When it comes to showcasing and selling your photographs, choosing the right platform is a decision that can make or break your business.
As professional photographers, we need to make sure our galleries are beautifully presented, our clients have a seamless and enjoyable viewing experience, and our sales process is easy to navigate.
Today, we want to delve into two popular options in the industry: Pic-Time vs Pixieset. Both platforms are designed specifically for professional photographers, offering solutions for gallery showcasing, sales, and client management.
For us, there’s a clear winner between the two, and we’ll tell you why…
Why We Said Goodbye to Pixieset and Embraced Pic-Time
Back in 2019, we thought Pixieset was the ultimate solution for our gallery needs. The sleek layout and polished appearance initially drew us in. However, as time went on, we discovered its limitations in terms of sales capabilities.
Collecting and remitting taxes on sales proved to be a difficult and time-consuming process. Selling our prints and albums wasn’t easy or intuitive either. Pixieset seemed to be more focused on being a CRM and website platform, which didn’t align with our existing workflows.
Frustrated with these limitations, we reached out to Pixieset directly to address our concerns about their sales features. Unfortunately, they had no plans to enhance this aspect of their platform.
That’s when we reached a turning point, realizing it was time to explore other options that would better meet our needs.
Luckily, we made the switch to Pic-Time before Pixieset acquired Flothemes. Although Flothemes released a statement claiming no significant changes for Pixieset users, we saw the writing on the wall and as it turns out, the opposite was true.
Our Experience with Pic-Time
Enter Pic-Time, the game-changer for our wedding photography business. This platform not only offered robust sales features that were easy to navigate but also provided seamless integration with our existing CRM (Honeybook) and website builder (Showit).
From generating over $40k in revenue and $20k in profit to the effortless sharing of galleries with clients, Pic-Time has exceeded our expectations.
Making a Smooth Transition
Migrating from Pixieset to Pic-Time was effortless. Seriously, it required zero effort on our part because they did it for us at the negligible cost of just $1 per gallery.
Our Favorite Pic-Time Features
1. Automated Sales
Pic-Time’s automated marketing campaigns are a huge time-saver. Each campaign is triggered by a user’s activity in your gallery, tailoring the sales experience to every customer. They even take holidays and special events like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Black Friday into account.
If you’re a wedding photographer and you want to earn passive income with Pic-Time, download our FREE guide to get started. It’s so easy and convenient!
2. User-friendly Mobile App
The Pic-Time mobile app is super easy and intuitive to use. This wasn’t always the case, but they’ve made major improvements and now we love the app!
You can access your galleries and search for whatever you need with ease, post to social media, and download directly onto your smartphone.
It’s an epic addition to their services and Lilly uses it often to access galleries via her phone and download images for social media planning.
3. AI Integration
Pic-Time’s AI image filters are incredible. You can sort galleries with different options like bride, groom, florals, and so on. The built-in facial recognition also lets you find photos of yourself easily.
Bonus: The team at Pic-Time constantly innovates and keeps improving their product. It’s not just a gallery service. There are always new features and improvements to look forward to, especially as technology progresses.
Pros & Cons: Pic-Time vs Pixieset
While our personal experiences and preferences lead us to choose Pic-Time, it’s important to consider the pros and cons of both platforms.
Pic-Time Pros & Cons
PROS
1. Automation Features
Pic-time has built-in automations and campaigns that you can assign and run for your galleries.
It takes care of emails, banners, and back-end setup for you. You just have to click a couple of buttons and you’re set. You can do it in 30 seconds, it’s so easy!
There are marketing campaign automations for abandoned cart, early bird sales, anniversaries, holiday sales, etc that help you make more passive print sales.
2. Built-in Slideshows
The built-in slideshows aren’t just beautiful; they’re great for boosting engagement in your gallery.
3. Blogging Feature
Although we don’t use Pic-Time’s blogging service (we prefer to host our blog on WordPress), it’s a great option if you don’t have a blog yet. We’ve heard that SEO performs well with this convenient add-on, which is a big plus for beginners.
P.S. Read our tips for wedding photography blogs, including 6 false expectations to manage.
4. All-round Support
Pic-Time offers a responsive support chat to you and your clients, making everyone’s experience on the platform all the better and more streamlined.
5. Pricing Plans to Suit Your Needs
From a free plan with 10 GB storage, client galleries, marketing automation, and print sales to their advanced paid plan with unlimited storage and all the bells and whistles, there are more options in between as well.
You have multiple options with Pic-Time and trust us, whichever you choose is bound to make your life easier!
CONS
1. No CRM
Pic-Time is not an all-in-one CRM, website, and gallery delivery platform. They focus on being the best gallery delivery service, and in our opinion, they’ve succeeded.
2. You May Incur Commission Charges
You may need to pay a commission charge on the profits you make on sales when subscribing to certain plans. Read more about it here.
Pixieset Pros & Cons
PROS
1. All-in-One Platform
Pixieset combines CRM, website, and gallery delivery services in one platform. If you don’t want to mess around with anything advanced and a “basic all-rounder” is all you’re looking for, then Pixieset will do the trick.
However, be careful of the “Jack of All Trades, Master of None” aspect that accompanies this bundled approach.
As we started growing and scaling our business, we ran into a wall of limitations with Pixieset. We’ve found that there are better solutions for each service.
In the long run, you’re better off using other services that specialize in CRM, website, and gallery delivery respectively.
2. User-friendly Platform
Pixieset is known for its user-friendly and sleek interface, making it accessible even for beginners who are just starting a photography business.
3. Customization Options
Pixieset lets you customize your website, online store and galleries to suit your brand aesthetics.
CONS
1. Limited Automation
Pixieset does not have the same automation features as Pic-Time and requires more manual, hands-on management.
2. Limited Scalability
As we’ve mentioned before, Pixieset may become limiting as your business grows and you start to scale. While it offers multiple functionalities, the lack of focus in a specific area results in less advanced features and functionality across the board.
3. No Mobile App
Pixieset does not have a mobile app, which limits your accessibility and on-the-go management. They offer a mobile gallery app, but it only allows you to create a photo app for your client to view their photos.
Get 1 Month Free with a New Pic-Time Subscription
If you’re looking for the best gallery delivery service, Pic-Time is it. It’s not trying to be anything other than what it is, and that has resulted in it being the best on the market.
Best of all, the platform is constantly improving as the team strives to give professional photographers the most efficient and feature-rich gallery delivery system.
As Pic-Time ambassadors and loyal users of their game-changing platform, we highly recommend trying it out. We genuinely love their product and we know you will too.
Click on our referral link below to get 1 MONTH FREE when you subscribe to any paid Pic-Time plan for the first time.
