Pic-Time Alternatives in 2026: What to Use Instead, by the Part of Pic-Time You Actually Use
Pic-Time alternatives compared for photographers who sell prints, want contracts and invoices, need a website, or mainly deliver from Google Drive: ShootProof, Pixieset, SmugMug, CloudSpot, Zenfolio, GalleryLink and Galleroo, with yearly costs from each pricing page in October 2026, what you lose when you leave and how to switch.
Short answer
If you sell prints and albums, ShootProof or Pixieset are the closest Pic-Time alternatives, and ShootProof adds contracts and invoices. For a website as well, Zenfolio or SmugMug. If you mainly deliver and your edited photos are already in Google Drive, a Drive-based gallery such as GalleryLink ($50 a year) or Galleroo (€89 a year) avoids storing every shoot twice. Pic-Time itself runs from free to $50 a month, with 100 GB on Professional at $25 a month or $21 billed yearly, as of October 2026.
Pic-Time is not a gallery app with a shop bolted on. It is a sales platform that happens to deliver galleries: a print and album store, automated campaigns that email clients at the right moments, coupons and gift cards, and on the top plan, face search that lets wedding guests find themselves in a thousand photos. For a photographer whose galleries earn money after the session, that is hard to beat.
But a lot of photographers pay for Pic-Time and use a small part of it. They upload, they send the link, the client downloads, and the store sits there. If that sounds like your account, the right alternative is not the one with the longest feature list. It's the one that matches the part of Pic-Time you actually use.
This guide starts from that question. It sets out what Pic-Time does well, why people look elsewhere, and then the alternatives grouped by what you need to keep: selling, business paperwork, a website, or simply a beautiful delivery. Prices are from each company's own pricing page, as of October 2026.
- The short answer
- What Pic-Time does well
- Why photographers look elsewhere
- What Pic-Time costs in 2026
- First: which part of Pic-Time do you use?
- If you sell prints and albums
- If you want contracts and invoices in the same place
- If you need a website too
- If you mainly deliver, and your photos are in Google Drive
- What a year costs, side by side
- What you lose when you leave Pic-Time
- How to switch without breaking old links
- Where GalleryLink fits, honestly
The short answer
If print and album sales are a real part of your income, stay with a sales-first platform: ShootProof and Pixieset are the closest swaps, and ShootProof adds contracts and invoices on every paid plan. If you need a portfolio website as well, look at Zenfolio or SmugMug. If you mostly deliver photos and your edited files already sit in Google Drive, you are paying Pic-Time to store a second copy of them: a Drive-based gallery such as GalleryLink ($50 a year) or Galleroo (€89 a year) delivers from the folder you already have, with no storage tiers.
What Pic-Time does well
It is worth being fair about this before looking anywhere else, because some of these are the reasons to stay.
- A store built into every gallery. Prints, albums, wall art and digital products, with lab fulfilment. Pic-Time also runs a separate Art Store product for selling fine art.
- Sales automation on every plan. Pic-Time's pricing page lists automated marketing campaigns, coupons and gift cards on all four plans, including Free. The campaigns do the follow-up most photographers never get round to.
- Smart search for big galleries. On the Advanced plan, guests can search an event gallery by face or with a selfie, which matters when a wedding has 1,500 photos and a guest wants their own ten.
- A client mobile app on every plan, plus slideshows, blogs and a vendor network from Professional up.
- Payment processing covered. Pic-Time says it covers card processing fees when it collects payment for you.
If you use most of that list, Pic-Time is probably earning its price and this guide is mostly reassurance. If you use one or two items, read on.
Why photographers look elsewhere
The reasons are rarely about quality. They are about fit:
- The bill follows your storage. Pic-Time's plans are priced by gigabytes. A season of weddings outgrows the 20 GB Beginner plan quickly, and the next step is Professional at $25 a month (or $21 billed yearly).
- Your own brand costs a tier. Removing Pic-Time branding and using your own domain are listed for Professional and Advanced only, so a photographer who wants a clean, branded delivery is on at least $252 a year.
- The free plan shrinks. It starts at 10 GB of photos, then drops to 3 GB after six months. It's a trial in practice, not a home for a working business.
- Commission depends on how you're paid. On Professional and Advanced there's no commission when you collect payment yourself. When Pic-Time collects payment, there is a commission on your markup, which gets smaller on higher plans. The page doesn't list the percentages, so check them in your account if store income matters.
- A second upload of every shoot. Like every hosted platform, Pic-Time keeps its own copy of your photos. If you already export to Google Drive or another cloud, every job is uploaded twice and stored twice.
- More platform than the job needs. For a photographer who mostly delivers, campaigns, price sheets and store settings are things to configure and then ignore.
What Pic-Time costs in 2026
From Pic-Time's client delivery pricing page, as of October 2026:
| Plan | Monthly | Billed yearly | Photo storage | Video storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 10 GB, reduced to 3 GB after 6 months | 1 GB |
| Beginner | $8 | $7/mo ($84 a year) | 20 GB | 5 GB |
| Professional | $25 | $21/mo ($252 a year) | 100 GB | 30 GB |
| Advanced | $50 | $42/mo ($504 a year) | Unlimited | 60 GB |
Custom domain and branding removal start on Professional. Face and selfie search is on Advanced, and extra brands on Advanced are $6 a month each. Video storage and the Art Store also have their own pricing pages.
First: which part of Pic-Time do you use?
Before comparing anything, spend ten minutes in your own account and answer four questions. The answers point to a different alternative each time.
- How much did the store earn in the last twelve months? If it covers the subscription several times over, you need a sales platform, whichever you choose.
- Do your campaigns actually send? Automations only count if they're switched on and producing orders.
- Do clients use favourites to choose album images? If so, any replacement needs selection, ideally with a target number. Our guide to client proofing and album selection covers what a good workflow needs.
- Where do your edited photos live before they go to Pic-Time? If the answer is a Google Drive folder, you're paying to store them twice.
If you sell prints and albums
Keep a sales-first platform. These are the closest swaps for Pic-Time's store.
ShootProof
Galleries and a store with commission-free sales on every plan, including Free, plus contracts and invoices from the first paid plan. As of October 2026:
- Free: 3 GB, photos only (about 1,000 photos).
- Starter: $9.99 a month, or $8.33 billed yearly. 20 GB of photos and video.
- Standard: $19.99 a month, or $16.67 billed yearly. 100 GB.
- Professional: $31.99 a month, or $26.67 billed yearly. 1,000 GB of photos and 50 GB of video.
- Premium: $60 a month, or $50 billed yearly. Unlimited photos and 150 GB of video.
Paid plans are white-labelled. For a photographer who sells and also pays for a separate contracts tool, ShootProof often comes out cheaper overall. Compare it with GalleryLink in GalleryLink vs ShootProof.
Pixieset
The best-known name in client galleries, with a polished store and unlimited galleries on every plan. Paid plans are commission-free; the free plan takes 15% of store sales. As of October 2026, monthly (or per month billed yearly):
- Free: 3 GB.
- Basic: $10 ($8). 10 GB.
- Plus: $20 ($16). 100 GB.
- Pro: $30 ($24). 1 TB.
- Ultimate: $50 ($40). Unlimited.
Pixieset prices storage a little lower than Pic-Time at the 100 GB mark. If you're weighing both, our Pixieset alternatives guide looks at the same market from the other side.
SmugMug
Unlimited storage for full-resolution photos on every plan, which makes it a strong archive. Selling starts on Portfolio. As of October 2026, billed yearly:
- Direct: $20 a month. Galleries and digital delivery, no selling.
- Portfolio: $23.50 a month. Adds print and digital download sales, website templates and order fulfilment.
- Pro: $37 a month. Adds multiple price lists, coupons, client favouriting and download limits.
There's a 14-day free trial, and RAW storage is an add-on.
One thing to check if you shoot big events: face and selfie search is one of Pic-Time's clearest advantages. We confirmed it on Pic-Time's pricing page; if your event galleries depend on it, check that any replacement offers it before you move.
If you want contracts and invoices in the same place
Pic-Time is about galleries and selling. If you'd like the business paperwork in the same subscription, two options stand out:
- ShootProof includes e-sign contracts and invoicing (with tipping) on every paid plan, from $9.99 a month.
- CloudSpot includes contracts, scheduling and mini-session booking from its Lite plan ($17 a month), with invoicing and payments on Lite and up in the US only. Lite also brings unlimited galleries, 100 GB and commission-free sales. Its Free and Entry plans are cheaper ($0 and $7) but cap client downloads at 2048 pixels and take 15% of store sales, which rules them out for full-resolution delivery.
If you need a website too
Pic-Time includes blogs and portfolio-style pages from Professional up, but if you want one tool for your whole site and your galleries:
- Zenfolio includes a customisable website with your own domain on every plan. As of October 2026: Basic $9 a month ($7 billed yearly, 15 GB), Professional $23 ($11.50 billed yearly, 150 GB), Advanced $40 ($20 billed yearly, unlimited photos and 150 GB of video). Sales carry a 7% commerce fee on the order subtotal plus payment processing. There's a free trial with no card.
- SmugMug includes professional website templates on its Portfolio and Pro plans, with unlimited photo storage on every plan (prices above).
If you mainly deliver, and your photos are in Google Drive
This is the situation where switching saves the most, because you stop paying for two things you don't use: a store, and a second copy of your photos.
Drive-based gallery tools don't host your photos. You point them at a Google Drive folder that's shared as "Anyone with the link", and they show it as a proper client gallery: a cover, sections from your subfolders, a full-screen viewer and downloads of the original files. Add a photo to the folder and it appears in the gallery. Because nothing is stored twice, there are no storage tiers.
- GalleryLink: free to build one gallery and share it for 24 hours, $10 once to keep that gallery online, or Pro at $5 a month or $50 a year for unlimited galleries. More in its own section below.
- Galleroo: turns a Drive folder into a photo and video gallery, with unlimited galleries, passwords, client favourites and full-resolution downloads, for €89 a year as a single payment with no auto-renewal. We didn't find a free plan or trial listed.
Neither has a print store. For a wider look at the ways to turn a Drive folder into a gallery, including the free ones, see Google Drive client gallery: five ways compared.
What a year costs, side by side
Starting prices flatter everyone, because working photographers outgrow entry plans in a season. A fairer comparison is roughly what a year costs for around 100 GB of finished galleries, billed yearly where that's offered, from each company's pricing page as of October 2026:
| Tool | Plan that fits about 100 GB | About a year | Sells prints |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pic-Time | Professional (100 GB) | $252 | Yes |
| ShootProof | Standard (100 GB) | $200 | Yes, no commission |
| Pixieset | Plus (100 GB) | $192 | Yes, no commission on paid plans |
| CloudSpot | Lite (100 GB), at the regular monthly price | $204 | Yes, no commission on Lite |
| Zenfolio | Professional (150 GB) | $138, plus a 7% fee on sales | Yes |
| SmugMug | Portfolio (unlimited photos) | $282 | Yes |
| GalleryLink | Pro (reads your Drive) | $50, plus the Google storage you already pay for | No |
| Galleroo | Yearly (reads your Drive) | €89, plus your Google storage | No |
Promotional prices (CloudSpot was offering months free on yearly plans when we checked) are left out, since they change. If you sell, the subscription is only half the sum: commission and processing fees on your typical order matter as much.
What you lose when you leave Pic-Time
Switching platforms always costs something. Better to list it now than discover it after cancelling:
- Your old gallery links. When a hosted gallery comes down, the link your client bookmarked stops working. Couples come back to wedding galleries for years, so plan which galleries you'll move and tell those clients. Our guide on how long to keep client galleries online helps decide which ones matter.
- Favourites and selections. Lists of favourites rarely transfer between platforms. Export or write down any album selections still in progress.
- Store setup and running campaigns. Price sheets, products and automated campaigns have to be rebuilt elsewhere, or let go if you're moving to delivery-only.
- Client details and order history. Download whatever Pic-Time lets you export, such as client emails and past orders, before the account closes.
- Face search and the client app, if you relied on them. Check the replacement has an equivalent before your next big event.
- Your originals. Make sure you have your own copy of every gallery outside Pic-Time. A hosted platform should never be your only backup.
How to switch without breaking old links
- Start new clients on the new tool. Nothing changes for existing clients yet, and you learn the new workflow on fresh jobs.
- Sort your existing galleries into three groups: still being opened or ordered from, finished but worth keeping, and done.
- Move the first group and email those clients the new link with a short note. Copy any favourites or album selections across by hand.
- Step down instead of cancelling straight away. If what's left fits in a smaller plan, move to it for a few months, so any client who missed your email still finds their gallery.
- Close the account once the last active gallery has moved, after exporting client details and confirming your own backups.
Where GalleryLink fits, honestly
GalleryLink is our product, so here it is in plain terms, including where it isn't the right choice.
What it is. You paste a Google Drive folder link shared as "Anyone with the link", choose a look, and send your client one link. Subfolders become named sections, the gallery follows the folder when you add or remove photos, and downloads are the original files you exported. Work that isn't in Drive can be uploaded straight into a gallery instead: 2 GB on the free plan, 10 GB on Pro and 250 GB on Studio.
What it costs. Build one gallery free with no card, and share it free for 24 hours. Keep that gallery online for good for $10 once, or go Pro: $5 a month or $50 a year for unlimited galleries, passwords, client favourites and album selection, gallery stats, every theme and layout, a studio page with your own address, and no GalleryLink branding. Studio ($15 a month or $150 a year) adds 250 GB of hosted uploads and watermarks.
Where it falls short of Pic-Time. There's no print or album store, no automated sales campaigns, no face search and no client mobile app. If your galleries make money after the session, keep a sales platform; GalleryLink won't replace that income. The comparison table in GalleryLink vs Pic-Time lists the differences feature by feature.
Choose it if your Pic-Time store is quiet, your edited photos already go to Google Drive, and what you want is a gallery that looks professional and opens quickly on a phone, without paying to store every shoot twice. The quickest test is a real folder: create a free account, paste the link, and look at the result on your phone. It takes about a minute.