How much does a logo cost, and can you make your own?

A logo can cost anything from nothing to several thousand dollars. On a marketplace like Fiverr, basic logo packages start around $10 to $55. A design contest on 99designs costs $299 to $1,299. A designer or studio that also researches your market and builds a full identity costs more. And yes, you can make your own, as long as you avoid two traps that can stop you from ever owning it properly.

What each option costs

The contest prices are 99designs' four fixed logo packages, Bronze to Platinum, before sales tax. The top of the range comes from 99designs itself, which describes the price range for logos as "from almost free to $10,000 or more."

For a sense of what a designer's time is worth: the Bureau of Labor Statistics put the median pay of employed graphic designers at $61,300 a year, or $29.47 an hour, in May 2024. That figure leaves out self-employed designers. A freelancer's rate also has to cover their own taxes, software and the hours they spend finding work, so expect it to be well above that.

What you are really paying for

The difference between a $15 logo and a $1,500 logo is not only the drawing. Before you pay anyone, ask about these four things:

1. The files. You need a vector file (SVG, AI, EPS or PDF) that a sign shop can scale to the size of a truck, plus PNG files with a transparent background for social media. A single JPG is not a logo you can use for long.
2. The versions. A full logo, a compact one for a round profile picture, and a one-color version for stamps, embroidery and receipts.
3. The rights. Ask for the copyright to be transferred to your business, in writing. 99designs lists "full copyright ownership" in all four of its contest packages. On a marketplace, read what the package says before you order.
4. The rounds of changes. How many, and what counts as a change.

Making your own: when it works

A homemade logo is a perfectly good start for a lot of small businesses. A food truck, a cleaning company or a local repair shop is chosen for its work and its reviews, not for a clever symbol.

The simplest version is a wordmark: your business name, set in one good font, in your main color. No icon at all. Many free fonts allow this. The SIL Open Font License, which many free fonts use, explicitly allows use in logos with no credit required. Check the license on each font's page before you commit. If you have not picked your colors and fonts yet, start with our guide to choosing brand colors and fonts, then type your name in the font and try it in your colors.

Keep it simple enough to work at the size of a fingernail, because that is how big it will be in a phone feed.

Two traps with free tools

Template elements. Canva's content license says you may not use its content "as part of a trade-mark, design-mark, trade-name, business name or service mark", with fonts as the exception. So a logo built from a template's icons and illustrations is one you may never be able to register. A name typed in a font is fine under that rule, and so are shapes you draw yourself.

AI logo generators. In January 2025 the U.S. Copyright Office concluded that copyright "does not extend to purely AI-generated material", and that prompts alone do not make you the author of the result. A logo typed into a generator and used as is may be something anyone can copy. If you start from an AI sketch, the safer path is to have a person redraw it, so the final version is human work.

Registering it is a separate cost

A logo and a trademark are different things. The logo is the drawing. A federal trademark registration protects your right to use it for your kind of business.

The USPTO's fee schedule, in effect since January 19, 2025, lists a base application fee of $350 per class of goods or services when you file online. It adds $100 if the application is missing required information, and $200 per class if you describe your goods or services in your own words instead of picking them from the USPTO's ID Manual. Lawyer fees, if you use one, come on top.

Not every local business needs a registered logo. But if you plan to franchise, sell products under your name or open several locations, talk to a trademark attorney before you spend money on signs. This is general information, not legal advice. The USPTO's own pages and a trademark attorney are the places to check your situation.

Which one should you pick

• You are testing an idea or just opened: make a wordmark yourself, spend the money on the business, and revisit in a year.
• You need something better than homemade, on a small budget: a marketplace package with vector files and written copyright.
• You want choices and can give clear feedback: a contest.
• You are about to pay for a sign, a vehicle wrap or packaging, or plan to register a trademark: hire a designer you can talk to. Those things last for years.

Where we fit, and where we do not

We are not a logo studio. If you need a logo for a storefront sign, a trademark filing or a product line, a designer is the right call, and the table above tells you what to budget.

What we do offer is narrower. Our one-time Brand Kit Design, for $199, cleans up the logo you already have for social media, or sets a simple wordmark if you have none, together with a color palette, two fonts, post and story templates and highlight covers. It is a look for social media, not a full brand identity. It is listed with our other one-time jobs on the pricing page.