Straight answer: in London, branding costs roughly £500 for a basic freelance logo, £2k to £15k for a brand identity from a studio, and £10k to £35k or more for a full brand system from a full-service agency. The honest truth is the price tells you less than what’s inside it. Below is a 2027 price guide tier by tier, what you actually get at each level, and where your money is well spent versus wasted.
The 60-second version
- Three rough bands: a logo (£500 to £3k), a brand identity (£2k to £15k), a full brand system (£10k to £35k+). London sits at the higher end of each.
- Cheap logos solve the wrong problem. What converts is a coherent system: logo, colour, type, voice and the assets where you actually show up.
- Productised studios (us included) bundle this into fixed prices, so you can sanity-check fit before any call. Hidden “contact us” pricing is a flag.
- Match the spend to your stage. A pre-launch founder doesn’t need a £30k rollout. A funded scale-up shouldn’t run on a £40 logo.
I run THETOGLAB, a London design and marketing studio, so treat this as a partial witness. But I’d rather you spend the right amount in the right place than overpay an agency for studio-sized work or underpay a freelancer and rebuild it all in a year. Here’s the real picture.
The three price bands, plainly
Most quotes you’ll get fall into one of three bands. The number jumps mostly with scope and seniority, not with London postcode magic.
| What you’re buying | Typical London price | What’s usually included | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| A logo | £500–£3,000 | Logo marks, a colour palette, a font choice | A side project or a quick fix |
| A brand identity | £2,000–£15,000 | Logo system, colour, type, guidelines, key assets | A real business getting serious |
| A full brand system | £10,000–£35,000+ | Strategy, identity, messaging, web, rollout | Funded scale-ups, rebrands, institutions |
London market ranges for context, not quotes. Every brief is different.
What a logo alone actually buys you
A logo is a mark. On its own it is not a brand, the same way a front door is not a house. A £40 marketplace logo or a £500 freelance one can look fine, but it usually arrives with no system around it: no rules for how it behaves, no voice, no assets for social or web. You end up improvising the rest inconsistently, which is exactly what makes small businesses look small.
What a brand identity adds
This is the band most growing businesses actually need. You get the logo, yes, but also a colour and type system, brand guidelines so it stays consistent, and the core assets for the places you show up. This is the level where a brand starts doing work for you instead of just sitting there.
When a full system is worth £20k+
Strategy, naming, messaging architecture, a website, and a rollout across print, digital and events. This is what an enterprise rebrand looks like, and at that scale the price is justified by coordination, not just craft. If you’re a solo founder, you almost certainly don’t need this yet.
You’re not buying a logo. You’re buying consistency, and consistency is what makes a small brand look established.
Where THETOGLAB sits, and why it’s priced this way
We publish our prices, which most London agencies won’t. Here’s the ladder, so you can sanity-check fit before you ever speak to me:
The reason a £2,500 package can deliver what an agency charges £15k for is structure. We’re an AI-first studio: a small senior team with AI built into production, so we carry less overhead and move faster. You’re not paying for account managers and a six-month discovery phase. You’re paying for the work.
A useful test: ask any agency for a number on the first call. The good ones can give you a band immediately. If the price needs three meetings to surface, the price is the negotiation, and you’re starting from a weak position.
What changes the number
Two identical-sounding briefs can be quoted miles apart. Usually it comes down to these:
- Scope: a logo, an identity, or a full system with web and rollout.
- Seniority: who actually does the work, and whether they’ve done it before.
- Strategy depth: a quick brief versus real research and positioning.
- Deliverables: how many assets, formats and guidelines you walk away with.
- Ongoing work: a one-off project versus a monthly content engine.
Not sure which band you’re in?
Tell me your stage and what’s broken. I’ll tell you honestly what level of branding you need right now, and what you can leave until later. No pitch.
Where to spend and where to save
Spend where consistency compounds: the identity system and the places customers actually see you. Save on the things you can scale later. A pre-launch founder is usually best served by a tight identity and a starter kit, then adding a content engine once there’s something to talk about. A funded scale-up signalling trust to customers and investors should not be running on a £40 logo, because the brand is doing real persuasion work and it shows when it’s cheap.
The mistake isn’t spending too little or too much in the abstract. It’s mismatching the spend to the stage. For a fuller picture of why the cheapest option often costs more in the end, the principle is simple: you either pay once to do it properly or twice to redo it. If you want to see what “AI-first” buys you in practice, read how we ran a content engine for a brand-new venue in our Outfields case study.
Start with the Essential brand package
£800 gets you a logo, an identity system and a social starter kit: enough to look credible from day one, with a clear path to upgrade as you grow. Book a call and I’ll tell you if it’s the right starting point for you.
Frequently asked questions
How much does branding cost in London?
Roughly £500 to £3,000 for a logo, £2,000 to £15,000 for a brand identity, and £10,000 to £35,000+ for a full brand system. London sits at the higher end of each band. Productised studios bundle these into fixed prices; ours run £800 to £4,500.
Why is branding so expensive?
You’re paying for strategy and seniority, not just a file. A coherent system (logo, colour, type, voice, guidelines and assets) takes experienced people and time. Agencies also carry overheads like account management. An AI-first studio cuts the overhead and the production time, which is why our prices are lower for comparable work.
Is a cheap logo worth it?
For a side project, maybe. For a real business, rarely. A cheap logo usually arrives with no system around it, so you improvise the rest inconsistently and look smaller than you are. You often end up paying again to do it properly, which is more expensive overall.
What’s included in a £2,500 branding package?
In ours, a full brand identity plus a website that converts: logo system, colour and type, brand guidelines, and a built site on Framer, Webflow or a CMS. It’s the level most growing businesses actually need, priced below the £10k+ a full agency would charge for similar scope.
How long does a branding project take?
A focused identity usually runs a few weeks. A brand plus website is typically four to eight weeks, depending on scope and how fast you give feedback. AI-assisted production compresses the making, but strategy still needs thinking time, so be wary of anyone promising a serious brand overnight.
Written by Uzair Amjad, founder of THETOGLAB, a London design and marketing studio (MA, Design & Visual Communications, University of Greenwich). We help founders and lean teams build brands and content engines that punch above their size.
