Google Photos Shared Album vs a Client Gallery

Google's help pages are plain about how a link album works. Five statements matter for client work.

• The link is the key. Google's sharing article says that anyone with the shared link can view the album.
• A link can add, too. The same article says that when you share a link, anyone with it can view the photos and add to the album. A separate article says that with Collaborate on, anyone who has the link can add photos.
• The link travels. Google's privacy article says a link, once created, can be shared by others, and that anyone with access can add others to the album.
• Removing someone is not enough. Google says that if you remove someone while link sharing is on, anyone with the original link can still view the album. It also says you need to turn link sharing off so people you remove cannot rejoin.
• Only the owner holds the switches. Google says only the album owner can change link sharing, and only the owner can remove people.

Google also says a shared link is a URL people cannot guess on their own. That is also true of a client gallery's link. The weak point is not guessing. It is forwarding.

If you keep using shared albums for clients, one setting matters more than the rest.

Google's privacy article says that to prevent others with access from adding photos, you turn off Collaborate under Options.

With it on, a forwarded link lets a stranger drop photos into your client's album. With it off, the album is view-only for everyone but you.

A client gallery has no such setting to remember. The client page has no way to add photos at all, so there is nothing to switch off.

A password is the main difference, and it is worth being exact about it.

• A password on each gallery. It is checked on the server, and the gallery page does not load until it is entered. A forwarded link on its own opens a password prompt, not the photos.
• A password can be forwarded too. If the client sends the link and the password together, the recipient gets in. No link-based gallery can stop a client who wants to share.
• A Share button you can hide. Each gallery shows a Share this gallery button by default, and you can switch it off per gallery. That removes the one-tap share. It does not stop anyone copying the address from the browser.
• A downloads switch with a limit. Switching downloads off hides the download-all button and the per-photo download buttons. It does not hide a full-resolution ZIP you have uploaded, or the social crops a client gets after sending picks.
• Revoking. Revoke a gallery and its link stops working.

For the mechanics of setting a password, see how to password-protect a client gallery.

This is the part a shared album was not built for.

In a client gallery, the client stars the frames they like and loves their favourites. When they press Send my picks, they give a name and email, and the selection locks. You see the picks in your studio.

If you edit in Lightroom Classic, the plugin publishes proofs from your catalog and pulls the client's picks back in, as described in the guide to getting client picks back into Lightroom. The plugin works with Lightroom Classic only, not the cloud Lightroom app.

With a shared album, a client can leave comments. Turning those comments into a list of files to edit is your job.

A client gallery is narrower than Google Photos, and the gaps are real.

• Guests cannot add their own photos. If you want an album that a wedding party fills together, that is a Google Photos job.
• The hosted photos are proof JPEGs of about 0.6 MB each, sized for fast viewing. Print files travel as a full-resolution ZIP, a paid feature that stays live for 3 days per handoff and can be re-uploaded any time.
• It hosts JPEGs only. No RAW files and no master video.
• Fair-use ceilings apply: 1,000 photos per gallery, 250 GB of proofs per paid account, and 100 GB of standing ZIPs.
• The free account holds one gallery and 5 GB. More than one live gallery means the paid plan.
• There is no client login and no seat model. Each gallery is its own link.

Stay with a shared album if the photos are not a paid delivery.

• You are sharing family or friends' photos, and forwarding is welcome.
• You want guests to add their own photos to one album, with Collaborate on.
• You shoot a few jobs a year, clients do not choose frames, and nobody minds a Google page.
• You want a QR code for the album. Google says shared album links can be shared that way.

If that is you, there is no reason to pay for a gallery. Turn Collaborate off for anything a client receives, and reset the link if it goes somewhere it should not.

• You deliver paid work and want a password between a forwarded link and the photos.
• You need clients to choose frames, and you want those choices as picks, not as comments.
• You cull and edit in Lightroom Classic and want the picks back in the catalog.
• You want the page to carry your studio's name, not a platform's.
• You want a one-click download of the whole gallery that you can switch off per gallery.

For the wider question of what privacy means for a delivery link, read how to share photos with clients privately.

Every Google statement and quote on this page was read on the pages below on 18 September 2026. Google photo quality, per-album limits and storage prices are left out because none of them appeared on these pages.

• Google Photos Help, "Share photos & videos" (anyone with the link can view; anyone with the link can view and add; only the owner removes people), fetched 18 September 2026, https://support.google.com/photos/answer/6131416
• Google Photos Help, "How shared album controls give your photos more privacy" (links cannot be guessed, can be shared by others, removed people keep access while link sharing is on, turning off Collaborate, owner-only link settings, resetting the link, QR codes), fetched 18 September 2026, https://support.google.com/photos/answer/9789702
• Google Photos Help, "Stop sharing an album & manage settings" (Collaborate lets anyone with the link add photos, what stopping sharing removes, comments, downloads already made stay, turning link sharing off so removed people cannot rejoin), fetched 18 September 2026, https://support.google.com/photos/answer/6280921
• clientgallery.io product facts, checked in code 18 September 2026 (10 $ a month or 100 $ a year, free account of one gallery and 5 GB, 1,000 photos per gallery, 250 GB of proofs per paid account, proofs of about 0.6 MB, full-resolution ZIP live 3 days with 100 GB of standing ZIPs, per-gallery password, per-gallery Share button and downloads switches, revoking a link, star and love picks, two-way Lightroom Classic plugin, no platform branding, galleries that never expire), https://clientgallery.io/