Growing an audience
Running the business
Both cover hiring & freelancers. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| Contra | Dribbble | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $29 | From $150 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Not stated | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | None | Not stated |
| Runs on | Web | Web |
| Covers | Hiring & Freelancers, Creator Finance | Hiring & Freelancers, Design & Graphics |
| Works with | Nothing in particular | Nothing in particular |
| Founded | Not listed | Not listed |
| Reader rating | No reviews yet | No reviews yet |
| Live deals | None right now | None right now |
Freelance profiles and payments with no commission
Contra takes nothing out of what a client pays you, which is the whole pitch and a real difference from the marketplaces that take ten or twenty percent. What it charges instead is a flat platform fee per payment, capped, and a subscription that halves the cap. The work board is smaller than Upwork's, so most people arrive with a client already.
Our note
On a $5,000 project Contra's capped fee is a rounding error and Upwork's percentage is several hundred dollars. On a $200 one the maths reverses. Work out which side of that line your invoices sit on before picking.
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Where designers show work and get hired
Dribbble is the portfolio wall the design world actually looks at, and the hiring side of it lets you post a job free and pay a small percentage only when a project completes. Subscriptions exist for anybody hiring often enough to want to approach people directly. Designers list their own hourly rates in public, which makes it one of the few places you can price a job before writing the brief.
Our note
The free tier with a small completion fee is the right entry for almost every creator, and the subscriptions only pay off for regular hiring. Where this beats a general freelance marketplace is that the work is on display before you talk to anybody.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.
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