If money is no issue and you have a consistent line-up of design projects that need to be completed, then hiring DesignJoy is a no brainer. It’s the premium choice when it comes to unlimited graphic design service.
However, these are inflationary times and the dollar’s worth is shrinking. Even if you’re awash with cash, paying $5,000 per month for design service drills a hole in the pocket and affects the bottom line. Aren’t there more affordable DesignJoy alternatives?
The good news is there are. In fact, the list is long. We found around 50 similar service providers. But we’ve narrowed down the choices to the top 10 after careful consideration of their service features and price plans that give you value for your money.
10 Affordable Alternatives to DesignJoy
What Is DesignJoy?
DesignJoy is a design agency that provides unlimited graphic design service. It offers “unlimited everything” – requests, users, brands, and stock photos. There are no constricting contracts and you can cancel the service anytime.
The service is noted for two things – stunning designs and stratospheric rates. You read it right. DesignJoy is apart from the rest with its mouth-watering, all-inclusive $4,995/month plan. In fact, that is its only plan which is discounted when you pay quarterly or yearly.
What’s more, the design industry was quite surprised when the founder/owner revealed that he was a one-man team – sole proprietor and designer – the only person in the agency. That he has regular clients and able to deliver speaks much of his marketing prowess and project management skills.
But we will not delve on this agency and enjoin you to simply read our DesignJoy review. Instead, we will explore alternatives, the inexpensive but equally or even more capable ones. Before going any further, let’s examine what unlimited graphic design service is all about.
Unlimited Graphic Design Service Explained
Basically, it’s a service that a design company provides which is to create your design projects and do as many revisions as you want. You can also request as many projects to be done. All these will be accomplished for a fixed monthly subscription or fee.
The tag “unlimited” translates to you not having to pay on per project or hourly basis. You can make a long and regular request lineup of your design requirements and the service provider will accomplish these designs according to your priority or the order you set.
Only one project will be done at a time unless you request a dedicated designer or a team to work on it and have multiple projects done simultaneously. Of course, that will cost you and you may have to upgrade your plan.
Common Services & Features Offered
Services, features, and processes among these unlimited graphic design providers are quite similar. It begins with you sending a design request, the provider works on it, and wraps up when you get the finished design. If there are revisions you send it back. If you’re satisfied, they work on your next request.
It helps to be knowledgeable about these because you would want to choose the right design service at the start. You’ll be parting with a couple hundred dollars or more each month so it’s important to know what you’ll be getting in return.
Let’s take a look at five common offerings:
- Design services. Is it just graphic designs you need? Do you also have other projects like web design, video and motion graphics, app design, and others? Providers typically offer all inclusive-plans (usually the highest-priced plan) that give you services for whatever design type. Others break down services by category, offering plans that cover only graphic designs or video designs, or both.
- Turnaround or delivery time. The usual turnaround time, once your design request is started, is 1 to 2 days. For more complex work like video, web, or app designs, it may take 2 to 4 days. Ask the provider where the designer assigned to you lives. Prefer someone within your time zone, not one from the other side of the world where a difference of 8 to 12 hours may be crucial. Providers usually have a list of the countries they serve.
- Dedicated designer or team. A professional, vetted designer is usually assigned to your project. But you can have a choice on this if you want a dedicated designer or a whole team to work on your design. Most companies provide this option in their plans but prepare to pay more.
- Communication or project platform. Normally you’ll be required to log in to an online site such as Slack so you can discuss matters (requests, revisions, etc.) regarding your project. Meanwhile, project management (updates, progress, etc.) is handled through cloud platforms like Trello or other similar apps.
- Several pricing plans. The meat of the matter is your budget. The good thing is that providers have three or more plans available with rates ranging from $200 to around $1K per month. There are generally no contracts involved since these are flat monthly fees with no hidden charges. You get what you pay for the plan you subscribe.
So what should you look out for? The best deals, of course! Service providers will also entice you with big discounts and attractive promos to sweeten the deal. Well, go for the sweetest and the most feature-filled that your budget allows. But look also for efficiency, quality output, and professional service.
Do read up on the design company, especially client feedback and testimonials. If the agency banners on their website big-name companies as customers, then that’s a good sign. No top company would want to be associated with a service provider that has a less than stellar reputation.
Affordable DesignJoy Alternatives
Note that the features presented and the prices quoted in this article are current as of publication time. It is advised though that you check the provider’s website and pricing page (links are provided) just to make sure if there are any recent changes in their rates and services. Now, let’s explore each of them.
1. ManyPixels
ManyPixels is billed as a one-stop-shop for all your creative requirements. That’s because it offers one online platform where you can manage and run everything. These include submitting and prioritizing design requests, collaborating with your team, discussing matters with your designer, and handling different brands.
It’s a sought-after service as evidenced by over 125,000 completed designs and more than 3,000 satisfied customers. There are several things going for ManyPixel including having professional designers, fast turnaround, fixed monthly rates, and scalable plans.
The service is flexible enough to address all types of design requirements – from the simplex to the most extensive. That is why ManyPixels is ideal for marketing teams, small and medium enterprises, and studios/agencies. It accepts over 20 design types such as social media graphics, logos, brochures, etc. You retain the rights to the finished design and have complete ownership over source files.
Pricing Plans:
All ManyPixels pricing plans include unlimited requests, unlimited brands, unlimited revisions, native source files, free stock assets and cover all design services. No contract is required and you can cancel anytime. There’s a 14-day money-back guarantee.
- Advanced – $549/month for 1 daily output and 1-2 days delivery.
- Business – $899/month for 2 daily outputs and 1-2 days delivery.
- Dedicated Designer – $1,199/month for same-day delivery and real-time Slack communication. However, availability is only for US Eastern and Central European Time.
2. Kimp.io
Kimp banks on its reliability and affordability to give you whatever designs you need. For starters, its website lists some 50 design types they can do – from book covers to billboards, and newsletters to even NFT designs. It’s a service suitable for small and big companies alike. When we say big, count in clients like Harley-Davidson (big bikes) and New York University (big schools).
The provider offers their services in 25 countries around the world, ensuring they have designers in or around your time zone to guarantee their promised one day minimum to four days maximum turnaround. Small businesses, marketing agencies, non-profits, and social media managers, to name some, can be assured of Kimp’s brand of dependable service.
Plans are conveniently categorized for their specific coverage – graphic designs, video designs, and graphic plus video. Time-limited flash sales are regularly offered as well as half price discounts for new clients.
Pricing:
Some common features of the three Kimp pricing plans include, among others, unlimited requests, revisions, and brands, a dedicated team and project manager as well as free stock images or videos. Also, there is Zapier integration and Trello for project management. No contract is required.
- Graphics – $599/month ($299.50 for the first 2 months) include 1 day turnaround, 2 active requests, and various print and digital designs.
- Video – $699/month ($349.50 for first 2 months) provide 2-4 day turnaround, 2 active requests,
- Graphics + Video – $995/month ($497.50 for first 2 months) come with 1 day turnaround for graphics, 2-4 day turnaround for video, and 4 active requests.
3. Design Pickle
Design Pickle is a creative services and graphics design company highlighted by the presence of a worldwide workforce. It prides itself on having a fully-staffed organization complete with senior-level officers handling various aspects like global operation, marketing, sales, product management, etc. What this means is a fully-oiled company with complete working parts that can provide a solid and reliable service.
With over 500 team members – all experienced designers – scattered all over the globe, you can be positive that your design projects will be realized wherever you are. Their tagline “If you can imagine it, we can design it” is no hollow boast. Designs for flyers, logos, brochures, and even animation and illustrations are a walk in the park for Design Pickle.
Numbers speak and it would interest you to know that the company has so far completed over a million design requests. Design Pickle itself is ranked #1,760 by Inc.com in its list of 5000 fastest-growing companies as of 2021.
Pricing:
All Design Pickle plans give you unlimited revisions, unlimited requests, and Adobe source files.
- Graphics – $499/month starter plan for basic design needs including graphic designs, custom illustrations, and 1-2 day turnaround.
- Graphics Pro – $995/month cover graphic designs, custom illustrations, presentation design, same-day turnaround, designated designers, dedicated account manager, and Slack collaboration.
- Graphics Premium – $1,695/month provides all Pro features plus motion graphics service and revision tool, and Canva file delivery.
4. Penji
Penji gives you the assurance that it hires only the top two percent of the world’s professional designers. With the commitment to provide only the best talent when it comes to design, it is no wonder that Penji is counted on by 25,000 agencies and leading brands including UPS, Best Buy, and Uber.
The company’s global team stretches across 15 countries and is as diverse as the types of graphic designs it can work on. Over 120 design types and services are offered for unlimited queues and requests, and 1 to 2-day turnaround for simple projects and up to 4 days for complex design projects.The things that impress clients are Penji’s professionalism and quality output. They deliver on time, provide regular updates, and are sticklers for branding so that your identifying assets (logos, colors, fonts, etc.) are always carried across your designs.
Pricing:
All Penji plans carry a 30-day money-back guarantee, unlimited design projects, and 24/7 customer support.
- Pro – $499/month. Unlimited: graphic design, custom illustrations, logos and branding, users, and brands.
- Team – $699/month. All Pro plan features plus unlimited app designs, web designs, presentations, and animated graphics.
- Daytime – $999/month. All Team plan features plus same-day turnaround, USA daytime designers, and a dedicated art director.
5. Design Shifu
Design Shifu offers one of the lowest pricing tiers among unlimited graphic design services. But it does not scrimp on the quality of service and the quality of work. This is why it has been the go-to design service provider for all sorts of businesses – from local shops and restaurants to big tech like HostGator and Salesforce.
Aside from the usual unlimited features like requests and revisions, and quick turnarounds, Design Shifu gives you access to an exclusive dashboard. This makes it easy to queue your projects, get updates, communicate with the designer, and store source materials, all in one place.
Design Shifu was founded just in 2018 but has since experienced unprecedented growth. It now services the design needs of clients in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia particularly agencies, SMEs, and startups.
It is worth mentioning that the company is among the few unlimited graphic design services that offer a pay-per-project plan. This is a fitting option for those on a shoestring budget and those with just a few projects at hand.
Pricing:
Design Shifu plans include print and digital graphic designs, email support, stock image license, no long-term contract, 1-2 days output (depending on the design’s complexity), and a 14-day money-back guarantee (except for Pay Per Request).
- Pay Per Request – $29 for 1 request and 2 revisions.
- Monthly Limited – $99 includes 5 requests, 1 active daily request, 2 revisions, and unlimited brands.
- Monthly Unlimited – $299 for unlimited requests, brands, and revisions, plus logo creation and a dedicated designer.
- Monthly Unlimited Plus – $499 includes everything under Monthly Unlimited as well as Slack integration and design types like a landing page, presentation decks, GIFs, and custom illustration.
6. Undullify
Undullify specializes in simple, everyday graphics like social media designs, flyers, postcards, stickers, banners, etc. If you need these types of designs, Undullify will deliver them fast. They have an exhaustive list of designs they can do with quick turnarounds and they offer some of the most budget-friendly rates.
The focus on day-to-day, small design tasks makes it an ideal solution for marketers, social media specialists, and startups needing speedy but quality results. The promise of the service provider (and they have become well known for this) is that you’ll get your design in 30 minutes tops. Of course, they can work beyond that time but it’s their trademark turnaround for simple designs.
Such a snappy process combined with unlimited requests means you can get more done at a time. This is a good thing if you have many simple design tasks that need to be completed. Undullify makes it all possible with professional designers skilled at their work, adept with processes, and cognizant that your time is important.
Pricing:
All Undullify plans come with unlimited design task requests, unlimited revisions, 1 active task at a time, and multiple file types and source files. You can cancel the service anytime since there are no contracts.
- Starter – $149/month includes 3 business days turnaround, 1 brand, and a dedicated designer.
- Entrepreneur – $ 249/month covers 1 business day turnaround, 1 brand, and a dedicated designer.
- Agency – $399/month come with 1 business day turnaround, unlimited number of brands, multiple dedicated designers, an account manager, and priority design request.
- Custom Pricing – Includes Agency plan features plus customized turnaround times, customized number of active tasks at a time, and customized number of brands.
7. No Limit Creatives
No Limit Creatives, just like the other service providers in this list, eliminates the hassles of finding the right designer for you. In other words, it does the heavy lifting to give you the design you need including digital and print graphics, video and motion graphics, logos and branding designs, custom illustrations, and more.
Their customer-centric approach of giving the best output and providing creative assistance has resulted in over 300,000 unique design projects each year. These range from Amazon listing graphics to Google display ads, email graphics to website graphics, and logo animation to Instagram stories.
The careful attention given to clients by No Limit Creatives resulted in a comprehensive design library. It contains a curated collection of the best designs done by the company for brands which can be used as inspiration for their next project request. This helpful feature shortens the process and removes the need to start again from scratch.
Pricing:
NLC pricing plans do not require a contract and give the following unlimited: revisions, brands, users, source files, premium stock assets, and unlimited requests as well as unlimited graphic/video designs (except for the Startup plan). There is a 14-day money-back guarantee.
- Startup – $399 ($199.50 for the first month) includes graphic and video, 6 design requests per month, 1 active request, and 2-4 day turnaround.
- Graphic – $499 ($249.50 for the first month) comes with 2 active graphic requests and 1-3 day turnaround.
- Video – $599 ($299.50 for the first month) consists of 2 active video requests, and 2-4 day turnaround.
- Graphic & Video – $949 ($474.50 for first month) covers 4 active graphic and video requests, and 1-4 day turnaround.
8. DotYeti
DotYeti offers an on-demand service model based on scalability for fast turnarounds and efficient workflows. Their plans are designed as such that when you just have a one-time project you don’t need to go for a monthly subscription.
You pay for that one project alone which, depending on complexity, starts at $125.
If you have more regular projects then that’s the time you go for a monthly basic plan with your very own dedicated designer. For more voluminous and extensive projects that require illustrations and presentations, then subscribe to the next higher plan. That gives you not only a dedicated designer and illustrator but also an art director.
Now for the whole shebang, pay for the highest-priced plan that will set you back over a couple of thousand dollars per month. That gets you the royal treatment with a whole design and art team plus an account manager to boot to work on and manage your projects. You just sit back and relax.
Pricing:
DotYeti plans come with a 14-day money-back guarantee and unlimited design requests and revisions. There is a free consultancy and a pay-per-project option.
- Free. One hour no commitment consultancy call to get expert advice on brand strategy and planning.
- One-Time Projects – Pay-as-you-go starting from $125 per project for single deliverables without committing to monthly plans.
- Basic – $449/month comprised of 1 project at a time, 1 brand profile, a dedicated designer, and social media designs such as banners, posters, and ads.
- Premium – $1,145/month for 2 projects at a time, 2 brand profiles, a dedicated illustrator and designer, your own art director, and designs that include hand-drawn illustrations, presentations, infographics, logos, GIFs, etc.
- Royal – $2,395/month provides an account manager and a full creative team (art director, animator, and designer). Services cover agency-level needs such as web design, landing pages, motion graphics, and video editing, to name a few.
9. Design Buffs
Design Buffs is the more DesignJoy-like alternative in this list, price-wise. The highest-priced plan of Design Buff is comparative to the only plan of DesignJoy. The difference is that the former has two other lower-priced offerings though they are both above the thousand dollar mark.
That said, what do you get with this service provider? Aside from the expected features of quick turnaround and a variety of designs they can work on, all plans get you a full design team and an account manager. The team is no run-of-the-mill kind. It is comprised of four designers with their own specializations – a graphic designer, UI designer, motion designer/animator, and illustrator.
Imagine the design projects you can do with such a creative collective. But as mentioned earlier, that is a premium offering for those with deep pockets. Although if given the choice and you have the extra budget, you’d rather choose a specialized full-house team than a one-man jack-of-all-trades.
Pricing:
All Design Buffs pricing plans include a project manager, a full design team, unlimited brands, source files, creative onboarding, and live chat support. You get a 15-day money-back guarantee.
- Essential – $1,500/month ideal for small businesses and digital marketers with basic design requirements. This covers 2 hours of daily design work or 40 hours/month.
- Growth – $2,800/month best for startups and incubators with production design needs. This includes 4 hours of daily design work or 80 hours/month.
- Dedicated – Starts at $5,000/month and targeted at creative studios and digital agencies. Choose a dedicated designer from a pool of fully-vetted designers for up to 8 hours of work per day.
10. Graphics Zoo
Graphics Zoo leans on an impressive track record to bag prime clients like the University of Pennsylvania and Netflix. With more than 50,000 quality designs completed at one to two days turnaround, this translated to an average of 2,600 hours and $35K saved for clients. Such figures get you noticed, and more than 2,000 clients did.
In the graphics area, the company can work on projects like logos, letterheads, business cards, billboards, and signage, to name a few. Any project related to web design, advertising, artwork, presentations and reports, business and marketing, and others can be handled by the company.
A feature that distinguishes Graphics Zoo is the availability of content services. This is very useful and something clients will appreciate. After all, content defines design, and pairing the two is a practical solution. You can have content written for web articles, blogs, ads, sales copy, social media posts, annual reports, product descriptions, infographics, podcast scripts, and many more.
Pricing:
All Graphics Zoo subscription plans include unlimited revisions and a dedicated account manager and design team, Slack communication, a 15-day money-back guarantee, no contracts, and cancel anytime. Two general types of services are offered – Design and Content.
Design Services:
- Starter Design – $449/month for 1 design stream, up to 3 users and covers graphic design, logo and branding, same-day turnaround, and US daytime designers.
- Growth Design – $549/month for 1 design stream includes everything in the Starter plus web design, app design, custom illustration, presentation design, and whitelabel.
- Agency Design – $999/month for 2 design streams and all features in the Growth plan plus double the output, priority revisions and support, and GIFs creation.
Content Services:
- Starter – $499/month covers everything in Starter Design plus 1 content stream for small blogs, sales materials, emails, etc.
- Growth – $949/month includes everything in Growth Design plus 2 content streams for web content and larger blogs, among others.
Is Unlimited Graphic Design Service for You?
You’re in the best position to answer the question. But if you have the means and the need, why not? It’s a stress-free option if you continually require graphic designs for work or business, and you need them quickly.
While price plans may appear more expensive at the onset, you get a more viable deal in the long run. You actually save time, effort, and resources when you have a designer or a team almost on a retainer ready to assist you at a moment’s notice. And when it says unlimited, you pay for unlimited – no extra charges, no hidden fees, no strings attached.
Transparency, quality, and efficiency come at a premium. But you don’t have to settle for the sky-high prices of DesignJoy. There are other worthwhile services at earth-level prices that you can try, like those we’ve presented here.
