shouldiuse.io

Categories

VERDICT

Should I use Web Design Awards?

Nominations open — Nominate your website for a 2026 web design award, scored on a public rubric - webdesignawards.io

Depends. Fine as a cheap $50 badge and directory listing for freelance designers and small agencies building proof. Skip it if you expect Awwwards-level prestige or independently verified credibility — third-party reviews are essentially absent.

Confidence

Medium. Based on 20+ public sources; no independent user reviews found yet.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of useNo usability evidence in sources
  • Feature depth
  • Support qualityNo user evidence on support
  • Security posture

Pricing

$49.99 / one site

Premium entry

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Expert website review (UX audit)$2,000 one-time

Best for

  • Freelance designers
  • Small agencies building proof
  • Cheap badge and backlink seekers
  • Portfolio showcase on a budget

Not for

  • Teams expecting Awwwards-level prestige or inbound leads
  • Buyers needing independently verified credibility
  • Startups treating awards as a lead-gen channel
  • Enterprises needing established, recognized trust signals

Gotchas - check before you buy

medium

Paying to enter doesn't guarantee a listing — not all nominations are accepted.

medium

$2,000 expert review is a heavy upsell on top of entry fees.

medium

No independent user reviews exist yet — the platform is effectively unvetted.

low

Terms mention renewals; cancellation of renewal is on you.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Premium entry is $49.99 per site — cheap for a badge.
  • Sites are scored on a public rubric.
  • Directory placement is pitched where buyers browse to hire.
  • Real agencies, like Onyx8, display the winner badge on their sites.
  • Chrome/Edge extension surfaces daily winners for extra visibility.

Cons

  • Nominations aren't automatically accepted, even after entering.
  • No independent verification — TrueTier notes nobody has verified it.
  • Upsell UX audit costs $2,000 one-time.
  • Challenger award; established galleries like Awwwards dominate recognition.

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/30/2026 - 12 sources - No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

official x5review x3security x1news x3
  • Empty security page, The site's own /security URL returned no content in our crawl.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 3/5

    Rating

  • $49.99 / one site

    Starting price

  • 12

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 3/5. $50 entry is cheap; $2k audit steep
  • Ease of use. No usability evidence in sources
  • Feature depth: 3/5. Directory, public rubric, badges, browser extension
  • Support quality. No user evidence on support
  • Security posture: 2/5. Own security page empty; average trust score
  • $49.99 Entry price Premium entry, one site
  • $2,000 UX audit price One-time expert website review
  • 0 Independent reviews TrueTier: nobody has verified
  • Average-good ScamAdviser trust Automated trust check

Pricing

Premium entry

$49.99 / one site

  • Scored on the public rubric
  • Listing page kept in the directory

Expert website review (UX audit)

$2,000 one-time

  • Complete expert review
  • Built for product and design teams

Security

No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

  • Empty security pageThe site's own /security URL returned no content in our crawl.⁹

What users say

Redditors confirm entering the award but gripe about entry costs, and independent user reviews are otherwise absent.

“There's one i've entered on: webdesignawards.io , but not all nominati…”
Reddit, r/web_design
“Why does it cost $100s to enter these things!?”
Reddit, r/web_design

Companies that use it

  • Onyx8 Digital Agency10
  • LandEarly
  • Maeve Social
  • Metajive Design
  • Outsiders Agency

Companies that could

  • Xtreme Websites Uses Clutch Awards instead
Full analysis

Based on 20+ public sources; no independent user reviews found yet.

Cheap $50 award entry with a public rubric — decent badge, weak independent credibility.

Methodology

Based on 20+ public sources; no independent user reviews found yet.

Sources

  1. Web Design Awards 2026 — homepagewebdesignawards.io
    official
  2. Web Design Award Pricing & Feeswebdesignawards.io
    official
  3. Expert website review & UX auditwebdesignawards.io
    official
  4. Terms of Servicewebdesignawards.io
    official
  5. Awwwards vs Web Design Awardswebdesignawards.io
    official
  6. Looking for web design contests — Reddit r/web_designreddit.com
    review
  7. webdesignawards.io trust check — ScamAdviserscamadviser.com
    review
  8. Web Design Awards — TrueTiertruetier.app
    review
  9. Security pagewebdesignawards.io
    security
  10. Onyx8 agency using winner badgeonyx8agency.com
    news
  11. Winner of the Day Chrome extensionchromewebstore.google.com
    news
  12. SaaS awards worth entering — Mentionrymentionry.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.