A logo can cost ₹500 on a marketplace, ₹15,000 from a good freelancer, or ₹2 lakh as part of an agency identity project. Business owners understandably wonder whether the expensive one is just the cheap one with a nicer presentation.
Sometimes it is. More often, the price difference is about what happens before the drawing starts and what you get after it ends.
Price ranges below come from published Indian guides, checked on 20 October 2026. They’re ranges, not quotes.
The rough bands
One Indian price guide puts simple text-based logos at about ₹500 to ₹5,000, logos with custom illustration at ₹10,000 to ₹50,000, and full branding packages at ₹25,000 to ₹2,00,000 depending on scope. Template-led services such as IndiaFilings list basic logo plans from a few thousand rupees.
Those bands overlap because three very different products all get called “a logo”:
- A mark picked from options. You get a handful of concepts, pick one, maybe ask for a colour change. Fast and cheap.
- A designed logo. A designer asks about your business, sketches, refines and delivers a mark with proper files.
- A brand identity. The logo is one part of a system: colours, typefaces, how the logo behaves at small sizes, patterns or illustration style, and rules for using it all.
What the higher price buys
Thinking before drawing. Who are your customers, who are you up against, what should people feel when they see your name on a shop board or a WhatsApp profile picture? A designer who doesn’t ask is guessing. Our guide to writing a useful brand brief helps you prepare for this, whoever you hire.
Original work. Cheap logos are sometimes adapted from stock or template libraries. That’s a problem the day you try to trademark it, or when you spot the same icon on a competitor’s van.
Testing in real places. A good logo works as a 32-pixel favicon, embroidered on a uniform, printed in one colour on a carry bag and next to Swiggy or Amazon listings. Ask whether the designer will show it in those situations before you approve.
A system, not a single file. Colours with exact codes for print and screen, fonts you’re licensed to use, a version for dark backgrounds, a stacked and a horizontal layout, and a simple guide so the next designer doesn’t stretch it.
The files and rights you should get
Whatever you pay, make sure the handover includes:
- Vector source files (AI, SVG or PDF) for print and signage. A PNG alone is not a logo you own in any practical sense.
- PNG and SVG versions for web and social, in colour, black and white.
- Colour codes in HEX, RGB and CMYK, and Pantone if you print a lot.
- Font names and licences. Some fonts used in logos need a paid licence for commercial use.
- A written transfer of copyright to your business. Some designers charge extra for full rights. The IRPR guide says transfer can add ₹5,000 to ₹20,000. Either way, get it in writing.
Then register it
This is the step most small businesses skip, and it’s cheap. Under the IP India fee schedule, the e-filing fee for a trademark application is ₹4,500 per class for an individual, startup or small enterprise, and ₹9,000 for others. Udyam registration helps here, since it’s how a small enterprise usually shows it qualifies.
Search the trademark registry before you finalise the design and the name. Discovering that someone already registered something similar in your class after you’ve printed boards and packaging is expensive. A trademark attorney can run a proper search and file for you; their fees are on top of the government fee.
What about AI logo tools?
AI generators are useful for exploring directions quickly and terrible at the parts that matter later. They don’t know your market, they can produce marks that look like existing brands, and the legal position on owning and registering AI-generated artwork is still unsettled in many places. Use them for mood boards if you like. Have a designer create the final mark.
Which option fits you?
- Just starting, testing an idea: a clean wordmark in a well-chosen typeface is honest and inexpensive. You can invest properly once the business proves itself.
- Customers see your brand everywhere (shopfront, packaging, uniforms, delivery apps): a designed logo with a small identity system pays for itself in consistency.
- You’re raising prices, entering a new market or repositioning: treat it as a brand strategy project first. The logo comes out of that work.
How we work on logos
Our logo and visual identity projects start with a short brief and research into your category, then move through concepts, refinement and real-world mockups. You get vector files, colour codes, font details and the copyright in writing. If you need a full rulebook for your team and vendors, we add brand guidelines.
Whoever you hire, ask one question before you pay: “What exactly will I receive, and will I own it?” The answer tells you more than the price does.