Looka

Looka generates logo options from a company name and a handful of style choices, then lets you refine them in an editor. It is free to design and free to preview, and payment only happens when you want the files. That structure is the most useful thing about it, because you find out whether the tool can produce something you like before spending anything.

The editor is deliberately narrow. You adjust colour, layout, font and symbol rather than drawing anything, which is why it works for people with no design background and frustrates people who want precise control.

Two ways to pay, and they are not equivalent

The one-time packages are the simpler option. Basic at $20 buys a single low-resolution PNG, which is enough for a social profile and nothing else. Premium at $65 buys PNG, EPS, SVG and PDF files, colour variations including transparent backgrounds, unlimited changes after purchase and full ownership.

Skip Basic. A single low-res PNG cannot be printed, cannot be resized cleanly and will need repurchasing the first time you need a sign, a business card or a favicon. The $45 difference buys the formats that make a logo actually usable.

The Brand Kit subscription at $96 a year is the other path. It adds unlimited logo changes and more than 300 ready-made branded assets covering business cards, social posts, email signatures, letterheads and invoices. Looka states that ownership of the logo continues after the subscription ends, which is the detail that makes an annual fee tolerable for a one-off need.

The Brand Kit Web tier at $129 a year adds an AI generated website. Judge that against dedicated website builders rather than treating it as free, since $33 a year is not what a good site costs and it is unlikely to be the reason to choose Looka.

Who it suits

This fits founders who need something credible quickly and have no intention of commissioning a designer. Looka states it has been used by over 20 million small business owners, which is a scale claim rather than a quality one, but it does indicate the tool is well past being experimental.

It suits you less if your brand identity is a competitive asset. Generated logos draw on shared symbol libraries, so distinctiveness is not what you are buying. For a plumber or a local consultancy that hardly matters. For a company whose brand is the product, it matters a great deal.

Where to be careful

Check trademark availability separately. Looka generates a mark, it does not clear one, and a logo you cannot register is a problem you discover late and expensively.

There is no API, so this is a one-off exercise rather than something to build into a workflow.