A client messages you: "How much for a WordPress website?" You have no page count, no idea whether they want a shop, and three tabs of agency price lists open. Most freelancers pick a number from those tabs, send it, and then spend six weeks doing work the number never covered. WordPress freelance pricing in India goes wrong at the scoping step, not at the rate step.
This post shows how to price WordPress work from scope: what published ranges do and do not tell you, which drivers move the price, how a brochure site differs from a WooCommerce store, how to build three fixed packages, and what a maintenance retainer should list. For hourly bands by experience, see the guide to freelance developer rates in India. This one is about packages.
Published WordPress price ranges in India vary too much to quote
Published Indian ranges come mostly from agency and vendor blogs, they disagree with each other, and none of them is a survey of what freelancers actually charge. Treat them as one vendor's marketing numbers, not as a market rate. Use them to sanity-check your own scoped quote, never to set it.
For example, CrestVox Studio's 2026 article on WordPress costs in India (on DEV Community) puts a 5 to 10 page business site at about ₹15,000 to ₹40,000, a portfolio site at about ₹10,000 to ₹25,000, and a WooCommerce store at about ₹40,000 to ₹1,50,000 over three to six weeks. That is one agency's published range. Other guides price custom e-commerce far higher, but a custom build and a theme-based store are different jobs, so the ranges are not comparable.
Maintenance ranges disagree even more. Agency maintenance pages list anywhere from ₹2,500 to ₹20,000 a month for a basic WordPress site, while CrestVox's article lists ₹5,000 to ₹20,000 a year for updates and security. Published hourly figures for WordPress work range so widely that no single number is safe to use. If a number cannot be traced to people who were actually paid it, do not build a quote on it.
Price a WordPress site from its scope drivers, not from an hourly rate
Scope drivers are the things that add hours or add risk. Quote from them and your price follows the work. Quote from a guessed hourly rate and you absorb every surprise.
The drivers that matter most are page count, whether the design is a customised theme or built from scratch, how many products a store has, payment and shipping setup, third-party integrations, content migration from an old site, and how many revision rounds are included. Two more get forgotten until they hurt: who pays for hosting and who owns the paid plugin and theme licences. If the client's licence lapses, your build can stop working, so put the owner in writing.
Write the drivers down as questions before you quote. "How many pages? Do you have the content ready? Do you need online payments? Who holds the hosting login?" Five answers turn a vague request into a priced scope. The deeper method is in the guide on how to price a freelance project.
A WooCommerce store is a different job from a brochure site
A brochure site presents information, while a WooCommerce store takes orders. That changes the scope, the testing and the risk, so it should change the price by more than a few extra pages would. Never price a store as "a website plus a cart".
With a store, the product count and variants decide the data entry, the payment and shipping setup decide the configuration, and checkout testing decides whether the launch is safe. If checkout breaks, the client loses orders, so ongoing care is worth more to them. Spell out who enters the products, who supplies photos and descriptions, and which payment gateway the client has already signed up with. Your build connects to the client's own gateway account. You are not collecting their money.
Price theme customisation with hours plus a buffer
For customisation work, estimate the hours task by task, multiply by your real hourly rate, and add a 20 to 30 percent buffer for revisions and surprises. That is the same buffer the guide on developer rates recommends. The number is a floor for your fixed price, not the client's invoice line.
Here is an illustration, with made-up numbers. Say a customised-theme business site needs 30 hours of work and your real rate is ₹1,000 an hour. That is ₹30,000. A 25 percent buffer adds ₹7,500, so you quote ₹37,500 fixed. If the project finishes in 28 hours you earned more per hour, and if the client adds three pages you have a written scope to point to. The rate and hours are placeholders. Your own tracked numbers will differ. Your real rate comes from tracked time, as the guide on finding your real hourly rate explains.
Build three fixed packages, and say what is out of each
Three packages work because each answers a different client: a small site, a standard site, and a site with extras. Each package states pages, design approach, revision rounds and what is excluded. The excluded list does more work than the included list.
A starter package might cover a handful of pages on a customised theme with two revision rounds. A standard one adds more pages, a blog setup and basic SEO settings. A third adds integrations or a store, and you quote it from the scope drivers instead of a fixed menu price. Name the packages by what the client gets, not by "Basic, Silver, Gold". And put the price for each from your own hours, using the method above, not from the ranges published elsewhere.
Limit revisions in numbers: "two rounds of consolidated feedback". Anything beyond that is a priced change request. If a client keeps adding work, the guide on handling scope creep covers what to say.
Sell maintenance as a retainer that lists what it covers
A maintenance retainer is a monthly or annual fee for keeping a finished site healthy. It only works if it names exactly what is included: updates, backups, security checks, minor content edits and response time. Anything unnamed becomes free work.
Offer the client a choice of monthly or annual billing. Offer a lower monthly price for an annual commitment. It gives you predictable income, and the client gets a reason to commit. Define "minor edits" with a limit, such as a set number of small changes a month, and say what happens to work that exceeds it. A hosting or plugin failure caused by an expired client licence is outside the retainer unless you say otherwise. The terms of a standing arrangement belong in a written agreement, as the guide to a retainer agreement explains.
Put the scoping checklist and maintenance terms in the contract
Whatever you agree on the call, the contract should repeat it: pages, features, excluded items, revision rounds, who supplies content, who owns hosting and licences, the payment schedule and the maintenance scope. A quote the client can reread later prevents most pricing arguments. Our guide to a freelance contract for developers covers the clauses in more detail.
Rinto's free contract generator at freelance contract template needs no signup,, and it turns your scope notes into a document. Once the contract is signed, Rinto can create the project with details pre-filled, and tracking time per task shows your real hourly rate per project.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much should I charge for a WordPress website in India?
There is no single rate you can safely quote, because published Indian ranges come mostly from agency blogs and disagree with each other. One agency article puts a 5 to 10 page business site at about ₹15,000 to ₹40,000, but treat that as one vendor's view. Price from scope instead: estimate the hours for each task, multiply by your real hourly rate, and add a 20 to 30 percent buffer. Then state the pages, revisions and exclusions in writing. A quote built from your own hours is one you can defend, and it adjusts when the scope changes.
How much does a WooCommerce store cost in India?
It depends on the number of products, payment and shipping setup, and any custom work. One agency article published a range of about ₹40,000 to ₹1,50,000 over three to six weeks for a WooCommerce store, but that is a single vendor's figure, and custom e-commerce builds are priced differently. Do not price a store as a brochure site with a cart. Count products and variants, the payment gateway the client already has, shipping rules, and testing of checkout and order emails. Then add time for launch testing, since real money moves through a store.
What is a fair monthly WordPress maintenance charge?
Published figures disagree. Agency pages list a basic WordPress site from about ₹2,500 up to ₹20,000 a month, while CrestVox's article lists ₹5,000 to ₹20,000 a year for updates and security. Because the range is so wide, set your fee from what you actually do: the number of updates, backups, security checks and minor edits each month, and the time they take at your real rate. Offer a lower monthly price for an annual commitment. A fee is fair when the client can see what it buys.
Should I charge hourly or fixed price for WordPress work?
Charge fixed price when the scope is clear and written down, and hourly when it is open-ended or the client keeps changing direction. For a standard site, a fixed package is easier for the client to approve and rewards you for working efficiently. Use hours behind the scenes to build the price: estimate by task, multiply by your real rate, and add a 20 to 30 percent buffer. If a project turns out to be hourly work in disguise, the guide on switching from hourly to fixed price shows how to move between the two without confusing the client.
What should a WordPress maintenance contract include?
List exactly what the fee covers: core, theme and plugin updates, backups, security checks, a limit on minor content edits each month, and your response time. State what is excluded, such as new features, redesigns and fixes caused by an expired client licence. Say who owns hosting and plugin licences, how long the term runs, whether billing is monthly or annual, and how either side can end it. Anything not listed will be expected for free, so name it. Put the terms in a signed agreement before the first month starts.