UI/UX Designer Rates and Pricing (2026)
Updated August 2026 · Based on BLS OEWS wage data
UI/UX designers charge $75 to $195 per hour in 2026, with a median rate of $120. Product designers set project fees from $1,500 for a simple website to $150,000 for an enterprise platform. UX designers bill four ways: hourly, per project, per two-week sprint at $5,000 to $15,000, and monthly retainer. Interface designers earn less than agencies, which charge $150 to $350 per hour, and more than offshore studios at $25 to $60. This page maps every rate, factor, and pricing model a digital designer quotes.
UI/UX designer rates by experience level
UI/UX designer hourly rates rise from $75 at entry level to $195 for senior product designers, a 2.6x spread. Experience sets the floor, while design-system and SaaS work commands the top of the range.
| Experience Level | Hourly Rate |
|---|---|
| Junior (0–2 yrs) | $75–$100 |
| Mid-level (3–5 yrs) | $100–$140 |
| Senior (5–10 yrs) | $140–$175 |
| Expert / Lead (10+) | $175–$195+ |
Senior product designers command the $195 ceiling while junior interface designers anchor the $75 floor, and those hourly tiers translate directly into the project prices below.
Calculate your ui/ux designer rate
Set your own rate: the calculator applies your income target, billable hours, overhead, skill level, and metro area to the BLS wage baseline for UI/UX designers.
Typical project work, moderate complexity.
Factor in AI tool subscriptions
Your Rate
Day Rate
$450
Project Est.
$2,200
Retainer
$8,350/mo
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UI/UX design cost by project type
UI/UX design costs $1,500 to $8,000 for a simple website, $8,000 to $25,000 for an MVP app, $15,000 to $50,000 for a SaaS dashboard, and $50,000 to $150,000 for an enterprise platform. Screen count and design-system depth set the price.
| Project Type | Typical Cost | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Simple website | $1,500–$8,000 | 2–4 weeks |
| MVP app | $8,000–$25,000 | 4–8 weeks |
| SaaS dashboard | $15,000–$50,000 | 6–12 weeks |
| Enterprise product | $50,000–$150,000 | 3–6 months |
Product designers price these projects through one of four billing models, which the next section breaks down.
How UI/UX designers charge: hourly, sprint, or project
UI/UX designers use four pricing models: hourly at $75 to $195, fixed project fees from $1,500 to $150,000, two-week sprints at $5,000 to $15,000, and monthly retainers. Interface designers pick the model that matches project scope and client cash flow.
Hourly billing
UI/UX designers bill hourly between $75 and $195, and the median hourly rate sits at $120. Product designers use hourly billing for open-ended work like usability testing, wireframe revisions, and design-system maintenance. Interface designers track billable hours inside Figma and prototyping tools, then invoice every two weeks. Hourly rates suit projects where the user flow and scope shift after each round of feedback.
Monthly retainer
UI/UX designers charge monthly retainers that reserve a fixed block of hours each month. Product designers set retainers at 40 to 80 hours, which at $120 per hour bill $4,800 to $9,600 monthly. Digital designers use retainers to maintain a component library, ship new screens, and own accessibility across a growing product. Retainers give clients priority access and give the designer predictable revenue.
Project and deliverable pricing
UI/UX designers quote fixed project fees from $1,500 for a simple website to $150,000 for an enterprise platform. Product designers also sell two-week sprints at $5,000 to $15,000, which package discovery, wireframes, and a clickable prototype into one deliverable. Interface designers price projects by counting screens, user flows, and design-system components, then adding a handoff phase. Fixed fees protect the designer from scope creep when the information architecture is locked before work starts.
A UI/UX designer weighing time against fixed pricing should read the guide on hourly rate vs project fee, which walks through when each model wins.
For deeper detail on one specialization, see design system creation cost.
Freelance vs agency vs offshore UI/UX design cost
Freelance UI/UX designers charge $75 to $195 per hour, agencies charge $150 to $350, and offshore studios charge $25 to $60. Product designers hired direct cost less than agencies and deliver deeper product context than offshore teams working across time zones.
Freelance UI/UX designers charge $75 to $195 per hour and carry no agency overhead, so a client pays only for design time. Product designers working solo own the full user flow, from wireframe to handoff, which removes the account-manager layer that agencies bill. Interface designers at the top of the freelance range match agency quality at half the agency rate of $150 to $350 per hour. Offshore UX designers charge $25 to $60 per hour and win on price alone. Digital designers based offshore work across a 10-to-12-hour time gap, which stretches every feedback loop on a wireframe or prototype. Product designers evaluating the three options weigh a 3x to 6x price spread against communication speed, design-system fluency, and accountability for the final deliverable.
What determines a ui/ux designer's rate
Six factors move a UI/UX designer's rate: experience, project complexity, deliverable scope, industry, location, and design-system depth. Product designers who build reusable component libraries and own accessibility charge 40 to 60 percent above designers who ship static screens.
- 1.Experience adds $120 per hour between a junior interface designer at $75 and a senior product designer at $195.
- 2.Project complexity raises fees from $1,500 for a simple website to $150,000 for an enterprise platform with hundreds of screens.
- 3.Deliverable scope lifts a quote 40 percent when a design system, component library, and handoff documentation join the core screens.
- 4.Industry sets a premium: fintech and healthcare UX designers charge 25 to 50 percent above designers serving small-business clients.
- 5.Location splits the market, with US freelance designers at $75 to $195 per hour and offshore studios at $25 to $60.
- 6.Design-system depth commands the top rate, because reusable infrastructure costs 2x more to build than a one-off set of screens.
Geography is anchored in public data; the market benchmarking methodology shows how regional price parities map onto every metro.
How to set your ui/ux designer rate
UI/UX designers set a floor rate by dividing annual costs by billable hours. A product designer spends $3,000 a year on Figma, plugins, and prototyping tools, targets 1,300 billable hours, and marks up for profit to reach a defensible hourly floor near $120.
- 1.Start with the tool stack: a UI/UX designer pays $3,000 a year for Figma, plugins, and prototyping tools.
- 2.Add overhead: a product designer adds $27,000 for hardware, insurance, and self-employment taxes, bringing fixed costs to $30,000.
- 3.Add a target salary: a UX designer targeting $90,000 raises the annual number to recover to $120,000.
- 4.Divide by billable hours: an interface designer bills 1,300 hours a year, so $120,000 divided by 1,300 equals $92 per hour.
- 5.Add margin: a digital designer marks the $92 base up 30 percent to a $120 floor rate, matching the market median.
Key takeaway
A UI/UX designer who charges below $92 per hour loses money after tools and taxes, so $120 is the floor, not the ceiling.
The formula behind the floor calculation is documented in full — see how floor rate works.
How much does it cost to hire a UI/UX designer?
Hiring a UI/UX designer costs $75 to $195 per hour freelance, $150 to $350 per hour through an agency, and $25 to $60 per hour offshore. A full product design engagement runs $8,000 to $50,000 depending on screen count and design-system scope.
| Hiring Option | Typical Cost | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Freelance designer | $75–$195/hr | Most product and app design |
| Agency | $150–$350/hr | Enterprise, full product teams |
| Offshore designer | $25–$60/hr | Budget UI production |
| MVP app design | $8,000–$25,000 | Startup product launch |
| SaaS dashboard | $15,000–$50,000 | Data-heavy product design |
Clients hiring a UI/UX designer choose among three sources at three price points: freelancers at $75 to $195 per hour, agencies at $150 to $350, and offshore studios at $25 to $60. Product designers hired freelance fit budgets of $8,000 to $50,000 for a full app or dashboard, while agencies suit $50,000-plus enterprise builds that need multiple specialists. A fair freelance quote itemizes wireframes, prototypes, a design system, usability testing, and handoff, and it ties each deliverable to a screen count. Clients reading a quote should check three signals: the designer prices a design system as reusable infrastructure rather than a flat set of screens, the timeline runs 2 to 8 weeks for an MVP and 8 to 16 weeks for a SaaS dashboard, and the rate falls inside the $75 to $195 freelance band. A UX designer who quotes $40 per hour for US work signals either offshore subcontracting or missing scope, and a digital designer who skips usability testing under-scopes the deliverable.
How much do UI/UX designers make per year?
A freelance UI/UX designer grossing $120 per hour earns roughly $156,000 on 1,300 billable hours, but after $30,000 in costs and self-employment tax the take-home equals a salaried product designer earning about $95,000.
| Path | Annual Income | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Employed designer | $70,000–$120,000 | Salary plus benefits |
| Senior / lead | $120,000–$170,000 | Salary plus benefits |
| Freelance (mid-level) | $115,000–$160,000 | 1,150 hrs × $100–$140 |
| Freelance (senior) | $160,000–$225,000 | 1,150 hrs × $140–$195 |
| Agency owner | $220,000+ | Leverage beyond own hours |
A UI/UX designer billing the $120 median across 1,300 billable hours grosses $156,000 a year. Product designers subtract $30,000 for tools, software, and overhead, then pay roughly 15 percent self-employment tax on the remainder, which nets about $107,000. Interface designers lose another slice to unpaid time spent on proposals, revisions, and admin, so a $120 freelance rate maps to a salaried product-designer package near $95,000. Digital designers who want to match a $120,000 salary must charge $150 per hour or raise billable hours above 1,400.
The salary to hourly calculator converts any target salary into the freelance rate that matches it.
Design systems get quoted like a stack of screens, and that single mistake costs designers more than any other. Running a thirty-person growth vertical at Schbang, I have seen component libraries outlive three website redesigns while the designer who built one charged a flat per-screen fee and never saw the compounding value. A design system is infrastructure that every future feature depends on, which is why the SaaS dashboard and enterprise bands on this page sit multiples above a marketing site. Price the reuse, not the artboard count.
Smith Shah
Builder of WhatShouldICharge · SEO & Growth Leader
Smith Shah is Group Head of SEO, Content & Growth at Schbang, one of India's largest independent digital agencies. He built and leads a 30-member team spanning SEO, content strategy, CRO, analytics, and experimentation — driving organic growth for brands including UltraTech Cement, Swiggy, Motorola, Jio Business, and Tata Communications. He teaches pricing, SEO, and growth strategy at institutions including MastersUnion, KC College, HubSpot Academy, and upGrad. WhatShouldICharge is built from 7 years of watching freelancers and agencies undercharge because they lacked the data to price with confidence.
UI/UX Designer rate FAQ
How much does a UI/UX designer charge per hour?
$75 to $195 per hour is the 2026 range, with a median of $120. Junior interface designers start at $75, and senior product designers reach $195.
How much does it cost to design an app?
$8,000 to $25,000 covers an MVP app, and $15,000 to $50,000 covers a SaaS dashboard. A simple website costs $1,500 to $8,000, and an enterprise platform runs $50,000 to $150,000.
What is a design sprint and what does it cost?
$5,000 to $15,000 buys a two-week design sprint. A product designer packages discovery, wireframes, and a clickable prototype into the sprint deliverable.
Is a freelance UI/UX designer cheaper than an agency?
Yes — freelancers charge $75 to $195 per hour versus $150 to $350 at an agency. A freelance product designer costs roughly half the agency rate because there is no account-management overhead.
How much do offshore UI/UX designers charge?
$25 to $60 per hour covers offshore UI/UX designers. Offshore rates run 3x to 6x below US freelance rates but add a 10-to-12-hour time-zone gap to every feedback loop.
How do I set my UI/UX design rate?
$120 per hour is the floor for a full-time freelance designer. Divide $120,000 in annual costs and salary by 1,300 billable hours to reach a $92 base, then add a 30 percent margin.
What should a UI/UX design quote include?
Five deliverables belong in a quote: wireframes, a clickable prototype, a design system, usability testing, and developer handoff. Each line ties to a screen count and a user flow.
How long does a UI/UX design project take?
2 to 8 weeks covers an MVP app, and 8 to 16 weeks covers a SaaS dashboard. A simple website takes 1 to 3 weeks from wireframe to handoff.
Rate setting is one part of running a UI/UX designer business. These guides cover the operational decisions that follow.