Alternatives
Picflow Alternative: When the Picks Have to Come Back to Lightroom
Picflow is a review platform built for teams, sold in storage and seat tiers. clientgallery.io is one flat plan whose Lightroom plugin carries the client's picks back into the catalog. Here is where each one is the right tool.
Updated 24 September 2026
Picflow calls itself an online proofing platform for creative professionals. That is a fair description. It sells seats, it lets unlimited reviewers into a gallery, and its review tools include approvals, rejections and annotations. For a commercial team running a review round, that is a real toolkit.
Photographers usually look for an alternative for one of two reasons. The first is the Lightroom Classic round trip: the client chooses in the browser, and the selection has to get back into the catalog somehow. The second is the plan ladder, which steps up on storage and seats when the studio is one person with one catalog.
Every Picflow fact below comes from Picflow's own pricing page, product pages and help centre, fetched on 24 September 2026 and listed under Sources. Picflow's pricing page renders its prices in the browser, and our fetches returned no figures. So no Picflow price appears on this page. That is a blank, not a claim.
One thing this page will not argue about is image quality. Picflow states that it saves the original file you upload, and a Picflow gallery download is a ZIP of those originals. On that point it hosts more than we do.
Stay on Picflow if this describes your work
This section comes first because for many Picflow customers it settles the question.
- More than one person needs a login. Picflow's pricing page lists included seats of 1 on Free and Plus, 2 on Pro, 10 on Biz and 20+ on Enterprise. clientgallery.io has no seat model at all: no multi-user accounts, no roles, no separate login for an assistant or a producer. A two-person studio shares one account.
- Your review round needs approvals and markup. Picflow documents favourites, comments, annotations, Approved and Rejected flags, five colour labels and custom labels, each switchable per gallery, plus gallery statuses from In Progress to Needs Review to Approved. An art director marking retouch notes on a frame is better served by that toolset than by ours.
- You want originals hosted and downloadable from the gallery. Picflow keeps the original file and lets visitors choose download quality, including the original. Our uploads are browser-compressed proof JPEGs. The full-resolution files travel separately, as a ZIP you upload per gallery that stays live for 3 days per handoff.
- You deliver video. Picflow gives paid plans workflow credits, and its help centre says those are used for video processing today. clientgallery.io hosts JPEGs and does not warehouse RAW files or master video.
- You edit in Capture One and want a plugin. Picflow lists a Capture One integration. We have no Capture One plugin; the route there is a plain filename list, covered in the Capture One filename list guide.
The Lightroom round trip, as each side documents it
Both products put a plugin inside Lightroom Classic. The difference is the direction it works in. Picflow's help centre describes its plugin as a Publish Service and states that changes made on Picflow can currently not be synced back. Its own documented route for getting a selection into the catalog is manual.
| Step | Picflow, as its help centre documents it | clientgallery.io |
|---|---|---|
| Getting proofs out of Lightroom Classic | A Lightroom Classic plugin that works as a Publish Service, ticked on all five plans. Lightroom Classic only, not Lightroom CC. | A Lightroom Classic plugin with an Export destination and a Publish Service. Lightroom Classic only. |
| Changes made in the gallery | Picflow's help centre states that changes "can currently not be synced back". | One command, Import clientgallery.io Picks, pulls the client's picks back into the open catalog. |
| How the selection reaches the catalog | Select the assets, choose Copy Filenames, then paste the list into Library, Find, Filename, Contains. | Matched by filename against the catalog that is open, with nothing to paste. |
| What lands on the frames | Whatever you mark yourself after the search. Picflow warns that Contains can match similar filenames. | A liked photo is rated 3 stars. A loved photo is rated 5 stars and flagged as a Pick. Every pick is gathered into a collection named after the gallery. |
| When the client adds more picks | Repeat the copy and paste. | Run the import again. It re-syncs to the gallery's current picks. |
| Capture One | Listed as an integration on the pricing page. Syncing feedback back to Capture One is shown as Coming Soon, on a help page dated 13 November 2025. | No Capture One plugin. Every completed gallery has an Export picks (.txt) button that produces a plain filename list. |
Picflow's marketing page says its plugins push your selects to Picflow. That is the outbound half, and it matches the help centre. Nothing Picflow publishes says it writes stars or flags into your catalog, and this page does not suggest it does.
The practical cost of the manual route is the one Picflow names itself. A Contains search on a pasted list can pull in similar filenames, so the result needs checking before you mark anything, and the marking itself is still done by hand.
The full mechanics of the import, including what happens to comments and colour labels, are in the guide to getting client picks back into Lightroom.
Plans: storage and seat tiers against one flat plan
Picflow's pricing page lists five plans and meters them on storage, seats and, for video, workflow credits. Galleries are unlimited on every plan. The page shows a 25% discount on annually paid plans, a free plan with no time limit, and a 7-day free trial on paid plans. It does not show a price we could read, so the table has no Picflow price column.
| Plan | Storage | Included seats | Custom domain | Workflow credits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Picflow Free | 2 GB | 1 | No | 0 |
| Picflow Plus | 100 GB | 1 | No | 400 |
| Picflow Pro | 1 TB | 2 | No | 1,000 |
| Picflow Biz | 5 TB | 10 | Yes | 5,000 |
| Picflow Enterprise | Not stated | 20+ | Yes | Custom |
| clientgallery.io, $10 a month or $100 a year | 250 GB of proofs, plus 100 GB of standing full-resolution ZIPs | No seat model | The studio's own subdomain | None; master video is not hosted |
The shape is the point, not the numbers. On Picflow, a studio that fills its storage or adds a second login moves up the ladder. On clientgallery.io there is no ladder: one plan, unlimited galleries, photos and clients under fair use, no per-gallery fee, no commission and no platform branding on anything the client sees.
Fair use is written down, because unlimited without numbers is marketing. The ceilings are 1,000 photos per gallery and 250 GB of proofs per paid account, with 5 GB on a free account. Proofs are compressed in the browser to about 0.6 MB each before upload, which is why 250 GB is a tripwire rather than a tier.
On branding, Picflow's pricing page ticks a custom domain on Biz and Enterprise only. Its client gallery page says the Picflow badge can be removed on supported plans, without naming which ones. clientgallery.io gives every studio its own subdomain and shows no platform branding on client pages, on the one plan.
What the client does in each gallery
Picflow's review options are built for a round with several reviewers: favourites, comments, annotations, approve or reject, colour labels and labels you define. A gallery can be password-protected, and downloads can be the full gallery, selected or approved files only, or off. Picflow states there can be unlimited reviewers on any plan.
The clientgallery.io gallery is built for one client choosing frames. Two pick levels: a star for a photo the client likes, a heart for one they love. Five colour labels and comments are off by default and can be switched on per gallery. The client presses send and gives a name and an email, with no account to create. The two pick levels are what become 3 and 5 stars in the catalog.
Around that sit a password per gallery, a switch that turns downloads off, a one-click download of the whole gallery, and a mark on each studio tile that shows whether the client has opened it. Face Search is off by default and enabled per gallery; the match runs in the guest's own browser and the selfie is never uploaded.
For an agency round with an art director and a brand manager on the same frames, read the art director proofing workflow before choosing. It covers the case where the approved list has to land in Lightroom Classic. Remember that on clientgallery.io the studio side is one shared account.
Moving from Picflow: what carries over
There is no Picflow import. The one-click whole-account import on clientgallery.io reads Pixieset only. Moving from Picflow means publishing the galleries you still need from Lightroom Classic, which is usually the active jobs rather than the back catalogue.
If the photos are already in a Lightroom collection, that is a short job. Point the clientgallery.io Publish Service at the collection and press Publish. New and edited photos upload, and removing a photo from the collection removes it from the gallery on the next publish.
Keep your originals on your own drives. The gallery hosts proofs and a timed full-resolution handoff. It is not a backup, and no gallery tool should be treated as one.
Sources
Every Picflow fact above traces to one of these pages. Help articles carry their own update date, given with each link. No Picflow price is quoted because none could be read from the pricing page on the fetch date. clientgallery.io figures are our own published terms.
- Picflow pricing (plans, storage, seats, custom domain, Lightroom Classic and Capture One rows, reviewers, free plan, annual discount), https://picflow.com/pricing, fetched 24 September 2026
- Picflow home page (positioning), https://picflow.com, fetched 24 September 2026
- Picflow client gallery page (download options, badge removal on supported plans), https://picflow.com/client-gallery, fetched 24 September 2026
- Picflow help: How to use the Lightroom plugin, https://help.picflow.com/en/articles/8630456-how-to-use-the-lightroom-plugin, article updated 27 March 2026, fetched 24 September 2026
- Picflow help: Viewing selections in Lightroom, https://help.picflow.com/en/articles/9862944-viewing-selections-in-lightroom, article updated 27 March 2026, fetched 24 September 2026
- Picflow help: Syncing feedback to Capture One, https://help.picflow.com/en/articles/12818373-syncing-feedback-to-capture-one, page dated 13 November 2025, fetched 24 September 2026
- Picflow help: Review and feedback options, https://help.picflow.com/en/articles/5505195-review-feedback-options, article updated 30 July 2025, fetched 24 September 2026
- Picflow help: Image and gallery downloads, https://help.picflow.com/en/articles/5799466-image-and-gallery-downloads, article updated 26 December 2023, fetched 24 September 2026
- Picflow help: Automatic image resizing, https://help.picflow.com/en/articles/5799433-automatic-image-resizing, article updated 14 July 2025, fetched 24 September 2026
- Picflow help: Workflow credits, https://help.picflow.com/en/articles/11593246-workflow-credits, article updated 23 June 2025, fetched 24 September 2026
- Picflow help: Gallery sharing permissions, https://help.picflow.com/en/articles/7019139-gallery-sharing-permissions, article updated 19 June 2025, fetched 24 September 2026
- Picflow help: Gallery status, https://help.picflow.com/en/articles/8676308-gallery-status, article updated 26 December 2023, fetched 24 September 2026
Frequently asked
Does the Picflow Lightroom plugin sync client selections back into Lightroom?
Not according to Picflow's own help centre. Its Lightroom plugin article, updated 27 March 2026, describes the plugin as a Publish Service and says changes made on Picflow can currently not be synced back. Its documented route is to copy the selected filenames and paste them into Lightroom's Filename, Contains search, with a warning that Contains can match similar names.
How much does Picflow cost?
This page does not state a Picflow price, because Picflow's pricing page renders its prices in the browser and no figures could be read on 24 September 2026. What the page does show is five plans (Free, Plus, Pro, Biz, Enterprise), storage from 2 GB to 5 TB, included seats from 1 to 20+, a 25% discount on annual plans and a 7-day trial on paid plans. Check picflow.com/pricing for current prices.
What does clientgallery.io cost?
One plan at $10 a month or $100 a year. Unlimited galleries, photos and clients under fair use, where the ceilings are 1,000 photos per gallery and 250 GB of proofs per paid account. There is no per-gallery fee, no commission, no storage tier and no platform branding on client pages.
Does clientgallery.io have seats or team logins like Picflow?
No. There is no seat model, no multi-user account and no roles. A two-person studio shares one account. Picflow lists included seats on every plan, up to 20+ on Enterprise, so a team that needs separate logins should stay on Picflow.
Can my client download original files?
On Picflow, yes: Picflow saves the original file, and a gallery download is a ZIP of the originals. On clientgallery.io the gallery hosts browser-compressed proof JPEGs, and the full-resolution files go out as a ZIP you upload per gallery. That ZIP stays live for 3 days per handoff and can be re-uploaded any time, within 100 GB of standing ZIPs per account.
Can I import my Picflow galleries?
No. The one-click whole-account import reads Pixieset only. Moving from Picflow means publishing the galleries you still need from Lightroom Classic through the clientgallery.io Publish Service, and keeping your originals on your own drives.
Who should stay on Picflow?
Teams that need several logins, review rounds that depend on approvals, rejections and annotations, studios that want originals hosted and downloadable from the gallery, anyone delivering video, and Capture One users who want a plugin. clientgallery.io fits the solo or two-person photo studio whose selection has to end up in Lightroom Classic.
Your client galleries, under your name
Branded galleries, client selections and a Lightroom Classic workflow. Start with your first gallery, then compare the current plan. Full-resolution delivery is a separate handoff with its own limits and conditions.
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