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Recast

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Recast, beside the alternatives.

Recast is one plan: $3,900 a month for unlimited tasks with five worked at once, first concepts in 48 hours seven days a week, front-end build and Arabic design included. These pages put it beside the other ways to get product design done and say plainly when each of the others is the better choice.

Book a pilot callThe plan and the price

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One comparison per page.

  1. Recast vs DesignjoyOne designer working one request at a time, beside a team working five. Price, turnaround, refunds and what each includes, from both sites.
  2. Recast vs SupersideA creative service for marketing teams on an annual budget, beside a product design studio on a monthly plan. What each is built for.
  3. Recast vs PenjiA graphic design service in three tiers, beside one product design plan. Where the tiers stop, and what each plan includes.
  4. Recast vs ManyPixelsGraphic design from $699 a month, beside product design at $3,900. What ManyPixels' own scope page includes, and what it leaves out.
  5. Recast vs hiring in-houseA senior product designer on your payroll, beside a studio on a monthly plan. The loaded cost, the wait, and when the hire is the right call.
  6. Recast vs a design agencyA scoped project at a fixed price, beside a monthly plan with a queue. Which shape of work suits which.
  7. Recast vs a freelance designerOne senior freelancer for part of their week, beside a team on a flat plan. Availability, review, continuity and cost.

Side by side

How do the design subscriptions compare?

They differ most in how many tasks are worked at once, what kind of design they cover, and how long you commit for. Recast and Designjoy each sell a single plan. Penji and ManyPixels are tiered graphic design services. Superside is a creative budget for marketing teams, bought on an annual term.

The table puts the five beside each other on the points a buyer checks first. Each of the other four columns is taken from that company's own site, and where a site says nothing on a point the cell says so.

Price per month

Recast
$3,900. One plan, billed monthly.
Designjoy
$4,995. One plan.
Superside
From a $15,000 minimum, with a $1,000 software fee.
Penji
$995, $1,995 or $4,500, by plan.
ManyPixels
$699, $1,199, $1,399 or $2,599 on monthly billing, by plan.

Tasks worked at once

Recast
Five.
Designjoy
One request at a time.
Superside
Not stated as a number. Work is drawn from a monthly budget.
Penji
Two, three or four active workstreams, by plan.
ManyPixels
One or two daily outputs, or one or two part-time designers, by plan.

Stated turnaround

Recast
First concepts in 48 hours, seven days a week.
Designjoy
Average 48 hours. Most requests in two business days or less.
Superside
Not stated on their pricing page.
Penji
One business day on Essentials. Same day on Agency Partner.
ManyPixels
Next-day delivery, or same-day on the designer plans.

Product and UX design

Recast
The core of the plan, with usability testing on request.
Designjoy
Lists UI/UX design and mobile apps among its services.
Superside
Lists UI/UX under specialist production.
Penji
Scope page lists a UX/UI category, with app design and wireframing.
ManyPixels
Lists UI design. Scope page puts UX design and prototypes under "We don't do".

Front-end build

Recast
Included: React, Next.js, Webflow or Framer.
Designjoy
Webflow development included. Front-end development is listed.
Superside
Not stated on their pricing page.
Penji
On the Dedicated Team plan only.
ManyPixels
Scope page puts Webflow, Framer and coding under "We don't do".

Refund terms

Recast
Full refund within 14 days.
Designjoy
75% back within the first week. None after.
Superside
Not stated on their pricing page.
Penji
Full refund within 30 days.
ManyPixels
Terms say subscription fees are non-refundable.

Commitment

Recast
None. Cancel in one click, no notice period.
Designjoy
Pause or cancel anytime.
Superside
Annual.
Penji
No contracts.
ManyPixels
Cancel any time.

Figures for Designjoy, Superside, Penji and ManyPixels are from each company's own site as read on 12 October 2026; the pages are listed under Sources. Prices and terms change, so check each site before you decide.

How to read it

What should you compare first?

Compare how many tasks are worked at once before you compare anything else. Every subscription says unlimited, and it is true of the queue: you can file as much as you like. Only the tasks being worked move, so the number worked at once is the real size of the plan.

Then ask who does the work, and what done includes. The monthly price means little until those two are known.

  • Tasks worked at once

    One, two, four or five. This number, not the word unlimited, sets how fast a backlog clears.

  • Who does the work

    A named designer, an assigned team, or whoever is free that day. Ask whether it is the same person each time and who answers for the result.

  • What done includes

    One frame of the happy path, or every state with components, tokens and a spec frame a developer can build from. Ask whether the build is included.

  • How it ends

    The refund window, the notice period, what a pause costs and who owns the files.

Questions

Asked before the call.

Which design subscription should I choose?

Start from the work, not the price. For graphics in volume on a small budget, the tiered services, Penji and ManyPixels, are priced for it. For one particular designer working one request at a time, Designjoy. For campaign production on an annual budget, Superside. For a product's screens, its design system and the front-end build, Recast.

What does unlimited design actually mean?

It means the queue is unlimited, not the output. You can file any number of requests, and the service works a fixed number at a time: one, two, four or five, depending on the company and the plan. The rest wait their turn.

Why do some design subscriptions cost under $1,000 and others several thousand?

They sell different things. The lower prices buy graphic production, such as social posts, ads and brochures, one or two outputs at a time. The higher prices buy product design, more tasks in parallel, a named designer, or the build. The guide to design costs on this site sets out the ranges.

Is a subscription a better buy than an agency, a freelancer or a hire?

For continuous work on a small team, usually. For a large launch with a hard date an agency fits better; for a small defined job, a freelancer; for a full-time need with a lead to review the work, a hire. Each of those has its own page here, with the numbers.

How current are these comparisons?

Each page shows the date it was last checked and lists the pages it was checked against. If a company has changed a price or a term since then, write to hello@recastux.com and the page is corrected.

Sources

Other companies change their prices and terms. If something here is out of date, write to hello@recastux.com and we correct it.

Twenty minutes. Your product on the screen.

The pilot call is with the lead designer who would run your work. Show the screens that bother you most, pick up to 3 tasks for a one-week pilot, and leave knowing the price and the scope. The call is free; the pilot is $490 once, credited against your first month.

Book a pilot callHow the pilot worksThe plan and the price