Pricing guides
What to charge, honestly
Most rate guides quote benchmarks that don't survive verification. These don't. Each guide leads with the method — price the value the work creates, floor-check against your time — plus the verified 2026 hourly anchors and a worked example with real arithmetic.
Logo design
How much should you charge for logo design?
There's no reliable going rate for a logo — and that's the most useful fact about pricing one. Price the job the logo does for the client, then floor-check the number against your time.
OpenBrand identity
How much should you charge for a brand identity project?
Brand identity is the clearest value-pricing case in design: the deliverable is a system the client operates for years. Price the system's job, not the file count.
OpenWeb design
How much should you charge for a website design?
Website pricing has the best-documented hourly data in freelance design — and 82% of surveyed web designers still price by project, not hour. Here's how to do both honestly.
OpenUI/UX design
How much should you charge for UI/UX design?
Product design work commands a premium over general graphic design — and is bought in bigger, longer engagements. Price the product outcome, floor-check against honest anchors.
OpenIllustration
How much should you charge for illustration?
Illustration pricing is usage pricing: the same image is worth different amounts doing different jobs. License what the client actually needs; floor-check against honest anchors.
OpenPhotography
How much should you charge for freelance photography?
No reliable freelance photography day-rate benchmark survived our verification pass. That's not a gap — it's the argument for pricing shoots by job value plus usage, not by a going rate.
OpenMotion design
How much should you charge for motion design?
Motion is scarce, production-heavy, and priced per finished second more than per hour. Scope brutally specifically; anchor to what the piece does.
OpenPackaging design
How much should you charge for packaging design?
Packaging is design that has to sell in three seconds and survive a print run. Price the shelf job and the production risk you're absorbing, not the artboard.
OpenSocial media design
How much should you charge for social media design?
Social design is bought as a recurring system, not artboards. Price the monthly engine — templates, cadence, and coherence — and escape the per-post race to the bottom.
OpenPitch deck design
How much should you charge for pitch deck design?
A pitch deck is the highest-stakes document a client will show anyone this year. Price the moment it serves — the raise, the sale, the partnership — not the slide count.
OpenStart with your own floor: the rate calculator derives the rate your year requires, and the project pricing calculator turns a deal’s value into three anchored options.