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.
What Is Design Pickle?
Founded in 2015 by Russ Perry, Design Pickle is one of the earliest and most recognizable creative-as-a-service platforms. It’s one of the best design subscription solutions and is built on a flat-rate graphic design model, letting you request unlimited designs for a monthly service fee instead of paying per project or hiring a full-time designer.
Plans and Pricing:
- Base Platform: $119 monthly
- Pro Platform: $299 monthly
- Creative Services: Starting at $1,918 monthly for 2 hours of dedicated design work per business day
- Professional Services Add On: $2,399 monthly
The pros of seeking graphic design help from Design Pickle include the following:
- Affordable design service
- Predictable flat-rate monthly pricing
- Quick turnaround times
- Access to a vetted, outsourced design team
However, there are some drawbacks, such as:
- Monthly design services can be costly if you exceed two hours per business day
- No free trial
- Limited flexibility with designer assignments
Be aware of these concerns before you sign up for a Design Pickle subscription.
Why Look for Alternatives to Design Pickle?
While Design Pickle is a strong player in the graphic design subscription market, it isn’t the best fit for every business. Many companies eventually explore Design Pickle alternatives because of:
- Pricing Concerns: An entry-level price of over $2,000 can be steep for startups or small businesses, even though mid-sized companies consider it affordable
- Quality Inconsistency: Overloaded designers may not always produce consistent content quality
- Turnaround Frustrations: The small daily time cap of two hours can mean long queues
- Limited Services: Advanced creative work like video or UI/UX is locked behind higher-cost tiers
Design Pickle is often seen as “good for volume, weak on brand.” With Design Pickle, clients complain about a transactional, ticket-based experience — requests seemingly go into a black box, designers rotate, and communication is rigid. Clients may be able to get a lot of assets quickly, but the final product can feel generic, inconsistent, or off-brand.
Marketing leaders need a scalable workflow where design integrates into their team’s rhythm. They want clear project management, reliable turnarounds, and proactive creative thinking (not just order-taking).
Marketing teams who need a partner that understands their brand deeply (and maintains consistency across ads, decks, social, and web) may realize they’re burning time on revisions and brand policing when using Design Pickle.
Now, let’s get into some Design Pickle competitors:
#1 Design Pickle Alternative: Best Option
We’ll be honest. This is a Teamtown blog, so yes, we’re going to recommend ourselves as the top option among Design Pickle competitors. But hear us out. We’re not just hyping our name for fun (though, if we could send you a flat-rate graphic design of us doing a victory dance, we would).
Teamtown offers high-quality, flat-rate design services to marketing teams. We’ll talk more about Teamtown below to understand the core features and how it works, but first, here’s a quick rundown of the top Design Pickle alternatives.
Design Pickle Alternatives At a Glance
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 that 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, or 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:
- Essentials for $2400 per month
- Pro for $4,500 per month
- Studio for $7,850 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 Pro 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, and other designs for complex projects, Penji offers a robust design service.
The plans on Penji include the following:
- Business for $499 per month
- Marketing & Ads for $995 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 $599 per month
- Business for $999 per month
- Designated Designer for $1,299 per month
- Design Team for $2,399 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 $849 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
Flocksy 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 a customizable subscription plan on Flocksy:
- 2 hours starts at $1,195 per month
Pros
- Zapier integration
- 14-day money back guarantee
Cons
- No free trial
- Accepts only one project at a time
5. Kimp
Kimp is another strong contender among the best Design Pickle alternatives. Founded in 2019, Kimp has grown quickly by offering both graphic design subscription and video design services under a single, flat-rate model.
The company has worked with a variety of global startups and established businesses looking for consistent, affordable design support without the overhead of hiring in-house.
You’ll find three subscription plans on Kimp:
- Graphics for $897/month
- Graphics + Video for $1,297/month
- Video for $997/month
Pros
- Affordable pricing compared to many Design Pickle alternatives
- Unlimited graphic and video design requests
- Dedicated design team model ensures brand consistency
Cons
- No free trial available
- Limited to one active request at a time
- Higher-tier video plan required for motion graphics and animation
6. Superside
Superside is one of the premium creative-as-a-service providers and is often seen as an enterprise-grade Design Pickle alternative. The company is known for supporting global brands and offering leading-edge packages.
However, you’ll have to book a call to get custom pricing, which is usually a sign that you are in for some sticker shock. Most estimates reveal that a subscription starts around $10,000 per month
Pros
- Fully managed outsourced design team
- Wide range of services, including motion graphics, video, and UI/UX
- Scalable for enterprise-level needs
Cons
- Pricing is much higher than other options
- Plans are geared toward larger companies, not startups
- Onboarding and setup can take longer compared to other monthly design service providers
How to Choose the Right Design Subscription Service
Now that you know our picks for the 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
A good CaaS partner should keep pace with your business. Agility means they can handle sudden changes and new requests on the fly without slowing you down.
What to look for:
- Clear turnaround times
- Flexibility to manage multiple requests at once
- Scalable plans
- Transparent queue or project-tracking system
2. Top Creative Team
The quality of your design team directly impacts the deliverables you receive. Strong providers staff designers with proven experience.
What to look for:
- Designers who specialize in your type of work
- Dedicated vs. pooled design models
- Evidence of consistent quality control
- Portfolios or sample work that align with your brand’s standards
3. Reputation
You want a provider with a proven track record.
What to look for:
- Verified testimonials
- Presence on trusted review platforms
- Active communities or user groups
- Long-standing brand relationships
4. Customer Support
Even the best design service needs to back it up with responsive, helpful support.
What to look for:
- Multiple support channels
- Clear support hours
- Dedicated account or project managers
- Fast escalation paths for urgent issues
Quick Decision Checklist
When choosing a CaaS solution, ask:
- Do I need a dedicated designer or team?
- Is turnaround time critical for my workflow?
- How do I prefer to communicate?
- What’s my monthly budget?
- What type of graphics do I need?
These questions will help you identify the right partner for your business.
The Best Design Pickle Alternative Awaits
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.
