How much does a web designer cost?
A freelance web designer costs $2,000 to $7,600 for a small business website according to WebsiteSetup's cost guide (updated November 22, 2025), which prices the work at 40 to 80 hours at $50 to $95 an hour. Ueni's guide (updated September 22, 2026) puts a small business site at $1,500 to $3,500. The two ranges overlap: a competent freelancer will quote you somewhere in the low thousands.
An agency costs more because more people touch the project. WebsiteSetup puts a complete small business website from a full-service agency at $5,000 to $15,000, including strategy, design, development and content. Clutch, which collects client reviews of agencies, says most web design projects reviewed on its platform cost less than $10,000, inside an overall range of $2,000 to $100,000, and that shortlisted firms charge around $100 to $149 an hour (updated September 21, 2026).
FreeWebGuy charges $0 to build the site and $15 a month for hosting once you approve it. The first year is $180 plus a domain if you need one. The build is paid for by the hosting plan over time, which is a different model from design work billed by the project, and the pricing page spells out what the $15 covers.
What is not in a web designer's quote?
A designer's quote usually covers the design and build and stops there. WebsiteSetup lists what its freelancer estimate leaves out: the theme or builder subscription, hosting, the domain and premium plugins, and it notes that content writing is a separate cost and that 'whenever you need something changed, you need to pay for your developer.'
The recurring costs are where the total keeps growing after launch. Ueni puts shared hosting at $5 to $25 a month and regular content updates at $50 to $200 a month; a .com domain runs $12 to $25 a year by WebsiteSetup's count. Over three years, hosting alone adds $180 to $900, and a modest update retainer adds $1,800 to $7,200.
FreeWebGuy's $15 includes hosting with SSL, your domain connected, a phone-first layout, SEO basics, a contact or request form that emails you, the AI builder for your own edits and the platform's 24/7 chat support. What it leaves out is short: a new domain at the registrar, payment-processing fees if you sell online, usage-based text, email and AI features if you turn them on, and new pages or a redesign after launch, which are quoted first. Optional SMBcrm plans from $97 a month add CRM, email marketing, automation and a booking calendar.
How long does a web designer take?
A freelancer or agency takes 4 to 8 weeks on average to deliver a small business website, by WebsiteSetup's estimate, and it lists the timeline as a drawback of hiring. The weeks go on discovery calls, a proposal, design rounds, waiting on your content, development and revisions, and the clock often pauses when the designer is waiting for your photos or sign-off.
FreeWebGuy sends the first version within 48 hours of your brief. Bigger sites, or briefs missing key details, take a few days more. We use AI to build fast, and a person checks every first version before you see it. After that the pace is yours: you review, ask for changes, and approve. The guide on how long it takes to build a website compares every route side by side.
Who owns the domain and the files?
With a designer, the contract decides who owns what, and the two things worth pinning down before any deposit are the domain and the hosting account. If the designer registers the domain in their own name, your web address depends on their goodwill. If the hosting account is theirs, so is your site's uptime. Ask for both to be in your name, with the designer added as a user.
With FreeWebGuy, the answer is written down once and applies to everyone. Your domain, logo, photos and text stay yours. The site design and the hosting platform are licensed to you while your $15 plan is active, and the site runs on SMBcrm hosting, so it is not a file you take to another host. If you cancel, the site goes offline; ask us and we can help you gather your text and images, and SMBcrm keeps account data for about 30 days after a plan ends.
A designer who hands you the files gives you something FreeWebGuy does not: a site you can host anywhere. That is a point for hiring, and it matters most to businesses that expect to change providers or build on the code later.
What should you ask a web designer before you hire one?
Ask who registers the domain, and insist on your own name. Ask whose hosting account the site lives on, and what happens to it if you part ways. Ask whether the quote includes writing the text or whether you supply it, because content is the most common cause of a stalled project.
Find out what a change costs after launch, in dollars and in turnaround time, and whether a monthly retainer is expected. Check who sets up the Google Business Profile link, the contact form and the page titles, since those small jobs decide whether the site brings calls. Get the deposit and payment schedule in writing, along with what you receive if the project stops halfway.
Look at 3 live sites the designer built in the last year, on your phone. Then ask how long they have been doing this and who else will work on your project, so you know whose judgment you are buying.
Every one of those questions has a fixed answer at FreeWebGuy, which is the point of the model: the domain is yours, the site runs on SMBcrm, the text is written from your brief, your own edits are included and new pages are quoted first. There is no deposit, because nothing is charged until you approve the preview. The website examples are open to anyone, and the team behind them has built 1,000+ websites.
When is paying a designer the right call?
Paying a designer is the right call when the site has to do something a standard small business site does not. A membership area, a quoting tool, an integration with the software that runs your business, a brand identity built from scratch, or a site you intend to own as code and develop for years are all reasons to spend the thousands, and a good freelancer or agency earns them.
It is also the right call when you want one person who will learn your business and stay on it. A retainer with a designer you trust is a working relationship, and some owners value that more than the savings.
FreeWebGuy is the right call when you need the pages a typical small business needs, you need them soon, and you would rather approve a finished site than manage a project. Our scope comes from your brief, and we review every brief and can decline a project that does not fit; when a brief calls for a custom build, we say so, and this page is the one we point to.
