Comparison guide
Pixieset alternatives: the free and EU-hosted options, compared
Most people searching for a Pixieset alternative are not unhappy with Pixieset. They have outgrown the free plan, a client has asked where the files are, or they are paying for a suite when all they deliver is galleries. This guide puts the realistic alternatives side by side, with prices checked in September 2026, and ends with how to move without a client noticing.
Why photographers look elsewhere
Three reasons come up again and again. None of them is that Pixieset is bad at galleries. It is that the plan, the hosting or the size of the product no longer matches the job.
The price ladder, and the 15% on Free
The free plan holds 3 GB with no video, and any print sold through its store carries a 15% commission. The paid ladder goes USD 10 for 10 GB, USD 20 for 100 GB, USD 30 for 1 TB and USD 50 for unlimited storage, a little less on yearly billing. The step that hurts is the first one: 10 GB is not much for a photographer who delivers full-resolution files, so most people land on Plus at USD 20 a month before long.
Hosting outside the EU
Pixieset is a Canadian company based in Vancouver. Its data may be stored outside the EU, transfers rely on Standard Contractual Clauses, and the data processing agreement is part of the terms. That is a workable arrangement, but it is one you have to explain when a client or a company's legal team asks where the photos of their staff or their wedding guests actually are. A provider that hosts inside the EU turns that conversation into a one-line answer.
A suite bigger than the job
Alongside the client gallery, Pixieset sells a website builder, a studio manager with CRM and invoicing, and a print store. If you use all of that, it is good value. If you deliver galleries and run the rest of your business elsewhere, you are navigating and paying for a suite in order to use one part of it, and a tool that does only galleries is simpler to live with.
The alternatives, side by side
The three names that come up most often against Pixieset, on the points that decide it: what the free plan gives you, what 100 GB costs, how video is limited, and where the files live. Prices checked September 2026, excluding VAT. Pixieset and Pic-Time bill in US dollars, picdrop and Photoglacier in euros.
| What matters | Pixieset Canada | Pic-Time Israel | picdrop Germany | Photoglacier Austria |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 3 GB, unlimited galleries, no video, 15% commission on store sales | 10 GB photos plus 1 GB video, cut to 3 GB after six months | 1 GB and 3 galleries | 5 GB, unlimited galleries, one video per gallery, no expiry. Shows Photoglacier branding |
| First paid plan | Basic: USD 10 a month, USD 8 yearly. 10 GB, custom branding, custom domain | Beginner: USD 8 a month, USD 7 yearly. 20 GB plus 5 GB video | Pro: EUR 14.99 a month. 500 GB, custom branding | Starter: EUR 8 a month yearly, EUR 12 monthly. 100 GB, branding removed, passwords and PINs |
| Price of 100 GB | Plus: USD 20 a month, USD 16 yearly | Professional: USD 25 a month, USD 21 yearly | Pro at EUR 14.99 a month, which comes with 500 GB | Starter: EUR 8 a month yearly, EUR 12 monthly |
| Video | None on Free. 30 minutes HD on Basic, up to about 5 hours on the top plans. Downloads capped at 2048px unless on Pro or Ultimate | A separate quota in GB: 1 GB on Free, 5 GB on Beginner, 30 GB on Professional, 60 GB on Advanced. Up to 4K | Counted in conversion time: 1 hour a month on Pro, 2 on Advanced, 4 on Business | Counts against storage like any file. One clip per gallery on Free, three on Starter, unlimited from Pro. Files up to 10 GB |
| Hosting | May be stored outside the EU. Transfers rely on Standard Contractual Clauses, DPA in the terms | Servers on Azure, AWS and MongoDB in the EU, the US and Australia | Hosted in Germany, AVV available, no AI on user data | Photos and servers in Germany, DPA and AVV, ISO 27001 data centres |
| Print store and commission | Yes. 15% commission on the free plan | Yes, with automated marketing and more than 30 labs | No print store | No print store. No commission or per-image fees on anything |
| Branding removal | From Basic, USD 10 a month | Own logo and watermarks from Professional, USD 25 a month | From Pro, EUR 14.99 a month | From Starter, EUR 8 a month yearly |
| Proofing | Favourites on the plans we checked, and a strong Lightroom plugin | Client selections and album proofing from Professional | Selections, votes, colour marks, drawn Scribbles, file versions, an Inbox for receiving files | Stars, likes and reject on every plan, filename export from Starter, pinned comments from Pro, Boards on Studio |
Pick by what you use Pixieset for
The best Pixieset alternative depends entirely on which part of Pixieset you actually use. Most photographers use one of four.
You deliver galleries, and that is all
Photoglacier or picdrop. Both do the one job without the suite around it, and both keep the files in Germany. Photoglacier is the cheaper route to 100 GB at EUR 8 a month on yearly billing, with a free plan of 5 GB that never expires and unlimited galleries on it. picdrop starts at EUR 14.99 but brings 500 GB and a heavier proofing toolkit. Neither sells prints, and neither runs your invoicing.
You sell prints through the store
Pic-Time, or a paid Pixieset plan. Pic-Time's store is the most developed of the four, with automated marketing and more than 30 labs, and its gallery design is the most polished. Pixieset's own store is fine once you are on a paid plan and out of the 15% commission on Free. Photoglacier and picdrop have no store at all, so if print revenue matters, they are not the answer.
You use the website builder and the CRM
Stay, or move to another suite. ShootProof bundles contracts and invoicing from about USD 19 a month, priced by photo count, and CloudSpot bundles a CRM with its Lite and Unlimited plans, from about USD 17 and USD 50. None of the delivery-only tools replaces this side of Pixieset, and stitching three products together to save a few dollars rarely ends well.
You use it to get a selection back
picdrop for commercial and editorial work: selections, votes, colour marks, drawn Scribbles on the image, file versions and an Inbox for receiving files from clients. Photoglacier covers the wedding and portrait version of the same job: stars, likes and reject on every plan, a filename export to paste into Lightroom from Starter, comments pinned to a spot on the image from Pro, and Boards for team review on Studio.
Moving off Pixieset
Galleries do not transfer between platforms, so the move is a re-upload. Done in this order, no client loses a link and nothing has to be downloaded twice.
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Re-export from your own archive
Do not download galleries back out of Pixieset to upload them somewhere else. Your Lightroom catalogue or your edited masters are the source of truth, so export fresh delivery JPEGs from there at the size you actually deliver. It is faster, it keeps the colour and the metadata you set, and it is a good moment to check that the archive really does hold every job you still have online.
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Keep both accounts live for a while
Cancelling Pixieset is the last step, not the first. Clients open galleries months after delivery, so leave the old account running while the new one fills up. A month of overlap costs one extra subscription payment and saves every awkward email about a dead link.
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Rebuild your presets once, not per gallery
Cover layout, fonts, colours, download size, whether downloads are on, whether there is an email gate or a password. Set all of that up as a preset on the new platform before you upload anything, then every gallery you create inherits it. The free plan on Photoglacier includes one preset, which is enough to standardise the move.
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Re-send links for galleries that still matter
Old links stop working when the old account closes. For any job where the client is still downloading, ordering or sharing, upload it to the new platform first and send the new link with a short note. Recent weddings and anything with a print order in progress go to the top of the list. Galleries from three years ago can be moved quietly or left to expire.
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Cancel last
Once the active galleries have a new home and the new links are out, check the old account for anything that lives only there: a client's favourites list, a gallery you never archived, a video uploaded straight from a phone. Download those, then cancel. If you were on a yearly plan, let it run to the end of the term rather than losing the months you have paid for.
Where Photoglacier fits, and where it does not
If what you use Pixieset for is delivering galleries to clients, Photoglacier does that job with the files inside the EU and at a lower price for the storage most photographers actually need. It is an Austrian company with photos and servers in Germany, and the free plan is 5 GB with unlimited galleries and no expiry, enough to move one job across and see how a client gets on with it before you cancel anything.
- EU hosting on every plan: photos on servers in Germany, a signed DPA or AVV, and no Standard Contractual Clauses to explain
- 100 GB for EUR 8 a month on yearly billing, against USD 20 a month for Pixieset Plus
- No commission on anything, ever, and no per-image or download fees
- Stars, likes and reject on the free plan, and a filename export from Starter that pastes straight into Lightroom
- What it does not have: a print store, CRM or invoicing, watermarking, face recognition, or an unlimited-storage tier. The free plan shows Photoglacier branding
Questions people are asking
What is the best Pixieset alternative?
It depends on which part of Pixieset you use. For delivering galleries and nothing else, Photoglacier and picdrop do the job with EU hosting and without the suite. For print sales, Pic-Time has the most developed store. For the website builder and the CRM, the honest answer is to stay, or to move to another suite such as ShootProof or CloudSpot.
Is there a free Pixieset alternative?
Yes. Photoglacier's free plan is 5 GB with unlimited galleries, full-resolution downloads and one video per gallery, and it never expires. Pic-Time gives 10 GB free but cuts it to 3 GB after six months. picdrop's free plan is 1 GB and three galleries. Pixieset's own free plan is 3 GB with no video and a 15% commission on store sales, so the free alternatives are mostly larger, not smaller.
Is there a European or German Pixieset alternative?
Yes, several. picdrop is based in Berlin and hosted in Germany, with an AVV available. Photoglacier is an Austrian company with photos and servers in Germany, with a DPA in English and an AVV in German. scrappbook and Pictrs are also German and host in the EU. Of these, picdrop and Photoglacier are the closest to Pixieset's client gallery in scope.
Pixieset or Pic-Time?
Pic-Time if you sell prints or want the more polished gallery design: its store has automated marketing and more than 30 labs, and video runs to 4K. Pixieset if you want the cheaper entry, the Lightroom plugin, and a suite with a website builder and CRM. Watch the free plans: Pixieset's has no video, and Pic-Time's shrinks from 10 GB to 3 GB after six months. Neither is an EU company, though Pic-Time runs servers in the EU alongside the US and Australia.
Can I move my galleries from Pixieset?
Yes, but by re-uploading rather than importing. Client galleries are not portable between platforms as a rule, so the practical route is to export fresh from your own archive, upload to the new platform, and send new links for any gallery a client is still using. Keep the Pixieset account running until that is done, then cancel.
Does Pixieset store photos in the EU?
Not necessarily. Pixieset is a Canadian company, its data may be stored outside the EU, and transfers rely on Standard Contractual Clauses, with the data processing agreement forming part of the terms. That is a lawful arrangement, but if you need the files to stay physically inside the EU, you need a provider that hosts there, such as picdrop or Photoglacier.
Is there a self-hosted Pixieset alternative?
Lumio is a self-hosted, source-available client gallery. It gives you full control over where the files sit, at the cost of running a server, keeping it updated and backing it up yourself. That is worth it for a photographer who is comfortable with that work. For everyone else, a managed provider that hosts in the EU gets most of the benefit with none of the maintenance.
Pixieset alternatives for photographers in Europe
Most searches for a Pixieset alternative come from photographers who have hit one of three walls: the free plan's 3 GB, the price of the first useful amount of storage, or a client asking where the files are. The first two are about money and the third is about hosting, and the best Pixieset alternative for you depends on which wall it was. Free Pixieset alternatives exist and are mostly larger than Pixieset's own free plan, but only some of them keep the files inside the EU.
Photoglacier is an Austrian company running on servers in Germany, so photos and client data never leave the EU and a DPA or AVV is ready to sign. It covers the delivery half of Pixieset: branded galleries shared by one link, no account needed to open them, full-resolution downloads, video alongside photos, favourites that come back as a filename list, and no commission on anything. The free plan is 5 GB with unlimited galleries, and 100 GB costs EUR 8 a month on yearly billing.
More guides
Photoglacier is not affiliated with Pixieset, Pic-Time, picdrop or any other provider named on this page. Product names are the trademarks of their respective owners and are used here only to describe the services this page compares. Prices and plan limits were checked in September 2026 and change without notice, so verify current terms on each vendor's own site.
The gallery half, without the suite
Branded galleries, EU hosting, no commission, and a free plan with 5 GB.
