Online Galleries for Photographers Compared (2026)
Eight providers, one goal: handing your images over to your clients in a professional way. But they differ widely on price, privacy, personalisation and how galleries are shared. Some are built for professional work with agencies, others for emotional wedding stories.
Before you compare
What matters when choosing an online gallery
Target audience
Not every tool is made for the same kind of photography. PictoMento, scrappbook and Photonesto are built for the emotional handover in people and wedding photography. Picdrop targets commercial photographers, business teams and agencies, Pictrs targets sales scenarios such as schools, nurseries and sports, moodcase targets approval workflows in studio and advertising production. Pic-Time aims at international photographers, Pixieset is broadly positioned.
Pricing model
If you shoot evenly throughout the year, a subscription can work. If you have a peak season and quiet winter months, a per-gallery model saves you money — you only pay when you actually deliver. In this round, only PictoMento and Photonesto offer that: PictoMento at a flat €10 per gallery, Photonesto scaled by data volume and duration from €2. If you deliver a lot, unlimited is the better deal: €199 with PictoMento, €348 with scrappbook, €409.76 with Photonesto.
Personalisation
Face recognition comes as standard in all plans with PictoMento and scrappbook; with Pic-Time it sits in the most expensive Advanced plan only, and the rest don’t offer it at all. The difference lies in what the recognition controls. With scrappbook it controls the view: the complete gallery stays accessible to anyone with the link, and people can only be filtered out. With PictoMento it also controls access: every guest gets their own images as a “For you” chapter, and you decide per person who is allowed to see what in the first place. If everyone may see everything, a filter is enough. If not, you need separate access.
Sales through the gallery
With scrappbook, Photonesto, Pixieset and Pic-Time, selling images is part of the model, both digital and physical. PictoMento does not sell digital files on top; the gallery delivers what the client is getting anyway, and prints run through our integrated shop. With Pictrs, sales are the very starting point and everything else is built around it.
Migration
Switching doesn’t have to be a hurdle. PictoMento migrates your existing galleries free of charge. Pic-Time migrates too, but charges $1–2 per gallery (from 20 galleries); scrappbook, Photonesto, Pixieset and Picdrop don’t advertise a migration service.
Language
For German-speaking clients only, any provider will do. If you also photograph Dutch or international couples, look for multilingual galleries. scrappbook is limited to German here, Photonesto covers German, Polish and English, and Dutch is offered by PictoMento alone in this round.
Privacy and server location
If it matters to you that your clients’ images stay in the EU and that you get a German DPA under the GDPR, you’re left with PictoMento, scrappbook, Picdrop and Pictrs. Photonesto also hosts in the EU but is operated by a Polish company and therefore falls under Polish supervision. moodcase hosts in European data centres but is based in Switzerland and issues a data processing agreement on request. Pixieset (Canada) and Pic-Time (Israel) host outside the EU.
Print sales
If you want to actively sell prints and albums, PictoMento, scrappbook, Photonesto, Pixieset and Pic-Time are further ahead with their shops, and Pictrs additionally handles the entire fulfilment. To the best of our knowledge, Picdrop and moodcase currently don’t offer this.
Side by side
Two groups, two different jobs
We’ve sorted the eight providers into two groups because they solve different problems. The first group is built for the personal handover of images: weddings, couples, families, portraits. The second group has a different focus: proofing, approval workflows and sales in a more B2B-oriented context. The lines aren’t perfectly sharp — treat the split as a rough first orientation.
| Criterion | PictoMentoOur product | scrappbook | Photonesto | Pixieset | Pic-Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Focus on | Wedding & people photographers | Wedding & people photographers | Wedding, family & portrait photographers | Photographers (broad) | Photographers (broad), international |
| Servers | EU | EU | EU (Poland) | Canada | Israel |
| DPA & GDPR | Yes, German | Yes, German | Polish supervisory authority | No | No |
| Face recognition | Yes, all plans | Yes, all plans | No | No | Advanced plan only |
| Personalised access | Yes | Share by link | Share by link | No | Partly |
| Advanced privacy per client | Yes | Basic | Basic | Basic | Basic |
| Gallery languages | DE / NL / EN | German only | DE / PL / EN | Multilingual | Multilingual |
| Gallery handover to the client | Coming soon | No | No | No | No |
| Pricing model | Per gallery or annual package | Subscription only | Pay as you go | Subscription only (USD) | Subscription only (USD) |
| Pay as you go | Yes (€10) | No | Yes (€2–6)1 | No | No |
| Cost for unlimited | €199 | €348 | €409.76 | $480 | $504 |
| Integrated print shop | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Digital sales through the gallery | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| White label / own branding | Included | From €79/mo. | Subdomain per photographer | Yes, higher plans | Yes, higher plans |
| Free migration service | Yes | Not advertised | Not advertised | Not advertised | $1–2/gallery2 |
Swipe sideways to see all providers →
| Criterion | Picdrop | Pictrs | moodcase |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built for | Proofing and fast delivery | Photo sales including fulfilment | Approval and retouching workflow |
| Typical users | Commercial, business & agencies | Schools, nurseries, sports, events, photo booths | Advertising and studio photography, agencies |
| Servers | EU / Germany | EU / Germany | EU data centres, company based in Switzerland |
| Pricing model | Subscription | Free up to €42.90/mo., plus a service fee on your margin | Subscription in CHF |
| Cost per year | max. 1 TB: €4793 | €0 to €514.80 | from CHF 144 |
| Face recognition | No | No, assignment via QR/code cards | No |
| Integrated print shop | No | Yes, incl. payment and shipping | No |
| White label | Partly | From Profi Flex | Own domain from Professional |
Swipe sideways to see all providers →
A short profile of each provider
Group 1: Online galleries for the personal handover of images
Weddings, events, portraits, families, couples and newborns.
PictoMento Our product
- Face recognition with “For you” access
- Individual guest access, advanced privacy per client
- Trilingual (DE / NL / EN)
- EU hosting
- No subscription needed (€10/gallery) plus affordable unlimited (€199/year)
- Free migration
- Integrated print shop, available since August 2026
- The most affordable unlimited package in this comparison
- Gallery handover to the client coming soon
- A relatively new platform that is still developing fast
Best for wedding and people photographers who want to give their guests a personal experience.
Visit PictoMento →scrappbook
- Established German provider from Düsseldorf
- Online shop with various print suppliers
- German-speaking support, EU hosting with a DPA
- Extensive design templates
- German only
- No individual guest access
- Subscription only (no purchase of single galleries); at €348/year, the unlimited plan is more expensive than PictoMento
Best for German photographers focused on print sales.
Visit scrappbook →Photonesto
A provider with EU hosting and the most consistent pay-as-you-go model in the field. You pay between €2 and €6 per gallery, scaled by data volume and duration (3, 6 or 12 months). Four test galleries free, no credit card. Print sales are integrated, including photo books and albums, and you can embed videos and background music in the gallery.
- Video and music are billed separately
- Bringing an archived gallery back after expiry costs €5
- Operated by Codelane Sp. z o.o. in Kraków — EU hosting yes, German supervisory authority no
- No face recognition, no individual guest access
- Gallery languages: German, Polish and English
Best for photographers who want to bill per gallery and deliberately use short durations to keep costs down.
Visit Photonesto →Pixieset
- Extensive ecosystem: gallery, website, store, studio manager
- Plenty of attractive designs
- Commission-free store (from Plus)
- Multilingual (incl. DE / NL)
- Lightroom integration
- USD billing
- Servers in Canada (no EU hosting)
- No face recognition, no individual guest access
- Print labs mainly in North America (shipping and customs for EU clients)
Best for photographers who want an all-in-one package and can live with USD billing and overseas fulfilment.
Visit Pixieset →Pic-Time
- Premium gallery design
- Extensive sales automation
- More than 30 print labs worldwide
- Multilingual
- USD billing, fairly high-priced overall
- Servers outside the EU (Israel)
- Face recognition only in the most expensive Advanced plan ($42/mo. ≈ $504/year)
- Paid migration ($1–2/gallery), no purchase of single galleries
Best for international, high-end photographers focused on print sales and automation.
Visit Pic-Time →Group 2: Galleries focused on proofing, approval workflows and sales
Picdrop
- EU / Germany hosting
- Strong proofing and feedback tools
- Supports all file formats, deliberately “without AI”
- Geared more towards commercial photographers, business teams and agencies than towards personal shoots
- No print shop, no face recognition, no “For you” chapters, no individual guest access
- Plainer presentation, no unlimited storage plan
Best for commercial photographers and teams who need fast proofing and delivery.
Visit Picdrop →Pictrs
German provider from Leipzig that is more of a shop system than a gallery platform. Getting started is permanently free with 10 GB; Pictrs earns through a service fee on your margin, which drops from 15 percent on the Free plan to 6 percent and up on the Ultimate plan. Payment processing, production, shipping, dunning and customer support are handled entirely by Pictrs, including the default risk.
- Strong wherever many people are photographed and sold to in a short time: school and nursery photography with its CodeCard system, bib-number search for sports photographers, photo booth galleries
- White label shop from Profi Flex, own SSL domain from Profi
- No emotional handover: no face recognition, no “For you” chapters, no individual guest access — people are matched via code cards, not via faces
Best for photographers whose business is selling — schools, nurseries, sports, events — and who want to hand off fulfilment entirely.
Visit Pictrs →moodcase
Swiss provider from St. Gallen, built for the stage before delivery: image selection, approval and collaboration with retouchers, assistants and agencies. At its core are the plug-ins for Lightroom Classic and Capture One — upload images straight from the catalogue, pull the client’s selection back with one click. On top of that: a Kanban board, comments directly on the image, and versioning.
- No shopping cart, no payment processing, no face recognition
- Billing in CHF from 12 per month, team plans from 99
- European data centres, DPA on request; as a Swiss provider additionally under the revised Swiss FADP
Best for advertising and studio photographers with a multi-stage approval process — not for handing images over to a wedding couple.
Visit moodcase →FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Which online gallery has EU servers and a German DPA under the GDPR?
Which gallery offers face recognition?
Which online gallery bills per gallery instead of by subscription?
What’s the difference between Pictrs and a client gallery?
Which providers offer white label or a custom domain?
Is a provider based in Switzerland GDPR-compliant?
What’s the best European alternative to Pixieset or Pic-Time?
Try it yourself
3 galleries free
No credit card, no subscription. Create your first PictoMento gallery in minutes and see how your images look with face recognition and “For you” access.
Coming from another provider? We’ll migrate your existing galleries to PictoMento free of charge.