Most lists of places to sell graphic design mix three different businesses into one ranking: selling services to clients, selling templates and assets, and entering contests. They then rank the platforms by how well known they are. A designer choosing where to sell logos, flyers and brand work needs a different sort, by what each platform keeps from the orders you actually sell. Design orders are small, and at small sizes the fee structures behave in ways the headline percentages hide.
The short answer. For a US designer selling services, the cheapest places to sell a $150 design order are a FreelanceNation gig page (you keep $138 to $145.50, the client pays $150) and Contra (you keep $150, the client pays $165). Upwork and Dribbble both leave you $135. Fiverr leaves $120 while charging the client $161.75. The most expensive is 99designs with a new client: an Entry Level designer keeps $97.50 of a $150 project, because a 20% introduction fee and a 15% platform fee both come out of it. On a $600 order Contra leaves you the whole $600 while the client pays $629, and FreelanceNation Studio has the lowest total cut at 3.0%.
Where can I sell graphic design services, and what does each platform take?
You can sell graphic design services on general marketplaces (Fiverr, Upwork), on design communities that added paid projects (Dribbble, Behance), on a design-only marketplace built around contests (99designs), on a commission-free network (Contra), and from your own gig page. Here is what each one publishes about its fees.
| Platform | What the designer pays | What the client pays on top | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fiverr | 20% of every order | 5.5%, plus $3.50 on orders under $200 | Buyers who want to order a small fixed package without a call |
| Upwork | 0% to 15%, set per contract | 5% (3% by US bank account), plus a $0.99 to $14.99 contract fee on Basic | Ongoing work and retainers with business clients |
| 99designs | 15%, 10% or 5% by designer level, plus 20% of the first $500 with each new client (max $100) | 5% | Brand identity and logo work, especially if you win contests |
| Dribbble | 10% up to $500, 7% to $1,000, 4% above; 0% on annual Pro Standard or Plus | 5% / 3.5% / 2% on the same bands, $2 under $100, plus card processing | Product, UI and brand designers with a strong shot history |
| Behance | 5% up to $500, 2% to $2,500, 0% above, plus Stripe 2.9% + $0.30; 0% on Pro | 10% plus $2 / 5.5% / 3% on the same bands | Designers already working inside Adobe's ecosystem |
| Contra | 0% | $15 per payment, $29 above $500 (waived on Pro) | Larger projects where a flat client fee is a small share |
| FreelanceNation gig page | 8%, 5% or 3% by plan ($9, $19 or $49 a month) | Nothing | Fixed-price design packages you want to rank in Google and share |
Two figures need a date next to them. Upwork's pricing page shows a 5% client fee, while its help center describes the Basic fee as "up to 7.99%", so treat 5% as the floor. Behance's help center lists the banded fees above, but its current Pro page quotes a different 15% to 30% range for free users, so the free-tier Behance fee is the one most likely to be wrong by the time you read this. Both were checked in September 2026.
What you keep on a $150 order and a $600 order
Most comparisons run a round $1,000 project. Graphic design rarely sells at that size. A flyer, a social media set or a starter logo sells for $100 to $300, and a full logo package for a few hundred more. So here are two realistic orders, with spread meaning the platform's total cut from both sides as a share of what the client paid.
| Platform | $150 order: you keep / client pays | $600 order: you keep / client pays | Spread at $150 / $600 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 99designs, Entry Level, new client | $97.50 / $157.50 | $410.00 / $630.00 | 38.1% / 34.9% |
| 99designs, Top Level, new client | $112.50 / $157.50 | $470.00 / $630.00 | 28.6% / 25.4% |
| Fiverr | $120.00 / $161.75 | $480.00 / $633.00 | 25.8% / 24.2% |
| Behance, no Pro | $137.85 / $167.00 | $570.30 / $633.00 | 17.5% / 9.9% |
| Upwork, 10% talent fee, 5% client fee | $135.00 / $157.50 | $540.00 / $630.00 | 14.3% / 14.3% |
| Dribbble, no Pro | $135.00 / $157.50 | $543.00 / $628.50 | 14.3% / 13.6% |
| 99designs, Top Level, repeat client | $142.50 / $157.50 | $570.00 / $630.00 | 9.5% / 9.5% |
| Contra, free plan | $150.00 / $165.00 | $600.00 / $629.00 | 9.1% / 4.6% |
| FreelanceNation Starter | $138.00 / $150.00 | $552.00 / $600.00 | 8.0% / 8.0% |
| FreelanceNation Pro | $142.50 / $150.00 | $570.00 / $600.00 | 5.0% / 5.0% |
| FreelanceNation Studio | $145.50 / $150.00 | $582.00 / $600.00 | 3.0% / 3.0% |
Card processing is excluded except where Behance passes Stripe's fee to the designer, and Upwork's contract initiation fee is left out because it varies. The 99designs rows assume both the introduction fee and the platform fee apply to a project with a client you have not worked with before, which is how its help center describes them.
Three things fall out of the table. First, 99designs is two very different businesses depending on the relationship. With a new client it is the most expensive venue on the list at any size. With a repeat client at Top Level it drops to 9.5%, about the same as Contra on a small order. Second, Behance and Dribbble are expensive on small orders and reasonable on larger ones, because their bands step down as the project grows. Third, Contra's flat fee is cheap on a $600 order and costs more than any FreelanceNation plan on a $150 one. You can put your own order value through most of these at once in the freelance platform fee calculator.
Is Fiverr good for graphic designers?
Fiverr is good for getting a first stream of small orders and poor for keeping margin. Buyers arrive ready to order a fixed package, which suits flyers, social media sets and simple logos, and you do not need to pitch. The cost is a flat 20% on every order with no reduction for repeat clients or seller level, and the buyer pays 5.5% plus $3.50 on anything under $200. On a $150 order that is $41.75 of platform cut from a client who paid $161.75. The full Fiverr fee breakdown covers extras, tips and withdrawals.
Is 99designs worth it for designers?
99designs is worth it if you win contests and turn those clients into repeat 1-to-1 work, and expensive if you mostly land new clients through its directory. The introduction fee takes 20% of the first $500 you invoice any new client, capped at $100, and it is waived when you won or were a finalist in that client's contest, or when you invite a client who has never used 99designs. The platform fee then drops from 15% to 5% as your level rises. The client side is predictable: a flat 5%, and logo contests from $249 (Bronze) to $1,050 (Platinum).
Can you sell graphic design services on Behance and Dribbble?
Yes. Both started as portfolio communities and both now take project payments. Dribbble charges the designer 10% on the first $500 of a project, 7% on the next $500 and 4% above, and waives its designer fee on annual Pro Standard and Pro Plus. Behance charges 5%, 2% or 0% depending on project size plus Stripe processing, and its Pro plan from $9.99 a month removes the platform fee. Both charge the client too, which is why a $150 Behance project costs the client $167.
The honest limitation is structural rather than financial. A portfolio community is built for browsing, so a buyer who wants a $150 flyer still has to message you, agree a scope and wait for a proposal. That works for considered brand projects and loses the buyer who wanted to order today.
How much should I charge for graphic design services?
Charge from the wage you want to earn, not from the platform average. The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median US graphic designer at $62,960 a year, $30.27 an hour, in May 2025. To take that home as a freelancer, after self-employment tax, health cover, software and the hours you cannot bill, you need about $85 an hour on an 8% platform and about $98 on Fiverr. Upwork's own average for graphic designers is around $25, which is a global figure and pays a full-time US designer roughly $10,000 a year after costs. The freelance graphic design rates page shows the working and has a builder that turns your rate into a priced list of flyers, infographics and logos.
For logo work specifically, the logo design gig description samples give you three copy-ready tiers to start from, and the guide to packaging a service into Basic, Standard and Premium covers how far apart to price them.
Which platform should you pick?
| If you mostly sell | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Small fixed packages under $200 | A gig page with no buyer fee, then Fiverr for volume | Flat client fees and 20% commissions eat the most at this size |
| Logo and brand identity projects | 99designs contests, then repeat work 1-to-1 | Contest wins waive the introduction fee, and repeat clients cost 10% or less at higher levels |
| Projects of $500 and up | Contra or Dribbble Pro | A flat $29 or a 0% designer fee is small against a larger invoice |
| Ongoing retainers with businesses | Upwork | Business buyers post there, and the talent fee is fixed for the life of the contract |
| Illustration and character commissions | The dedicated commission sites | See the art commission sites compared by fee |
Most working designers end up on two venues: one marketplace that sends demand, and one page they own where repeat clients and referrals can order without a platform taking a second cut. If you also build websites, the roundup of the best platforms to sell web design services runs the same comparison at $300 and $1,500.
Brand identity packages sell better as a bundle
The highest-value design orders are rarely a single logo. A startup that needs a logo also needs business cards, social profile images, a simple style sheet and, often, a name it can actually own online. Designers who sell brand identity work increasingly scope the naming step too, because a logo built around a name whose matching brand domain is unavailable tends to get redone six months later. Selling the bundle as one Premium tier raises the order value, and on a percentage platform a larger order does not raise the fee rate the way it lowers a flat fee's share.
Where FreelanceNation fits, and where it does not
FreelanceNation is a gig page for your packaged design services: Basic, Standard and Premium tiers at fixed prices, a page built to rank in Google and to share, and self-serve checkout. The buyer pays no fee. You pay 8% on Starter ($9 a month), 5% on Pro ($19) or 3% on Studio ($49). It does not run contests, it does not sell templates or asset packs, and it does not have Fiverr's buyer traffic, so it works best as the page you send referrals, repeat clients and your own audience to. If that fits, the sell graphic design services page shows how a design gig is set up, and the freelance platforms for designers roundup covers the same market from the buyer's side.