings?
Not if every changed URL is permanently redirected, important content is kept, and the new site is fast and crawlable. Google says rankings can fluctuate temporarily while it processes the move.
What does a website migration cost on its own?
It depends on page count: every changed URL needs mapping, a redirect and a check. Ask agencies to price migration as a separate line so you can compare it directly.
Does accessibility add to the cost of a redesign?
Usually yes, because most sites carry existing failures. Building to WCAG 2.2 AA during the redesign is far cheaper than fixing it after launch.
How often should a website be redesigned?
There is no fixed interval. Redesign when data shows a problem: falling enquiries, a platform that is slow or unsupported, or a business that has outgrown its site. Otherwise improve incrementally.
Can a website redesign be capitalised?
Under US GAAP, build fees and initial graphics are assessed for capitalisation, while content input, hosting and maintenance are expensed. FASB's ASU 2025-06 applies from periods beginning after 15 December 2027; confirm with your accountant.
How do I get an accurate redesign quote?
Send your current URL, the pages to keep, add and remove, every integration and your timeline. An agency that audits your site first can give a more accurate fixed quote.
