Online gallery for photographers: providers compared

Which online gallery suits your jobs? After this comparison you can narrow the options down by client selection, image delivery, sales, language and data storage. Ten providers, ten different focuses: some sell prints, some collect the selection as a team, and one is in the middle of shutting down.

This article comes from aftersnap. We compare our own product with other providers. We checked prices and features on 23 October 2026 against the linked provider sources, and the language details on 25 October 2026. Where a detail could not be found clearly in public, we say so. Plans in US dollars have not been converted into euros; prices excluding VAT and annual commitments are marked.

The short decision

Because of its announced shutdown, Pass Gallery no longer belongs on a list for new galleries. Existing customers should read the migration notes from Pass: according to the provider, galleries that have not been moved will no longer be reachable from 31 October 2026.

What to settle before you compare plans

A client gallery delivers finished images. A selection gallery collects the client's decision beforehand: which shot should be retouched, which belongs in the package, where are there change requests? In the industry it is usually called a proofing gallery. Favourites alone are not always enough for this. With 80 portraits and twelve booked files, you may need a selection limit, comments on the image and a selection that is clearly closed. For a wedding story with finished photos, downloads, guest access and a good mobile view matter more. Client gallery and proofing gallery in detail.

Then check what it really costs. A free plan may allow three galleries but limit downloads or take a commission on sales. With an annual price, the monthly figure shown is usually just a twelfth of the upfront payment. A trial ends; a free plan stays. That is the difference that matters if you are looking for a free alternative to picdrop or Pic-Time.

The language of the photographer interface is a separate question. A client gallery in your client's language does not mean a dashboard in that language. The same split applies to location: the company's registered office says nothing on its own about where the images are stored.

Pixieset: gallery, shop and more business software

According to its company profile, Pixieset Media Inc. is based in Vancouver, Canada. The free Client Gallery plan has 3 GB, unlimited galleries and a shop with a 15 per cent commission. Basic costs US$8 a month billed annually or US$10 billed monthly. For that you get 10 GB, your own domain and full-resolution downloads. Pixieset is worth a look if you later want to use a website and the Studio Manager from the same provider. Pricing, company.

For the selection there are favourite lists, notes on the photo and an export of the file names. The Lightroom Classic plugin uploads images and can republish edited versions. The shop is already included in the free plan. Clients can view the gallery in English, Spanish, French, German, Dutch, simplified Chinese, Brazilian Portuguese or Swedish; the language setting also applies to the shop and downloads. The photographer interface is in English; other dashboard languages are not publicly stated. A face search for guests is not publicly stated. Your own domain starts with Basic. Selection features, Lightroom plugin, custom domain.

If you are looking at Pixieset because of where your images are stored: we found no binding public statement that gallery images are hosted in the EU. The detailed comparison with Pixieset goes further into the differences.

Pic-Time: strong on sales and automation

Pic-Time Ltd. is based in Caesarea, Israel. There is a permanent free plan. Beginner costs US$7 a month billed annually or US$8 monthly and has 20 GB. The shop with partner labs and sales campaigns is a focus. For real selection jobs, this matters: according to the help centre, the workflow for binding client selections starts with Professional, currently US$21 a month billed annually or US$25 monthly. Custom subdomains also start with Professional. Pricing, selection workflow, domain.

Galleries can be set to the client's language: English, Spanish, German, French, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Swedish, Polish, Norwegian or Danish, with more announced. For the photographer interface, Pic-Time points to Google Translate; there is no native version in other languages. A Lightroom integration is listed in the free plan already. Face search for guests appears in the pricing table under the Advanced plan. Pic-Time names servers in the EU, the USA and Australia, so it does not guarantee storage in the EU only. A 30-day trial with Advanced features needs no payment details. Languages, privacy, detailed comparison.

picdrop: selection and agreement as a team

PicDrop GmbH is based in Berlin. The provider states that it hosts in Germany. The interface for photographers and clients is available in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian. Free has 1 GB and three galleries. Pro starts at €14.99 a month excluding VAT, billed annually, with 500 GB and unlimited galleries. Before that you can try Advanced for 14 days. Legal notice, pricing, languages.

Colour labels, votes, comments and markings directly on the image make picdrop a good fit for selections with picture desks or several decision makers. The selection can be filtered in Lightroom as a list of file names. For uploads, picdrop also describes a Lightroom integration which, according to the FAQ, does not appear automatically for newer accounts. An integrated print shop and a face search for guests are not listed in the public feature and plan overview. For your own domain, picdrop describes a redirect, not a gallery address that stays visible under your domain. Lightroom FAQ, domain FAQ.

If you are looking because of the price change at picdrop, check the current plan and the billing period. The provider changed its plans in 2026; the €14.99 shown today is a price excluding VAT, billed annually. A post from picdrop on the plan change explains the background.

Pass Gallery: only for existing accounts because of the shutdown

According to its terms of service, PASS+, Inc. is based in the USA. The pricing page, which is still online, shows Starter from US$1 a month, Basic for US$8 monthly or US$6 billed annually, and Standard for US$24 or US$20 respectively. It hardly makes sense as a basis for a new subscription: Pass announces that galleries that have not been migrated will be unreachable from 31 October 2026 and that remaining data will be deleted on 31 December 2026. Any previous trial and the exact position for new sign-ups are not reliably stated in public, given this changeover. Migration FAQ.

Pass had favourites and album voting, a print shop, a Lightroom integration and your own domain from Standard. The gallery language can be set, but Pass publishes no list of languages. A face search is not clearly stated in public. The privacy notice names AWS as a service provider, but no binding server region for gallery images. If you already use Pass, the question now is the move: according to the FAQ, the automatic migration to Pic-Time keeps gallery links, but price lists, order history and album votes, for example, do not come across in full. General checklist for switching gallery provider, older detailed comparison.

ShootProof: selection and sales without a platform commission

ShootProof is based in Atlanta, USA. The provider names a free plan, galleries, favourites, labels and a shop with no sales commission. On current prices, its own pages contradict each other: the pricing page charges by number of photos and names 100 images free and US$12.99 for 1,500 images billed monthly. The more recent help page on plans charges by storage and names Free with 3 GB and Starter for US$9.99 a month for US studios. We do not take either figure as a reliable contract price. Getting started is free; you will have to check the paid plan during sign-up.

Client galleries are available in English, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Slovenian. The languages of the dashboard are not publicly stated. A Lightroom plugin, your own subdomain, a print shop and digital sales are described. The privacy policy mentions facial recognition, but whether a face search for guests can be booked, and in which plan, is not publicly stated. A commitment to storage in the EU is not publicly stated. Gallery languages, product overview, privacy.

CloudSpot: gallery with studio management

In its company profile, CloudSpot gives Argyle, Texas, as its base. Free has 5 GB and three galleries. Entry normally costs US$7 a month with 15 GB and a maximum of 15 galleries; the pricing page also shows time-limited introductory prices. Lite, normally US$17 a month, brings the full suite with studio management. CloudSpot suits you if you want to run bookings, contracts and galleries in one piece of software.

Clients can mark favourites and view the gallery in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish or Vietnamese. The photographer interface is in English; other dashboard languages are not publicly stated. There is a shop. The Lightroom Classic plugin publishes images one way to CloudSpot. You can then filter the selected file names in the Lightroom catalogue. Your own domain is possible on the paid plans. A face search and a guaranteed storage location in the EU are not publicly stated. Gallery languages, Lightroom plugin, finding favourites in Lightroom, detailed comparison.

Zenfolio: website, selection gallery and sales

Zenfolio Inc. is based in Redwood City, USA, and according to its privacy notice stores personal data in the USA. According to the pricing page, Basic costs US$9 a month or US$7 a month billed annually, with 15 GB. There is a free trial with no credit card, but no permanent free plan. The length of the trial is not publicly stated on the current pricing page.

A website with your own domain and selection galleries are included in every plan. Favourites and comments are available for the client selection. Zenfolio lists the shop and Lightroom plugin from Professional; for faces, the provider promotes Face Finder. According to a help article from 2024, account and website can be set to English, Spanish, French or German. Whether the current client interface is fully localised in these languages is not clearly stated in public. If you are looking for a combined website with booking and sales, Zenfolio is worth checking, but look at the languages yourself in the trial account.

SmugMug: unlimited photo storage

SmugMug Inc. is based in Mountain View, USA. Direct costs US$20 a month billed annually and includes unlimited photo storage and a Lightroom integration. Portfolio costs US$23.50 a month billed annually and adds sales and your own domain. Pro costs US$37 and adds client favourites. There is a 14-day trial and no permanent free plan. Plans, privacy and company base.

As a selection gallery, that makes Pro the first sensible plan: according to the plan table, client favourites are not included in Direct and Portfolio. SmugMug has a print and digital shop. A face search for guests is not publicly stated. For other languages there is no built-in language list, only a Google Translate widget for visitors. According to the privacy policy, data may be held on servers in the USA or other countries; there is no commitment to storage in the EU. If you mainly want to deliver and sell a lot of finished JPEGs, the unlimited storage is the concrete advantage.

scrappbook: galleries with a shop and face filter

scrappbook is run by Photostore24.online GmbH in Düsseldorf. Free has 5 GB and three galleries. Starter costs €19 a month excluding VAT with a three-month minimum term, or the equivalent of €14.50 a month excluding VAT if you pay annually in advance. The plan has 15 galleries and unlimited image storage. A 14-day trial first switches on the premium features; after that, the free plan remains available. Pricing, company and data processing.

Clients can select images and order digital files or print products in the integrated shop. A Lightroom Classic plugin is described. The face filter groups the people it recognises in the gallery; that is something different from a selfie search. The website and photographer interface are in German. For portfolios, scrappbook names English among other languages; further languages for client galleries are not publicly stated. Your own domain is an add-on with Starter and included in the plan from Professional. scrappbook names EU servers for galleries. At the same time, the privacy policy names Heroku as the application host and possible transfers to the USA. If you need processing in the EU only, clarify this split before you book. Shop.

aftersnap: image delivery and selection in separate modes

The publisher of this article has its registered office in the EU, in Spain. The interface for photographers is available in 14 languages, English included; client galleries are available in 32 languages. According to our product information, images and face search run on servers in the EU. Basic costs €7.99 a month including VAT or €79.90 a year, with 50 GB and 15 galleries. Pro costs €14.99 a month or €149.90 a year, with 300 GB and unlimited galleries. Studio costs €24.99 a month or €249.90 a year, with 1 TB. Unlimited costs €99 a month or €999 a year and has unlimited storage. Pricing.

The 14-day trial covers Studio and asks for no payment details. There is no permanent free plan. In Studio, clients can mark favourites in the proofing gallery and write requests directly on the image. You bring the closed selection back into the catalogue with the Lightroom Classic plugin; the plugin is included from Pro. Face search and your own domain start with Studio. There is no integrated print shop. For selling from the gallery, other providers on this list are a better fit. Proofing gallery, Lightroom plugin.

Making the choice with a real job

Take a typical shoot with the number of images you actually deliver. Have a client pick five favourites on their phone and, if needed, write a retouching request on one image. Check how you find that selection again in Lightroom. Then test the download, the guest view in English and the invoice for exactly the plan you need. If you sell prints, factor in commissions and extra fees. For sensitive jobs, ask where the images are stored and about the data processing agreement. That turns “which online gallery is the best?” into a decision for your own workflow.