Freelancer Marketplaces

99designs vs Reedsy

99designs uses a contest model where multiple designers submit concepts for your cover, allowing you to choose among many options, while Reedsy offers a curated, vetted marketplace for directly hiring professionals across editing, design, formatting, marketing, and narration. Both charge per-project, but 99designs typically has lower starting prices (e.g., $299+ for a basic contest) compared to Reedsy’s higher-end vetted talent (often $500+ per cover). 99designs excels for cover design only, whereas Reedsy provides a broader range of services with higher quality assurance through vetting. Your choice depends on whether you prefer competitive ideation (99designs) or reliable, experienced freelancers (Reedsy).

Pick 99designs

Pick 99designs if you want to see multiple cover concepts from different designers in a contest format and prefer a wider range of budget options, especially at lower price points.

Pick Reedsy

Pick Reedsy if you need vetted professionals for any part of your book production (editing, design, formatting, marketing) and value quality assurance and direct hiring over competitive design concepts.

At a glance

99designsReedsy
PricingPer-projectPer-project
Pricing modelPaidPaid
Free optionNoNo
PlatformsWebWeb
Best forFreelancer MarketplacesFreelancer Marketplaces
AI featuresNoNo
Open sourceNoNo

99designs

99designs.com

Cover-design contests/marketplace.

Visit 99designs

Reedsy

reedsy.com

Vetted marketplace for editors, designers, formatters, marketers, narrators.

Visit Reedsy

See more options: 99designs alternatives · Reedsy alternatives