If you’re looking for a logo animation service, this is for you! What I’ve done is search through the web to find places (websites) where you’re most likely to land a skilled and qualified logo animator.
For my review, I basically used the steps I outlined in my freelance logo animator hiring guide, and that includes;
✅ Assessing their portfolio banks to see their quality of work. Trust me, I have an eye for design and detail, so I can tell an exquisitely made animated logo from something conjured up in an automated animated logo sweatshop like Canva.
✅ Assessing their list of past clients because the past is a good predictor of the future (my girlfriend will argue, but we all know it’s true).
If a logo animation service has animators who’ve worked with top brands like Apple, then you can safely assume their quality of work would be stellar. In a way, those brands and their usually stringent requirements help make the pick.
✅ Their rates. When it comes to design and pretty much any other creative venture – the price of the service is very much related to the quality of the end product. Sounds vain, I know, but in my experience hiring freelancers, I’ve never had luck with the very cheap services.
I should add that expensive doesn’t always translate to great. You still need due diligence, which is where the other selection criteria help out.
So, what are the best places to find logo animation services available online today?
Toptal.com
Toptal is home to arguably what’s the most skilled and professional pool of logo animators available online anywhere. And that’s majorly down to its more than stringent freelancer hiring requirement. If a logo animator is to get a listing on the Toptal site, they need to fulfil a set of very stringent requirements that cuts across the must-have traits I talk about in my freelance logo animator hiring guide.
For you, this all means on-demand access to the best in the business as far as it concerns logo animation. The high bar to entry also means you don’t get the flurry of unskilled animators that dilute (pollute) the hiring pool of many other logo animation services. Ten out of ten times when you hire a logo animator on Toptal, you’ll get someone who’ll deliver more than an excellent animated logo.
Fiverr.com
On Fiverr, on average, and if you hire blindly, you’ll get an excellent logo animator two out of ten times. That’s a poor number compared to places like Toptal, so you might be wondering why this site comes up as second on this list of the best places to buy logo animation services.
Two reasons;
👉 Fiverr is probably the most straightforward place to hire a logo animator online. No complex signs ups; no questionnaires (which you must fill with Toptal); and no intermediaries between you and the actual freelance logo animator. You can log on to Fiverr one minute and have a freelance logo animator take up your project the next minute. It really is that easy.
👉 Fiverr is also where you’ll get what’s perhaps the best value for money spent on an animated logo. The shtick of Fiverr as a freelance platform is that it offers dirt-cheap pricing on otherwise expensive services.
While I don’t recommend going for the cheapest option, I’ve come to see that freelance logo animators on Fiverr (even the extremely skilled guys and gals) charge lower fees compared to anywhere else online.
There’s a caveat to Fiverr. Unlike Toptal, where it’s mostly great logo animators and no hacks, there are no barriers or requirements to sign up as a freelance logo animator on Fiverr. Which is why I said if you hired blindly, you’d only get a qualified freelance logo animator two out of ten times.
To make sure you get to the skilled guys, you need to understand how to hire a logo animator on Fiverr. Or better still, just skip the hassle and use 🔗 my recommended list of Fiverr logo animators.
What makes Fiverr great for hiring freelance logo animators
Probably the most pocket-friendly option on this list
On Fiverr, you can hire a logo animator for as low as $5, although I strongly advise against doing this. Still, the platform is where you go if you want the best value for money spent.
Easy sign-ups and easy hire
As I said, it takes literal minutes to get a logo animator working on your project on Fiverr. Fiverr is pretty much park and shop compared to platforms like Toptal, where you must first fill in a questionnaire to start; or Upwork, where you most times need to conduct an interview.
Buyer protection and responsive customer support
If there’s ever an issue with an animated logo you got from Fiverr, the company allows you to file a complaint that could either lead to a rework or an outright refund of your money spent.
Customer support on Fiverr is also excellent. Plus, they have Fiverr business and other programs for even better support and buyer-freelancer-project manager interaction.
The drawbacks
You need to hire with care
Fiverr has a horde of inexperienced, unskilled logo animators in addition to the good guys. Use this 🔗 guide to hiring a freelance logo animator to filter them off.
Upwork.com
Upwork is cousins to Fiverr, and both of them operate in very similar ways. Expectedly, most of the advantages of Fiverr also apply to Upwork. Upwork however uses a somewhat different hiring process. You usually have to post a job request and then have animators bid on them before you can select a perfect fit.
There’s the packages option that allows you to just hire an animator on a whim, much like you’d do on Fiverr, but not all freelance animators – certainly not all the top talent on the platform – have their packages option set up.
All that said, Upwork is still a decent place to hire a freelance logo animator. I especially like the professionalism of most animators you’ll find on the platform. Compared to Fiverr, the extent of ‘hack creep’, as I like to call it, is lower. So there are more skilled professionals on the platform than unskilled blokes looking to make a quick buck.
These professionals also charge professional rates. On average, an Upwork freelance log animator will cost more to hire than their counterparts on Fiverr – despite the same quality of output.
What makes Upwork great for hiring a freelance logo animator
It’s also pocket friendly like Fiverr
A bit pricier than Fiverr but still in the affordable category.
Not many unqualified candidates
So even though the hiring process is a bit stretched out, you don’t need to walk on eggshells when hiring like you would on Fiverr.
Excellent customer service and buyer protection program
Like Fiverr, Upwork floats a responsive and rather helpful support desk. This support desk will also mediate disputes between you and the seller if there’s an issue with the animated logo they delivered.
The drawbacks
A bit trickier and more expensive to hire an animator on Upwork, and usually, you’d get similar results with less stress if you just hired on Fiverr.
Dribbble.com
Dribbble is a portfolio site for creatives, so not exactly a full-fledged logo animation service site. Nevertheless, it’s one of the best platforms to hire really skilled freelance logo animators because virtually every skilled animator worth their onions will have a portfolio page. Usually, the portfolio page is on Dribbble or less usually, Behance.
See my guide to hiring a freelancer on Dribbble for more information on how hiring a freelancer on Dribbble works.
I like Dribbble for the fact that it’s portfolio based rather than freelancer based, so you could just sort through an endless list of portfolios until you find something that captures your interest. This is good for people who don’t have an idea of what they want in an animated logo.
Dribble also works if you have very particular requirements about the kind of animation you want. While the supply of logo animators on Toptal, Fiverr and Upwork is somewhat limited, Dribbble has an endless list of logo animators.
What makes Dribbble great for logo animations services
Endless stream of talent
Pick exactly what you want or window shop till you see an animated logo style that piques your interest.
Great selection of logo animators
While most top brass logo animators might not have profiles set up on platforms like Fiverr, they’d usually have portfolio pages set up on Dribbble. If you wanted the best of the best, Dribbble is where you’d go aside from Toptal, which, by the way, adds platform fees to your overall bill.
The drawbacks
Harder to hire a logo animator
You’ll have to go through the process of initiating contact, negotiating requirements, specifying details and much more. And then, not every inquiry you make will get a reply because Dribbble is a portfolio site first, before it is a place to hire freelancers.
It’s a more direct process with the other options on this review.
Behance.com
Much like Upwork is cousins to Fiverr, Behance is very similar to Dribbble. It’s a portfolio site as well, and it pretty much has the same strong point as Dribbble.
I would say the quality of logo animator talent on Behance falls slightly behind what you’d find on Dribbble. Nevertheless, it still is a great place to search for animation logo services; if a freelance logo animator doesn’t have a portfolio page on Dribbble, the next place where they’d set up shop is Behance.
What makes Behance great for logo animation services
An impressive pool of logo animators
Like Dribbble, there’s an inexhaustible list of freelance logo animators on Behance.
Easy to sort animators based on your preference
On Behance, you can get pretty granular with your search, and that can help you focus on a particular kind of logo animation.
The drawbacks
Convoluted hiring
Behance, just like Dribbble, has a not so straightforward hiring process.
What are the types of animated logos?
Animated logos can come in two different styles. 3D animated logos and 2D animated logos.
2D animated logos
2D animated logos are two-dimensional, meaning they’re ‘flat’ to look at. Despite their flatness, 2D animated logos can look really cool provided they’re made well.
3D animated logos
3D means the logo is three dimensional, and that also means it’ll have more depth than a 2D animated logo. Generally, 3D animated logos take more time to create than 2D animated logos, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re better. I personally prefer 2D animated logos.
Which should you choose?
It’s all down to your taste in the end. As I said, I prefer 2D animated logos. They’re more minimalist and cute (not the ideal word, but you get the idea) to look at.
3D logos have an air of sophistication about them. But, importantly, that sophistication will only look right if the animation is in itself made well. A poorly animated 3D logo looks very bad; compared to 2D animated logos that might be ‘manageable’ if they’re poorly animated.
Is there any price difference between 3D and 2D animated logos?
Not necessarily. With animated logos, the time spent creating the logo (which influences the prices) depends on the number of moving animated components and the complexity of the animation. Some 2D animated logos have more intricate animation sequences than some other basic animated 3D logos. So really, it depends on what you want in the animated logo.
A note on payments
If you eventually decide to use the animation service of platforms that don’t have built-in payment systems (mostly the portfolio sites), you need to be careful with how you pay the freelancer.
Split the payments into two; one upfront as the project starts and the next on delivery of the completed animated logo.
Make sure to use a payment service that allows for some form of dispute resolution – so PayPal ideally. This will help if the freelance logo animator fails to comply with the negotiated project requirements.
On logo animation service sites like Toptal, Fiverr and Upwork, you don’t really need to bother about payments since they all offer a form of escrowed service. All will refund if the freelancer delivers a botched animated logo.
How much will it cost to animate a logo?
See my guide to hiring a freelance logo animator for specific cost estimations, but briefly, typical, not too complex animated logos will set you back anywhere between $100 – $500.
