Price guide · UX and design
How much does UX design cost? Research, prototypes and design systems priced
The short answer: a freelance UX designer in Denmark typically charges around DKK 600–750 an hour and an agency DKK 1,100–1,300. A lean UX effort on a new product often lands at DKK 40,000–75,000, and a thorough process with research, prototype, user testing and UI design at DKK 90,000–160,000. Below you will find the price of each deliverable, so you can buy exactly what you need.
10 min read · Updated 1 October 2026
A logistics company has an internal tool built for its drivers. It works technically, but three weeks in, the drivers still phone the office, because the button to mark a delivery as refused sits two screens deep. Fixing it takes a developer several days, because the flow is tied to the rest of the app. The same problem would have surfaced in an afternoon with a paper prototype and five drivers. That is the whole point of UX design, and why its price should be weighed against what it saves.
What does a UX designer charge per hour?
Typical hourly rates in Denmark in 2026, excluding VAT. The range reflects experience and whether research and project management are included.
| Supplier | Typical hourly rate | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|
| Freelance UX designer | about DKK 600–750 | Defined tasks: audit, wireframes, prototype, user test |
| Freelance web designer with UX | DKK 500–900 | Websites where structure and visual design go together |
| Agency or studio | DKK 1,100–1,300 | Projects where UX, UI and development must work together |
The hourly rate is only half the calculation. An experienced UX designer knows which methods give the most insight for the fewest hours, and skips the exercises that mostly look good in a presentation. Always ask how many hours each deliverable is estimated at, and what you get in hand afterwards.
What does each UX deliverable cost?
UX is easiest to buy in pieces. The table shows typical hours for the most common deliverables and the price that gives at market rates. The figures are calculated from the hours, so you can adjust them to the quotes you receive.
Typical hours and prices per deliverable. Freelance calculated at DKK 600–750/h, agency at DKK 1,100–1,300/h. Scope and number of screens drive the range.
| Deliverable | Typical hours | Freelance | Agency |
|---|---|---|---|
| UX audit of an existing product | 8–24 | DKK 4,800–18,000 | DKK 8,800–31,200 |
| Discovery workshop | 6–16 | DKK 3,600–12,000 | DKK 6,600–20,800 |
| User interviews, 5–8 | 20–40 | DKK 12,000–30,000 | DKK 22,000–52,000 |
| Information architecture and sitemap | 6–16 | DKK 3,600–12,000 | DKK 6,600–20,800 |
| Wireframes, 10–15 screens | 20–40 | DKK 12,000–30,000 | DKK 22,000–52,000 |
| Clickable prototype | 16–40 | DKK 9,600–30,000 | DKK 17,600–52,000 |
| Usability test with 5 people | 16–30 | DKK 9,600–22,500 | DKK 17,600–39,000 |
| UI design, 10–15 screens | 30–60 | DKK 18,000–45,000 | DKK 33,000–78,000 |
| Basic design system | 60–150 | DKK 36,000–112,500 | DKK 66,000–195,000 |
Research: interviews, audits and user tests
Research is the part most people want to cut, and the part that most often pays for itself. A UX audit of an existing product gives a prioritised list of problems in a few days. User interviews give you the users’ own words for what they are trying to achieve, and those words are valuable in both the design and the marketing. A usability test with five people shows where people actually get stuck. Remember a gift card or fee for participants, and time to find them.
Wireframes and prototypes
Wireframes are greyscale sketches showing what goes on each screen and in what order. They are quick to change, and that is where the big decisions should be made. A clickable prototype ties the screens together, so you and your users can click through a flow before a line of code is written. We cover the difference between the three levels in wireframe, mockup and prototype.
UI design and design systems
UI design is what users see: colours, typography, icons and the exact layout of every screen. The price follows the number of unique screens and how much can be reused. A design system collects the components, so buttons and forms are designed and built once. It costs more up front and less for every new screen afterwards, which makes it most valuable for products that will live and grow for many years.
Worked example: what does UX cost for a booking system?
Take a service company that wants a system where customers can book and pay, and staff can see the day’s jobs on their phones. There are about 12 screens across two user groups. Here are two realistic ways to scope the UX work.
Worked example for a booking system with about 12 screens and two user groups. Prices exclude VAT.
| Activity | Lean, hours | Thorough, hours |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery workshop | 4 | 8 |
| User interviews incl. synthesis | 12 (3 people) | 24 (6 people) |
| Wireframes | 16 | 30 |
| Prototype and user test | 12 | 30 |
| UI design and components | 16 | 40 |
| Total hours | 60 | 132 |
| Price at DKK 700/h | DKK 42,000 | DKK 92,400 |
| Price at DKK 1,200/h | DKK 72,000 | DKK 158,400 |
The lean version is enough when you know your users well and the task resembles something that already exists. The thorough version makes sense when the product is the core of the business, or when two user groups have very different needs. Whichever you choose, the rule is the same: the earlier a mistake is found, the cheaper it is. A change in a wireframe takes minutes. The same change in finished code can take days.
What do you save by buying UX design first?
Straight into development
- Requirements are interpreted by the developer as they go
- Problems surface when users get the product
- Fixes are made in code, where they cost the most
- Developer quotes are hard to compare
UX first, then development
- Everyone sees the same clickable picture of the product
- Problems surface in the prototype
- Fixes are made in Figma in minutes
- Developers can give an accurate fixed price
The last point is often underestimated. A prototype makes it possible for developers to give a fixed price, because there are far fewer unknowns. We offer a clickable prototype as a stand-alone engagement for exactly that reason, and if you already have a product that frustrates users, a UX audit is the cheapest place to start.
Does UX design cost more for an app than for a website?
Usually yes, and the difference lies in the number of states. A website mostly has content pages that resemble each other, so the designer makes a handful of templates that are reused. An app or web app has forms, lists, empty states, error messages, loading, notifications and roles, and each of them has to be thought through. A screen with an order list can really be five screens: empty, loading, error, a few orders and many orders.
For a website, the most important UX deliverables are therefore structure, navigation and the homepage’s priorities, and the budget often sits at the low end of the table. For an app, the weight lies in flows and states, and a usability test of the prototype is almost always worth the money. Mobile apps also come with iOS and Android conventions that users expect, and the designer needs to know them. If you are building an app, also look at what an app costs overall, so the UX budget stays in proportion to the rest.
When can you get by with a little UX?
Not every project needs a large UX process. Keeping the budget low is entirely reasonable in these situations:
- The website is mainly a presentation with a contact form and a few subpages.
- The product copies a familiar process, such as a standard webshop with cart and checkout.
- You are close to your users and can test an early version with them day to day.
- It is an internal tool for a few staff members who can give feedback directly.
- You need to validate an idea, and a simple landing page can test demand first.
On the other hand, UX deserves a real place in the budget when the product has several user groups, when users pay or share personal data, or when customers have to use it without help. Those are the projects where a confusing screen costs directly in lost sales or support hours.
Which red flags should you know in a UX quote?
- The quote mentions workshops and personas but no concrete deliverables you receive.
- No users are involved at all, only internal meetings.
- The design is delivered as images or PDF files with no editable Figma files.
- No plan for hand-off to development, such as components, states and error messages.
- The price is fixed, but the number of screens and revision rounds is stated nowhere.
- The designer has never worked closely with developers and cannot explain what is expensive to build.
That last point is what we see most often in practice. A beautiful design that ignores how the data actually fits together becomes expensive to build. That is why our designers and developers work in the same team at Ceptiv, so the design accounts for the code from the first sketch. Read more about our UX and UI design.
How to buy UX design step by step
Define the goal
Which action should users complete, and which number should move?
Talk to users
Three to six interviews give a solid picture of needs and language.
Sketch and prototype
Wireframes for the key flows, tied together in a clickable prototype.
Test and fix
Five users click through, and the biggest problems are fixed straight away.
Design and build
UI design and components are handed to development at a fixed price.
When you compare quotes, ask everyone the same questions:
- Which concrete deliverables do we get, and in what format?
- How many hours is each deliverable estimated at?
- How many users do you talk to or test with, and who recruits them?
- How many screens and revision rounds are included in the price?
- How is the design handed over to the developers?
- Do we own the Figma files and all research material afterwards?
If you plan to hire a UX designer yourself, we have a guide on how to hire a UX designer and assess a portfolio. If you would rather have design and development together at one fixed price, describe the project and you will have a written proposal within 24 hours. Feel free to compare with the price of a regular web designer.
Questions about UX design pricing
How do UX and UI design differ in price?
How many users should we test with?
Can we do UX design before we have a developer?
What does it cost to recruit test participants?
Is a design system worth it for a small company?
How do we measure whether the UX investment paid off?
Want us to build it for you?
You get a fixed-price proposal within 24 hours.
