What does a fixed-price upgrade actually cost?

Realistic 2026 ranges for an Adobe Certified freelance dev (mine):

• 2.4.8 → 2.4.9 patch hop: $1,500, $3,500. 1-2 weeks calendar time. Mostly composer + reindex + smoke-test.
• 2.4.6 / 2.4.7 → 2.4.9: $4,000, $10,000. 3-5 weeks. Two minor versions of deprecation work, full UAT cycle.
• 2.4.4 / 2.4.5 → 2.4.9: $7,000, $15,000. 5-8 weeks. PHP 8.1 → 8.3 sits on top, plus extension audits.
• 2.4.0-2.4.3 → 2.4.9: $10,000, $22,000. 8-12 weeks. Composer 1 → 2, OpenSearch migration, layout-XML schema cleanup.
• 2.3.x → 2.4.9: $18,000, $40,000. 12-20 weeks. Effectively a re-build. PHP 7 → 8.3, full Knockout audit, every extension re-validated.

Multipliers: Adobe Commerce +30% (B2B Companies UAT). Hyvä in place +10%. ERP integration +$3k, $8k. Multi-store +20% per additional storefront. Custom checkout +$2k, $5k.

For the precise number, run /magento-upgrade-cost-calculator which factors all the multipliers, or book the audit via the form above. Agency rates run 3-5x the freelance numbers.