WordPress Development

What custom WordPress development actually costs in 2026.

Content complexity and custom functionality drive the price more than the platform itself. Here's the real breakdown by project tier.

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Marketing Site

$2K – $5K

A professional marketing or brochure site with clean content management.

Custom or carefully structured theme, not a bloated page builder
Content modeling for a small set of page types
Basic SEO and performance setup
Editor-friendly publishing workflow

Content Platform

$5K – $8K

A content-heavy site with a blog, resource library, or more complex publishing needs.

Structured content modeling across multiple content types
Custom fields and editor workflows (ACF-based)
Search, filtering, or taxonomy-driven content organization
Stronger performance and Core Web Vitals work

Custom / WooCommerce / LMS

$8K – $12K+

Custom functionality beyond standard content — an online store, LMS, or bespoke feature set.

WooCommerce store setup with custom product/checkout logic
Custom LMS or membership functionality
Custom plugin development for non-standard requirements
Migration support if moving from another CMS or a legacy WordPress site
What Moves the Price

Factors that affect your cost

How many distinct content types and page templates the site needs
Whether the build is a custom theme or adapted from an existing design system
Whether WooCommerce, an LMS, or other custom functionality is in scope
How much of the content needs to be migrated from an existing site
How much editor/content-team workflow customization is needed beyond default WordPress editing
FAQs

Questions about pricing

Is a page builder cheaper than a custom build?

Sometimes cheaper upfront, but page builders often cost more long-term through slower performance, harder maintenance, and SEO tradeoffs. We'll recommend a page builder honestly when it genuinely fits — small, simple sites with no growth plans — but we don't default to one.

Does headless WordPress cost more than traditional WordPress?

Yes, headless setups (WordPress as a CMS with a separate frontend like Next.js) cost more upfront due to the added architecture, but can be worth it for sites needing frontend flexibility or performance beyond what traditional WordPress themes deliver.

What's not included in these price ranges?

Hosting costs, premium plugin licenses, and ongoing content updates after launch — these are typically small ongoing costs, not part of the development price.

Can you migrate our content without losing SEO rankings?

Yes — migration engagements include URL mapping, redirects, and metadata continuity planning specifically to protect existing search rankings during the move.

Want an exact number, not a range?

Tell us what you're building and we'll give you a scope-based quote after a free discovery call — no generic rate card.

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