Online photo gallery comparison

[tony723]

Hi all,

Recently I compared 3 common online photo galleries and I would like to share my comment and also seek yours.

These 3 galleries site are:
- www.pbase.com ( I think the most popular one)
- www.fotop.net (HK based web site)
- www.imagestation.com (backup by Sony)

I compared those services from the following point of views:

1. Feature
pbase.com is most feature rich because of its long time establishment. fotop.net is catching up fast and many features are similar to pbase.com.

Sony's imagestation.com does not offer many advanced features. But one of the most useful feature is browsing by category/subcategory

2. Pricing
For pricing, imagestation.com is free of charge for unlimited storage.

pbase.com charges US$60 for 300M per year, free trial account available

fotop.net charges US$16 for 500M per year, free trial account available. It also offer unlimited storage services for US$13 per year but limit to 1024x1024 resolution only

So imagestation.com > fotop.net > pbase.com

3. Speed
Based on my HK ISP actual performnace, pbase.com and fotop.net is similar in loading speed.

imagestation.com is slower

4. Risk
Compare to imagestation.com which is backup by Sony, pbase.com and fotop.net is run by small team. However I thin this factor is not that important if you are for personal use only

5. Other value-added services
Sony offer many value-added services such as online printing. Other 2 service provider purely provide online photo gallery only.

It may not easy to say that which one is the best. However as they offer free trial account, maybe you can try all of them before making final decision.

[tony723]

Based on my trial on 5 online photo gallery services providers (www.pbase.com, www.fotop.net, www.fotopic.net, www.fotki.com, www.imagestation.com), I summarized the comparison result as follows:

http://www.tonyleung.com/gallery.htm

The trial is based on my limited understandings of the services provided. Please comment if there are some typos or mistakes.

[plarson]

Tony did you give us a look over at
www.bytephoto.com ?
a lot of members here at www.photography-on-the.net host photos with us

[tony723]

plarson wrote:
Tony did you give us a look over at
www.bytephoto.com ?
a lot of members here at www.photography-on-the.net host photos with us
Hi Paul,

The design of your site are very good. However my comparison mainly focus on fee-based gallery site and exclude those free gallery site.

Thanks for your info.

[nmack]

i have a pbase.com account, i am only paying for the 100mb account because you upload photos to share, not to store(no point to upload full/high res). the 100mb can hold MANY 800x600 images, i am only at 80mb currently(pbase.com/nmack).

pbase - i find is packed with customizability and simply looks the best.

but, i have also recently signed up for free webspace at
1and1.com, 3years free hosting, 500mb, 5gb transfer/month $0.

i bought a domain from godaddy.com and have installed php gallery onto my webspace.

http://nelson-photo.net

so, basically i have a free 500mb gallery....

[wenzej]

One must be careful this is from the agrement for the Sony Imagestation
Sounds like you are giving them your photos and they can do anything they want with them like sell them or use them without paying you for them...

6. License Grant and Intellectual Property Rights
In consideration for the Service, and the potential benefits related thereto, you grant ImageStation, its successors, licensees and assigns, a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, royalty free license to use, modify, reproduce, distribute, publish, publicly perform, and publicly display your Member Content, by all means now known, or later created, including but not limited to display on the Internet, and in all forms of media, now known or later created.

[plarson]

Tony,
We also have a premium fee based gallery that I would be more than happy to grant you access to for evaluation proposes as you seem sincere in your endeavor …. And I’m always looking for honest forthright opinions about the services we offer

Premium gallery main page > http://gallery.bytephoto.com/
Gallery features comparison > http://www.gallery.bytephoto.com/features.htm
Gallery pricing structure > http://www.gallery.bytephoto.com/buynow.htm

Anyone else interested in evaluating our new premium gallery area at BytePhoto I will set you up with a trial gallery

If you contact me via paul@bytephoto.com

[tony723]

plarson wrote:
Tony,
We also have a premium fee based gallery that I would be more than happy to grant you access to for evaluation proposes as you seem sincere in your endeavor …. And I’m always looking for honest forthright opinions about the services we offer

Premium gallery main page > http://gallery.bytephoto.com/
Gallery features comparison > http://www.gallery.bytephoto.com/features.htm
Gallery pricing structure > http://www.gallery.bytephoto.com/buynow.htm

Anyone else interested in evaluating our new premium gallery area at BytePhoto I will set you up with a trial gallery

If you contact me via paul@bytephoto.com


Hi Paul,

Thanks for your info again. I just registered in your site and will try it later.

Thanks again!