What agencies cost.And what cheap costs you.

Prices at a glance

There is no neutral, representative survey of agency prices in Germany. What holds up are hourly rates from surveys and from the German collective agreement for design fees, plus the price lists of large platforms. Package prices can be derived from these, which is why they say “around”.

Hourly rates

Freelancers

On average 89 euros an hour for design and creative services, 94 euros for marketing.

Agencies

Usually 100 to 180 euros an hour, more for strategy and consulting.

Collective agreement

The German collective agreement for design fees sets 105 euros as the minimum hourly rate, 120 euros for strategic work. Usage rights come on top.

Brand

Logo generator

20 to 60 euros. You get a file made of building blocks that others use too.

Design contest

289 to 1,299 euros on one of the large platforms.

Professional logo

Freelancers around 800 to 3,500 euros. Agencies, with research, drafts and rights, around 3,000 to 10,000 euros.

Corporate design

Logo, colours, typefaces, guidelines and stationery: around 5,000 to 12,000 euros from a freelancer or small studio, around 12,000 to 40,000 euros from an agency.

Brand strategy

A workshop with preparation and follow-up around 2,000 to 10,000 euros. A positioning project over several weeks quickly runs to five figures.

Website

Website builder

11 to 50 euros a month. Design, text and images are up to you.

Compact website

Five to fifteen pages, easy to maintain yourself: around 3,000 to 8,000 euros from a freelancer, around 8,000 to 25,000 euros from an agency with concept and custom design.

Large website

With an extended content management system, a careers section or several languages around 20,000 to 60,000 euros. With a shop, configurator or ERP connection from around 50,000 euros.

Hosting and care

Hosting 10 to 50 euros a month, maintenance usually 50 to 300 euros a month.

Advertising and visibility

SEO

Ongoing support usually 800 to 2,500 euros a month, local from around 500 euros. A one-off audit around 1,500 to 6,000 euros.

Ads

10 to 20 per cent of the ad budget or a flat fee from around 500 euros a month. The budget itself comes on top.

Social media

Agency support around 1,000 to 4,000 euros a month, excluding ad budget.

Photo and film

Photography

A shoot day around 900 to 2,500 euros, plus editing and extended usage rights.

Film

A small crew around 2,000 to 3,500 euros per shooting day, an image film of one to three minutes around 5,000 to 20,000 euros.

All amounts net and rounded, as of October 2026. Where it says “around”, the range is derived from hourly rates and the usual effort. The sources are listed at the end of this article.

Why the same word costs so differently

“Logo” means a file when it comes from a generator. From an agency it means a mark that grows out of a positioning, works on a vehicle as well as on a letterhead, fits colours, typefaces and templates, and belongs to you. The invoice says the same word both times.

Three things make the difference. Thinking: whoever first asks what your business stands for needs time before drawing. Usage rights: in design you pay not only for the work but also for its use: how exclusive, where, for how long and how widely. The German collective agreement for design fees lists this as a separate item. Responsibility: whoever stands behind the result includes coordination, revisions and final artwork.

What a 20-euro logo really costs

The logo itself is rarely the expensive part. It gets expensive when it does not hold up: when it cannot be read on a vehicle, blurs on a work jacket or is made of building blocks that others use too.

Then you pay twice. Once for the new mark. And again for everything the old one is already on: vehicles, signs, print, workwear, website. That second bill is in no quote. It arrives anyway.

The most expensive website is the one that brings no inquiries

A website costs money once. A website that brings no inquiries costs every month: every prospect who clicks on to a competitor, and every application that never gets written.

So the better question is not “What does it cost?” but “What does it bring?”. With five-figure order values, a single additional customer is enough. At UTL Bahnlogistik, website inquiries rose by 45 per cent after the relaunch.

Hourly rate or fixed price?

Internally, almost everyone calculates in hours or days. What matters to you is something else: whether the price is fixed before the work starts. A fixed price puts the risk where it belongs, with whoever can estimate the effort.

What else a fair quote contains is covered in What determines the effort behind a website.

What these figures do not tell you

Ranges show a direction, not a price tag. A business with three vehicles needs something different from a group with four sites, a website with a careers section something different from a business card online.

That is why Studio BUBORI does not publish a price list of its own. In the free brand check we work out what your business needs, and before the work starts you get a fixed price.

Sources

• AGD and SDSt: Vergütungstarifvertrag Design (collective agreement for design fees), version of 1 September 2022
• freelancermap: Freelancer-Kompass 2026
• 99designs: prices for logo contests
• IHK Region Stuttgart: cost overview for business founders, January 2026
• Dr. Web: Was kostet Webdesign wirklich?, 2026
• Squarespace and IONOS: website builder prices
• Ahrefs: survey of 439 SEO providers, 2024
• OMR Reviews: Google Ads agencies, March 2025
• Chamber of Commerce Bolzano: average prices for photography 2024 and film 2024, for South Tyrol

Prices change. The ranges are guidance, not a promise.