There are so many photo-sharing platforms available online. It can get pretty hard to determine which website is the best for what you need to accomplish; be it sharing, showcasing, storing, or selling your work.
To help you cut through the noise we’ve researched and organized all the best photo sharing platforms into categories where you can narrow down your search. With a bit of leg work, we’ve compiled an exhaustive list of platforms where you can confidently promote your photography online.
To get a bird’s eye view of all the different top photo-sharing platforms and their benefits, keep reading. Take your time to go over the options and consider the details to choose your best fit.
Top photo-sharing platforms for photographers for this year
In order to find the best photo-sharing platforms, you should probably take into account a few things, one being the price, availability of features, and the significant downsides. Below you have an in-depth rundown of all the best photo-sharing platforms, go ahead and choose.
1. Flickr
| Cost | Main benefits | Main downsides |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 1000 photographs. Photo files are limited to 200MB. Video files to 1GB. Large selection of tools. | Only 100 megabytes a month for a free account. Videos are only for paying members. |
| Pro: $60 per year | Unlimited photographs Track statistics Extensive tagging features Large selection of tools | Error with uploading images. Flickr uploader is difficult to use on a MAC. No keyboard navigation support. |
Flickr is one of the top photo-sharing and storage platforms that has been a long-time favorite of professional and novice photographers. The site offers a wide selection of editing tools as well as massive storage capabilities. Flickr is extremely user-friendly in all ways: posting, storing, sharing, selling, and creating.
It’s important to note that Flickr has a reputation of being geared toward amateur photographers, all of the aforementioned benefits of the site outweigh any negatives connotations that may be associated with its status as a “beginner” photography site. Many professional photographers use the site in addition to amateurs. In our opinion, Flickr is the best photo-sharing platform available.
To organize and share photos on Flickr, you use “tags,” which enables you to sort your photos in whatever way makes the most sense to you. Many people elect to sort by location, or type of photo, or in any number of other ways There is a drag-and-drop system that lets you organize albums and a search engine that enables you to track who is viewing your photos.
2. 500PX
| Cost | Main benefits | Main downsides |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Receive support when needed. Ability to join groups. Access to utilize the 500px blog. Clean looking portfolio templates | The maximum file size is 30 MB, larger files will not be added to the queue. JPG file type only Your limit is 20 / 20 photos in a week. |
| Awesome: $3.99 per month | Unlimited photo uploads. All the features of free with no advertisements. Ability to receive priority support. | Doesn’t offer priority directory listing. Upload up to 10 photos at a time. |
| Pro: $7.99 per month | Priority directory listing. Ability to customize profile. | Unable to print through the website |
500PX is one of the best photo sharing platforms and sites that tends to appeal to professional photographers. This service allows you to upload your photos with varying levels of membership from “Free” to “Awesome” to “Pro” subscription options. 500px gives photographers the ability to license and sell their photos in the 500px Marketplace.
Generally, this site offers more than the amateur photographer would likely require in their photo-sharing platform. 500PX provides an opportunity to license your photos and to create a stunning portfolio that can be easily shared with clients or other professionals in the field. Sharing photos is easy to do both on and off the site, by promoting your portfolio wherever you like.
3. Behance
| Cost | Main benefits | Main downsides |
|---|---|---|
| Free: there is no cost to use Behance. | No limit on photo uploads. Synced with Adobe software. Collaborating with other creative professionals. | No portfolio is available, except for upgraded service through the Adobe parent website. |
Behance is another top photo sharing platform owned by Adobe. The service is free and offers unlimited uploads. The site is an excellent place for businesses to seek out and professionals in the creative fields and network across various industries. Because of Behance’s association with Adobe, many different adobe programs work seamlessly with the service, which is a huge plus.
Reaching customers works through a “follow” feature. This means that other members on the site can follow profiles they are interested in for networking and purchasing purposes. Acting as a social media feed, you can view your home page and see the new additions from profiles you follow. If your work is really getting a lot of attention, it may be featured in a “curated gallery,” which is determined by specific team members working for Behance.
4. Instagram
| Cost | Main benefits | Main downsides |
|---|---|---|
| Free: there is no cost to use Instagram. | Ease of use. Upload an unlimited amount of photos Interact with followers Mobile friendly | The app is so widely used that it is tough to make a splash based on talent alone. Knowledge of proper hashtag use and other marketing considerations need to be made with Instagram. |
Instagram is a social media photo sharing platform that is easy to use for anyone with a cell phone. The program is ubiquitous, as over 700 million users now have an account on the site. Instagram is one of the best photo sharing sites that makes editing, posting, and sharing photos incredibly straightforward.
Sharing photos is accomplished by the use of hashtags and the “share” feature depending on the user’s privacy settings. “Likes” and comments on posts can be seen by all users, and further analytics can be obtained with a professional profile enabled.
Some of the elements that make Instagram great, however, can also have their drawbacks: the platform is completely saturated with people taking pictures of anything they see. It can be extremely difficult for a photographer to rise above the masses and stand out on an app such as Instagram.
5. Smugmug
| Cost | Main benefits | Main downsides |
|---|---|---|
| Free trial | The site does offer a free 14-day trial period. | There is no long-term free version of Smugmug. |
| Pro varying subscription levels starting at $7.00 per month and topping out at $42.00 per month for the pro plan. | Many options for templates. Unlimited storage. | Editing tools are slightly more simplistic than with other photo-sharing platforms. |
Smugmug is a photo storage site focused heavily on design. The site enables you to upload and sell your prints directly. While the site does offer a free 14-day trial period, there is no long-term free version of Smugmug.
From reading through many reviews of Smugmug, it seems clear that users love working with the site. Their customer service is beyond compare and photographers love how simple and straightforward the site is, as it really only has two features geared toward 1) editing photos and 2) selling photos. Smugmug is also able to share and post photos from Dropbox and Flickr, so you have many options to reach your target audience.
6. Photobucket
| Cost | Main benefits | Main downsides |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 25 GB of storage, Easy editing capabilities, Good sales support | Max image size is 1024×768. Frequent advertisements. 2 GB of storage space and a limit of 1 MB per photo. |
| Pro: beginner $6.00 per month | 25 GB of storage, No advertisements | N/A |
| Pro: Intermediate $8.00 per month | 250 GB of storage | N/A |
| Pro: expert $13.00 per month | Unlimited storage | Slightly more expensive premium version compared to other options on this list. |
Photobucket is a photo sharing platform that offers a variety of plans that allow you to edit and easily sell your photographs directly from the site. However, some photographers do complain about the sharing options for customers to view photographs. The site allows you to share a link to your photos on another web page, but there is a bandwidth limit when it comes to sharing.
On the other hand, tagging and directing other Photobucket members within the site is easy and straightforward. Like many other services, photos can be categorized by tagging the photos however you like.
7.Zenfolio
| Cost | Main benefits | Main downsides |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 14-day free trial when you first sign up. | There is no long-term free version available from Zenfolio. |
| Pro: $5.00 per month to $32.00 per month | Buying & selling photographs are simple and straightforward. | Complaints about customer service Most suitable for professional artists. |
Zenfolio is a site that provides photographers with the capability of displaying and selling their work. This site appeals to photographers of any skill level, as in-depth technical knowledge is not required to use the service effectively.
Members of Zenfolio are able to upload, tag, and sell their work easily. Multiple keywords can be assigned to your portfolio drive traffic to your photos from various search engines across the internet as well as from the site itself.
8. Pixpa
| Cost | Main benefits | Main downsides |
|---|---|---|
| Free: | 15-day free trial only, no free version beyond that. | Not mobile-friendly Limited allowance of features |
| Pro: personal $7.00 per month | Easy it is to use 20+ customizable intuitive interfaces. Excellent Customer Support Mobile Optimized Websites 1GB Storage | Not mobile-friendly Only allows the user to create 15 pages or galleries. |
| Pro: expert $10.00 per month | 20+ customizable intuitive interfaces. Flexibility & powerful editing features Excellent Customer Support 25GB Storage | Not mobile-friendly Photo Gallery Restriction |
| Pro: business $16.00 per month | Able to create an unlimited number of galleries. Drag and drop Excellent Customer Support | Not mobile-friendly |
Pixpa is another site on this list targeted mainly toward photographers who are looking for a place to sell their prints. The site heavily promotes its portfolio capabilities for artists.
The service provides an easy way to sell photos through multiple payment partners such as Paypal and Stripe. This allows photographers to sell their work with ease. Another benefit of the site the superlative customer service and training tools. There are plenty of tutorial videos and any questions are quickly and thoroughly answered by whatever method you may choose: email, phone, or live chat.
| Cost | Main benefits | Main downside |
|---|---|---|
| Pro plans begin at $9.00 per month and end at $19.00 per month. | Unlimited storage is available with all plans. | No free option available. |
Photo Merchant is a photo-sharing platform that easily enables artists to sell their work through the site. Additionally, the site provides an easy way for sellers to fulfill orders. Artists can choose to manually fill orders or enlist an auto-fulfillment feature which will allow the work to be sent directly to the customer.
Photo Merchant is affordable, customizable, and makes order fulfillment incredibly simple. Unfortunately, there is no free version of Photo Merchant available. Another downside is that, except for the extremely casual photographer, the beginner plans provide very few options. You are unable to employ your unique domain name unless you upgrade to the $19.00/month plan. Additionally, without the higher-priced plan, users cannot utilize the “direct fulfillment” option.
What’s next?
Flickr is, in our opinion, the best photo-sharing platform due to its numerous benefits as listed above and due to the fact of being the largest photo sharing site available on the web. However, all of the platforms outlined in this guide offer excellent products that would be helpful to any photographer: amateur or professional.
Depending on your own needs as a photographer, you may choose any of the above platforms, or you may even elect to use multiple platforms. For example, you will likely benefit from having an Instagram account to network and build a following, even if you use another site for your selling purposes.
As a photographer, you may be promoting yourself by email. WiseStamp is a tool that lets you create beautiful email signatures in 2-5 minutes. Try it out now, for free. You may also find it helpful to visit our page on how to create a great-looking photographer email signature to promote your portfolio with every email you send.
