Zenfolio vs Pic-Time
A comparison between Zenfolio and Pic-Time illustrates how each online platform is focused on a photographer’s ability to showcase their work, manage their business, market their services, and sell products. Both offer service plans for photographers at career stages from amateur to professional. Zenfolio is a comprehensive end-to-end gallery and website solution with advanced tools to help full and part-time professional photographers showcase and sell their work, while Pic-Time is geared to provide photographers a more basic platform to share and sell their work.
We compared both photography business builders across five aspects:
- Online Portfolio and Website Builder
- Client Gallery Features and Organization
- Automated Workflows and Marketing
- Ecommerce and Order Fulfillment
- Booking and Scheduling Tools
The conclusion is based on the detailed comparison of features relevant to photographers building an online portfolio, focusing on client interaction, marketing capabilities, workflow efficiency, pricing assistance, and e-commerce options.
Comparison summary: Zenfolio vs Pic-Time
Zenfolio is a more comprehensive and beautifully designed portfolio platform for photographers who need advanced gallery features, robust marketing tools, and a powerful highly-customizable website builder for an elegant client experience. The Zenfolio platform is scalable to grow along with a photographer as their business grows. Streamlined workflows with flexible features like nested folders, galleries and automated booking help photographers succeed in wedding, action sports, portrait and events specializations while saving time to have a personal life.
Pic-Time has a more simplified and basic gallery offering with e-commerce capabilities and marketing. Pic-Time is built more for entry-level amateurs and beginning wedding, portrait, and fine art photographers. The Pic-Time platform does not offer advanced functionality and is not as scalable, so photographers looking to grow their business might quickly outgrow its functionality.
What is Pic-Time?
Pic-Time is an online photo hosting service that caters to amateur professional photographers, offering a platform to showcase, share, and sell their work. Founded in 2002, the company attracts a following in the digital photography space with rudimentary functions geared toward photographers looking to get started or consolidate multiple resources.
Pic-Time provides photographers a basic platform that includes limited customizable website templates, client galleries, and e-commerce options. The platform offers password protection, watermarking capabilities, and supports integration of a variety of editing tools.
What is Zenfolio?
Zenfolio is a comprehensive end-to-end website builder and online business solution designed specifically for professional photographers to display and sell their work. Zenfolio offers a fully integrated suite of tools tailored to help photographers present and market their photography to clients and more efficiently run their business.
Since its launch 20 years ago, Zenfolio has been empowering photographers with a powerful platform that has supported more than 500,000 aggregate photographers worldwide. It provides an array of features including modern, freshly designed and easily customizable website templates, secure client galleries, and integrated selling options. The platform also offers marketing tools and analytics to help photographers understand their audience and grow their business.
Recently, Zenfolio introduced Custom Layout blocks and gallery sharing via QR code along with new website template designs and fonts, enhanced client access, and a Folder Organizer feature to streamline photo management.
Zenfolio is positioned as the most feature-rich platform to help photographers facilitate e-commerce, offering a blend of beautiful image and video presentation, galleries, powerful pricing and selling tools, and a smooth user experience for both photographers and their clients.
Zenfolio vs Pic-Time: Pricing
Zenfolio plans deliver more advanced solutions at a better value.
Zenfolio
Pic-Time
Zenfolio provides a more comprehensive platform with a full-featured website builder and booking & scheduling services not available on Pic-Time, making it a more integrated solution for professional photographers looking to streamline their business operations.
Zenfolio:
- Zenfolio offers three accessible pricing tiers with a scalable range of features.
- Mobile-optimized multi-page website and video hosting on every tier.
- Zenfolio delivers an all-in-one solution for photographers at every career level.
- Add more storage and more website, gallery and AI tools with each plan.
- End-to-end workflow saves time from booking to e-commerce to marketing.
Pic-Time:
- Pic-Time has four plan tiers.
- More features and increased storage available with each tier.
- The plans are designed for different levels of photographers:
- There are specific plans for new photographers.
- There are also plans for established professionals who want to grow their online presence and services.
$9/month – dynamic website builder with customization options, unlimited pages, unlimited galleries, 15GB storage, HD video, Lightroom integration, custom domain name, custom watermark, and analytics
$8/month – gallery sharing with no customization, 20GB storage, Lightroom integration, online store, no domain connect
$23/month – everything in Portfolio + 150GB storage, custom online store, unlimited price lists, marketing coupons & campaigns, blog
$25/month – everything in Beginner + 100GB storage, video and GIF
$40/month – everything in PortfolioPlus + unlimited storage, 4K video, multiple custom watermarks, AI People Filter and Smart Pricing, integrated scheduling, selling and workflow tools
$50/month – everything in Professional + unlimited storage, photo search for clients
Zenfolio Portfolio vs Pic-Time Beginner Comparison
Zenfolio Portfolio customization and video hosting helps amateurs go pro.
Both Zenfolio and Pic-Time offer basic plans for photographers, but different features might appeal to varying needs for amateurs or early-stage businesses.
The Zenfolio Portfolio plan offers 15GB of photo storage, HD video hosting, and a suite of advanced features tailored to enhance and fully customize a photographer’s portfolio presentation. With Lightroom integration, a desktop uploader app, AI People Filter and custom watermark, Zenfolio is positioned as a more workflow-oriented solution that can easily expand as a photographer’s career grows.
Pic-Time’s Beginner plan provides 20GB of storage, client galleries, a print store, and marketing tools. But the Beginner plan lacks video hosting, or design templates with customization options that are available in the Zenfolio Portfolio plan.
Zenfolio PortfolioPlus vs Pic-Time Professional Comparison
PortfolioPlus is designed to grow as a photographer’s business grows.
Both Zenfolio and Pic-Time offer competitive plans tailored for photographers who want to step up their selling game.
The Zenfolio PortfolioPlus plan is more affordable at $19 per month, offers a more generous 150GB of photo storage, and includes HD video hosting, a multi-page website, blog, an online store with multiple price lists and marketing tools. Zenfolio distinguishes itself with a powerful and easily customizable website builder with options for fonts and colors to perfectly match your brand, which is not available with Pic-Time.
Pic-Time’s Professional plan costs $21 per month and provides 100GB of photo storage with features such as client and art galleries, online proofing, a print store, and marketing functionality.
Zenfolio PortfolioPlus is a more complete and scalable platform for photographers at the beginning of their business journey or those with regular monthly shoots. The all-in-one nature of Zenfolio PortfolioPlus means that photographers can streamline their workflow, from showcasing work to selling prints and digital downloads, all within a single ecosystem that can expand as their business grows.
Zenfolio ProSuite vs Pic-Time Advanced Comparison
ProSuite lets photographers get down to business at a better value.
A photography business owner will appreciate the value difference between Zenfolio ProSuite at $40 per month compared to Pic-Time’s Advanced plan at $50 per month. But the full picture of this comparison is revealed in the value of time savings.
Zenfolio ProsSuite is designed to expedite the needs of a busy professional photographer along with unlimited photo storage and 4K video hosting to eliminate worrying about running out of space. Building a beautiful multi-page website with blog publishing allows photographers to create and promote a robust online presence within a single platform – both convenient and cost-effective without the need for separate services.
Zenfolio ProSuite fully integrates an online store, booking and scheduling features, with an AI-powered photo culling app that significantly streamlines workflow. These tools enable photographers to manage their appointments and sales directly through their website, providing a seamless experience for both the photographer and their clients.
An important distinction between the ProSuite and Advanced platforms is Zenfolio scalability and folder management that can be directly incorporated into the website, which is a substantial benefit for photographers who manage multiple shoots, shoot types, and clients. This provides a level of organization and efficiency that saves time and reduces the complexity of managing a growing photography business, especially for high-volume wedding, action sports or event photographers who need a robust, all-in-one platform.
While Pic-Time Advanced also offers unlimited storage and a suite of features such as print store and marketing automation, it lacks the integrated website builder and booking/scheduling services. Meaning that a Pic-Time user might need to utilize additional services to cover all their business needs, potentially increasing overall costs and complicating workflow.
Zenfolio vs Pic-Time:
Online Portfolio Website Builder
New modern design templates with custom blocks gives Zenfolio the edge.
Zenfolio offers a comprehensive online portfolio website builder designed to enable photographers to showcase their work in a professional and beautifully styled portfolio, which is crucial for attracting potential clients and building a brand. Zenfolio users can customize their website with various modern templates and design options to create a unique online presence in their own style that stands out from the competition.
A well-crafted online portfolio serves as a digital storefront, displaying work to potential clients 24/7 with features that make it easy to convert website visitors into paying customers. Zenfolio SEO tools help photographers rank better in search engine results, increasing their visibility and business opportunities.
The Pic-Time platform is more like a simple client gallery presentation than an online portfolio website builder. Pic-Time offers tools for managing and selling prints and digital files post-shoot with some automated marketing capabilities, but lacks a fully-integrated set of functions that are all designed to work together from booking a shoot to client interaction to selling, like the all-in-one Zenfolio website platform.
Zenfolio vs Pic-Time:
Client Gallery Features and Organization
Gorgeous Zenfolio galleries let clients proof, share and purchase in one place.
Zenfolio offers a more comprehensive set of features for client galleries compared to Pic-Time, benefitting photography business owners who require advanced customization and organization. Zenfolio has robust privacy settings, commenting capabilities, and the AI People Filter to enhance the client experience by making it easier to locate their images. This is especially useful for photographers who manage large volumes of photos and need to streamline the process for proofing and client review.
The ability to set defaults by Shoot Type and the multi-level folder structure provided by Zenfolio allow for better gallery organization, which saves time and simplifies navigation for the client. Mobile customization ensures that galleries are optimized for viewing on different devices, increasing the accessibility and reach of the photographer’s work.
Pic-Time client galleries might appeal to photographers who want a basic, no-frills presentation. The galleries offer fewer design options, which could be suited for those who want to showcase their work without sophisticated and flexible controls and no advanced sharing capabilities.
Zenfolio vs. Pic-Time:
Automated Workflows and Marketing
Save tons of time with Zenfolio streamlined workflow and resources.
Zenfolio has developed a robust automated workflow system designed to streamline every step of the process from client booking to order fulfillment. The Zenfolio workflow mission is to support photography business owners and save considerable time by automating gallery settings, design, pricing, and marketing based on shoot types.
Zenfolio provides the ability to upload folders and maintain a nested gallery structure both in the account and on the website, if the galleries are public, which is a practical tool for photographers who want to keep their portfolios organized without extra effort. The AI-based grouping, rating, and culling of images is another incredible time-saving feature that allows photographers to focus more on creative and business growth tasks rather than the laborious work of image management.
Pic-Time offers a simple automation model that revolves around the use of “apps” which, once installed, can automate some marketing in a gallery. While this system is not as extensive as Zenfolio end-to-end workflow automation, Pic-Time does allow some automated marketing capabilities.
Zenfolio vs. Pic-Time:
Ecommerce and Order Fulfillment
From pricing to purchase to delivery, Zenfolio simplifies selling.
The ecommerce and order fulfillment features of a platform can significantly impact a photographer’s workflow and customer experience.
Zenfolio offers a comprehensive set of resources enabling sales of both digital and physical lab-fulfilled products, downloads, self-fulfilled products, and packages – ideal for photographers who cover a wide range of jobs from weddings to action sports and everything in between. Zenfolio delivers a wide selection of print products from global professional photo labs, giving photographers a variety of items to sell their clients, from prints to photo gifts.
Zenfolio simplifies the selling process by providing default price lists and Smart Pricing that suggests optimal pricing based on shoot type and location, eliminating the guesswork for photographers. This very practical feature saves time and increases sales by helping to set competitive prices in the photographer’s local market. Zenfolio enables customizable self-fulfilled products with the ability to review orders before they are sent to the lab, offering photographers control over their sales process while maintaining quality and customer satisfaction.
Pic-Time also offers auto-order fulfillment labs and product types, however, their client store is a simple list, which is not as engaging as the Zenfolio quick shop option that allows clients to order directly from the gallery grid view. This Zenfolio feature enhances the shopping experience and increases sales by keeping clients engaged with the images while they shop.
Zenfolio also offers a product preview for wall art, helping clients visualize the scale of the products in their own space. Zenfolio provides a powerful promotion and marketing system, including coupons and automated campaigns, that helps photographers attract and retain customers more effectively than Pic-Time’s simpler model.
Zenfolio vs. Pic-Time:
Booking and Scheduling Tools
Fully integrated from calendar to cash flow with Zenfolio BookMe.
Zenfolio provides a convenient, comprehensive booking and scheduling tool that significantly streamlines the process for photographers. By allowing clients to view a photographer’s service offerings, check availability, and book shoots online, Zenfolio eliminates the need to engage in time-consuming back-and-forth communications for scheduling and service details. This feature not only saves time but also enhances the client experience by offering convenience and immediacy.
At the time of booking, Zenfolio offers the ability to set up online payments, including partial payments, which benefits photographers with improved cash flow. The automated reminders for outstanding payments further reduce administrative overhead, ensuring that photographers can focus on their creative work rather than chasing payments.
Zenfolio also automates the creation of galleries and addition of key contacts upon booking – another time-saving feature that simplifies client management. This seamless automation ensures that once a shoot is booked, critical organization and administrative steps are taken care of without additional action needed from the photographer.
The unique auto-fulfillment service provided by Zenfolio is another standout feature that can be a game-changer for photographers. After a photo shoot and the uploaded images added to the gallery, products included during booking can be easily selected by the client, automatically processed and shipped directly to the client, not only saving time but also providing a seamless and professional service to clients to enhance the overall value proposition of a photography business.
In contrast, Pic-Time does not offer integrated booking and payment management tools. For photographers looking to modernize their business operations and minimize administrative tasks, Zenfolio presents a more feature-rich platform that prioritizes efficiency, client satisfaction, and a streamlined workflow from booking to product delivery.
Note: this comparison is based on current information as of June 2024.