Website Redesign: When to Do It and How Much It Costs in 2026

A website has a lifespan. After 3 to 5 years, most sites start showing their age: dated design, degraded performance, poor search rankings. But how do you know if your site needs a redesign, and what budget should you plan?

7 signs it's time for a redesign

• Your site isn't mobile-friendly: in 2026, over 60% of web traffic comes from smartphones.
• Google PageSpeed score below 70: a slow site hurts your SEO and drives visitors away.
• Bounce rate above 70%: people arrive and leave immediately.
• Your design looks like it's from the 2010s: visually, you're losing credibility against competitors.
• Your CMS or framework is no longer maintained (e.g. WordPress < 5, jQuery-based...).
• You can no longer easily update content yourself.
• Conversions (forms, purchases, calls) are declining with no obvious marketing explanation.

Full redesign or partial update?

Not every situation requires a complete overhaul. Here's how to tell the difference:

• Partial update (€1,000 — €3,000): the foundation is solid but the design is dated. Refresh colours, typography, images and optimise speed.
• Full redesign (€3,000 — €15,000): information architecture, user experience and code are rebuilt from scratch. Needed when the site's structure itself is the problem.
• Technology migration (€5,000 — €20,000): moving from an old WordPress to Next.js, or from a static site to e-commerce. Includes content migration and URL redirects.

What drives the cost of a redesign

• Migrating existing content (texts, images, SEO) to the new structure.
• 301 redirects: every changed URL needs a redirect to preserve search rankings.
• Integration with third-party tools (CRM, newsletter, payment, analytics).
• Training your internal team to manage the new site.

The right timing for a redesign

Avoid launching a redesign during peak activity periods (holidays for e-commerce, high season for tourism). The best time: a slow period, with 6 to 8 weeks lead time before going live.

Don't postpone too long either: a degraded site costs more in lost revenue (missed conversions, declining rankings) than a well-planned redesign.

Ready to redesign?

Based near Nice (Sophia Antipolis, French Riviera) and available fully remote, I help businesses across France with their website redesign projects. Contact me for a free audit of your current site.