48 Hours Logo vs 99designs - Review and Comparison

This is an installment in the series of Logo Design services reviews and comparisons of options for your business logos and branding. Check out more 99designs alternatives and competitor reviews below:

Today I am reviewing another online option to get a logo for your business – 48Hours Logo. Their slogan is “Start an online logo design contest for only $29 and receive logo concepts within hours”.

>>I got my new logo designed at 99designs – and I love it! Check out the videos and review of my 99designs logo experience

Get your perfect logo at 99designs and SAVE $99 with this coupon!

About 48 Hours Logo Company

The company was launched in 2010 as a crowdsource graphic design site. The company claims that as of 2017. They have supplied small businesses and entrepreneurs with over 40,000 logo contests, consisting of over 3,000,000 logo submissions.

They are a true crowdsourced graphic design site, as opposed to other logo options reviewed which are simply online graphics agencies and there is no contest prize for multiple designers.

48 Hour Logo Pricing

Their pricing structure is two-tiered. You can start a contest for $29 and if you receive a logo, you like, then you will pay the designer the total fee which begins at $99.

To me, this is a bit of a bait and switch confusing pricing strategy. I like to know my total invoice at the time of my purchase decision. Additionally, $99 is the minimum designer fee, which can increase dramatically. Their prize packages for designers are Standard $148 and Gold at $198. Additionally, they state that if you are requiring illustration, drawings, characters are mascots that you choose the Gold level package at $198.

While these prices may seem less expensive than 99designs, they aren’t in reality. 48hours logos designs are $7.40 per design, while 99designs are only $2.99 per design (based on my actual logo buying experience) PLUS the quality of 99designs is far superior to the 48hours logo – see examples of logo designs from both companies compared below

At 48 Hours Logo, they state that you will get 20+ designs for their Standard packages at $148 = $7.40 per design
At 99designscrowdsource logo contest, which I choose the Bronze package for $299 netted 100+ designs = $2.99 per design

Get your perfect logo at 99designs and SAVE $99 with this coupon!

Logo Contest is NOT 48 Hours

Although the company’s name says 48 Hours Logo that is not the correct timing to get a logo for your company – it will actually take up to 2 weeks.

While you may receive some logo submissions within 48 hours, the company states on their FAQ page that it will take up to one week for the 1^st qualifying stage of designer submissions. After that, it will take another week for design edits called the revisions stage. Thus your 48-hour logo will take approximately 2 weeks to create. Be aware of this before you buy this logo design service.

Logo Design Quality Comparison

Next, let’s compare the final logo designs from 48 hours logo and 99 logo designs side-by-side.

48 Hours Logos – Beauty and Cosmetic Industry

Below is a sampling of recent crowdsource logo contests winners at 48 hours logo. To me, they are too busy, overworked and unoriginal. Check out the one indicated by the red arrow that is the worst. It looks like a bad 1970’s old lady salon. Yikes! OK they are not all bad the one for Salon X Change is not terrible, but it could be hard to read when printed small on business cards or pens.

99designs Logos – Beauty and Cosmetic Industry

Compare the lackluster, at best, logo designs from 48 hours logo above to the logos designed in a 99designs logo contest below – both from the beauty and cosmetic industry.

The first thing that you will notice how much more upscale and refined the designs are from 99 designs. These logos look like products that could be sold in fine department stores. I especially liked, as indicated by the red arrow, the logo designed for Raw Gold. It is unique, creative and strong enough to build a brand identity. Also, it reads well and would work well for printed items, signs and product labels – an important consideration for all logo design. Top designers are available on 99designs which is why I recommend you start a logo contest.