Alternatives for 99designs — unlimited graphic design services options

If you run a business, it goes without saying that you will require the best possible designs in order to make an impact on the market that you want to target. This means that your content and the campaigns that you create need to be of high quality and have consistency so that people can have brand recall. It can be difficult to choose between the many different services that you have and as such, it is important that you thoroughly examine each of the service providers in the industry. In this blog, we compare several of the leading unlimited services providers for designs among many other of their unique features, so that you can decide which one you would like to carry on with, for your business work. Here is what they look like when compared against each other.

Kimp

Kimp is well-known in the field for the fact that they bring you unlimited graphic design as well as video design services. They operate on a monthly contract, which also gives you the added benefit that you are not tied down with them and that you need not go through unnecessary hassle when you decide to cancel or discontinue their services. You are free to end the contract whenever you want to, for whatever reason that may be.

What is the work process with Kimp like?

The work processes with Kimp are very simple and rather straightforward. You will initially need to decide what kind of pricing plan you would like to pick. Then you can start submitting the design requests for graphics or for the videos that you wish to allocate to your team. The team and your dedicated project manager will then work on the designs and will send them across to you, within the turnaround time that has been promised. Kimp also promises that they will keep you updated throughout every single step of the way, so that you are always in the know. You can choose the method of communication be it Trello or another platform through their Zapier integration. After the designs have been sent across to you, you will be able to ask for as many revisions as you need. They say that they do facilitate unlimited revisions. After you have decided that the design is satisfactory you can approve the designs and then download them. Because you receive 100% copyrights to the work that has been completed, you will be able to use them as you see fit. However, it is vital that you offer the team who is assigned to you with clear and accurate details as much as possible, even though it may be the tiniest factor. This will essentially allow for you to get your work completed on time with as minimal revisions as possible. But fret not, because they also say that their teams will ask you the right questions to help get the clearest idea of what needs to be done. They also follow a similar process for their unlimited video design services.

What is the turnaround time promised?

Kimp promises a turnaround time of 24 hours for graphics and a 2–4 day turnaround time on the video designs. They do also say that the complexity of the work that you need doing will determine the timeline. However, their overall turnaround time is as indicated.

They will work on your requests on a first-come, first-served basis. The requests are entered into your design team’s queue in the order that they are received. Your team then works on delivering them. On an average you will receive designs or revisions in 24 hours with the Kimp Graphics subscription (this applies to designs like social media posts, web banners, and single-sided print designs). And on average you’ll receive 1 30–60 second video, every 2–4 business days, with the Kimp Video subscription. They also advise that you let them know if the task that you have is more complicated, so that they can make you aware of the turnaround time on that specific task.

If you have the Kimp Graphics + Video subscription your turnarounds will be exactly the same. This means that graphics have their own specific turnaround times and videos have their own, so they don’t overlap (e.g. if you have fewer graphic design requests one week, your video requests would still be completed at the same rate as usual, as it’s still the same team completing them. Or vice versa.) If you require faster outputs you can add on subscriptions as you need them, and cancel them as you don’t. To get to know more information, you can use their Live Chat feature 7 days of the week. If you have an account with them, you can log into the account.

Who will be there in your assigned team?

You will have a dedicated design team attending to your requests. Your team is made up of 1 Project Manager and 3 designers who specialize in different types of design. Based on what you need, your Project Manager will assign your request to the designer best suited to complete it. Once that request is completed, they will start work on the next request in the queue. Kimp says that they aim to fulfill your requests 2 at a time and also on a first request, first fulfilled basis. This way they say that they can make sure what you need reaches you at the right time. If the priority of your requests ever shifts, after you’ve made a request, you can just let your project manager know. They will hit pause on your active requests if possible, and fulfill the task or tasks that have now become more time-sensitive.

Pricing plans and free trial

Kimp offers you three comprehensive packages to choose from. Kimp offers you the following packages.

• Unlimited graphic designs for $272.20 for the first month (they have a 30% off limited time offer for all new clients for the first month) after which, it will be $389/mo.
• Unlimited video and motion graphics for $412.20 for the first month, after which it will be $539/mo.
• Unlimited graphics and video for $622.30 for the first month, after which it will be $889/mo.

Kimp offers these packages at a flat monthly rate. This means that there will be no hidden costs and you will be able to get access to all their services for the price indicated. Given below are the three packages that they offer.

Kimp offers you a 7 day free trial when you initially sign up. During these 7 days any services that you request for, will not be billed to you and this duration is treated as a trial period where you can decide whether their service is the right fit. If they are not, you can simply cancel at the end of 7 days. However, if you are happy, you can now enter into a paid monthly service and enjoy all the benefits that they have to offer. Here is what is allowed and what isn’t on their trials.

Kimp Video Trial Overview:

During your trial you can make1 request.

• 1 request = 1 video, up to 15 seconds in length + unlimited revisions within the 7 day trial period.
• During your trial, you will only receive concepts with a watermark on them.

Kimp Graphics Trial Overview:

During your trial you can make 3 requests.

• 1 request = 1 design (i.e. a single print or digital creative, or up to 2–3 pages of a multi-page design, depending on the amount of content).
• During your trial, you will only receive designs with a watermark on them.

The following requests are not fulfilled during trials:

• Resizing of trial designs
• Logo designs
• Brand Mascot or Brand Character designs
• Landing Page designs
• Presentation designs

The following requests are limited during trials:

• Illustration requests are limited during trials: During your trial, you may request one simple illustration. Complex illustrations are not included during the trial.
• Multipage design requests are limited during trials: During your trial, if you wish to request a multi page design such as an ebook, we will complete 2–3 pages, depending on the amount of content, as one design request.

What services they offer

Kimp offers a comprehensive range of services. Here is what comes with their graphic design services.

And here is what comes with their video services.

What special features does Kimp offer you?

• Unlimited design requests, videos and revisions.
• Flat monthly rate.
• 7 day free trial.
• Dedicated project manager and a team of expert designers who work closely with you to get to know your brand.
• Turnaround time is 24 hours, however it may change based on the complexity of the work. The turnaround time on videos is 24–48 hours.
• Easy collaboration via Trello and Zapier integration.
• You will be kept updated throughout the process.
• Easy roll over on a monthly basis, no binding contract. You can cancel anytime.
• Customer service available 7 days a week, team support available all 5 weekdays.
• Own all your designs.

Kimp’s portfolio

Kimp hosts an impressive portfolio. They have a wide range of designs that they have created that feature the different styles that they are excellent at. They also offer custom illustrations, and they have worked with a multitude of clients and you can check some of their sample work here. You can browse their site on if you want to try them out for your design needs. We have attached an example of their work below, for your convenience.

Design Pickle

Design Pickle is another well-known name among the leading service providers who offers you unlimited design requests and revisions. The Design Pickle platform claims to be one that is intuitive and they also say that they offer you a streamlined way in which you can request new designs and can communicate the revisions that you need done. You can also connect them with a medium of your choice because they have Zapier integration. They offer you 24/5 customer support so that the process is easy for you

What is their turnaround time like?

The turnaround times change from one plan to another and can be seen in the pricing plans that we’ve shown above. Sending in your design requests on time can therefore help you get the work completed on time. Remember to provide as much details as possible so that the turnaround times can be met.They do have a comprehensive team of experts who will work closely with you to give you the results that you expect. The turnaround time estimates in this article are not set in stone, as it ultimately boils down to your request’s specifications and complexity. These estimates they provide are meant to be a general guide, and the final turnaround time will still be subject to the production team’s assessment. They offer the following breakdown on their website.

Graphic Design (Scale/Pro)

Estimate

Digital:

Web Banners, Digital Ads, Social Media Ads & Graphics, Posters, Email Signature Graphics, Blog Headers, Photo Editing, E-commerce Graphics, Logos, etc.

About 1 business day per 1–2 designs

Printed:

Signage, Packaging Labels, Stickers, Flyers/Posters, etc.

About 1 business day per 1–2 designs

Multipage (Digital or Printed) or Text Heavy:

Brochures, Menus, Booklets, E-books, Infographics, Web Mockups, etc.

About 1–2 business days per 1–8 pages

Merchandise:

T-Shirt Design, Mug Design, Packaging Design, Pattern Design, etc.

About 1–2 business days per 1–3 designs

Any of the above that are of higher complexity, bulk, or both

More than 1 business day

You may ask your designer for an estimate of the project’s completion if you’d like a more accurate or specific estimate.

Pricing plans and money back guarantee

Design Pickle comes with a 30 day 100% money back guarantee. This means that you can try out all of their services based on a 30 day money back guarantee period. They say that within those 30 days, if you feel that they have not brought you huge value for your money, you can get your money back, no questions asked.

They also have three pricing plans that you can choose from, each of which will come at a flat monthly rate that has no hidden choices.

• The Graphic Design Essentials package is available for $499/mo
• The Graphic Design pro package is available for $995/mo
• The Custom Illustrations package is available for $499/mo

However, unlike Kimp, they do not offer any video services and all of their services are graphics and custom illustrations based.

What are the features Design Pickle offers?

Design Pickle offers the following features

• Collaborate with a designer in real time on Slack
• Use Zapier to sync your existing workflow into Design Pickle
• Get same day turnarounds with Design Pickle Pro
• 1–2 day turnarounds with the Graphic Design Essentials plan
• Unlimited designs requests
• Unlimited revisions
• Support throughout
• 30 day money back guarantee

What kind of work has Design Pickle done so far?

The service provider has a rather impressive portfolio on their website, displaying a lot of the work that they have done over time. Their clientele is quite diverse too. To browse through samples of design work with Design Pickle click here. To read through some of their case studies click here.

Penji

Penji is one of the other services that you could opt for if you do not want to end up overpaying for the design work that you need on a monthly basis. They do seem to have really reasonable rates and as an added bonus they also offer you a flat monthly rate and have pricing packages to choose from.

How do they work?

Similar to the other two services mentioned, you will be able to submit unlimited design requests per month and pay the amount due, with unlimited revisions. You can download the designs and have complete ownership to them once you are satisfied with the designs. You will be able to work closely with a team and collaborate with them every step of the way so that you know the progress of your assigned tasks and how you would like to see them progress going forward. You can also submit unlimited designs requests for the month and when you receive the work that has been completed by the team that is assigned to your business, you will be able to submit as many revisions as required. Once the work is satisfactory you can approve the designs and then begin to use them as you see fit. Here, you are required to create a project by filling out a simple form that they provide you with. You can then upload this form containing the project details along with any other attachments that you believe will help create a cohesive idea for the designers. You are also required to tell them about the format of the files that you need the designs in so that they can provide them to you.

Pricing plans and money back guarantee

Penji also offers you three packages to choose from at a flat monthly rate just like Kimp and Design Pickle. They have monthly, quarterly (save 10%) and yearly (save 15%) options as well.

• Pro package that comes with just graphic designs for $399/mo.
• Team package that comes with graphic designs, illustrations and UX/UI for $499/mo.
• Agency package that promises the team package inclusions with double output for $899/mo.

Here are the packages that the service brings you.

While Penji does not offer a free trial period, they promise that all of their 3 plans are backed by a 15 day money back guarantee. If you are not satisfied with Penji within 15-days of signing up, you are eligible for a full refund. You can send in an email, talk to your assigned account manager, or use the customer support widget on your dashboard to request cancellation.

We’ll review your request and do our best to help find a solution. And if we fail to improve your experience, we’ll issue a full refund.

Don’t worry. There are no “catches” or “strings” that would prevent you from canceling or getting your money back within the 15 days. Our #1 goal is to deliver a seamless online design experience for you and your team.

What features does Penji offer?

Penji offers the following;

• Unlimited design requests
• Unlimited revisions
• Turnaround in 24–28 hours
• Human support
• Team collaboration
• You will have the complete ownership of files

What services does Penji offer?

Penji offers the following services.

• Branding: logos and pitch decks
• Custom UX/UI: web and app designs
• Digital: banners, digital ads and social media content
• Illustrations: custom and typography
• Marketing: business cards, flyers, infographics and sales sheets
• Merch sellers: promotional materials and t-shirts
• Print: books, magazines, packaging, labels, stationeries

What is Penji’s portfolio like?

Penji does not offer video services and simply offer the graphic designs along with UX services. You can check the work that they have done so far here.

Here are also some of the work that they have completed, so that you can gain a better idea of what they have in store for you.

Graphics Zoo

If you are looking for unlimited services, Graphics Zoo is another service provider that you can look at. With Graphics Zoo, you can watch a demo on their website here, where you will be given a step by step instructive guide to how you can get your submissions completed and how you can also request for any revisions. As they do not give a text-form answer here, watching the demo would be the best way to understand how their process works.

Pricing packages

Graphics Zoo brings you three separate pricing plans that you can choose from.

• Business plan for #349/mo
• Business Unlimited plan for $449/mo
• Agency plan for $849/mo

The pricing given here are flat rates that are charged on a monthly basis. This means that even though the services are unlimited, there will be no additional charges or hidden costs. The features that fall under each of their plans can be seen as below.

Do you get a money back or free trial?

Graphics Zoo offers you a 14 day money back guarantee. On their website they state that if you do not approve any of your designs or graphics within the first 14 days of your trial, they will give you a full refund, no questions asked. If you do need further information, you could speak to their support team and get clarifications.

What is the turnaround time on your requests?

Graphics Zoo says that their turnaround is 1 business day. However, they do say that because quality is important, the assigned designer will collaborate and communicate with you to ensure that the timeline is met or if an extension is needed, this will also be communicated. They also say that if you require extremely high volumes of output on a daily basis, your best bet would be to add on more accounts so that more designers are working with you. This will allow you to ensure that you get more work done in time.

Is there a binding contract?

Graphics Zoo states that there is no binding contract and that you can ask for the contract to be cancelled at any point without any hassle. However, you can also ask to be billed yearly, which allows you to save 15% of what you would otherwise pay.

What features are offered by Graphics Zoo?

Graphics Zoo offers the following;

• Interactive revisions which has a click to comment function that allows for maximum accuracy.
• Instead of uploading the logo, guidelines and other information each time you send in a request, you can create brand profiles for each of the brands that you work with. This way, your request submission is simplified and the designer has all the access to the insight required.
• You can add team members to the account as sub users and limit what they can do and see on the account. It allows for better collaboration.
• Share design drafts with any of your team members or customers by simply copying the link for the design. You can also set the permissions when sharing so the viewers can view only, have the ability to add comments, and/or download the designs.
• Add white labels to prioritize the projects.
• Customize the Graphics Zoo platform and make it your own.
• Project flow technology to make sure that there is a seamless transition.
• Submit requests via email if that works for you.

What are the services offered by them?

• Logo design
• Ad design
• Website design
• Branding
• T-shirt designs
• Print designs

If you want to see what Graphics Zoo has in store for you, please click here. We have also given below a few pieces of their work.

Manypixels

Similar to the rest of the service providers, Manypixels also offers an unlimited services. Here is a step by step breakdown of what their process looks like.

In the case of Manypixels, here is how the process works.

• Create an account through the Manypixels platform. This way, all of your communications are streamlined and recorded and nothing is lost.
• Next fill in all the details about your brand.
• Pick a pricing plan that suits your needs.
• Now submit your requests
• Maintain communication and collaboration and send in any revisions that need to be done on the designs that have been completed.
• Approve the work after you are happy with them. The work is now ready to use!

What pricing plans can you choose from?

The packages offered by Manypixels are as follows;

You can either select the monthly, quarterly (save 10%) or yearly (save 20%) billing methods.

• Essentials is a plan that is best for everyday designs needed by small businesses and solo entrepreneurs. It is priced at $499/mo.
• Advanced is a package that is targeted at designing more advanced designs as the name says. This is ideal for marketing teams and startups. It is priced at $549/mo.
• Business is a package that promises double the output on a daily basis and is recommended for agencies and medium to large businesses. It is priced at $899/mo.

Is there a free trial or a money back guarantee?

Manypixels also offers you a 14 day money back guarantee. There is no contract as they have mentioned and you can cancel at any given point. The 14 days are designed for you to decide if they are the ideal agency for you and if that is not the case, the money will be refunded to you, no questions asked.

Turnaround times with Manypixels

Manypixels promise to provide you with a daily output. However, they do say that because designing is a creative process, the amount of work that is provided to you can differ. In general, their help center on the website cites the following as possibly being included in your daily output.

• 2–3 social media graphics
• or 1–2 custom illustrations (more if they are not too complex)
• or 2–3 display ads
• or 4–5 pages of a brochure, e-book, report or slide deck
• or 1 GIF draft (2–3 sec)
• or 1–2 flyers
• or 1 logo draft
• or the first draft of a landing page

If you would like to receive more, they recommend that you contact them for a custom subscription plan.

Is there a contract?

With Manypixels, there are no binding contracts and they state on their website that you are also able to scale up or down with your chosen pricing plan as you go along, so that it is flexible with your business needs.

What services do they offer?

Many pixels says that they can provide you with the following;

• Social media graphics
• Display ads
• Logos
• Website designs
• Print designs
• Illustrations
• Stationery sets
• Infographics
• Icons
• Landing pages
• Brand guides
• Presentations

The style of work done by Manypixels

If you want to browse through the portfolio of Manypixels, you can click here. Below, we have also put together several of their designs.

Who wins?

The best possible recommendation that we can offer you, based on our reviews the service providers, would be Kimp.

They have perfected their unlimited design business model which is massively cost effective and this is especially true if you are looking for a higher output of designs and any other kind of content that they are able to provide. You will be saving a lot of money, because you will only be paying a flat rate or a predetermined amount. If you are looking for web design, we would then have to recommend Design Pickle, because Kimp does not provide that service at the moment. Kimp also says that they can work on 2 or 3 design projects at the same time, which means that it is approximately, double or triple the workload that the other two unlimited services are able to offer. This quantity is more than enough for most small to medium scale businesses and even if you do need to scale up, Kimp has the option for you to add on more accounts to meet the targets. You also do not need to worry about being paired up with a designer who is unable to meet your standards, because Kimp assigns you a team of designers and they say that all of these professionals are experts in their styles. Kimp also offers one single payment method, meaning you won’t have to pay extra to get extra features.

All in all, we recommend that you pick Kimp over other unlimited design services and other crowd-source providers for the many factors like affordability, versatility and their efficiency.

Note to reader: Please note that this blog contains affiliate links and should you choose to browse using them, I will earn referral credit. However, I have chosen to post these links based on the quality of services offered by the above mentioned services and not in consideration of the incentive I earn from your interest. While I offer you recommendations, the decision to consider them is entirely yours.