The article addresses the question of whether crowdsourcing is an innovation. First, it is shown that within the framework of crowdwork, the organization of certain work processes, especially concerning the composition of the workforce, the work content, control mechanisms, flexibility, and gratification, is renewed. Second, crowdsourcing-based innovations differ in terms of the actors involved, the field of application, the decision-making mechanisms, and the result from classical variants. Thus, crowdsourcing-based innovations are only found in certain fields, whereas in knowledge-intensive economic sectors the model seems to reach the limits of its performance. In addition, a heterogeneous crowd of internet users is assumed to generate differing ideas in quantitative and qualitative terms. Closure mechanisms, i.e., making decisions for certain and against other variants, have partly changed through crowdsourcing. A central innovation is crowdvoting. In certain fields users’ innovations can be superior in several respects, although the overall costs of crowdsourcing-based innovations do not tend to be lower.