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Top 5 Best Portfolio Website Builders for Photographers

Every photographer needs a good online portfolio website. Gone are the days of bulky, physical portfolios that you carried everywhere you went. Creating your photography portfolio online can not only enable you to showcase, share and promote your work, it can also help you get more clients.

In fact, your portfolio website can be more than just a place to display your work. You can set up an online store or e-commerce gallery to sell your photographs as prints or digital downloads, schedule bookings directly from your website or use your online portfolio website as a client proofing platform. 

But for this, you need to choose the right online portfolio builder!

While there is no dearth of choices out there when it comes to portfolio builder platforms, you need to choose the one that is right for you. 

Let us take a look at some of the top 5 portfolio website builders on the market right now and figure out which one of them is the best choice for your online photography portfolio!

1. Pixpa

Pixpa is an all-in-one, DIY website builder platform, specially designed to empower photographers, creative professionals and small businesses by helping them build feature-rich, professional websites without touching a single line of code.

Pixpa offers a range of professional, minimalist, mobile-friendly and responsive templates that are perfect for a wide variety of portfolio websites. Additionally, the platform offers multiple gallery options including e-commerce galleries which can be used to sell photographs as prints or digital downloads, directly from your online portfolio website.

Another feature that makes Pixpa stand out is the full-featured client proofing platform consisting of client galleries and mobile gallery apps which are designed to simplify the client-proofing workflow for photographers.

When it comes to building a photography portfolio website, Pixpa is a clear front-runner.

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Features of Pixpa

  • No-code website builder platform is designed to help you build a full-featured website easily and without touching a single line of code.
  • Pixpa comes with extensive e-commerce options. E-commerce galleries can turn your online photography portfolio website into an effective e-commerce and business platform. You can also add an online store to your website to sell prints, digital downloads or other merchandise. Print orders can be auto-fulfilled through WHCC.
  • Simplified client proofing workflow for photographers with client galleries and mobile gallery apps. Client galleries can also be used to sell prints of your work.
  • Extensive and integrated SEO and marketing features to help you promote your photography business better.
  • Complete and comprehensive blogging platform with a WYSIWYG editor that enables you to create, edit, schedule and publish blogs, all from one single platform.

Pros, Cons and Pricing for Pixpa

Pros

  • A wide range of pixel-perfect, professional, mobile-optimized portfolio website templates.
  • A comprehensive client proofing set-up makes it perfect for photographers.
  • Pixpa charges no commissions on sales made through your website.
  • 100% ad-free experience.
    SSL security on all websites.
  • 24×7 customer support through email and live chat.
    Extensive help website with step by step guides and tutorials.

 

Cons

  • Custom domain names must be purchased separately from a third-party.
    Paid service. No free plans or freemium model

 

Pricing

Pixpa offers four different pricing tiers to cater to the different needs and requirements of its wide base of users:

● Light – $3 per month
● Personal – $7 per month
● Expert – $10 per month
● Business – $16 per month

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2. Wix

Wix is a versatile website builder platform that is designed to be extremely customizable and easy to use. The highlight of building your website with Wix is the Artificial Design Intelligence or ADI. 

This is Wix’s AI powered design intelligence that makes website building easier and more intuitive. You can also use the Wix Editor which is less intuitive but offers you much more flexibility and control over your website, something which the ADI lacks.

Wix also comes with a ton of functionality and features including online store building capabilities, blogging tools and the ability to make quick and easy mobile websites. 

All in all, Wix is an excellent option for your photography portfolio.

Features of Wix Web Builder

  • The Wix Editor uses a drag and drop interface to give you a very good range of creative flexibility in designing your website.
  • The Artificial Design Intelligence makes the process of designing your portfolio website quick and easy.
  • ‘Freemium’ pricing model allows you to create a website for free by agreeing to run ads.
  • Built-in SEO tools to ensure good organic reach for your website.

Pros, Cons and Pricing for Wix

Pros

  • Over 800+ fully customizable templates.
  • The Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) is designed to make creating your portfolio website easier and more efficient.
  • The easy to use drag and drop design interface gives you a good range of flexibility and customizability.
  • Mobile editor allows for creating perfectly mobile-optimized websites.

 

Cons

  • Freemium model means you can create a website for free but the downside is that you need to agree to run advertisements on your website.
  • The drag and drop Wix Editor allows for a good amount of customizability but it also makes Wix difficult to use and understand for beginners.
  • Wix comes with bandwidth limits on the cheaper pricing plans which can negatively impact your website.
  • No built-in client-proofing platform for photographers.

 

Pricing

Wix uses a freemium model with a free plan and four tiers of paid plans:
Combo – $14/month
● Unlimited – $18/month
● Pro – $23/month
● VIP – $39/month

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3. WordPress.com

WordPress is probably the most popular content management system in the world right now, powering over 40% of all websites on the internet by some estimates. In this article, we are not referring to WordPress.org, the free, open source content management system, but WordPress.com which is a for-profit website builder platform.

WordPress.com is much more easy to use than WordPress’s open source content management system which requires some advanced skills and coding knowledge. The downside is that it is not as feature-rich or flexible. 

While WordPress.com is more geared towards blogging, it still offers a good range of features including e-commerce functionality and a plethora of plug-ins which can be used to customize your portfolio website to your liking.

Features of WordPress.com

  • Easy to use, no coding knowledge or advanced technical expertise required.
  • WordPress.com is easy to use and comes with dozens of responsive, mobile-optimized templates that can be used as is or customized to your preferences.
  • Comprehensive blogging platform with auto-save features, embeddable media support as well as mobile and desktop apps.
  • Built-in SEO, analytics and social sharing features.
  • Wide range of third party plug-ins can be used to add extra functionality for your website.

Pros, Cons and Pricing for WordPress.com

Pros

  • Easy to use and streamlined interface with a good range of templates.
  • Affordable pricing and a freemium model.
  • One of the best blogging platforms on the market.
  • Customer support through email and livechat.

 

Cons

  • WordPress.com is very well suited for blog websites but not as well optimized for online photography portfolios.
  • More limited in it’s capacity and not as customizable or flexible as other website builders.
  • Plug-ins can add functionality but also make your website clunky and difficult to manage.

 

Pricing

WordPress.com uses a freemium model with a free plan and four tiers of paid pricing plans:
● Personal – $4/month
● Premium – $8/month
● Business – $25/month
● E-Commerce – $45/month

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4. Weebly

Weebly is a website builder platform that is designed to provide a simple and intuitive website building solution for individuals, freelancers, small businesses, start-ups and more.

With its drag and drop interface and design flexibility, Weebly makes the website design and creation uncomplicated and simplified.

The best thing about Weebly is the fact that the dashboard and user interface is very well organized and easy to understand even for beginners. Weebly also comes with the in-built option for purchasing custom domain names if you subscribe to one of their paid plans.

However, a much smaller range of templates as compared to other website builders and slow customer support are some of the drawbacks with using Weebly.

Features of Weebly

  • Drag and drop editor makes it easy to build your portfolio website even without advanced technical knowledge or coding skills.
  • Over 50+ responsive, mobile-optimized templates.
  • Add an online store to your portfolio website easily to sell products or merchandise.
  • Site search makes your portfolio website even easier to navigate and user-friendly.
  • SEO options and guides help you make your website more search engine friendly easily.

Pros, Cons and Pricing for Weebly

Pros

  • Easy to use and uncomplicated website design interface with a drag-and-drop website builder.
  • Affordable pricing plans and freemium model where you can create a website for free by allowing ads.
  • Well-optimized to handle larger websites.

 

Cons

  • Limited range of templates as compared to other website builders.
  • Freemium model means that you will have to allow Weebly to run ads on your website if you opt for the free plan.

 

Pricing

Weebly uses a freemium model with a free plan and four tiers of paid plans:
● Connect – $5/month
● Pro – $12/month
● Business – $25/month
● Business Plus – $38/month

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5. Zyro

Zyro is a website builder which prioritizes speed and aims to help its users to build their website quickly and easily. It comes with a range of pre-designed templates, AI produced content copy to save you the trouble of writing your own content or hiring a copywriter.

It’s also packed with e-commerce features, an AI powered logo maker and integrations with the free stock photo website Unsplash to enable users to add stock images to their website easily. This last one may not be the most useful for photographer portfolios but is a pretty cool feature nevertheless.

Zyro does come with a decent array of templates, however, given that this website builder prioritizes speed over flexibility, the templates do not offer a full range of customization options.

It is also not very easy to change your website’s layout or template once you take it live. So, that is something you will have to consider when using Zyro to build your online photography portfolio.

Features of Zyro

  • No-code website builder platform that is designed to help you build your website quickly and easily even when you don’t have coding knowledge or advanced technical skills.
  • A good array of templates tailor-made for different categories of website including photography portfolios
  • AI powered tools to automatically create SEO friendly content copy and logo for your website. All of this is designed to speed up the website-building process for users.
  • E-commerce features, including online store builder as well as SEO and marketing, features to enable you to promote your website online.
  • AI heatmaps to show which parts of your website are likely to get more clicks.

Pros, Cons and Pricing for Zyro

Pros

  • Zyro’s website builder is very quick and easy to use as it prioritizes speed and intuitiveness.
  • AI powered website builder helps you create SEO friendly websites by creating automatic content copies, logos and generating heatmaps.
  • Comprehensive e-commerce features and online store builder.

 

Cons

  • Zyro’s templates are not as customizable and do not offer the same level of flexibility as other website builders. You also cannot change the layout or template once your website is live.
  • No free plans. Paid service.

 

Pricing

Zyro offers three pricing tiers:
● Website – $2.90/month
● Online Store – $8.90/month
● Advanced Store – $15.90/month

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What's the Best Website Builder? Final Words

These 5 best website builders are our top picks when it comes to creating pixel-perfect online portfolio websites for photographers!

When it comes to creating your photography portfolio online, it is best to use a website builder that has templates and features tailored to meet the needs of photographers. Pixpa checks all the boxes in that regard. 

The e-commerce galleries and client proofing platform, in particular, helps Pixpa stand out as a photography portfolio website builder.

The platform’s incredibly affordable price point combined with its ease of use are also major factors in making Pixpa one of the most accessible and affordable portfolio builders for photographers.

Your photography portfolio is the single most important tool in your professional arsenal and you want to create, share and promote it in the best possible way.

We hope this article will be helpful to you in making that choice!

(iPhotography may make small commissions from links in this article.) 

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