In recent years, the remote job market has become a crucial part of the world. This is the reason why more and more jobs are available in freelance cooperation. Workers are intended to look for freelance jobs to reach flexible work and life.

If you are looking for freelance workers, especially designers, we would like to recommend the top ten websites that can help you hire the best freelance designers.

Top 10 Websites that You Can Hire the Best Freelance Designer

1. Upwork

Founded in 2015, Upwork (formerly known as Elance oDesk) is one of the world’s most famous platforms for hiring freelancers of various levels in different professional fields. There are over 300,000 graphic and web designers available, you can easily find highly skilled freelancers for your design positions. No matter if you want to hire a freelance designer, a team of designers, or even full-time designers for short or long-term projects, Upwork is always available for your anticipated needs.

The process of hiring:

• Upwork gives you two options to hire a freelance designer: Post your job position and some relevant information (tasks, wage proposal). Interested freelancers will respond to it and contact you.
• Go through their profiles and reach out to freelancers by yourself.

Key features:

• Search filters that help you narrow your designer's talent pool quickly.
• Work diary to track hours freelancers spent on the project.
• Online workspace to interact with your freelance designers and share feedback.
• Available in Mobile apps for Android and iOS that you can manage your freelancers.

Pros:

• Find freelancers for all budget ranges.
• A system for monitoring designer’s progress (if you are paying by the hour).
• Pay by the hour or at a fixed price.
• Posting a job is free.

Cons:

• The process of searching for potential candidates may be time-consuming.
• Communication may be a challenge.
• Additional services require purchasing a subscription plan.

Price: Upwork comes with three plans:

• Basic (Free) : 3 freelancers per job post + safe payment options + transaction reporting.
• Plus ($49.99/month): 15 freelancers per posting + dedicated account management + advanced collaboration features.
• Business ($499/month): unlimited invites to freelancers + premium customer support + advanced job post and talent sourcing tools.

2. Toptal

Toptal is a website that connects the top 3% of freelance talent all over the world. Toptal is an exclusive marketplace because they’re extremely selective with whom they permit to join their platform. Toptal requires its members to have experience working on high-quality projects in the long run. This ensures Toptal provides highly skilled professionals in any field and meets your requirements, interests, and budget.

The process of hiring:

• Submit a job posting with all your requirements.
• An expert from the Toptal team will contact you.
• The team will find a list of freelancers that fit your job requirements.
• You select the ones that you like the most.

Key features:

• Toptal has one of the strictest screening procedures in the world (multiple rounds of interviews, skill tests, and even reference checks) - resulting in only the top 3% featuring on their platform.
• The Toptal team does all the work of the process of hiring.
• A streamlined system designed to resolve disputed issues quickly.

Pros:

• Highly skilled designers – all freelancers on the platform are previously reviewed and filtered among many other creatives.
• The no-risk trial period.
• Pay only after 100% satisfaction.

Cons:

• Slow and rigorous screening process.
• A more expensive service compared to other platforms.

Price: Once you decide on a freelancer, you have to make a $500 deposit that will be refunded once the job is finished. In addition to the deposit, you’ll have to pay the freelancer their hourly rate.

3. Freelancer.com

Freelancer.com is another famous platform that helps you find your ideal designers who are fit for your freelance jobs. Freelancer provides a built-in tracker and a mobile app that will help you monitor your designer’s progress.

The process of hiring: There are three options to hire freelance designers with Freelancer.com

• Use their search filters to identify freelancers that fit your job requirements and then contact them directly.
• Post job listings and screen the freelancers who apply.
• Conduct contests where freelancers submit their ideas and you choose your favorite ones.

Key features:

• The platform creates a detailed design portfolio for each freelancer, this helps to carefully screen candidates.
• Conduct certification exams to verify each freelancer’s skillset.
• The payment management system, which includes paying by milestone, helps mitigate risk.

Pros:

• Various ways of hiring designers: contests, job posts, screen profiles.
• Hire designers for projects of all scopes.
• Payment after a 100% satisfaction.

Cons:

• May be time-consuming to hire the right freelancers for your project.

Price: Freelancer.com has five membership plans:

• Intro Plan ($0.99/month): 15 bids per month + unlimited project bookmarks.
• Basic Plan ($4.95/month): 50 bids per month + preferred freelancer + 3 free highlighted contest entries per month.
• Plus Plan ($9.95/month): 100 bids per month + daily withdrawal requests +5 free highlighted contest entries per month.
• Professional Plan ($29.95/month): 300 bids per month + 15 free highlighted contest entries per month + premium freelancer insights.
• Premier Plan ($69.95/month): 700 bids per month + unlimited project bookmarks + 30 free highlighted contest entries per month + premium freelancer insights + unlimited employer followings + unlimited external invoicing.

4. 99designs

99designs operates a freelancer platform for connecting graphic designers and clients. This platform makes it easy to work with professional, creative experts from around the world and build your brand through custom, memorable design. With over 90 different design categories, 99designs makes connections between freelance designers and clients stronger.

The process of hiring: 99designs helps you find freelance designers in two ways.

• You create a contest. Submit a brief of your design project. Designers will submit their entries. You select the one that you like the most and hire them for your freelance work.
• 99designs connects you with just the right designer according to your vision, requirements, and your project specs. You can check out their profiles, receive quotes, and pick the best option.

Key features:

• Lets you conduct contests to choose the freelancer with the best proposal.
• Every freelancer has been thoroughly screened and vetted.
• 24-48 hour resolution time for all complaints and disputes.

Pros:

• Flexible pricing for different needs.
• 100% money-back guarantee policy.
• A streamlined and simple process.
• Ability to collaborate.

Cons:

• Many entries may not be of the quality and/or relevance you are looking for.
• Require an extra service fee if you want more entries.

Price: 9designs offers four fixed-price membership packages:

• Bronze ($299/month): for 30 design concepts.
• Silver ($499/month): for 60 design concepts.
• Gold ($899/month): for 90 design concepts, mid & top-level designers only.
• Platinum ($1299/month): for 60 design concepts and top-level designers only.

5. Fiverr

Fiverr is a popular online platform used by small businesses to hire graphic and web designers. Connect businesses straight to freelancers in a range of fields, such as design, marketing, information technology, and more. Freelancers generate their service offerings, tiered packages, and rates for clients to browse and choose from. As of 2021, Fiverr has 3.42 million active clients, becoming a marketplace for designers to find opportunities easily.

The process of hiring:

• Post job listings and freelancers will respond to them.
• Check a freelancer’s profiles and reach out to them if you are impressed.

Key features:

• Highlights each freelancer’s seller level to help you quickly identify the best-talented freelancers.
• No membership fees.
• Has multiple search filters.

Pros:

• A friendly user interface is great for beginners.
• Easily interact with multiple designers and ask for quotes.
• Can read reviews and check designers’ work on their profiles.

Cons:

• Difficult to get high-quality designs on a low budget.
• Takes longer to get your payout, from 7 to 14 days.
• High service fees.

Price: All purchases on Fiverr.com are subject to a $2 service fee for work up to $40, and a 5% fee for services above $40.

6. Dribbble

Dribble is one of the #1 job boards for top design talent. This platform allows designers to build their portfolios, show their work, meet, share ideas, and join a creative community including other designers and potential clients. With Dribbble Hiring, you can attract, engage, and connect with many high-quality designers faster than ever.

The process of hiring:

• Submit the project brief to the Dribbble team.
• They’ll go through it and send you a list of freelancers who fit your requirements.
• Explore profiles, reach out to freelancers directly, and receive a quote from them.

Key features:

• Based on an invite-only basis, Dribbble will choose who they let join as freelancer membership.
• A built-in communication lets you interact with your freelancers easily.
• Ability to find freelancers manually by submitting your project brief and then the platform does this work.

Pros:

• The highly popular platform for designers is an ideal place to find talents with multiple skill sets.
• The ability to filter your search by project budget.
• The ability to provide each other feedback to improve skills.

Cons:

• Freelance job boards are only available to premium users.
• Can only contact designers who have enabled Work Opportunities.
• Once you connect with a designer, you have to set up the payments and the contracts yourself and take up all responsibilities and risks after you’ve chosen to hire the designer.

Price: Start at $99/month for basic support from the Dribbble team.

Moreover, Dribbble offers three pricing plans:

• Job board: $299 per month or $249 per quarter.
• Designer search: $299 per month or $249 per quarter.
• Job board + Designer search: $499 per month or $349 per quarter.

7. Behance

Behance is one of the biggest communities for designers and artists acquired by Adobe. Behance is also an online creative graphic design marketplace, a social media where you can follow and unfollow people, update the newest work uploads can show (or not) in your feed. You can see portfolios and works of art, and hire through this platform by signing up for Adobe Talent through Adobe Creative Cloud.

The process of hiring:

• Behance offers two options to hire freelance designers.
• You message your favorite designers directly. It’s free but Behance provides a limit on direct messages to avoid spam, so you may take a lot of time.
• Use the Job board to post freelance jobs you need to fill.

Key features:

• Host a wide range of designs around the world.
• Open to most artists and designers.
• Available in more work opportunities.
• Offers a robust job board for categories like logo design, photography, illustration, and helpful search features.

Pros:

• Free to post jobs with an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription.
• Allows you to explore designers’ portfolios in depth.
• Personalized job recommendations.
• Open to the public to host and show off portfolios to their 10+ million members.

Cons:

• A highly competitive platform so finding time may be time-consuming.
• Not all designers may work as freelancers.
• Issues with image loading and compression.

Price: Behance is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud plan. To hire freelance designers, you have to sign up for Adobe Talent with a fee of $14.29 a month.

8. PeoplePerHour

PeoplePerHour is a UK-based online platform giving businesses access to freelancers. With over 1 million clients and freelancers, this platform has numerous hourly and project-based work from different fields. So it allows you to pay by the hour or pay a set rate per project.

The process of hiring: PeoplePerHour gives you three options to hire a freelance designer:

• Post a job, a project brief, and then the freelancers come to you with their proposals.
• Purchase pre-set packages (termed as “Offers”) from freelancers.
• Go through their profiles, choose the top freelancers you’d like to hire, and contact them directly.

Key features:

• Freelancers on PeoplePerHour provide you with pre-set packages that help save the time of negotiating deliverables and project scope.
• Almost all designers are familiar with Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator – giving you the design flexibility you need.
• A dedicated project stream makes communication and collaboration with your freelancer easier and more convenient.

Pros:

• Offers a diverse filter by category, delivery time, location, and price.
• A variety of designers available allows finding a freelancer for any budget.
• Ability to collaborate and connect.
• Automatic invoicing.

Cons:

• The lower rates of designers for hire.
• Customer support issues.
• High service fees, need to pay a deposit before the candidate you’ve chosen starts working.

Price: PeoplePerHour is available for free. Sign up with your social media accounts to get started. However, they do charge a service fee of $0.78 + 10% of the total payment made to the freelancer.

9. DesignHill

DesignHill is another popular freelance graphic design website that helps you find talented graphic designers at affordable prices. DesignHill offers more than 35+ design categories, describing itself as “a combination of a crowdsourcing custom design marketplace and a creative platform for designers to learn and showcase their creative work.” This is a great place to choose the best designs and work with the authors of them - ideal designers to work on your project.

The process of hiring: DesignHill gives you three options to hire a graphic designer:

• Create a design contest and choose the designers who impressed you.
• Select its built-in Graphic Design Services and get custom design services provided by the platform’s own designers.
• Use One to One Projects where you can directly contact a freelancer for a project.

Key features:

• Allows you to conduct design contests and you can hire your favorite designers for your project.
• Has a built-in graphic design team to help you quickly get talented freelance designers.

Pros:

• Offer many options with an affordable fee and suitable for low-budget campaigns.
• Gives you a wide range of different perspectives on your project to choose from.
• Can browse designers’ portfolios.
• Option for a monthly membership that allows sending multiple requests in a month.
• Has a money-back guarantee policy.

Cons:

• Suitable for less complex designs.
• May receive unrelated entries.

Price: DesignHill has four membership packages:

• Fast Track ($249/month): for 20-40 designs, good designers.
• Standard ($399/month): for 40-60 designs, great designers.
• Executive ($699/month): for 60-80 designs, expert designers.
• Premium ($999/month): for 80+ designs, exceptional designers.

10. DesignCrowd

As an alternative to 99designs, DesignCrowd is a creative marketplace for graphic designers that provides one-on-one projects with clients and crowdsourced design contests. A crowdsourced model will give you a collection of options for your designs and selecting the best designer that you are interested in. One of the differences between DesignCrowd and other platforms is its much more concentration on contests.

The process of hiring:

• Host a contest design based on your project’s needs.
• Receive unique designs from around the world within hours.
• Select and approve your favorite design and download the files.
• Communicate with the designer who created this design to customize your order.

Key features:

• Allows you to conduct design contests and hire your favorite designers for your project.
• A low-risk way to find a design you like.
• More affordable than hiring a professional designer.

Pros:

• Offers efficient and affordable ways to get graphics designed.
• Offers contest participation payments to freelancers.
• The money-back guarantee lowers the risk of entry.
• Great option for beginners to improve skills, build portfolios, and earn money in the process.
• Free, easy sign-up.

Cons:

• Lower freelance rates.
• High competition.

**Price: ** DesignCrowd comes with three plans:

• $99: 1–3 designs, 1 designer, up to 3 revisions.
• $199: 6+ designs, 3 designers, unlimited revisions.
• $299: 50+ designs, unlimited designers, unlimited revisions.

Conclusion

These are the top ten websites where you can hire the best freelance designers for your project. Thanks to a wide range of platforms, hiring high-quality freelance designers doesn’t have to be difficult. You should determine your needs, expectations, and budget to choose the right platform. You can easily find a talented designer who fits all your requirements.