White-label web development pricing: what a studio actually pays
A new page template built from a studio's design usually costs $150–250 white-label, a page that reuses existing sections less, and a complex page (a hub with filters, a slider, custom blocks) from about $300. A real nine-page project for a US design studio came to $2,100 fixed, about $233 a page.
By Abhinav Saxena · Last checked
- New page template
- $150–250
- Complex page
- from ~$300
- Real 9-page project
- $2,100 fixed
Where the money goes: the hours behind one page
A page isn't one task. For a typical new template built from a Figma file into a WordPress block theme, the time goes roughly like this: reading the design and planning reusable sections (about half an hour), building the sections in the studio's theme and conventions (2–3 hours), making them editable for the client (half an hour to an hour), checking against the design at desktop, tablet and phone (half an hour), accessibility checks and fixes (half an hour), confirming the rest of the site didn't change (15 minutes), and delivery as drafts and a pull request with one round of feedback (half an hour).
That's about 5–6 hours for a new template. A page that reuses built sections drops to 3–4; a complex page can take 7–10. Per-page pricing works because the price follows that real effort, and you know it before work starts.
A real project: nine pages for a US design studio
This October we built nine pages from a design studio's approved designs for its client, a building-products manufacturer, inside the studio's own WordPress block theme and Git repository: five solution pages, a homepage, a Why Us page, a knowledge hub and a careers page with a people slider.
It was $2,100 fixed, about $233 a page; under a week from the go-ahead to the last page; three batches, each a pull request the studio merged within about a day; payment 30% to start, 40% after the first batch and 30% on final delivery. The later solution pages reused sections from the first ones, which kept the average down even though the homepage, hub and careers page were complex.
The three pricing models, and when each one fits
Per page (fixed): best for most studio projects. You know the cost before you quote your client, and the developer carries the risk of overruns. Check what counts as a page (a template versus each URL) and how many revision rounds are included.
Hourly: best for unclear work such as fixes and investigations. Ask for an estimate before each task and a monthly ceiling.
Monthly block of hours: best when you send work every month. Reserved hours at a lower rate and faster starts. Check that unused hours carry over and that you can stop with 30 days' notice.
What usually changes when a quote is much lower
Quotes for the same page can differ five to ten times. The lower ones usually save money in one of these places, none of which shows up in the quote:
- A ready-made theme bent to look roughly like your design, instead of your design built
- A page builder bolted on, harder for your client to edit without breaking the layout
- No accessibility work, until a client or a complaint asks
- No testing at phone and tablet widths
- Your theme's conventions ignored, so your team inherits a mess
- No check that new CSS didn't quietly change pages already live
Checklist: what a white-label quote should say
Before comparing two quotes, check that both include:
- The price per page or template, and what counts as one
- Which design files they work from, and that the build matches at desktop, tablet and phone
- Your platform and conventions: your theme, your builder, your Git workflow
- How your client will edit content without breaking the layout
- Accessibility: which standard (WCAG 2.2 AA) and how it's checked
- Revision rounds included, and the price of extra ones
- Delivery as drafts, staging or a pull request you review first
- Dates in writing, batch by batch for bigger jobs
- White-label terms: no credit, no contact with your client, NDA if you need one
- Payment terms: a deposit, then per batch
Typical white-label prices, by page
| What you're buying | Price | What drives it |
|---|---|---|
| Page that reuses built sections | less than a new template | Mostly assembly and checks |
| New page template (5–8 sections) | $150–250 | New sections to build and check at three widths |
| Complex page (hub, filters, slider) | from about $300 | Custom behaviour and more testing |
| Fix on a live site | $99–150 | Diagnosis plus a tested fix |
| Reserved monthly hours | $900 / $1,700 / $3,200 | 20, 40 or 80 hours; faster starts |
| Care for a client site | $59 / $119 / $279 a month | Updates, checks, edits, report with your logo |
Prices are Kodinav's white-label prices to studios (USD), agreed in writing before work starts.
Questions studios ask about price
For most small studios, yes, until there's enough steady work to keep a full-time developer busy every week. Below that you pay for idle time. A monthly block of hours sits in between.
Yes. A single page is the safest way to test a partner. If the first page isn't right, you don't pay for it.
You set your price. As a worked example, a 5-page build you sell for $3,000 that costs you 5 × $200 = $1,000 leaves $2,000. Knowing the developer's price per page before you quote is what lets you decide the margin.
The per-page logic is the same. Shopify pages with custom sections tend to sit at the top of the range.