Top 9 Web Design Companies in Chicago
"Who are the top web design agencies?"
When looking to purchase a website, this is one of the first questions we often want answered. Web design is a significant investment, so before we select a partner, we want to understand our options. As Director of Strategy and Analytics at EDUCO, it's my job to understand the digital landscape in Chicago and help prospective clients find the right fit for their needs. In my experience, this is a bit of a trick question - the top web design company depends on our specific needs.
But I'm used to answering this question, and I want to share some of my insights with and my favorite teams. There are some basic criteria that can be helpful in comparing web design companies. So, I developed a list of criteria and questions. Then I reached out to my friends, partners, and collaborators within the Chicago web design community. I asked if they would be willing to provide candid answers. Generously, they all agreed, and have given me permission to share their answers here.
As I help guide people through the website purchasing process, I often recommend partner agencies or industry friends. Depending on your needs I may recommend one of 7 larger agencies or one of 3 smaller teams. These are some of the companies that I recommend on a regular basis, and I believe they are some of the top web design companies in Chicago. At the very least, they are a good place to start.
Spoiler Alert: If you're trying to find out how much a website costs, you won't find that answer here. However, this article should give you a good idea of what to expect when requesting web proposals.
6 Larger Web Design Firms in Chicago
- Team Size
- 20
- Hourly Rate
- $165
- Year Founded
- 1999
- Location
- Chicago, IL - Downtown
- Project Price Range
- $50K - $1M+
- # of Projects Completed
- 2100
- Primary Platform Used
- Other Platforms Used
- Symfony, CodeIgnitor, Kohana, Yii, Drupal
Projects that Caxy loves:
We express a brand's digital voice while engaging people with the latest technology. Yes, we create websites, but it's more than that. The internet is where brands live now, and we're the architects. Our best project is where something brand new or never seen before has to be created - where the interactive part of a business its most valuable asset.
- Team Size
- 15
- Hourly Rate
- $100 - $350
- Year Founded
- 2003
- Location
- Chicago, IL - Downtown
- Project Price Range
- $50k - $200k
- # of Projects Completed
- 300+
- Primary Platform Used
- Other Platforms Used
- Wordpress, Magento, Custom
Projects that Clique Studios loves:
We love any opportunity to bring our team of entrepreneurial-minded people into a business and helping them confront a challenge or take the next step. Our solutions are a byproduct of that: we focus on user experience design, mobile, and eCommerce. We work across industries, but we have a huge amount of experience in healthcare and online retail.
- Team Size
- 7
- Hourly Rate
- $175
- Year Founded
- 2004
- Location
- Chicago, IL - Northside
- Project Price Range
- $250k - $300k
- # of Projects Completed
- 400+
- Primary Platform Used
- Wordpress
- Other Platforms Used
- Drupal, Wordpress, ExpressionEngine
Projects that LimeRed Studio loves:
We love working with smart people in social impact who come to us with one of the following questions: What’s possible? How do we reinvent ourselves? How do we do something that’s never been done before? To answer those, we do everything from hourly consulting to large-scale design and builds.
- Team Size
- 16
- Hourly Rate
- $200 - Per project
- Year Founded
- 1998
- Location
- Chicago, IL - Northside
- Project Price Range
- $15K - $500K+
- # of Projects Completed
- Hundreds
- Primary Platform Used
- Other Platforms Used
- Drupal, WordPress, ExpressionEngine and custom.
Projects that Mightybytes love:
Mightybytes loves working with clients of all stripes, but as a Certified B Corporation, we're particularly interested in partnering with businesses and organizations working to make a positive impact in the lives of people and on the planet — from theater companies and libraries to environmental and social nonprofits.
- Team Size
- 33
- Hourly Rate
- $150
- Year Founded
- 2001
- Location
- Chicago, IL - Northside
- Project Price Range
- $28K - $70K+
- # of Projects Completed
- 1000+
- Primary Platform Used
- Other Platforms Used
- MightySite (proprietary), WordPress, Drupal,
Projects that Orbit loves:
We are grateful to all of our clients, but many of our favorite projects are for the hometown heroes: the Chicago brands that we grew up with. We also love a challenge. Lately we've been building larger ecommerce sites than integrate with other systems. These are tough projects, but rewarding for everyone involved.
- Team Size
- 7
- Hourly Rate
- $175
- Year Founded
- 2007
- Location
- Chicago, IL - Westside
- Project Price Range
- $15K - $80K+
- # of Projects Completed
- 450+
- Primary Platform Used
- Drupal
- Other Platforms Used
- WordPress, ZenCart, CMS Made Simple
Projects we love:
There is really no specific type of web project we love. We tend to focus on the people. We like to work with people that we would want to associate with outside of work. This is because it is critical that we have allies when we build a website. We look for projects that have teams with a specific type of attitude and behavioral pattern i.e. really good communication. It’s also helpful if they have creative team members who can provide graphic/brand collateral and other content necessary for the site.
3 Smaller Web Design Teams in Chicago
- Team Size
- 3
- Hourly Rate
- $125
- Year Founded
- 2007
- Location
- Chicago, IL - North Suburbs
- Project Price Range
- $5K - $20K+
- # of Projects Completed
- 100+
- Primary Platform Used
- Other Platforms Used
- WordPress
Projects that AdeptPlus loves:
We love working with small and medium sized businesses who are looking to take their online presence to the next level through web design and search engine optimization. Businesses who are looking to build a long term partnership with a web design company are ideal clients for us. As a small business, we realize that businesses thrive on making their customers happy: AdeptPlus is simply no stranger.
- Team Size
- 2
- Hourly Rate
- $100 - $150
- Year Founded
- 2011
- Location
- Chicago, IL - West Suburbs
- Project Price Range
- $5K - $250K+
- # of Projects Completed
- 50+
- Primary Platform Used
- Other Platforms Used
- iOS, PHP, .NET, SQL, HTML5/CSS3/JS
Projects that elevenZero loves:
Innovative, passionate design and development company focused on mobile, web and interactive. We provide custom, creative technical solutions to small business, agencies and entrepreneurs. We're passionate about technology and we want to bring that passion to your next app, web site or idea.
- Team Size
- 1
- Hourly Rate
- Not Available
- Year Founded
- 2008
- Location
- Chicago, IL - Westside
- Project Price Range
- $3K-8K
- # of Projects Completed
- 100+
- Primary Platform Used
- Other Platforms Used
- Wordpress, Expression Engine, Perch
Projects that Megan loves:
I enjoy creating beautiful, easy-to-use, custom websites for small businesses and entrepreneurs.
From my experience interacting with the leaders of these top web design companies in Chicago, I’m consistently impressed not only by the work they produce for clients, but by their cultures as well. They value relationships and quality web design and development—if that’s what you’re looking for, I encourage you to reach out to each one of these web design companies to find out which one is really the best fit for the needs of your organization.
Picking a Web Team is not easy
Whatever your website design project may need, I hope this list gave you a reference point for comparison. And if we left out any great web agencies we’d love to hear from you! Drop us a line or leave us a comment below.
Hungry for More Reviews of Top Creative/Tech Teams in Chicago: