The websites on Awwwards.com are the best I’ve ever seen.
And the worst for startups.
🧩 Awards ≠ money
I’ve spent the past few weeks collecting good websites for my swipe file.
Browsing Reddit for recommended sources, I noticed a lot of mentions for Awwwards.com.

These Awwwards sites were nothing like I’ve ever seen! Amazing animations and innovative designs.
For example, check out “2024 Site of the Year”:

💡 Why these sites are actually bad
Although these sites are breathtaking, they have one critical problem.
They are built to impress. Not to convert.
Why are they not converting?
- They ignore best practices (like having a navbar or a simple title)
- You can’t understand what they do within 5 seconds.
- They are not intuitive to navigate. It’s hard to find stuff.
- Take a few seconds (!!) to load all the fancy stuff (users bounce).