5 best website builders for photography
Website builders have made it easier than ever to present yourself online and share your work with a broader audience. However, while every photographer wants to display their work, the idea of creating a website from the ground up might be daunting. There are plenty of website builders out there to help you create a website in minutes with just a few clicks, but again, not all of them are geared towards helping photographers.
Here comes the need for a dedicated website builder for photographers to make this procedure relatively straightforward. For example, if you've always shared your photos on social media but want to move them to a more permanent online home, you would need a photography website.
As photography businesses rely on visual content, you must choose a website builder with aesthetically appealing layouts and a wide range of customization options to help you stay ahead of the competition.
Naturally, you'll need ample storage space for your photographs as well as the appropriate business tools. There's no need for complicated code; instead, you'll be able to drag and drop your images, videos, text, and other elements into place with a few mouse clicks. They all include a drag-and-drop interface that makes creating a professional-looking portfolio from a ready-made photography template a breeze. You may even go a step further and have a blog or sell your images on your website.
If you're having trouble finding the right website builder, don't worry - we've combed through the five top website builders for photographers 2021 below to help you exhibit your work and portfolios as elegantly as possible.
So here's what we think are the top website builders for photographers.
Our top 5 picks for best website builders for photographers
#1.Pixpa
Best overall photography website builder
+ Easy to use Pixpa - Creators Start - $6/mth
+ Highly affordable Pixpa Photographers - Base - $6/mth
+ Sell prints immediately Pixpa - Creators Grow - $9/mth
+ Ecommerce optimized
+ Mobile gallery apps
- Limited storage (with free version)
Pixpa gets the first spot in the list of top website builders for photography as it is literally made for creatives - and that shows.
Aimed at creatives specializing in various fields, including photography, Pixpa is a great website builder for photographers.
Pixpa is an all-in-one website builder which offers built-in eCommerce, blogging, and client proofing tools, with not a single line of code insight. Its themes are specifically designed to showcase high-quality visual information, and it comes with a plethora of customization features to help you personalize any page.
This website builder appeals to both newbies and professional photographers. A unique additional feature that photographers would love is Pixpa's ability to sell images as downloads and prints with automated order fulfillment. It also supports image sizes of up to 100 MB, which means you won't have to scale your images down as much as you would on other platforms.
An intelligent feature that could help attract more commissions is creating personalized mobile apps for your clients. You might even charge an extra fee for it, as in the case of wedding consumers. An example gallery can be seenhere.
Above all, Pixpa provides tools to help you operate your photography or art business smoothly with its affordable pricing. The 'Start' plan from Pixpa offers many features for a low monthly fee of $6, but storage is restricted to 200 images.
Its 'Grow' package, which costs an extra $3 a month, provides you access to everything, including a domain name and the flexibility to sell up to 10 products, so it seems like a no-brainer to go with the latter.
You'd be hard-pressed to find a better website builder than Pixpa if you're searching for a highly affordable option to build a simple but professional-looking photography website.
#2.Wix
Best for novices and portfolios
+ Free version Wix Pro - $23/mth
+ Ease of use Wix Connect Domain - $3.54/mth
+ More focus on portfolios Wix Combo - $14/mth
- Extra cost for ecommerce
- Templates are basic
Wix is one of the top website builders for photographers, and it makes it simple for photographers to set up an online presence. If you want a photography website that focuses primarily on portfolios, you have Wix.
Wix's services are designed with beginners in mind, giving you everything you need to get started straightforwardly. There are over 500 layouts to pick from, with 30 of them intended explicitly for photographers. A simple drag-and-drop editor makes it simple to arrange text and images on a page, and you can access the image upload manager in just two clicks to upload, review, edit, and manage photos as needed.
Wix has all of the features a photographer would want, but you'll have to pay more if you wish your website to be more than simply an online portfolio, with eCommerce and unlimited storage. So, Wix isn't for photographers who are looking for an all-in-one site for their business.
If that's the case, one of the more dedicated photography services on this list would be more appropriate. Wix's design possibilities are also somewhat limited; for example, there is no way to modify templates later (unless you want to start from scratch).
#3.Squarespace
Best budget option
+ Beautiful templates Personal - $12/mth
+ Highly customizable Business - $18/mth
+ Good ecommerce features Commerce - $26/mth
+ Not the cheapest
+ Templates are basic
Next up on our list is Squarespace. Although it isn't specifically designed for photographers, we believe it is a fantastic choice for creating your photography website. It includes many stunning and professional-looking themes; they're clean, organized, and stylishly minimal, and top-class designers expertly craft them. This ensures that your work shines online, regardless of whether your site is being viewed on any device. And we can't think of anything more significant.
Squarespace has several photography templates to choose from and these are geared around presenting large, high-quality images, so it's worth checking out all of them.
The platform is suitable for photographers because of its ease of use and affordable premium plans. You get unlimited bandwidth and storage even on the cheapest monthly plan (the $12 per month 'Personal plan'). This eliminates any issues you may have about uploading and storing a large number of high-resolution photographs — not bad for only $12 a month!
#4.Weebly
Best editor with unlimited storage
+ Unlimited storage Weebly Starter - $5/mth
+ Huge variety of apps Weebly Pro - $12/mth
- Advanced features cost more Weebly Business - $25/mth
- Reduced image quality
Weebly is a simple drag-and-drop builder that takes only two clicks to add a gallery and start uploading photographs, making it an excellent choice for those who are just getting started with their website.
Weebly offers a free plan that may be suitable for budget-conscious artists and photographers. The free plan provides search engine optimization (SEO) and eCommerce functionality, unlike many of the other free solutions on our list. This makes it easier for potential customers to find your business on search engines and for you to sell things without having to spend money on other services and plugins.
If you only want to get your images online quickly, Weebly's free version is adequate, but it restricts your storage to 500MB and includes (typically undesired) adverts on your site.
But suppose you need more from your website. In that case, its premium plans provide limitless storage, custom domain connections, and access to many other tools for fully customizing your web design.
#5.SmugMug
Best for event photographers
+ Fully protected images SmugMug Basic - $3.99/mth
+ More focus on photography SmugMug Power - $5.99/mth
+ Unlimited photo uploads SmugMug Portfolio - $14.99/mth
- Cheaper options available
- Only few templates on cheap plans
At its most basic level, SmugMug offers a quick and straightforward way to share and sell your photos online and is one of the excellent website builders for small business photographers.
It's the platform's photography-focused capabilities that set it distinct from other website builders. Features like e-commerce optimization, unlimited photo uploads backed up by cloud storage, sync photo library with Lightroom, add custom watermarks to safeguard your work, and an in-built printing facility so visitors can order images directly from the website are all included. SmugMug also allows users to link their own domain names.
SmugMug does not have a free version, unlike some other options on this list, but it provides a 14-day trial to determine if it is right for you. However, its interface is a little more challenging to navigate, and unlike most site builders, you can only access the entire variety of templates on the more premium plans.
If you determine during that time that SmugMug is the right website builder for you, you can choose from four different price plans that cater to various skill levels and needs.
