Photo sharing apps can serve very different purposes, and the best option depends on what you need the platform to do.
| Platform | Type | Best for | Starting price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Honcho | Client gallery | Helping people find photos in large galleries | 7-day free trial; paid from $20/mo for 100 GB |
| Pixieset | Client gallery | Running galleries, your website, and studio administration in one ecosystem | Free for 3 GB; paid from $10/mo for 10 GB |
| Pic-Time | Client gallery | Generating more sales from client galleries | Free with 10 GB initially, reduced to 3 GB after 3 months; paid from $8/mo for 20 GB |
| picdrop | Client gallery | Client proofing and feedback | Free for 1 GB and 3 galleries; paid from €14.99/mo for 500 GB and unlimited galleries |
| PhotoDay | High-volume photography | Managing school, sports, and dance picture days | No monthly fee; 10% transaction fee per order, plus 2.9% + $0.30 payment processing |
| GeoSnapShot | High-volume photography | Helping participants find and buy photos from large sporting events | No monthly fee; 30% commission on sales, after tax and transaction fees |
| Headshot Tools | High-volume photography | Managing headshots for large groups | $59/mo with unlimited jobs, storage, galleries, and email |
| Format | Website & public sharing | Building a photography website with client delivery tools | $14/mo for 10 pages and 70 high-resolution images |
| Website & public sharing | Building an audience and attracting clients | Free | |
| Behance | Website & public sharing | Showcasing complete projects to the creative industry | Free; paid at $9.99/mo with advanced analytics and 100 GB storage |
| Dropbox | File sharing & cloud storage | Delivering organized files | Free for 2 GB; paid from $11.99/mo for 2 TB |
| Google Photos | File sharing & cloud storage | Simple shared albums | Free with 15 GB shared across Google Photos, Drive, and Gmail; paid from $1.99/mo for 100 GB |
Client galleries
Client gallery platforms are designed for delivering photos to clients, with different strengths in proofing, sales, and photo discovery. See our guide to online galleries for photographers for a deeper comparison.
Honcho
Honcho is built for better photo discovery. It helps visitors find the photos they care about by:
- Uploading a selfie to find images they appear in
- Browsing the people who appear in the gallery
- Describing what they’re looking for in words, such as “people laughing together”
This is especially useful for large galleries with lots of people, such as weddings, corporate events, conferences, sports events, and races. Instead of scrolling through thousands of photos, visitors can go straight to the images that are relevant to them.
Honcho also lets you upload and share photos as you shoot. Visitors can get their photos instantly, making photo delivery part of the event experience.
Pixieset
Pixieset is an all-in-one platform. Its client galleries sit inside a broader ecosystem that also covers your photography website and much of the administrative work around running a studio.
That makes it particularly useful for wedding, portrait, and other client-based photographers who would rather keep their galleries, website, bookings, contracts, invoices, and client communication connected instead of assembling a system from separate services.
Pic-Time
Pic-Time is built around generating more revenue from client galleries. Its store lets clients buy prints and digital downloads directly from the gallery, while marketing automations can run campaigns around moments such as gallery launch, abandoned carts, expiration dates, and anniversaries.
This turns the gallery into an ongoing sales channel after delivery, helping increase photo sales through automated follow-ups.
picdrop
picdrop is built for client proofing, especially when clients need to review and give feedback on images before the job is finished. It gives clients a structured way to communicate preferences and retouching requests directly within the gallery.
This makes it particularly useful for commercial work, where several people may need to review the same shoot. Selections can be carried back into tools such as Lightroom and Capture One, helping move approved selections into post-production.
High-volume photography
High-volume photography tools help you deliver and sell photos across large numbers of subjects.
PhotoDay
PhotoDay is designed for high-volume shoots such as school portraits, youth sports, and dance photography. It helps you manage the full picture-day workflow, from keeping track of who was photographed to delivering and selling their photos.
It also helps match people to the right images, reducing the amount of manual sorting needed when working with large numbers of subjects.
GeoSnapShot
GeoSnapShot is designed for large sporting events such as races, cycling events, and tournaments, where thousands of participants may need to find their own photos.
Participants can search using a selfie or bib number, or narrow the gallery by where and when they were photographed. This makes it easier to find a few relevant images inside a very large gallery, while you can sell those photos directly through the platform.
Headshot Tools
Headshot Tools is built for photographing and delivering headshots to large groups of people.
It helps you keep track of each person during the shoot, automatically separates their photos into individual galleries, and lets them choose which images they want retouched. This makes it especially useful for corporate teams, conferences, and other jobs where dozens or hundreds of people need their own headshots.
Website & public sharing
Websites and public platforms help you showcase your work and attract clients.
Format
Format helps you build a photography website around your work. You can control the branding, layout, and how your projects are presented.
It also includes practical client tools such as proofing and file delivery, giving you one place to showcase your work and deliver photos to clients.
Instagram helps build an audience around your work. It lets you share recent shoots, behind-the-scenes content, and other updates that keep people engaged.
This can help attract new clients and keep you top of mind with past ones. Its main strength is reach, helping more people discover your work.
Behance
Behance is built around presenting complete projects rather than individual images. You can combine photos, video, and text to show a series with more context.
It also puts your work in front of designers, agencies, art directors, and other creative professionals, making it a strong place to showcase larger bodies of work and attract industry attention.
File sharing & cloud storage
If clients simply need the finished files, cloud storage may be enough. Our guide to creating a link to share photos covers these simpler delivery methods in more detail.
Dropbox
Dropbox is a simple way to deliver finished files. You can organize photos into folders and share them through a link, including with clients who do not have a Dropbox account.
On supported paid plans, you can also add controls such as passwords, expiration dates, and download restrictions. This makes Dropbox useful when you want a straightforward file handoff without needing a full gallery experience.
Google Photos
Google Photos makes it easy to share photos through a familiar album experience. You can create a shared album for clients or collaborators to browse.
Shared albums can also allow comments and contributions, which is useful when several people need to interact with the same collection. It works best when convenience is more important than branding or presentation.
