In the past, getting high-quality graphic designs for your business was a frustrating and expensive process. You had to hire an in-house designer with a hefty salary or outsource to freelancers and agencies per project. This meant unpredictable costs, inconsistent quality, and endless back-and-forth revisions.
However, in recent years, unlimited graphic design services have become available at a flat monthly rate. This is a cost-effective, reliable solution if you need ongoing design work.
As of 2024, Penji, Design Pickle, and Growmodo are the leading providers. But how do they compare?
Penji vs. Design Pickle vs. Growmodo in a Nutshell
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Growmodo Overview
Growmodo is a design and development subscription service that serves growing agencies, marketing teams, and scale-ups.
While most unlimited graphic design services focus solely on visual design, Growmodo offers full-stack web development capabilities alongside design. You get access to an on-demand team of designers, developers, and project managers.
This means you can tackle complex website projects, app development, and more, all within a single service.
One of the major pain points Growmodo addresses is the struggle of hiring freelancers. Finding the right talent, managing communication, and ensuring quality can be time-consuming and unpredictable.
At Growmodo, we carefully vet designers and developers and match the right talent to each project. You’ll have access to reliable, high-quality resources without extensive searching and screening.
Growmodo handles projects like:
- Website design and development
- E-commerce development on platforms like Shopify
- Branding and identity design
- App design and development
- Technical website maintenance and optimization
Go for Growmodo if any of this resonates with you:
- You frequently find yourself needing both design and development expertise.
- Your projects have a level of complexity that most unlimited design services can't handle.
- You need the ability to scale your design and development resources quickly.
- You value streamlined workflows and clear communication.
Growmodo Features
1. On-Demand Access
Growmodo provides on-demand access to a team of designers, developers, and project managers.
You can tap into a pool of vetted experts whenever you need them without the hassle and commitment of hiring full-time employees.
This is valuable for businesses with fluctuating project needs or those that require a diverse range of skills for different initiatives.
2. Project Management Platform
Growmodo uses Asana for project management. Therefore, it’s easy to submit new requests, track progress, and communicate directly with the team working on your projects.
This streamlined approach to project management enhances efficiency and ensures transparency.
3. Monthly Flat-Rate
Growmodo operates on a monthly flat rate. There are no contracts, and you can cancel at any time.
The monthly flat-rate pricing model is a straightforward and predictable way to budget for your design and development needs.
Unlike traditional agencies that charge by the hour or project, Growmodo offers its services for a fixed monthly fee.
4. Fully-Managed Team
When you sign up with Growmodo, you get a dedicated project manager. Your project manager matches you with the right team members and provides daily updates.
This makes the process as hands-off as possible, allowing you to focus on your business.
Penji Overview
Penji is an on-demand graphic design service that offers unlimited designs at a flat monthly rate. They connect you with talented designers, giving you access to professional-quality visuals without the overhead of hiring or managing freelancers.
Like Growmodo, Penji operates on a flat monthly subscription model. It covers everything from logos, illustrations, and social media graphics to website/app design, marketing materials, wireframing, and merchandise designs.
This makes budgeting for design work predictable and straightforward without worrying about varying project costs.
Penji's service model benefits startups, small to medium-sized businesses, marketing agencies, and non-profits that require consistent, high-quality design work but may not have the resources to maintain an in-house design team.
To know if Penji is right for you, ask yourself these questions:
- Do you frequently need various design assets?
- Does Penji's pricing align with your budget for design services?
- How important is a consistent brand image across your visuals?
Penji Features
1. Unlimited Graphic Designs
You can submit unlimited graphic design requests without worrying about hitting a limit or incurring additional fees.
It is ideal for businesses with ongoing marketing campaigns, frequent website updates, product launches, or consistent social media needs. Penji eliminates the bottleneck of waiting for freelance availability and negotiating every project's cost.
2. Unlimited Revisions
Creative design is an iterative process. Penji ensures you won't settle for a design that's "good enough."
You can provide feedback and refine designs until they perfectly match your vision.
If you'd like to change an element, such as a color scheme, font choice, or layout, you can communicate your preferences and work with your designer to make the necessary revisions.
3. Point-and-Click Revision System
This intuitive tool streamlines the feedback process.
With this feature, you can provide precise and clear feedback on your designs by clicking on specific elements and leaving comments or suggestions.
This visual approach eliminates the need for lengthy email chains, screenshots, or confusing verbal explanations, ensuring your designer understands your requirements accurately.
It’s useful for website mockups, layout changes, or projects with intricate details where precise adjustments are needed.
4. Excellent Customer Support
Jason Cobb on Quora says, “The designers at Penji actually ask questions, and they occasionally catch mistakes in my description. It just seems like I’m working with an actual designer who wants to get the job done right.”
Penji uses a personalized approach. They take the time to understand your unique needs, preferences, and goals.
Design Pickle Overview
Design Pickle is an on-demand graphic design service offering unlimited design requests for a flat monthly fee.
Their main focus is graphic design, so if you’re looking for a broader range of services, Design Pickle might not be suitable.
Like Penji, they remove the need to source and manage freelance designers, providing a streamlined solution for all your graphic design needs.
To know if Design Pickle is the right platform for you, ask yourself:
- How much design work do you consistently need?
- How important are motion graphics and presentation design to you?
- Do you value a simple, intuitive platform to manage design projects?
Design Pickle Features
1. Dedicated Designer
When you sign up for their service, you are assigned a personal designer who will work exclusively on your projects.
This one-on-one relationship allows a deeper understanding of your brand, style preferences, and unique requirements, leading to more consistent and tailored design solutions.
Having a dedicated designer eliminates the need to constantly brief new designers on your brand guidelines and aesthetic preferences.
2. Wide Range of Design Services
Design Pickle provides diverse, artsy designs, such as motion graphics, cartoon art, portraits, realistic art, and even tattoo art.
3. Scalability and Flexibility
Design Pickle offers a unique feature that allows you to make simple edits to your designs on your own, reducing the need for revision rounds and speeding up turnaround times.
This self-service approach empowers you to take control of minor adjustments and tweaks, ensuring that your designs are finalized quickly and efficiently.
4. Collaboration Tools
To facilitate seamless collaboration, they provide a centralized platform where you can review, discuss, and approve finished designs with your internal team members.
This means everyone involved in the project can access the latest versions and provide input and feedback in one place.
Penji vs. Design Pickle vs. Growmodo: Comprehensive Service Range
Penji, Design Pickle, and Growmodo all offer robust design solutions.
Penji and Design Pickle focus primarily on graphic design services, including unlimited design requests and revisions. Penji is known for its straightforward approach to graphic design needs, while Design Pickle extends its offerings to include custom illustrations and motion graphics.
However, Growmodo takes the lead in offering a more comprehensive range of services. Beyond graphic design, Growmodo provides web development and creative director services.
It’s a one-stop shop for businesses looking to enhance their online presence comprehensively.
Penji vs. Design Pickle vs. Growmodo: Scalability
Scalability is critical for businesses with growing design needs. Penji and Design Pickle offer some flexibility in requesting additional services or increasing output, but Growmodo excels in this area.
Growmodo allows you to add new team members to your projects whenever you need extra support or specialized skills.
As your business expands and your requirements change, you can easily scale your design and development resources to match your pace.
With Growmodo, you can quickly ramp up your team to handle increased workloads, tight deadlines, or new challenges.
Whether you need additional designers for a rebranding initiative, developers for a custom software project, or project managers to oversee a large-scale campaign, Growmodo can adapt to meet your needs.
Penji vs. Design Pickle vs. Growmodo: Project Management and Collaboration
All three platforms offer project management tools to streamline the design process. Penji and Design Pickle provide platforms for submitting and managing design requests, communicating with designers, and reviewing projects.
Design Pickle also incorporates tools that allow team stakeholders to collaborate seamlessly on design projects. However, some businesses prefer Design Pickle alternatives with a more comprehensive service range.
Growmodo, on the other hand, offers a more integrated approach to project management and collaboration.
We provide a dedicated project manager to handle communication and coordination and keep your projects running smoothly. This frees up your time significantly and is invaluable for large or multifaceted projects.
Penji vs. Design Pickle vs. Growmodo: Turnaround Time and Efficiency
Penji and Design Pickle promise quick turnaround times for their graphic design services, typically delivering initial designs within a few business days.
Penji promises initial design drafts within 24-48 hours for most projects. Design Pickle boasts a 24-day turnaround time for the majority of requests.
Growmodo extends the concept of efficiency beyond just graphic design to include web development and digital marketing projects.
Turnaround time depends on project complexity. Simple design tasks might follow a similar timeframe to Penji/Design Pickle, while more complex development work requires a tailored timeframe.
Penji vs. Design Pickle vs. Growmodo: Cost
When choosing a design service, cost is often a key consideration for businesses.
Penji, Design Pickle, and Growmodo each offer different pricing models and plans to suit various needs and budgets.
Penji's pricing starts at $499 per month for their Starter plan, which is targeted towards startups and small businesses looking for a creative extension of their team. Their Marketer plan, at $995 per month, is for marketers seeking a dependable and affordable creative solution. For agencies looking to outsource client projects and expand their team, Penji offers the Agency plan at $1,497 per month.
If Penji's pricing doesn't fit your budget, you can explore other Penji alternatives that offer similar services at different price points.
Design Pickle offers slightly higher pricing tiers. Their Graphics Pro plan starts at $1,249 monthly and is suitable for businesses looking to tackle a wide range of design projects, from presentations to basic graphics.
The Graphics Premium plan, at $1,949 per month, includes the added benefit of motion graphics and promises a higher daily output.
Design Pickle offers custom Power Plans for businesses with more extensive needs, which require a quote based on specific requirements.
At Growmodo we take a different approach to pricing. Instead of fixed plans, we allow you to choose the number of active talents working on your requests simultaneously.
The cost scales based on the number of talents engaged, with one talent priced at $1,795 per month and two talents at $3,590 per month. You can use the slider on Growmodo’s pricing page to see how much it will cost you beyond two talents.
Growmodo may be pricier at first glance. However, the value becomes clear if you factor in the cost savings on development work, project management, and the flexibility to scale.
Penji vs. Design Pickle vs. Growmodo: Which One to Choose
To help you make an informed decision, we've scored Growmodo, Penji, and Design Pickle based on key features crucial for a successful design partnership.
This scoring provides a clear comparison, helping you decide which platform aligns best with your specific requirements.
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Start Your Design Project with Growmodo
If your projects go beyond graphics and into custom website builds or app development, Growmodo is the clear choice for your business.
With a comprehensive suite of services and flexible talent-based pricing, Growmodo offers an end-to-end solution for all your design and development needs.
By consolidating these services under one roof, we ensure you don’t need multiple vendors. Your projects will also be delivered with the highest level of quality and consistency.
Schedule a 15-minute discovery call to learn how we can help you scale your agency or marketing team today. Our consultants will take the time to understand your unique challenges and goals and provide tailored recommendations.
