A rebrand costs $249 for a logo contest on 99designs, roughly $1,000 to $5,000 for a freelancer, and $10,000 to six figures for a studio or agency, and in 2026 the hidden line item is the search move. The USPTO charges $350 per class just to file the new name as a trademark, and Google says redirects from an old domain should stay live for at least a year. Canva Pro at $144 a year covers the do-it-yourself end, but no template handles the part where Google, ChatGPT, and Perplexity have to learn that the new name is the same company.
The design bill is the number everyone quotes. The recognition bill is the one that decides whether customers still find you after launch.
What does a rebrand actually cost in 2026?
A rebrand costs between $249 and well over $100,000 depending on how much of the business changes. A logo swap sits at the bottom. A new name, domain, website, and messaging sits at the top.
Published prices anchor the bottom of the range. 99designs lists logo contest packages at $249 for Bronze, $399 for Silver, $799 for Gold, and $1,050 for Platinum. Fiverr logo gigs start as low as $5 to $30, though those listings sell a file, not a strategy. Canva Pro costs $144 a year per person and Canva Business costs $250 a year per person, which is the realistic DIY floor if you already have a designer’s eye. Looka sells logo packages and a Brand Kit subscription billed annually, and it publishes its prices only inside its checkout flow, so check the current figure before you plan around it.
Above that, published rate cards disappear. Studios and agencies quote by scope, so the bands below are planning ranges, not measured averages. Treat them as the shape of the market and ask for three written quotes.
Get a written estimate of your own search exposure before you sign any branding contract. Run a free AI visibility audit to see how Google and AI assistants describe you today.
How much does a rebrand cost by scope?
Scope drives price more than any other variable. The five buckets below cover most small and mid-size rebrands.
1. Logo refresh only
You keep the name, domain, and website. A new mark, color palette, and type system replace the old ones. Budget $249 to $1,050 through a 99designs contest, $1,000 to $3,000 through a freelancer on Upwork or a designer you already know. Search risk is close to zero because the name and URLs do not change.
2. Visual identity with guidelines
Logo, color, type, imagery rules, and a brand guide. A freelancer or small studio typically quotes $3,000 to $15,000. You still keep the domain. The main cost after design is reprinting, resigning, and updating profiles.
3. Full brand identity with messaging
Positioning work, voice, naming discussion, identity system, and rollout templates. Boutique studios usually land between $10,000 and $50,000 in planning terms. This is where the strategy work lives and where the bill starts to reflect senior hours.
4. Name change with new domain
This bucket adds three costs on top of the identity work: the trademark filing, the site migration, and the recognition cleanup covered below. Design may run $10,000 to $50,000. The USPTO application fee is $350 per class, plus $200 per class if your goods and services description is not pulled verbatim from the USPTO ID Manual. A full clearance search by an attorney is extra and varies by firm.
5. Agency-led rebrand with website rebuild
Research, naming, identity, a rebuilt site, launch campaign. Agency quotes commonly start in the tens of thousands and can pass $100,000 for multi-location or regulated businesses. The site portion is its own project, and what a website redesign costs is worth reading before you accept a bundled number.
Which rebrand option fits which business?
Match the option to what is changing, not to the biggest budget you can approve.
| Option | Typical cost | What you get | Search and recognition risk | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 99designs contest | $249 to $1,050 (99designs published packages) | A logo from a crowd of designers | None if name and URLs stay | Best for a logo swap on a small brand |
| Fiverr logo gig | $5 to $30 starting price (Fiverr listings) | A logo file, limited revisions | None if name and URLs stay | Best for a placeholder while you validate a new idea |
| Looka or Canva DIY | Canva Pro $144 a year, Canva Business $250 a year, Looka priced at checkout | Templates, logo maker, brand kit | None if name and URLs stay | Best for solo operators and early stage |
| Freelance designer (Upwork or referral) | About $1,000 to $5,000, planning band | Logo, palette, type, light guidelines | Low | Best for a visual refresh with a clear brief |
| Boutique brand studio | About $10,000 to $50,000, planning band | Strategy, identity, guidelines, rollout | Moderate if the name changes | Best for repositioning a growing business |
| Full agency with site rebuild | Tens of thousands to $100,000 or more, planning band | Research, naming, identity, website, launch | Highest, because name, domain, and URLs all move | Best for merged, multi-location, or regulated brands |
The last column matters more than the cost column. A $500 logo on a stable domain is safer for your visibility than a $30,000 rebrand that changes the domain without a redirect plan.
What does a rebrand do to your search visibility?
It resets what Google has learned, and how much depends on what you change. Keep the domain and the damage is small. Change the domain and you are running a site move.
Google Search Central states that for a medium-sized site, it can take a few weeks or more for Google to gradually show the new URLs instead of the old ones, and longer for larger sites. It also says to keep redirects live for as long as possible, generally at least one year. Its Change of Address tool in Search Console is required only when moving from one domain to another, and its actions continue for 180 days after you start the migration. After that window, Google says it stops recognizing any relationship between the old and new sites and treats the old one as unrelated if it is still crawlable.
Two practical consequences follow. First, do not let the old domain lapse. Google recommends holding it for at least a year so no one else can acquire it and misuse it. Second, map every old URL to its closest new URL with a 301 redirect, not everything to the homepage. Redirect mapping is a labor cost, and it belongs in the rebrand budget, not the web developer’s afterthought.
Rebrands that keep the current domain and change only the visible name avoid the entire migration bucket.
Will AI assistants recognize the new name as the same company?
Not automatically, and nobody has published a test that times how long it takes. The mechanism is understood. The outcome for your brand is not guaranteed.
AI assistants and search engines connect a name to a business through repeated, consistent mentions: your site, your Google Business Profile, directories, press, and third-party profiles. When the name changes, those sources disagree for a while. Some still say the old name, some say the new one, and a model has to reconcile them. Our guide to entity SEO for AI search explains how those signals connect a name to a business.
Google’s guidance on site names says its system uses WebSite structured data with name and alternateName properties, and that if the system is less confident in the name you provide, it may generate one from other sources. Google also says it can take from a few days to a few weeks for a page to be found and crawled. Putting the old name in alternateName during the transition is a documented way to tell Google both names refer to the same site. Whether it changes what ChatGPT or Perplexity say is not tested.
What you can control is the list of places that carry the name. Update, in this order:
- Your own site, About page, and structured data
- Google Business Profile and Bing Places
- Industry directories and legal or professional listings
- LinkedIn, social profiles, and podcast or speaker bios
- Any press pages, author bios, and past bylines that name the old brand
Then watch what assistants say. A process for tracking AI brand mentions gives you a before and after so you know if the old name is still winning answers three months in.
Does a name change cost more than a visual refresh?
Yes, and the gap is mostly not design. A name change adds trademark clearance, a domain move, redirect mapping, and a recognition cleanup that runs for months.
Trademark comes first. The USPTO base application fee is $350 per class as of the January 18, 2025 fee schedule, with a $100 per class surcharge for missing information and a $200 per class surcharge for free-form descriptions. A business selling in two classes pays at least $700 in government fees before any attorney time. If you skip clearance and someone holds a conflicting mark, the cost of a forced second rebrand dwarfs the fee.
Then comes the domain. A new domain costs little to register, but the redirect map, the Change of Address filing, and the monitoring period take real hours. Plan for Search Console verification on both properties and a weekly review of crawl errors for at least the first 180 days.
Finally, the recognition work: relaunching profiles, contacting publications that named you, and asking them to update the name and link. That last part is earned media work, and it is the reason rebrands lean on public relations after launch. Subscribe PR offers press and citation work under its services, and an in-house team or another vendor can run the same outreach. The point is to budget hours for it.
How do you keep a rebrand budget under control?
Fix the scope before you request quotes, and separate the three invoices most vendors blend together: design, build, and migration.
Ask each vendor what is included in each. A studio that quotes $25,000 for identity may exclude the website, redirects, and profile updates entirely. Ask who owns the redirect map and who signs off on it. Ask for the files you will need: vector logos, font licenses, and a brand guide.
Keep a contingency of 10 to 20 percent for reprinting and resigning. That range is a planning habit, not a sourced benchmark. Spend the first dollar on the decision that is hardest to reverse, which is the name.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to rebrand a small business?
A small business that keeps its name can rebrand for $249 to $5,000, using a 99designs contest, a Canva Pro subscription at $144 a year, or a freelancer. A name and domain change adds $350 per class in USPTO fees, redirect work, and profile updates. Studio-led projects for growing businesses typically start near $10,000 and depend on scope.
Does changing a domain name hurt SEO?
It can, temporarily. Google says a site move takes a few weeks or more for medium sites and recommends keeping 301 redirects for at least a year. Its Change of Address tool actions run 180 days. Map old URLs to matching new pages, keep the old domain registered, and monitor Search Console. Rankings usually recover when the mapping is clean, though no guarantee exists.
How long does it take Google to recognize a new business name?
Google says crawling can take from a few days to several weeks, and a medium site move can take a few weeks or more. Recognition of the name as the same entity also depends on your directories and third-party profiles agreeing. Use WebSite structured data with the old name as alternateName and update listings so the sources stop conflicting.
Do I need to trademark my new name?
You are not required to, but a trademark protects the investment. The USPTO base application fee is $350 per class as of January 18, 2025, with surcharges of $100 to $200 per class for missing information or free-form descriptions. Clear the name first. Registering a name that conflicts with an existing mark can force a second rebrand.
Is a DIY rebrand with Canva or Looka good enough?
For a logo, colors, and a template set, yes. Canva Pro at $144 a year and Looka’s logo and Brand Kit packages produce usable assets. They do not supply positioning, naming, redirect planning, or entity cleanup. DIY works when the name and domain stay the same and the business is early enough that the brand has little history to protect.
How do I keep AI assistants from using my old name?
Update every source that carries the name: your site, Google Business Profile, directories, social profiles, and press mentions. Add the old name as alternateName in structured data during the transition. Then ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Mode about your business each month and log what they say. Whether structured data changes assistant answers is not tested.
What is the real price of a rebrand?
The real price is the design invoice plus the cost of being found again. A logo contest can cost $249. A studio identity can cost $10,000 or more. A name and domain change adds trademark fees, redirect mapping, a 180 day Change of Address window, and months of profile cleanup.
Keep the domain and the name if you can, and spend the difference on work customers see. If you must change either, price the migration and the recognition cleanup before you approve the design budget.
Before you commit, see how Google and AI assistants describe your business today. Book your AI visibility audit and use it as the baseline for the rename.
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