In this article we will explore the three main methods of charging for tattoos (hourly rate, half/full day rate, and flat rates per piece), along with the pros and cons of each. Then, we will investigate the different factors that go into the cost of tattoo—and there's a lot more than you'd think! Tattoo size is not the only thing that can affect the price, it can actually sometimes be irrelevant. We will help you understand the real value of a tattoo with some real life tattoo pricing examples from our talented artists at Eden!

Full outer arm tattoo sleeve in color including roses, peonies, foliage, and various wildflowers.

Tattoo pricing is complicated. It’s a topic every client wants to know about—and every tattoo artist has stressed about at some point.

You’ve most likely wondered: how do tattoo artists actually decide what to charge? Or, how does tattoo pricing even work?

As a client, you’ve probably seen a wide variety of rates ranging from $80 minimums to day rates in excess of $3,000 a session. If you’re a tattoo artist, you might still be struggling to figure out what to charge for your art that works for both you and your clients. Essentially, the price of tattoos can be an overwhelming topic. That’s why we’re here to give you a thorough breakdown of tattoo pricing!

In this article we’ll tackle the different ways artists price their work—hourly, by the piece, day rate—and pros and cons of each method. Then we’ll dive into what actually affects tattoo pricing: experience, demand, time, tattoo placement, and more. Finally, we’ll talk about the real value behind a tattoo—and show you some real examples of what our artists are charging, and why.

PRICING METHODS

There are three main ways that tattoo artists typically price their work: hourly rate, day rate, and flat rate. Each of these methods has their own pros and cons so it’s up to the tattoo artist to decide which method works best for their clientele, art style, schedule, and their own personal life.

HOURLY RATES

The easiest pricing to understand is hourly rate, so we’ll start with that. Because it’s the easiest method, it’s also the most common. It’s simple: how long the tattoo takes is how much it costs. The actual hourly rate can vary artist to artist, ranging from $100/hr to $500/hr. However, that raises the question: what counts as “tattoo time?” This is where it can get a bit more complicated. Some artists start the clock the second you walk through the door, whereas others only charge for needle to skin time.

Some artists also use a modified hourly rate where the first hour is higher, and sometimes acts as a minimum rate. For example, they might charge $250 for the first hour and $150 for every hour after. This is sometimes used to offset the supply costs and design time of smaller tattoos.

The pros of this method are that it is easy for the client to understand. It’s a fairly simple concept– more tattoo time equals more cost.

However, a lot of artists have ditched the hourly rate because they don't like feeling that they need to rush to get a tattoo done in a specific amount of time. Or, if you get more efficient with tattooing, you can do the same quality of work, just faster, and make less money as a result. From the client perspective, this method can be unpredictable. You might come into the session not knowing exactly how much the tattoo will cost, making it difficult to budget for and resulting in stress if the session goes longer than expected.

FLAT RATE PER PIECE

The next method is a flat rate per piece. The artist quotes a price for the tattoo based on various elements: including details in the specific design, the placement, or the size. A lot of times, time will also be a factor in this.

One of the pros of this method is that it can be great for smaller tattoos, flash pieces, or artists who do a lot of custom designs that are confident in the amount of time that they will need. A lot of artists will do discounts on specific pieces, like premade designs. It's nice for the client, and the artist, because you don't have to watch the clock and you know exactly what to expect. It's even more simple than hourly rates: just one price, no surprises.

The cons are that there are a lot of uncontrollable factors that can affect how time consuming a tattoo is. Including, but now limited to, how well the client is sitting or how well their skin is taking the ink. This means that the day of the tattoo, it can take longer than expected, resulting in a loss of money. This also creates a little more work for the artist as you'll have to provide an estimate for every inquiry. The biggest downside to this is that, as we all know, sometimes during the consultation or design finalization process elements of the design can change, resulting in the artist having to change the estimate. This can be a difficult conversation to have with a client.

DAY RATE / HALF-DAY RATE

The last method we'll be talking about is becoming very common with experienced artists and collectors, and how many of our artists prefer to charge. And that's a flat day rate or half-day rate.

Instead of charging by the hour, the artist sets a flat price for the day you spend with them, no matter how long the tattoo takes. Most of the time it will be a range, such as 6-10 hours, and the rate can vary anywhere from $1,000 to sometimes $5,000 or more. Artists that do a half day rate will sometimes charge a little more than half their full day rate, again, to offset the time and supply cost of smaller pieces.

One of the major pros of this method is that it removes the time anxiety for both the artist and the client. The client knows exactly what they’re paying, and the artist can focus on doing their best work without the clock in the back of their mind. It's a lot easier to be accurate with estimates because you're giving yourself a wider range of time, normally in days, as opposed to hours.

The downside is that, because it’s a new pricing method, a lot of clients aren’t used to it yet. They can feel short-changed if the session finishes a little earlier. It also sounds a lot more expensive upfront if you're not fully considering what goes into a full day session. But for large-scale work it often ends up being a better deal overall. Also, it can put you in an uncomfortable spot if you don't need another whole day on a piece, and just need a couple hours. To account for this, a lot of artists will use a full day rate in combination with a half day rate or even an hourly rate for projects that take less than the amount of time allotted for a full day.

**BUT WHICH METHOD IS REALLY THE BEST?**

For artists, any of these ways work. We recommend using what you feel the most comfortable with and what makes the most sense for you, all factors considered. For clients, be mindful that every artist works a little differently. In the end, consider the full price of the tattoo, and not necessarily just how the price is determined.

WHAT ACTUALLY AFFECTS THE PRICE?

So now that we’ve covered the different pricing methods let’s talk about what actually affects the price of a tattoo.

Pricing isn’t just about how long it takes or how big it is—there are a lot of factors that aren't as visible that affect the price. And at the end of the day, this isn't something you buy off a shelf. It's art, and art is always going to be subjective. The same tattoo is going to be worth a different amount for different clients. But here are some of the things that affect how much artists charge.

EXPERIENCE LEVEL

A newer artist might charge $100 an hour or a lower price by the piece, while someone who’s been tattooing for 10+ years could charge $300+/hour. Just like in other industries, most people get paid more over time as they become more skilled and efficient in their jobs.

DEMAND

When an artist reaches a certain point in their career, they literally don't have enough time to tattoo everyone that wants to get tattooed by them. A lot of artists can only do one tattoo a day. This can even vary by artists within the same style. If you're a tattoo artist that specializes in small, fine-line tattoos, the demand is going to be a lot higher. If you decide you want to try a full color realism backpiece, the demand for that is probably going to be a lot lower. If an artist is booked out months in advance and getting way more inquiries, they can—and should—raise their rates. As a client, if an artist's rate feels too high for you, it just means that's what the market is valuing their work at a higher price point, and that's okay. Artists need to pay bills too, so they won’t charge a rate higher than they are able to book for.

STYLE, FULL COLOR VS. BLACK AND GREY

The style and the amount of detail in a specific piece can affect the time it takes to complete. Color realism, for example, usually takes way longer than simple black linework. Different techniques can also change the time needed between artists, even if they both tattoo in the same style. This is why we don’t really consider size much of a factor, as style is much more important. A 3 inch micro-realism dog portrait and a 3 inch piece of script, while the same size, will cost a totally different amount. One can take 10 minutes and the other can take 8 hours.

MARKET AND LOCATION

What an artist charges in a small town is going to be very different from what someone charges in a major city. Rent, cost of living, competition, etc. all play into what an artist charges. For example, if you live in a small town and there's only one artist doing color realism at a really high level, they might charge more because they have the demand, or charge a little less because the cost of living and average salaries are lower. Whereas if you're in a big city like New York, people are more accustomed to higher prices, but there's also a lot more competition. So if you're comparing the prices between tattoos or artists, all of these factors might be at play in determining how much an artist is charging.

TATTOO VALUE VS. PRICE

Now that you know how artists charge and why they do so, let’s look at the big picture and talk about the actual value of a tattoo. This can be a tough subject, because it's all subjective. But no matter how it’s priced—hourly, flat rate, day rate—you’re not just paying for the time it takes to put ink into skin. You’re paying for everything that went into that moment, including:

TATTOO DESIGN TIME

A lot of artists spend hours finding references, drawing, and/or designing before a tattoo. This work is usually done unpaid, and sometimes even after they’ve left the studio for the day.

SUPPLIES

You're also paying for the supplies and all the costs that go into running a business, including: marketing, staff, utilities, rent, and more.

BOOKING PROCESS

There's also the time spent to field the inquiry and to get the client booked, whether the artist is doing it themselves, or having someone on staff to help them.

TATTOO CONSULTATIONS

Many artists do consultations for larger projects, or for all of their projects. Consultations, while usually free, take time out of the artist's day that could be spent booking, designing, or tattooing.

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

You're also paying for a service. A good artist or studio is going to put a ton of time and effort into making sure your experience is memorable and positive. This can include providing snacks and drinks, a photo of your tattoo, and/or aftercare supplies.

THE ARTIST THEMSELVES

The biggest thing to remember is that you're not just paying for the time it takes to do a tattoo. You're paying for the years of experience, trial and error, education, and the dedication that it took for the artist to be able to do that tattoo in 5 hours.

REMEMBER…

There's a lot that goes into a tattoo. So if it seems expensive, it is. And the other thing to remember is that this is a permanent form of art that you have for the rest of your life. You can't take it back, and you can't exchange it. If you want to remove it, it's not quick. It's going to take hundreds to thousands of dollars and years to get rid of it. You’ll most likely end up paying more than you would have by just going to a good quality artist to begin with.

So here's a very important message for clients: you're absolutely entitled to put your own value on a tattoo, just like any art form, or anything else you can buy. But before you try to bargain shop or write a tattoo artist off as too expensive, consider everything else that goes into the price tag. And also consider that this is a very permanent purchase.

REAL TATTOO PRICING EXAMPLES

We’ve gathered a few tattoos from some of our artists here at Eden, and we’re going to break down for you by going into:

What kind of piece it is
How long it took
What the artist charged
And why that pricing makes sense based on everything we just talked about.

ASH

Inner bicep tattoo of a full color corgi. — Here's a tattoo done by one of our newest resident artists, Ash. She's been tattooing for about 4 years and she's incredibly talented.
She just moved here a couple of months ago so she's accepting a lot of different projects right now. She's also still working on building up her tattoo speed. This one specifically is a color realism corgi.

She charged an hourly rate of $150 for this one, and it took her 6 hours, for a total of $900.

Ash’s rates reflect the fact that she is new to the area, and therefore building up a clientele, as well as the fact that she’s only been tattooing for 4 years.

MONICA

Full color hip tattoo of a vibrant rose with pinks and greens. The tattoo is in a sketchy style and takes up most of the hip. — The next one was done by our resident artist Monica. She's been tattooing for about 8 years and she's been with us at Eden since we opened. She normally charges a flat rate per half day ($800) or full day ($1,400). However, she does discount pre-made designs due to the fact that they are usually something she really wants to do and she appreciates the client for letting her do a design that they have no input on design wise.

This one was a premade and took 2 days, about 14 hours total. She charged a flat rate of $2,000 for this.

The size, style, and expertise involved with this one makes this absolutely an insane value. Monica got to do a great portfolio piece on an amazing client, so it's worth discounting.

CASS

They charged $1,400/day for this one and it probably took them around 35 hours total.

Cass spends hours upon hours finding the perfect references and designing their tattoos. This is another great value, especially because Cass's rates are probably going up soon due to the fact that their demand is so high and their skills have improved so much.

IN CONCLUSION…

Whether you’re a tattoo artist trying to figure out what to charge, or a client trying to understand why prices vary so much, we hope this clears up the mystery of how tattoo pricing actually works..

There’s no one-size-fits-all model, but the best artists price their work intentionally, not to exploit or take advantage of the client. Prices are based on the time, experience, and value they’re bringing to every client. If you’re an artist, remember this: your pricing should reflect not just the hours you spend tattooing, it should reflect everything it took to get here. And if you’re a client, paying for a high-quality tattoo is about more than just the ink—it’s about supporting the artist, their process, and their craft.

If you want to see more breakdowns like this, follow us on our Instagram or YouTube!

Or, if you’re interested in booking with one of the artists you saw featured in this blog, check out our booking form!

You can also check out our numerous other talented artists on our website.

How Tattoos Are Priced: What Affects the Cost (And Why It’s Not Just About Time)