Is Dribbble Dead? Why Designers Abandoned Dribbble

The start of Dribbble

Dribbble began in 2009 as an invite-only platform where designers shared small previews of their work called "shots". It was a creative environment filled with users who shared concepts and interfaces purely for the joy of visual exploration. Having a Dribbble account really felt like carrying a VIP pass in the design world.

During its peak years, from 2010 to 2017, Dribbble became the platform for design inspiration. A lot of designers posted their work on Dribbble, and some even got "famous" doing so. Some of those designers are Matt Olpinski, Zhenya Rynzhuk, Justin Mezzell, and many others. Most of them didn’t just achieve personal success, they shaped the design industry itself.

The controversial decision

Is Dribbble dead? What happened with Dribbble that made so many designers want to walk away?
Both are questions floating across design forums, group chats, and X threads. Let’s get into more detail.

The shift began years ago. In 2017, Dribbble was acquired by Tiny, evolving from a small, 8-person team, into a larger company (now over 20 people) with new leadership and a more commercially focused direction.

Then came the real turning point. In March 2025, Dribbble officially transitioned from an advertising-supported community into a revenue-sharing marketplace. From that moment, all designer-client interactions had to happen within the platform, including payments. And yes, Dribbble takes a cut.

Contact details? They are now hidden until the client pays. And it wasn’t just emails; it included links to LinkedIn, your personal site, and even places clients could actually hire you. The change was positioned as a way to better align incentives and create more sustainable revenue streams. And by the numbers, it worked. Orders and engagement went up, and designer churn stayed low.

But not everyone was on board.

For many longtime users, it felt like the soul of the platform had shifted. A place once built on open sharing, visibility, and creative community now felt more gated, more transactional. Across X, designers began calling it out. Some said their leads were drying up. Others reported a rise in scammy messages or poor-quality client inquiries. And plenty simply said they didn’t recognize the place anymore.

The discontent built slowly, but one incident made it boil over.

In mid-2025, a well-known designer, Gleb Kuznetsov, posted that Dribbble had deleted his profile without warning. He suggested it was punishment for speaking out against the platform’s changes, and the post went viral. Designers rallied behind him, frustrated by the direction the platform had taken and disheartened by what felt like silence from leadership.

But Dribbble did respond.

CEO Constantine Anastasakis published a public thread clarifying that Gleb wasn’t removed for criticism, but for violating the platform’s terms specifically. He repeatedly tried to move clients off-platform to avoid paying fees. According to Constantine, Gleb had received over 60 warnings before his suspension. He also explained that the business model shift was a deliberate, long-term decision to support designers in a sustainable way—not a cash grab, but an effort to realign the company’s future with its mission.

Even with that context, the damage was done. The incident didn’t just reflect a policy violation, it crystallized what many designers were already feeling: that the trust was gone, and that Dribbble no longer felt like it used to.

It wasn’t just about Gleb. Or about fees. Or about visibility. It was about the community. What it was and what it had become.

Quality decline and rising frustration

The Dribbble quality decline wasn’t just about policies, it was about what’s actually happening inside the platform.

Let’s start with the scams.

Some designers on social media claim that up to 80% of job requests they receive on Dribbble are fake (example in the photo below). You know the type: someone sends a brief, then asks you to “test” a file or register on a sketchy site. Others ask you to inspect a design that turns out to be a phishing link. These messages aren’t just frustrating, they’re dangerous. And when they’re the majority of your inbox, it’s hard to trust any lead at all.

Then there’s the work itself.

A lot of what rises to the top these days feels… weird. Instead of showing real-world projects or thoughtful problem solving, many posts chase the algorithm. You’ll see flashy mockups with unreadable type, rainbow gradients, or microinteractions that look cool but would never work in an actual product. And they get all the love. Design is much more than just home screens, and nicely designed ideal cases are history as soon as the app is live.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t amazing designers still posting. There absolutely are. But it’s getting harder to spot them when the platform rewards what looks good, not what works well.

And then there’s the AI factor.

Dribbble technically doesn’t allow fully AI-generated content, but it’s hard to keep track. A lot of designs now show that blend of slick surface with uncanny polish (perfect gradients, fake glassmorphism, oddly sterile vibes). You can’t always tell if something was made by a human, by AI, or with a little of both. And for some people, that’s a red flag. If everything looks “too perfect,” what does creative originality even mean?

All of this—scams, surface-level work, AI content—adds up to something bigger: a platform that feels less like a community, and more like a content treadmill. And for a lot of designers, that shift is what finally pushed them away.

New platforms

Dribbble’s changes didn’t just shift policies, they shifted people.

Some quietly deleted their profiles. Others just stopped posting. But many have already moved on, and are building visibility elsewhere.

When it comes to Dribbble alternatives, the most talked about is Contra. It’s free, lets you share direct contact info, and feels closer to what Dribbble used to be; a place to get discovered and land real work. Some designers who never got a lead on Dribbble now use Contra as their main portfolio, and say it works.

X (formerly Twitter) isn’t a portfolio tool, but it’s where the design community is loud and active. People share behind-the-scenes work, give feedback, and get hired right from threads. It’s raw and personal, but it works. And for many, it’s more valuable than a static profile on any one platform.

It isn't about replacing Dribbble with one perfect solution. It’s about finding platforms that feel more open, more human, and more aligned with how today’s creatives work.

Our take

Let’s be clear, Dribbble had every right to enforce its platform rules. If someone violates the terms, especially repeatedly, there are consequences. A good example is Gleb’s case and how Dribbble’s CEO later clarified that over 60 warnings were issued before the account was removed. That doesn't show “zero tolerance"; that shows patience.

But from a product and UX perspective, the way things were handled still raises a few questions. And it opens up a bigger conversation: how can platforms encourage better behavior without breaking user trust?

Here’s what we would suggest from a UX perspective, not just for Dribbble, but for any digital platform managing sensitive user actions:

Recognize violations before they happen 

Instead of waiting for users to hit “Send” on a message that breaks the rules, the platform could use AI to detect risky behavior in real time. If a designer starts typing contact info or phrases that violate TOS, show a warning and disable the button. Help them course-correct before things escalate.

Use progressive restrictions

Banning someone outright and erasing all their work shouldn’t be the first or only option. Why not temporarily pause posting rights? Or block messaging for a week? A graduated system of consequences gives users space to reflect and adjust.

Trust is a two-way street. Platforms can’t, and shouldn’t, let every rule slide. But they can absolutely design systems that help people do the right thing. There’s always a better way, and as designers, that’s the best part of our job.

Conclusion

Dribbble didn’t crash overnight. Some of the changes were necessary. Others were strategic. And some were just inevitable. 

But for many designers, it wasn’t just the business model or the rise of AI-generated work. It was the loss of something harder to define. That feeling of belonging, discovery, and mutual respect that once made the platform special.

So is Dribbble dead? Not technically. People still post. Some still get work. But for a growing number of designers, the heart of the platform just isn’t there anymore.

This isn’t about blame. It’s about how platforms grow, and how those choices shape the communities they serve. As designers, we don’t just create screens. We build systems, interactions, and experiences. We know that trust is built in the details, and broken there, too.

So maybe the real takeaway here isn’t just about Dribbble. It’s about what we want from our platforms going forward.