How Much Does It Cost to Hire a UX Designer?

Launching a digital product without the expertise of a UX designer is a risky move if you want to ensure a seamless user experience. UX design, or user experience design, focuses on creating products that effectively solve customer pain points. The real question isn’t whether UX design is necessary, but rather, how much it will cost to hire a UX designer.

The cost depends on whether you choose to work with a freelancer, an agency, or hire an in-house designer. Freelance platforms like Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer.com, and Toptal offer UX designers ranging from $15 to $75 per hour. Pricing differences often reflect the quality of work, although some skilled designers may charge less to build visibility.

When selecting a UX designer, it’s essential to prioritize expertise over cost. In this guide, we’ll walk you through key factors to consider before hiring the right UX designer for your project.

The Cost of Hiring a UX Designer

The cost of hiring a UX designer depends on the kind of UX designer you want to choose for your project. Again, the options are hiring a freelance UX designer, outsourcing to an agency, or employing an in-house UX designer.

The cost of hiring a freelance UX designer on Fiverr is within the range of $15 to $500 per project. The median range of hiring UX designers on Upwork is $25 to $39 per hour. For professionals on LinkedIn, you can hire a UX designer for $25 to $75 per hour, though this depends on the type of project you want to do. If you are in Europe, the median range for hiring a UX designer is €20 to €70. However, for salary earners in the USA, the hourly rate of UX designers is between $43 and $56.

There are other platforms where you can hire UX designers, like Behance and Dribble. These platforms charge quite a sum for posting job offers. A single job posting fee on Dribble and Behance is $400, while unlimited job posting is $1499 per month.

Some freelancers charge separately for each UX design process, like research, wireframing, prototyping, and user testing. User research ($25 - $65), Wireframing ($30 - $60), and Storyboarding ($30 - $70). This model is good if you only want to outsource an aspect of the project. You will be required to pay only for the service rendered instead of the overall UX design process fee.

However, you need to know that a freelancer will work strictly on the project you offer them, and any addition not in the original plan will incur extra fees; the same applies to an agency. You stand a better chance with an in-house UX designer because their salary is fixed, irrespective of the number of jobs they do per month. Although, it is important to compensate them when they work extra hours.

Things to Consider Before You Hire a UX Designer

Hiring a UX designer goes beyond the cost alone; you must also be sure you are hiring someone fit for the job. Before outsourcing your projects to a freelancer or an agency, you must know some details.

Here are some things to look out for before you hire a UX designer:

User Research Skills

The first thing you want to check in a UX designer’s portfolio is their user research process. A UX designer inexperienced in user research cannot create a human-centered design for your product. Check their research processes and request an oral explanation.

Design Skills

It is vital to confirm design skills before assigning any work. If hiring an in-house designer, you can organize a paid design test for them before hiring. It would help you know if they met your design demands.

Expertise with Design Tools

You need to know the person’s expertise with design tools. Your project might require unique prototyping or wireframing, so you need to know if the design tools they know match the demands of your project. If you don’t know much about the devices, explain what you want to do in detail to the designer, and find out the capabilities of the tools they want to use for the project. If the design tool does not meet your demands, you should find someone else to meet your needs.

Availability

You must know their availability if you want to take the freelancer route. How long do they take to respond to your questions? The freelancer might have other projects, so you need to be sure they will be available for you and deliver on time. Additionally, the designer might be based in a different timezone, and, therefore, might not respond in an expected timely manner. If time is of great essence to your product launch, then you need to consider availability before expertise.

What Determines the Cost of a UX Design Project?

The cost of a UX design project depends on the type of app you want to design and other factors around the design.

Here are some of the factors that determine the cost of a UX design project:

Scope of the Project

How big is the project? You cannot expect to pay $30 per hour for a project with three features and also pay the same for a Fintech App with lots of features. The number of screens to be designed, the functionalities, and the interface design style contribute to how much the UX designer will charge for the project.

Also, you might pay less if you hire for only one aspect of the whole design process. The cost should be lower if you hire for wireframing or prototyping alone.

Complexity of the Project

Complexity determines the price, especially for freelancers and agencies. For example, designing an eCommerce website will incur a lesser amount when compared to creating a travel agency software application from scratch.

Revisions

The number of revisions you request on the project can also affect the cost. If you request a significant change not in the initial agreement, you will be required to pay an additional fee, except you have a mutual understanding with the freelancer that makes them waive it for you. However, be prepared to pay additional fees for revisions.

Timeline

The designer will charge you more for a project with a short turnaround time. The money will be for the inconvenience and overtime work they will do to meet up with your deadline.

Expertise of the Designer

The expertise of the designer will significantly influence the project’s cost. An experienced and highly skilled designer will charge you more; the experience, skills, and expertise garnered over time will increase the price. However, you can rest assured that you will get a good outcome if the designer is genuinely an expert, as claimed.

FAQs

Q1. Should you hire a UX designer?

You should hire a UX designer because a UX designer is not just one that arranges layouts and puts colors together for your website, but someone who will create your product’s logic and functionality to meet your customers’ pain points.

A UX designer helps you develop desirable experiences for your customers, which is why the UX design process starts with user research to understand their challenges. They connect this with your company’s objectives and create a product that quickly solves those challenges for your customers.

Q2. What is the price of a UX designer per hour?

The average hourly wage for a UX designer is $49, but the salaried range breaks down to $43 - $56 per hour. Factors like certifications, experience, expertise, role (intern, junior, or senior), company compensation plans, and company policies could also affect the salary.

Q3. Who pays UX designers the most?

BitGo and Airbnb are the companies that paid UX designers the most — with an average salary of $150,433 and $150,323, respectively (according to research by Zippia). Other notable UX salaries are paid by ByteDance, Meta, and Apple, with an average of $149,000.