shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use CSS Design Awards?

Website awards and design inspiration gallery - cssdesignawards.com

Depends. Worth the $50 only for agencies or freelancers with a visually exceptional site who want prestige and a DR-85 backlink. Skip it if you need software tooling or guaranteed marketing ROI — paid entries can lose.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~20 public sources: official pricing, Reddit threads, SSL Labs, and SEO backlink analyses.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support qualityNo public support data found
  • Security posture

Pricing

$50 USD

Site submission

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly fees$50
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes

Best for

  • Design agencies chasing credibility
  • Freelancers building portfolios
  • Marketers wanting a DR-85 backlink
  • Designers browsing inspiration galleries

Not for

  • Anyone expecting guaranteed ROI from the $50 fee
  • Businesses buying software — this is a contest, not a tool
  • Sites without exceptional visual design
  • Buyers comparing CRMs or productivity apps — wrong category entirely

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Pay-to-enter contest: losing costs money and yields only a listing

medium

Fee is $50 per site; multiple or repeated submissions multiply cost fast

medium

Value is mostly the backlink and badge, not traffic — measure before resubmitting

low

No published security page despite handling submissions and accounts

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Judged on UI, UX, creativity, and content
  • Strong SEO backlink: DR 80+ domain
  • Large reach: 202,931 Facebook followers
  • Public voting needs no login, lowering vote friction
  • Free inspiration gallery of award-winning designs

Cons

  • $50 per submission with no win guarantee
  • Some designers question judging quality versus rivals
  • No public security page published
  • Awwwards comparison shows a stronger-known competitor

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/21/2026 - 12 sources - No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed; SSL tested, but no security page.

official x2review x5security x2news x3

Key stats

  • Value for money: 2/5

    Rating

  • $50 USD

    Starting price

  • 12

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 2/5. $50 entry; payoff only if you win
  • Ease of use: 4/5. Simple entry; public voting needs no login
  • Feature depth: 3/5. UI/UX/creality/content judging, badges, certificates
  • Support quality. No public support data found
  • Security posture: 3/5. Valid SSL; no public security page
  • $50 Submission fee USD per site entry
  • DR ~85 Backlink authority SEO value of a winner link
  • ~203K Facebook audience 202,931 followers
  • Yes Free browsing Gallery free; entries cost $50

Pricing

Site submission

$50 USD

  • Judged on UI, UX, creativity, content
  • Eligible for Website of the Day/Year
  • Winner badges and certificates

Security

No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed; SSL tested, but no security page.

What users say

Designers love browsing the gallery for inspiration, but some openly question whether these award sites rank real quality.

“Just found this website , Holy Shit”
Reddit, r/webdev
“Is there something that ranks websites by actual quality, and not the joke”
Reddit, r/web_design
“CSSdesignawards and CSSawards so; they brought in a lot of early cli”
Reddit, r/freelancing

Companies that use it

  • Indigov
  • QualityHive
  • Helixes Inc.
  • Hashkrio Tech
  • SOZO Design

Companies that could

  • Largo Capital Uses Awwwards instead
Full analysis

Based on ~20 public sources: official pricing, Reddit threads, SSL Labs, and SEO backlink analyses.

$50-per-entry design award site. Fine for agencies chasing prestige and backlinks; not a tool, no guaranteed win.

Methodology

Based on ~20 public sources: official pricing, Reddit threads, SSL Labs, and SEO backlink analyses.

Sources

  1. Submit Your Site - CSS Design Awardscssdesignawards.com
    official
  2. CSS Design Awards - Official sitecssdesignawards.com
    official
  3. CSS Design Awards Review: Criteria, Pricingwebdesignawards.io
    review
  4. Awwwards vs CSS Design Awardswebdesignawards.io
    review
  5. Reddit: Just found this website, Holy Shitreddit.com
    review
  6. Reddit: Something like awwwards but good?reddit.com
    review
  7. Reddit: Fiverr is killing freelancingreddit.com
    review
  8. SSL Server Test - cssdesignawards.comssllabs.com
    security
  9. Security pagecssdesignawards.com
    security
  10. Submit to Css Design Awards - DR 85scrolllaunch.com
    news
  11. 43 backlink and AEO sourcesthe-ai-corner.com
    news
  12. CSS Design Awards Facebook pagefacebook.com
    news

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