7 Best Photography Website Builders: Gain Exposure in 2024
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Our methodology
We conducted our own thorough research into the best photography website builders, placing extra focus on design, SEO, and ease of use.
Written and researched by:
Comments: 14
If you’re looking to build and showcase an awesome digital portfolio of your work, website builders are a great way to do it. With photography in mind, you’ll want a website builder that offers varied functionality, a variety of design layouts, and ease of use.
According to our research, Squarespace takes the number one spot as the best website builder for photography by offering stunning, image-focused templates that strike the balance between artsy and professional. It’s also super easy to use, scoring 4.4 out of 5 in our analysis. Overall, it was our favorite builder during testing.
Wix is another strong contender. Like Squarespace, it’s beginner-friendly, and its impressive 4.9 out of 5 feature score makes it the perfect builder for users who want a website that can do it all.
If you’re not after the bells and whistles, and just want to build a no-fuss online presence, GoDaddy ticks the right boxes. It also offers awesome value for money, achieving 4.3 out of 5 in this category – the highest of all the builders we tested.
Here are our top picks:
The 7 Best Website Builders for Photographers
- Squarespace – Best overall photography website builder
- Wix – Easiest to use; our users’ favorite
- GoDaddy – Most time efficient
- Pixpa – Best for creating galleries to showcase your photography portfolio
- Shopify – Best for creating a powerful online photography store
- Hostinger – Best for using AI to create fresh, brand-boosting content
- Webflow – Best for appealing to customers across a variety of marketing platforms
We got in touch with photographers when researching and writing this article. You’ll find some of their testimonials scattered throughout, alongside a few inspirational photography sites.
Compare the Best 7 Photography Website Builders
Compare our best website creators in key areas using the comparison chart below. Use the arrow at the top of the chart to view other platforms. We’ve started you off with our top three: Squarespace, Wix, and GoDaddy.
 | PEOPLE'S CHOICE  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Squarespace | Wix | GoDaddy | Pixpa | Shopify | Hostinger | Webflow |
| Overall Rating 4.8 | Overall Rating 4.7 | Overall Rating 4.3 | Overall Rating 3.9 | Overall Rating 3.8 | Overall Rating 3.8 | Overall Rating 3.1 |
| Free plan or free trial 14-day free trial | Free plan or free trial Free plan | Free plan or free trial Free plan | Free plan or free trial 15-day free trial | Free plan or free trial Free trial | Free plan or free trial No | Free plan or free trial Free plan |
| Storage space Unlimited | Storage space 2GB – Unlimited | Storage space Unmetered | Storage space 3GB – 100GB | Storage space Unlimited | Storage space Unlimited | Storage space 1GB – 400GB |
| Client login area | Client login area | Client login area | Client login area | Client login area | Client login area | Client login area |
| File size limit 20MB | File size limit 500MB | File size limit 128MB | File size limit 20MB | File size limit 20MB | File size limit 128MB | File size limit 10GB |
| View Squarespace | Claim 50% off | Visit GoDaddy | Visit Pixpa | Visit Shopify | Visit Hostinger | Visit Webflow |
Now you know what the best photography builders are, let’s take a closer look at each one, so you can find the perfect photography website builder for your needs.
#1. Squarespace
Best overall website builder for showcasing photography
Pricing: $16 – $59/month
Squarespace
Best overall website builder for showcasing photography
- Best template designs
- SEO tools
- User favorite
Free trial available
Paid Plans: $16 - $49 / month
Pros
-
Sleek, minimal template designs - Excellent SEO features
- Very beginner-friendly
Cons
-
Middle-of-the-road value - No phone support
Squarespace Overview
After last year’s round of research, Squarespace remains top of the pack for photography websites with an overall score of 4.6 out of 5. It maintains its top position because of its stunning, mobile-responsive templates, all of which are perfect for showcasing your photographs.
Squarespace performs consistently well in our research, scoring particularly highly for design and help and support. Most importantly, however, it receives the highest score from our users, achieving a truly impressive 4.8 out of 5. This is because it’s easy to use and has attractive end results – both of which are very important to busy photographers who want to showcase their work in the best light.
Squarespace Design
Putting your photography at the heart of your website is easy with Squarespace’s stylish, modern template designs. Scoring a whopping 4.6 out of 5 for design, Squarespace is the best platform to choose if you want a website that looks professional and has a polished, high-end feel to it – which is a top priority, considering that 94% of first impressions are design related.
Squarespace Pricing
Although not the cheapest builder on this list, Squarespace’s premium plans are still relatively inexpensive, especially when you consider all the features that are included with its $16 per month starting plan. In our research, it scores 3.6 out of 5 in our pricing category.
“I used Format originally, but when updating my portfolio, it decided to wipe everything or change the layout. So now I use Squarespace, which is easy and works well with no hiccups”
– Adam Hoskins, Photographer
Squarespace’s tools offer all the essentials to support a photography site – great social integration, with strong SEO and blog features (see below). In addition to this, throughout our research, the quality of Squarespace’s features was apparent – everything works seamlessly to ensure your photography website runs like a dream.
We were also pleased to see that Squarespace hasn’t remained idle over the past year. It has worked hard to improve the features on offer, as well as expand its Extensions market. Since our research last year, users can now access image and video editing apps, such as Soona, as well as extensions, like Outfy, to help you to design stunning social media graphics.
Why did it score so highly for design? Its templates are all professionally designed, and each theme is also mobile-responsive, ensuring your photos look amazing on any device. If you want to refresh your branding, Squarespace’s customization and design blocks make it easy to redesign your site.
In 2022, Squarespace 7.1 was announced along with its new Fluid Engine drag-and-drop editor. This will unleash your creative capabilities while making it effortless to remain aligned with its new snapping grid system – making beginners feel like professional web designers.
You can also boost your site’s SEO with the chrome extension, SEOSpace, which gives you top tips on helping your Squarespace site rank higher. Its blogging functionality is pretty good, too, enabling you to produce fresh content, engage visitors, and promote your work – all things that search engines like to see!
In the past, Squarespace was considered to have a steep learning curve, but no longer! Over the years, this builder has gone above and beyond to make its interface and building experience as easy as possible. From its helpful on-page guide, to the handy grid-layout, Squarespace is consistently praised for its ease of use. One user said, “The whole process made me feel like I was really good at building websites, but it was actually just Squarespace doing it for me.”
Squarespace has continued to iterate on the creative journey it offers customers, launching Squarespace Blueprint. Described as a guided, interactive design system, Blueprint poses five questions, after which users can create a sleek website. With more than 1.4 billion design combinations, users can easily create a website that reflects their photography with minimal stress.
In our research, Squarespace comes in third place behind GoDaddy and Hostinger for value for money, with a score of 3.4 out of 5. Since last year, Squarespace’s score has dropped by 10% in this category.
Although this might seem disappointing, it’s mainly down to the fact that Squarespace’s pricing plans have all increased by 33% since our last round of testing. It isn’t alone in that, either – most of the builders on this list have seen an increase!
What hasn’t decreased is the quality of the features that Squarespace offers. When comparing its feature offering to the price you pay, Squarespace performs pretty well. It beats Wix, the second builder in this list, by a pretty big stretch, because the features on Squarespace’s $16 starting plan match those of Wix’s mid-tier Core plan ($27 per month when paid annually).
So, what can you get for your money? Squarespace’s cheapest plan includes:
- Unlimited storage and bandwidth
- Up to two contributors
- Access to third-party integrations
- Free domain for one year
- SEO features
- Analytics to track performance
If you upgrade, you’ll unlock a professional email from Google, customization via CSS, advanced analytics, and Squarespace’s Video Studio App.
Squarespace does not have a free plan – instead, you get a 14-day free trial.
“Before joining my current job I was a freelancer, and because of this I had a website as a way to best advertise myself to any future clients. My peers and university lecturers recommended Squarespace because of how good it is at displaying galleries and videos. And they couldn’t have been more right!”
– Alex Greene, Senior Video Editor
Squarespace Gallery
Click the image below to expand More Information
- Squarespace Review: For more on Squarespace’s overall offerings, see our detailed main review
- Squarespace Pricing Review: For an in-depth breakdown of Squarespace’s pricing plans
- Squarespace Ecommerce Review: If you’re selling your photographs online it’s worth looking at our Squarespace Ecommerce review!
- Best Website Builders for Artists: Squarespace also tops our list for artists – see how you can use Squarespace to show off more than just photos
- Interview with Timo Nausch: We spoke with Timo about his experience building a website with Squarespace
#2. Wix
Best for photographers who want an online store and a portfolio all in one
Pricing: $0 – $159/month
Wix
Best for those who want an online store and a portfolio
- 800+ templates available
- Multi-tasker
- Good SEO tools
Free plan available
Paid Plans: $16 - $159 / month
Pros
- Free plan is handy for users on a budget
- Lots of design flexibility
- Great ecommerce features
Cons
- Paid plans are a little pricey
- Can't switch templates once site is live
- Limited storage on cheaper plans
Wix Overview
Wix is an incredibly easy to use photography website builder, scoring an impressive 4.4 out of 5 for ease of use in our testing.
But what’s the use of building a website if you don’t get any visitors? Well, you won’t need to worry about that with Wix. Its SEO tools are thorough and robust as, in 2022, the brand integrated with Semrush’s SEO keyword tool. This tool is aimed at helping users to rank in Google’s search results.
One of the best things about Wix is that it is the great multitasker of the website-building world, and it shows in its impressive 4.6 out of 5 features score. This is the best out of all the builders we tested. This means you’ll be able to create a truly powerful website quickly and easily.
Wix Design
In our research, Wix scores a solid 4.3 out of 5 for design flexibility – putting it in joint second place behind our overall winner, Squarespace. With over 800 templates to choose from, it gives you plenty of room to stretch your creative muscles to create a website that reflects the quality of your work.
Wix Pricing
Wix receives its lowest score (3 out of 5) when it comes to value for money, putting it in joint last place with Shopify in this category. This isn’t because Wix isn’t worth the extra payout, but its starting price and the features it offers don’t stand up to its competitors. Read on to find out exactly what we mean by this.
It’s also ideal if you want your photographs to reach a global audience. In the past year, Wix has expanded its internationalization tools, boosting its supported languages from 100 to 180. This means that wherever you’re showcasing or selling, Wix will most likely be able to help.
We can’t miss the opportunity to discuss the reams of ecommerce features that Wix has to offer. Wix is a great choice if you’re looking to build a website and include an online store as an added extra. It offers over 40 payment gateways, including Stripe, PayPal, and Klarna, as well as its very own Wix Payments. In addition to marketplaces like Etsy, it also allows you to sell across various channels, such as Facebook and Instagram..
It’s true that Squarespace also comes with ecommerce functionality, but, in our opinion, Wix has the capacity to support larger stores, which is why we recommend it for users who are interested in creating a dual-purpose website, allowing you to showcase and sell at the same time. If your main aim is ecommerce, scroll down and make sure to check out Shopify.
Furthermore, we want to commend Wix on the improvements it’s made to its template offering. In the past, the quality of some of its templates was questionable. However, in the past year, Wix has really focused on bringing each one up to standard, narrowing in on UX, overall design, and the long-term appeal of each template. This resulted in an almost 7% score increase in the design category, jumping from 4.3 out of 5 to 4.6.
Design aside, the best part about Wix’s templates is how easy they are to customize, and how much creative freedom you’re given – even as a total beginner. You can drag and drop elements like text boxes around your pages, add new features, change the styling, all with a simple click of your mouse.
This type of easy customization means you can create a truly unique and personalized website without needing any coding skills. However, it’s worth noting that once your site goes live, you won’t be able to change your template. You’ll need to start from scratch.
It also offers a new Wix SEO settings page, allowing you to manage your whole site’s SEO in one convenient place.
This is down to the layout of the editor and how simple it is to create pages and move elements where you want them. Other than providing a website boundary guide, there really is no limit to what you can create. This kind of flexibility is great for a photography website in particular. You’ll have no problems rearranging your pages so your photos sit at the heart of the site.
However, if you’re easily overwhelmed by busy editing screens, you may find it takes a little time to adjust to Wix. It comes with many tools and features, so everything can seem a little busy when you’re first starting out. Luckily, its handy on-page support can help you navigate through everything – just look for the little question marks!
It’s worth mentioning that if you want to sell on your Wix plan, you’ll need to upgrade to an ecommerce plan, which starts at $27 per month when billed annually.
Just because they’re expensive, though, doesn’t mean that Wix’s premium plans aren’t worth it. They do offer a ton of new features for their higher price point, such as more storage space, advanced marketing tools and analytics, as well as a greater level of customer support. However, when compared with the other providers on this list, specifically Squarespace or GoDaddy, they’re definitely at the bottom of the pack.
Wix’s paid plans range from $16 to $159 per month, so there’s plenty of room to scale up your photography site. Wix’s cheaper plans are perfect for hobbyists, portfolios, and small businesses, while its pricier plans are ideal for growing a photography store.
It’s worth noting that you also get a free domain included in your plan if you choose an annual subscription.
Wix Gallery
Click the image below to expand More Information
- Wix Review: For a deep-dive into its features, designs, pros, and cons
- Wix Pricing Review: To discover which Wix plan is best for you
#3. GoDaddy
Best for establishing a central online presence quickly
Pricing: $0 – $16.99/month
GoDaddy
Best for establishing a central online presence quickly
- Fastest way to build
- Good value plans
- Handy SEO Wiz tool
Free plan available
Paid Plans: $6.99 - $469.99 / month
Pros
- ADI offers a fast way to get online
- Quick and easy to use
- AI SEO tool is perfect for beginners
Cons
- Hard to create something truly unique
- Restricted scalability
- Cheap plan is pretty limited
GoDaddy Overview
GoDaddy is a website builder that’s built to help entrepreneurs get online fast – and it does this with its handy ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) setup. You enter information about the site you want to build – such as the name and industry – and GoDaddy will create a template just for you in a matter of minutes.
GoDaddy is the quickest way to create your photography website – perfect if you need to establish an online base for your photography business fast.
GoDaddy Design
Although GoDaddy isn’t going to win any design awards, it performed relatively well in this category, scoring 3.8 out of 5. This is down to how easy it is to create a clean, modern website in just a few clicks.
However, it is worth noting that due to GoDaddy’s ADI nature, it’s difficult to create something totally unique to you and your brand. This is the opposite of Squarespace, which allows you to build a website that completely reflects the quality of your work.
GoDaddy Pricing
Value for money is one area where GoDaddy stands above the rest. With a score of 4.4 out of 5, it comes top here thanks to its affordable plans, as well as the fact that you can get started on its free plan without paying a single cent! Although, GoDaddy’s free plan does come with limitations. You won’t be able to sell online and you also won’t get a free domain name.
Rather than just being a website builder, GoDaddy also provides hosting, security, marketing, and is a popular domain name registrar. This makes it super useful if you’re looking for add-ons to build out your website!
Another reason we like GoDaddy so much is that it’s always looking to improve its user offering. In the last year, it launched a logo maker, as well as a customer testimonial tool, expanding the functionality of your website as well as helping to boost your brand identity.
Additionally, it recently unveiled its AI prompt library to help users get the most out of platforms such as ChatGPT and Google Bard. It also debuted a trio of proprietary AI tools that tackle everyday jobs, including writing product descriptions, responding to customer queries, and creating social media ads.
Although GoDaddy creates your template, you can preview different layouts and pick the one you like the most, and then continue to customize it until you’re ready to publish. That said, GoDaddy doesn’t give you as much creative freedom as Wix, so it can be harder to create something truly unique.
GoDaddy’s SEO Wiz is an AI SEO tool that analyzes your website, then walks you through each stage of optimizing it for search engines, and it helps you track your site’s progress after you’ve published your site.
Something else that is also going to make search engines look favorably on your website is GoDaddy’s improved sitespeed. Since last year, its performance score has increased by an impressive 7%. This means that, even with lots of images weighing your pages down, users won’t have to experience the frustration of waiting for them all to load.
However, this simplicity comes at the cost of creative freedom. While you can change your template if you aren’t happy with it, the choices are limited, and the block-based structure of the editor means you can’t just drag and drop, like you can with Wix. One of our users pointed out, “GoDaddy is good for people who don’t want to fiddle around a lot with their website.” Another stated, “If you want simple and fast, GoDaddy can give you that.”
There’s a free plan for you to try risk-free, then four price plans ranging from $9.99 to $29.99 per month, when paid annually. Like all builders on this list, GoDaddy’s prices have gone up, but they still won’t bust the bank.
We recommend the $14.99 per month Premium plan to start out on because it gives you better SEO tools and more social integrations than its cheapest plan. This means it’ll be easier for you to market your photography as well as attract a wider audience.
GoDaddy Gallery
Click the image below to expand More Information
- GoDaddy Website Builder Review: Find out if this platform has everything you need to succeed
#4. Pixpa
Best for creating galleries to showcase your photography portfolio
Pricing: $4 – $12.50/month
Pixpa
Best for creating galleries to showcase your photography
- Portfolio-based
- All images optimized
- Limited to not much else
Free trial available
Paid Plans: $7.5 - $24 / month
Pros
- Tons of options for galleries
- Built for photography
- Cheap starting price
Cons
- Limited website customization
- No features on starting plan
- Restrictive product limits
Pixpa Overview
Pixpa recently graduated to the fourth spot on this list after having been previously included in our “Other Photography Website Builder Options” section. We realized that Pixpa was too good to just be a footnote, since it’s the only website builder on this list that is designed first and foremost for photography portfolios.
While Wix and Squarespace have fantastic options for photography portfolios, only Pixpa is built from the ground up to provide this service. As such, it has a fantastic selection of templates and galleries designed for showcasing photos. It even has ecommerce capabilities allowing visitors to buy prints straight from a gallery, or commission your work if you are a wedding photographer, for instance.
Plus, with Pixpa’s pricing plans ranging from only $4 per month to $12.50, it’s one of the cheapest builders on this list, coming third overall in our value-for-money ranking with 3.7 out of 5. However, there’s not much else this builder can do apart from showcase photos, having the lowest feature score on our list. If you ever feel like branching your website out to other avenues, Pixpa won’t be able to help you.
Pixpa Design
Pixpa has over 150 templates, ranging from fashion photography to landscape and everything in between. Each template is exquisitely designed, and users also get a choice of 25 different gallery layouts. You can even make Client Galleries, which allow you to sell your photos as prints directly from the gallery.
With so many design features in favor of photographers, you may be surprised to learn Pixpa got the lowest score for design flexibility in our research, with 2.9 out of 5. This is because, beyond photo galleries, Pixpa has no more customization. You are unable to alter your template, even down to adding more text boxes!
Pixpa Pricing
While Pixpa lacks a lot of features and customization, its low pricing somewhat balances it out. Pixpa’s Basic plan, starting at only $4 per month is a steal, and you can get the full range of all of Pixpa’s features with the Advanced plan for only $12.50 per month. That’s a full $3.50 cheaper than Wix and Squarespace’s starting plans!
With the Basic plan, we should warn potential users that it has really limited features – no blogging, marketing, ecommerce, client galleries, or even a free domain! Nevertheless, if you all need a website to showcase your photography, it’s still a great deal.
If all you care about is having a portfolio for your photos, then Pixpa is a perfectly respectable website builder. But if you are looking for anything else, like event scheduling or video hosting, we suggest you look elsewhere, as Pixpa doesn’t have it. Even basic features like blogging aren’t available on the cheapest plan, so we had to give Pixpa the second-lowest feature score in our research, 2.7 out of 5.
A portfolio site’s goal is to showcase your creativity, so it’s disappointing that Pixpa doesn’t let you do this through its design.
While data-heavy images can typically impact SEO, Pixpa addresses this issue with advanced image settings, ensuring you can confidently post images without worrying about their impact on your search engine placement.
However, if you are just wanting to showcase your photography, then Pixpa couldn’t be simpler. Swap the images in the template for your own, rewrite the copy, and set the SEO settings and you have a perfectly functional portfolio ready to go! In our research, we awarded Pixpa 3.5 out of 5 for ease of use.
For those looking for a full suite of images, Pixpa slightly falters. While $7.50 per month is a steal for ecommerce functionality included, Pixpa only lets you sell up to 10 products on its Creator plan. The severely limited nature of Pixpa prevents its value-for-money score rising above third, but if you just want to showcase your photography, this is the best deal on this list.
Pixpa Gallery
Click the image below to expand #5. Shopify
Best for creating a powerful online photography store
Pricing: $5 -$299/month
Shopify
Best for creating a powerful online photography store
- Ideal for selling
- Supports big inventories
- Relies on apps
Free trial available
Paid Plans: $29 - $299 / month
Pros
- Unlimited storage space
- Powerful sales features
- Good omnichannel integrations
Cons
- Doesn’t support members area
- No keyword support
- Expensive plans
Shopify Overview
According to our research, Shopify is the best overall platform for building an online store, so if you’re looking to create a website to sell your photographs, Shopify is your best bet. In our testing, it scores 3.8 out of 5 and particularly excels when it comes to customer satisfaction. It received a customer score of 4.5 out of 5, putting it just behind Squarespace and solidifying it as a user favorite.
But Shopify isn’t for everyone. This is because it’s not designed to build your average website. This platform is specifically tailored to customers that want to sell, so if that’s not your main priority, we’d recommend sticking with Squarespace or Wix, both of which scored higher in our research and cater to users who don’t want to sell.
Shopify Design
With a design score of 3.7 out of 5, Shopify isn’t the strongest contender when it comes to aesthetics. However, although its themes don’t have the same wow factor as Squarespace’s, they’re all still very clean and modern, with a lot of white space to compliment your photos.
Shopify Pricing
Unfortunately, Shopify joins Wix at the bottom of the pile when it comes to value for money. With a disappointing score of 3 out of 5, its pricey plans don’t live up to those of competitors such as Squarespace which allows you to sell at a fraction of the price.
It is worth bearing in mind that in return for the higher price point, Shopify does deliver on some exceptionally powerful sales tools that are well worth the money if selling is your main aim. In comparison, Squarespace’s sales tools are underwhelming.
For example, users can now add onsite testimonials, audio uploads, and product comparison tools. Shopify has also built out its blog functionality, which is something the platform was sorely lacking in previous rounds of testing. This means that, alongside selling your work, you can raise your profile as a photographer through blog posts. Generating fresh content like this will also help you rank higher in the search engine results.
One thing to bear in mind here is that Shopify is heavily reliant on app integrations. This is great because it means you can add virtually any functionality you need to sell your photographs on your website. However, the bad news is that very few of these are free, so you’ll need to add these subscription costs to your monthly payout.
However, Shopify can’t quite live up to the standards set by Squarespace and its themes are often more about function than aesthetics. As a result, it comes last place alongside Hostinger, scoring 3.7 out of 5 in this category.
Despite this, the platform does get full marks for its omnichannel design functionality. Users can now create cross-channel marketing campaigns for platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and Snapchat without ever having to leave the Shopify dashboard.
This being said, there are a ton of SEO-specific apps you can take advantage of. Plus, Shopify does support canonical tags, custom URLs, and headers, as well as providing SEO best practice prompts when users upload their products.
Another big bonus is that Shopify’s site speed has seen a massive improvement over the last year. Our research shows that its performance has increased by 9%, something that can help to boost search engine rankings.
Despite being split between a front-end and back-end editor, during testing, navigating between the two didn’t feel labored or inconvenient, with one of our users saying that the basics felt easy.
However, not everyone shared this view. A few of our testers were confused by the layout, and found it unnecessarily complicated. One user noted that while it was simplified, they were hidden under five layers of new menus and extra tabs., Another user said they felt there was no centralized building experience
It’s clear that, for some, Shopify still has a slight learning curve, which is why we’d recommend this platform for those solely interested in selling photography online. The increased effort to get your store set up only reflects the complex features and inventory management tools you’ll have at your disposal once it goes live.
While some platforms on this list are cheaper, none can rival the sales tools that Shopify offers. If you want a proper online store, you’re going to have to sign up for a premium account and pay the big bucks, starting at $29 per month when billed annually. If you want advanced features, like professional reports and additional staff accounts, we’d recommend checking out the Shopify plan ($79 per month, billed annually) or the Advanced Shopify plan ($299 per month, billed annually).
Shopify Gallery
Click the image below to expand More Information
- Shopify Review: Learn more about Shopify’s pros, cons, and features to find out if it’s the right photography builder for you
- Shopify Pricing: Take a deep dive into Shopify’s pricing plans and see what each has to offer
#6. Hostinger
Best for using AI to create fresh, brand-boosting content
Pricing: $2.99 – 8.99/month
Hostinger
Best for using AI to create fresh, brand-boosting content
- Cheap plan
- Drag-and-drop editor
- Simple to use
Free trial available
Paid Plans: $2.99 - $109.99 / month
Pros
- Basic and cheap for beginners
- Wide range of simple templates
- New, basic SEO support
Cons
- Restricted creative control
- Weaker features than Squarespace
- Can’t edit images
Hostinger Overview
As a new addition, Hostinger comes in fifth place in this list, with an overall score of 3.8 out of 5 in our 2023 research.
You might be familiar with Hostinger as a hosting provider, but the platform also offers a website builder. In fact, if you’ve ever used Zyro, then it might all look slightly familiar. This is because Hostinger recently acquired Zyro and has crafted its website-building capabilities to sit alongside its hosting plans.
Simplicity is key when it comes to Hostinger, offering clean, simple templates, and a straightforward building experience. Plus, it only has one plan to keep things streamlined, but it’s not the best for growth.
Be warned, though, Hostinger doesn’t come with an app market and its website features aren’t very strong, something we’ll dive into below. It also achieved the lowest score for help and support out of all the builders we tested, coming in at 3.3 out of 5. This means that if you find yourself in a pickle, it’s not as easy to find the answers as it is with Squarespace or Wix.
Hostinger Design
Although Hostinger doesn’t live up to the aesthetic heights of Squarespace’s templates, those it does offer are very neat and easy on the eye. There’s no clutter and although the templates allow for limited customizability, the designs will help your photographs stand out on your web page. It scores 3.7 out of 5 for this category.
Hostinger Pricing
Hostinger doesn’t complicate things – it only offers one pricing plan, which starts at $2.99 per month. Not only does this make it the cheapest option on this list, but it also makes it one of the best value, too, putting it in second place just behind GoDaddy.
However, it does boast an impressive array of AI tools, such as an AI writer and an AI heatmap, as well as a business name generator, all of which aim to help you save time when building and monitoring your website. Although there are other builders on this list that have jumped on the AI bandwagon, Hostinger has been offering these as standard for a few years now, putting them ahead of the curve.
You’ll be able to run a blog on your website if you’d like, but Hostinger’s blogging functionality and marketing capacity is limited. The platform only supports social icons and, because it doesn’t have an app market, any extensions you might want to add will need to be coded manually. This means it isn’t beginner-friendly, and it makes it harder for website-building novices to get the most out of their site.
Another thing to bear in mind is that, like Wix, you won’t be able to change your template while your site is live, so make sure to think carefully before you hit that publish button. It could mean a lot of work and reformatting for you in the long run.
However, there’s no keyword support available, and the lack of an app market means there’s no option for users to install SEO-specific extensions either, something that our top-scoring builders like Squarespace and Wix offer as standard.
On the flip side, you can take advantage of another of Hostinger’s AI flexes – its ChatGPT integration. The platform has employed ChatGPT to make the website for you, resulting in a process that’s not too dissimilar to GoDaddy’s. However, the problem still remains: it’s really hard to build something unique with this builder, unlike with Squarespace, which prioritizes design.
However, don’t get too attached to that low price point, because it will increase to $11.99 per month after your first year. Also, it’s worth remembering that despite the low price point, you won’t have access to an app store or a social post creator, and, unlike Squarespace and Wix, your SEO tools will be average at best.
Hostinger Gallery
Click the image below to expand #7. Webflow
Best for using AI to create fresh, brand-boosting content
Pricing: $8.99 per month
Webflow
Best for appealing to customers across a variety of channels
- Good for advanced users
- Robust help and support
- Not beginner friendly
Free plan available
Paid Plans: $14 / month
Pros
- No ads on free plan
- Compatible with marketing apps
- Great design flexibility
Cons
- No social media or live chat support
- Doesn’t offer unlimited storage
- Steep learning curve
Webflow Overview
Rounding up our top six best photography website builders is another newcomer: Webflow. It might be at the bottom of the list, but it’s still sixth out of all 50 builders that we tested, scoring an overall 3.2 out of 5.
Webflow is ideal for photographers who are looking to extend their reach across social media and email marketing mailing lists. This is down to the fact that it is compatible with a number of marketing apps and also supports most social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.
Webflow Design
Webflow is a particularly good option for anyone with prior building experience. This is because its editor isn’t the easiest to navigate, and forgoes the usual drag-and-drop format most website builders opt for, instead using a technical editor that relies on padding and precise measurements. This means it might be tricky if you’ve never built a website before. However, those who persevere will reap the rewards of its attractive designs and high level of customizability.
Webflow Pricing
Webflow doesn’t perform particularly well when it comes to value for money, scoring 3.1 out of 5, putting it in fifth place in our rankings. The free plan is a great place to start, but the steep learning curve means you’ll need to put in a ton of effort to make it worth it.
If you want more static pages, up to 20,000 user accounts, site password protection, and the ability to use custom code, you’ll need to upgrade to the Basic plan at the very least, which costs $14 per month when billed annually.
However, it’s not all bad. Webflow does offer its Logic function, which allows users to create automated workflows. You can use them for all sorts of things such as sending sales leads down a particular sales channel, connecting with your customers, or managing site content. However, this is another aspect of this website builder that comes with a learning curve. It can save you a lot of time and run your site efficiently – but you’ll need to figure out how to use it first.
If you can overcome the learning curve and navigate your way around an editor that relies on padding and blocks, it’s possible to create something that really represents your unique brand.
However, like Wix and Hostinger, Webflow doesn’t allow for an easy change in templates if you want to shake things up. Instead, you’ll have to start from the beginning if you want to change the look and feel of your site. Plus, not all of its templates are free. The bulk of them range in price from $30 up to over $100.
Unless you sign up for a premium plan, you won’t have sitemap controls, or structured data to help your website rank. You also won’t be able to set up 301 redirects, either. Plainly put, if you want access to the more advanced tools, you’re going to need to pay for them.
Because it’s difficult to use, Webflow also received our lowest customer score of 2.3 out of 5. Our testers didn’t enjoy their building experience, and this was the platform they were least likely to recommend to others.
It’s a good thing that Webflow did so well when it came to help and support, scoring 4 out of 5. Not only can you fully restore your site if something goes wrong (even on the free plan, but only twice), but it also comes with telephone and email support, as well as advanced specialist support should you need it.
- Basic – $14 per month, billed annually
- CMS – $23 per month, billed annually
- Business – $39 per month, billed annually
Because of this, we don’t consider Webflow to be particularly good value for money, especially because it’s difficult to work with. In our opinion, you’d be better off with something more beginner-friendly, like Squarespace, or cheaper, like GoDaddy.
Should you decide to go with Webflow, we’d recommend starting with the CMS plan. This will give you the most features for the price you pay.
Webflow Gallery
Click the image below to expand More Information
- Webflow Review: To find out more about its strengths and weaknesses
What Are Photographers Recommending?
Producing these rankings isn’t a quick process. Here’s how it works:
- We consult with those in the industry to determine what factors are most important to them when building a website.
- We give these factors extra ‘weight’ in the scores we’ve created for website builders that have gone through the full research process (including user testing).
By the time we have our final list, we can be confident that each of these platforms will help you develop a website you’re proud of, while each bringing their own strengths to the table.
But we don’t just stop there. As well as continually reviewing the builders we’ve included (looking for shifts in pricing, new features, etc.), we want to keep in touch with you, your industry, and what’s working well within it right now.
So before updating this article, we went back to basics to check in on which platforms photographers like you are using, and see whether they’re happy with them.
Photographer Q&A
Q&A
What builder did you use to build your site and why?
What features are important for a good photography site?
What are the benefits of having a website?
Would you recommend your builder to other photographers?
Is there anything you don't like about your builder?
What do you wish you'd known beforehand?
More Information
- Interview with Han Designed: We spoke with Hannah about her photography business and experience with website builders
Other Photography Website Builder Options
While we don’t believe you have to choose a website builder specific to your industry (and, in fact, that you may lose out on a high standard of other features when you do), it’s clear there are some photography-specific platforms worth keeping on our radar. These platforms haven’t been through our full research process yet, but it’s on the cards. Watch this space.
1. Format
Format is definitely built with photography portfolios in mind, with plans starting at just $8/month. It’s an affordable option, and the focus on copyrighting and privacy makes it a popular one. It’s clear that photographers feel the small size of this platform makes for a supportive experience, and we’re very impressed by the template selection. When we put it through our research process, we awarded it an overall score of 2.5 out of 5. It’s still a little buggy for our liking, but it’s certainly one to watch!
2. Adobe Portfolio
Shout out to Bater & Street for putting this platform firmly on our radar! Free with an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription, Adobe Portfolio‘s designs can be a bit limiting, but it hooks up seamlessly with your Behance account.
3. Cargo
A small platform with a fresh look, Cargo is best suited to designers, but also comes with some fun photography templates. At $14/month, however, it’s a little pricey.
4. Zenfolio
Zenfolio is best-suited to event photographers as it has the option for client logins, and a vast amount of storage. If you’re trying to get new traffic, however, Zenfolio isn’t up to scratch – the SEO functionality is poor, and users complain that the design is unintuitive, too.
How to Pick the Best Photography Website Builder for You
The very best photography builders will:
- Help you showcase your photography
- Provide you with an affordable and scalable professional website
- Be easy to pick up and use
- Be able to store and display hi-resolution photography
- Help you gain more clients and make more money
Ensure the Builder Brings Out the Best In Your Photography
Website builders make it easy to show off your work and promote your website, so that others can find it to browse and enjoy.
Anyone with a camera and a Flickr account can call themselves a photographer, so it’s really important that your work stands out in a very crowded market.
Our recommended builders provide time-saving templates designed specifically for photographers, which come preloaded with great features you can use straight away, such as display galleries or contact pages, or you can edit as you see fit!
Think of templates like a recipe. You can use the ingredients exactly as recommended, or you can add your own creative additions to the mix.
Add Apps
You can also integrate apps that add extra features to your website – just like on your smartphone! These can include additional gallery styles for HD photos, or even social feed integrations to promote your images across different platforms.
Improve Your SEO
As you know, exposure breeds success, which makes building your own website a great way to promote your work. However, if people cannot find you online then you’ll struggle to generate as much traffic or attention as you might like.
The best website builders for photographers can also help you improve the SEO of your website. This can be super handy for adding meta data to your web pages, tags, and alt text to images – all of which are important for ranking on Google and improving your visibility in search engine results.
Use an Eye-Catching Template
Using an eye-catching template is an excellent way to create a professional-looking website in no time at all. When combined with powerful SEO-boosting features, you’ll have a website that is more likely to be found by users and ensures that your work grabs attention!
Key Terms
Tags – On-site labels added to photographs that help to sort your images and are useful for visitors who are interested in a certain type of photograph (e.g. mountains, cars, or lightning strikes).
Alt text – Labels that describe an image to search engines and are handy for SEO indexing of a website (also useful for visually impaired users who are using a screen reader to hear a website aloud).
Meta data – Descriptive information about your website that helps search engines sort, categorize, and index it for the relevant search terms.
Our Testing Methodology
You may be wondering how we decide and rank which websites are best for photographers. Well, we start by conducting our own research and working out which factors are most important to their desired audiences. We do that by looking at six key areas:
- Website features
- Design functionalities
- Value for money
- Help and support
- Customer satisfaction
- Ease of use
We recognize that although each of these categories contributes towards creating an overall score, some of them are more important than others. As a result, we’ve applied different weightings to each area depending on which ones our users said were a higher priority. Take a look below to see how we’ve weighted each category when deciding the overall scores for the best photography website builders.
- Website features – weighting: 20%
When building a website, website features are the tools that make up the meat of your site. They’re the things that allow you to build something that’s fit for purpose and meets your needs. In this category, we looked at sub-criteria such as SEO and marketing tools, app markets, internationalization potential, and storage area. We also carried out a sitespeed test.
Because a photography website calls for specific tools and features, we weighted this category at a high 20%.
- Design functionalities – weighting: 25%
Photography is all about creating something that looks good, and therefore you need a website that’s going to reflect the quality of your brand and business. As a result, this category has the highest weighting out of them all at 25%.
The sub-criteria we looked at here was whether a builder offered an ADI option, the quality of its themes, the flexibility of design, whether it has a mobile editor, and how good the UX is. We also checked for added extras such as image editors.
- Value for money – weighting: 15%
Regardless of industry, everyone loves a bargain. This category looks at whether a particular website builder offers that. The sub-criteria we focused on here was whether the platform offers a free trial, how expensive the average pricing plan is, and how many features were included for the price you pay.
Speaking generally, most photography businesses start out small and have a couple overhead costs to cover. As a result, it’s important that they save money where they can, which is why we weighted this category at 15%.
- Help and support – weighting: 10%
Having good help and support on hand is important in case you ever get stuck. When judging this area, we focused on what help options each builder offers, whether users are able to restore their site if necessary, how good the knowledge center is, and how much support is on offer for the price you pay.
Sometimes, photography sites require more technical elements in order to really showcase your work, so business owners need to feel confident that help is close at hand should they need it. Because of this, we gave this category a weighting of 10%.
- Customer satisfaction – weighting: 10%
When choosing a builder, the chances are you’re going to look at a ton of user reviews to help make your decision. This is what this category is all about. What did other customers think of the builder? We drew on Trustpilot reviews, brand recognition, and how likely users were to recommend a platform when weighing up this area.
However, personal preference plays heavily into this category. At the end of the day, so long as you like the builder, that’s all that matters! That’s why this area has a slightly lower weighting of 10%.
- Ease of use – weighting: 20%
Photographers want to spend their time out in the world, taking photos, not laboring away at home over their websites. That’s why this category has a higher weighting of 20%, and it’s also why we invited real-life entrepreneurs and small businesses to come in and test all of the builders on this list. We then used their experiences and comments to develop an ease of use score.
In addition to all this research, we test the builders ourselves. We devote time to creating free demo websites so that we can explore all the features on offer. This means that when it comes to analyzing all their pros and cons, we really know what we’re talking about!
If you still have questions about our research process, head over to our dedicated page where you can read about how we conduct our website builder research in more detail.
The Website Builder Expert product testing process
Best Photography Website Builders: The Verdict
There you have it folks. To recap: we took the most important areas for a photography builder and put each one through our rigorous research process. The areas we paid special attention to were design, SEO, and ease of use.
Alongside other important areas, such as help and support, value for money, and customer scores, we tested every builder and ranked them.
The 7 Best Website Builders for Photographers
- Squarespace – Best overall photography website builder
- Wix – Easiest to use; our users’ favorite
- GoDaddy – Most time efficient
- Pixpa – Best for creating galleries to showcase your photography portfolio
- Shopify – Best for creating a powerful online photography store
- Hostinger – Best for using AI to create fresh, brand-boosting content
- Webflow – Best for appealing to customers across a variety of marketing platforms
Squarespace is our number one photography website builder, scoring 4.6 out of 5 overall, because it combines stunning designs with powerful features, from SEO to blogging and beyond.
You want your photography to look its best, and Squarespace outperformed its competitors in design, coming in first with an impressive 4.6 out of 5! It also comes joint top for help and support, which is good to know if you ever need a helping hand.
You get unlimited space and bandwidth, which allows more people to visit your site, on all of Squarespace’s premium plans, and photograph upload speeds are among the quickest we’ve seen, which maintains quality and doesn’t diminish your work.
If you find you love Squarespace’s free trial, we’ve got a treat for our readers. Instead of paying full price when you sign up, enter the code WBE at checkout and enjoy an exclusive 10% off your plan!
Best Website Builders For Photographers: FAQs
Having an online presence will allow you to showcase your images, but it also gives you the opportunity to find new clients or connect with existing ones. In addition, a website also gives you the option of opening an online store, too.
Overall, though, having a website makes your business look professional and increases your trustworthiness.
Some photographers use sites like WordPress due to their open-source nature, but it can have quite a large barrier to entry. There are additionally many photography-focused website builders, like Format or Pixpa.
Pick your perfect design template and start uploading your own photos, as well as writing your own text and adding any features you need, including a contact form and social media feeds.
You’ll then need to sign up to a paid plan for a truly professional photography website, and you’ll be good to click publish! For a detailed breakdown, check out our guide on How to Create a Photography Website!
However, these features aren’t as strong as those offered by Squarespace. Although slightly pricier, Squarespace still offers fantastic value for money because of the high quality of the tools on offer in comparison to the monthly price you’ll pay.
Squarespace lets you sell online from $23 per month, but if you want the very best sales features, we recommend opting for Shopify. Its cheapest plan starts at $29 per month which, while pricey, will get you access to a powerful suite of sales tools that will really help your online photography store bloom.
- Use an ecommerce website builder and begin selling your photographs.
- Create a print on demand business, printing your images on various products.
- Sell your images as stock photography on websites like SmugMug Pro and Shutterstock, and you can direct website visitors there too.
- Use Google AdSense to monetize your website traffic with ads.
- Get photography related affiliate links to add to your website content, make sure to only promote products you actually use in your photography work.
- Create an online photography course or membership that can help starting photographers.
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