Kwaku Amprako is a logo and brand identity designer, educator, and founder of Akrivi — pioneering BIDA (Brand Identity Design Automation) to empower designers to create with more speed, precision, and less stress.
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Brand Guidelines Generator: Free vs Paid Tools Compared (2026)
Looking to create brand guidelines fast? Here are the best free and paid tools available today.
If you are a designer, you know the pain of creating brand guidelines. It is the final step of a project and you just want to get the files to the client and get paid, but you are stuck copy-pasting logos and hex codes for hours.
Naturally, you start looking for tools to speed it up.
You search for brand guidelines generator and find a mix of expensive web platforms, cheap templates, and random tools. Which one should you use?
In this post, I compare the three main options available in 2026 to help you decide which is right for your workflow.
1. The Templates
This is where most of us start. You download a cheap template for InDesign or Illustrator.
While the file might be cheap or even free, the real cost is your time.
The main issue is that a template is not a generator. It is just a layout. You still have to type font name, color values, and description manually. If the client changes a color, you have to find and replace it on every single page. It keeps you in your design software, but it doesn't actually speed up the data entry.
2. The Web Platforms
Tools like Frontify or Corebrand are powerful web-based platforms. They allow you to build digital brand hubs.
These are great for hosting a finished brand, but they are expensive and disconnected for creating one.
To use them, you have to export your logos from Illustrator, open a browser, log in, and upload everything one by one. It breaks your creative flow. Plus, these usually come with monthly subscriptions that add up fast. For many projects, a client just wants a clean PDF, not a login to a website they will forget.
3. The Free Option: Guideit
This is where Guideit stands alone. It is the only professional generator that lives inside Adobe Illustrator.
Unlike web apps that lock you behind a paywall immediately, or templates that require hours of manual work, Guideit automates the process instantly.
You can generate your full brand guidelines for free to see exactly how it works.
The biggest benefit here is speed. You input your brand assets once and the plugin populates the entire document instantly.
The only requirement is that you need Adobe Illustrator, which you are likely using anyway.
Which One Should You Choose?
If you are a massive enterprise managing 500 employees who need access to assets, a paid web platform might be worth the monthly cost.
But if you are a professional brand designer who wants to deliver high-quality PDF guidelines without paying huge subscriptions or wasting hours on manual entry, Guideit is the best choice.
It gives you the power of a generator with the flexibility of Illustrator, and you can use it now without paying a cent.
Generate for Free with Akrivi Studio.
Conclusion
The best tool is the one that saves you time without lowering your quality standards. By choosing an automation tool that integrates with your existing software, you turn a day of admin work into a five-minute task.
