How to read a UI/UX design estimate: seven lines and their conditions

A UI/UX design estimate arrives as one number, and that number hides different scopes: for RUB 95,000 one supplier delivers five screens with a prototype, another twenty screens without research. We price the work in seven lines, five of which move the total while two sit inside the base. The minimum scope is RUB 60,000 for five screens with mobile layouts and two review rounds. The calculator shows a range; the final quote and the time to channel launch follow a review of your source materials.

One number hides the scope

The totals match, the work does not. The first covers five screens, mobile layouts, a clickable prototype and two consolidated review rounds. The second covers twenty screens, one state per element and a handover with no specification. Their unit of account differs, so the totals compare unlike things.

For a CMO, design cost is the price of a conversion point on the main journey plus the time it takes to launch that point. One sum divides into a different number of steps: five screens give five points, twenty give twenty. The cheaper-looking estimate is the one with fewer steps, even when each screen costs more.

Compare the unit of account. It answers the question of what you actually buy.

The seven lines

Every line answers three questions: what counts as a unit, what the unit includes, and what changes its price.

Line	Unit	What it covers	What moves the price
Structure and concept	stage	journey map, clickable prototype, state decisions	number of roles and journeys
Individual screens	screen	task, layout, mobile version	screens beyond five
Product complexity	coefficient	tables, permissions, editing modes	1.5x on screen work and RUB 20,000-65,000 on concept
Research	stage	interviews with recruited participants	RUB 20,000-40,000 as a separate budget
Design system	stage	library across products, version rules, documentation	RUB 30,000-60,000 as a separate line
Revisions	round	two consolidated rounds within the agreed scope	a journey change after prototype approval
Handover	package	Figma file, prototype, specification	implementation as a separate stage

The seven lines do not weigh the same. Five move the total, while revisions and handover already sit inside the base stage. That is why the question “what does one revision cost” often goes unanswered at signing. Two rounds are already in the price.

The base: RUB 60,000-95,000 for five screens

Five screens, mobile layouts and two review rounds cost RUB 60,000-95,000. Inside the base, structure and concept take RUB 20,000-35,000 and the five screens take RUB 40,000-60,000 at RUB 8,000-12,000 each. The timeline is 1.75-3.25 weeks for structure plus 0.15-0.25 weeks per screen: 2.5-4.5 weeks for five screens.

The average screen price on the base is RUB 12,000-19,000, because the structure spreads across five screens. A sixth screen costs RUB 8,000-12,000, which is a different rate: marginal, with no structure inside. Two consequences follow for the negotiation.

The base is fixed at five screens. Dropping one screen from those five leaves the estimate where it is, since the structure, the prototype and two rounds stay in the work. Every screen beyond five adds RUB 8,000-12,000, so the ninth and tenth screens cost less than the average screen on the base.

What counts as one screen

One screen is a distinct page or view with its own task and layout. Standard button states and responsive adaptations of an approved screen are included. A new role, a complex table with an editing mode and a separate mobile journey each become an extra screen.

The boundary runs along the task, not the pixels. Two screens that solve the same task and differ only in copy are one screen with two states. One screen serving a manager and an administrator with different permissions is two screens: their actions and their errors differ.

Product complexity

A complex product scales screen work by 1.5 and adds RUB 20,000-65,000 to the concept. On five screens the multiplier turns RUB 40,000-60,000 into RUB 60,000-90,000, so it adds RUB 20,000-30,000. The signs of complexity are concrete: several roles, tables with filters, editing modes, access rights and repeated staff actions.

The multiplier is a coefficient on the rate, not hourly work. It does not depend on how long one table takes, and that is its limit: inside a single screen the spread can exceed the gap between a simple and a complex product. The screen list records that spread before signing.

Research: RUB 20,000-40,000 on a separate line

Interviews with recruited participants cost RUB 20,000-40,000 and stay outside the base stage. The base covers a review of your materials and an expert check of the journeys: analytics, session recordings, support tickets, brand guidelines.

Research pays off when the main journey is disputed or the audience is new. If you have a funnel and session recordings from the last month, the expert check answers the same question for less. Interviews are needed where data is missing: a new segment, an unfamiliar scenario, several roles with equal weight.

Design system: RUB 30,000-60,000 on a separate line

An extended library across products, version rules and documentation cost RUB 30,000-60,000. The base includes reusable components for the current project, and that is enough for one product with one release.

The system needs two conditions at once: more than fifteen screens or more than one product, and releases after handover that change shared elements. Thirty to sixty thousand is 2.5-7.5 marginal screens. So at five screens the system is comparable to all the screen work, and at twenty screens it takes between an eighth and three eighths of the screen work. The comparison is RUB 30,000-60,000 against RUB 160,000-240,000.

Revisions and handover

Two consolidated feedback rounds sit inside the base. You collect comments in one place, we record decisions and issue the next version. A change to the business journey after prototype approval is separate scope: the structure changes, and the screens and states change with it.

Handover sits inside the base too: the Figma file, the prototype and a specification with field states, spacing and menu behaviour. Development, integrations and support after handover are separate stages.

The arithmetic at twenty screens

Twenty screens without research or a system come to RUB 180,000-240,000: the RUB 60,000 base plus fifteen screens at RUB 8,000-12,000. The average screen price falls from RUB 12,000-19,000 to RUB 9,000-12,000, because the structure spreads across more work. The timeline grows to 4.75-8.25 weeks: 1.75-3.25 weeks for structure plus twenty screens at 0.15-0.25.

Those figures are arithmetic on our rates. A market price list prices such a scope per screen and skips the structure stage, so compare it with our estimate by scope only.

Market context

Public price lists from 24 October 2026 give a reference point: PIXONA quotes from RUB 9,000 per screen, YuSMP quotes a landing page from RUB 60,000. These are different units. A per-screen rate usually covers drawing and leaves out structure, mobile layouts and two review rounds; a landing page is one page with copy and build.

Our marginal rate of RUB 8,000-12,000 per screen is closer to the market price of a screen than the average of RUB 12,000-19,000, because the structure sits in the average. Comparing RUB 9,000 with our RUB 60,000 base needs a correction for scope: the base covers five screens, mobile layouts and two rounds.

Where the estimate stops

The estimate excludes branding, copywriting, 3D models, programming, integrations, hosting and support. Those are separate stages, and their price depends on the stack and the data volume.

Source quality changes the total. Brand guidelines, analytics and a role list shorten the review; their absence adds a stage the calculator does not include. A complex table with its own editing mode and a new role raise the screen count, and the estimate with it.

The calculator range is not an offer. We fix the total after reviewing the sources: the screen list, the roles, the states and the timeline.

What to do before asking for an estimate

Build the screen list: for each screen, the task, the role, a link to the source and the current state. The list defines the unit of account, and the estimate becomes comparable.

Two numbers make proposals comparable: the average screen price on the base of RUB 12,000-19,000 and the 2.5-4.5 week timeline for five screens. Both appear in the calculator range and in a supplier quote.

Two weeks after kickoff, at the prototype, recount the list. The prototype sits inside the structure stage, so by then you can see how many screens the product needs and which roles remain.

After that the rule is deterministic. If five screens and one role survive the prototype, lock the base. If more than eight screens and more than two roles survive, move the design system to its own line before visual design starts. If the journey changed after prototype approval, that is a new estimate.

An estimate for five screens and 2.5-4.5 weeks is the price of entering the channel: five conversion points at a known screen price. Every further screen adds RUB 8,000-12,000 and one more step for the team to run after launch.

Send the screen list and a product link, and we will assemble the scope and the range from your sources. UI/UX design runs a project from the journey map to handover, landing pages cover a single conversion page, and customer experience adds support journeys to the interface. The choice between a system and separate screens has its own comparison.