How Baked compares
The other ways startups get design done, side by side with Baked, including when they're the better pick.
- Baked vs hiring a full-time designerHow a design subscription with Baked compares with hiring your first full-time designer: cost, speed, range of skills and commitment.
- Baked vs a design agencyHow Baked's monthly design subscription compares with a traditional design agency: pricing, scoping, speed and contracts.
- Baked vs hiring freelancersHow Baked compares with hiring freelance designers and developers: reliability, range, speed and managing the work.
Baked vs hiring in-house in San Francisco: first-year cost
The three senior hires it takes to cover product, brand and marketing design, against one Baked plan. A rough guide, not a quote: change any number to your own.
Starting salaries: Senior Product Designer, Built In, San Francisco median; Senior Brand Designer, Glassdoor, San Francisco average; Senior Marketing Designer, ZipRecruiter, San Francisco average. Benefits: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Benefits are 31.5% of total pay for full-time private-industry workers, June 2026. Recruiting, tools and hiring time start at zero: add your own.
Who you'd work with
- Nick, founder and creative director17+ years in product and marketing design, including Meta.
- The teamSenior designers who have worked at Meta, Netflix, HubSpot and Expa, and been founding designers at 25+ startups.
- Since 2023Three years in, Baked has grown from one person to a team of 10, worked with 150+ clients, all without a single cold email or DM.
- ClientsWe work with 11 YC companies, 8 from the current S26 batch, including Inkbox, Stoa, tash, OpenTag, Belvedir, Spaceflow, Coach AI and Context Dev. Text.AI, Orchid and Menza are from W26.
Not sure which fits? Book a 30-min call or see the plans.