Answer
CloudSpot Free Plan Limits: Galleries, Storage, Downloads and Commission
CloudSpot's free plan costs nothing and has no end date. It limits you to 3 active galleries and 5 GB of JPEGs. Client downloads stop at 2048px, and store orders pay a 15% commission. Every figure here comes from CloudSpot's own pages.
Updated 17 September 2026
CloudSpot lists its free plan as "$0/mo forever". It is a real plan, not a trial.
It has limits, though. They fall in four places: how many galleries you can have, how much you can store, what your client can download, and what CloudSpot takes when a client buys from your store.
This page lists each limit as CloudSpot publishes it on its pricing page and in its help centre, read on 17 September 2026. It then shows what the first paid plans change. It also covers what happens if you drop back down to Free, and when the free plan is the right choice.
One topic is left out on purpose: branding on free galleries. CloudSpot's pricing page and its help centre describe it differently, so this page makes no claim either way. Check it in your own account before you send a free gallery to a client.
The free plan limits at a glance
CloudSpot shows prices with a plain dollar sign and names no currency. The figures below are copied as CloudSpot publishes them.
| Limit | CloudSpot Free | Where CloudSpot says it |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0/mo, listed as "forever" | Pricing page |
| Galleries | 3 active galleries (the pricing page says "Up to 3") | Help centre, Free Plan Features; pricing page |
| Storage | 5 GB | Pricing page; plan comparison article |
| File types | JPEG only | Pricing page |
| Client download size | 2048px on the longest edge, which CloudSpot calls social media size | Free Plan Features; Gallery download settings; pricing page |
| Direct download links | Expire after 7 days | Free Plan Features |
| Store commission | 15% on Auto and Custom Fulfillment store orders | Free Plan Features; pricing page |
| Bank deposit time | 4 days (2 days on every paid plan) | Pricing page |
| Watermarking | Not available | Free Plan Features |
| Notification Center | Not available | Free Plan Features |
| Studio Manager | Not available | Plan comparison article; Free Plan Features |
| Upload your own logo | Not available (starts at the Lite plan) | Pricing page |
| Custom fonts and colours | Available | Pricing page |
The gallery count is usually the first limit you hit
Three galleries is the tightest number on the list. A studio that shoots every weekend fills three galleries in about three weeks.
CloudSpot's help centre calls them "3 active Galleries/Mobile Apps". The pricing page says "Up to 3". Neither page says whether an expired gallery still counts toward the three. Ask CloudSpot before you plan around that.
Expiry itself is manual. CloudSpot's help centre does not describe a default expiry date; you set one yourself. When a gallery expires, CloudSpot says it "continues to exist on your account, but is no longer accessible" to your client. CloudSpot also says the date can be changed or removed at any time.
The 5 GB limit counts JPEGs only, because the free plan accepts no other file type. CloudSpot does not publish how many photos fit in 5 GB, so this page gives no estimate.
What your client can download on the free plan
This is the limit your client will notice first. On the free plan, CloudSpot says the only download size is "Social Media Sized (2048px on the long edge)".
That is enough for a phone screen or a social post.
It is not the file a client should send to a lab for a large print. If your contract promises high-resolution files, the free plan cannot deliver them.
The second limit is about time. CloudSpot states that "All direct download links expire after 7 days". A client who saves the email and comes back a month later will find a dead link.
According to CloudSpot's pricing page, high-resolution downloads start at the Entry plan. So the download cap is a free-plan rule, not a rule for the whole platform.
Commission and payouts on free-plan sales
The free plan includes a store. CloudSpot takes 15% on Auto and Custom Fulfillment store orders placed through it.
The articles read for this page do not say what the 15% is calculated on. So this page does not work out a figure per order.
Payouts are slower too. The pricing page lists a 4-day bank deposit time on Free and 2 days on every paid plan.
The Entry plan keeps the same 15% commission. Selling without a commission starts at Lite, which the pricing page lists as commission-free with a 2.5% processing fee.
What the first paid plans change
CloudSpot lists Entry at $7 a month and Lite at $17 a month. The help centre also gives annual prices for these two plans: $72 a year for Entry and $144 a year for Lite. When this page was written, the pricing page was also advertising a promotion of $3 a month for the first three months. The table below uses the listed prices, not the promotional price.
| What changes | Free | Entry | Lite |
|---|---|---|---|
| Listed price | $0/mo | Listed at $7/mo; $72/year per the help centre | Listed at $17/mo; $144/year per the help centre |
| Galleries | 3 active | Up to 15 | Unlimited |
| Storage | 5 GB | 15 GB | 100 GB |
| File types | JPEG only | JPEG only | JPEG, GIF, TIFF, PNG, PSD, PDF |
| Client downloads | 2048px limit | High-resolution | High-resolution |
| Store commission | 15% | 15% | Commission-free, 2.5% processing fee |
| Studio tools | No Studio Manager | Studio Manager not included | Described as a "Full suite of features" |
| Upload your own logo | No | No | Yes |
Pro (listed at $34 a month) and Unlimited (listed at $50 a month) add 500 GB and unlimited storage. CloudSpot does not publish annual totals for those two plans, so none are given here. The full ladder, set against one flat plan, is on CloudSpot vs clientgallery.io.
Stepping back down to Free: the rule to read first
This is the most serious rule on CloudSpot's side. If you cancel a paid plan or move to Free with more than 5 GB stored, CloudSpot says "our system will remove all data from your account".
The same article advises backing up your images first. It also states that "Refunds are not available for unused time."
In practice, a studio that tries a paid plan, uploads more than 5 GB and then goes back to Free should download everything before it switches. Do not count on the free plan to keep what the paid plan held.
How the clientgallery.io free account compares
clientgallery.io has a free account as well. It has different limits, so compare it line by line.
| Limit | CloudSpot Free | clientgallery.io free |
|---|---|---|
| Galleries | 3 active | 1 |
| Storage | 5 GB, JPEG only | 5 GB of proofs; the web uploader takes JPG and PNG |
| Client downloads | 2048px; direct links expire after 7 days | Any single proof, or the whole gallery as one ZIP; proofs are sized for fast viewing, not for large prints |
| Full-resolution handoff | Not on Free | Not on free; paid plan only |
| Store and commission | Store included, 15% on store orders | No store, so no commission |
| Expiry | Optional; you set a date yourself | No expiry; the gallery stays until you delete it |
| Watermarking | Not available | Not applied by the product; watermark in Lightroom Classic at export, or before upload |
| Next step up | Entry, listed at $7/mo, up to 15 galleries | One plan, 10 $/month or 100 $/year, no gallery cap |
Client-facing pages on clientgallery.io carry no platform branding, and galleries sit on the studio's own subdomain.
Be clear about the trade-off. CloudSpot Free gives you three live galleries; ours gives you one. Ours lets clients download without a 7-day link, but the files are proofs, not originals.
There is no importer for CloudSpot. Moving means downloading your galleries from CloudSpot and uploading them, either through the web uploader or the Lightroom Classic plugin. Download before you downgrade, for the reason in the section above.
When CloudSpot Free is the better choice
You need two or three galleries live at once and social-size files are enough. CloudSpot Free holds three active galleries. Our free account holds one.
You want to sell prints or products without paying a subscription. CloudSpot Free includes a store. clientgallery.io has no store on any plan, so a studio that earns from orders should stay with a platform that sells.
You plan to grow into studio management tools with the same company. CloudSpot's help centre says Studio Manager is not on Free or Entry, and Lite has the full suite of features. clientgallery.io is delivery and proofing only, with no studio management suite.
Choose something else if your clients need print-quality files, or if you deliver more than three shoots a month and pay nothing yet. In both cases the free plan will push you onto the paid ladder quickly. Decide then whether a tiered plan or one flat plan fits how you work.
Sources
Every CloudSpot figure, policy and quote on this page was read on the pages below on 17 September 2026. Help-centre articles are cited with the date each article shows. Free-plan branding is left out because the pricing page and the Free Plan Features article disagree. clientgallery.io figures were checked against the product on 17 September 2026.
- CloudSpot pricing (Free $0/mo forever, 5 GB, up to 3 galleries, JPEG only, 15% commission, 2048px limit, 4-day bank deposit; Entry, Lite, Pro and Unlimited listed at $7, $17, $34 and $50 a month with 15 GB, 100 GB, 500 GB and unlimited storage; gallery counts, file types, logo upload, fonts and colours, 2.5% processing fee, $3/mo promotion), no update date shown, fetched 17 September 2026, https://www.cloudspot.io/pricing
- CloudSpot Help, "Free Plan Features" (3 active galleries, 2048px downloads, direct download links expire after 7 days, no watermarking, no Notification Center, 15% commission on Auto and Custom Fulfillment store orders, studio features unavailable), updated 22 July 2026, fetched 17 September 2026, https://help.cloudspot.io/en/articles/1090678-free-plan-features
- CloudSpot Help, "What are the different CloudSpot subscription plans and how do they compare?" (Free up to 5 GB with no Studio Manager; Entry $7/month or $72/year, 15 galleries at a time, no Studio Manager; Lite $17/month or $144/year, full suite; Pro $34/month; Unlimited $50/month), dated 21 January 2026, fetched 17 September 2026, https://help.cloudspot.io/en/articles/13287496-what-are-the-different-cloudspot-subscription-plans-and-how-do-they-compare
- CloudSpot Help, "Gallery download settings" (free plan: Social Media Sized, 2048px on the long edge), no absolute update date shown, fetched 17 September 2026, https://help.cloudspot.io/en/articles/114565-gallery-download-settings
- CloudSpot Help, "How to expire a Gallery" (expired gallery stays on the account but is not accessible to the client; dates can be modified or removed at any time), dated 14 August 2025, fetched 17 September 2026, https://help.cloudspot.io/en/articles/9106306-how-to-expire-a-gallery
- CloudSpot Help, "How do I cancel my subscription?" (moving to Free with more than 5 GB removes all data; no refunds for unused time), dated 5 January 2026, fetched 17 September 2026, https://help.cloudspot.io/en/articles/4450102-how-do-i-cancel-my-subscription
- clientgallery.io free and paid figures (free: 1 gallery, 5 GB of proofs, no full-resolution ZIP; paid: 10 $/month or 100 $/year, no gallery cap; no store, no commission, no gallery expiry, no built-in watermark; web uploader accepts JPG and PNG; Pixieset is the only importer), checked in the product 17 September 2026, https://clientgallery.io/
Frequently asked
How many galleries does the CloudSpot free plan allow?
CloudSpot's help centre says the free plan can have 3 active galleries or mobile apps, and its pricing page lists up to 3 galleries. The Entry plan raises that to 15, and Lite and above are unlimited.
How much storage does CloudSpot give for free?
5 GB, and the free plan accepts JPEG files only, according to CloudSpot's pricing page. Entry has 15 GB, Lite 100 GB, Pro 500 GB and Unlimited has no storage cap.
Can clients download high-resolution photos on CloudSpot's free plan?
No. CloudSpot limits free-plan downloads to 2048px on the longest edge, which it calls social media size, and says direct download links expire after 7 days. According to its pricing page, high-resolution downloads start at the Entry plan.
Does CloudSpot take a commission on the free plan?
Yes. CloudSpot's help centre lists a 15% commission on Auto and Custom Fulfillment store orders on the free plan. Entry also shows 15% on the pricing page, and Lite, Pro and Unlimited are listed as commission-free with a 2.5% processing fee.
What happens if I downgrade to CloudSpot Free with more than 5 GB?
CloudSpot's help centre says its system will remove all data from your account if it holds more than 5 GB when you cancel or move to Free, and that refunds are not available for unused time. Download your galleries before you switch.
Do CloudSpot free galleries expire?
CloudSpot's help article does not describe a default expiry date; you set one yourself. An expired gallery stays on your account but your client can no longer open it, and you can change or remove the date at any time.
Is there a free alternative with no commission?
clientgallery.io has a free account with one gallery and 5 GB of proofs, no commission and no expiry, because it has no store. It holds fewer galleries than CloudSpot Free, and the full-resolution ZIP handoff needs the paid plan at 10 $/month or 100 $/year.
Your client galleries, under your name
Unlimited galleries, your branding, one-click Pixieset import, and a Lightroom plugin, all on a flat 10 $/month with everything included. Your first gallery is free.
Start with one free gallery