99designs vs DesignCrowd vs CrowdSpring Review: Best?

You have many good choices online for crowdsourcing graphic design contest sites. Which one is the best for your business logo and design projects? 99designs vs DesignCrowd vs CrowdSpring?

Today I will review and compare crowdsource sites, 99designs and Design Crowd. Read my full review of 99designs and my experience of getting a logo made for my startup business.

My long career in business marketing has taught me a lot about how to source and buy good graphic design services without going crazy or broke! Graphic design concepts are personal and subjective art.

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Crowdsource Graphic Design – How it Works

Crowdsource graphic design and logo contests specifically are of great benefit to entrepreneurs. They allow us to get a high-quality design at affordable prices from designers around the world. Simply launch a logo design contest by completing (an easy and intuitive) design brief (complete with sample images you can select with color swatches). Sit back and get ready for tons of design submissions (I got over 100 in my logo design contest!)

These sites allow small business owners to have access to professional designers internationally. You can also request specific designers to submit ideas and samples. In fact, I share these power tips here on how to get the most from your crowdsource design contest.

Read about my experience buying a new logo for my website (see it above) review of 99designs logo services

Based on comparing 99designs to many of its competitors (see reviews below) I recommend Design Crowd as the runner-up to the winner for logos 99design.

Looking for the best crowdsource logo designs or website design? Tap into the genius and talent of thousands of the best graphic designers internationally at affordable prices by crowdsourcing your new logo.

This side by side comparison grades and reviews each site 99designs, DesignCrowd and Crowdspring on twelve important criteria points including; customer reviews, packages, pricing, number of logo contest submissions, money back guarantees and logo design quality plus more. 99Designs: Logos from just $299!

>Read my review and experience of using 99designs for my new logo

Editor's Grade
User Reviews
Packages & Prices
Number of Logo Submissions
Length Duration
Crowdsource or Direct Hire
Guarantees
Process Ease
Design Quality
Site Features
Selection
Customer Service

A
4.8/5
Four packages - Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum from $299 - $1,299. Read more about 99designs pricing
100+ Logo Ideas per contest
Start getting logos in 1 day and finish contest in 7 days
Both crowdsource logo design contests and direct designer hire
100% Money back guarantee. A design you'll love, guaranteed.
Easiest ordering process and development of logo brief with color swatches and sample logos to select.
Best quality of logo designs
Large selection of industries and logo design styles
Wide selection of graphic services including website design, social media pages, t-shirts,apps, brochures, packaging labels and business cards.
US based, human support via toll free 1-800-513-1678, also by email. Offers a free design consultation. Premier packages have prioritized support.

B
3.3/5
Five packages are offered starting with 1 design up to 150+ designs, prices $109 - $719.
As little as 1 up to 150+ for highest priced package.
You select a 3, 5 or 10 day deadline.
Crowdsource graphic design only
Their refund policy is very restrictive and excludes posting and upgrade fees.
Bad logo brief form with no images, nor colors, all text based.
OK quality of logos. Standard grade.
Moderate selection of industries, low selection of styles.
Good menu of graphic services with focus on website and flyer designs.
Toll free contact numbers in US, UK, AU, CA, NZ, BR and SG plus email.

C +
4.0/5
Four packages - Silver, Gold, Elite and Platinum from $299-$1.199.
60 designs for lowest price package up to 90 for premium packages.
Contests run for 7 days, and you can extend it for a few days by notifying support.
All crowdsource design services - no direct hire.
Company says they have 99% satisfaction rating, but no specifics on refunds nor guarantees.
Good logo design brief process with images and color choices
Good quality of design and variety of styles.
OK site user experience, logo brief has color swatches and font choices. No polling feature or star rating to tag logo submissions.
Good selection of graphic services with focus on logo design, company naming and websites.
Live chat and support team via toll free 877-887-7442 plus email.

Key to Comparison Criteria in Review

Editors Grade – This is the overall combined score based on all the factors listed below. Using the standard grading system with A as top grade and lowest is F.
User Reviews – Customer reviews from across the web and on each companies site are reported here in the 5-star ranking system.
Packages and Prices – Here we compare the prices and packages, including total services and costs. Read more about 99designs pricing.
The Number of Logo Submissions – An important factor in your buying decision should be both the number and quality of logo submissions you can expect from your logo design contest.
Contest Duration – Each company has a different time length of contests, both when you can expect to start receiving logo design ideas and when your contest must be completed.
Crowdsource or Direct Hire – All of these firms offer logo design contest, and some of these also have direct hire options for your graphic design needs.
Guarantees – Before you buy it is wise to review the stated money back guarantees because while they sound similar, they are not alike in their coverage or time period for eligibility. Yes, my recommendation for your logo creation, 99designs has the most generous 100% money back guarantee.
Ease of Process – Since launching a logo design contest is different than simply ordering a logo, evaluating the process and its level of difficulty is crucial.
Design Quality – The most critical element of your company selection is the quality of graphic design work you can expect. Each company portfolio graphic samples were compared and shown side-by-side in full-length reviews of Crowdspring and DesignCrowd vs 99designs.
Site Features – Helpful features such as easy to complete logo briefs with sample images for your selection plus the polling feature in which you can send final designs to your team members, or even post on social media, to get votes for favorites makes the process easier and more enjoyable.When I got my logo created at 99designs I used the star system which allowed me to tag and filter submissions as they arrived. This was a huge time saver and helped me organize my favorites because I got 100+ logo ideas. Watch me use these features in the video below.
Selection – You want to know that the site’s logo designers can create many different logo styles, from modern to retro, and great logos for restaurants, and fitness business branding as well.
Customer Service – Does the site offer human support via a toll-free telephone number, email or chat.

99 Designs and Design Crowd Similarities

The two graphic design sites, 99designs.com and Design Crowd, are comparable (with 99designs rapidly expanding larger) in terms of size, pricing and number of graphic designers competing in logo design contests. Both sites also offer web design and advertising.

DesignCrowd claims to be the world’s #1 custom design marketplace and design contest sites. 99Designs is actually larger based on the number of designers at close to a million, 938,643 with DesignCrowd total graphic designers of 429,917 as of January 2017.

Both sites produce quality designs in their logo design contests- see the comparison below of logos designed at each site. You can see that they are both high-quality, however, there are a few important differences that should affect your buying decision. Keep reading.

99designs sample logos – Legal firms and attorney

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Design Crowd and 99 Designs Differences

The main critical differences are in pricing, features included in packages, money-back guarantee and number of design submissions received in logo contests.

- Pricing Compared – Design Crowd claims to be the lowest, however it may not necessarily be so for your project. I found their pricing confusing (see screenshot below). They charge you a “posting fee” and then you are charged extra for “project upgrades” and transaction fees of 4%. Yikes. Why can’t I just buy a full package like 99designs offers – Packages start at the Bronze $299 (I bought this one), Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Also, it took a while to find the pricing on Design Crowd site. It was not very transparent whereas 99designs offers a pricing tab on the top menu of all pages with a clear pricing chart (shown below)

Packages and Features Compared – 99designs packages are all-inclusive as opposed to Design Crowd that lure you in with a low price then add many extra fees including a transaction fee.
Money Back Guarantee – 99designs money back guarantee is more generous and clearly stated as below. They offer a money back refund for up to 60 days after purchase.
The number of Design Contest Submissions – This is where 99designs blows away Design Crowd. I got 100+ logo designs in my contest, read about it here, while Design Crowd says you will get 25-100+ designs per project, you can see by browsing the site that get much less, some as low as 14 looks! I would be very unhappy if I went to the trouble to launch a logo design contest and only got a few designs. It would be a waste of my time and energy.