Compare · Hiring in-house
Hire a product designer, or subscribe to a team?
A senior in-house product designer typically costs $9,000 to $14,000 a month fully loaded, and the first useful screen often arrives about four months after you decide to hire. Recast is $3,900 a month, with first concepts 48 hours after the first task and five tasks worked at once. Hire when you have a full-time designer's work every week and someone to lead them; use Recast before that point, or while you recruit.
Checked · by Daniel Makhamreh, lead designer at Recast
- Recast
- $3,900 a month, flat. No recruiting, no notice period.
- In-house
- $9,000 to $14,000 a month fully loaded, on a salary of $110,000 to $160,000. A typical 2026 range.
- First screen
- Recast: 48 hours after the first task. A hire: often about four months after you decide.
- Capacity
- Recast: five tasks at once, seven days a week. A hire: one person's five-day week, minus leave.
- Quiet month
- Recast: pause, and the unused days are banked. A hire: the salary continues.
- Ownership
- You own the work either way.
The short version
What does an in-house product designer cost, next to the plan?
A senior product designer in the US or UK earns $110,000 to $160,000 a year. Fully loaded, with employer taxes, benefits, equipment, software and a share of management time, that is $9,000 to $14,000 a month. Recast's plan is $3,900 a month, flat.
These are typical 2026 ranges for senior hires, not quotes. A comparable hire in the Gulf, with allowances, lands in a similar range. Junior and offshore salaries are lower and buy something different.
Recruiting sits on top. A recruiter's fee is commonly 15% to 25% of first-year salary, which is $16,500 to $40,000 on the salaries above. Without a recruiter, the cost is weeks of your own time.
The plan has none of those lines. It is billed monthly, there is no notice period, and it includes things a single hire usually does not: front-end build hours, Arabic design, and usability testing on request.
Side by side
How does a hire compare with the plan, line by line?
The plan costs less, starts sooner and covers more skills. The hire knows your company more deeply and is in the room. Which matters more depends on how much design work you have each week.
The right-hand column describes a typical senior hire. Your own offer, market and notice periods will differ.
| What is compared | Recast | A senior in-house designer |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | $3,900, flat. | $9,000 to $14,000 fully loaded. |
| Cost before the first screen | None. The $490 pilot is optional. | Recruiting: a fee of 15% to 25% of first-year salary, or weeks of your own time. |
| Time to the first screen | 48 hours after the first task is filed. | Often about four months: eight to twelve weeks of recruiting, a notice period, then a ramp. |
| Tasks worked at once | Five. | One person's attention. |
| Working week | Seven days. | Five days, minus leave. |
| Who checks the work | One lead designer, accountable for every design choice. | Nobody, unless you already have a design lead or hire two people. |
| A quiet month | Pause. The unused days are banked. | The salary continues. |
| Ending it | Cancel in one click. No notice period. | A notice period of one to three months. |
| Front-end build | Build hours included. | Only with a second hire. |
| Arabic and right-to-left | Included. Designed natively. | Only if you hire for it. |
| Knowledge of your company | Grows with every task, and is kept in your Figma files and design system. | Deep, daily and in the room. This is the hire's real advantage. |
| Who owns the work | You, on delivery. | You. |
Monthly cost
- Recast
- $3,900, flat.
- A senior in-house designer
- $9,000 to $14,000 fully loaded.
Cost before the first screen
- Recast
- None. The $490 pilot is optional.
- A senior in-house designer
- Recruiting: a fee of 15% to 25% of first-year salary, or weeks of your own time.
Time to the first screen
- Recast
- 48 hours after the first task is filed.
- A senior in-house designer
- Often about four months: eight to twelve weeks of recruiting, a notice period, then a ramp.
Tasks worked at once
- Recast
- Five.
- A senior in-house designer
- One person's attention.
Working week
- Recast
- Seven days.
- A senior in-house designer
- Five days, minus leave.
Who checks the work
- Recast
- One lead designer, accountable for every design choice.
- A senior in-house designer
- Nobody, unless you already have a design lead or hire two people.
A quiet month
- Recast
- Pause. The unused days are banked.
- A senior in-house designer
- The salary continues.
Ending it
- Recast
- Cancel in one click. No notice period.
- A senior in-house designer
- A notice period of one to three months.
Front-end build
- Recast
- Build hours included.
- A senior in-house designer
- Only with a second hire.
Arabic and right-to-left
- Recast
- Included. Designed natively.
- A senior in-house designer
- Only if you hire for it.
Knowledge of your company
- Recast
- Grows with every task, and is kept in your Figma files and design system.
- A senior in-house designer
- Deep, daily and in the room. This is the hire's real advantage.
Who owns the work
- Recast
- You, on delivery.
- A senior in-house designer
- You.
The in-house figures are typical 2026 ranges for senior product designers in the US, UK and Gulf markets, not quotes.
The honest part
When is hiring in-house the better choice?
Hiring is the better choice once design is a full-time job at your company every week of the year, and you have someone who can lead the person you hire.
The work fills a week, every week
If five tasks in parallel is not enough, month after month, you have outgrown a plan. An in-house team is the better investment.
You need a designer in the room
Daily stand-ups, whiteboard sessions, a desk beside the engineers. Recast works remotely from Amman and does not place people in your office.
Design is how you compete
If the product wins on design, you want that judgement on your payroll, in your planning and at your leadership table.
Research never stops
A standing programme of customer interviews, run by someone who lives in the product, is an employee's job. Recast's usability testing is by request, task by task.
You already have a design lead
A hire with a lead to review them is a strong arrangement. A lone hire with no review is the fragile version of it.
The other side
When is Recast the better choice?
Recast is the better choice before you have a full-time designer's worth of work, when you cannot wait four months, or when one hire would not cover everything you need done.
Not enough work for a full week
A product team of five to eight engineers rarely has a designer's full week of work, every week. The idle weeks of a salary cost the same as the busy ones.
You need screens this month
First concepts arrive 48 hours after the first task. Recruiting alone takes eight to twelve weeks.
One hire is one skill set
The plan covers product design, the design system, the front-end build and Arabic. As hires, that is two or three people.
Nothing stops for a holiday
The team works every day of the week, and one lead designer stays accountable throughout.
A bridge while you recruit
Run the plan during the search. The Figma files and the design system are yours, ready for the designer you hire.
The numbers
What does the first year cost each way?
A first year with a senior hire typically costs $108,000 to $168,000 in loaded pay, before recruiting. A year of Recast is $46,800.
The sums: $9,000 × 12 = $108,000 and $14,000 × 12 = $168,000. Add a recruiter's fee of $16,500 to $40,000 if you use one, and the first year is $124,500 to $208,000. Recast is $3,900 × 12 = $46,800, and less if you pause.
The calendar matters as much as the total. If the search takes ten weeks and the notice period four, the first quarter of the hiring year produces no screens while the engineers keep building. On the plan the same quarter costs $11,700 and has work in it from the first week.
The hire wins this comparison when the volume is there. One person fully used, every week, for years, with a lead to review them, returns more than any outside plan. The figures above are the cost of getting there, not an argument against arriving.
| What is compared | Recast | A senior in-house designer |
|---|---|---|
| Twelve months | $46,800 in fees. | $108,000 to $168,000 in loaded pay. |
| Recruiting | None. | $16,500 to $40,000 with a recruiter. |
| First-year total | $46,800 | $124,500 to $208,000 |
| Months before the first screen | None. | About four. |
Twelve months
- Recast
- $46,800 in fees.
- A senior in-house designer
- $108,000 to $168,000 in loaded pay.
Recruiting
- Recast
- None.
- A senior in-house designer
- $16,500 to $40,000 with a recruiter.
First-year total
- Recast
- $46,800
- A senior in-house designer
- $124,500 to $208,000
Months before the first screen
- Recast
- None.
- A senior in-house designer
- About four.
Typical 2026 ranges for the US, UK and Gulf markets, not quotes. Loaded pay is salary plus employer taxes, benefits, equipment, software and a share of management time.
The work
Case studies behind this page.
Questions
Asked before the call.
Is a design subscription cheaper than a full-time designer?
- In most months, yes. A senior product designer typically costs $9,000 to $14,000 a month fully loaded, against $3,900 for Recast's plan. The hire becomes the better value when you have enough work to fill their week, every week.
How long does it take to hire a senior product designer?
- Typically eight to twelve weeks of recruiting, then the candidate's notice period, then a few weeks to ramp. The first useful screen often arrives about four months after the decision to hire.
Can Recast work alongside our in-house designer?
- Yes. One workable split is your designer owning direction and research while the plan carries production: states, the design system, Arabic versions and the front-end build. Everything is delivered as Figma your designer can open and edit.
What happens to the work if we hire later and cancel?
- You keep all of it. The files, components, tokens and code are yours on delivery, and cancelling is one click with no notice period. Your new designer inherits a working Figma library instead of a blank file.
Will an outside team understand our product as well as an employee?
- Not on day one, and an embedded employee will always know the company more deeply. What the plan offers is continuity: one lead designer on every call, and a design system that records the decisions already made.
Do we still need someone in-house to direct the work?
- You need someone who can say what the product should do and choose between options: a founder, a product manager or an engineering lead. You do not need a design lead. The lead designer is accountable for the design choices.
What does fully loaded mean for a designer's cost?
- Salary plus employer taxes, benefits, equipment, software licences and a share of management time. It does not include recruiting, which is a separate one-off cost.
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.