The short answer
- Your brand has no look yetHire the designer. Nothing here replaces that.
- One specific piece, done onceA freelancer, per project.
- A full queue of mixed design workAn unlimited design subscription.
- A consistent feed for little moneyA template pack, and your time.
- You enjoy designingA template editor, and your time.
- The weekly product post never gets madestartposting — product photo in, finished post out. That is the one we make.
The number
What a graphic designer costs.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median pay of a graphic designer at $62,960 a year, or $30.27 an hour, in its May 2025 data. That is before payroll taxes, software and the weeks it takes to hire.
On staff, US median (BLS)
$62,960 a year
Freelance, typical (Upwork)
$15–$35 an hour
Freelance, median (Upwork)
$25 an hour
A logo, freelance (Upwork)
5 to 20+ hours of work
Design subscription, ManyPixels
From $699 a month
Design subscription, Penji
From $995 a month
Canva Pro
$18 a month per person
startposting Pro
$14 a month, 30 posts
Freelance rates and hours come from Upwork’s published rate page. Subscription prices were read from ManyPixels’ and Penji’s own pricing pages, billed monthly; both take about 20% off for yearly billing, and Design Pickle does not publish prices. All of that was read on 17 September 2026. The Canva Pro price was read on 28 July 2026. Rates vary by market and by person, so treat them as ranges, not quotes.
What you are actually buying
The six design jobs a product brand has.
“We need a designer” usually means one or two of these, not all six. Name the ones you are missing before you price anything: the first three are done once in a while, the last one every week.
Job 1
Identity
The logo, the colours, the type — what everything else is built from.
Job 2
Packaging and print
Labels, boxes, inserts, flyers.
Job 3
Store and web
Banners, product page graphics, the look of the shop.
Job 4
Campaigns
Ads, launches, seasonal pushes.
Job 5
Templates
A reusable look, so the rest of the work stays consistent.
Job 6
Weekly posts
The product post, three times a week, every week.
Straight answer
When hiring the designer is the right call.
We sell software, and we are still going to say this plainly. Hire the designer when:
- you do not have a logo, colours and type you are happy with
- you are designing or changing packaging, which lives on the shelf for years
- you are launching and the launch has to look unlike everything before it
- you run paid ads at a volume where creative quality moves the numbers
- you need someone to decide how the brand should look, not only to produce it
If that describes your business, write the brief and stop reading this page.
Show the working
How we picked — the criteria, stated first.
- Sorted by job, not ranked. A subscription and a template pack solve different problems. A single ordering would be a claim you could not check.
- The first entry is the thing we are an alternative to. Hiring the designer leads because for most of these jobs it is the right answer and we are not.
- We appear once, at the end, and say what we do not do. We make product posts. We do not make logos, packaging, store graphics or ads.
- Every figure carries its source and its date. Read on 17 September 2026, in US dollars, except the Canva price, which is dated separately.
- No affiliate links, and no links to any option. We earn nothing whichever route you take. The links on this page go to the sources of the numbers.
The shortlist
The six routes, by job.
Your brand is still being defined
Hire the designer
A designer on staff, or a freelancer on a long engagement, builds the things everything else is made from: the logo, the colours and type, the packaging, the look of the store. They also make judgment calls a template cannot, such as when a launch needs to look different. If your brand does not have a look yet, start here.
- Where it wins
- Original work and design judgment. The only route here that can create an identity.
- What it costs
- A US median of $62,960 a year on staff (BLS, May 2025 data).
You need a specific piece, done well, once
A freelancer, per project
Hire a freelance designer through a marketplace or a referral for a defined job: a label, a launch banner, a set of post templates. You write the brief and approve the result. It suits one-off work with a clear end, and it gets slow when every weekly post becomes its own small project.
- Where it wins
- Professional work without a salary, bought only when you need it.
- What it costs
- Typically $15–$35 an hour on Upwork, median $25. A logo can take 5 to 20+ hours.
You have a steady queue of mixed design work
An unlimited design subscription
A flat monthly fee buys a design team that works through your requests one or two at a time, with unlimited revisions. Services such as ManyPixels and Penji publish their prices; others, such as Design Pickle, quote on a call. It pays off when the queue never empties: ads, emails, store banners and posts, every week.
- Where it wins
- Predictable cost for high, varied volume, with next-day turnaround on most plans.
- What it costs
- From $699 a month (ManyPixels) or $995 (Penji) billed monthly, about 20% less billed yearly.
You want a consistent look for little money
A template pack, and you
Buy a ready-made set of post templates from a marketplace such as Etsy or Creative Market, then drop in your photos and words each week. It gives a small shop a coherent feed fast. The trade: other shops may use the same pack, and every post is still your time.
- Where it wins
- A designed look for a one-off purchase.
- What it costs
- A one-off purchase; prices vary by pack. Plus your hours each week.
You like designing and have the time
A template editor, and you
A design app such as Canva or Adobe Express gives you templates, stock, fonts and resizing, and you do the work. It covers most everyday graphics for most small businesses. Our Canva guides go into which tool fits which job.
- Where it wins
- Full control and the widest range of everyday graphics for a small monthly fee.
- What it costs
- Free tiers exist; Canva Pro was $18 a month per person when we last checked.
The weekly product post is what never gets made
startposting.
You take a phone photo of your product and make three choices. We restyle the scene around it — light, surface, backdrop — and write the headline, captions, call to action and hashtags to match, sized for the placement, with your logo placed from your saved logos if you want it. The image is made by AI and it is not a photograph. That is one of the six design jobs. We do not do logos, packaging, store graphics or ad campaigns.
- Where it wins
- The only route here that turns one product photo into a finished post while you wait.
- What it costs
- 3 posts free, no card. Pro is $14 a month for 30 posts. Unused posts never expire.
Side by side
Who covers which job.
Hire the designer
- Brand identity: logo, colours, type
- Yes — best here
- Packaging and print
- Yes
- Store and website graphics
- Yes
- Ads and campaign creative
- Yes
- Reusable post templates
- Yes
- The weekly product post
- Yes, if there is time
- Time to the first design
- Weeks — hiring
A freelancer, per project
- Brand identity: logo, colours, type
- Yes
- Packaging and print
- Yes
- Store and website graphics
- Yes
- Ads and campaign creative
- Yes
- Reusable post templates
- Yes
- The weekly product post
- Per batch
- Time to the first design
- Days
An unlimited design subscription
- Brand identity: logo, colours, type
- Often, depending on plan
- Packaging and print
- Yes
- Store and website graphics
- Yes
- Ads and campaign creative
- Yes
- Reusable post templates
- Yes
- The weekly product post
- Yes, in the queue
- Time to the first design
- About a business day, per request
A template pack, and you
- Brand identity: logo, colours, type
- No — you pick a look
- Packaging and print
- Some packs
- Store and website graphics
- Some packs
- Ads and campaign creative
- You adapt them
- Reusable post templates
- Yes — the product itself
- The weekly product post
- You, each week
- Time to the first design
- Today
A template editor, and you
- Brand identity: logo, colours, type
- You
- Packaging and print
- You
- Store and website graphics
- You
- Ads and campaign creative
- You
- Reusable post templates
- You build them
- The weekly product post
- You, each week
- Time to the first design
- Today
startposting.
- Brand identity: logo, colours, type
- No
- Packaging and print
- No
- Store and website graphics
- No
- Ads and campaign creative
- No
- Reusable post templates
- Saved presets for a look
- The weekly product post
- Yes — from your product photo
- Time to the first design
- While you wait
The real answer
The job that repeats every week.
Five of the six jobs happen now and then. A logo lasts years, and packaging lasts until the next reformulation. The weekly product post is different: three times a week, every week, after the orders are packed.
Run the arithmetic for that one job. Three posts a week is about 13 posts a month. A design subscription at $699 to $995 a month works out at roughly $54 to $77 per post if posts are all you use it for. That is unfair to the subscription, which also covers ads, banners and print. It is the right comparison when posts are the only thing you are missing — and then $14 for up to 30 posts is a different category of spend.
So the honest recommendation is to split the work. Pay a designer for the foundations, and hand the weekly posts to whatever makes them fastest. Save your logo once and it can go on every post.
Made with startposting
What startposting. gives you back.
Unedited output from our own tool, not stock and not a mock-up. On the left, a phone photo of the kind any seller takes in a minute; on the right, what startposting. sent back — no brief and no template — with the headline, captions and hashtags written to match. The images are made by AI and they are not photographs. They start from the seller’s own photo of the real product and restyle the scene around it.
Before
After — ready to post
caption + hashtags written with the image — nothing left for you to fill in.
Before
After — ready to post
caption + hashtags written with the image — nothing left for you to fill in.
Questions
The things people ask before hiring a designer.
How much does a graphic designer cost in 2026?
On staff in the US, the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median at $62,960 a year, or $30.27 an hour (May 2025 data). Freelance designers on Upwork typically charge $15 to $35 an hour, with a median of $25, according to Upwork's own rate page. Unlimited design subscriptions start around $699 to $995 a month billed monthly. All figures were read on 17 September 2026 and are ranges, not quotes.
Is an unlimited design subscription worth it for a small brand?
When the queue is full every week, yes. On 17 September 2026 ManyPixels started at $699 a month and Penji at $995, both billed monthly, with about 20% off yearly. If most of what you need is the weekly product post, that is a lot of money for one job; if you also need ads, emails, store banners and print, it can be good value.
Can I just use templates instead of a designer?
For everyday posts, often yes. A bought template pack or a template editor gives you a consistent look for very little money. What templates do not do is create your brand, and they do not save the weekly time of dropping in photos and writing the words.
Can AI replace a graphic designer?
Not for the work that defines a brand: the logo, the packaging, the look of the store, and the judgment about when to break the pattern. AI tools are useful for repeated production, such as turning a product photo into a post. Most brands get the best result from a designer for the foundations and a faster tool for the weekly output.
Does startposting design logos, packaging or ads?
No. It makes one thing: a finished social post from your product photo, with a headline, captions, a call to action and hashtags. You can place your own logo on the post from a saved logo library, but we do not create logos, labels, store graphics or ad campaigns.
Is the image a real photograph of my product?
No, and we say so. The image is made by AI and it is not a photograph. It starts from your own photo of your product, and the model is held to your product while the scene changes. Any AI model can alter small details such as label lettering, so check every post before you publish it.
I already work with a designer. Is this for them?
It can sit alongside them. Let the designer set the brand and the key visuals, and use startposting for the weekly product posts so their hours go to the work only a designer can do. Your logo can be saved once and placed on every post.
What should I hand off first?
The job that has no owner. If your brand has no look yet, hire a designer before anything else. If the look exists and the feed is empty, the gap is weekly production, and that is where a template or a post tool saves the most time.
Keep reading
- Best Canva alternatives — if you design it yourself today
- startposting vs. Canva — a design editor against a post maker
- Alternatives to hiring a product photographer — what a shoot really costs
- Alternatives to hiring a social media manager — six jobs, and who covers which
- How we use AI, and what it means for your posts
Try it on one product.
Three posts free, no card.
Start free — 3 posts, no cardUpwork, ManyPixels, Penji, Design Pickle, Etsy, Creative Market, Canva and Adobe Express are trademarks of their respective owners. startposting is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any of them, and earns nothing from any route on this page. Pay, rate and price figures are published data in US dollars, read on the dates shown; they vary by market and by person and are ranges rather than quotes.