How much does a website cost

There’s a great website on how much your websites should cost: http://howmuchdoesawebsiteco.st/

Punched some numbers in, and with all the features Webflow gives you:

  1. CMS
  2. Dynamic Embeds
  3. Social Widget (and tons of other web components)

You could be charging $15k - $18k:

Does this calculator align with what you guys offer ?

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I thought I was charging quite a bit since I’ve doubled my rates twice since starting, but I’m still significantly lower than most of these calculations. What are others experiencing?

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It seems like I have to raise up my rates :confused:

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I am experiencing the same thing. It turns out with my prices doubled, the prices are still 5 times lower of what I should be charging. :wink::grinning::blush::+1:

@VLADinSACRAMENTO same here. Most of my medium-sized builds are around $3k right now, but I’m also trying to factor in the concept of “headspace,” and feel that many of my projects are worth more than I’ve charged.

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Also make sure you guys read this great article by @Mat. This should give you some idea on pricing :slightly_smiling:
https://webflow.com/blog/how-to-price-your-freelance-design-services

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I always avoid posting something like this, but here it goes…

My pricing is moving significantly closer, but I severely underpricing as a whole, as I am adding / bundling a bunch of other services. Services that agencies lean on us for and we manage entirely and they bill 2X / 4X / 10X for the service. The place I always cut myself short is content creation, creative strategy, marketing, identity, rebranding, custom graphics, illustration, icon systems, social publishing, research, writing, consulting, etc. I am way too soft on feature creep, scope, freebees, acts of kindness, gifts and perks because I want the work to be as good as it possibly can be and want them to be happy.

So the additional question is, how much are you also undermining your value / worth / rate for all the other services you offer. Is this just for straight up site dev with all content provided? - or entire concept, design, content, writing, video editing, consulting, all-nighters, etc.

Nothing is more irritating and emotionally damaging to a relationship than having someone expect something absolutely huge - for free in the future, because you were crazy over generous to cut them a break, to make them a friend, win them over, work all nighters and gifted it to them in the past… It creates the worst form of entitlement and in some cases genuinely horrible clients. The last thing you want is crazy repeat work at a loss + loss of sleep.

When I work for other people - even in tiny shops as an employee / partner I bill huge, orchestrate, prove worth and upsell services that benefit clients greatly and they are happy to pay for expertise and serial repeat and serial recommend. When I work for myself I dig my own holes and dramatically undermine total value. There is some form of imposter syndrome, self-doubt, (whatever that is) in this equation.

Anyone guilty of that? What do you include? What do you give away? How much do you damage the design economy?

Or without the novelette - what Sabanna said X4 :slight_smile:

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Absolutely. Yes to all of that. My experience has been when my back’s against the wall with too much work, raising the rates becomes a necessity so I’ll throw out a price that almost says “go away, I’m busy” and those are the best deals to land and in my case fostered the confidence to set the bar even higher for future work. If you’re talented and have an eye for perfection, people will pay for that. Especially folks that have been burned on an economy website that didn’t turn out.

But yeah, those are some decently padded price ranges unless you consider it’s for a team of saavy, street-smart gurus tiring over your perfect website later to be celebrated on awwwards for all to see.

It is different for everyone, but the pricing calculator by thenuschool is much more useful for freelancers imo: How Much Should I Charge? - The nuSchool

Totally agree 100%! I am the same way, I tend to be too nice. My problem is I tend to do everything for free. But, I am preparing to finally register a real business and the free will GO away. Thats if I do wish to succeed.

I do think the nuschool calculator addresses some other really important factors - thank you for posting it.

All of these have some obvious bias though in that they are selling you a product. The driver is geared to make the you (the designer) aspire to a higher rate / inquire about their product / buy-in / change your life like any good self-help life coach laws-of-attraction guru can deliver. :smile:

I have worked in a variety of environments and seen a spectrum of rates from starvation to oh-my-gosh-I-can’t-believe-they-actually-bought-that. Things have changed drastically over the past 10-15 years and that will continue. Ultimately IMO it is based on value, relevance, and client. You have to take into consideration your experience, the product you deliver, your market, your client (large or small) and the end value of your product’s performance for your client – As well as the potential for growth in the relationship with the client over time. I price single engagements with zero future value to me on a much higher sliding scale of life regret to life altering much like nuschool advocates. There is no rate calculator that fits all of those variables - not even close.

With all of that said, Webflow allows me to deliver phenomenally above where I did 2+ years ago as a designer who barely understood responsive design toiling away building tedious layouts in Photoshop and crossing my fingers that the other freelance developer I was paired up with on that engagement could deliver. It is a drastic shift in the ability to market work and deliver big results - and compete and exceed what required a team of designers and developers a long span of time to deliver. And that scenario was a few months ago.

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