Top 10 Photo Sharing Sites
These 10 photo sharing sites are the best way to upload, store, and share your photographs with friends, relatives or potential clients. I’ve tested each image hosting site to help you find the best one.
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No matter how many images you need to upload, how much time you are going to spend uploading or the reason you’re uploading the pictures – you’ll find a good photo sharing website.
1. Flickr
For Photo Organization
- 1TB of free storage space
- Easily adjustable privacy settings
- Fully developed image management tools
- Outdated design elements
- Disorienting navigation
Free storage space: 1TB
Price: No ads for $5.99/month, 2TB for $499/year
There are so many photo sharing websites that choosing only one is difficult. The real challenge, however, is to browse through all of them and try to figure out which site is the best for your personal needs.
Don’t panic, as I’m here to help you see all the advantages and disadvantages of the most popular cheap and free image sharing sites.
Flickr is likely the best photo sharing site in the world for editing and sharing photographs. This service allows you to publish your favorite images and videos globally, while also using a secure private message service that allows for browsing through your albums with your friends and family or uploading photos to your blog.
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2. SmugMug
For Commercial Purposes
- Beautiful portfolio templates
- It takes little time to get used to all features
- Ability to sell photos
- Two week free trial
- Quick and easy
- Complicated customization tools
Free storage space: Unlimited
Price: Free
Some users say that SmugMug resembles Flickr, as it is also a site designed for professional photographers, who want to earn money for the images they show. Though, the social media aspect isn’t as developed as the one Flickr has, users can easily post pictures and view other’s projects.
Having registered on SmugMug, you get more than an ordinary account, but a customizable photo site and SmugMug templates.
The eCommerce shop is, probably, the most interesting feature. Here you can sell pictures or prints. You don’t need a new domain name, but use your own one to work on SmugMug best photo sharing site.
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3. ThisLife from Shutterfly
For Photo Printing
- Face recognition
- Intuitive design
- Highlight function for photos
- Unlimited image upload
- Upload restriction for videos
Free storage space: Unlimited photo storage
Price: Video: 60GB for $20/year, 300GB for $50/year, unlimited plan for $140/year
Shutterfly is a photo printing company that has a special image storage space called ThisLife. Thanks to this photo sharing site, you can upload an unlimited number of images for free. The photographs in your main library are sorted in chronological order.
You can also place the photos on a map using their geotags. The “Highlight” function (which you can turn on/off freely) is used by ThisLife to showcase those images from your collection, which are worthy of special attention.
ThisLife also has an interesting function called a “joint account,” which you can share with anyone you want. Both users gain access to all photo management functions.
Read more about photo catalog softwares.
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4. Google Photo Sharing
For Android users
- Easy image upload
- Lots of picture editing tools
- Supports most file formats
- Unlimited photo upload
- Restrictions on resolution
Google Photo Sharing
Free storage space: 15GB or unlimited space for photos smaller than 2048x2048px
Price: 100GB for $1.99/month, 1TB for $9.99/month
This is one of the best photo sharing sites for storing photographs regardless of their quantity. This universal app is compatible with all popular platforms including Windows, MacOS, Android and iOS.
Using the service is simple. You upload your photos and they are sorted by the time and location automatically as Google uses the metadata coded into the image files.
Additionally, all photographs are carefully studied by an AI that can detect subjects captured in them and search for specific objects. For instance, type “car” or “cat” into the search bar and the service will automatically find all car and cat photos you’ve taken.
Read more about best free photo organizing softwares.
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5. Pinterest
For Inspiration and Promotion
- Advertisement for your photos
- Convenient uploading
- Can save other users’ ideas
- Feedback about your work in the comments
- Spam
- Limited amount of boards and pins
Free storage space: Unlimited
Price: Free
Pinterest stands out from all main photography gallery sites due to its unconventional, even somewhat strange approach when it comes to photographs. This free photo sharing site is great for photographers who want to receive feedback on their work, advertise themselves or simply share pictures with their friends.
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Among its main advantages, Pinterest offers completely free functionality, convenient board creation and image sorting.
6. Dropbox
For Bulk Photo Sharing
- Smooth and quick image sending
- Compatible with most platforms
- User-friendly and fast
- Dependable synchronization
- Restricted storage space
- Extra space is quite expensive
Dropbox
Free storage space: 2GB
Price: 1TB for $9.99/month
Dropbox provides online storage services, but unlike other free photo sharing sites, it allows you to save all kinds of files, not only photographs. Once you’re done uploading, you receive a link to a single image or entire photo album that you can send to your clients or friends.
Dropbox also offers several state-of-the-art apps for smartphones that allow you to publish, organize and send your images straight from your phone. Moreover, you can press an arrow next to any image to open it for offline use when you don’t have an internet connection, which isn’t the case with other photo sites.
Check out what are the best cloud storages for photos.
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7. Instagram
For Social Media Photos
- Unlimited space
- Can quickly share images with others
- Privacy settings
- Huge photo community
- Spoils resolution
- No desktop software
Free storage space: Unlimited
Price: Free but you can pay to promote your photos
This app isn’t just the ideal place for fast and convenient photo sharing, it’s also user-friendly and intuitive. You just have to install the app on your smartphone, create an account and start sharing photographs.
Scrolling, liking and commenting on pictures is extremely easy. Moreover, since it’s a smartphone app, you can do it wherever you are. Other than uploading photographs, you can also post Snapchat-like Stories that stay up for 24 hours (but you can save your favorite ones in your profile by using the Highlights function).
Additionally, the “Collections” function enables you to create personal Pinterest-like boards.
See more about how to edit Instagram photos.
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8. Amazon Photos
For Heavy Photos and Videos
- Easy and clear navigation
- Convenient storage
- Fast upload speed
- Accessible through all devices
- Expensive subscription
Amazon Photos
Free storage space: Unlimited for photographs
Price: 5GB for videos ($119 Prime subscription)
Prime Photos is included an Amazon Prime subscription and gives you 5GB of space for videos and documents (not photographs!). This service is a part of the Amazon Cloud Drive storage.
Uploaded images can be organized into albums that Amazon sorts chronologically by default. Photographs published on Cloud Drive can be shared via email, on Facebook or downloaded to your PC or smartphone. When creating Prime Photos, the developers decided to avoid including excessive functions, which is why this service takes the first place on our list of photo websites in terms of ease of use.
Read my full Amazon Prime Photos review.
Instead of overloading the service with various add-ons, Amazon allows you to connect your library to a third-party app that gives you the opportunity to edit and print photographs as well as create photo products.
You can use special apps for PC, iOS, Android and Kindle Fire to upload and view images. The mobile app also has a function that automatically backs up all photos taken with your smartphone.
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9. 500px
For Professional Photographers
- Simple and intuitive interface
- Royalties if anyone buys your photos
- Image protection
- SEO tools
- Allows feedback from others
- Image upload restrictions
- Fewer community members
500px
Free storage space: 7 free image uploads/week, unlimited uploads for subscribers
Price: $6.49/m ($47.88/y) for unlimited uploads, $12.99/m ($71.88/y) for additional services
500px photo sharing website was initially created as a blog for shooters willing to show off their pictures. Their colleagues, professional publishers, advertisers or simply interested people could see their works.
The site has a great policy for every user who posts his/her photos there, as he/she can get up to 60 percent in royalties every time a person is interested in the photo and buys a license to use it. Being a free member, you can’t upload as many pictures as you want, only seven shots per week.
With a subscription, you can enjoy all the features of this photo sharing site and upload an unlimited number of images. If your pictures are popular and viewers like them, their Pulse will go higher and will attract even more people, who are likely to pay for them.
Comparing this site with the Flickr app, I can say that 500px has a more intuitive interface and the photos, not the features, attract most of the attention. Anyway, you get all key functions, such as the ability to create galleries, send messages, etc.
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10. Imgur
For Online Photo Sharing
- Unlimited image uploads
- Allows for feedback from others
- Unlimited storage time
- Batch picture uploading
- Doesn’t support PSD files
Imgur
Free storage space: Unlimited
Price: Free
Among dozens of photo sharing websites, only some of them offer unlimited image storage, period. Imgur is one of them. If you are interested only in posting pictures, there is no need to register.
Just upload your works and that’s it. In case you want to create photo albums, add text or upload shots via e-mail attachments, you need to create a free account. The most popular feature of this photo sharing site is the direct linking, which means that you get a link for each your pictures that you can integrate in HTML or simply attach to a post in forums.
There are several ways to upload images to Imgur - paste them on the website, enter the URL or select them from your laptop.
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How to Choose the Best Photo Sharing Website?
Though it is impossible to find the best image sharing site that will fully satisfy every user, you can try to find the one that will meet your personal and professional needs. I have covered the basic features that you need to take into account while choosing the platform:
Shareability. What is the best way for you to share images? Would you like to post only a few of your best photos, as bloggers do? Do you wish to share all the pictures for your relatives and friends to see? Or you interested in what other photographers think and you want to share your photos solely with them?
Ease of Use. Do you like the interface? Is it understandable enough? How long does it take you to create a photo album or perform other basic actions? All this really influences the speed of your work and may become a real problem for your clients who want to look through the photos but aren’t computer-savvy.
Storage Space. This is a very important characteristic to keep in mind, while choosing photo sites, especially if you are going to store back-ups. Things happen and hard drives can get damaged and you will lose all your images. There are photo sharing sites that offer unlimited storage space and automatic image copying. Other platforms are more suitable for high-resolution shots. Choose what you need more.
Read more about how to optimize storage on Mac.
Photo Quality. It completely necessary if you are a professional photographer or are working hard to become one. Opt for paid and free photo sharing sites that don’t compress your images, so the original quality is preserved. Actually, your account serves as a portfolio, so be mindful about the pictures you show to your viewers.
Price. You can try to use free photo sharing sites, like Instagram, but there aren’t many of them. Most websites offer a great variety of tools, functions and design templates only if you get a subscription.
Privacy Options. Check the privacy section if you need a photo sharing site for private needs. For example, you can set a password, so only people who know it can see your shots.
FAQs
Top 10 Photo Sharing Sites in 2022? ›
...
The best photo storage and sharing sites today
- Flickr. The best photo storage service overall. ...
- 500px. ...
- Google Photos. ...
- Amazon Prime Photos. ...
- Apple iCloud. ...
- Adobe Portfolio. ...
- ImageShack. ...
- Photobucket.
- Imgur.
- Flickr.
- 500px.
- ImgBox.
- Dropbox.
- Free Image Sharing.
- PostImage.
- ImageShack.
- Flickr.
- Imgur.
- 500px.
- Deviant Art.
- Unsplash.
- Behance.
- ImageShack.
- 1x.
Name | Location / Owner / Hoster | |
---|---|---|
Google Photos | ||
United States / Facebook | Yes | |
Imgur | United States | Yes |
Ipernity | France | Yes |
- Tumblr. Founded in 2007, Tumblr is a microblogging and social networking website. ...
- Glass. Glass can be a great alternative to Instagram with no ads, engagement algorithms, data tracking, and more. ...
- 500px. ...
- VSCO. ...
- Snapchat.
- On your mobile device, open the Google Photos app .
- Sign in to your Google Account.
- Select a photo, album, or video.
- Tap Share .
- Under "Send in Google Photos," select people to share with. To share with one person, tap their name. ...
- To share, tap Send.
- Flickr.
- Behance.
- Smugmug.
- Zenfolio.
- Pixpa.
- Fhotomerchant.
How To Attach/Send Multiple Photos At One In A Single E-Mail - YouTube
How can I promote my photos? ›- Maintain a Flawless Online Portfolio. ...
- Start a Portrait Photography Blog. ...
- Attend Portrait Photography Conferences. ...
- Volunteer Your Time And Photography Skills. ...
- Offer Special Deals. ...
- Get Listed in Photographer Directories. ...
- Enter Portrait Photography Contests. ...
- Make the Most of Your Social Media.
Instagram. When it comes to social media platforms for photographers, Instagram tops our list as a marketing tool. This is the best social network for photographers because Instagram is full of people looking for beautiful photography and connections.
What's better Flickr or 500px? ›
Flickr or 500px: It's your call
The 'Market' service on 500px is your best choice if you wish to sell your photography. If you're looking to share your complete photography portfolio and organise it, Flickr is your best bet.
Flickr was the first photo sharing site. Image sharing can help drive web traffic to a website. Unlike video sharing and other social media tools, target audiences are not as important for photo sharing. Typically the most popular images are those that are carefully planned and staged.
Is Flickr safe? ›It is wildly unlikely that you could pick up any malware from using Flickr, unless you follow links in comments or groups - they would be just as risky as any other links you'd find anywhere else.
Where should I post my photos? ›- Flickr.
- Behance.
- Smugmug.
- Zenfolio.
- Pixpa.
- Fhotomerchant.
Flickr was the first photo sharing site. Image sharing can help drive web traffic to a website. Unlike video sharing and other social media tools, target audiences are not as important for photo sharing. Typically the most popular images are those that are carefully planned and staged.
How do I share a lot of photos at once? ›One of the most popular methods for sharing large amounts of photos online is by using a file-sharing site. Sites like HighTail (formally YouSendIt), Wikisend and Streamfile let you sign up and upload your photos, where they'll be stored in a downloadable zip file.
Where can I display my photography? ›- Galleries. ...
- Museums. ...
- Libraries. ...
- Hotel Art and Wine Events. ...
- Morning Markets and Street Fairs. ...
- Major Art & Photography Events and Expos. ...
- Local Community Centers. ...
- Local Art Organizations.