Alternatives
Pixieset Alternative: One Flat Plan Instead of Storage Tiers
What Pixieset does well, where its meters are, who should stay on it, and what changes when every gallery lives under your own name for a flat 10 $/month.
Updated September 2026
Pixieset is the platform many photographers start on, and for good reason: clean galleries, a free plan, and a print store and client mobile apps that are real products rather than checkboxes. If you are reading this page, something has started to pinch. For most people it is the storage meter.
This is the honest version of the comparison. It lists what Pixieset does well, names the three meters that decide what you actually pay (storage tiers, the free-plan commission and the fair usage clause in its Terms), and explains where clientgallery.io fits: one flat 10 $/month or 100 $/year, unlimited galleries, photos and clients under fair use, no platform branding, your own subdomain, and a one-click import of your whole Pixieset account. It also says who should stay on Pixieset.
Every Pixieset figure below comes from Pixieset's own pricing page, help center or Terms, fetched on 2 September 2026, and is listed under Sources at the end.
What Pixieset does well
A fair comparison starts with what you would give up.
- A print store with commission-free sales on paid plans. Clients order from the gallery, and the pricing page lists "Commission-free sales" from Basic up. If print revenue is a real line in your business, this feature alone can pay for the subscription.
- Client mobile apps. The pricing page lists up to 3 mobile apps on the free plan. An app on a client's phone is not something a web gallery replaces.
- RAW upload on the top two plans. Pro lists "Upload RAW photos" and Ultimate lists "Upload up to 1,000 GB of RAW photos". The file-size rules allow RAW files up to 100 MB each on select plans, and JPEG and PNG files up to 100 MB.
- No cap on photos per collection. The help center is explicit: there is no limit to the number of photos in a collection. Uploads count against the account's storage, nothing else.
- Expiry that hides rather than deletes. A collection can carry an optional auto expiry date, and an expired collection is set to Hidden, not deleted.
- A wider suite. The help center refers to Client Gallery plans and Suite plans, so a studio that wants one login for its whole toolset has that option.
Where the meters are
The usual complaint about Pixieset, branding, is mostly out of date. On the pricing page, "Remove Pixieset branding" is listed on Basic, the first paid plan, at 8 $/month billed yearly or 10 $/month billed monthly. The branding help article confirms that on an upgraded Client Gallery plan the "Powered by Pixieset" message at the footer of the gallery homepage and at the bottom of collections can be turned off. Branding is a small meter. The real ones are below.
Storage is the ladder. Free 3 GB, Basic 10 GB, Plus 100 GB, Pro 1 TB, and unlimited photo storage only on Ultimate, at 40 $/month billed yearly or 50 $/month billed monthly. Every upload counts toward the tier, and the help center says what happens when a tier is full: delete collections, photos or videos to free up space, or upgrade.
The free plan takes a commission. Orders received on the Client Gallery Free plan carry a 15% commission fee, charged on the subtotal before shipping, taxes or discounts are applied. A coupon you give a client lowers what you receive, not what Pixieset takes.
The fair usage clause has numbers in it. Section 6 of Pixieset's Terms, last updated March 20, 2026, reserves the right to charge additional fees to users who go above 20 GB per collection and 100 GB of bandwidth per month. "Unlimited" on Ultimate describes storage; bandwidth still has a figure in the contract.
Billing has one catch. Yearly plans renew once per year on their original purchase date and offer up to a 20% discount compared to the monthly rate. You can cancel at any time, cancelling fully ends the subscription and removes access to that product, and refunds are not issued for account cancellations.
Pixieset plans against one flat plan
Prices as printed on Pixieset's pricing page on 2 September 2026. "Yearly" is the per-month figure when billed for a year. "Not listed" means the pricing page does not list the feature on that plan.
| Plan | Monthly billing | Yearly billing | Photo storage | Platform branding | Store commission | RAW upload |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pixieset Free | 0 $ | 0 $ | 3 GB | Shown | 15% of the subtotal | Not listed |
| Pixieset Basic | 10 $/month | 8 $/month | 10 GB | Can be turned off | None | Not listed |
| Pixieset Plus | 20 $/month | 16 $/month | 100 GB | Can be turned off | None | Not listed |
| Pixieset Pro | 30 $/month | 24 $/month | 1 TB | Can be turned off | None | Yes |
| Pixieset Ultimate | 50 $/month | 40 $/month | Unlimited | Can be turned off | None | Yes, up to 1,000 GB |
| clientgallery.io | 10 $/month | 100 $/year (8.33 $/month) | Unlimited under fair use: 1,000 photos per gallery, 250 GB of proofs per paid account (hundreds of thousands of photos), 5 GB free. JPEG only | None, on any plan | No store, no commission | No, JPEG only |
Basic already removes branding and already sells commission-free, so the only reason to climb past it is storage. The last row has no row above it: no tier to upgrade to, and the fair-use figures are printed in the row rather than sold as an upgrade.
What the flat plan includes
clientgallery.io is one plan: 10 $/month, or 100 $/year, which works out to 8.33 $/month. Everything below is included.
- Unlimited galleries, photos and clients under fair use. No storage tiers, no per-gallery fees, no commissions. Fair use in figures: 1,000 photos per gallery and 250 GB of proofs per paid account, which is hundreds of thousands of photos; free accounts hold 5 GB.
- No platform branding on client-facing pages, at any price. Galleries live on your studio's own subdomain.
- Face Search included, so guests at a wedding or an event can find their own photos in a large gallery.
- A two-way Lightroom Classic plugin. Publish proofs from the catalog, then pull the client's picks back in. The steps are on the Lightroom page.
- Sub-galleries, or folders, inside a gallery.
- Clients download the whole gallery in one click, or any single image. Hosted galleries never expire.
- Full-resolution delivery, per gallery. Uploaded photos are browser-compressed proof JPEGs, hosted for as long as the account exists. Full-resolution delivery is a paid feature: you upload a full-resolution ZIP per gallery, it stays live for 3 days per handoff and can be re-uploaded any time, with 100 GB of standing ZIPs per account.
- The whole-account Pixieset import described below, plus a single-gallery bookmark.
The trade that keeps the price flat: clientgallery.io hosts JPEGs. It does not warehouse RAW files or master video. If you need RAW storage, read the next section first.
Who should stay on Pixieset
A flat plan is not the right answer for everyone. Stay on Pixieset if any of these describe you.
- You sell prints through the store. clientgallery.io has no store and no commissions. If clients buy prints from your galleries, Pixieset's commission-free store on paid plans is worth its tier. Pic-Time and ShootProof are the other store-first platforms; there is a separate page on Pic-Time and on ShootProof.
- You need RAW uploads. Pro and Ultimate accept RAW files up to 100 MB each. clientgallery.io hosts JPEGs only.
- Your clients live in the mobile apps. A web gallery under your own subdomain is a different product, not a replacement.
- You want one vendor for the whole studio. Pixieset's Suite plans exist for that reason.
If none of those describe you, and what you do is deliver finished JPEG galleries under your own name, the storage ladder is the only thing you are paying for. A flat plan replaces it.
How the move works
Pixieset does not offer a photo export. Its folder export lists collection information such as passwords, download PINs, client details and links, and in Pixieset's own words it does not contain any photos or videos. The per-gallery route in the help center is to download photos from a collection the same way your clients would, one collection at a time. The export guide walks through both.
clientgallery.io reads the account instead. On the Pixieset dashboard (galleries.pixieset.com) you click one bookmark. It reads your account through Pixieset's own dashboard API, the endpoints its web app already uses: every collection, its sets, titles, descriptions, event date, password and photo order. Galleries are reproduced one by one at full size under your brand. Pixieset is only read, never changed, and no password reaches clientgallery.io. Re-running the import skips what is already imported, so a migration can run in stages without duplicates. A single-gallery bookmark exists as well. Details are on the import page; the switching guide covers what to tell clients.
Sequence it: import, check the galleries, send clients the new links, then cancel. Pixieset keeps collections for a period of time after a cancellation before deleting them, without saying how long, and it does not refund a cancelled subscription. Cancel at the end of the period you have already paid for, not the day the import finishes.
Sources
All Pixieset figures on this page were fetched from the pages below on 2 September 2026. Pixieset's pricing page shows local currency to visitors from Canada; the prices printed here are the USD figures.
- Pixieset pricing, fetched 2 September 2026, https://pixieset.com/pricing/
- Pixieset help: Managing your Subscription, fetched 2 September 2026, https://help.pixieset.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003816812-Managing-your-Subscription
- Pixieset help: Logos and Branding, fetched 2 September 2026, https://help.pixieset.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002970812-Logos-Branding
- Pixieset help: Uploading to Client Gallery, fetched 2 September 2026, https://help.pixieset.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003740132-Uploading-to-Client-Gallery
- Pixieset help: File size and format requirements, fetched 2 September 2026, https://help.pixieset.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002900632-File-size-and-format-requirements-for-Pixieset
- Pixieset Terms of Service, section 6 Fair Usage Policy (last updated March 20, 2026), fetched 2 September 2026, https://pixieset.com/terms/
- Pixieset help: Why was I charged a fee for my client's order, fetched 2 September 2026, https://help.pixieset.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003796552-Why-was-I-charged-a-fee-for-my-client-s-order
- Pixieset help: How does the 0% commission fee work, fetched 2 September 2026, https://help.pixieset.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002975072-How-does-the-0-commission-fee-work
- Pixieset help: Using folders to share and organize galleries (export), fetched 2 September 2026, https://help.pixieset.com/hc/en-us/articles/31178129650957-Using-folders-to-share-and-organize-galleries
- Pixieset help: Client Download Experience, fetched 2 September 2026, https://help.pixieset.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003594212-Client-Download-Experience
- Pixieset help: How do I set an Expiry Date to the Gallery, fetched 2 September 2026, https://help.pixieset.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003479211-How-do-I-set-an-Expiry-Date-to-the-Gallery
- Pixieset help: Do my Collections expire, fetched 2 September 2026, https://help.pixieset.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002975012-Do-my-Collections-expire
- Pixieset help: Checking your Client Gallery storage, fetched 2 September 2026, https://website-help.pixieset.com/en/articles/7944254-checking-your-client-gallery-storage
- clientgallery.io pricing (one plan, verified in the product the same day), fetched 2 September 2026, https://clientgallery.io/
Frequently asked
Is clientgallery.io a good Pixieset alternative?
Yes, if you deliver finished JPEG galleries and do not depend on Pixieset's print store, RAW uploads or mobile apps. It is one flat 10 $/month or 100 $/year: unlimited galleries, photos and clients under fair use, no platform branding, your own subdomain, and a one-click import of your whole Pixieset account.
Does Pixieset only remove its branding on expensive plans?
No. 'Remove Pixieset branding' is listed on Basic, the first paid plan, at 8 $/month billed yearly or 10 $/month billed monthly, and the help center confirms the 'Powered by Pixieset' footer can be turned off on an upgraded Client Gallery plan. Pixieset's real ceiling is storage.
How much storage does each Pixieset plan include?
Free 3 GB, Basic 10 GB, Plus 100 GB, Pro 1 TB, and unlimited photo storage on Ultimate only, at 40 $/month billed yearly or 50 $/month billed monthly. When a tier is full, the help center says to delete content or upgrade.
What is Pixieset's fair usage limit?
Section 6 of Pixieset's Terms, last updated March 20, 2026, reserves the right to charge additional fees above 20 GB per collection and 100 GB of bandwidth per month. 'Unlimited' on Ultimate describes storage, not bandwidth.
Can I export my photos from Pixieset?
Not in bulk. Pixieset's folder export includes passwords, download PINs, client details and links, and states that it does not contain any photos or videos. You can download one collection at a time as a client would. clientgallery.io's import reads your whole account from one click on the Pixieset dashboard instead.
Will Pixieset refund me if I cancel mid-year?
No. Pixieset's billing help says you can cancel at any time, that cancelling ends the subscription and removes access, and that refunds are not issued for account cancellations. Import first, verify, send clients the new links, then cancel at the end of the paid period.
Does clientgallery.io store RAW files or video?
No. It hosts JPEGs and does not warehouse RAW files or master video, which is what keeps the plan at a flat 10 $/month. If you need RAW uploads, Pixieset's Pro and Ultimate plans accept RAW files up to 100 MB each; stay there.
Your client galleries, under your name
Unlimited galleries, your branding, one-click Pixieset import, and a Lightroom plugin — a flat 10 $/month, everything included. Your first gallery is free.
Move my Pixieset galleries