- By Karolis Kiniulis
- Updated February 20, 2023
Good design increases revenue and total returns to business owners and shareholders, a McKinsey report states.
Design Pickle is one of the most popular subscription-based graphic design services. You submit your request via a form, your designer gets to work, and you get the result within a couple of days, depending on your package.
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.
In this post, we’ll tell you about top Design Pickle alternatives you might want to work with.
Let’s dive in.
Table of Contents
Top Design Pickle Alternatives
When it comes to graphic design monthly services, Design Pickle is one of the most trusted companies out there.
However, there can be a few downsides to the service that can make you look for alternative options.
The best thing with most of these alternatives is that you can order as many designs as you want for a one-time monthly payment.
Top Design Pickle alternatives are:
| 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. Once signed up, you can order as many designs as you want, including logos, infographics, blog images, social graphics, and more.
Read more: Kimp.io review.
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.
Moreover, you get one account manager and 3 designers once you sign up for Kimp.
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.
Pricing
As for the price, Kimp offers a simple $599/month plan.
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.
However, keep in mind that 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.
Moreover, you are only allowed 3 design requests during the trial period. And, they’ll only deliver you the source files or print-ready files after the trial period.
Limitations
You don’t get a money-back guarantee with Kimp. Plus, there is a limit on the types of designs you can order.
For instance, 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.
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.
However, keep in mind that ManyPixels doesn’t offer a free plan.
The nice thing is you get a 14-day money-back guarantee with ManyPixels.
The first step would be to sign up for the service with your email address.
You’ll then be redirected to their dashboard where you can place your first request by entering the necessary details.
First, select the type of design you want ManyPixels to create for you. Then, write a short description of the project, providing the size, inspirations, references, and more.
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.
Pricing
Here are their pricing plans:
- Advanced: $439/month
- Business: $719/month
- Dedicated Designer: $959/month
On the Advanced plan, you can request almost any type of design except for video editing, 3D, complex UI/UX and coding.
You can have 1 daily design request with the Advanced pricing plan.
So, 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.
In other words, when you have more workload or want a quicker turnaround.
The last pricing option is for those who would like to have a dedicated graphic designer with same-day delivery.
Limitations
However, you don’t get a dedicated account manager with ManyPixels. Plus, they don’t offer video in any of their packages.
3. Graphics Zoo
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.
You’ll also get a designated design team and an account manager.
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.
Pricing
- Starter Design plan: $381
- Growth Design plan: $466
- Agency Design plan: $849
As for the pricing, the good thing is you don’t have to pay through the nose to get quality graphics services from Graphics Zoo.
The design service is currently offering an attractive discount on the first month of your subscription.
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. This just means you don’t have to worry about spending on the wrong service.
You can always get a full refund of your payment if you don’t like what you get, within the first 15 days of buying a subscription plan.
Limitations
However, you can only work on a single project with Graphics Zoo, so if you’re a business with a lot of output demands, it might not be the best fit for you.
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.
With most other graphic design services, you have to go for a monthly subscription plan. But, with 99design, you can hire an expert of your choice.
What you can do is go to “Find a designer” and find someone with the right background, expertise, and experience. Alternatively, you can directly click on a category and order a particular type of design (for example, a logo) from the right seller.
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.
Limitations
While the design contest feature is great as you get a variety of options to choose from, it also tends to attract inexperienced designers.
So, it might take some time to filter out the best designs if you hold a design contest on 99designs.
5. Flocksy
Flocksy is another great Design Pickle alternative especially because they offer a variety of services, including:
- Custom template library
- Email templates
- Website development
- Copywriting
- And, more
So, it’s like an all-in-one resource for your design as well as other marketing needs.
But, a small caveat is that you don’t get a free trial with Flocksy.
The on-boarding process of Flocksy is similar to most Design Pickle alternatives. They provide you with an intuitive project management board where you can manage your projects easily.
And as soon as you submit your request for a project, a timer will give you an estimated turnaround time.
You can expect a turnaround time of 24 hours if your project isn’t too complicated.
Another good thing is that you get a 14-day money-back guarantee on your monthly subscription with Flocksy. 14 days might not be as long as Design Pickle’s 30-day guarantee, but you’ll get a good idea about the service.
Pricing
Flocksy comes with 2 plans:
- The team plan: $420.75/month
- The All-access plan: $845.75/month
Both plans come with unlimited design requests, free stock photos, and a 24-hour turnaround.
On the team plan, you get a video editing, copywriting, and graphic design team.
However, you can only have a single active project at a time and add up to 5 users on the team plan.
Whereas, the all-access plan of Flocksy has more features like 20 users, unlimited brand buckets, and 2 active projects at a time.
In addition to that, you get a web development team, an audio team, and a voice-over team on the all-access plan.
Limitations
However, you can only have 1 active project at a time even on the team plan. This can be limiting especially if you need to handle multiple projects simultaneously.
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 with them.
The good thing is there are a variety of service providers on the platform, 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.
Since Upwork is a legitimate freelance marketplace, you don’t have to worry about getting scammed or anything like that.
Upwork has its own secure payment gateway. Your funds remain with Upwork until you are fully satisfied with the delivered project, which completely eliminates the risk.
In addition, Upwork has tons of top-rated graphic designers, with reviews and real feedback. So, filtering out the cream of the crop won’t be an issue either.
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.
Limitations
Keep in mind that Upwork charges a fee ($5 per transaction) from buyers, in addition to what you’d be paying for the service.
Best Design Pickle Alternatives: Summary
Design Pickle can be a very cost-effective graphic design service for many businesses, but it does come with some drawbacks.
For instance, the company doesn’t offer services like video graphics, mobile app design, Photoshop, and more.
But, the good thing is there’s no shortage of similar or even better graphic design service companies out there.
So, what’s better than Design Pickle?
If you want a good Design Pickles alternative, then I highly recommend going with Kimp.io. It is the best “like for like” alternative to Design Pickle out there. It offers all the features Design Pickle has to offer.
Upwork serves differently from all other design pickle alternatives since you pay for the project and have to find a graphic designer by yourself. I would recommend it if you have specific design needs for a project.
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