Layers Review (2026): Pricing, Features & Honest Verdict

TLDR

Layers is a design community and portfolio platform positioning itself as the modern alternative to Dribbble and Behance, with stronger social features and a built-in job board. Best for: designers building their online presence and finding work. Price: Free plan available, Plus at 6 GBP/month. Rating: 7.3/10

What is Layers?

Layers calls itself “a home for designers.” It is a community platform where designers share work, build portfolios, discover inspiration, find job opportunities, and connect with other creatives. Think of it as Dribbble rebuilt from scratch with community interaction as the priority rather than just being a static gallery of shots.

Founded by Liam McCabe, a London-based designer with over 10 years of experience, Layers grew from a passion project into a platform with 200,000+ designers. McCabe built it after observing widespread frustration with existing platforms. The platform launched to 20,000 members during its private beta and hit 1,354 upvotes on Product Hunt.

The core idea is that designers need more than a portfolio host. They need a place to get feedback, stay inspired, find work, and be part of a professional community. Layers tries to be all of those things in one platform.

Key Features

Portfolio and Design Sharing

Upload and showcase your design work with community feedback, trending feeds, and discovery via tags. The platform encourages interaction rather than passive browsing. Other designers can leave comments, share your work, and follow your profile. The discovery algorithm surfaces trending and hot content, giving new designers a chance at visibility they rarely get on Dribbble.

Job Board

Companies can post design job listings at $99 per posting, connecting with the 200,000+ designer community. Listings cover remote, full-time, freelance, and contract roles. For designers, job discovery is integrated into the same platform where they already showcase work, removing the friction of maintaining separate portfolio and job search workflows.

Teams and Collaboration

The Team plan (19 GBP/month) adds workspace management for agencies and design teams. Teams can maintain a collective presence, manage members, and use the platform for hiring and brand building. This is still a newer feature and less mature than the individual experience.

Analytics and Scheduling

Plus and Team subscribers get advanced analytics on portfolio engagement (views, interactions, profile visits) and post scheduling to maintain consistent visibility. The analytics help designers understand what type of work resonates with the community, though the data is more basic than dedicated analytics tools.

Pricing

Layers is free to join. Free users can create a portfolio, browse designs, follow other designers, and participate in the community. This covers the basics well enough for casual use.

Layers Plus costs 6 GBP per month (billed yearly, saving 33%). It adds an ad-free experience, post scheduling, advanced analytics, API access, and a Plus badge on your profile.

Layers Team costs 19 GBP per month (billed yearly) and includes everything in Plus along with advanced team management and priority support.

Job postings are priced separately at $99 per listing for companies hiring designers.

Who is Layers Best For?

Early-career and mid-level designers who want a community-driven platform rather than a static portfolio site. If Dribbble feels like shouting into the void, Layers’ emphasis on interaction and discovery may deliver better engagement.

Freelance designers looking for work benefit from the integrated job board and the ability to showcase work where employers are already browsing. Design agencies can use the Team plan to build a collective presence and recruit talent.

If you are a senior designer with an established presence on Dribbble or Behance, the switching costs may not be worth it yet. The community is growing but still smaller than the incumbents.

Pros and Cons

The community-first approach is genuinely different from Dribbble’s gallery model. The free plan is functional enough for real portfolio use. The job board integration means designers do not need separate platforms for showcasing and job hunting. And the founder’s designer background shows in the platform’s UX quality.

The downsides are mostly about scale. With 200,000 members, Layers is still much smaller than Dribbble or Behance, which means less employer attention and fewer networking opportunities. Pricing in GBP may confuse international users. The Team features feel underdeveloped compared to the individual experience. And the platform’s long-term viability depends on continued community growth, which is never guaranteed.

Alternatives

Dribbble

The most established design portfolio and community platform. Dribbble has millions of users and significantly more employer traffic. However, its community interaction has stagnated, and many designers complain about low engagement on their posts. If raw exposure matters most, Dribbble still wins. If community quality matters, Layers may be the better bet.

Behance

Adobe’s design portfolio platform, tightly integrated with Creative Cloud. Behance excels at detailed case studies and long-form project presentations. It is more portfolio-focused and less community-driven than Layers. Free to use, making it the zero-cost default for many designers.

Read.cv

A modern professional profile platform for creatives. Read.cv focuses on professional identity rather than design sharing, making it complementary to Layers rather than a direct replacement. Better for networking, less good for showcasing actual design work.

FAQ

Is Layers free to use?

Yes. The free plan lets you create a portfolio, browse designs, follow designers, and participate in the community. Paid features like analytics, scheduling, and ad-free browsing require Layers Plus at 6 GBP/month.

How does Layers compare to Dribbble?

Layers emphasizes community interaction and discovery over static portfolio display. It is smaller (200k vs millions of users) but offers more active engagement on posts. Layers also includes a built-in job board, while Dribbble’s job board is a separate product.

Can I post job listings?

Yes. Companies can post design job listings at $99 per posting. Listings are visible to the entire Layers designer community.

Why is pricing in British Pounds?

Layers is founded and operated from London, UK. Pricing is in GBP (British Pounds). At current exchange rates, 6 GBP is roughly $7.50 USD.

Verdict

Layers is a promising alternative to Dribbble and Behance for designers who want more community and less static gallery. The interaction-focused design, integrated job board, and clean UX make a strong case for designers dissatisfied with the incumbents. But scale matters in community platforms, and 200,000 members is still an order of magnitude smaller than established competitors. If you are willing to invest in a growing community early, Layers is worth joining on the free plan and seeing if the engagement lives up to the promise. The paid Plus plan at 6 GBP/month is reasonable for the analytics and scheduling features.