Whether you own a unicorn or you're a budding entrepreneur, designs are a non-negotiable part of your daily activities. That's the reality. Marketers know it, creatives know it, but convincing decision makers can often feel impossible.
From a simple logo design to creating banners and other marketing materials, the need for design remains constant.
To cut costs, many small businesses opt for robust design tools from unlimited graphic design services instead of hiring in-house designers or paying third-party agencies. Design Pickle is one of the most popular graphic design tools for professional graphic design services. The software can be used for designs across video editing, web development, motion graphics, app design, and other design projects for a flat monthly fee.
That said, plenty of other Design Pickle alternatives are on the market that suit different needs for businesses of different sizes. This review compares the top Design Pickle alternatives to help determine how the unlimited graphic design tool compares to competitors.
An Overview of Design Pickle
Design Pickle was founded by Russ Perry in 2015 to provide unlimited graphic design services to graphic design experts and creative project managers for a flat monthly fee. Over the years, Design Pickle has become a go-to design tool for small business owners who want to manage projects intuitively by centralizing and automating their creative workflow.
Many small businesses choose Design Pickle for their graphic design services because of its simple, scalable, and budget-friendly plans. You’ll find two Design Pickle plans:
- Standard Plans have a three tiered pricing structure, including Graphics for $499 per month, Graphics Pro for $995, and Graphics Premium for $1,695 monthly.
- Power Plans for big brands with more complex projects and the need for more creative services. However, there are no fixed pricing plans, as you must contact the Design Pickle sales team with your design requirements or make dashboard Design Pickle requests.
All the plans come with unlimited graphic design requests, an unlimited queue, unlimited revisions, and Adobe source files. Upon successful subscription, the globally vetted design team at Design Pickle will work on the projects to help fulfill your creative needs. However, the turnaround time for each plan varies.
For instance, the Graphics plan has a turnaround time of 1 to 2 days, but the Graphics Pro and Premium plans have same day turnaround time. The last two plans also come with designated designers.
Small businesses can get what they need from Design Pickle, as the service has other features in its full suite of creative services included on higher plans. These include custom illustrations, presentation design, and motion graphics design using ideas from Design Pickle’s proprietary library.
However, in terms of user experience, Design Pickle has a robust onboarding process. The interface could be easier to navigate for new users, and the Slack collaboration platform is limited to only Graphics Pro and Premium subscribers.
In other words, the graphic design service is best for small business owners or people with straightforward ongoing design needs. That said, some Design Pickle alternatives offer more convenience, affordability, scope of work, and accessibility. We’ve compiled the top five Design Pickle competitors below.
#1 Design Pickle Alternative: Best Option
Teamtown is our top pick for the best Design Pickle alternatives. The graphic design service offers high-quality, flat-rate design services to marketing teams. We review Teamtown below to understand the core features that make it a solid graphic design Design Pickle alternative and how it works.
What is Teamtown?
Established in 2020, Teamtown is our best Design Pickle alternative for a variety of reasons most relevant to marketers.
First, the graphic design company boasts a global design team with top vetted graphic designers who can bring complex ideas to life. You know, those ones your CEO thinks of in the shower before coming in to request delivery by EOW.
Second, Teamtown provides brands with a dedicated design team which includes designers specializing in the areas they love most. Your Design Lead has the support of their presentation designers, rockstar brand designers, time-tested advertising designers, and more. These designers are part of your team, learning and growing with your brand on each request. Goodbye brand inconsistency!
Third, all brands subscribed to Teamtown are supported by quality assurance managers. These attention-to-detail geniuses review every request before submission to ensure instructions are followed closely and quality is top notch.
Whether you want graphic design services for web design, video editing, landing page design, branding design, logo design, advertising design, and any other design projects, Teamtown offers a comprehensive graphic design service made for marketers for a flat monthly fee.
Teamtown has a three tiered pricing structure:
- Starter for $1995 per month
- Super for $2995 per month
- Studio for $4995 per month
All plans come with on-demand graphic design requests, unlimited revisions, and a dedicated design team. However, for additional features like video editing, website design, high-quality motion graphics, and UI/UX design, you must subscribe to the Teamtown Super and Studio plans.
All plans come with a 15-day money back guarantee that you can activate if unsatisfied with the product.
How it Works
Getting started with Teamtown is straightforward. Here's how Teamtown works:
- The first step is subscribing to a monthly plan from one of the three options.
- After subscribing, you can make a design request from the flat-rate design service options on Teamtown. This can be done after you’re connected with your design team. Similar to the Design Pickle platform, you only have to submit design requests, and a dedicated designer will take it up from there.
- You can collaborate to understand your creative needs and design them to taste. You can also add multiple design requests and manage projects intuitively in one place. The turnaround time is 24-48 hours for all plans. However, small revisions and projects can often be completed on a much speedier timeframe.
- Next, you can review, revise, and finalize the designs from the in house talent to ensure it aligns with your vision. Don't forget - you have unlimited revisions, and the design team will keep revising until the project achieves the design quality you want.
- Finally, you can download the design from the portal after previewing and revising it from your end. Design downloads are available in different file types. Just select the most preferred file type when making your design requests, and you’ll have what you need.
Design Pickle Competitors: Top Picks
Besides Teamtown, there are other notable alternatives to Design Pickle offering businesses Creative as a Service (CaaS) solutions. As a creative director or project manager, you can find a dedicated team plan that suits your needs from these creative service providers instead of hiring in house designers or a web development team. We highlight the other Design Pickle alternatives aside from Teamtown below.
1. Penji
Established in 2017, Penji is a reputable Design Pickle alternative for graphic design and various other creative services. Small business and agency owners choose Penji because of its affordable pricing, fast turnaround time, and high-quality designs. From blog images to app design, custom illustrations, blog images, and other designs for complex projects, Penji offers a robust design service.
The plans on Penji include the following:
- Starter for $499 per month
- Marketer for $998 per month
- Agency for $1,497 per month
Pros
- Affordable pricing plans from $499 monthly
- 30-day money back guarantee
- Unlimited print and digital graphics
- 1 to 2 days turnaround time (same day turnaround for Agency plan)
Cons
- No free trial
- No one-off design requests
- Reviews imply the service may not be the best fit for marketing teams and larger companies
2. ManyPixels
ManyPixels is another popular design service provider that solves many pain points for small businesses. The online graphic design firm was founded in 2018 and offers design subscription services, including unlimited graphic and web design for creative content production. The design company has worked with brands like Buffer, Sleek, and Teach:able
The plans on ManyPixels include:
- Advanced for $549 per month
- Business for $899 per month
- Designated Designer for $1,199 per month
Pros
- Monthly plans from $549
- Unlimited requests and revisions for all plans
- 14-day money back guarantee
- Social media, websites, custom illustrations, and logo design templates are available
Cons
- No free trial
- Limited to people in the US Eastern, Central European, and Indochina time zones
3. Kapa99
Established in 2014, Kapa99 is one of the oldest subscription-based graphic design companies. Creative project managers and graphic designers will fancy Kapa99 because of its simple user interface and affordable pricing models with free trials. The graphic design tool is suitable for logo designs, book covers, illustrations and podcast covers.
The plans on Kapa99 include:
- Business for $349 for the first two months
- Business Express for $649 for the first two months
Pros
- Plans start from $349 for two months
- Same day turnaround
- 15 days free trial
- Native Adobe source files
Cons
- No money-back guarantee
- No video graphics
- Limited scope of work
- May not be best suited for larger brands and teams
4. Flocksy
Last on the list of the best Design Pickle alternatives is Flocksy. The design service company was founded in 2016 and is one of the largest providers of unlimited creative tools for copywriting, web development, voice over services, and graphic designing. The company has worked with brands like Forbes, Adobe, and State Farm.
You’ll find three subscription plans on Flocksy:
- Silver Plan for $499 a month
- Gold Plan for $995 monthly
- Platinum Plan for $1,695 per month
Pros
- Zapier integration
- 14-day money back guarantee
Cons
- No free trial
- Accepts only one project at a time
Alternatives to Design Pickle: Key Features to Look For
Now that you know our best Design Pickle alternative and other Design Pickle competitors, how do you determine the best design service providers for you? We highlight the top 4 features of Creative as a Service (CaaS) solutions to consider when thinking of a Design Pickle alternative.
1. Agile and Responsive Project Management
With projects going digital, creative project managers opt for CaaS providers with agile and responsive project management features, including scalability, flexibility, and fast turnaround time. The best CaaS solutions prioritize these in their business models to ensure clients get the best service in a timely manner.
2. Top Creative Team
Another feature that helps CaaS providers stand out is the quality of their creative teams. The best Creative as a Service graphic design and digital service providers have team members who make up the top percentile in their designations. That way, you can rest assured you'll experience top quality design projects with much fewer revisions. This is what makes paying for the cheapest subscription possible risky, often giving Creative as a Service a bad name.
3. Reputation
From online customer reviews to strong social media presence and existing testimonials on their websites, the best CaaS providers have a strong reputation among project managers and other creatives. Opt for CaaS companies with verifiable track records when working on your company’s marketing needs.
4. Customer Support
Top CaaS providers like Design Pickle, Teamtown, and the other Design Pickle alternatives in our review have dedicated customer support teams to cater to customers’ needs. Usually, you can contact customer service via email and live chat to ask questions or request support if you get stuck using any of the CaaS platforms.
Design Pickle Alternative: Try Teamtown
Teamtown is our best Design Pickle alternative because of its simple user interface, 24/5 customer support, fast turnaround time, and access to a suite of various packages.
The platform allows you to create designs across website design, video editing, social media posts, motion graphics, UI/UX design, content repurposing, and much more. With pricing plans starting from $947 monthly, you can also add multiple design requests, request unlimited revisions, collaborate with unlimited team members, and work with top professionals to create effective marketing campaigns for your brand.
You can start your creative journey on Teamtown by subscribing for one month or booking a demo to start.
Is Design Pickle worth it?
Design Pickle is a reputable graphic design service provider for small business owners. Design Pickle is worth its monthly price of $499, depending on your needs and business size.
What is a Design Pickle?
Design Pickle is a subscription-based creative solution that helps businesses simplify their design and overall marketing plans. The platform allows businesses to create scalable designs for logos, websites, and custom illustrations with the same day turnaround time at a monthly flat rate.
Who is the owner of Design Pickle?
Russ Perry created Design Pickle in 2015. The founder aimed to provide unlimited graphic design services at a flat monthly fee.
How many employees does Design Pickle have?
According to data from the official Design Pickle LinkedIn page, the company has 562 employees at the time of writing.
