There are different ways of creating your logo. You can work with a design agency, with a freelancer, create a logo design contest or use an online logo maker. It all depends on your current need, budget and time constraints.
If you are looking to make a logo quickly, easily and without spending much, look no further than a logo maker. A DIY logo is a great option for a one-off project, or even as a mock-up logo for presentations and pitches. It’s also helpful if your brand is just starting out and you need a good placeholder logo. Using a logo maker, you can create something that’s representative of your brand and that can serve as inspiration if you go on to work with a designer later down the road. And you don’t need prior design knowledge or experience to use them.
But before you can pick the best logo maker for your project, you have to know what to look for.
Logo makers are also sometimes called logo creators, logo generators or logo builders. A logo maker’s function is in its name—it’s software into which you input simple information to shape your design. This includes things like your company name, industry and desired aesthetic and informs the maker to generate a bunch of appropriate logos. They do so using artificial intelligence to analyze the information you enter and then refer to their very own library of various design elements to give you possibilities to review.
They are generally very simple to use and guide you through the process step by step. For some, you simply have to input the name of your business, select an icon or font from a stock library and pick custom colors to match your brand. You can have a logo in minutes. Others give you more freedom to create and customize but give you all the necessary tools to build your own logo: a blank canvas, a set of icons and guidance.
There are some alluring pros to using a logo maker:
Speaking of which, a logo maker may not be for everyone. And if all or most of the below are not compatible with your current logo needs, it may be time to work with a designer.
Before you start using a logo maker, you need some crucial pieces of your brand identity:
Not all logo makers are created equal and they vary in price, aesthetic and optionality. We’ve picked some of the current best but ultimately the best one for you will be the one that meets your needs.
To help you find your logo maker match, we’ll start each one with an overview of the following:
This list includes logo makers that address a variety of needs. For example, if you need something super quick and non-committal, be sure to look for Easy and Free. If you’re looking for something that you can really make your own, look for ones with High customizability. If you are going to want a logo that you’ll use in print, on a website and on social media, be mindful that the logo maker is Comprehensive.
You don’t have to sign up for an account to start working on a logo with VistaPrint. The AI will ask you for a name, an optional tagline, industry and product. Once you follow through, you will have access to a variety of design suggestions. You can customize any generated design by changing the graphic, the font, the color, the layout and the sizing.
The free logo maker has a large library of fonts and images, and it will generate many many options for various elements. Working with layout and sizing requires some working knowledge of design. You have to know if the changes you’ve made look correct. I played around with sizing and font so much that I ended up with some awkward-looking designs. However, the built-in customization options aren’t infinite, which helps with preventing anyone from ending up with a totally nonsensical design. Once you are done, the “Preview” capability will help you see your design on a smartphone screen, merchandise, business cards and more.
To download, you do have to create an account. You can use your logo by printing on VistaPrint products, in which case you only pay for the prints. To download your logo files, you do have to pay a separate price.
The logo maker has great built-in options to create a pretty logo. If you just want to use the logo in certain contexts then you’re covered for a very moderate price. For everything else, you do have to pay but it’s not exorbitant considering the quality.
Squarespace’s logo maker is totally free and easy to use. You don’t even have to sign up until you are ready to download your logo. All you have to do is enter a company name. After that, you can enter keywords to find a relevant icon and customize color, font and how the two elements are oriented.
You can download a high-resolution png file in white, black and color versions.
This is a good tool if you’re looking to make a basic free logo, very quickly and painlessly. Having said that, you’re not going to get something distinct using this.
Designhill’s logo maker works through AI, asking you questions in order to generate a range of designs. You choose a style you like (and there are many many options to choose from), a color palette and symbols you’d like to include.
To access all the options that the AI has created for you, you have to sign up but can do so for free. Once you do, you can change font size, spacing and try out different color combinations. When you’re ready to download and use your logo, you can pay $20 for a low-resolution 640 x 480 PNG file. Or you pay $65 for more comprehensive applicability: multiple high-resolution PNGs and vector files.
The AI makes this logo maker breezy to use and generates enough options to find something that will do. It’s not really customizable though, so if you don’t vibe with any of the options, it’s a bit disappointing. However, you don’t have to pay anything till you’re ready to download.
Another AI-powered logo generator through which you can get a logo in a matter of minutes. All you have to do is answer a few questions such as: what type of logo you’d like (icon or text-based), and what typography styles appeal to you. You can also “explain” your business in a few words so that the algorithm can match you with more accurate assets.
You have to sign up to view any of your logo options. After that a bit of customization is possible, you can change fonts, icons, colors and other elements. It’s free to download a low-res version but for high-resolution PNG and vector files, you have to choose a payment plan.
This logo maker is incredibly easy to use with decent customization options. Having to sign up to view just about anything involves a tad more commitment. For $9.99 a month, the basic plan covers everything you’d need such as resizing, a high-resolution logo and full ownership. And you can go back and edit it as much as you like.
Adobe Express works with AI as well, asking you a set of questions (business name, theme, business category) and in return gives you lots of thoughtful options. It’s not highly customizable but the results are on the cleaner and more minimal side.
You can create your own templates and create as many logos as you would like. You can also get a high-resolution 500px by 500px PNG and JPG file for no extra cost. Signing up for “Premium” gives you a lot more customization tools and templates to use. And you can download and convert your logo to even more file types.
The free version is a great choice for a low-commitment and quick logo design. And for only $9.99 a month, you can get an even more unique logo with the same, easy-to-use AI tool.
What’s great about Canva is the emphasis on the user experience. Before you even see the logo maker, you are prompted to watch a very short video to learn how to use it. In fact, they have a tutorial for just about anything, including how to download a high-res version of your logo.
After that, you can choose to start with a template (and there are many) and customize its texts, images, color, background, contrast, blur effect and font. You can animate everything. If you start from scratch, you can add all the elements I mentioned but without a beginning reference point.
Another neat feature is that you can place your logo over various backgrounds (a t-shirt, a notebook, social media post) and resize it accordingly. Once you’re done, you can download quite a few file types and sizes, all for free. Upgrading it to “Pro” gives you more templates and images to choose from. It also gives you the option to have a transparent background, which gives your logo more varied applicability. Upgrading to enterprise gives you the ability to collaborate with others, build a brand kit and more.
The user experience is great on Canva, but for a reason. The tool takes some learning and to make the most of it, you really have to understand all the different ways you can make your logo unique. Having said that, you can get a logo that isn’t as generic as logo makers tend to be, for a reasonable price.
Placeit’s logo maker brings AI power with a good amount of customization options. You can get to your results relatively fast and play around with the design until you are satisfied with it.
You start out by entering your company name and industry, and you are immediately presented with sample designs. The AI isn’t as “thoughtful” as some others, and you do get some random suggestions. But icons, images, texts and color combinations are very easy to change. When you’re all finished, PlaceIt offers PDF and PNG format, making their logos usable on both web and print, but for high-resolution, you have to pay.
The pricing is a bit complicated to figure out but Placeit is a good choice if you’d like the ease of the algorithm with a bit more freedom to customize.
Looka uses AI to get started on your design. Then you get about 20+ logo examples and you’re asked to pick the 5 that you like best. You can choose a color palette and symbols. After that, the algorithm will match you with some logos, which you can choose from and you can customize them even more.
Looka generates more refined and simple logos which is great for something quick, elegant and professional looking. You can customize the symbols, colors, fonts and even logotype once you choose a design. Still, you are working within a limited set of tools.
Looka is a pretty thoughtful AI-powered logo maker. Customization is decent and you really don’t need to put much effort into it. You do have to pay though, for any download. $20 only gets you a low-resolution file. A one-time purchase of $65 is what you need to pay for multiple high resolution files.
You have to sign up to create a logo on Wix, so it requires some commitment from the get-go. But once you do it is incredibly fast and easy to use. Wix works with AI and gets you to the right design by asking smart questions, such as what style you prefer, e.g. “fun” or “elegant”, which leads you onto your results.
What’s nice about Wix is the customization. The sidebar for editing is pretty straightforward and you have lots of options to adjust color, opaqueness, shape, you name it. You can also see how your design would look over various backgrounds and adjust it accordingly. You do need to pay for your downloads, especially if you want more file types. The amount is reasonable though and you don’t need to subscribe. You can download a small low-resolution version for free before you decide.
Wix is not free but the price is reasonable for the service it provides. Even with $20, you can get a high-resolution PNG file.
Turbologo is another logo maker that works with an AI-powered generator. Like many others, all you have to do is enter the name of the company, a tagline (if you’d like) and choose the appropriate industry. To get to them, however, you have to sign up. What’s different about Turbologo is just how many logos it generates–it’s a lot and they’re all distinct from each other.
Once you decide on a design, you can customize a great deal using the options on the left sidebar. You can also use keyboard shortcuts to undo or delete, which is a nice touch. You can change the font, change the size of each element, change the icon, honestly there’s a lot you can do. The $32 “Standard” option will give you a high-resolution vector or PNG file and the ability to edit your logo for three months.
Turbologo gives you many options to choose from and lots of freedom to edit, however, you do need a bit of a design eye to understand what looks right. For a one-time payment, it’s a good deal.
Ucraft does not use an AI to generate logos, it doesn’t even have templates. You start from scratch and create something on your own, which sounds a bit scary but the upside is that the tool is relatively easy to learn and manage.
The only assets you can use are icons, text and shapes. You can adjust the color of any of them, the font, and add as many graphics as you like. The creating is done with a drag & drop tool and all the editing can be done using the left sidebar. You can also upload your own fonts into the logo maker, which is great. You have to sign up to download, but you can get a high-resolution PNG file for free and for just $7 you can get a high-resolution vector file.
You’re not going to get anything too complex with Ucraft, but you can get a high-resolution file for not very much at all. It’s a really good option if you need something fast and cheap without sacrificing quality.
A logo maker can be the perfect answer for anyone who needs a logo fast without spending too much time and money. A logo is essential and sometimes not having one just won’t do. The options above should have indicated that it is possible to get something decent (and often impressive!) effortlessly.
If rather than speed and cost, you want something that is entirely yours and made by a professional you could explore options to start working with a designer.
This article was originally written by Anada Lakra and published in 2021. It has been updated with new examples and information.
I’m not quite getting what is the point of posting a review of logo maker websites at 99designs? Is it supposed to be a guide for all the newbie logo designers? Or a guide for the clients who might end up choosing a logo maker instead of 99designs?
The article is written mainly for clients as a way of presenting budget-friendly design options including/in comparison to 99designs
This has been so helpful! There are so many options for logo makers, and having someone in the industry talk about what to look for and what to avoid is great! I especially appreciate that it’s coming from a company such as yours. It makes you all the more worthwhile when there’s this level of transparency! Thanks!
I think its awesome that you’re informing people on logo makers. Have you looked into LogoMakr.com? They’re really awesome! I’ve tried some of the ones that you’ve mentioned, but LogoMakr by far surpasses these options in terms of design and customizing. They don’t have an affiliate program and perhaps this is why they weren’t mentioned, but if your goal is to help others, LogoMakr.com is the one to recommend!
Great article, and very helpful for people just starting out, some great options here for sure. However, I do feel though, I’d rather use your services, or an affordable graphic design agency like logoglo instead. I dunno, I just feel the creativity goes out of the window with these logo makers, as a client I want a designers creativity, not my own, or some ai.
My choices are TailorBrands and logogenerator.pro
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