.svg)
A small business logo costs anything from nothing to several thousand dollars, and the price tells you which of four products you are buying. Vistaprint's logo design cost guide, updated January 30, 2026, says "if you're a small business or startup looking for quality design, a good logo design should cost between $300-$2,500 most commonly."
The four options, with the prices they publish
Every price below was read on the provider's own page on October 14, 2026, unless another date is given.
1. Logo makers: free to a small one-time fee
A logo maker assembles a mark from a library of icons and fonts. Squarespace's logo maker page says "You can use the logo maker for free, even if you don't have a Squarespace account yet." and delivers PNG files in black, white and color versions. Wix's maker, Wixel, says "Download your custom logo in high-resolution, vector format for free." in SVG, PNG and JPG, with AI edits paid in credits. Looka sells its files as one-time packages; we could not load its pricing page for this article, so check it directly.
What you get: a presentable mark in minutes. What you do not get: exclusivity, since the icon sits in a shared library, and, at Squarespace, no vector file on the free tier. Right for a business that has not launched or may still change its name.
2. Marketplaces: from $5 to a few hundred dollars
Fiverr lists logo gigs from $5 on its creative logo design category page, as read on September 22, 2026; when we reopened the page from France on October 14, 2026, the same listings started at €5. 99designs by Vista runs contests "Starting from $249" (listed as "Bronze US$249" on its pricing page) and sells a brand identity pack "Starting from $599" with a business card, letterhead, envelope, Facebook cover and full copyright ownership.
What you get: range. What you do: the brief, the feedback and the judging. The line to check is rights, because some gigs grant a license to use the file rather than ownership, and stock elements stay licensed.
3. Freelancers: by the hour or by the project
Upwork's own hire page puts a logo designer at $15 to $30 per hour and a simple logo project at $150 to $500, as read on September 22, 2026. A designer found through a referral or a portfolio site usually costs more per hour than the marketplace and gives you a named person who stays reachable, with quotes that land in Vistaprint's mid-range. Our guide to hiring a logo designer lists the six things that change with the price.
What you get: an original mark, a conversation, and with experienced designers a short research step. What varies most: the number of concepts and whether guidelines come with it.
4. Studios and subscriptions: published packages or a monthly fee
Fixed-price studios publish their packages. The Logo Boutique sells a "Red Tag Logo Package" at "$99.00" with 10 concepts, unlimited revisions and vector files, first concepts in 24 hours. Logoworks sells Bronze at "$199 USD" for "4 Initial Designs" from two designers, up to Platinum at "$699 USD" for "20 Initial Designs" from ten. Softriver states "Our packages start from $280." with delivery in 48 hours. Logo Design NYC lists "Logo Design Package: Standard" at "$995.00" up to "Logo Design Package: Enterprise" at "$2,495.00".
Subscriptions price the logo as part of a month of design. Penji's Essentials plan is "$995 /mo" with branding and logos included. ManyPixels starts at "$699" "/mo". Design Elite, our own studio, starts at €949.90 excluding VAT per month (about $1,050) for 3 design requests a month with unlimited revisions; the logo is one request, and the social templates, the deck and the site assets that follow are the next ones. Our comparison of the best logo design companies puts all of these side by side.
What you get: a defined scope at a known price, and with a subscription, the rest of the brand at the same price.
What a small business needs in the files
The files matter more than the price, because missing files are what force a second purchase.
- Vector source files: AI, SVG or EPS. A PNG cannot be scaled to a sign or embroidered on a shirt. If a quote lists PNG and JPG only, it is a picture of a logo.
- Variations: a horizontal and a stacked lockup, the icon alone, a one-color version, a reversed version for dark backgrounds and a favicon. A logo that only exists in full color on white breaks on the first dark background.
- Color values: HEX and RGB for screens, CMYK for print, Pantone if anything you print must match exactly.
- Font names and licenses: know which typefaces are used and buy the license if the designer did not. A logo converted to outlines is fine; a stationery template that needs an unlicensed font is not.
- Rights: a sentence assigning copyright in the final logo to your business on final payment. The USPTO says that "A trademark can be any word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination of these things that identifies your goods or services." You can only register a mark you own, and a mark built from a shared icon library struggles at the search stage.
A decision guide by budget and stage
- Not launched yet, or the name may change: a logo maker. Spend nothing, keep the files, and replace the mark when the business is real.
- Launched, under $300: a budget package with vector files and a rights clause (The Logo Boutique, Softriver's $280 one-concept tier) rather than the cheapest gig. The difference between a $5 gig and a $99.00 package is often the file you receive, so check the formats before you pay.
- $300 to $1,000: a freelancer with a portfolio in your sector, or a multi-concept package (Logoworks, a 99designs contest). This is the lower half of Vistaprint's common range.
- $1,000 to $2,500: a studio package (Logo Design NYC) or an experienced independent designer. A research step enters the price here. Our logo design cost guide explains what each step up buys.
- The logo is the first of many assets: a subscription, so that the templates, the deck and the website share one designer and one set of rules.
- An existing business with a dated mark: a logo redesign rather than a new logo. Customers already recognize something in the current mark, and a redesign keeps it; a mark drawn from scratch throws it away.
Five mistakes that cost small businesses a second logo
- Buying a PNG. Every future use, from a sign to a trade show banner, then needs a redraw.
- Approving the mark on a screen at full size. Check it at favicon size and in one color before sign-off.
- Skipping the rights clause. Two years in, the designer or the platform still owns the artwork, and every reuse needs their permission.
- Choosing by committee. Logo revisions are where everyone has an opinion; name one decision maker before the first concepts arrive.
- Buying the logo alone when the identity is coming. The palette, the typography and the templates get invented ad hoc, and the logo is redrawn to fit them later.
Design Elite's option for small businesses
Design Elite is a subscription design studio in Paris working in English with US and UK clients. Our logo design services run a logo as a scoped project: a written brand brief, three routes built on three different ideas, the lockups (monochrome, dark background, favicon, horizontal), AI, SVG, EPS and PNG files and full copyright transfer, with a dedicated project manager and first concepts within 48 hours. The Prestige plan is €949.90 excluding VAT per month (about $1,050) for 3 design requests a month with unlimited revisions, and you pause or stop once the brand is settled. We also quote fixed-price logo packages within 24 hours after a 30-minute call. The caveat: for a single logo and nothing else, a fixed package from the studios above costs less. The subscription earns its place when the logo is the start of a list.
FAQ
How much should a small business pay for a logo?
Vistaprint's logo design cost guide, updated January 30, 2026, says a small business or startup looking for quality design should expect $300 to $2,500 most commonly. Below that, budget packages such as The Logo Boutique's at $99.00 still deliver vector files; inside that band, studio packages such as Logo Design NYC's at $995.00 to $2,495.00 publish fixed prices and scopes.
Is $500 too much for a logo design?
No. It sits inside Vistaprint's common range and at the top of Upwork's stated $150 to $500 for a simple project, which buys a few concepts, a vector file and a revision process. It is too much only if the deliverable is a single PNG without a rights clause.
Can I design my own logo for free?
Yes. Squarespace's logo maker is free to use and exports PNG files, and Wix's Wixel maker exports a vector SVG for free. The limits are exclusivity, since the icons come from a shared library, and the absence of variations and rules, so treat the result as a placeholder until the business is launched.
What files should I receive with my logo?
Vector source files (AI, SVG or EPS), PDF and transparent PNG exports, horizontal and stacked lockups, the icon alone, one-color and reversed versions, a favicon, the color values (HEX, RGB, CMYK) and the font names. A PNG-only delivery means paying for a redraw at the first sign or print job.
Do I need to trademark my small business logo?
The USPTO says "You're not required to register your trademark." and that a registered trademark provides broader rights and protections than an unregistered one. Whether or not you register, get the copyright assignment in writing first, so the mark is yours to build on.
