If you have a photography business and wish to take it online, creating a website is your first step forward.
But the real quest starts when you have to decide what platform needs to be used to create your website. or what is the best website builder for photographers.
So, after trying almost every website builder in the market I can say these are the top 3 website builders for photographers for 2024.
Of course, there are a lot more website builders in the market but, These are the 3 that I would recommend to choose from if you wish to have a reliable and economical solution.
Ultimately, I will tell you which one you should choose and when. So Let’s start.
- Required Features For Photographer Website Builders:
- Wix – Website Builder for Photographers
- Pricing of Wix Website Builder
- Is Wix A Good Website builder For Photographers?
- Squarespace – Website Builder for Photographers
- Pricing of Squarespace website builder
- Is Squarespace A Good Website builder For Photographers?
- WordPress – Website Builder for Photographers
- Pricing Of WordPress Website Builder
- Is WordPress A Good Website Builder For Photographers?
- Conclusion
Required Features For Photographer Website Builders:
When choosing a website builder for your photography portfolio, consider these key features:
| Feature | Wix | Squarespace | WordPress |
|---|---|---|---|
| Photography Templates | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Portfolios | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Appointment Booking | ✓ | ✓ | Via Plugin |
| Private Galleries | ✓ | ✓ | Via Plugin |
| Client Proofing | ✓ | ✗ | Via Plugin |
| Sell Products | ✓ | ✓ | Via Plugin |
| Sell Client Prints | ✓ | ✗ | Via Plugin |
| Custom Domain | Free for 1 year with premium | Free for 1 year with annual | Free for 1 year with annual .com |
| Pricing | Free to $23+ / month | From $16 / month | Free to $6+ / month |
| Try Wix Free | Try Squarespace | Try with Hostinger |
Wix – Website Builder for Photographers
If you have ever thought of creating your own website. Then I am sure you must have heard about Wix.
Probably from their YouTube ads. Wix is a website builder for photographers that does everything that you wish to have in your website. It’s very beginner-friendly. Apart from some amazing template libraries and AI features for creating your website, Wix also provides full control of the design layout.
Its drag-and-drop feature for building web pages allows you to put any element anywhere on the page. So no matter if you are a complete non-tech guy you can design your full website using WIX with its drag-and-drop page builder.
Pricing of Wix Website Builder
You can create your Photography website using Free Plan of Wix. But that give you a subdomain and a Wix advertisement on your website. If you are ok with that then you can just use the website builder to play around and get yourself familiar with the features and see if it is good for your or not.
Pricing varies based on the plan selected, offering options from a free tier to advanced business subscriptions with unlimited storage.
Once you decide to go with Wix as your Photography website builder then you can start with their basic plan. But to create a usable website you need to pay at least 23-25USD per month with the upgraded plan.
Is Wix A Good Website builder For Photographers?
In my opinion, Wix is a powerful website builder and its super flexible drag and drop make it easy for anyone to create a photography website. But that the main problem with Wix as well.
One can easily mess up the design by dragging the elements. Also its not very budget-friendly once you start adding new functionalities to the website.
Squarespace – Website Builder for Photographers
Squarespace ranks exceptionally well for photographers, notable for a clean, modern design ethos that meshes nicely with the visual demands of a photographer’s work.
This builder shines with its library of design-driven templates and a grid-focused editor, catering to those who want to exhibit their images without diving deep into web development. The interface makes it easy to generate attention-capturing portfolios and galleries effortlessly.
Beyond just looks, Squarespace is equipped with robust tools to support a growing photography business. These include an add-on for booking appointments, a powerful ecommerce builder for selling your art, and comprehensive SEO functionalities.
Squarespace is favored by creatives who seek an aesthetically pleasing and functional online presence, emphasizing a visually-oriented platform with the flexibilities required by professional photographers.
Pricing of Squarespace website builder
Squarespace do not allow free websites but you only get a free trial for 14 days to see if that’s the one for you.
Their basic plan starts from 16usd / month and you can add Ecommerce features with their 23usd / month plan.
Good thing about Squarespace plans is that they offer unlimited bandwidth and unlimited space.
Is Squarespace A Good Website builder For Photographers?
Just like Wix Squarespace is a good website builder for photographers. Once can choose their high quality templates and create website in just a few clicks.
My main concern with Squarespace is the pricing and the SEO features. If you are planning to do SEO, You might find yourself with limited options.
WordPress – Website Builder for Photographers
WordPress stands out with its open-source nature, providing an environment with no creative limits for building your photography site. It’s recognized for flexibility, thriving on a vast array of plugins that extend functionality in virtually any direction.
Photographers can benefit from WordPress’s extensive selection of themes and plugins for galleries, client proofing, e-commerce solutions like WooCommerce, and more, enhancing your site to match your unique business needs.
This platform allows for granular control over your website’s design and functionality, but it’s worth considering the learning curve that may be involved if you’re new to it.
Given the freedom to tailor each element to your desires, WordPress serves as a robust solution for photographers seeking full control over their online presence, from SEO efforts to intricate feature integrations.
Pricing Of WordPress Website Builder
Now WordPress is being an Open-sourse application is available for free, But you need to invest atleast in a Hosting account.
You can use Budget and reliable hosting like Hostinger to start with.
And that’s the best part of using WordPress. You get full control on every part of the website. If you wish to change anything at any stage, you are free to do that. Which is not possible with any of the other website builders.
Is WordPress A Good Website Builder For Photographers?
If you wish to have full control on your website, in terms of hosting, theme and what plugins you want to use, Then WordPress is for your.
If you wish to focus on SEO and organic traffic for your website then WordPress is the best website builder you can go with for your website.
Conclusion
So, in the end, what is the best website builder for photographers?
I would personally go with WordPress instead of any other website builder. The reason is simple ie Freedom and full control over the site with proven SEO compatibility.
The only downside with WordPress is the maintenance part.
If you are someone who doesn’t wish to get their hands dirty in maintaining the website, plugins and all that stuff and you just want to have a website just for the sake of it.
Then I would probably suggest Squarespace for you.