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99designs Alternative: Logo Design Contest Pricing and Sites Like 99designs, Compared
99designs publishes a rate card, and it is worth dividing. The reported US logo contest tiers are $299, $499, $899 and $1,299, against roughly 30, 60, 90 and 60 concepts.
Per concept that is $9.97, $8.32, $9.99 and $21.65. Three tiers price a design concept at about ten dollars. The fourth charges more than double, and hands you 30 fewer concepts than the tier below it.
Everything below is that arithmetic done properly: where the ladder breaks, why a rushed Bronze costs more than a plain Silver, when the money-back guarantee actually expires, and the buyers who should stay on a contest platform rather than switch.
$8.32 to $21.65 cost per concept
2.17x the Platinum per-concept jump
10% flat our published project fee
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Conversion Copywriter
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Growth Marketer
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Small-Business Bookkeeper
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Executive Virtual Assistant
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Elena M.
Technical SEO Consultant
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Google Ads Consultant
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Meta Ads Consultant
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Ravi K.
Senior Data Scientist
$140/hr
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Senior DevOps Engineer
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Social Media Manager
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Julian C.
Management Consultant
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Dana R.
Direct-Response Copywriter
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Ivan V.
Senior QA Automation Engineer
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Ravi T.
Certified Salesforce Developer
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Lena C.
Senior UX Designer
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Elena B.
Senior Webflow Developer
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Sofia M.
Certified Legal Translator
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Fund milestone 1 · $1,800 in escrow · $4,800 in escrow · $12,500 in escrow · released on your approval
Last updated September 2026
Package prices here are the figures reported for the US storefront in 2026, and we show where sources disagree rather than picking the one that flatters us. We also say plainly where the contest model beats hiring. Confirm current pricing with 99designs at checkout before you commit.
The arithmetic
What a 99designs logo contest costs per concept
A contest platform sells you a number of concepts, so the price you should compare is not the package price. It is the package price divided by the concepts that package attracts. 99designs publishes both numbers, which makes the division easy and the result surprising.
| Package | Reported US price | Concepts (published) | Cost per concept | Designer access |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze | $299 | ~30 | $9.97 | All levels |
| Silver | $499 | ~60 | $8.32 | Mid and top level |
| Gold | $899 | ~90 | $9.99 | Mid and top level |
| Platinum | $1,299 | ~60 | $21.65 | Top level only |
0.22%
The gap between Bronze and Gold on a per-concept basis. At $9.97 and $9.99 they are effectively the same purchase, priced 3x apart, scaled by volume.
$8.32
Silver is the cheapest concept on the whole ladder, 16.6% below Bronze. If concept volume is what you came for, Silver is the efficient tier, not Bronze and not Gold.
$21.65
Platinum. More than double Gold per concept, and 2.6x Silver. At this tier you have stopped buying concepts and started buying a designer filter.
That first number is the one worth sitting with. Bronze and Gold, three tiers and $600 apart, price a design concept within two and a bit cents of each other. The ladder from Bronze to Gold is a volume ladder: you are buying the same unit in bigger quantities, at the same unit price. Nothing about the creative work changes.
The cliff
Platinum costs 44.5% more than Gold and returns 33.3% fewer concepts
This is the single most useful thing to know before you click the top package. Going from Gold to Platinum raises the price by $400 and lowers the published concept count from about 90 to about 60. It is not a mistake in the rate card. Platinum restricts entry to top level designers only, and there are fewer of them, so fewer entries arrive.
| Moving from Gold to Platinum | Gold | Platinum | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Package price | $899 | $1,299 | +$400, or +44.5% |
| Published concepts | ~90 | ~60 | 30 fewer, or -33.3% |
| Cost per concept | $9.99 | $21.65 | 2.17x |
| What you are buying | Volume, from mid and top designers | A filter, from top designers only | A different product |
So the honest way to read Platinum is that it is not the fourth rung of one ladder. It is a second product wearing the same label. You are paying an extra $11.66 per concept for a promise about who is allowed to submit, and the platform is the only party that can verify that promise.
If a vetting filter is the thing you are actually buying, that is worth saying out loud, because a filter is exactly what a vetted marketplace sells directly, with the designer's name, portfolio, rate and history attached before you spend anything. You can read how our four-stage screen works on the how it works page, and the published rates on the pricing page.
The trap
A rushed Bronze contest costs more than a plain Silver contest
Rush handling is reported as a 50% surcharge on the base package, and extending a contest is reported at $50 to $100. Both are the kind of add-on nobody prices out in advance, and on the entry tier they overtake the next tier up.
| Package | Base | Rush surcharge (50%) | With rush |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze | $299 | $149.50 | $448.50 |
| Silver | $499 | $249.50 | $748.50 |
| Gold | $899 | $449.50 | $1,348.50 |
| Platinum | $1,299 | $649.50 | $1,948.50 |
Bronze, rushed, with the maximum reported extension: $299 + $149.50 + $100 = $548.50.
That is $49.50 more than the plain Silver package at $499, and Silver carries roughly double the concepts. Anyone who starts on Bronze because it looks cheap, then panics about the deadline, ends up paying above the better tier for half the output. If you are already thinking about rush, buy Silver.
The fine print
Can you get a refund from 99designs?
There is a 100% money-back guarantee within 60 days of payment on logo contests, but it does not apply to guaranteed contests or to any contest that has entered the Final Round. Selecting your finalists is what makes a contest guaranteed. So the refund does not expire on day 60. It expires the moment you do the thing the platform is asking you to do.
A standard contest runs about seven days. Shortlisting typically happens partway through, which puts the practical end of the guarantee somewhere around day four to seven, not day 60. The window that matters is roughly a tenth of the one in the headline, and it closes on your own action rather than on the calendar.
The nominal window
60 days
From payment, on eligible logo contests, as published.
The real window
Until you shortlist
Usually inside a seven day contest. After the Final Round begins, the money is committed.
This is worth comparing against milestone escrow, which is the other way to make a design budget refundable. With escrow the money sits with a third party and releases per approved milestone, so the protection lasts the whole project rather than ending at a procedural step. How freelance escrow works covers the mechanics.
Check the source
Published 99designs prices disagree by up to 25%
Unlike the private-quote networks, 99designs does publish a rate card. That has not stopped the figures in circulation from drifting apart. Collect the 2026 reconstructions side by side and every tier carries a spread, some of it large enough to change which package you would choose.
| Source | Bronze | Silver | Gold | Platinum |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US review consensus | $299 | $499 | $899 | $1,299 |
| A 2026 platform review | $299 | $499 | $799 | $1,299 |
| A 2026 pricing breakdown | $249 | $399 | $799 | $1,050 |
| Official storefront (euro) | €289 | €479 | €859 | €1,299 |
| Spread across the dollar figures | 20.1% | 25.1% | 12.5% | 23.7% |
On Platinum the disagreement is $249, which is most of a Bronze package. On Silver it is $100 on a $399 to $499 item. Some of that is stale reporting and some is regional storefronts: request the site from outside the US and it serves euro prices, where the Platinum numeral is identical at 1,299 even though a euro is not a dollar.
The practical rule is simple. Take the price from the checkout page you are actually looking at, in your own currency, on the day you buy, and treat every figure in a review article (including the ones on this page) as a starting point for the division rather than as the number you will pay.
The hidden line
The concepts are cheap. Reviewing them is not.
Every contest package has a second price tag that never appears at checkout, and it is charged to you. Somebody has to open, judge, score and give feedback on every entry, inside the seven day window, and that somebody is the person who bought the contest.
| Package | Concepts | To review per day, over 7 days | At 4 minutes each |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze | ~30 | 4.3 | 2.0 hours total |
| Silver | ~60 | 8.6 | 4.0 hours total |
| Gold | ~90 | 12.9 | 6.0 hours total |
| Platinum | ~60 | 8.6 | 4.0 hours total |
Six hours of a founder's week is a real cost, and it lands on the Gold tier precisely because Gold is the volume tier. Price Gold properly and it is $899 plus six hours of your own attention. Price a direct hire properly and it is the rate plus a kickoff call and two rounds of feedback. Which is cheaper depends on what your own hour is worth, and that comparison is rarely made.
There is a structural point underneath it too, and it is only fair to state it plainly. On a Bronze contest roughly 30 designers submit and exactly one is paid. If a concept represents three hours of work, that is around 90 designer-hours submitted against a $299 prize, or about $3.32 an hour across everything created. The concepts are cheap because most of the labor behind them is unpaid. Some buyers are fine with that trade and some are not, but it should be a decision rather than a surprise.
Side by side
Logo design contest versus hiring one vetted designer
| 99designs contest | SuperGig | |
|---|---|---|
| What you buy | A fixed package of concepts from many designers | Hours from one vetted designer you choose |
| Price you see first | $299 to $1,299 per contest, published | The designer's hourly or project rate, published |
| Platform fee | Included in contest packages; 5% added on one-to-one projects | Flat 10% on project value, shown before you commit |
| Concept volume | 30 to 90 directions. This is where the contest wins. | As many rounds as you brief and pay for, from one person |
| Who you work with | Unknown until the winner is picked | Named, with portfolio, rate and work history up front |
| Revisions after handover | Depends on the winning designer staying available | Same designer, rebooked at their published rate |
| Payment protection | 60 day guarantee, void once the Final Round starts | Milestone escrow, released on your approval |
| Copyright | Transfers to you on completion | Transfers to you on completion |
| Best for | One standalone asset where breadth of ideas is the point | Brand work with revision cycles and a designer you keep |
Note the row we did not soften. On raw concept volume the contest model wins and it is not close. Nobody hiring one designer for $299 is getting 30 finished directions, and any comparison page that pretends otherwise is selling you something. What you get instead is continuity, which matters more on the second project than the first.
Our numbers
What a contest budget buys in vetted designer hours
Our fee is a flat 10% on project value, published, with no membership and no deposit. So an $85 an hour designer costs $93.50 all in, and any contest budget converts straight into hours. Here is that conversion, including the places where it does not flatter us.
| Budget | At $60/hr ($66.00 all in) | At $85/hr ($93.50 all in) | At $110/hr ($121.00 all in) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $299 (Bronze) | 4.5 hours | 3.2 hours | 2.5 hours |
| $499 (Silver) | 7.6 hours | 5.3 hours | 4.1 hours |
| $899 (Gold) | 13.6 hours | 9.6 hours | 7.4 hours |
| $1,299 (Platinum) | 19.7 hours | 13.9 hours | 10.7 hours |
The honest reading
3.2 hours will not produce 30 logo concepts. If your goal is to see 30 directions for $299, hiring one person is the wrong instrument and you should run the contest.
Where the numbers turn is higher up the ladder. At Platinum you are spending $1,299 for roughly 60 concepts you did not want individually, from designers you cannot see in advance. The same $1,299 is 13.9 hours of a named $85 an hour designer, which is a discovery call, a moodboard, three routes, two revision rounds and a full file handover, with the same person still reachable when you need a variant for packaging in March.
One more figure for scale. A median US graphic designer earned $62,960 in the May 2025 federal wage data. Loaded with benefits at the 1.43 multiplier implied by the June 2026 employer cost release, that is $90,032.80 a year, $7,502.73 a month, or $43.29 an hour. A $1,299 Platinum contest is almost exactly 30 hours of that in-house designer: 30.0, to one decimal place.
Be honest
Who should stay on a contest platform
Stay with 99designs
- You want breadth above all: 30 or more directions for one standalone asset, and the time to review them.
- You have no fixed idea of the direction yet and want the market to show you options.
- It is a one-off. A logo, a book cover, a label, with no follow-on work expected.
- A fixed, known package price matters more to you than knowing who does the work.
- Silver at $8.32 a concept is genuinely efficient if concept count is the metric you care about.
Switch to hiring directly
- You were about to buy Platinum. At $21.65 a concept you are paying for a filter, and a filter is cheaper to buy directly.
- The logo is the start of a brand system: type, color, packaging, deck, site. Continuity beats breadth.
- You need revision cycles with somebody who remembers the last conversation.
- You cannot spare six hours to judge 90 entries inside a seven day window.
- You want payment protection that lasts the whole project rather than ending when you shortlist.
If you are still weighing the wider market rather than these two models, the logo design cost breakdown puts contest packages next to gig marketplaces, vetted professionals and agencies, and what freelance designers charge covers hourly and project rates across the wider design market.
How it works
Hiring a logo designer without running a contest
1
Write the brief once
The same brief you would give a contest: audience, feeling, what it must work on, what you already rejected. No consultation call required.
2
See named designers
A shortlist with portfolios, rates and history, all screened through four stages. You judge people, not anonymous entries.
3
Fund a milestone
Money sits in escrow and releases when you approve the work. The protection runs the length of the project, not to a procedural cutoff.
4
Keep the designer
Rebook the same person for the next asset at their published rate. The second project is where continuity starts paying.
Questions
99designs questions people actually search
What are the best alternatives to 99designs?
It depends on what you want to stop paying for. If you want many concepts fast, other contest platforms such as DesignCrowd and Crowdspring do the same thing. If what you actually want is one accountable designer who learns your brand and revises with you, a vetted marketplace with published fees and named designers is the better shape, and you stop paying for 29 concepts you will never use.
How much does 99designs cost?
Logo contest packages are reported at $299 Bronze, $499 Silver, $899 Gold and $1,299 Platinum in the US. Per concept that is $9.97, $8.32, $9.99 and $21.65. One-to-one projects are priced by the designer with a 5% client fee added, and 99designs Pro is reported at $500 a year.
Is 99designs worth it?
It is worth it when you genuinely want to compare 30 or more creative directions for one standalone asset, and you have the time to review them. It stops being worth it on the Platinum tier, where the cost per concept jumps to $21.65 from about $10, and on any project that needs revision cycles with one person.
Can you get a refund from 99designs?
There is a 100% money-back guarantee within 60 days on logo contests, but it is void on guaranteed contests and on any contest that has entered the Final Round. Because selecting finalists makes the contest guaranteed, the refund usually dies around day four to seven, not day 60.
Who owns the logo from 99designs?
You do. Copyright transfers to you once the project completes and the winning designer hands over the files. That is standard across contest platforms and vetted marketplaces alike, so ownership is not a reason to pick one over the other. Check that the handover includes vector source files, not just exported images.
How many designs do you get from 99designs?
The published storefront lists roughly 30 concepts on Bronze, 60 on Silver, 90 on Gold and 60 on Platinum. Platinum deliberately returns fewer concepts than Gold because it restricts entry to top level designers only, which is why its cost per concept is more than double.
How long does a 99designs contest take?
A standard contest runs about seven days. Extending it is reported at $50 to $100, and rush handling is reported as a 50% surcharge on the base package. A rushed Bronze contest plus the maximum extension reaches $548.50, which is more than a plain Silver package with double the concepts.
Is a logo design contest worth it compared to hiring a freelance designer?
A contest buys breadth: many directions, no relationship, and one paid winner. Hiring buys depth: one vetted person, revision cycles, and someone who still answers you in six months. At $85 an hour all in, a $299 Bronze budget is about 3.2 hours of one designer, so the contest genuinely wins on raw concept volume and loses on continuity.
What is the 99designs 5% fee?
It is a client platform fee added on top of one-to-one project prices, where the designer sets the rate. A $1,000 project bills at $1,050 and a $5,000 project at $5,250. Fixed-price contest packages are quoted as a single figure, so read the checkout total before you assume which model you are on.
How much does 99designs Pro cost?
Pro access is reported at $500 a year, paid before any design work. On top of a $299 Bronze contest that is $799 in year one, which changes the comparison considerably: at that point you are within reach of the reported Gold package or roughly 8.5 hours of a vetted freelance designer at $85 an hour all in.
See the designer before you spend the budget
Write the brief you were going to give a contest and see who comes back. Named designers with published rates and portfolios, screened through four stages, a flat 10% project fee shown before you commit, and milestone escrow that holds the money until you approve the work. No membership, no deposit and no contest to judge.