The short answer: most UK web design projects in 2026 land somewhere between £500 for a simple one-page site and £8,000 or more for a custom small-business build, with day rates for solo designers commonly falling between £250 and £600. But a single number is useless without context, because the same five-page site can honestly be worth £1,200 to one client and £6,000 to another. What follows is how to find the right figure for the job in front of you, not a guess pulled from thin air.
Typical UK price ranges in 2026
These ranges are illustrative, not survey data. They reflect what a competent UK freelancer or small studio can reasonably charge for good work in 2026. Where you sit depends on your experience, your market, and the client.
| Project type | Typical UK range (GBP) | What it usually includes |
|---|---|---|
| One-page site / landing page | £500 - £1,500 | Single page, copy polish, contact form, mobile-friendly |
| Small business site (5-8 pages) | £1,500 - £6,000 | CMS, basic SEO, a few content templates, light branding |
| E-commerce store | £4,000 - £15,000+ | Product setup, payments, shipping rules, integrations |
| Ongoing care plan (monthly) | £40 - £300 / month | Hosting, updates, backups, small edits, monitoring |
If your quotes consistently sit at the bottom of these ranges, the problem is rarely the market - it is usually that you are pricing your time rather than the outcome, or quietly absorbing scope you never charged for.
Hourly vs project pricing
Hourly pricing is simple and protects you on messy, open-ended work. It is honest when you genuinely cannot predict the scope - a tricky migration, an unknown legacy site, or a client who is still figuring out what they want. The downside is that it caps your income at your hours and quietly punishes you for getting faster.
Project (fixed) pricing is what most clients prefer and what lets you actually make money. You quote one number for a defined outcome, and the faster and better you get, the more your effective rate climbs. The risk is scope creep, which is why a fixed price only works when paired with a clear written scope and a stated revision limit.
A practical middle ground: use an hourly or day rate as your internal costing tool, then quote the client a fixed project price built from it. Your rate is the engine; the project price is what the client sees.
What actually changes the price
Two jobs with the same page count can differ in price by a factor of five. The variables that matter most:
- Scope. Number of unique page templates, custom features, content you have to write or migrate, and integrations (booking, payments, CRM). Page count is a weak proxy - templates and features are the real cost.
- Revisions. "Unlimited revisions" is how good quotes turn into losses. Two rounds is normal; state it, and price extra rounds separately.
- Timeline. A rushed deadline that displaces other work deserves a premium of 25 to 50 percent. Slow, flexible timelines can justify a small discount.
- Client size and stakes. A site that drives a VAT-registered company's revenue is worth more than a hobby project, because the value you deliver is higher and the client's budget reflects it. Charge the value, not just the hours.
- Who supplies the content. "Client provides all copy and images" versus "I write and source everything" can double a quote.
Skip the maths
Use the free Freelance Rate Calculator to get your hourly and day rate in 60 seconds, then the Project Quote Calculator to turn it into a profitable fixed price.
Open the rate calculatorA simple way to land on your number
Work from the inside out: rate first, then project price.
Step 1 - find your real rate. Start from the annual income you want, add your business costs (software, hardware, pension, insurance, tax set-aside), and divide by the hours you can realistically bill - not 40 a week, more like 22 to 25 once you remove admin, sales, and dead time. That gives an honest hourly figure, and a day rate of roughly seven times it. The Freelance Rate Calculator does this for you and stops you from accidentally working for £15 an hour after costs.
Step 2 - estimate the work. List every deliverable and the hours each will take, then add a buffer (20 to 30 percent) for the things that always go wrong: feedback delays, content that arrives late, the "one small change" that touches five pages.
Step 3 - turn hours into a fixed price. Multiply estimated hours by your rate, add the buffer, then sense-check against the value to the client and the ranges in the table above. The Project Quote Calculator handles this and shows your effective hourly rate so you can see whether the fixed price is actually profitable.
Step 4 - present it well. Send a clear proposal with the scope, the price, the revision limit, and the payment terms (a 50 percent deposit is standard and entirely reasonable). A vague quote in an email body invites haggling; a tidy proposal sets the tone. The Client Proposal Generator turns your number into a document clients say yes to.
Do this for a few jobs and the pricing stops feeling like a guess. You will have a rate you trust and a method that produces consistent, profitable quotes instead of round numbers you regret.
Get paid what you quote
A great quote only matters if it survives the project and gets paid. Keeping scope, revisions, deposits, and invoices in one place is what separates designers who quote well from designers who actually keep the money. SignalDesk keeps your client ops out of the chaos, and the Template Pack gives you proposal and contract templates so your next quote goes out today.