Ask five agencies what a brand audit costs and you'll get five numbers that don't agree. Quoted prices run from around five hundred pounds for a generic once over to well past a hundred thousand dollars for a full agency review. Neither figure is wrong. A properly scoped audit for a small business typically lands between fifteen and twenty five thousand dollars. That gap between five hundred and fifteen thousand is the actual story worth explaining.
Scope moves the number, not whose name is on the agency's door. A basic pass that produces a SWOT grid and a few slides costs a fraction of a review that also digs into sales data, social presence, and every channel where the brand shows up in public. Market research alone can eat more than half the total fee, and it climbs fast the moment more than one market or customer segment enters the picture. If a quote feels arbitrary, this is usually why: two agencies priced two different jobs and called both of them "a brand audit."
What the fee should buy is a real read on where the brand stands now, how it compares to the two or three competitors a client actually loses deals to, and a playbook with recommendations a design team can act on. A cheap audit skips straight to opinions. A good one shows its working first. Large firms often charge more for the same depth simply because their overhead is higher, not because the insight is sharper. Price alone is a weak signal of quality here.
One line item catches people out. Interpreting the findings and turning them into an implementation plan is frequently billed separately from the audit itself, and it's rarely mentioned before the invoice arrives. Ask this before signing anything: does the fee include help acting on what you find, or just the findings themselves.
This is also why the audit has to happen before anyone touches a logo file. A rebrand commissioned off a hunch is a guess wearing a decision's clothes. The audit turns "we don't like how we look" into a brief a studio can actually build from, with a reason behind every choice instead of a preference. Treat it as the first deliverable, not a delay before the real work starts.
Before you commission one, ask three things. What research does the fee actually fund? Do the findings convert into a brief someone can build from? Is the audit fee credited toward the next phase if you go ahead? Those three answers tell you more about the number than any price list will.