There are many website-building platforms available online. But what are the best Photoshelter alternatives? Read on to find your best match.
Update at 16 April 2024
Photoshelter is a widely used platform but is not the only option for creating websites. There are many alternative website builders that you can consider.
Each of these alternatives has its own pros and cons. So, you must understand their differences and limitations when choosing an alternative.
In this article, we will introduce some of the best Photoshelter alternatives so that you can pick the best one for you.
Let's dive in!
Best Photoshelter Alternatives
The following list consists of 10 top Photoshelter alternatives. You can easily create professional websites using them. Let’s see what they have to offer!
Dorik
Smugmug
Pixpa
Photler
Zenfolio
Format
Adobe Portfolio
Wix
WordPress
Squarespace.
However, if you want to explore more website builders, here is the best resource for you. The following article features more than 50 website builders segmented into different categories.
Dorik is the best no-code AI Website builder in the industry. Whether you need a landing page or a full-fledged website for your business or clients, Dorik will get your website up and running in minutes without compromising quality.
Dorik lets you create your website in three different ways. First, you can build your website with AI. Second, you can choose a template and customize it as you want. Third, you can design your site from scratch. Dorik offersa good number of professionally designed templates with 250+ stunning UI blocks and 20+ elements.
To create a full functioning website in seconds, you just need to write a prompt. Dorik AI will generate a completely customized website with engaging web copy and pixel-perfect images. If you do not like the AI-generated site, you can regenerate it in a click.
To grow and expand your business, Dorik also offers SEO, marketing, and analytics tools.
Key Features
Site and Page Generation with AI: With a simple prompt, you can easily generate any web pages and even regenerate them.
AI Text Generator: You can generate compelling, relevant, and polished copies directly within the Dorik website builder.
AI Image Generator: You can generate your ideal images directly in Dorik AI with a prompt.
Drag & Drop Builder:
Just pick an element and put it on your web page where you want. Plus, you can also easily move any element around the page.
Well-structured Templates and Blocks: Dorik is one of the most beginner-friendly website builders with exclusive templates. It offers 80+ pre-built templates with 250+ stunning UI blocks and 20+ elements.
Responsive Design: Dorik ensures your website looks good on any device.
White-Label CMS: You can build websites under your brand for your clients. Dorik offers white-label features to publish your site with your own domain branding. With this feature, you can even begin a web design business.
Built-in SEO Tools: Dorik offers advanced SEO features like Custom schema, Sitemap.xml, Robots Txt, etc. You can also add image alt text, which will help search engines understand your visual content.
Membership & Gated Contents: You can create free or paid membership tiers for your audience and control access to your content according to the audience's plan.
Custom Collection: You can use Dorik Collection to store content on the database and present it anywhere on your website.
Team Collaboration: You can add team members and collaborate with them to get input on designs, feedback, or brainstorming sessions.
Reliable Hosting & CDN: Dorik hosts the websites on AWS & DigitalOcean and serves static content from its Global CDN
Unlimited Storage & Bandwidth: Don't worry about your site's storage and bandwidth. Because Dorik provides you with all the site storage you need.
Free SSL/HTTPS: There is no compromise with the security for your website. You are entirely safe, as your website will carry a free SSL/HTTPS certificate.
Custom Domain: Dorik supports using custom domains. You can connect your purchased domain name to your website.
Robust Integrations: You can integrate marketing, analytics, and payment tools to collect, send, and organize your data. It includes Zapier, MailChimp, Make, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, Airtable, PayPal, Stripe, Gumroad, and many more. You can also use Crisp as a live chat box on your site.
User Analytics: It allows you to measure and analyze user data to get an understanding of user behavior across your web pages. This feature is now available on premium plans.
Pros
✅ AI website builder
✅ AI text and image generation
✅ Minimal learning curve
✅ Multilingual sites
✅ Built-in blogging platform
✅ Robust integration with third-party tools
✅ Built-in SEO and marketing features
✅ Password-protected pages
✅ Option to export clean and un-minified codes (HTML/CSS/JS and media files) of your static website.
Dorik offers three different pricing plans. They are:
Personal: $18/month (Billed annually)
Business: $39/month (Billed annually)
Agency: Contact sale for agency pricing
G2 Rating: 4.8/5
Capterra Rating: 4.6/5
Smugmug
SmugMug, a renowned photography website builder, is a one-stop-shop for photographers. It's a space where you can store your images without worrying about limits.
SmugMug also lets you sell your pictures directly from your site, whether as prints, gifts, or digital downloads. It's all about making your photographs shine and helping you turn your passion into a real business.
Key Features
Unlimited Photo Storage: SmugMug offers unlimited photo storage, allowing users to keep their entire portfolio in one place.
Customizable Templates: You can choose from a wide array of elegant, photography-centered templates and customize them according to your brand.
eCommerce Capabilities: SmugMug lets photographers sell prints, gifts, and digital downloads directly from their websites.
Photo Protection: With features like right-click protection and custom watermarks, SmugMug ensures your photographs are safeguarded from theft.
SEO Tools: SmugMug integrates with essential SEO tools to help boost your website's visibility and drive more traffic.
Pros
✅ Drag-and-Drop Customizaton
✅ Robust Client and Sales Tools
✅ Password Protected Galleries
✅ Option to Set Custom Pricelists for Your Photos
✅ Easy App Integration
Cons
❌ Limited Design Flexibility
Pricing
Free Plan: Available (14-day free trial)
SmugMug offers three pricing plans. They are:
PORTFOLIO: $31/month
PRO: $45/month
Venture: $500/month
Pixpa
Pixpa is go-to website builder designed specifically for creative people. It's a comprehensive solution to showcase, sell, and share their work online. Users can create portfolio website using Pixpa.
Pixpa provides a range of customizable, responsive templates tailored for photographers, artists, designers, and other creative professionals. The platform also includes built-in SEO tools to help enhance site visibility and attract more visitors.
Besides, Pixpa offers robust e-commerce features. It allows users to set up online stores, manage products, and process payments easily. The platform supports client galleries, blogging, and marketing tools.
Key Features
Pixpa offers an array of stunning features for their users; some of them are:
Drag-and-Drop Interface: Users can easily design websites with an intuitive drag-and-drop builder, requiring no coding skills.
Customizable Templates: You can choose from a wide range of responsive templates tailored for creatives like photographers, artists, and designers.
Client Galleries: Pixpa offers you to make your client galleries as perfect as possible with their unique tools.
Blog: You can start a blog with Pixpa’s easy-to-use blogging option.
SEO Optimization: Pixpa helps you to make your website search engine friendly and optimized to bring in traffic.
E-commerce: You can build a full-functioning online shop with Pixpa and grow your business.
Pros
✅ Advanced customization by using custom HTML and CSS code
❌ While Pixpa supports e-commerce, it may lack some advanced features that are available on specialized e-commerce platforms
Pricing
BASIC: $ 4.80 per month (Billed Yearly)
CREATOR: $ 9 per month (Billed Yearly)
PROFESSIONAL: $ 12 per month (Billed Yearly)
ADVANCED: $ 15 per month (Billed Yearly)
Photler
Photler is a website builder for travel photographers. It helps you create beautiful photography websites easily, and you don't need any coding skills to use it.
With Photler, you can choose from various customizable themes to showcase your photos. The platform ensures your photos look great on all devices, including smartphones and HD displays.
Key Features
Photler tries to satisfy its users with its gorgeous features; they are -
Simplicity: You can choose any theme and customize it according to your needs without hassle.
Easy Import: With Photler, you can import photos with one click from anywhere, anytime.
Blogs: If you love to tell stories, you can simply turn your photo gallery into a gorgeous blog post.
Selling Photos: From your Photler portfolio website, you can easily sell your photos and turn your website into an online store.
Map Tools: You can pin your travel photos to the map with the Photler website.
Pros
✅ Best for travel photographers
✅ Drag-and-drop functionality
✅ Blogging features with simple customization tools
✅ Various templates to showcase your photos
✅ 24/7 customer support
Cons
❌ Limited user control
❌ Can be frustrating to use at times
Pricing
Photler offers three pricing plans. They are:
Free: 7 days free trial
Standard: $19 per month
Premium: $35 per month
Zenfolio
Zenfolio is a leading website builder crafted specifically for photographers. It offers a convenient platform for professionals and hobbyists to display their work, reach out to audiences, and even sell their photos.
Zenfolio features a range of customizable templates for portfolios with integrated marketing tools. Plus, the built-in blogging feature allows users to express their thoughts and ideas.
Key Features
Professional Portfolio Presentation: Zenfolio provides beautiful, customizable templates that transform your photos into stunning online portfolios.
E-commerce Solutions: Zenfolio allows photographers to sell their work easily. With a built-in shopping cart, price lists, and print fulfillment, selling your photos has never been easier.
Easy Payment Integration: You can receive payment from your clients through PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, and credit cards.
Marketing Tools: Zenfolio offers marketing tools such as SEO assistance, email marketing options, and integrated blogging to help promote your work and reach a wider audience.
Pros
✅ Mobile-friendly Website Design
✅ Option to Add Instagram Photos into Your Website
✅ Permit Digital Downloads
✅ Features PhotoRefine.ai that Automatically Groups, Rates, and Culls Your Images.
✅ Ability to Generate Custom Coupons for Marketing
Cons
❌ Limited editing and slow performances
Pricing
Free Plan: Available
Zenfolio offers three pricing plans. They are:
ProSuite: $20/month (Billed annually)
PortfolioPlus: $ 11.50/month (Billed annually)
Portfolio: $ 7/month (Billed annually)
Format
Format is a website builder designed with photographers in mind. It's a tool that combines simplicity and function, providing a platform for photographers to display and sell their work online.
Format has various professional themes and features. It is easy for photographers to create an online presence. It includes an integrated online store and client-proofing tools. Its built-in SEO tools help to enhance visibility.
Key Features
Customizable Templates: With Format, photographers get access to a vast array of professionally designed, customizable themes. These themes are designed to highlight photographic work, providing a sleek and modern appearance to the website.
Online Store Integration: This feature allows photographers to exhibit and sell their work directly from their websites. It supports international currencies. This makes it easier for photographers to reach a global audience.
Client Galleries: Format offers a client gallery tool that makes sharing and downloading photos with clients seamless and professional.
SEO and Marketing Tools: Format offers built-in SEO tools, social media integration, and blog support to help photographers market their work efficiently.
Project and Contact Management: You can easily track essential project details such as contact information, project notes, etc.
Pros
✅ Intuitive User Interface
✅ Excellent Customer Support
✅ Opportunity to Switch Between Website Designs
✅ Option to transfer up to 10GB of photos securely to clients
✅ Cloud Photo Storage
Cons
❌ Limited Customization
Pricing
Free Plan: Free for 14 days
Format offers three pricing plans. They are:
BASIC: $8/month (Billed annually)
PRO: $11/month (Billed annually)
PRO PLUS: $13/month (Billed annually)
Adobe Portfolio
Adobe Portfolio helps users create personalized portfolio websites easily. It offers various customizable themes for showcasing creative work. Users can integrate their portfolios with Adobe Creative Cloud to display projects using Photoshop and Illustrator.
It is a good option to build portfolio websites for designers and photographers.
Key Features
Optimized for Any Device: Each theme is natively responsive. It will be resizing your content and images to fit any screen.
Lightroom and Behance Integration: This feature saves time and effort by allowing you to import your work from Lightroom and Behance directly into your portfolio. It ensures a seamless transition of your artwork from creation to display.
Typekit Fonts: With Adobe Portfolio, you have access to a wide variety of fonts from Typekit. This allows you to create the perfect look for your text, matching the style and tone of your overall portfolio.
Pros
✅ Fully Responsive templates
✅ Offers responsive photo grids
✅ Option to Add Cusom Domain Name
✅ Can Keep Your Website Password Protected
✅ Ability to Import Your Photos from Lightroom
Cons
❌ Lack of builder features like CMS and eCommerce.
Pricing
Free Plan: You need a creative cloud subscription to get it free.
This plan also offers access to Photoshop and Lightroom
Wix
Wix is a cloud-based website builder that enables individuals and small businesses to create, manage, and grow professional-looking websites. With Wix, you can build your own website in minutes without worrying about coding or complex design concepts.
You will get a good number of pre-built templates to build your website. Wix also supports an AI website builder. It provides a chat like interface to describe your site. The most amazing thing about Wix is that it will create a completely customized dashboard depending on the nature of your website.
Key Features
Let’s have a look at some of Wix’s features.
AI Website Builder: It lets you design your site just by giving prompts. You can describe your site and Wix AI will do the rest. You can build a customized website just by answering a few questions.
Drag-and-Drop Editor: Wix provides an easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor that allows users to create and customize their websites without coding.
Responsive Template: It comes with over 900fully responsive templates covering various businesses and industries.
SEO-Friendly: Its advanced SEO tools will help drive organic traffic to your site. Your sites will be fast and secure.
E-commerce Feature: With Wix's eCommerce features, you can easily add an online store to your website and start selling products or services online.
Mobile Site Editor: You can customize the design and layout of your site from your mobile device.
Other Features: Domain customization, an online booking facility, integrations, App Market, Analytics, Contact Management, Member Login, and many more.
Pros
✅ Easy to use
✅ Offers App Market to explore hundreds of third-party apps
✅ Reliable hosting and strong security
✅ AI text and AI metatags generator
✅ Free business tools
Cons
❌ Wix doesn't offer unlimited storage space on all plans.
❌ Customer service and support are not satisfactory.
Pricing
Free Plan: Available (14-day money-back guarantee)
WordPress.org (WordPress) is a free and open-source content management system (CMS)based on PHP and MySQL. It is one of the world's most popular website builders and blogging platforms. WordPress.org is self-hosted, meaning you must have your domain name and hosting account to use it.
As an open-source platform, WordPress offers extensive customization options through thousands of themes and plugins. One of WordPress's key strengths is its large and active community, which provides continuous updates, support, and resources.
Additionally, WordPress's robust SEO capabilities, mobile responsiveness, and integration options with various third-party services make it a preferred choice.
WordPress presents you with the essential features to create both simple and complex websites. Some of them are as follows:
Attractive Themes: You can choose from thousands of free and paid themes or create your own theme using HTML, CSS, and PHP.
Drag-and-Drop Page Builders: It also offers drag-and-drop page builders such as Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder, etc. They help you insert different elements with the click of your mouse.
Plugins: There are almost 60,251 plugins available for free that allow you to add new features and functionalities to your site.
User Management: This feature lets you give specific access to specific people. You may not need all the people on your website with the same role. So you can mark them as Administrator, Editor, Author, Contributor, and Subscriber.
Easy Content Management System: Managing your website content in WordPress is stressless. You can log in to your account from anywhere and can do the necessary modifications with ease.
SEO Friendly: Websites developed in WordPress site builder are optimized for search engines. It means your site will perform better in search results.
Easy Integration: WordPress can be easily integrated with other websites and platforms, such as social media integration and e-commerce.
Multilingual Support: Moreover, WordPress lets you translate your website into more than 75 languages.
Pros
✅ Free to use
✅ Highly flexible and scalable
✅ Thousands of free and premium themes
✅ Numerous plugins
✅ Opportunity to add custom codes
Cons
❌ Security vulnerabilities
❌ Regular updates for WordPress core, themes, and plugins may break your site
Pricing
Free Plan: Available
WordPress.org is free of cost. You can design free sites here. But to publish your site, it requires a domain name along with a web hosting plan. It means you have to pay for them. If you want to add more features and functionalities to your site, you may need to buy premium plugins from third-party companies.
Squarespace
Squarespace is an aesthetically pleasing one-stop solution for creating different types of websites. It is a popular platform among small businesses, artists, photographers, and individuals to build professional-looking sites.
Besides the site builder, Squarespace also provides domain purchasing options and tools like logo and video maker. It also has dedicated ecommerce features so small business owners will get everything in one place.
Key Features
Some of its key features are mentioned below:
Beautiful Design: Squarespace offers a variety of professionally-designed templates that can be customized to fit your brand.
Drag-and-Drop Editor: The drag-and-drop editing interface makes adding, arranging, and customizing elements on your pages easy.
E-commerce: You can create and manage online stores with Squarespace's e-commerce tools, including product management, order fulfillment, and secure payment processing.
Analytics: Squarespace provides detailed analytics and reporting to help you track your website's traffic, sales, and engagement metrics.
Integrations: Squarespace integrates with various third-party apps and services, such as social media platforms, email marketing tools, and more.
Blogging Tools: Furthermore, you can manage your blogs from a smartphone using Squarespace's Blog App.
Pros
✅ User-friendly interface
✅ Beautiful and professionally designed templates
✅ Responsive and mobile-friendly designs
✅ Integrated hosting and domain services
✅ Built-in e-commerce functionality SEO-friendly features
Cons
❌ Complex interface
❌ Limited third-party integrations
Pricing
Free Plan: Free for 14 days
Squarespace comes with 4 major pricing plans. They are:
Personal: $16 per month (Billed annually)
Business: $23 per month (Billed annually)
Commerce(BASIC): $27 per month (Billed annually)
Commerce(ADVANCED): $52 per month (Billed annually)
Why Should You Look for Photoshelter Alternatives?
There are several reasons to look for alternatives to Photoshelter. Here, we present some of them.
Pricing Considerations
Alternatives to Photoshelter might offer more cost-effective options depending on your budget and the specific features you require. Exploring different platforms can help you find a better solution without breaking the bank.
Design Limitations
Its templates may have specific limitations regarding flexibility and customization. Exploring other alternatives could be beneficial if you have specific design requirements that this builder doesn't meet.
SEO Capabilities
While Photoshelter provides basic SEO tools, some alternative platforms may offer more advanced SEO features and optimizations. If search engine visibility is the prime focus for your website, you can consider alternatives with more robust SEO capabilities.
Ease of Use
You may have limited time and resources to build a website. Therefore, it's essential to choose a site builder that is user-friendly and easy to navigate. Photoshelter has a steep learning curve. As a result, it may seem challenging to use for you.
Customer Support
You may face challenges while creating and managing your sites. So, look for alternative builders that offer reliable customer support, like email, live chat, or phone support, to help you with any issues that may arise at any point.
Scalability
Your website must grow as your business grows to adapt to the new needs. Choose an alternative that offers scalability options.
Why Should You Choose Dorik Over Photoshelter?
You should pick Dorik instead of Photoshelter for many reasons. In this section, I'll show you some logic. Let's start!
Pricing
Dorik beats Photoshelter regarding pricing and value for money.
The starting price of Dorik is also lower. Besides, its free plan has all the basic features for making a professional website.
Dorik even offers the best pricing compared to plans with similar features on other Photoshelter alternatives.
User-Friendly
Dorik is the most accessible and user-friendly tool to build your site online. It has a low learning curve. The Dashboard and the editing panel are super easy to understand. You can quickly navigate and edit the content where necessary. You can add different elements like rich text, headings, images, buttons, sliders, forms, etc.
On the other hand, Photoshelter has a bit more learning curve. Its multitude of features may confuse you.
Customer Support
You may not need customer support every day. But having a dedicated support team will bring peace of mind. You'll get an instant solution if any issue arises.
Dorik excels in customer support and provides round-the-clock assistance regardless of your plan. Their support team is available 24/7.
Contrarily, Photoshelter's service may be delayed. You may have to wait to get the solution to your issue.
SEO and Marketing Functionalities
Dorik is the best SEO-friendly website builder. You will get all sorts of pre-built SEO and marketing functionalities in the Dorik. It offers built-in image optimization, Robots.txt, Canonical URLs, Structured Schema Markup, Automated Sitemap Generator, Noindex, Nofollow Metatag, Custom URLs, and many other features.
Website Speed
Dorik ensures the fastest page loading speed. Because the platform uses AWS & DigitalOcean for hosting the websites. Besides, all the templates and design elements are lightweight. They load super fast.
Even if you create multiple pages and upload a lot of visuals (images and videos), your site's loading speed will be fast because Dorik serves static content from its Global CDN.
The loading speed of a Photoshelter website can be affected by the number and size of page elements. Plus, your websites will load slowly if you use incompatible apps and external integrations.
No-code Tools Integrations
You can integrate essential no-code tools (marketing, analytics, and payment) to collect, send, and organize your data. It includes Zapier, MailChimp, Integromat, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, Airtable, PayPal, Stripe, Gumroad, and many more. You can also use Crisp as a live chat box on your site.
How Did We Pick the Best Alternatives of Photoshelter?
We've considered various factors to ensure the best Photoshelter alternatives. We have used all of these platforms to get first-hand experience.
Here are some selection criteria that we kept in mind when making this list:
Pricing: We explored the pricing structures of each website builder, taking into account any hidden transaction fees or limitations to selling online.
Learning Curve: We evaluated the ease of use for each website builder, considering how quickly someone could learn to use it, even with little to no technical experience.
Key Features: We assessed the key features of each website builder, such as customization options, mobile responsiveness, e-commerce functionality, and more. We also looked for any unique features that could set each builder apart.
User Reviews: We analyzed user reviews to see how real customers felt about each website builder. We looked for common complaints, praises, and overall satisfaction ratings.
What's the Best Free Alternative to Photoshelter?
Free options can be a good starting point if you are a beginner. Dorik is the best free alternative to Photoshelter. It offers unlimited storage and bandwidth. All of your content would be delivered from its Global CDN. As a result, the loading speed of your site will be super fast.
After creating your first site, consider upgrading to a premium plan for more features. Its premium plans are incredibly cheap.
Is There Any Cheaper Option Than Photoshelter?
Yes, there are cheaper options available compared to Photoshelter. Among them, Dorik is the most cost-effective website builder.
We've shown you a detailed comparison of different website builders and CMSs. You can use any of them as Photoshelter alternatives.
But Dorik will be your best Photoshelter alternative. It's very affordable, user-friendly, and secure. It requires no extra maintenance cost. Plus, it is highly scalable for your business.
With diverse backgrounds and expertise, the Dorik editorial team is committed to producing high-quality, informative, and engaging content for our readers. Whether you're a long-time reader or a new visitor, we hope you find our content valuable and informative.
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