Cost guide

How much does a WordPress site cost in 2026?

A custom WordPress theme runs $1K–$8K at the direct rate, as a fixed quote against an itemised list of templates and blocks. The monthly care plan and per-page template builds are priced on their own below, and every figure becomes a written proposal within 48 hours.

Request this option See the full rate card

Direct rate, in ₹ or $ · Itemised proposal in 48 hrs

The range

What it costs,
at the direct rate.

A fixed quote for the theme, a monthly care plan for keeping it patched, and a per-page rate for the templates that come after.

ProjectCustom theme build$1K–$8Kfixed quote, one-time
RetainerCare plan$75–$500per month
Per unitPage or template build$150–$600per page

Indicative: every figure is refined into an itemised proposal within 48 hours.INR figures shown excl. GST.

Every option includes a Prism workspace for requests, approvals, tasks and the weekly review.

What moves the price

Why the range
is a range.

Template count

A template is one kind of page: the article, the service page, the team page, the landing page. Each is designed once and built once, and the pages made from it are free. That count of kinds is the estimate.

Biggest lever

The blocks your editors need

WordPress pages are assembled from blocks in the block editor, the writing screen your team uses. The core blocks cover text, images and lists. Anything specific to you, a pricing table, a testimonial strip, a comparison, is a custom block. Each custom block is a small plugin: built, tested, made safe to update. The number of custom blocks is the second line on the estimate.

Editor lever

Plugins: what stays, what code replaces

Every plugin is a monthly update that can disagree with the others, and often a script on every page. The audit sorts the list: what stays, what a few lines of theme code replace, what a custom plugin should do properly. Replacing costs build hours once and removes an update risk for good. A long plugin list is the first place a rescue quote goes down.

Hidden lever

Getting the content across

Content migration and entry are priced separately, because moving content is a different job from building the templates that hold it. Content in a clean export moves by script. Content inside a page builder, the drag-and-drop layer some themes add on top of WordPress, must be pulled out of that layer first, and that is hours.

Often forgotten

Whether the site is a rescue

A site someone else built arrives with a plugin list nobody dares touch and no record of why. Rescue work is scoped after an audit of what is actually running. The audit decides between surgery and a rebuild by the arithmetic, not by preference. Most rescues are surgery; the proposal shows why yours is or is not.

Debt lever

How much changes each month

The care plan is priced by the work a month brings: how many plugins must be tested together on staging, and how many small fixes the allowance must cover. A short plugin list on a site that changes rarely sits at the bottom. A long list on a site with a publishing calendar sits at the top, and past a point the per-page rate is the better buy.

Ongoing lever

The options

Which option
fits your case.

Each option below is one way to buy WordPress. Read what it is and who it fits, then request the one that matches your case; the proposal itemises it.

Project

Custom theme build

$1K–$8Kfixed quote, one-time

What it is

A bespoke theme built around your content model, with custom blocks your editors understand and none of the page-builder layer, at a fixed price against the list of templates and blocks. Code any WordPress developer could take over.

Who it fits

Content-led and marketing sites with an editorial team that wants to publish without a developer in the loop, and any brand that wants to own its code outright. It does not fit a complex web application, priced under web development, or a store, priced on the WooCommerce row.

Included

Custom theme under version control in your accounts
Custom blocks and templates built for your content model
Plugin audit: what stays, what a few lines of code replaces
Hardened auth, least-privilege roles, staged updates, backups with tested restore
Core Web Vitals measured on every release

Not included, quoted separately

Hosting and premium plugin licences
Content migration and entry
Design (see Web design)
WooCommerce, priced on its own row

Turnaround: Focused themes in weeks; first deliverable on staging within 14 days of NDA
Moves the number: Template count: a theme with six templates and one with thirty share an architecture and very little else.

Request this option →

Retainer

Care plan

$75–$500per month

What it is

A monthly plan for the boring maintenance that keeps a WordPress site safe and current, with a named engineer accountable when a patch matters and an allowance for the small fixes every site needs.

Who it fits

Any WordPress site in production with a plugin list we have audited, whether we built it or not. A site arriving with debt gets the rescue scoped first, then the plan. A site nobody will let us update on a schedule does not fit, because late updates are how WordPress sites get broken into.

Included

Core, theme and plugin updates, tested on staging before production
Automated off-site backups with a restore path we have rehearsed
A named engineer accountable for the patch that cannot wait
A monthly allowance of small content and template fixes

Not included, quoted separately

Hosting
New templates, priced per page below
Rescue work on a site we did not build, scoped separately

Turnaround: Monthly, 3-month minimum
Moves the number: Plugin count: every plugin is one more update that can disagree with the others, and testing the disagreements is the job.

Request this option →

Per unit

Page or template build

$150–$600per page

One unit: one custom template or landing page, built in the existing theme, tested and published

What it is

One new template or landing page, built in the theme's existing block system, tested across browsers and devices, and published or handed to your editors to fill. A unit price for the pages that come after launch.

Who it fits

Sites we built or audited, whose block system we know. It does not fit a page that needs blocks the theme lacks, which is quoted as new blocks first, or a theme we have never seen, where the audit comes before the page.

Included

Template built on the theme's existing block system
Cross-browser and device pass
Clean markup for search engines and screen readers
Published, or handed to your editors to fill

Not included, quoted separately

Copy and imagery
New custom blocks the theme does not yet have

Turnaround: 3 to 5 working days per page
Moves the number: Whether the page reuses existing blocks or needs new ones: a new block is a small plugin in disguise.

Request this option →

Cheaper or dearer

What moves a quote
down, or up.

The proposal itemises templates, blocks and plugins, so every item below is a line you can see move before you sign.

Brings the quote down

Signed-off designs and a content export in a structured format
Kinds of page that share a layout, so templates are variations rather than designs
Custom blocks kept to what the core blocks cannot do
A plugin list the audit can shorten to what earns its keep
Hosting already chosen and in your name, with staging available

Pushes the quote up

Every kind of page with its own design, and many kinds of page
Custom blocks with logic in them: calculators, filters, comparisons
Content trapped in a page builder that must be extracted before it moves
Several languages, each a copy of every template's content
Commerce, which is priced on the WooCommerce row rather than here

What you get

What the fee
actually buys.

The fee buys a theme your team can run, the code to own it and a monthly account of its upkeep. Rankings and traffic are not promised, because a theme cannot promise what people search for. The site's speed, its safety and its markup are.

A theme under version control, in your accounts

The theme and every custom block live in a repository in your name, with IP assigned in the contract. Nothing depends on a page builder's licence or on us.

Blocks built for your content

Each custom block is designed for what your editors actually publish, with the settings they need and the guardrails that stop a layout breaking.

A plugin audit with a verdict per plugin

Every plugin listed with what it does, whether it is maintained, what it weighs and what would replace it. The decisions are yours; the arithmetic is written down.

Hardening and backups you can test

Hardened login, least-privilege roles and off-site backups with a rehearsed restore, so a bad update or a break-in is an afternoon, not a rebuild.

Speed measured on every release

Core Web Vitals, Google's measures of how fast a page loads and responds, are checked on every release, because WordPress gets slow one plugin at a time.

What the providers bill you directly

Hosting, domains and premium plugin licences are billed by their providers to your accounts, never inside the fee. We recommend, configure and document.

AgenciesAgency partners buy at the partner rates on agencies.pixelcrayons.com; volume terms are agreed under NDA.

Request the partner card →

Questions

Frequently
asked.

Because the marketplace theme is a starting point that has to be beaten into shape, and the beating is what you pay for later. It ships with settings for every buyer, a page-builder layer that slows every request, and a redesign that means a rebuild. A custom theme is built once, around your content model, with only what your editors need. It costs more on the invoice and less over the years, and the proposal shows both.

No. Hosting is billed by the host to an account in your name, and so are premium plugin licences and the domain. The care plan pays for the engineering around them: updates tested on staging, backups with a rehearsed restore, and someone accountable when a patch matters. Keeping hosting outside the fee means you can change host without changing us.

The updates are free; applying them safely is not. Each update can disagree with the plugins beside it, and applying them blind to production is how sites go down. The plan tests every update on staging first, keeps off-site backups with a rehearsed restore, and puts a named engineer on the patch that cannot wait. The fee buys the testing and the accountability, not the software.

By the page, when it reuses the blocks the theme already has. The per-page rate covers building the template on the existing block system, testing it, and publishing it or handing it to your editors. A page that needs a block the theme lacks is quoted as the new block first, because a new block is a small plugin in disguise. The proposal for the page says which case yours is.

No. Content migration and entry are priced as their own lines, because moving content is a different job from building templates. A clean export moves by script and costs little. Content buried in a page builder has to be extracted block by block, and that is hours. The proposal prices the move once we have seen where the content lives.

It is scoped after an audit, not from a menu, because no two inherited sites carry the same debt. The audit lists what is running, what is slow, what is unsafe and what would replace it. The proposal then prices surgery on the site you have or, where the arithmetic says so, a rebuild. Once rescued, the site moves onto the care plan so the debt does not grow back.

Other cost guides
and the service itself.

How much does a website cost in 2026?Cost guide: the options, what moves the price and what the fee buys.How much does a Shopify store cost in 2026?Cost guide: the options, what moves the price and what the fee buys.How much does web design cost in 2026?Cost guide: the options, what moves the price and what the fee buys.About WordPressThe service page: what the work is, how it runs and the proof behind it.WordPress on the rate cardThe same ranges beside every other service, in one card.

Last updated 4 September 2026

What it costs,at the direct rate.

Why the rangeis a range.

Template count

The blocks your editors need

Plugins: what stays, what code replaces

Getting the content across

Whether the site is a rescue

How much changes each month

Which optionfits your case.

Custom theme build

Care plan

Page or template build

What moves a quotedown, or up.

What the feeactually buys.

A theme under version control, in your accounts

Blocks built for your content

A plugin audit with a verdict per plugin

Hardening and backups you can test

Speed measured on every release

What the providers bill you directly

Frequentlyasked.

Other cost guidesand the service itself.

What it costs,
at the direct rate.

Why the range
is a range.

Which option
fits your case.

What moves a quote
down, or up.

What the fee
actually buys.

Frequently
asked.

Other cost guides
and the service itself.