The best website builder for photographers is a powerful tool that lets you create a stunning online portfolio and showcase your work without needing extensive programming or design skills. If you’re a photographer, it’s essential that your website has features that support selling both products and services, such as e-commerce capabilities, booking systems, and client galleries.
Additionally, ease of use, cost-effectiveness, a variety of customizable templates, and robust customer support are critical factors to consider. We’ve done extensive research to bring you the best website builder for photographers based on these important criteria, helping you make an informed decision based on your unique needs.
Systeme.io - Best Website Builder For Selling Photography Courses Online
The Best Website Builder for Photographers
- Wix — Easy To Use And Hundreds Of Templates
- Shopify — Leading ecommerce platform to sell your photos online
- Webador — Best photography website builder for quick setup
- Squarespace — Stunning & stylish templates, perfect for creative portfolios
- GoDaddy — Great drag-and-drop functionality with integrated hosting
- Square — Ecommerce solution with AI-driven photo editing
- Ucraft — Affordable with powerful customization
- IONOS — Cheapest option with hosting
- Weebly — Best free photography website builder
- Systeme.io — Perfect for photography course creation
- Show Full Guide
The Best Website Builder For Photographers Reviewed
Let’s head to our individual reviews for the best website builder options for photographers.
1. Wix — Easy to Use & Hundreds of Templates
Best For | Starting Price | Free Custom Domain | Free Version | Money-Back Guarantee | Standout Features on Cheapest Plan |
Anyone looking for an easy-to-use, popular platform | $17/month | Yes | N/A | 14-days | – Custom domain – Free SSL certificate – 500MB Storage space |
Wix is a versatile and user-friendly website builder that offers photographers a powerful platform to create stunning online portfolios and showcase their work. Known for its usability, Wix provides photographers with a wide range of tools and features that make it easy to design a feature-rich, visually appealing photography website without requiring extensive coding or design skills.
What I really like about Wix is that it has over 800 professionally designed templates for you to choose from, many of them specifically for photography, and there are many options to customize these templates using apps like Wix Pro Gallery.
Whether you’re after the best food photography website builder, one to showcase your travel portfolio, or otherwise, Wix offers everything you need.
If you’re struggling with the technical aspects of web design, Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) can help as it creates a website based on a questionnaire. In practice, it takes about 15 minutes to create a website with Wix ADI, though you slightly curb your creative freedom in the process.
And if you’re worried that all that effort will result in few visitors to your website, the built-in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tool can assist you with ensuring your website ranks well in Google’s search results.
Overall, Wix is one of the best website builders for photographers looking to create a website for their work. It’s also very affordable and even has a free plan available for those who aren’t ready to commit – though you may want to upgrade if you need more storage.
Pricing
While Wix offers a free plan, it might be limiting, so it is best for beginners and those just looking to explore the app.
If you want more functionality, it’s best to go for one of the more robust plans.
Pros
- Very affordable
- Intuitive drag-and-drop editor
- Comes with AI web builder tools
- 800+ professional templates
Cons
- Limited storage on cheaper plans
- Can’t change template once a site is live
2. Shopify — Leading Ecommerce Platform to Sell Your Photos Online
Best For | Starting Price | Free Custom Domain | Free Version | Money-Back Guarantee | Standout Features on Cheapest Plan |
Ecommerce | $29/month | No | 3-day free trial | N/A | – Online store – Ecommerce automations – Unlimited products |
Shopify is a popular ecommerce platform with an easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor capable of delivering some of the best-looking websites around. Not only is it a great option for building professional websites, but it’s also one of the best website builders for a photography business.
With Shopify, you get access to just about everything an online store needs. For example, there are numerous payment gateway options like PayPal, Amazon Pay, and Apple Pay. And if you want your patrons to use a credit card, you can simply opt for Shopify Payments.
In addition, there is automatic tax calculation and over 6,000 powerful third-party integrations, including PageFly for landing pages and Vitals for product reviews and cross-selling.
In addition to creating a beautiful online store, you can build dedicated pages or sections that showcase your photos. This makes it popular even among those who are looking for the best website builder for wedding photographers.
There are also features that allow you to sell digital products like presets—photo editing settings that transform digital images into beautiful finished products—a great asset for those in the food photography business. You can upload high-quality images to showcase your work. I like that all the images are automatically optimized for the web, which is great for fast loading times.
The website builder itself is easy enough to use, too. Like Wix, Shopify offers a drag-and-drop editor, which is perfect for creating visually stunning pages without any technical know-how. There are also over 100 templates to choose from, some of which are completely free.
Pricing
Shopify is one of the more pricier website builders, so it’s best suited to people who need advanced commerce features and want to sell their work to make money.
There’s also a free trial available, but unlike many competing offers, it’s only three days long.
Pros
- Good range of free templates on offer
- Intuitive drag-and-drop editor
- Numerous payment gateway options
- Best commercial photography website builder
Cons
- Trial is only three days
- One of the more expensive solutions
3. Webador — Affordable, Popular Website Builder for Fast Site Setup
Best For | Starting Price | Free Custom Domain | Free Version | Money-Back Guarantee | Standout Features on Cheapest Plan |
Fast website creation | $5/month | Yes | Yes | N/A | – Free hosting – Blog function – Unlimited storage |
Webador prioritizes ease of use over everything else, so if you’re looking to get a photography website up and running in as little as 10 minutes, try Webador. It’s also a very affordable option. That said, if you need more advanced customization features, you might want to look at Wix or GoDaddy.
Unlike GoDaddy, Webador doesn’t categorize its templates. Even though there are fewer options to choose from, they can all be used for a range of purposes, and, unlike with Wix, they can be swapped out for a new one at any time.
There’s also a great range of widgets you can choose from to make your website stand out. For example, you can include the option for users to rate and leave comments on your images. This is a good way to gauge what your audience likes. There are also social buttons that allow you to easily link to your social media accounts, which is a great way to spread your work to more potential clients.
What I really liked about Webador was the ability to turn the website into a file-sharing and media-streaming hub. You can allow users to download content from your website – though it’s capped at 200MB of uploads.
Webador includes a WYSIWYG editor (what you see is what you get), so you can create and edit unique blog content in almost exactly the form it’ll ultimately appear.
I thought this feature was great, especially for photographers. The platform is easy to use and affordable, and you get smart extras alongside a highly functional blog.
Pricing
Webador is one of the cheapest website builders out there, and if you sign up today, you’ll get access to a photography website builder for free for the first six months.
The free-forever plan is also pretty comprehensive. You can choose any of the 50+ templates, add an unlimited number of pages, and get uncapped storage space. In fact, it’s probably one of the best free website builders for photographers out there.
Pros
- Very easy to use
- Extremely affordable pricing on paid plans
- Templates can be swapped out
- Best photography website builder free plan
Cons
- Customization options are limited
- Free plan comes with a Webador.com address
4. Squarespace — Beautiful Templates, Perfect for Creatives
Best For | Starting Price | Free Custom Domain | Free Version | Money-Back Guarantee | Standout Features on Cheapest Plan |
Creative work | $16/month | Yes | 14-day free trial | 14-days | – Squarespace AI – 2 Contributors – SEO features |
Squarespace offers a website builder specifically designed for creative works like photography and art, so it’s perfect for those who want to create a personal photography portfolio. However, Squarespace also offers great ecommerce features for those who want to sell their works.
In fact, I found that Squarespace is so suited for creatives that if you have a text-heavy website, you might struggle to take advantage of all the features on offer. This makes it easily one of the best photography portfolio website builders on the list.
You get access to an array of professionally designed templates that give you complete control over how you customize them. For example, you can change the stock images and replace them with your own. You can also change things like the font, colors, and overall design to really make it unique. And just like GoDaddy, there’s a mobile app that allows you to edit just about anything on your website on the go.
Because Squarespace is specific to creatives, you’ll find that you can integrate it with other creative apps like Adobe Creative Suite, which is perfect for enhancing your photos to attract more clients. Overall, I found Squarespace to be among the best fine art photography website builders, as well.
Squarespace also has a number of fantastic ecommerce features that allow you to create a full-fledged online store. If you want to access it, though, you’ll have to opt for the Business plan or higher. With it, you can sell an unlimited range of products, create customer accounts, and even create and sell Photography courses.
Pricing
Squarespace is more expensive than Webador. However, it offers a 14-day free trial.
SEO features and a free SSL certificate are also available, even on the cheapest plan.
Pros
- Specifically designed for creative work
- Best templates library for creatives
- Mobile app for on-the-go editing
Cons
- More expensive and less intuitive than competitors
5. GoDaddy — Drag-and-Drop Functionality With Integrated Hosting
Best For | Starting Price | Free Custom Domain | Free Version | Money-Back Guarantee | Standout Features on Cheapest Plan |
Domain registration and start-ups | $10.99/month | Free GoDaddy domain | Yes | Yes – Product dependant | – GoDaddy Studio – Content library and templates – Video creation |
GoDaddy is known for domain registration and web hosting, but it also has an intuitive website builder. With GoDaddy, photographers can get an online presence fast, and like Wix, it has its very own ADI tool that creates a website based on a questionnaire.
While the template library is limited compared to the likes of Wix, you’ll be happy to know that the designs are all optimized for mobile, and there’s a good range of photography-specific templates to choose from.
GoDaddy offers a drag-and-drop editor that makes working on websites easy. You choose from a selection of pre-built elements and drop them on the page, with all the programming done in the background. There’s also a GoDaddy mobile app for easy editing on the go, which I found works pretty well.
Other features include a free SSL certificate, authenticating your website’s identity, and enabling encrypted connections. GoDaddy even throws in a free business phone number for a full year and gives you the option to connect a custom domain name.
GoDaddy is an excellent choice for beginners and anyone lacking technical skills like coding. Customer service is also impressive, and there are loads of self-help resources available to help get you started, in addition to 24/7 live chat support.
Pricing
GoDaddy is more expensive than Wix, but the designer itself is more streamlined and efficient.
If you don’t need ecommerce features, GoDaddy’s free photography website builder is for you.
Pros
- Intuitive ADI feature
- GoDaddy mobile app
- Free plan lasts forever
- Lots of photography-specific templates
Cons
- Can’t connect a custom domain for free
6. Square — Ecommerce Solution with AI-Driven Photo Editing
Best For | Starting Price | Free Custom Domain | Free Version | Money-Back Guarantee | Standout Features on Cheapest Plan |
Brick-and-mortar businesses | $16/month | Yes | Yes | N/A | – Email marketing – Square photo studio – Online store |
Square is a payment processing company that now also offers the Square Online website builder. It’s been optimized for ecommerce and has been designed to integrate seamlessly with Square itself for easy online payment processing.
I like the fact that Square Online offers ecommerce tools specific to brick-and-mortar businesses as well as online storefronts. This makes it a strong option for those looking to sell their work online or to open a gallery.
Some weaker points are the fact that Square isn’t specifically designed for photographers and, compared to the likes of Shopify, doesn’t have as many templates to choose from. However, the templates on offer are mobile-friendly, and some are even free.
The website builder is straightforward and easy to use, too, and it’s not too different from Weebly. There’s an intuitive setup wizard that makes it virtually impossible to mess up – so you can still produce a good-looking website even if you have no technical background.
There’s also a unique product photo editing tool capable of producing professional-grade product photos, which makes it one of the best advertising photography website builders around. What’s more, it’s equipped with AI, and with it, you can remove the background in images as well as any other unwanted items from your photos.
I personally wouldn’t use Square if I wanted to create an online photography portfolio – it’s best suited for people who want to sell digital copies or prints of their work. In other words, ecommerce is where Square really shines, and it’s loaded with the tools you need to make a successful online store.
Pricing
While Square offers a free plan with ecommerce options, it’s worth mentioning Square takes a small commission for every sale you make.
It starts at 2.6% + $0.30 per transaction on the premium plan and moves to 2.9% on other plans.
Pros
- Offers a free ecommerce plan
- Easy to follow set up guide
- Great for selling prints
- Powerful AI-driven photo editor
Cons
- Limited customization options
7. Ucraft — Affordable with Powerful Customization
Best For | Starting Price | Free Custom Domain | Free Version | Money-Back Guarantee | Standout Features on Cheapest Plan |
Beginners looking for affordable option with hosting | $12/month | Yes | 14-day free trial & free plan | N/A | – Unlimited pages – 20+ Integrations – Designer tools |
Ucraft has a drag-and-drop editor, which means it’s very easy to use, even for newbies. For photographers, it offers a set of photography-specific templates to choose from, and even though there are only six, they’re all mobile-friendly and professionally designed.
In fact, Ucraft has aimed itself toward those who want to create visually appealing websites, which makes it a top choice for photographers.
So, how does Ucraft work? Each element is designed to fit only in its prescribed place. In other words, each block has a home or a preset area to which it belongs. While this removes some of the creativity, it also provides a much more efficient approach to building a website.
Ucraft is also equipped with a fantastic photo editing and placement tool. With it, you can upload images from your computer or use the free images provided by Unsplash. Once the images are saved in your account, they’re there forever or until you remove them.
I liked that you can edit just about anything, from cropping the image to changing the title and alt text and even the level of blur. Moreover, you can add a hover image or hover effects. All this ensures a professional-looking, interactive website.
When it comes to ecommerce, Ucraft has a good range of features that make it possible to sell your images online. However, unlike Square, there’s no ecommerce option on the free plan, and you also can’t connect a custom domain. That said, you do get a free SSL certificate and 24/7 customer support.
Pricing
Ucraft falls in the middle of the pack when it comes to pricing. It’s not expensive, with either a free plan option or starting at only $12/month, and it comes with a 14-day free trial.
Ucraft breaks its website builder options and pricing into two options. The most basic is its Website Plans:
They also offer three different ecommerce plans, offering a range of options:
If you want to see what all the fuss is about, I suggest trying Ucraft’s free plan. You can always upgrade as you scale. Its streamlined approach to building websites has a lot to offer, especially for those with limited technical experience.
Pros
- Features an intuitive drag-and-drop editor
- Powerful image editing capabilities
- Range of photography-specific templates
- Great ecommerce features with paid plans
Cons
- No ecommerce on free plan
- Limited template customization
8. IONOS — Excellent Hosting Option With Very Affordable Pricing
Best For | Starting Price | Free Custom Domain | Free Version | Money-Back Guarantee | Standout Features on Cheapest Plan |
Cheapest option with hosting |
$1/month | Yes | No | 30 days | – AI Website builder – 17,000+ Royalty free images – High-quality professional templates |
IONOS is one of the largest hosting companies in Europe and has released a website builder that’s as simple as it gets. If it’s photography website hosting you’re after, this is the solution for you.
The provider also offers some of the cheapest rates on the market, with plans starting at just $1 per month for the first six months, making it easily one of the best website builders for students.
Despite being very easy to use, it also comes equipped with a powerful AI tool that can assist you with building your photography website, making it even easier to use – and no coding or technical skills are required here.
The high-quality and very customizable templates on offer have been automatically optimized for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. Plus, there are options to integrate with interactive and professional elements like an online photo gallery.
For those looking to sell their images online, IONOS redirects you to a different website builder with ecommerce features. With it, you can easily integrate with platforms like Amazon, eBay, and Google, giving you a wide range of payment options as well as shipping methods.
Pricing
Ionos is definitely one of the most affordable options compared to other website builders, which makes it ideal for students and anyone on a tight budget.
When it comes to renewing your plan, the prices remain some of the most affordable around.
Pros
- Very affordable
- Equipped with AI tool
- Cheap hosting costs
- Great templates
Cons
- No free trial or free plan
9. Weebly — Best Free Professional Photography Website Builder
Best For | Starting Price | Free Custom Domain | Free Version | Money-Back Guarantee | Standout Features on Cheapest Plan |
Free website building | $10/month | Yes | Yes | 30 days | – Social media feed – Free SSL certificate – Photography themes |
Weebly is a very well-known brand in the market, and thanks to its drag-and-drop feature, it’s a top choice if you want to make a visually stunning website for absolutely free in just minutes.
What’s more, it’s equipped with excellent features specific to photographers and video editors, making it a common choice for those looking for the best sports photography website builders. With it, you can upload high-quality photos or videos that can be played back in crystal clear HD.
There’s a good range of filters for your images as well as some in-depth settings to create an attractive slideshow, so creating online galleries has never been easier.
There are also some free templates available, which is nice. However, for the best photography portfolio, I recommend going for a paid option instead, as the free templates are relatively bland compared to competitors’ offerings.
It’s also worth noting that dropping an element into a template has its limitations. For example, Similar to Ucraft, there are predefined places in which you can drop an element. Although this does limit your creativity, it does offer a more simplified way of building a website for photography enthusiasts.
Pricing
Weebly is unusual in that once you’ve purchased a template, there are no hidden costs.
In other words, you can have a free photography website for as long as you want with Weebly, provided you don’t subscribe to an ecommerce plan.
Pros
- Free-forever plan
- Premium plans are very affordable
- Intuitive drag-and-drop feature
- Lots of filters for images
Cons
- Some templates are expensive
10. Systeme.io — Best Website Builder for Selling Photography Courses
Best For | Starting Price | Free Custom Domain | Free Version | Money-Back Guarantee | Standout Features on Cheapest Plan |
Creating and selling photography courses | $19/month | No | Yes | N/A | – Unlimited file storage space – A/B tests – Run an affiliate program |
Systeme.io is an all-in-one marketing platform equipped with a drag-and-drop website builder that’s easy to use and completely free. About 99% of Systeme.io’s tools are free to use for as long as you want.
Starting an online photography business has never been easier – everything is done with drag-and-drop ease, all from a single dashboard. Moreover, Systeme.io even gives you the ability to manage sales funnels, and you can create and sell your very own photography course.
While Systeme.io isn’t just aimed at photographers – it’s for absolutely anyone – you can still create a decent professional photography website thanks to its intuitive website builder.
You can select a pre-made template or start on a completely blank canvas. Then, you can upload high-quality images or videos, which is great for photography portfolios.
It must be said there aren’t as many templates to choose from as there are on Wix, but with complete design freedom and the ability to sell your artwork, whether digital or physical, it’s still an excellent choice for photography website design—especially considering that it’s completely free.
Pricing
What makes Systeme.io so popular is that you can do all of that for free, and the paid features are 10 times cheaper than its competitors’.
The most expensive plan is less than $100/month.
Pros
- Offers an extensive free plan
- Create photography courses
- Intuitive and easy to use
- Manage email lists and sales funnels
Cons
- Not many templates to choose from
The Best Photography Website Builders Compared
Now that we’ve gone over all the details of the best photography website builders, here’s a comparison table:
Best Website Builder for Photographers | Best For | Starting Price | Free Version | Money-Back Guarantee | Top Features on Cheapest Plan |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wix | Popular, easy-to-use website builder | $4.50/month | N/A | 14 days | – Custom domain – Free SSL certificate – 500MB Storage space |
Shopify | Ecommerce | $29/month | 3-day free trial | N/A | – Online store – Ecommerce automations – Unlimited products |
Webador | Fast website creation | $5/month | Yes | N/A | – Free hosting – Blog function – Unlimited storage |
Squarespace | Creatives wanting stunning templates | $16/month | 14-day free trial | 14 days | – Squarespace AI – 2 Contributors – SEO features |
GoDaddy | Drag-and-drop platform with integrated hosting | $10.99/month | Yes | Yes – product dependant | – GoDaddy Studio – Content library and templates – Video creation |
Square | Ecommerce with AI-driven photo editing | $16/month | Yes | N/A | – Email marketing – Square photo studio – Online store |
Ucraft | Creatives looking for affordable, customizable platform | $12/month | Free plan + 14-day free trial | N/A | – Unlimited pages – 20+ Integrations – Designer tools |
IONOS | Cheapest website builder/hosting combo | $1/month | No | 30 days | – AI Website builder – 17,000+ Royalty free images – High-quality professional templates |
Weebly | Free website building | $10/month | Yes | 30 days | – Social media feed – Free SSL certificate – Photography themes |
Systeme.io | Creating and selling photography courses | $19/month | Yes | N/A | – Unlimited file storage space – A/B tests – Run your own affiliate program |
To provide our readers with accurate and well-informed recommendations, we test the most popular website builders on the market to find the best options for you. Our methodology consists of the following criteria:How We Review And Test Website Builders
Things to Consider When Choosing a Photography Website Builder
When creating a photography website, there are a few important points to keep in mind to make sure your website reflects your work in the best possible way. These features include:
Make sure you choose a domain name relevant to your work. It should reflect your niche and be memorable, whether you’re working with the best travel photography a professional website builder can create or sharing your portfolio.
Try to upload high-resolution, web-optimized images. This is important because photos will be your main attraction, and if they aren’t optimized for the web, the loading times on your website could be affected.
Website builders come at a range of price points, and some even offer a free-forever plan. Free online photo galleries are generally limited and only good for beginners, while paid plans offer more customization and functionality.
Carefully consider your requirements and budget before choosing a professional website builder.
Choose a provider with good uptime metrics to ensure your website is always available online. A decent hosting provider will also ensure your loading times are fast.
Try using a website builder that’s easy to use and has a minimal learning curve. This helps streamline the process of building your website, even for those with little to no coding experience. Some of the best website builders offer a drag-and-drop feature, removing the need for technical knowledge and coding skills.
More than 50% of the world’s internet traffic is through a mobile device, such as a cell phone or tablet. The general rule is to design for mobile first and then optimize for a desktop. This will ensure your website looks good and responds well to mobile devices, improving your SEO.
Ensure your contact information is easily accessible. A good place to put this information is at the bottom of every page, or you could have a general “About Me” page. You could also have a contact form to capture user information like email addresses.
Do You Need a Photography Website?
A website builder for photographers is a particularly good tool for those looking to sell photos, as many come with ecommerce features that allow you to sell prints and digital copies of your work.
How to Create a Photography Website
Creating a photography website is important as it gets your name out there and attracts potential clients. Let’s take a step-by-step approach to creating the best website for photographers.
Step 1 — Select Your Preferred Option
In this case, I will be using Wix.
Step 2 — Sign Up and Go to the Dashboard
Here, I will sign up to Wix and access the dashboard.
Step 3 — Pick a Template
Many website builders have a host of templates to choose from. You can even select a blank canvas in some cases.
Step 4 — Enter the Editor
If you are using Wix, you can select “Edit this Site” to get access to the editor.
Step 5 — Customize Your Content
This is where you upload images and change things like fonts and colors.
Step 6 — Publish your Website
Once you’re happy with how your website looks, simply click “Publish,” and you’re done.
FAQs
Do photographers need a website?
What is the best free website builder for photographers?
What should a photography website include?
How can photographers build an online store?
Is Wix or Squarespace better for photographers?
References
- Percentage of Mobile Device Website Traffic (Statista)
- Custom Domains (Cloud.gov)
- Artificial Intelligence (Educause)