Every competition on UNI sets its own entry fees. You will find them on the competition page under the Awards & Fees tab, together with the awards for that competition. Fees are quoted in USD.
Fee categories
Most paid competitions offer three categories, and you pick one when you register:
- Students, often the lowest rate. You are not asked for proof at this point. Student verification only comes up later, at award closure, and only if you win. See student verification.
- Professionals, the standard individual rate.
- Institutional Access, the institutional rate, most commonly $499. This one cannot be paid with a membership entry, so it has to be bought as a payment.
A competition can also define a custom category with its own name.
The fee can rise while registration is open, and entries are what move it
Competitions use one of two fee models.
Static. The fee is fixed for that registration window. What is shown is what you pay for as long as the window is open.
Dynamic. The fee is arranged in bands, and which band applies depends on how many entries the competition has already received, not on the date and not on a named round. As entries accumulate, the competition crosses into the next band and the price goes up for everyone who registers after that. A typical ladder opens at around $50 for students and professionals and climbs in steps to around $95 once the competition has passed a hundred or so entries. The Institutional Access rate normally stays flat across every band.
The practical consequence is the same either way: registering early is the cheapest way in, because on a dynamic competition every entry that arrives before yours can push the price up. There is no way to reserve an earlier price, and the band cannot go back down for you once it has moved.
For more on the two models, see static and dynamic entry fees.
Ways to pay less, or nothing
- Free competitions. Some competitions have no entry fee at all. You can filter for them at uni.xyz/competitions/search?is_free=true, and there is more in finding free competitions.
- Membership entries. Some membership tiers include competition entries at no extra cost: Semester 1, Annual 2, Studio 5, Institutional 12, counted from the start of your membership period. Monthly and Weekly include none, so those two tiers cannot register for a paid competition without paying for the entry. If you plan to enter more than one or two competitions, a membership usually costs less than paying per entry. See membership tiers.
- Enter early, before a dynamic competition's fee band moves.
Entering a free competition with a membership does not use up one of your included entries.
What the fee covers
The fee registers one entry in that competition. It is not connected to the prizes, which are listed on the same page and paid to winners through the award closure form after results. Paying a higher fee changes nothing about judging, and the jury does not see which category or which band you registered under.
At checkout
A 7.5% payment gateway charge is added on top of the entry fee, and the full total is shown before you confirm.
Entry fees are not refundable once an entry is registered. Read refunds and cancellations and the competition's own terms before you pay.
For a billing problem, write to contact@uni.xyz with the competition name and the date of the payment.