Which is better among SmugMug Vs Pixieset in 2022? If you are looking for a professional photo sharing platform to host your pictures and create a virtual gallery for promoting and selling your pictures then this article will help you for sure.
This article will compare SmugMug and Pixieset, two popular online platforms that allow users to deliver photos to their clients. Both are excellent options for transferring photos, which makes them direct competitors.
Finally, at the end of this article, we will declare the overall winner after comparing both the products on the basis of a few standard features. However, before comparing the products, we will briefly describe SmugMug and Pixieset.
What is SmugMug?
SmugMug is an online platform that allows users to deliver photos and videos to their clients. Users can also define SmugMug as a code-free website builder that helps to create a professional-looking web portfolio.
SmugMug is a wonderful host for your site if you’re looking to create a portfolio site only. With low costs for the basic plan, you can have a website for under $50 per year!
What is Pixieset?
Pixieset is a free online tool that allows users to deliver photos and videos to their clients. With the help of this tool, users can create beautiful-looking client galleries that are mobile-friendly so users can highlight the photos on any device.
Pixieset is a wonderful tool to add to your business if you don’t yet have a platform for delivering galleries and offer prints to clients. While it doesn’t cover your entire workflow, it does a wonderful job of offering beautiful and easy-to-navigate pages for both you and your clients.
SmugMug Vs Pixieset: Key differences
In terms of setup and time, you may not find much difference between SmugMug Vs Pixieset. But if you want a free account, then Pixieset is the platform to use. If you want something basic but with unlimited storage, then you can go for Smugmug premium plans. Although SmugMug also offers a free trial period of 14 days. Anyway, let’s get into the detailed comparison between Pixieset Vs SmugMug.
SmugMug Vs Pixieset: Design & Templates
SmugMug: As mentioned earlier, SmugMug is a free website builder that helps deliver photos and videos to clients. This free website builder comes with more than 21 different templates and designs so users can effortlessly build a beautiful-looking website as per their preference.
Turbo, Smokey, Deco, Spartan, Koda, Vida, Duke, Arrow, Dash, Zoe, Jaspar, Octavia, Shadow, etc., are some popular templates of SmugMug.
Pixieset: Pixieset offers five different templates which have a unique look and feel. Users can effortlessly customize all the templates as per their preference which is the main USP of all the templates of Pixieset. Stanley, Edward, Canvas, Avery, and West are the five popular templates of Pixieset.
Winner: SmugMug
It is pretty clear from the information mentioned above that SmugMug is the winner in this category since it offers more templates than Pixieset.
SmugMug Vs Pixieset: Additional Features
SmugMug: SmugMug offers several exciting features, making it one of the best online tools for delivering photos and videos to clients.
However, beginners can sometimes find the interface to be a bit tricky to use. Furthermore, they do not support nor provide plug-ins for additional features. All the pricing plans of SmugMug allow users to create custom galleries for clients.
Pixieset: Pixiset offers a straightforward user interface, and hence clients can effortlessly browse through the works and galleries. Pixieset allows users to create custom galleries for clients like some of its other competitors. However, the custom gallery feature is only available on the paid plans of Pixieset.
Winner: Pixieset
Unlike SmugMug, Pixieset is both beginner-friendly and user-friendly, so Pixiset is the out and out winner in this category.
SmugMug Vs Pixieset: Plug-ins support
SmugMug: SmugMug allows users to download a plug-in for unlocking the Lightroom feature. However, the plug-in that helps users to unlock the Lightroom feature tends to crash from time to time which is a big drawback that users faces while using the Lightroom feature of SmugMug.
Pixieset: Pixieset, on the other hand, allows users to connect their website to Lightroom. As a result, users can connect their Lightroom account to their website and eventually upload directly from Lightroom, synchronize the galleries, and re-edit previous work.
Winner: Pixieset
Pixieset is the clear winner in this category since the plug-in that SmugMug offers is not up to the mark and tends to crash from time to time.
SmugMug Vs Pixieset: Payment Support
SmugMug: SmugMug supports online payment through credit cards and PayPal. However, if anyone lives in the US, they have to fill in their tax information, and in doing so, they will receive money on the set date of every month.
The International clients can pay through PayPal. All users who live outside the US can get the money in their currency.
Pixieset: Pixieset accepts payment through credit card, PayPal, offline payment methods, or users can combine all the options and eventually make the payment. Users can easily set up the payment method, which is the main advantage of Pixieset.
Winner: Pixieset
Pixieset is slightly better than SmugMug in this category since it offers more payment options than SmugMug.
Customer Support between SmugMug Vs Pixieset
SmugMug: SmugMug offers an excellent customer support facility that helps almost all users. The support staffs provide 24/7 customer service for 364 days a year, taking one day a year off. The people who work for SmugMug are experts in customer service, and they generally help users with anything they need.
This company has a reasonable response rate. Furthermore, they do not use the occasional bot as many customer service support companies do nowadays.
Pixieset: Pixieset has an operational customer service facility, but it is not as personal as SmugMug. Furthermore, they also offer 24/7 support through bots. This company provides a decent response rate, so users get the answers to their queries within a short span of time.
Winner: SmugMug
SmugMug is the clear winner in this category since they offer better customer support facilities than Pixieset.
SmugMug Vs Pixieset: Pricing Structure
SmugMug: SmugMug does not offer a free pricing plan like some of its competitors. However, users can pay money annually and save some amount as the annual plan offers a fair discount. SmugMug offers four separate pricing plans, including the Basic Plan, Power Plan, Portfolio Plan, and Pro Plan.
The Basic Plan costs $7/month and $55/year, and the Power Plan is available at $11/month and $86/year. On the other hand, the Portfolio Plan costs $27/month and $200/year. Finally, the Pro Plan is available at $41.99/month and $360/year.
Pixieset: Pixieset offers one free along with four different paid pricing plans. The free plans come with 3 GB of storage which users can avail without investing a single penny.
The four different paid plans of Pixieset include the Basic Plan, Plus Plan, Pro Plan, and Ultimate Plan. The Basic Plan comes with 10 GB of storage and is available at $8/month. The Plus Plan and Pro Plan offer 100 GB and 1000 GB of storage, respectively, and cost $16/month and $24/month.
On the other hand, the price of the Ultimate Plan is $40/month, and by selecting the Ultimate Plan, users will get unlimited storage.
Winner: Pixieset
Pixieset slightly edges over SmugMug in this category since they offer a free pricing plan apart from the paid pricing plans.
FAQs Related To SmugMug Vs Pixieset Comparison
How long do pictures stay on Pixieset?
If users cancel the subscription, the collected pictures will be kept for 60 days, during which users can re-activate or re-subscribe the account. However, after 60 days, all the collected photos will get deleted.
Is Pixieset good for photographers?
Pixieset is an excellent online tool for delivering photos and videos to clients. So overall, Pixieset is a fantastic option for professional photographers. Moreover, it has beautiful designs, and users can also customize the templates and designs as per the requirement of their clients.
Does SmugMug have a limit?
Users can upload any file up to a maximum size of 3 GB, and they can also view and retrieve the file from the SmugMug gallery. SmugMug even creates a JPG preview so that users know exactly which file they are looking at.
How long do photos stay on SmugMug?
Once the gallery is ready for download, SmugMug sends an email with the download link. The download link expires automatically after two weeks to keep the photos safe and reduce the storage of stale files if users make changes to the gallery.
Conclusion: Which Is Best Among SmugMug Vs Pixieset in 2022?
As promised at the beginning of this article, we have compared two popular online tools used for transferring photos and videos to clients.
Finally, after comparing SmugMug Vs Pixieset on the basis of a few standard features, we can clearly declare Pixieset as the overall winner since it is better than SmugMug in most of the categories mentioned above.