DesignCrowd review 2026: how the contests work and what they cost
DesignCrowd is a crowdsourced design marketplace. You post a brief with a budget, designers submit competing entries, and you pick the one you want. Projects start from as little as $99, deadlines run 3, 5 or 10 days, and a typical project draws 50 to 100 or more designs.
We should say this plainly before you read further: DesignCrowd is a direct Hatchwise competitor. We run design contests too. So everything factual below was read straight from designcrowd.com on September 18, 2026 and its own claims about itself are labelled as such, and you should read the comparison section knowing exactly whose side we are on.
DesignCrowd in ten lines
- What it is
- A crowdsourced design contest marketplace
- Starting price
- Projects start from as little as $99
- Pricing model
- A project budget you choose from packages, plus a posting fee
- Deadlines
- Choose a 3, 5 or 10 day deadline
- First designs
- Within 24 hours of launching the project
- Entries
- 50 to 100+ designs per project
- Blind entries
- Designers cannot see each other's work
- Revisions
- Designers refine their entries in response to your feedback
- Rights
- Full copyright plus professional design files on the winning design
- Refunds
- Money back on refundable project budgets, requested within 60 days, posting fees excluded
- $99
- the published starting point for a project
- 3/5/10
- day deadlines you can choose between
- 60
- day window to request a refund on a refundable project
From brief to winning design
- Step 01
Launch the project
You write a brief, pick the category and choose a budget from the packages DesignCrowd offers in your currency. Real completed logo projects on its own pages show budgets such as US$110, US$150 and US$300, so what you pay depends on the package you choose rather than a single list price.
- Step 02
Receive entries
First designs arrive within 24 hours and keep arriving until the deadline. DesignCrowd publishes 50 to 100+ designs per project, and states designers cannot see each other's work, which it frames as preventing copying and group think.
- Step 03
Give feedback
Designers refine their entries in response to your comments. DesignCrowd is direct about the connection between feedback and volume: the more active you are, the more designs you tend to receive.
- Step 04
Choose a winner
You approve your favourite and download the files. On the winning design you receive full copyright plus the professional design files, so you can print or alter the work later.
DesignCrowd and Hatchwise, on published terms
We run one of these two, so read this as a comparison of what each side publishes rather than a verdict on which produces better work.
| DesignCrowd | Hatchwise | |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Design contest marketplace | Design contest marketplace |
| Starting price | Projects from as little as $99 | Logo contests from $99 |
| Deadlines | 3, 5 or 10 days | Contests run to a set window, and you can award a winner at any time while it is running |
| Entries | 50 to 100+ per project | Dozens of original entries per contest, with more entries on larger prizes |
| What the winner hands over | Full copyright plus professional design files | Full commercial rights plus the source files |
| Refunds | Refundable project budgets, within 60 days, posting fee excluded | Money-back guarantee on contests |
DesignCrowd terms read from designcrowd.com on September 18, 2026. Hatchwise terms are our own published terms. Neither column is a claim about quality of work.
Pros and cons
What works
- The entry price is genuinely low. A project can start from as little as $99, which is far below any monthly subscription in this category.
- You see many directions before you commit to one. 50 to 100+ entries per project is a real advantage over hiring a single freelancer and hoping the first direction lands.
- Entries are blind, so designers work from your brief rather than copying the most-liked entry in the thread.
- Deadline choice is useful. Three days when you are in a hurry, ten when you want the volume to build.
- The winner hands over full copyright plus the source files, which is the part many cheap design options quietly withhold.
- There is a money-back guarantee on refundable project budgets, with a 60 day window to ask.
What to weigh first
- Posting fees sit outside the guarantee. DesignCrowd states the money-back guarantee covers the project budget and excludes the posting fee you paid at launch, and does not apply where you guaranteed the budget.
- There is no single pricing page. designcrowd.com/pricing returns a 404, and the actual cost depends on the package, category and currency you pick during launch, so the real number is hard to check in advance.
- Refunds carry conditions rather than being automatic, described on the site as conditions apply.
- Volume cuts both ways. Fifty to a hundred entries takes real time to review, and the quality spread across that many submissions is wide.
- It is one-off work by design. Nothing about the model gives you a team that learns your brand, so the tenth project starts as cold as the first.
- The designer counts, completed project totals and dollar figures on its pages are DesignCrowd's own published claims about itself. We have not audited them.
Right for one design, wrong for a weekly pipeline
A contest is the right tool when you have one thing to get right and no strong view yet on how it should look: a logo, a name, a brand identity, a piece of packaging. Dozens of original directions for $99 upward is hard to beat, and you walk away owning the winning design outright with the source files. That is true of DesignCrowd and it is true of us.
It is the wrong tool for ongoing work. If what you actually need is ad creative and social content every week, running a fresh contest each time means a new posting fee, a new brief and fifty entries to review for routine production. That work wants a team that already knows your brand. Flocksy is the one we point people to for it: plans from $1,199 a month, billed annually, with the same designer, video editor and motion editor staying on your account, unused hours rolling over for 30 days and every minute tracked in the portal. Most businesses end up doing both, a contest for the identity and a subscription to run it out.
The alternatives
Hatchwise
The same contest model, and our own. One brief, dozens of original entries, full commercial rights and source files on the design you award, and logo contests from $99. We would rather you compare the two properly than take our word for it.
Read moreFlocksy
The right answer if the real need is ongoing ads and social content rather than one design. Contests are built for a single outcome, so paying a posting fee every week is the wrong shape. Flocksy starts at $1,199 a month, billed annually, with the same dedicated designer, video editor and motion editor on your account, unused hours rolling over for 30 days and every minute tracked in the portal.
Read more99designs
The other large contest marketplace, priced higher at the entry level. Worth a look if you want to see two contest platforms side by side.
Read moreDesignjoy
The opposite end of the market: $4,995 a month, one request at a time, work done by the founder. A comparison point rather than a substitute.
Read more
DesignCrowd review FAQs
How much does DesignCrowd cost?
DesignCrowd publishes that projects start from as little as $99, and that you choose how many designs you want and which budget you prefer from a range of packages. There is no single pricing page, and designcrowd.com/pricing returns a 404, so the figure depends on the category, package and currency you select at launch. Real completed logo projects shown on its own site carry budgets such as US$110, US$150 and US$300. Read on September 18, 2026.
How does a DesignCrowd contest work?
You post a brief, choose a 3, 5 or 10 day deadline and set a budget. First designs arrive within 24 hours and keep coming until the deadline, typically 50 to 100+ in total. Designers cannot see each other's entries. You give feedback, designers refine their work, then you approve a winner and download the files.
Does DesignCrowd offer refunds?
It publishes a money-back guarantee on refundable Design Contest project budgets, with a refund requested within 60 days of the project, subject to conditions. The guarantee excludes the posting fee paid at launch, and does not apply where the project budget was guaranteed.
Who owns the design you buy on DesignCrowd?
You do, on the winning design. DesignCrowd states that once you choose the winning design you receive full copyright of the design files plus professional design files, so you can print or alter the work in future.
Is DesignCrowd better than Hatchwise?
They run the same model at a similar entry price, so the honest answer is that it depends on the brief and the entries you get. We run Hatchwise, so treat our view as interested: we think a contest is the right way to buy a logo, a name or a one-off piece of branding, and both platforms let you compare dozens of original directions before committing. Where the two genuinely differ is worth checking yourself rather than taking either site's word for it.
Is DesignCrowd good for ongoing social media and ad creative?
Not really, and this is the most common mismatch we see. A contest is built to produce one chosen outcome, so running fresh contests every week means paying a posting fee and reviewing dozens of entries for work that should be routine. If you need ads, social posts and motion on a weekly basis, an ongoing team is the right shape, and Flocksy is the one we would point at: plans start at $1,199 a month, billed annually, with the same designer, video editor and motion editor staying on your account, unused hours rolling over for 30 days and every minute tracked. Use contests for the identity, then a subscription to run it out week to week.
How many designs will you get on DesignCrowd?
It publishes 50 to 100+ designs per project and states you can expect to receive over 50 designs from multiple designers, with more feedback tending to produce more entries.
Are DesignCrowd's designer and project numbers verified?
No. Figures such as its designer count, completed project totals, project value totals and the number of businesses served are published by DesignCrowd about itself. We report them as its claims rather than numbers we have checked.
Run the same brief with us and compare
Post your brief on Hatchwise and designers submit original concepts for it. You award the one you want and take full commercial rights and the source files. Logo contests start at $99. If the real need is weekly ads and social content instead, our Flocksy review covers the ongoing option.