Branding quotes are all over the map because "a brand" can mean a fifty-dollar logo or a full identity system, and nobody tells you which one they are pricing. So here is the honest shape of it for a small business or an early startup, and what actually sits inside each number.
At the low end, a marketplace logo or a template gets you a mark and little else: no system, no guidance, and often something a competitor can buy too. In the middle, a proper identity from a small studio tends to land somewhere in the low thousands to the low tens of thousands, depending on scope. For that you should get a considered logotype, a colour palette, type choices, and the core pieces you need to look consistent, such as a card or email signature, a few social templates, and simple rules for using it all. At the high end you are paying for strategy, naming, research, and a large rollout across many touchpoints.
Most early companies do not need the high end. They need enough system to look deliberate wherever they show up, and no more. In practice that means a logo that works at any size, two or three colours with the exact values written down, a type pairing, and a one-page guide so anyone on the team applies it the same way. That is usually the whole difference between looking intentional and looking improvised.
The way to avoid overpaying is to ask what you will actually use. A sixty-page brand book is wasted if you are three people who need a logo and a deck. The way to avoid underbuying is to make sure you can apply the thing yourself without going back to the designer for every new post. If a package gives you files but no way to extend them, it is cheaper up front and more expensive forever.
A useful checklist to ask any studio for: the logo in more than one format and colourway, the exact colour values in both screen and print, the fonts and where to get them, a handful of real templates you will use often, and short usage rules. If a quote does not say what you receive, ask before you compare it to another one. Two "branding" quotes can describe completely different things.
Two costs people forget to ask about. Fonts can carry their own licence, so check whether the type in your brand is free for commercial use or an annual fee you will inherit. And timing: a focused small-team identity is usually a few weeks, not a few days, because the thinking at the start is what makes everything after it hold together. If someone promises a full brand overnight, that is the tell.
When a quote lands, judge it by what is delivered and whether you can run with it, not by how many logo options you get. A brand you can apply yourself, consistently, is worth far more than a beautiful PDF you cannot extend. That is the line we would hold if we were spending our own money.