Is Smugmug better than Squarespace or vice versa?
When it comes to your photography website there are many things to consider when deciding which platform to use. There are also many different website builders available which allow you to easily build and manage your own website. For photographers though, two of the popular are Smugmug and Squarespace. However, deciding between the two can be difficult. Which one is best very much depends on the type of photography you do. Also, what do you want the website for? Is it just a portfolio website, wedding photography website? Are you selling just prints, or also selling services such as workshops? Here in this article and accompanying video, I take a look at Squarespace vs Smugmug for photographers and try to help you decide which one to go for.
The pros
I like to be positive, so let’s start with the pros. Both Smugmug and Squarespace offer great value to the user, and are packed with useful features. However, some of those features differ, and while a unique feature of one platform may be useful for some, it might not be needed for others.
Below is a simple breakdown of the pros of each platform.
Smugmug pros
- Built purely for photographers.
- Unlimited Cloud storage. Upload full size JPEG, GIF, PNG, and HEIC images and they will be stored and easily available for download if you lose your own copies. FYI: Only JPEGs can be ordered as prints and gifts.
- Smugmug source (+$3/month) allows you also upload and store your RAW files too.
- No need to optimize your photos for web display. Smugmug does all the work for you. This is ideal for people without any technical knowledge. Simply upload your full size images and let Smugmug do all the work to deliver a page that will load quickly.
- Use one of several apps to upload from iOS and Android. It also includes full integration and sync with Adobe Lightroom & Capture one.
- Online print purchasing and fulfillment through a choice of print houses (you don’t need to get involved at all in this).
- Allows you to set printmarks and / or watermarks.
- Pro plan offers a range of marketing promotions, coupons and your own custom branded packaging.
- Sell digital downloads easily with no file size limitation.
- Setup personalized galleries for clients only that can also be password protected (ideal for portrait, event or wedding photography).
- Easy to setup pricing, can be done and changed in bulk or individually. Pro plan allows you to create and apply multiple price lists to different galleries.
- Automatic tax collection and receipts.
Squarespace pros
- Much better page website page builder and templates. Ability to customize the look on smartphone.
- More e-commerce options for selling prints you want to fulfill yourself. You can choose between simply taking payment online and arranging the print and shipping with whoever you choose, or you can choose one of their drop shipping partners to fulfill orders if you want.
- You can sell services and subscriptions, so great for photographers running workshops, tuition or training. Customers can book and pay directly through your website.
- Offer a variety of payment services such as Paypal and even buy now pay later services such as Clearpay.
- Also allows buyers to leave reviews, or you can dynamically show reviews from other places such as Google or Trustpilot, which helps build trust.
- Better social media integration for marketing and selling. Sync your products with Meta to sell on Facebook and Instagram.
- Install software extensions to add extra features.
- Ability to sell your prints at markets and take payments with your smartphone using their point of sale extension.
- Email and newsletter marketing tools and templates. Collect newsletter signups directly on your webpages.
- Appointment scheduling tools, ideal for portrait and event photographers.
- Client invoicing features built in to your website.
- SEO tools built in, with other software extensions also available.
- Dedicated blogging platform.
The cons
Nothing is perfect, so here is also a breakdown of the cons of each platform.
Smugmug cons
- Website builder is quite basic and restrictive. Websites look good and there are several templates to choose from (could be more) or you can make your own. All pages are automatically well optimized for smartphones, but the only downside is that you can’t customize this yourself.
- Cannot sell prints and products you make or print yourself.
- Cannot sell services and take payments online for things like photography workshops.
- Buyers cannot leave reviews.
- Poor social media integration and lack of extra features via a software plugin or extension.
- No dedicated blogging feature. However, it can still be done (See my video here)
Squarespace cons
- Not built specifically for photographers
- While the website builder does include the ability to customise the look on mobile, but it is limited to simply changing the order of items, but you cannot customise content nor hide elements like you can in a page builder like Elementor for WordPress.
- Cannot customise the pages on tablets or ipads.
- 2GB storage only, after which you need to purchase more storage space. Not ideal if you also want to use it as a cloud backup.
- 20 MB limit on photos, but 500kb suggested for faster page loading. So, you will need to optimize images yourself before upload.
- Digital downloads are limited to 300 MB, so not ideal for selling your images as stock.
Which is better for you?
As stated at the beginning, this very much depends on the type of photography you do and what you want your website to offer.
Smugmug is ideal for:
- Portrait, event or wedding photographers wanting to create private client galleries where customers can download high res photos or purchase prints from the shoot.
- Photographers wanting to use their website as cloud storage for their photos.
- Building a simple portfolio website with no need to prepare and optimise images.
- Landscape, wildlife or fine art photographers wanting to easily sell high quality wall art prints of their work without having to deal with taking payments and fulfilling order themselves.
Squarespace is ideal for:
- Photographers offering other services such as workshops, tuition, portrait or event shoots, or subscription-based services.
- Photographers wanting to make or fulfil prints themselves, or use other fulfilment services.
- Selling other products too.
- Photographers wanting a more versatile website with a nicer layout and more templates.
- Photographers wanting more marketing and social media integration.
Try Smugmug
Save 15% off all new Smugmug packages. Simply click my affiliate link and signup for the free 14-day trial (no credit card needed) and the coupon is automatically applied. If after the trial you decide to purchase a plan, the discount is automatically applied:
Try Squarespace
You can sign up for a free Squarespace trial using the button below.
Use my personal discount code IAN10 to get a 10% discount if you decide to purchase a plan.
