shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use Designernews?

This deployment is temporarily paused - designernews.co

Skip. No one should buy anything here: Designer News is a free design community whose site is paused and was reported shutting down in January 2024. It historically suited designers and founders wanting design-community discussion, but nobody should depend on it today.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~30 public sources; they conflict on status — live-but-paused deployment vs a Jan 2024 shutdown report.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of useNo evidence; site inaccessible during review
  • Feature depthCannot verify features; site paused
  • Support quality
  • Security postureNo findings either way; site paused

Pricing

Not disclosed

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes

Best for

  • Designers seeking peer discussion and news
  • Founders pitching to a design audience
  • Job hunters using its design jobs board

Not for

  • Anyone needing a working community today
  • Buyers expecting vendor support or reliability
  • Teams anchoring launch or PR plans on it
  • Anyone wanting a paid, supported product

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Still listed in 2026 launch directories despite being offline — those listings are stale

high

Reported shutdown means hosted stories, links, and accounts may be unrecoverable

medium

Even the /security page shows the paused deployment; nothing about the service is verifiable

medium

Reboot efforts are community-run Reddit threads, not an official revival

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Long-running online community for design discussion
  • Had a dedicated jobs board for designers
  • Still cited in 2026 launch directories as a press channel
  • Daily design news available via an Alexa skill

Cons

  • Site currently shows a paused deployment; content inaccessible
  • Reported shutting down in January 2024
  • Community scattered; users mourning and rebooting on Reddit
  • No evident vendor or support; described as abandoned

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/25/2026 - 9 sources - No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

official x1review x2news x6

Key stats

  • Value for money: 2/5

    Rating

  • Not disclosed

    Starting price

  • 9

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 2/5. Free but paused; no value currently
  • Ease of use. No evidence; site inaccessible during review
  • Feature depth. Cannot verify features; site paused
  • Support quality: 2/5. Reported abandoned; no evident support team
  • Security posture. No findings either way; site paused
  • Paused Site status designernews.co serves a paused deployment
  • Jan 2024 Shutdown report Hacker News: 'DesignerNews Is Shutting Down'
  • Free Cost community site; no paid tiers found in sources
  • 150+ Launch-list presence named in '150+ places to launch your product' lists

Pricing

Free tier: Yes

Security

No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

What users say

Users praise its past value for designers but report the community shut down and say they miss it.

“DesignerNews Is Shutting Down”
Hacker News

Alternatives

Compare Designernews with each alternative.

  • Hacker News

    Tech news community; designers already cross-post there.

    Designernews vs Hacker News

  • Reddit r/web_design

    Active design discussion where ex-DN users post.

  • Product Hunt

    Better launch channel; users compare the two.

Full analysis

Based on ~30 public sources; they conflict on status — live-but-paused deployment vs a Jan 2024 shutdown report.

Free design community; site paused and reported shut down Jan 2024. Use Reddit or Hacker News instead. Nothing to buy.

Methodology

Based on ~30 public sources; they conflict on status — live-but-paused deployment vs a Jan 2024 shutdown report.

Sources

  1. DesignerNews Is Shutting Downnews.ycombinator.com
    news
  2. r/DesignerNews Rebootreddit.com
    news
  3. Designer News - Online Community for Designthehiveindex.com
    review
  4. Designer News Jobs — Review & How to Use Itdesigners.ac
    review
  5. Designer News 2.0awilkinson.medium.com
    news
  6. Designer News security page (paused)designernews.co
    official
  7. 150+ places to launch your productlinkedin.com
    news
  8. 27 Press & Media Outlets to Submit To (2026)ideaproof.io
    news
  9. Popular website being abandoned, opportunity to replace?indiehackers.com
    news

Rate this review

Anonymous. You can change your vote.

Loading votes…

Comments

One queue. No nested comments. Give a display name first. Limit: 200 words per comment and 7 comments per day. You can edit or delete yours.

Save a name to write a comment.

0 / 200 words

No comments yet.