What on-brand Instagram posts cost: a designer vs Canva vs dsign.so
For about 12 posts a month: a freelance designer comes to roughly US$180–420 a month (at US$15–35 an hour and 1 hour a post); Canva Pro to about US$12–18 a month plus the hours you spend designing; dsign.so is free to start, or US$9 a month for Pro. The bigger cost is usually time — so count your hours, not just the plan.
dsign.so is our product. The designer rate is Upwork's; Canva's price is as trackers listed it in autumn 2026. The sums are estimates — the method is below so you can use your own numbers.
The sum
Monthly cost = plan price + (posts a month × hours a post × what an hour of your time is worth). For a freelancer, swap your hourly worth for their rate and add back the time you spend briefing and checking.
Three ways, 12 posts a month
| Freelance designer | Canva Pro | dsign.so | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan or rate | US$15–35 an hour (Upwork) | about US$12–18 a month | Free, or US$9 a month |
| Who designs | The designer | You | You choose; the template is designed |
| Your time | Briefing and checking | Building and restyling each post | Typing the post and choosing |
| Money a month (12 posts, 1 h each for a designer) | about US$180–420 | about US$12–18 | US$0–9 |
| Best when | The brand itself needs making | You need many kinds of design | You need posts in your brand, often |
Sources: Upwork, graphic designer costs; Canva Pro at US$144–180 a year as listed by CostBench and Moda, autumn 2026 — check Canva's pricing; dsign.so from our pricing.
The cost nobody writes down: your hours
If a post takes you an hour in a design tool — finding a template, retyping, fixing colours and fonts, making the story version — 12 posts are 12 hours a month. At US$25 an hour of your own time, that's US$300 a month, more than any plan. Cutting the design part is where the saving is: make the brand the starting point, write the words first, and choose from finished posts instead of building them.
When paying a designer is worth it
For the brand itself — a logo, colours, fonts and a few signature layouts — a designer is money well spent; it's the part templates can't give you. For the weekly posts that follow, most small businesses do better making them themselves, from templates that already carry that brand.
What dsign.so costs
- Free — 1 brand (logo, colours, fonts), every template in every size, 30 prompts a month, carousels, image exports at the post's size (1080 px wide).
- Pro — $9 a month or $84 a year: unlimited prompts, up to 5 brands, video downloads, HD and Extra HD exports, a brand from your website or guideline PDF.
See the plans, or try it free without signing up.
Questions
- How much does a social media designer cost?
- Graphic designers on Upwork typically charge around US$15–35 an hour. At about an hour a post, 12 posts a month come to roughly US$180–420.
- Is Canva Pro worth it for a solo business?
- If you use it for many kinds of design, often yes. If you mainly make Instagram posts, a tool built for on-brand posts, such as dsign.so, may cost less in money and in time.
- What is the cheapest way to get on-brand Instagram posts?
- Make them yourself from templates that already carry your brand. dsign.so's free plan keeps one brand and fills every template with it; Pro is $9 a month.