- By Karolis Kiniulis
- Updated May 8, 2023
The key to finding the best design platform is to identify how many designs you need and what you need them for.
There are other unlimited graphic design platforms costing $439-$995 per month. There is also option to choose alternatives with different pricing models offering design contests or custom designs for a fixed price (usually a few hundred dollars).
Design Pickle is one of the most popular subscription-based graphic design services.
But the thing is:
Design Pickle is not the only design service out there. If you don’t want to invest in it for whatever reason, you’ll have a bunch of great alternatives by the end of this post.
Top Design Pickle Alternatives
I believe the primary consideration for any graphic design service is the quality of work, turnaround time, affordable pricing, clear communication, and satisfaction guarantee.
Here’s a compiled list of the top Design Pickle alternatives:
- Kimp.io: Unlimited graphic design with the best value for money
- ManyPixels: Unlimited graphic design with great quality and lower cost than Design Pickle
- Graphics Zoo: Unlimited graphic design with great communication and attention to details
- 99designs: Crowdsourced platform providing high-quality designs
- Flocksy: Unlimited graphic design with a great team of designers
- Upwork: Freelance platform where you can hire individual graphic designers
Here’s a quick summary of the main pricing and money-back differences:
| Design Pickle Alternative | Price | Free Trial |
|---|---|---|
| Kimp.io | From $599 per month | 7 day free trial |
| ManyPixels | From $439 per month | 14 day money back guarantee |
| Graphics Zoo | From $381 per month | 15 day money back guarantee |
| 99designs | From $299 per project | 60 day money back guarantee |
| Flocksy | From $420.75 per month | 14 day money back guarantee |
| Upwork | Custom | Asking for a refund directly |
1. Kimp.io
Kimp is one of the most cost-effective Design Pickle alternatives. The service is great for:
- Small business owners
- Entrepreneurs
- Agencies
- Marketers
Kimp lets you submit your design requests via two channels: Email and Trello. If you want to use Trello, just submit your design brief in the “Requests” card and their team will take care of the rest.
As for the turnaround, you can expect to get 2 – 3 designs per business day. But, if you have a complicated task, you’ll get an estimate according to that.
Key advantages: Kimp.io is very similar to Design Pickle. There are 2 key differences why Kimp may be a better option than Design Pickle: it provides a 7-day free trial and also offers video design services which may be an advantage if you need this type of service.
Potential drawbacks: You might have to learn how to use Trello since Kimp uses this platform for managing your design requests. Also, they don’t do 3D rendering, HTML5 ads, app or web design. So, if any of those is on your priority list, you want to look elsewhere.
Pricing
Kimp offers a simple Graphics plan for $599/month.
It is worth mentioning that they offer a 50% discount for the first month.
In this monthly package, you get unlimited designs and revisions. Other attractive features include free stock photos, an account manager, and a dedicated design team.
There is also Video designs and motion graphics plan for $699/month.
Lastly, if you need both design and video services, you can go for the Graphics + Video plan which costs $995/month.
Another cool thing about Kimp is that, unlike many other unlimited design services, you get a 7-day free trial.
You’d have to enter your billing details even if you want to get the trial first. Your payment cycle begins after the 7-day free trial period. And you are only allowed 3 design requests during the trial period.
Read our full Kimp.io review.
2. ManyPixels
ManyPixels is one of the best options for businesses considering an alternative to Design Pickle.
The ordering process works in the same way; you submit your request and your designer delivers it within the next 2 days.
Key advantages: Manypixels is a cheaper ($439/mo for the lowest-tier plan compared to $499 for Design Pickle’s lowest-tier plan) option if you choose the yearly payment method. Other features and services are similar to Design Pickle.
Another attractive feature of ManyPixels is that you can directly chat with your designer and discuss the project.
Plus, the company lets you add another designer to your team at an additional cost.
As for the turnaround, it doesn’t usually take 1 – 2 business days. But, it could take more time depending on the complexity of the project.
Potential drawbacks: Manypixels doesn’t provide integration with Zapier, which Design Pickle does. There are also reviews of some customers saying that sometimes it’s difficult to get the needed support.
Pricing
Here are their pricing plans:
- Advanced: $439/month
- Business: $719/month
- Dedicated Designer: $959/month
You can have 1 daily design request with the Advanced pricing plan. If you don’t have a lot of design requirements, this pricing plan will work fine. However, if you need 2 daily design requests, you’ll have to go for the Business plan.
All in all, Manypixels is a pretty similar platform to Design Pickle, without any huge differences.
3. Graphics Zoo
Key advantages: One of the stand-out features of Graphics Zoo is interactive revisions. It provides you with great control over your revisions and lets you ask for precise changes in your designs.
Moreover, with Graphics Zoo, you can even develop your Brand Profile, which is accessible to your designers as well.
This can save a lot of your time down the line as your designers won’t have to ask a lot of questions frequently. Your brand profile on Graphics Zoo can include:
- Logos
- Reference files
- Brand rules
- And basically everything else you’d need for your Brand profile
Graphics Zoo offers a turnaround time of 1 – 2 days.
The Graphics Zoo team is pretty easy to access, so you can ask for help if anything comes up. The customer support of Graphics Zoo is great.
Potential drawbacks: However, you can only work on a single project with Graphics Zoo, so if you’re a business with a lot of output demands, you may want to choose Kimp, which enables you to have 2 active requests at a time.
Pricing
- Starter Design plan: $381
- Growth Design plan: $466
- Agency Design plan: $849
Starter Design plan starts at just $381 per month, making it the cheapest unlimited graphic design choice in our list.
Although you don’t get a free trial with Graphics Zoo, the first month’s rate is a lot cheaper than the normal subscription price.
On top of that, you also get a 15-day money-back guarantee with Graphics Zoo, no questions asked.
4. 99designs
99designs is another worthwhile graphics design service that you can confidently invest in. This company works a bit differently from other Design Pickle alternatives though.
Here’s how the whole design ordering process works on 99designs:
- You create a project brief in order to explain it to the designers on the platform.
- Then, you can hire a designer of your choice. Alternatively, you can launch a design contest, get multiple entries and pick the best one.
- Lastly, you’ll be collaborating with the owner of the design you like. You can release the payment once you’re completely satisfied with the results.
The hiring process on 99design is very friendly for a buyer. The only thing that might take your time is the project brief, which you probably already have in mind.
99designs also lets you hire a freelancer and work on a 1-1 project basis. Each project is unique, which means the pricing can be decided in collaboration with the freelancer.
Key advantages: 99designs has a completely different pricing model than Design Pickle. Being a crowdsourced platform, 99designs offers design contests that enable you to get and choose from 40-60 designs. The platform also hosts a lot of high-quality designers.
Potential drawbacks: 99designs might not be the cheapest option for those who require lots of custom designs. If you have a lot of design requests, this alternative is going to get very expensive.
Pricing
Logo contests start from $299 and go up to $1,299 for the most expensive package. The prices of other brand assets can highly vary.
When you have projects with individual designers, the price is determined based on your budget and how much graphic designers charge. Additionally, 99designs charges a 5% platform fee.
5. Flocksy
Flocksy is another great Design Pickle alternative especially because they offer a variety of services. I would call it an all-in-one resource for your design as well as other marketing needs.
The onboarding process of Flocksy is similar to most other unlimited graphic design services. They provide you with an intuitive project management board where you can manage your projects easily.
You can expect a turnaround time of 24 hours if your project isn’t too complicated.
Key advantages: Flocksy second-tier plan provides a copywriting team to serve your requests. The same plan also includes video editing and voiceover services. So I would say if you need more than just graphic design, Flocksy might be the option.
Potential drawbacks: Flocksy doesn’t provide an option to chat with designers directly on Slack (which Design Pickle does). Also, the platform is not in the unlimited graphic design field as long as Design Pickle.
Pricing
Flocksy comes with 2 plans:
- Silver Plan: $499/month
- Gold Plan: $995/month
- Silver Plan: $1,495/month
The pricing is almost the same as Design Pickle’s, so it’s the key advantages and drawbacks that should help you make the final decision.
6. Upwork
Upwork isn’t an all-in-one graphics design service, but it’s one of the most popular and used freelance marketplaces out there. So, what you can do is, find the right freelance graphic designer, discuss your requirements, and place an order.
The good thing is that there are a variety of service providers, allowing you to invest in the most cost-effective resource.
This is great for businesses that have a consistent flow of graphic design work but don’t want to commit to a monthly subscription like Design Pickle.
In addition, Upwork has tons of top-rated graphic designers, with reviews and real feedback.
But of course, if you have a consistent flow of work, and don’t want the hassle of going through hiring freelancers frequently, other Design Pickle alternatives would be better for you.
Key advantages: I would highlight 2 key advantages Upwork has compared to Design Pickle: First, you have the choice to pick your favourite graphic designer to work for you. Second, you can hire a graphic designer for your project way cheaper than subscribing to unlimited graphic design services. But there are a few potential drawbacks.
Potential drawbacks: There are many inexperienced graphic designers on Upwork, making it risky to experiment. Also, hiring people on Upwork requires much more time and resources than buying services on other platforms.
Pricing
Prices on Upwork start as low as $5 per and can go up to $100 per hour. Different prices are determined by the experience of graphic design freelancers.
Best Design Pickle Alternatives: Summary
Great design increases revenue and total returns to business owners and shareholders, a McKinsey report states. Design Pickle can be a very cost-effective graphic design service for many businesses, but it does come with some drawbacks.
So, what’s better than Design Pickle?
In my opinion, if you want a good Design Pickles alternative, then I highly recommend going with Kimp.io or Manypixels. These are the best “like for like” alternatives to Design Pickle. And they offer all the features similar to Design Pickle.
