Guide
How much does it cost to restore a site from the Wayback Machine?
It depends on the route. A download tool costs from under a dollar to about $20 per site, but gives you files, not a working WordPress site. Freelancers and restoration services charge roughly $30 to $110 per site for a finished HTML or WordPress site. A custom rebuild by a developer starts at a few hundred dollars. Your own time is the cost most people forget. Below: what each route costs, what drives the price, and the costs that do not show up on the price list.
By Dmitriy Gabdrakhmanov · Updated 9 October 2026
Prices by route
Ranges from public price lists, checked in October 2026.
| Route | Typical price | What you get | What you still do yourself |
|---|---|---|---|
| Download tool | Typical priceUnder $1 to about $20 per site, often priced per file | What you getArchived files as static HTML or the tool’s own PHP copy | What you still do yourselfConvert to WordPress, keep the URLs, fix gaps, set up redirects |
| Freelance marketplace | Typical priceAbout $10 to $100+ per site | What you getDepends on the seller: HTML or WordPress | What you still do yourselfCheck the result address by address |
| Restoration service | Typical priceAbout $30 for HTML, $65 to $110 for WordPress | What you getA working site, usually as a ZIP, sometimes installed | What you still do yourselfDepends on what the price covers |
| Custom rebuild | Typical priceFrom about $300 to $2,000 and more | What you getA new site built from the archive by a developer | What you still do yourselfLittle, if the brief was precise |
| By hand | Typical priceYour hours | What you getExactly what you build | What you still do yourselfEverything |
The spread is wide because the routes deliver different things. A cheap download and an expensive rebuild are not two prices for the same job.
What drives the price
- Size. Pages, files and gigabytes. Some charge per file, some per site with a page limit, some per page above a threshold.
- Format. Static HTML is the cheapest. WordPress costs more. Page builders, shops and custom designs cost the most.
- Addresses. Keeping every original URL, including parameter addresses such as
?p=123, takes work that the cheapest routes skip. - Missing pages. A decision and a status for every address the archive lost costs more than sending them all to the homepage.
- Checks and reporting. A report on what came back and what did not is part of some prices and missing from others.
- Extras. Removing the previous owner’s details, installation on your hosting, rush delivery.
The costs that are not on the price list
Your time after a cheap download
A download tool hands you files. Turning them into a WordPress site on the original addresses, finding missing images and checking every page is where the hours go. If your time costs anything, count it.
Small add-on fees
Some offers start low and add charges for broken images, broken links, the mobile version or finding the right snapshot. Add them up before comparing.
Redoing the work
If the URLs changed or missing pages were sent to the homepage, fixing it later means checking every address again. Doing it right once is cheaper.
Hosting and setup
The restored site needs hosting. Installation may be included, extra or left to you.
Three examples
What each route tends to cost for typical orders. Ranges, not quotes:
| Order | Download tool | Restoration service | Custom rebuild |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blog, 300 pages, into WordPress | Download toolA few dollars, plus your hours converting | Restoration serviceAbout $65 to $110 | Custom rebuildFrom several hundred dollars |
Site of 3,000 pages with ?p= addresses | Download toolA few to about $20, plus a router for the old addresses | Restoration serviceWithin a standard price if under the provider’s page limit; check it | Custom rebuildRarely worth it at this size |
| 20 expired domains of 200 pages | Download toolFrom a few dollars per domain, plus your hours times 20 | Restoration serviceAbout $55 to $110 per site; volume discounts vary | Custom rebuildNot practical |
For anything over a few hundred pages, check the provider’s page and size limit first. It decides whether the standard price applies.
How to compare quotes
Put every offer in the same table before you choose:
- What is the result: files, static HTML, WordPress?
- Are the original URLs kept exactly, parameter addresses included?
- What happens to pages the archive lost?
- Is there a report for every address?
- What is the page and size limit, and what costs extra?
- What are the refund and fix terms?
Six questions to ask any provider, in detail →
What I charge
- $99 per site, any site up to 10,000 pages or 5 GB.
- Packs for agencies, prepaid: 5 sites $425, 10 sites $790, 20 sites $1,380, which is $69 per site.
- Included: WordPress on the original URLs, parameter addresses included;
redirects.csvwith a301or410and a reason for every old address; a QA report; sitemap; white-label; free installation on request; 14 days of free fixes. - Options: rush +$30 for sites up to 500 pages; removing the previous owner’s contacts and names, priced in the audit report.
- Larger sites: quoted after the audit.
- Refund: full refund any time before work starts.
The free audit names the exact price and date for your domain before you pay.
Questions
Why do prices range from $1 to $2,000?
Because the routes deliver different things: archived files at the low end, a working site in the middle, a new design at the top. Compare what you get, not only the number.
Is a cheap download tool enough?
It is enough if you need the archived files and will do the rest yourself: convert to WordPress, keep the addresses, fill the gaps and check every page. It is not a finished site.
Do restoration services charge per page?
Some do, some charge per file, and many charge per site up to a page or size limit. Check the limit: it decides which price applies to your site.
Is restoring cheaper than rebuilding?
Usually, when the archive holds most of the site and the old addresses matter. A rebuild makes sense when you are changing the design or the archive holds too little.
How often do these prices change?
Prices in this market change a few times a year. I check these ranges every quarter; the date at the top of the page shows the last update.
Next step
The free audit counts the pages the archive holds for your domain and names a fixed price and a delivery date, before any payment.