clientgallery.io

Comparison

Pixieset vs clientgallery.io: an honest head-to-head

Twelve rows of official figures, and a plain answer to who should stay on Pixieset for its print store, RAW uploads and mobile apps, and who should move to a flat 10 $/month unbranded plan.

Updated September 2026

Pixieset is where most photographers start, and for many studios it stays the right answer. clientgallery.io is a narrower tool: one flat plan, no platform branding, a two-way Lightroom Classic plugin and a whole-account Pixieset import. This page puts the two side by side on the twelve things that decide the bill and the client experience, from the price ladder to cancellation terms.

Every Pixieset figure below comes from Pixieset's own pricing page, help center or terms, fetched on 2 September 2026 and listed under Sources at the end. Where an official page does not cover a feature, the table says so instead of guessing. Every clientgallery.io claim describes the product as it ships today.

What each product is

Pixieset is a suite. Every account includes hosting for a website and galleries, store sales are listed with a 15% commission on Free and commission-free from Basic up, and the Free plan lists up to 3 mobile apps. Its Client Gallery plans climb from Free to Ultimate, and each step buys storage plus a feature or two, from branding removal on Basic to RAW uploads on Pro.

clientgallery.io is one plan for one job: delivering and proofing finished JPEGs under the studio's own name, with no platform branding anywhere a client looks, Face Search, sub-galleries (folders) inside a gallery and a two-way Lightroom Classic plugin included. It does not warehouse RAW files or master video, and it has no print store. That is what keeps the price flat.

Head-to-head

Pixieset prices are the monthly figures its pricing page shows for annual billing, then for monthly billing. "Not covered" means no official Pixieset page fetched for this comparison describes the feature, so it is left unscored.

CriterionPixiesetclientgallery.io
Price ladderFive plans. Free 0 $. Basic 8 $/month billed annually or 10 $/month monthly. Plus 16 $ or 20 $. Pro 24 $ or 30 $. Ultimate 40 $ or 50 $.One plan. 10 $/month or 100 $/year (8.33 $/month). First gallery free.
Storage meter3 GB on Free, 10 GB Basic, 100 GB Plus, 1 TB Pro, unlimited photo storage on Ultimate. Every upload counts toward the meter. The terms allow additional fees above 20 GB per collection and 100 GB of bandwidth per month.No meter and no storage tiers. Unlimited galleries and photos under fair use: 1,000 photos per gallery and 250 GB of proofs per paid account (hundreds of thousands of photos), 5 GB on free accounts. JPEGs only.
BrandingA Powered by Pixieset message in the homepage footer and at the bottom of collections on Free. Removable from Basic up.No platform branding on any client-facing page, on the one plan. Galleries live on the studio's own subdomain.
Commission15% on store orders on Free, charged on the subtotal before shipping, taxes or discounts. Commission-free from Basic up.None. There is no store to take a cut of.
RAWRAW uploads on Pro and Ultimate. RAW files up to 100 MB each on the plans that allow them; Ultimate allows up to 1,000 GB of RAW.Not hosted. JPEGs only; RAW files and master video stay in your own storage.
Print storeStore sales carry a 15% commission on Free and are commission-free from Basic up.None.
Import pathPixieset's own export includes folder details only. It contains no photos or videos.One bookmark clicked on the Pixieset dashboard reads the whole account and reproduces every gallery at full size under your brand. Pixieset is only read. Re-runs skip what is already imported.
Lightroom pluginNot covered by the official pages cited on this page.Two-way Lightroom Classic plugin: publish proofs from the catalog, pull client picks back in as a collection.
FacesNot covered by the official pages cited on this page.Face Search included in the plan.
Download resolutionWeb sizes 640px, 1024px and 2048px. High resolution at 3600px or Original on upgraded plans; full-resolution download is listed from Basic up. Default 4-digit download PIN.Proofs are browser-compressed JPEGs. Full-resolution delivery is a paid feature: the photographer uploads a full-resolution ZIP per gallery, live for 3 days per handoff, re-uploadable any time, with 100 GB of standing ZIPs per account. Clients download the whole gallery in one click or any single image.
ExpiryOptional Auto Expiry Date per collection. Expired collections are set to Hidden, not deleted. After you cancel, collections are kept for a period of time before being deleted.Hosted galleries never expire. A full-resolution ZIP is live for 3 days per handoff and can be re-uploaded any time.
Cancellation termsCancel at any time. Refunds are not issued for cancellations. Yearly plans are up to 20% cheaper than monthly.Cancel anytime. Monthly or yearly billing.

The price ladder, read honestly

Plan for plan, Pixieset's Basic tier is the cheapest way to get an unbranded gallery: 8 $/month billed annually, or 10 $/month month to month, with full-resolution downloads and commission-free store sales. On annual billing that undercuts clientgallery.io's 8.33 $/month by a few cents. The difference is what sits behind the number.

Basic carries a 10 GB meter that every upload counts toward. A studio that delivers full-resolution weddings fills 10 GB quickly, and each rung above it costs more; the table has the figures, including the per-collection and bandwidth limits in the terms that put a ceiling even on Ultimate. The full arithmetic is in what Pixieset really costs.

clientgallery.io has no meter and no rungs. The plan is 10 $/month or 100 $/year, unlimited galleries and photos under fair use (1,000 photos per gallery and 250 GB of proofs per paid account, which is hundreds of thousands of photos; 5 GB on free accounts), and the first gallery is free. The trade is stated plainly: it hosts JPEGs only.

Branding and commission

On Pixieset's Free plan, the Powered by Pixieset message and the 15% store commission are both part of the deal, and both go away on Basic and above. So Pixieset is unbranded and commission-free from 8 $/month billed annually; the Free plan is a trial of the client experience, not the client experience itself.

clientgallery.io has one plan and no platform branding on it. Galleries live on the studio's own subdomain, clients see the studio's name, and there is no store, so there is nothing to take a commission on. For the broader field, see the Pixieset alternative guide.

RAW, video and the print store: where Pixieset wins

Three things Pixieset does that clientgallery.io does not do at all. RAW uploads on Pro and Ultimate. Video: Basic includes HD video up to 30 minutes. The store: store sales, commission-free from Basic. With the mobile apps and the website hosting bundled in, Pixieset is a business suite; clientgallery.io is a delivery and proofing tool.

If any of those is a revenue line or a daily habit, keep Pixieset; a store and a RAW archive are not what clientgallery.io is for. Masters belong in your own storage and your own catalog.

clientgallery.io vs Pixieset for client proofing

Proofing on clientgallery.io is the round trip described in the Lightroom workflow guide. From Lightroom Classic you publish proofs straight from the catalog, without exporting and uploading by hand. The gallery goes out under your branding with selection switched on. Clients mark picks and favorites, leave a comment on any frame that needs a specific change, and sort with colored labels: green for yes, yellow for maybe, one color for the print they want big. Full-resolution files go out only when you upload the full-resolution ZIP for that gallery, so nothing print-ready leaves before the selection is in.

When the client is done, the plugin pulls the selection back into your catalog as a collection, matched by filename, so you develop only the frames they chose and deliver the finals at full resolution. Naming the gallery for the client and the round, setting a deadline and locking the picks once editing starts are the same on any platform; the proofing guide walks through them.

This page does not score Pixieset's proofing tools: the official pages fetched for it cover pricing, storage, downloads and expiry, not favorites or comments. Run a small session through both on a free gallery and judge the pick-back step; it decides whether your culling stays manual.

Moving galleries: the import path

Pixieset's own export helps less than it sounds. The help center states that the export includes folder details only and contains no photos or videos. Leaving by that route means downloading each collection yourself, which the export guide covers step by step.

clientgallery.io reads the account instead. On the Pixieset dashboard you click one bookmark; it reads the account through Pixieset's own dashboard API and pulls every collection with 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 skips what is already imported, so a migration can run in stages. A single-gallery bookmark exists too. The setup lives at /import, and the switching guide covers the order of operations.

One planning point from Pixieset's side: after you cancel, collections are kept for a period of time before being deleted, and refunds are not issued for cancellations. Import first, confirm the galleries, then cancel at the end of the paid term.

Keep Pixieset if, switch if

Keep Pixieset if

  • Store sales are part of your income; they are commission-free from Basic up.
  • You upload RAW files (Pro and Ultimate) or host video in the gallery (Basic, HD up to 30 minutes).
  • You or your clients rely on its mobile apps; the Free plan alone lists up to 3.
  • Your public website is hosted on Pixieset; every account includes website hosting.
  • You want an optional auto-expiry that hides a collection rather than deleting it.

Switch if

  • You want one flat 10 $/month or 100 $/year with no storage meter to watch.
  • You want zero platform branding on the studio's own subdomain without moving up a tier.
  • You proof from Lightroom Classic and want client picks pulled back into the catalog.
  • You want Face Search included and sub-galleries inside a gallery.
  • You deliver finished JPEGs and want hosted galleries that never expire.
  • You want your Pixieset account carried over from the dashboard, not re-uploaded.

Sources

Every figure on this page traces to one of the pages below. Pixieset's pricing page shows local currency to visitors in Canada; the prices on this page are the USD figures from that page.

Frequently asked

Is clientgallery.io cheaper than Pixieset?

Plan for plan, not always. Pixieset Basic is 8 $/month billed annually or 10 $/month monthly, close to clientgallery.io's 10 $/month or 100 $/year (8.33 $/month). Basic carries a 10 GB storage meter, though, and every rung above it costs more; clientgallery.io has one flat price with unlimited galleries and photos under fair use.

Can I move my Pixieset galleries to clientgallery.io without re-uploading?

Yes. From the Pixieset dashboard you click one bookmark; it reads the whole account through Pixieset's own dashboard API and reproduces every gallery at full size under your brand, sets, titles, descriptions and photo order included. Pixieset is only read, never changed, and re-running skips what is already imported.

Does clientgallery.io have a print store like Pixieset?

No store, no commission. Pixieset's store sales carry a 15% commission on the Free plan and are commission-free from Basic up. If print or product sales are part of your income, keep Pixieset.

Can I upload RAW files or video to clientgallery.io?

No. clientgallery.io hosts JPEGs only; RAW files and master video stay in your own storage, which is what keeps the plan flat. Pixieset accepts RAW uploads on Pro and Ultimate, and Basic includes HD video up to 30 minutes.

How does client proofing compare between clientgallery.io and Pixieset?

On clientgallery.io the Lightroom Classic plugin publishes proofs from your catalog, clients mark picks and favorites, add comments and colored labels, and the plugin pulls the selection back into Lightroom as a collection matched by filename. This page does not score Pixieset's proofing tools, because the official pages it cites do not describe them; test both on a free gallery.

Do galleries expire on Pixieset or on clientgallery.io?

On Pixieset, expiry is optional: an Auto Expiry Date sets an expired collection to Hidden rather than deleting it, and after you cancel, collections are kept for a period of time before being deleted. On clientgallery.io hosted galleries never expire; clients download the whole gallery in one click or any single image whenever they come back. Full-resolution ZIPs are the one timed item: each is live for 3 days per handoff and can be re-uploaded any time.

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

Related guides

Pixieset vs clientgallery.io: Honest Comparison (2026)