Hiring a Showit designer costs $500 to $1,500 for template customisation, $2,500 to $6,000 for a custom 5 to 8 page site, and $6,000 to $10,000 or more for a full custom build with branding, copy and SEO included. The Showit subscription itself ($259 to $470 a year) is paid separately to Showit. After building more than 90 Showit websites for photographers, coaches and creative business owners, the cost question is the one I hear first in nearly every enquiry, so here is the full answer.
The honest answer depends entirely on what you need. Hiring a Showit designer to set up a template with your content is a very different investment from commissioning a fully custom website with SEO strategy and branding built in. The difference between those two things is roughly $500 to $10,000 or more, and most people asking this question do not realise how wide that range actually is.
In this guide I will break down every pricing tier with verified dollar amounts from active designer websites reviewed in June 2026. You will also get a full first-year investment breakdown, the six factors that affect your final quote, a checklist of what to expect in a proper design package, and the red flags that will save you from a bad hire.
This guide covers:
- Showit platform subscription costs (the platform fee you pay separately from any designer)
- What you actually pay a designer, broken down by tier with verified prices
- The 6 factors that affect your final quote
- A complete first-year investment breakdown
- What a professional Showit design package should include
- How to find and vet a Showit designer before you sign anything
- Red flags that signal a low-quality hire
- Whether hiring a Showit designer is worth it
Showit designer pricing at a glance
Before diving into the details, here is the summary table. All price ranges below come from verified, publicly listed designer pricing pages reviewed for this guide.
| Service Type | Designer Fee | Typical Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Template setup and customisation | $500 to $1,500 | 2 to 4 weeks |
| Custom design (5 to 8 pages) | $2,500 to $6,000 | 5 to 8 weeks |
| Full custom design with branding (8+ pages) | $6,000 to $10,000+ | 8 to 12 weeks |
| Showit platform subscription (annual, paid to Showit) | $259 to $470/year | Ongoing |
Important: The Showit platform subscription is separate from every designer’s fee. You pay it directly to Showit. Most designer quotes do not include it.
What does the Showit platform itself cost?
The subscription is separate from any designer’s fee and is paid directly to Showit: $22 a month with no blog, $27 with a basic WordPress blog, $39 with the advanced blog, all billed annually ($259, $326 and $470 a year). Which plan you need, the true first-year total and the hidden costs are covered in the Showit pricing guide; this post is about what the designer charges on top.
How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Showit Designer?
This is the question most guides avoid answering directly. After reviewing active designer pricing pages across the Showit Design Partner directory (which lists 300+ designers) and the Creative Designer Directory during June 2026, here is what real designers are charging at each level.
Tier 1: Template Setup and Customisation ($500 to $1,500)
This is the most affordable way to get a professional-looking Showit website. You purchase a pre-built premium Showit template separately (typically $300 to $700 according to heather-jones.com), and a designer sets it up with your branding, copy, and images.
What you get:
- Your existing content dropped into a proven layout
- Colour and font updates to match your brand
- Basic mobile optimisation
- A launch-ready site in 2 to 4 weeks
What you do not get:
- A unique design that stands out from others on the same template
- Custom sections built from scratch
- Deep SEO work or keyword targeting
- Any branding development
Who this suits: New businesses, solo service providers who need something live quickly, or photographers testing their market before committing to a full custom build.
Worth knowing: Dozens of other businesses may have purchased the same Showit template. Without significant customisation, your site can look nearly identical to competitors. If differentiation matters in your market, this tier has real limitations.
Tier 2: Custom Design ($2,500 to $6,000)
This is where most established mid-market Showit designers price their core packages. Two verified examples from active designer pricing pages reviewed in June 2026:
ribbonandink.com charges $3,000 for a custom brand package plus a full Showit website. That includes home, about, service pages, portfolio, blog, and contact. The process is questionnaire-based with no client meetings. Timeline: approximately four weeks after submitting your intake questionnaire.
wonderlikwebdesign.com charges from $3,450 for a custom six-page Showit website. That includes basic SEO (page titles, meta descriptions, heading structure, image optimisation), six rounds of revisions, responsive mobile design built separately from desktop, and a launch walkthrough. Additional pages cost $175 each. Third-party integrations such as booking systems or email marketing are billed at $99 per hour.
What you get at this tier:
- A website designed around your specific business rather than a template someone else is using
- Mobile-responsive design built from scratch in Showit’s canvas
- Basic on-page SEO (meta titles, descriptions, image alt text)
- Blog setup if required
- Revision rounds included before launch
- Launch tutorials so you can update the site yourself
What you typically do not get at this tier:
- Advanced SEO strategy (keyword research, schema markup, content structure for rankings)
- Custom copywriting for your pages
- Logo creation or visual branding development
- Custom animations or interactive elements
Who this suits: Established photographers and service businesses with a clear brand direction who want a professional custom site without the premium price. This tier delivers a strong result for most small businesses.
Tier 3: Full Custom Design with Branding ($6,000 to $10,000+)
At this level you are not just buying a website. You are buying a complete digital identity built around your business goals and designed to rank and convert. Two verified examples from active designer pricing pages:
corriehugginscreative.com charges $5,400 for their Custom Basic Site, which covers 8+ pages (home, about, services, resources, contact, digital pricing guide, blog, and shop). Their Custom Lux package, which includes a full branding session with photography, is $6,400. Their Full Brand Overhaul, which includes 30+ brand photographs alongside the complete website, is $7,900.
elizabethmccravy.com, a widely referenced resource for working Showit designers, cites a typical client investment range of $5,000 to $8,000 for a Showit website design, depending on project scope.
From my own experience across 90+ Showit projects, my highest-value packages include full custom design alongside SEO strategy (keyword research, technical setup, schema markup, and content planning) plus post-launch support. Packages that include the full scope of custom design, advanced SEO, and ongoing support extend to $8,000 or more for clients who need the complete picture.
What you get at this tier:
- Fully unique pages designed from scratch for your specific business
- Advanced SEO including technical setup, on-page optimisation, and schema markup
- Multiple page types: services, portfolio, shop, blog, custom landing pages
- Branding integration (colours, typography, photo direction, visual identity)
- Post-launch training and a support window for issues that surface after launch
- In some packages: copywriting direction or full page copy
Who this suits: Established businesses repositioning in their market, photographers moving into higher-end client brackets, and business owners who understand that a website is a revenue-generating asset rather than just a business card.
If you are unsure which tier is right for you, the guide on whether to DIY your Showit website or hire a designer walks through the decision in more detail.
6 Factors That Affect the Final Price
Two designers can quote very different prices for what sounds like the same project. Here are the six variables that explain most of that difference.
1. Experience and Track Record
A designer in their first year charges less than one with 50 to 90+ completed Showit projects and documented results. This is not always a disadvantage. An experienced designer commands more because they have solved harder problems, built a reliable process, and can show measurable client outcomes rather than just pretty screenshots.
2. Number of Pages
Most packages cover five to eight pages. Additional pages typically cost $100 to $175 each. The difference between a six-page portfolio site and a twelve-page website with custom service pages, a shop, and a resource library is significant in terms of design hours.
3. Custom Design Versus Template Base
Starting from a premium template reduces the designer’s hours considerably. If your designer is building every section from scratch on Showit’s canvas, that takes longer and costs more. Make sure you know which approach is being quoted before you compare prices between designers.
4. Add-On Services
SEO copywriting, logo design, brand identity, photography direction, booking system integration, email marketing connection, and e-commerce setup all add to the final price. From the designer pricing pages reviewed: logo packages run approximately $950 (corriehugginscreative.com). Integration work runs approximately $99 per hour (wonderlikwebdesign.com). Custom copywriting is typically quoted separately.
5. SEO Expertise
This is the factor most buyers overlook when comparing quotes. A designer who builds visually attractive sites is not the same as one who understands keyword strategy, technical SEO, and schema markup. The second type typically charges $1,000 to $2,000 more per project, and the ROI is measurable in search rankings within 3 to 6 months. A beautiful site that ranks on page two for nothing generates no bookings regardless of how polished it looks.
6. Timeline and Rush Fees
Standard timelines for Showit projects run 2 to 12 weeks depending on complexity. If you need a site in two weeks and the designer normally delivers in six, expect either a 20 to 40 percent rush premium or a “no” from most quality designers who already have projects in progress.
Your Total First-Year Investment: The Full Breakdown
Most pricing guides quote the designer fee and stop there. Here is everything you actually pay in year one, so there are no surprises after launch.
| Cost Item | Low estimate | High estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Showit subscription (annual plan) | $259 | $470 |
| Premium template (if using template route) | $300 | $700 |
| Designer fee | $500 | $10,000+ |
| Domain name (year 1) | $15 | $25 |
| Professional email (Google Workspace) | $72 | $144 |
| Total Year 1 | ~$1,150 | ~$11,300+ |
If you go the template-plus-customisation route, your all-in first-year cost runs roughly $1,100 to $2,200. If you hire a premium designer with full SEO and branding included, expect $6,000 to $10,000 or more.
From year two onward the costs drop sharply. Your Showit subscription renews annually, your domain renews at $15 to $25, and your email continues. There are no per-page charges, upgrade fees, or transaction fees built into the Showit platform itself.
What a Professional Showit Design Package Should Include
Before signing any contract, confirm the scope covers these items. These are the baseline standards based on my experience reviewing and delivering 90+ Showit projects.
Minimum deliverables at any price tier:
- A discovery call or detailed intake questionnaire (so the designer actually understands your business before touching a pixel)
- Mobile-responsive design (Showit builds mobile and desktop separately, this is not automatic)
- At least two to three rounds of revisions before launch
- A pre-launch checklist covering favicon, page titles, meta descriptions, and 404 redirect setup
- Handoff documentation or a recorded walkthrough so you can update the site after launch
What distinguishes a premium delivery:
- Keyword research completed before the site structure is designed (not as an afterthought)
- Schema markup: Article, FAQPage, WebPage, and Person or LocalBusiness as appropriate
- Page speed review and image compression before launch
- Google Search Console and Google Analytics setup
- 30 to 90 days of post-launch support for issues that surface after the site goes live
If a designer’s proposal does not mention mobile design, meta descriptions, or Analytics setup, ask about each explicitly. These should not be surprises at launch.
For a complete list of what should be in a Showit design package, see the detailed breakdown: What is Included in a Showit Website Design Package.
How to Find a Showit Designer
There are three main places to find qualified Showit designers:
Showit’s official Design Partner directory at store.showit.com/designers lists 300+ designers across different styles, budgets, and niches. You can filter by industry focus, location, and visual style. No pricing is shown here; you submit a project inquiry and receive a quote directly.
Upwork has a dedicated Showit freelancer category. Designers list hourly and fixed-price packages. The platform’s escrow payment system and Job Success Score make it easier to evaluate unfamiliar designers before committing.
The Creative Designer Directory at creativedesignerdirectory.com is a community-driven directory focused on designers who specialise in creative niches.
How to vet a Showit designer before you hire
Five checks settle most of it: ask for live URLs you can click through on a phone, not screenshots; read testimonials for named clients and specific outcomes; ask which of their past pages rank on Google and for what; get the scope in writing with page count, revision rounds, SEO work and payment schedule; and confirm who owns the site and the files at the end. The full list, with the exact wording to use, is in questions to ask before hiring a Showit designer.
Red flags when hiring a Showit designer
No live portfolio, a scope too vague to measure, no written contract, and prices that are not credible for the deliverables (a $300 “fully custom” Showit site does not exist). Each of these, and what to do when you spot one, is covered in red flags when hiring a Showit designer.
Is Hiring a Showit Designer Worth It?
If you are weighing a $10/month DIY website builder against a $5,000 custom Showit website, the question is not which costs less. The question is what a professionally built, SEO-optimised site will do for your revenue over the next 12 to 24 months.
From 90+ Showit projects, clients who invest in a properly built, keyword-targeted website consistently see:
- Inquiry rates increase within 60 to 90 days as organic search traffic grows from properly structured SEO content
- Higher project values because a premium website signals premium positioning to prospective clients
- Fewer “what exactly do you do?” questions because the site communicates the offer clearly before anyone makes contact
For a photographer closing one additional $2,500 booking per month because of improved search visibility and a more compelling site, the return on a $5,000 design investment is less than two months of revenue.
Clients who do not see a return are typically those who hired the lowest quote (and received a template-based site that ranks for nothing and converts at a low rate) or hired a designer without any working knowledge of SEO. A beautiful site on page three of Google generates no bookings. A clean site on page one generates consistent ones.
The investment in a Showit designer who understands both design and search is not a cost. It is a business asset with a measurable return.
Frequently asked questions
Most Showit designers do not charge hourly for full website projects. They price by project scope. For add-on work after launch, rates typically run $75 to $120 per hour for experienced designers and $25 to $50 per hour for freelancers earlier in their career. Third-party integration work is commonly billed at $99 per hour, based on published pricing from active designer pages reviewed in June 2026.
Purchase a premium Showit template ($300 to $700, according to heather-jones.com) and hire a designer to customise it with your content and branding for $500 to $1,500. Total all-in cost for year one: approximately $1,100 to $2,200 including the annual Showit subscription and domain. This gives you a professional result without the full custom price.
Yes. Showit offers a 14-day free trial and is designed for non-coders. The drag-and-drop canvas is genuinely usable without technical skills. The trade-off is time and SEO knowledge. Building yourself saves $2,500 to $10,000 in design fees but typically takes 40 to 100+ hours and results in a site with weaker search performance because keyword targeting and schema markup are often skipped or done incorrectly.
Yes. Your Showit subscription includes hosting on their platform. You pay separately for your domain name (typically $15 to $25 per year through any registrar). If you subscribe to the Advanced Blog plan, your WordPress blog is also hosted within the subscription at no additional cost.
Timeline depends on scope and the designer’s current availability. Based on verified pricing pages reviewed for this guide: ribbonandink.com quotes approximately four weeks; wonderlikwebdesign.com quotes four to six weeks for a custom six-page site. Full custom packages with branding development and advanced SEO work typically run eight to twelve weeks from kickoff to launch day.
Both are valid options. Upwork offers protection through escrow payments and a formal dispute process, which is valuable when working with a designer you have not hired before. Going direct to a designer’s website typically means working with an established studio or a freelancer with a built-out process. The price difference is usually $0 to $500 on a full project because direct designers do not pay Upwork’s service fee, which runs between 5% and 20% of the project value. About the Author Adil Makhdoom is a Showit designer and SEO specialist with 90+ completed projects for photographers, coaches, and creative businesses. His work focuses on websites that rank on Google and convert visitors into inquiries, not just websites that look good. He holds a 100% Job Success Score on Upwork. If you are looking for a Showit designer who combines custom design with genuine SEO strategy, see his project portfolio here or use the contact form to start a conversation. The step-by-step version of this lives in the Showit SEO guide, with screenshots for each item.
