Freelancer vs Full Time Designer vs Design Subscription

Hiring designers for your business? We’ll help you choose the best design solution for your business, between freelancer, full-time designers and graphic design subscription services.

TL;DR

Nothing can beat the quality and affordability of a graphic design subscription for long-term design. Instead of limiting yourself to one in-house designer with limited skills, or spending tons of time and money on freelance design, you can get all your graphics at a fixed monthly subscription. ManyPixels subscriptions start at just $599 a month!

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What does a graphic designer do?

If you think your business doesn’t need a graphic designer, think again. Although there are tons of online design tools, the DIY approach is often a lot more expensive in the long term. You waste hours of your own time, only to end up with designs that hurt your brand image.

Here are some critical design projects that your business will likely need.

• Logo and brand guide: Sets the tone for your brand and helps you connect with your target audience. Think about iconic brands such as Coca-Cola or Apple. Their loyal customers don’t just love the actual products, they’re instantly drawn to the brand’s visual identity as well (vibrant red and cursive typography and Apple’s iconic minimalistic design). 
• Website: Even if you work offline, 76% of people will check a business website before visiting your store. So, making a powerful first impression with a user-friendly and well-designed website is a must.
• Social media: 96% of small businesses use social media, and 83% consider brand visibility to be its leading benefit. So, you’ll need creative, branded content to make sure your brand puts its best foot forward in front of social media’s 5.6 billion audience. 
• Marketing materials: They come in all shapes and sizes, from digital ads to printed flyers. Each type of material comes with its own specifications. 
• Illustrations: Graphic designers are digital artists, who can also create custom illustrations. These versatile graphics can be used on logos, websites, ads, and more.
• Icons: Icons are simplified illustrations created to enhance the user experience. With a universal visual language, icons can help guide users through any website or app. 

Where to get professional design?

Professional graphic design is a lot more than the odd, botched up post for social media. So, how do you get reliable, graphic design for your business? 

Here are 3 popular options, with their main pros and cons.

Option 1: full-time designer

Hiring a full-time designer can be a great choice for some businesses. The average salary of graphic designer in the US is around $5,250 per month. 

When you hire in-house, you get a designer to work closely with your in-house team, someone who will understand your brand inside and out. A full-time designer could also make the design process a lot smoother and quicker, as you don’t have to waste time on external communication. 

However, there are a few downsides. Hiring a full-time designer is typically more expensive than working with freelancers. Especially, if you don’t have a constant need for graphic design, full-time work hours could put a significant strain on your budget.

Next, it’s important to remember that no designer is good at everything. So, while you may hire a terrific marketing designer for your daily needs, they might fall short when it comes to UI/UX design. 

Option 2: freelance designers

A whopping 90% of designers work freelance. That’s a huge talent pool to choose from!

Incidentally, the vast set of skills is definitely one of the biggest advantages of freelance designers. Whatever your project may be, you can definitely find someone with the right style and set of design skills.

How much does freelance design cost though? It’s definitely not a straightforward answer, but we’ll try to give you a couple of ballpark figures.

Logo design

• €300–€1,000
  Includes 2–4 concepts, revisions, and brand-ready files.
  More complex brand identity packages can go €1,000–€2,000.

Brand identity package

(Logo + color palette + typography + basic brand guide)

• €800–€2,500

Social media graphics

• €20–€60 per post/template
• €200–€600 for a monthly batch of 10–15 posts

Business cards / stationery

• €50–€200 per item
• Small packs (all stationery + cards): €150–€500

Website design (no development)

• €500–€2,500 for a 3–5 page website UI design (Figma)
  Price depends on custom design vs using a template.

Landing page design

• €300–€1,200 (design only)
• With build: €500–€2,000

Presentation design (pitch decks)

• €30–€80 per slide
• Full decks: €300–€1,500

Infographics

• €80–€250 per infographic
  Complex, data-heavy versions: up to €400–€600.

Brochures / flyers

• €100–€400 (simple flyer)
• €300–€1,000 for multi-page brochures (8–16 pages)

Packaging design

• €300–€1,200 per packaging type
  Highly detailed or regulated industries go higher.

Email templates

• €100–€400 for a custom email design (Figma)
• €200–€600 if they code it (HTML).

Illustrations

• €80–€300 simple
• €300–€1,000+ detailed/unique style

As you can tell, freelance design is fairly affordable on a one-off basis. However, if, like most businesses, you need several graphics every week, working with freelancers can become expensive in the long term.

Another downside of freelance work is unpredictability. As they’re not bound by long-term commitment, freelancers can become unavailable as they take on another project. 

Option 3: design subscription

Graphic design subscription, also called unlimited and on-demand design services, are companies that offer graphic design services at a fixed monthly fee.

Although you don’t actually get an unlimited number of graphics (it’s human designers not robotos), you can make unlimited requests and revisions, which is a huge advantage for anyone handling a big workload.

They also offer the most in terms of flexibility and reliability. Most services don’t require a maximum commitment, so you’re free to pause or cancel your subscription as you please. Unlike freelancers, however, graphic design subscription services are available all year round. They have a team of designers on hand, so someone is always available to step in, and you don’t need to worry about unexpected holidays or sick leave.

It goes without saying that it’s important to find a reputable design service, with lots of client reviews and a good portfolio. 

Of course, it’s also unrealistic to expect the same kind of personal relationship as with in-house designers. These design professionals always handle several clients at once, so they aren’t available for team calls and brainstorming meetings. 

That said, some services, like ManyPixels offer a happy medium. With our Dedicated Designer and Design Team plans you can get 1 or 2 designers working almost exclusively with your brand. They’ll be in the same time zone as you, and reachable via Slack. 

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Freelancers vs full-time designer vs design subscription: how to choose?

So, now that you know a bit about all of them, let’s get down to it: what’s the right choice for your business?

We’ll compare several key aspects of each service to help you decide.

Price

Let’s start with the most important stuff: how much is it going to cost you, and what do you get?

Here’s a quick overview of typical monthly pricing with each of the three types of service.

As you can see graphic design subscriptions are typically the most affordable option. ManyPixels is one of the most affordable design subscriptions, starting at just $599 a month (approximately 10 hours of work per week).

Skills

For both in-house designers and freelancers, you’ll have access to one single designer at a time. Hiring a full-time designer means you can only rely on their skills, while you can hire different freelancers for each project.

However, remember that this process often takes a lot of time and might incur additional charges (e.g. hiring platform fees).

On the other hand, unlimited design gives you access to a whole team of designers. That’s almost like working with a traditional design agency, without the hefty price tag.

Of course, it’s important to check if your selected service does offer the type of design you need, and at what price rate. 

For example, ManyPixels is one of the few design subscription services that includes all our graphic design capabilities even in the most affordable monthly plan. The only exception is motion design. 

Quality

When you hire freelancers or in-house designers, the vetting is up to you. You’ll often need to give them a paid test task, and then make sure you can properly assess it and ask the right questions.

Although there’s no shortage of highly skilled candidates, it can be difficult to vet designers if you’re not one yourself.

In comparison, many design subscription companies have project managers on board. These are senior designers in charge of vetting and hiring designers, and

At ManyPixels we have a team of highly skilled project managers, and a quality control system in place to ensure consistent results and faster design process. 

ManyPixels offers impressive design quality, excellent communication, and outstanding value. - Will

Admin

If you’ve ever hired someone, then you know the admin work is no walk in the park. From things like creative rights and non-disclosure agreements, to paid time off and 

With on-demand design services you never have to worry about any of that. You have full creative ownership of all the designs, complete with source files, so you’re free to reuse and adapt graphics as you please.

On top of that, most services allow you to cancel, or upgrade your subscription as you. With ManyPixels you can also pause your subscription, without any additional charges. This way you won’t lose any of your files, and you can simply resume your subscription whenever it’s convenient. 

The bottom line: what to choose?

We tried to give you all the information in the freelancer vs. full-time designer vs. design subscription battle. 

So, what is the best choice? 

If you have limited design needs, and prefer in-person meetings, you should consider hiring in-house. Some teams don’t work well with outsiders, so an in-house addition will help to keep a positive work environment.

Freelancers are the best and most affordable option for one-off projects. However, since most businesses need graphic design regularly, freelance designers can be

If you need a steady stream of quality design at an affordable price, nothing beats a design subscription. For a fraction of the cost you’d pay an in-house designer, you get to work with different designers, without ever having to worry about vetting designers, or paid time off.

So, what are you waiting for? Get started with ManyPixels for as little as $599 a month!

Need more time to think? Book a free 1:1 consultation, for a chance to tell us about your design needs and decide if ManyPixels is the right fit for you.