Dribbble, once the go-to platform for digital designers to show off their work and snag clients, has started banning some of its most beloved users, permanently. The move is part of a bigger shift: Dribbble wants to become a full-blown marketplace and get a bigger cut of designer revenue. But many in the community see it as a betrayal of what made Dribbble special in the first place.
One of the biggest names caught in the crossfire? Gleb Kuznetsov, founder of Milkinside, a design studio that’s worked with Apple, Google, Amazon, and more. Dribbble deleted his account, including 12,000+ shots and 100,000+ monthly viewers, simply because he shared his email with a potential client. One message. No appeal. No warning, according to him.
“15 years of work. Gone. Because a client asked for my email.” — Gleb Kuznetsov on X
Kuznetsov is not taking this quietly. He is now in talks with investors to build a rival platform, one that puts designers first. But Dribbble says: Not so fast. According to the company, Kuznetsov did not just break the rules once; he violated the updated terms multiple times, even after warnings.
The Marketplace Move That Sparked It All
Back in March 2025, Dribbble told its 750,000+ approved designers that they could no longer share contact details with potential clients unless the client paid through Dribbble first. The goal, according to the company? Prevent non-payment and keep the business sustainable.
Sounds noble. But designers like Kuznetsov argue that non-payment is not even that common. Instead, they believe this is about Dribbble trying to force more transactions through its platform and take a bigger slice of the pie. And Dribbble does not deny it.
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CEO Constantine Anastasakis (formerly of Fiverr and Pond5) is upfront about the shift: If you are on Dribbble to land clients, you now have to go through Dribbble’s transaction system, or become a paid advertiser.
He says the platform has tracked Kuznetsov’s behavior. Out of 83 project inquiries since March, he responded to 61, and shared his email in 6 of them. Each one triggered a warning. After an official email warning in July, the ban hammer dropped.
“I think he believed we wouldn’t actually do it.” — Dribbble CEO
Dribbble is standing firm: If you want to get unbanned, you will need to become an advertiser and commit to a $1,500/month campaign for at least 3 months.
Kuznetsov is not the only one upset. His social media post ignited an outpouring of frustration from fellow designers. Many say they looked up to him, and they are questioning their future on the platform. Dribbble was once the place to build a design career. Now, it is starting to feel like a pay-to-play arena. But rather than just complain, Kuznetsov is doing what designers do best: creating. He is building a new platform, not a clone of Dribbble, but something built with AI at its core, made for designers.
“Everybody’s doing AI startups — but not for designers. That’s the gap I want to fill.”
The upcoming MVP (minimum viable product) is expected in a few months. And no, it is not meant to “kill” Dribbble. It is meant to give designers another option, one that won’t erase your entire career because you answered a client’s email.
He also has a warning:
“We need to be smart about where we invest our time. Don’t give your best work and life to platforms that don’t respect it.”
So, Where Does That Leave Dribbble?
The platform still pulls 7.5–10 million unique visitors monthly and remains profitable under its parent company, Tiny. But if it loses the trust of top-tier designers, it risks becoming a ghost town of uninspired portfolios and transactional noise. Because here is the thing: platforms do not make communities, people do. And if Dribbble keeps pushing its community out the door, someone else will gladly welcome them in.
