The short answer
Make it yourself when the logo is a placeholder — you’re testing an idea, launching this month, or the brand isn’t the product. Hire a designer when the logo has to sit next to competitors, print on packaging, and still look right in five years.
A DIY logo costs an afternoon and looks like an afternoon. That’s genuinely fine for a side project. It’s a problem when customers judge your competence by your mark before they’ve met you.
The real differences
| DIY | Hiring a designer | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free to ~$50 | $400–$5,000 per project |
| Turnaround | Same day | 1–3 weeks |
| Originality | Templated — others use the same base | Made for you |
| File formats | Often limited | Vector, print, favicon, every size |
| Usage rights | Read the fine print | Spelled out in the contract |
| Revisions | Endless, but only your eye | Guided by someone who does this |
Where each one wins
DIY wins: MVPs, internal projects, event one-offs, and businesses where the name matters more than the mark. If you’d swap the logo without a second thought, don’t pay for it yet.
Hiring wins: anything that goes on physical product, storefronts, vehicles, or up against established brands. A real designer delivers a proper file set and clear usage rights — so you own what you paid for and can actually use it everywhere. That’s the part logo makers quietly skip.
What it means for your budget
The honest middle: start with a clean, simple DIY wordmark, launch, and prove the business works. Redesign properly once you have revenue and know who you’re for. Spending $2,000 on a logo for a business you abandon in three months is the expensive mistake, not the cheap logo.
When you do hire, brief it well — a good brand designer needs your positioning, not just your color preferences. See what shapes the price in the logo design cost guide.