crowdspring is a Chicago-based design contest website, specialized in providing a platform for freelancers to deliver unique artistic services. It allows clients to create customized projects detailing their desires and to award prize money for the winner. crowdspring shakes up the formula of more traditional freelance sites by allowing writing and brand naming contests and offering a large setout of features for employers, including a money back guarantee and perks that guarantee higher quality results, such as working with one specific artist. Freelancers have access to fewer benefits, but to compensate for their loss, they don’t need to pay service fees at all.
At first, crowdspring seems to be your typical design contest site. However, the service not only supports designs, but all forms of graphical works as well: from logos, illustrations, infographics, clothing designs to web and mobile app customizations and even package designs. Furthermore, the site goes one step further and broadens its categories by adding other creative tasks to the mix, like writing blog content, creating news articles or completing marketing copy. Last but not least, contests can be launched for the purpose of gathering ideas on the naming of a product or kicking off said product’s marketing campaign with a nice slogan/tagline.
In other words, crowdspring promises multiple entries for each category but with a much more reasonable pricing policy than working with a team of professional artists.
crowdspring emphasizes the importance of being funded by the work of freelance artists and writers (called Creatives), yet it fails to mention any benefits or features they can enjoy once they’ve joined the community. Despite the above hiccup, freelancers can register for free and participate in contests where they are able to submit their art or copy in hopes of being announced as winners. Too bad you won’t be compensated when someone else is chosen, even if your work is liked by the Buyer. To rub more salt into the wound, employers can organize contests without the obligation to announce a winner, or, in other words, the employer gets his/her money back, while you don’t get a nickel for your efforts.
Freelancer profile pages are pretty bland, leaving little room to showcase your skills and achievements. You have a large, color-coded circle displaying your reputation, some personal info, a middle section with your latest successes and a gallery for your portfolio. Although this way everybody has the same chances in the eyes of the employers, it makes it quite hard to stand out from the crowd.
If you haven’t noticed it by now, it is quite obvious that crowdspring does everything in its power to spoil employers, labeled as Buyers. First and foremost, they enjoy a full refund on projects that don’t provide satisfying results, but only if said contest is public, the number of contestants is under 100 and no winning position is guaranteed. To show that you are a fair Buyer, and to prevent the shameful exploitation of aspiring artists/designers, you should go with the Assured Contest, a far more motivating solution for Creatives.
As with all freelance websites, the higher tier payment package you use, the more noteworthy perks you unlock. In the case of crowdspring, such features are the focus group (which helps you choose the winning artwork), site-wide promotions, collaboration tools, private galleries (so only you can see the results), and the option to work with premium-level artists only.
Launching a project is pretty easy, as it only requires four steps. First the site asks some general information about the artwork or writing to be created. In order to be sure you receive what you want, write a few lines about your preferences and pinpoint some general guidelines for the final product. In case you already have a concept in your head or you wish to include a specific design element, share that as well, otherwise just go through the final works and contact the Creatives for any further refinement.
As for the user interface, called MySPRING, it is minimalistic and has an old-fashioned look, which is unworthy of a design website. The browsing tab feels a bit crowded, but it’s quite informative, making it easy to skim the available offers, especially since search results can be further sorted by category, activity and industry type.
To fully embrace the artist community, crowdspring doesn’t charge service fees on the earnings of the Creatives. Buyers, on the other hand, should prepare to dip deep into their pocket when resorting to this company’s services. The website offers four packages (Express, Silver, Gold, Platinum), all coming with pre-determined prices that vary depending on the contest type: for instance, simple logos cost less, while full web-designs tend to be more expensive. The type of package also heavily influences the duration of the event, the maximum number of entries and, of course, the choice of additional features.
For example, logo designing starts from $199 in Express, costs $299 in the most popular Silver package, is $499 in the best value Gold package, while it has a price tag of $1,199 in Platinum, the company’s top plan. It’s worth mentioning that each plan includes only one prize, which is about 2/3 of the overall value. To choose more than one winner you must deposit additional amounts instead of splitting the existing prize into smaller chunks.
Thumbs up to crowdspring for their comprehensive customer support, which includes a phone number for personal assistance, an email address for explaining more detailed problems and a live chat for getting fast and prompt answers. Other than enlightening customers and solving their issues, the crowdspring staff operates a consultation service which provides advice for clients, including a helping hand in how to start a project. However, if you prefer looking up the info yourself, you have a more than sufficient FAQ at your service.
crowdspring is unique in the sense that it’s a design contest site expanding to writing and branding, thus making it a far more attractive choice for the creative crowd. The only problem is that the service clearly favors clients over freelancers, as it only addresses the former and fails to provide assurance for the latter. In other words, if you are a freelancer, especially a beginner, this site is not the best choice, despite the huge advantage of the waived service fees.
As for clients, we whole-heartedly recommend the site, since crowdspring freelancers are well able to present you with beautiful designs and other creative work, not to mention there are numerous features aimed at your convenience. There’s also the money-back guarantee, the ability to invite only premium users and the option to outsource a project for one specific Creative.
The Best Reviews team researches and tests all products first-hand. We've been reviewing products and services since 2012 and are proud to only publish human-created content.
March 2025
CROWDSPRING & JURAT BLOCK CHAIN ARE SCAM!!! STAY AWAY FROM THEM!! Ross kimbarovsky and ashlee haggerty are THIEVES!!!!! LIARS!!! THEY DO NOT PAY DESIGNERS IN CROWDSPRING!!! SHAME ON YOU!!!
Hello Petra, thank you for leaving a comment. We weren’t aware of this issue with crowdspring – would you be able to provide a few more details? Thanks!
Share your thoughts, ask questions, and connect with other users. Your feedback helps our community make better decisions.
©2012-2025 Best Reviews, a clovio brand –
All rights
reserved
