The short answer
For a single product’s packaging, expect $800–$6,000, with a typical small-brand project around $2,500. Packaging is graphic design with physics attached — it has to fold, print, survive a shelf, and pass a printer’s specs — so it costs more than a flat graphic of the same visual complexity.
| Tier | Range | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| DIY / template | $0–$200 | Generic dieline templates you fill in. Risky for anything printed at scale. |
| Marketplace gig | $200–$800 | A label or single face. Often ignores dielines and print prep. |
| Independent professional | $800–$3,500 | Structure-aware design, print-ready dielines, mockups, one SKU done right. |
| Studio / product line | $3,500–$8,000+ | Full line systems, retail strategy, multiple SKUs, printer coordination. |
What actually moves the price
Structure, not just the label. A logo on a box is the easy part. The cost sits in the dieline — the folding template — and in designing artwork that survives it: nothing critical near a fold or glue flap, bleed where the knife cuts, legibility once it’s three-dimensional. A designer who skips this hands your printer a file that fails.
SKU count. One product is a project. A line of eight flavors is eight variations that must feel like a family while staying distinct on a shelf. Price scales with SKUs, but the per-SKU rate usually drops once the system exists.
Print and regulatory reality. Barcodes, ingredient panels, weight statements, and material specs all have rules, and the printer has tolerances. Professional quotes include getting these right; cheap ones leave you to discover the problems at the print run, where fixes are most expensive.
How this guide is priced
Ranges are compiled from public market data and published rate listings — see our data methodology. As the Mindhyv marketplace grows, these figures will come from real, anonymized platform data instead.
Before you hire
Read the packaging designer hiring guide for the print questions to ask before you commit, and set your ceiling with our guide to setting a project budget so a multi-SKU line doesn’t creep past what you planned.