How much does a professional headshot cost?

12 November 2026 · 7 min read · PhotoBoost AI

A professional headshot from a photographer typically costs between $150 and $550 for an individual session covering one to three retouched photos. Corporate and team sessions land between $75 and $300 per person depending on headcount.

Those figures come from photographers and studios publishing their own rates in 2025 and 2026. This page breaks down what drives the price, when a photographer is genuinely the better choice, and what an AI alternative actually costs you in comparison.

What photographers actually charge

Published rates cluster into fairly consistent bands:

• Amateur or part-time: $75 to $250 for a basic session.

• Working professional: $250 to $500, including direction and retouching.

• Corporate or executive session: $250 to $600, sometimes more in major cities.

• On-site team day for 20 to 50 people: roughly $1,800 to $4,500 as a day rate.

Most published rates for a standard business headshot sit between roughly $200 and $400.

What you actually get for that money

The price difference between photographers is mostly about four things: how long you are in front of the camera, how many finished images you receive, how much retouching is included, and whether the photographer travels to you.

A $250 session usually means around an hour of shooting and one or two retouched images. A $500 session often includes multiple looks, more finished files, and more direction.

Turnaround is typically one to three weeks. Many photographers also charge separately for extra edited images beyond the package.

Where a photographer is the better choice

This is not a close call in every situation, and it is worth being direct about it.

• You need a photo that is guaranteed to look like you on a bad-likeness-risk day — for a court filing, an identity-sensitive document, or a regulated professional register.

• You want a photo that reflects a specific physical feature accurately and do not want to risk any drift in likeness.

• You need a very specific composition the photographer can direct — a full-body environmental portrait, a specific prop, an unusual crop.

• Your employer pays, and a commissioned photograph is what the brief requires.

An AI-generated headshot is generated from your own selfies and depicts you, but it is not a photograph of you taken at a specific moment by a specific person.

What an AI headshot costs

AI headshot services generally sell packages in the $10 to $60 range. PhotoBoost is $9.99 once for 12 photos in 12 styles, delivered in under 10 minutes, with a free watermarked trial before you pay.

The tradeoffs are real: you choose from a fixed set of styles rather than directing a shoot, and you get 12 images rather than a gallery. What you gain is cost, speed, and the fact that you can re-run it when you change jobs or want a different look.

For most people updating LinkedIn, a CV or a company page, the practical difference between a $300 session and a $9.99 run is small. For the cases listed above, it is not.

How to decide

If your photo is going on a professional profile where people mostly see it at thumbnail size, an AI headshot is usually enough and costs a fraction of the alternative.

If the photo is a matter of professional record, or you need something a photographer has to direct on the day, pay the photographer.

A reasonable middle path: run the free trial first. If the output looks like you, you have your answer for $9.99. If it does not, you have lost nothing and learned that you need a real session.

Sources

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