UX Audit: Cost, Scope and When It Pays

A UX audit from a specialist studio usually costs $5,000 to $15,000 in our experience. At Glow, an audit takes 1–3 weeks. You get severity-rated findings, annotated screens and a prioritized roadmap. It pays off when you see users drop in sign-up, onboarding or checkout but can't say why. For a lighter start, a free 3-day trial can cover a quick review of one screen.

What do you get from a UX audit?

You get a ranked list of what is hurting your product, and what to fix first. A good audit combines expert review with evidence from real users.

Our UX audit includes:

• A heuristic review by our specialists.
• At least 5 moderated sessions with people from your target audience.
• A review of your analytics.
• A check against WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility criteria.
• A report with annotated screenshots and severity ratings.
• A 90-day roadmap and a walkthrough call.

Be careful with a report that lists problems with no priority. It tells you what is wrong but not where to start.

How much does a UX audit cost?

Prices run from about a thousand dollars to tens of thousands, because the word "audit" covers very different work. Here are the tiers we see on the market.

These are our estimates of market rates, not survey data, so use them to sense-check a quote.

Glow does not publish one audit price. We scope the audit on a short call and quote a fixed price before work starts, so the cost doesn't grow mid-project.

What changes the price?

Four things drive most of the difference:

• Flows and platforms. We pick 3 to 5 key flows to audit, such as sign-up, onboarding and checkout. More flows or a second platform cost more.
• User sessions. Testing with real people costs more than expert review. It also finds more.
• Product complexity. Multiple roles and heavy rules take longer to review.
• Depth of output. A list of issues costs less than a roadmap with priorities and a walkthrough.

When is a UX audit worth it?

An audit is worth it when you have a costly problem that you can see but can't explain:

• Users drop off in sign-up, onboarding or checkout.
• Support tickets repeat the same complaints.
• A redesign is coming and you need evidence first.
• Accessibility has become a legal or sales requirement.
• Many people use the product, so a small fix pays many times over.

That last point is why scale matters. A platform like EthosCE, with 6M students, gains far more from a small fix than a product with a few hundred users.

When is it not worth it?

Skip the audit when:

• You have no users yet. Test the idea instead.
• You already know what is wrong and only need the time to fix it.
• Nobody can act on the findings in the next quarter.
• You are about to change the product's direction.

If you are not ready to fix anything, spend the money later. Our guide to the website UX audit shows how to run a basic version yourself.

UX audit or free 3-day trial?

An audit looks at the whole journey. A trial looks at one screen. Choose by the size of the question you have.

The trial does not replace an audit. It is a low-risk first step if you want to see how we think before you commit.

What results can an audit lead to?

An audit finds the problems. The result comes from fixing them.

Here is one anonymized example from our audit work. On an e-commerce checkout, the audit found redundant screens, and a 7-step checkout became 4 steps. The result was +22% checkout conversion. The audit did not create that lift alone. The fixes did the work, but the audit showed where to look.

Treat any promised result with care. No honest agency can tell you the lift before it has seen your data.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a UX audit cost?

In our experience, a specialist studio charges $5,000 to $15,000, and a full-scope audit runs $8,000 to $25,000. Simple expert reviews cost less. Glow quotes a fixed price after a short call.

How long does a UX audit take?

At Glow, 1–3 weeks. A focused product sits at the short end, and larger products with 10+ key screens or complex flows at the long end.

What is the difference between a UX audit and usability testing?

Usability testing watches people use the product. An audit is wider: it combines expert review, analytics, accessibility and user sessions into a list of priorities.

Can we do a UX audit ourselves?

You can do a basic one, and it can find obvious problems. An outside team sees what you have stopped noticing and brings no internal bias.

Is a free trial the same as an audit?

No. Glow's free 3-day trial covers one real screen in 3 working days. It gives you quick feedback, not a full report or user sessions.

Next step

Not sure if you need a full audit yet? Start a free 3-day trial and get an honest review of one real screen in 3 working days, for $0.