By Mehdi HassanIs a fixed-price or hourly web project safer for the buyer?
For most marketing websites, a fixed-price project is safer for the buyer. You know the total before you start, and the agency carries the cost if the work takes longer than planned. Time and materials, where you pay for hours worked, is safer only when the scope genuinely can't be known in advance and you need room to change direction.
We're a fixed-price studio, so read this with that in mind. Our prices are published: $8,000 for a website of up to six pages, $6,000 for a landing page, $3,000 for a brand and design sprint. We'll still tell you when hourly billing is the better fit, because it sometimes is. For how pricing affects your launch date, see our hub on how long it takes to build a website.
What is the difference between fixed price and time and materials?
A fixed-price project has an agreed scope and an agreed total. A time and materials project has an agreed rate and a running total based on hours spent. Everything else about the two models, from how change is handled to how the agency behaves, follows from that difference.
Factor | Fixed price | Time and materials |
|---|---|---|
What's agreed | Scope and total price | Hourly or daily rate |
Who carries overrun risk | The agency | You |
Budget certainty | High | Low until the work is done |
Handling change | Change requests, priced separately | Absorbed into hours, often unnoticed |
Up-front effort | More: scope must be written down | Less: work can start sooner |
Incentive for the agency | Finish efficiently | No direct penalty for taking longer |
Best for | Marketing sites, landing pages, defined builds | Discovery, R&D, evolving products |
Neither model guarantees quality. A fixed price can tempt an agency to cut corners late in a project, and an hourly rate can tempt it to slow down. What protects you in both is a clear written scope and a team you trust.
Why is a fixed-price website safer for most buyers?
A fixed-price website is safer because it turns a vague promise into a defined deliverable. To quote a fixed price, the agency has to list pages, templates, integrations, feedback rounds and exclusions. That list is your protection: if something on it isn't delivered, it's clear, and if something off it is needed, it's a separate decision.
It also changes behaviour on both sides. The agency plans carefully because overruns come out of its margin. You decide faster because a late change has a visible cost. Our guide to fixed price website design covers what a good fixed-price scope should contain.
- Designify website, up to 6 pages, fixed
- $8,000
- Each extra page beyond six
- +$500
- Designify landing page, fixed
- $6,000
The risk with fixed price is a scope that's too vague. A quote that says website redesign, six pages with no detail gives neither side anything to hold. Read every line before you sign.
When does time and materials genuinely fit a web project?
Time and materials genuinely fits when nobody can write the scope yet. That covers early product discovery, technical research, a rebuild of an unknown legacy system, or a product team that changes priorities every sprint. In those cases, a fixed price would either be padded heavily or renegotiated every few weeks.
- Discovery and prototyping: you need to learn what to build before you can price it.
- Legacy systems: the existing code or content is unknown until someone opens it.
- Embedded teams: a developer working inside your product team on a changing backlog.
- Small, unpredictable fixes: occasional maintenance where a monthly fixed fee would be wasted.
A middle route often works better: a short fixed-price discovery to define the scope, then a fixed price for the build. It gives you the learning of time and materials and the certainty of a fixed scope.
How does each model handle scope changes?
Fixed price handles change through explicit change requests. Time and materials handles it by billing the extra hours. The first is more visible and slightly more formal. The second is easier in the moment and harder to control over a whole project.
Scope change is where web budgets break. A new page, a second audience, an integration nobody mentioned at kickoff: each one is reasonable on its own. Under time and materials they pile up quietly. Under fixed price, each one is a decision you make with the cost in front of you. Our guide to scope creep in web design explains how to manage those requests in either model.
Hypothetical example: the same change under both models
For example, suppose a startup's website project is halfway through when the team decides it needs a comparison page against a competitor.
Under a fixed price, the studio writes a short change request: one extra page, its price and its effect on the date. The founder approves it or puts it on the list for after launch.
Under time and materials, the team simply starts on it. The page takes longer than expected because it needs new copy, a new table component and a legal review. The extra hours show up on the next invoice.
Neither outcome is wrong. The difference is when the buyer sees the cost: before the work under a fixed price, after it under time and materials. This is an illustration, not a real client project.
What should a fixed-scope web design contract include?
A fixed-scope web design contract should list everything you're paying for and everything you aren't. If a line is missing, assume it's not included and ask. The items below are the ones most often left vague.
- The page list and the number of unique templates
- Who writes the copy, and how much
- The number of feedback rounds per phase
- The platform, CMS and integrations
- QA scope: devices, browsers, forms, tracking, accessibility basics
- Launch scope: domain, redirects, analytics, search setup
- How change requests are priced and approved
Copy is the line that changes quotes the most. Our research found landing page quotes that differed tenfold depending on whether strategy and writing were included. Read in-house vs agency web content to decide who should own it, and the web design process to see where it fits in the schedule.
Fixed price vs time and materials: which should you choose?
Choose fixed price for a marketing website, a landing page or any build you can describe page by page. Choose time and materials for discovery, R&D or embedded product work where the scope is genuinely unknown. If you're unsure, split the project: a short fixed discovery, then a fixed build.
Whichever you choose, check how the studio works week to week before signing. Our guide to working with a design agency and our explainer on what a full-service web design agency covers will help you compare.
