How Much to Charge for a Logo in 2023 (Logo Design Pricing)

Too low, and you leave money on the table. Too high, and you lose a client. It’s not easy being a new freelance graphic designer, huh?

In this guide, you’ll learn how much to charge for a logo without questioning your value.

How much do freelance graphic designers charge (and how much are clients willing to pay)?

I created this table based on my brief conversations with freelance graphic designers, agencies, and the clients who hire them. As you can see in this section, a logo design can go as low as $50 and as high as $8,000.

 

	≤ $50	$300-$900	$1,000 – $3,000	≥ $3,500
What it includes	Logo	Logo Brief consultation Wider range of file and size formats Style guide More rounds of revisions	Logo Discovery meeting Extensive range of file and size formats Style guide Multiple rounds of revisions Concepts and mood boards	Logo Discovery meeting Extensive range of file and size formats Style guide Multiple rounds of revisions Concepts and mood boards Design presentations Brand assets
Ideal for	New websites like affiliate blogs or bootstrapped businesses with modest budget	Small businesses that require a logo for their websites and social	Medium businesses that require a logo for bigger marketing needs	Large companies with big budgets like ecommerce stores and funded startups

Let’s start with the clients.

Dan Morris sets his budget between $50 and $100. The affiliate marketer of Fire and Saw explains, “I don’t want to invest a lot into a new site that’s not yet making money or takes a long time to get off the ground.”

On the other hand, Stephen Light, co-owner and CMO of Nolah Mattress, initially budgeted $3,000. But after realizing his logo would be a long-term investment, he upped it to a whopping $8,000.

Here’s his take:

“A logo has a massive influence on brand identity. It is crucial to make your logo impactful and recognizable from the get-go. Otherwise, you risk slowing down your brand awareness campaigns, and you have a poorly-designed logo.”

Stephanie Scheller, founder of Grow Disrupt, once paid $50 for a logo and was left disappointed.

She shares with AppSumo, “I wanted something that felt high-end and luxurious, so I told the designer about experimenting with diamond shapes and different accent colors. I got exactly that. No creativity, just replication of what I said.”

“It wasn’t till I hired a professional designer for $3,500, then I started to see how they could interpret elements of design I didn’t even know to ask for.”

High-end designers are high-end for a reason. They deliver on a great design even when clients don’t know how to articulate their vision.

Gentle reminder: If you can’t afford a professional logo right now, that’s okay! You can update it when you have the budget.

Daivat Dholakia, director of operations at Force by Mojio, agrees.

He assures other budget-conscious business owners, “If you don’t like your logo in ten years, you can change it! Too many business owners think their logo has to be an immovable part of their identity. In reality, it’s the opposite. Your logo changes over time as your business does.”

Now let’s switch our attention to the freelance designers.

How do you price a logo design: 6 main rules to follow for freelance designers

Rule 1. Send a questionnaire

Start with your client’s needs.

Erika Floyd, the graphic designer behind Brazen Babes Design Co., shares, “A logo needs to be about who the client is. It needs to be about how you can help them be the most successful they can be.”

Include an intake form or questionnaire on your contact page and have the potential client complete it before getting on a consultation call.

This accomplishes three things. You:

• Sniff out whether the prospect is a fit, saving time for both parties.
• Personalize the call and tailor the design approach based on their needs. The prospect’s responses in the questionnaires will give you a behind-the-scenes look at their business. You’ll never get caught off guard.
• Estimate a base rate for a logo design.

Here’s how Erika’s form looks. Note how she asks specific questions surrounding the prospective client’s business and project.

Pro Tip: Make the most out of the consultation call by including qualifying questions or criteria in your intake form. For instance, list a starting rate under the budget field to weed out low-budget clients.

Rule 2. Factor in your time

This is a tricky one, as it’s more complex than it looks.

According to Hedy Zhou, who runs a brand design agency called Happily Hedy, you shouldn’t only consider the time spent drawing the logo.

You should also factor in the time invested in the entire project, like market research, strategic design, and creative direction.

Pro Tip: Consider the number of designers involved in the project.

Randy Gunter, partner at The Gunter Agency, shares:

“We typically like to have at least three designers coming up with a few designs each to get different ways of thinking. However, if we’re working with a lower budget, it’s a single designer coming up with ideas.”

Rule 3. Compare with your competitors

Pricing communicates your value.

Given the vast range of options out there, you don’t want to charge at an exorbitant rate when your competitors charge only at a fraction.

“We make sure that our pricing is competitive to similar design studios of our size and quality while taking into account our target market,” shares Hedy.

“This is one area many designers forget, as the clients you want to attract must find value in your pricing range as well.”

Rule 4. Price value, not hourly

How will the client use the logo?

Will the client show the logo on a local, regional, or national scale?

Is the client planning to show it in advertisements or only on the website?

A logo shown prominently on a national-scale commercial will undoubtedly be more valuable than a logo for a social media profile.

Tip: The value you deliver extends beyond your logo design.

Take The Graphic Standards, for instance.

You can include this written guide in your branding package to provide information on how different graphic elements are used for consistent brand identity across all channels.

It packs in a lot of value, as it answers all the nitty-gritty questions from logo usage to corporate colors.

And the pricing reflects that—in fact, The Gunter Agency charges it upward to $10,000.

Rule 5. Set it according to your deliverables

Besides time, you also want to think about the deliverables and the number of feedback sessions.

Check out Oddball Marketing’s approach below:

	Basic Logo Design	Full Logo Design	Corporations	Branding Journey
Drafts (“roughs”)	3	5	As many as needed	As many as needed
Number of revisions	2 rounds	3 rounds	As many as needed	As many as needed
Deliverables	Logo in different file and size formats	Logo in wider range of file and size formats Style guide	Logo in large range of file and size formats Style guide Concepts Mood boards Tone exploration	Logo in large range of file and size formats Style guide Concepts Mood boards Tone exploration Design presentations Brand assets
Estimated time	4-5 hours	8 hours	15-20 hours	38 hours
Starting rate	$650 ($A910)	$930 (A$1,300)	$1,850 (A$2,600)	$3,500 (A$4,900)

You need to be flexible in your rates.

Say a client bought a basic logo design and is requesting more revisions. Raise your price accordingly.

Dejhanie Brown, the founder and principal designer of BRANDEDD Creative Studio, recommends having a few sets of rates ready in this case.

“A standard mistake made by newer agencies and freelancers is setting a flat rate price, whether it’s based on text, images, or packages—there is truly no one-size-fits-all solution.”

Rule 6. Raise your rates

There are different approaches here, so experiment and see which works best for you.

Erika from Brazen Babes Design Co. raises her rates annually.

On the other hand, Hedy from Happily Hedy, adjusts it according to her deliverables: “If we’ve tweaked our packages to bring more value to our customer or we’re changing our target market a little, it’s going to affect our pricing as well.”

Dejhanie Brown from BRANDEDD Creative Studio changes her rate according to software and market changes.

Elliot Olson, website designer and founder of Studio Anansi, raised her rates every year. Now, she raises it whenever she books out for two months. Her last raise was from $450 to $600 for a wordmark.

Charge what you’re worth

I wish there’s a magic formula for charging a logo, but what it really is is loads of experimentation.

Hopefully, these real-world examples give you a clearer idea on how much to charge for a logo. To recap, here’s what you need to know:

• Instruct all prospects to complete an intake form before getting on a consultation call. This helps you customize the session, estimate a ballpark figure based on their needs, and weed out unfit clients.
• Factor in the total time spent on a project, and not just on creating the logo.
• Compare your rate with competitors of similar size and experience.
• Price value, not hourly. Think about what the client stands to gain from the logo.
• Set it according to your deliverables, including the number of revisions. Have a few sets of rates ready, as you will have clients with different needs.
• And above all else, raise your rates!

It takes more than upping your rates to grow your graphic design business.

You also need tools to reduce your costs.

Browse our software lifetime deals on the AppSumo store today.

With insanely affordable tools across client management, accounting, and sales, you can quickly grow your business without spending all your hard-earned money.