Should I show my hourly rate to the client?

Usually not. Use the hourly rate to calculate, then quote a fixed price for a defined scope. Clients compare fixed prices easily and worry less about the clock running. Keep the hourly rate for work outside the scope.

How much deposit should I ask for?

Many freelancers ask for half up front and the rest on delivery, or a third at each milestone for bigger projects. The point is that you never do most of the work before any money arrives.

Is it OK to charge less now that AI builds sites faster?

Faster building lowers your hours, not the value of the result. You can pass part of the time saved to the client and keep part as margin. What clients still pay you for is judgment: what to say, what to cut, what will bring them customers.

What do I do when a client says it is too expensive?

Ask what budget they had in mind, then remove scope to fit it instead of cutting your rate. Fewer pages, no blog, their own photos. Lowering the price for the same work teaches the client that your first number was not real.

How much to charge for a website in 2026

Rafaell Sousa

updated Oct 5, 2026 · 4 min

The short answer

Charge enough to cover your hours at a rate that pays your bills, your tools and your taxes, plus a margin for the surprises every project brings. In practice: estimate the hours, multiply by your real hourly rate, add costs and a buffer, and quote a fixed price for a clearly defined scope. Freelance sites in the US range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars; where you land depends on scope and the value to the client, not on the number of pages.

Start with your floor, not with the market

Most freelancers price by looking at what others charge. The problem is that you have no idea what those people's costs, hours or results are. Start from your own numbers instead, then check them against the market.

Your floor is the lowest hourly rate at which this work makes sense for you:

Monthly income you need, before tax.
Add your business costs: software, hardware, internet, accountant, insurance.
Add taxes: in the US, self-employment tax plus income tax can take a large share. Ask an accountant for your real number.
Divide by your billable hours, not your working hours. Sales calls, email, admin and learning are not billable. Many freelancers bill half or less of the time they work.

That result is your minimum hourly rate. Below it, every project costs you money even if it feels busy.

Estimate the hours honestly

List every step of a typical project and put hours next to each one:

Discovery call and proposal
Collecting content and chasing the client for it (often the longest part)
Structure and design
Building the pages
Forms, integrations, booking or store
Revisions rounds
Domain, email, launch and handover
Training the client and answering questions in the first weeks

Then add a buffer. Projects go over, almost never under. A buffer of 20 to 30 percent on your estimate is a common rule of thumb; use your own past projects to calibrate it.

Fixed price, hourly or value

Model	When it works	The risk
Hourly	Unclear scope, ongoing changes	The client watches the clock, you are punished for being fast
Fixed price	Defined scope, typical small business site	Scope creep if the proposal is vague
Value based	The site clearly drives revenue (bookings, leads, sales)	Needs a client who sees the site as an investment

For most small business sites, fixed price for a written scope is the best balance. You calculate with hours, quote one number, and anything outside the scope becomes a new quote.

A worked example

Say your floor is $60 an hour and a five-page site for a local service business takes you 25 hours including the back and forth. Add a 25 percent buffer: about 31 hours. That is roughly 1,900 dollars of your time. Add the cost of any paid tools or plugins you buy for this project, and round to a clean number for the quote.

If the site includes online booking, a lead form that feeds their sales, or a page per service in three nearby towns, it is worth more to the client, and that is where value pricing comes in. The calculation above is your floor, not your ceiling.

Those numbers are an example, not a benchmark. Plug in your own.

Check your number against the market

Once you have your floor, look outward. Not to copy anyone, but to see where you sit.

Ask clients what else they considered. "Who else are you talking to?" is a normal question in a discovery call, and the answer tells you whether you are competing with DIY builders, other freelancers or agencies.
Look at your win rate. If you close almost every proposal, your price is probably low. If you close almost none, the problem may be price, but it may also be the proposal or the kind of client you attract.
Raise prices for new clients first. Each time your calendar fills up, raise your quote for the next proposals by a step. Existing clients keep their agreed price until the yearly review.

What to charge separately

Price the one-time work and the ongoing work apart. Mixing them hides your real price and makes the monthly part easy to cut.

One-time: design, build, content setup, launch.
Monthly: hosting, domain renewal, email, small edits, backups, checks.
Extras: copywriting, photography, logo, extra revision rounds, new pages after launch.

Write down what one revision round means (one consolidated list of changes, not a stream of messages) and how many are included.

Mistakes that drain your margin

Starting without a deposit.
A vague scope like "a modern website with the pages you need".
Unlimited revisions.
Paying for the client's domain or hosting on your card and forgetting to bill it.
Doing the monthly work for free because "it is just a small change".

How to do it on Basely

Basely does not set your price. You decide what to charge for the site and for your monthly care, and that is the way it should be.

What changes is the cost side and the selling. With the AI Builder, the agent writes the site from your description and checks it in a real browser, and edits happen by chatting or clicking on the page. Fewer hours per site means your fixed price carries more margin, or you can quote a little lower and still clear your floor.

In Sales, you put the site price, the platform plan, the domain and your monthly fee in one public proposal. The client reads it, signs the contract and pays by card. Basely keeps 15% of the site price only, so factor that into the site quote; your monthly fee is not touched. Each service renews on its own subscription, and the site goes to the client's account with their own login while you keep caring for it.

Calculate your floor today, and quote your next site from that number instead of from a guess.

Try it on Basely

The first AI site is free with a confirmed email.

See how it works

Questions

Should I show my hourly rate to the client?: Usually not. Use the hourly rate to calculate, then quote a fixed price for a defined scope. Clients compare fixed prices easily and worry less about the clock running. Keep the hourly rate for work outside the scope.
How much deposit should I ask for?: Many freelancers ask for half up front and the rest on delivery, or a third at each milestone for bigger projects. The point is that you never do most of the work before any money arrives.
Is it OK to charge less now that AI builds sites faster?: Faster building lowers your hours, not the value of the result. You can pass part of the time saved to the client and keep part as margin. What clients still pay you for is judgment: what to say, what to cut, what will bring them customers.
What do I do when a client says it is too expensive?: Ask what budget they had in mind, then remove scope to fit it instead of cutting your rate. Fewer pages, no blog, their own photos. Lowering the price for the same work teaches the client that your first number was not real.