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Summary
SmugMug is a paid photo-sharing website and image hosting service that allows users to upload both HD photos and videos to their website, where they can be shared and accessed by others. The platform offers various customization options, including the ability to create a personalized portfolio website, and integrates with various third-party tools and applications.
Overall
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Ease of Use - 90%
90%
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Design - 85%
85%
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Features & Functionality - 85%
85%
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Support & Resources - 85%
85%
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Pricing - 85%
85%
Pros
- Great image quality
- Easy to use
- Beautiful and mobile-responsive themes and templates
Cons
- No free plan
- Not as many themes and templates as competitors
Overview – A leading photography website builder.
Without a doubt, SmugMug is considered one of the leading photography website platforms around – and for a good reason. Since it started offering its services in 2002, it’s become the go-to platform among photographers for its ability to showcase and host high-quality photo products and online galleries. However, since then, plenty of competitors have emerged in the scene.
Introduction to our SmugMug Review
In this SmugMug review, I’m going to examine whether SmugMug remains as impressive as ever.
How does it fare among its known rivals, such as SmugMug vs Zenfolio or SmugMug vs Flickr in terms of ease of use, features, performance, support, and of course, SmugMug pricing?
Be sure to read throughout this SmugMug review to get tips on how to use a SmugMug coupon code. Be sure to avail of SmugMug discounts when you subscribe!
Ease of Use:
When you first meet SmugMug, its clean and organised interface will greet you. Therefore, in this Smugmug review, I'm saying to expect a relatively easy walk-through. I wouldn’t say that it is intuitive since its customisation panel is really packed. It needs some adjustment at first. However, when you’ve spent some time with it, it’s not that difficult to use.
Once you get the hang of it, it’s relatively comfortable to use. For site customisation, the interface’s top left side feature four menus you’ll need to come up with the site you envision – Upload, Organise, Customise, and Sell. Its drag-and-drop functionality makes the task of uploading images a breeze.
Features and Flexibility:
Out of the Box:
Learning features that stand out is the next item in this Smugmug review. SmugMug offers an all-in-one solution to help you upload, market, and you’re your photo products. It integrates a website builder, hosting, and eCommerce solution in one package. Yet SmugMug’s out-of-box standout feature is how stunning your photos look like on the site. If you check out any SmugMug website, you’ll notice the sharpness of its images. They look great, even when you use high-pixel monitors. It might not matter much to the average Joe, but to photographers looking to sell photos, that matters a LOT.
Therefore, if you want your photography website to look stunning on all screens and devices, then SmugMug will not disappoint.
Another great thing about the platform is that you get a database of the most popular high-quality photos with Smugmug Browse. You can also use Smugmug search to find products of a specific photographer.
To know the cost of these standout features, check out our Smugmug pricing review below. Also, you can save more when you use a Smugmug coupon code – click here.
Themes and Templates:
SmugMug seems to offer more opportunities to customise your site sans coding. You’re able to drag and drop blocks of content (e.g. galleries) or text anywhere you wish.
Based on information from their website, they have more than 20 themes to use for different photography genres. At first place, the themes look simple and basic and clearly designed for an image-heavy website. If the website you have in mind incorporates a fair amount of text to go with images, then you’ll need to customise the pages.
Check out latest Smugmug themes and template
3rd Party Apps Market:
To further expand your site’s functionality, SmugMug provides seamless integration with various third-party applications. You can easily upload files through the most popular apps available. If you ask me, this is real value for money considering the affordable Smugmug pricing. Of course, get smarter and use a Smugmug coupon code and avail of Smugmug discounts when you subscribe.
Hosting:
SmugMug sells domain and supports existing domains. If you don’t own a domain yet, the platform offers a free one carrying the SmugMug brand, i. e. www.yourstore.SmugMug.com. It also provides image hosting services for entrepreneurs who manage their own blog. These are impressive offerings and worth the Smugmug pricing level!
It doesn’t offer an integrated blogging platform, however, unlike Zenfolio.
Using the SmugMug image hosting speeds up your blog decreases server load, and transforms the backup process into a pain-free one. This way, you save both money and energy resizing images.
eCommerce Tools:
Photographers elect to use SmugMug not only to help make visible their works of art but to help them sell their photo products. In this case, SmugMug delivers. Unlike its competitors, it integrates with print labs that offer global shipping.
What’s missing in SmugMug is the self-fulfilment option. This could be a problem if you’re selling bespoke products. Since it offers auto-fulfilment only, you cant customise your SmugMug shopping cart to accommodate it.
To reduce Smugmug pricing, keep up with Smugmug coupon codes – click this link here. Or browse through Smugmug discounted prices here.
See more Smugmug eCommerce features
SEO and Mobility:
SEO:
SmugMug’s SEO options are not too shabby. They have all the tools integrated to make your site attractive to Google. SEO tools allow you to edit meta tags, XML sitemaps meta keywords, page title bar, gallery titles, titles, captions, and keywords.
Mobile:
For photographers on the go, the SmugMug app is available on Google Play and the App Store.
Support and Resources:
What I find excellent about SmugMug is its customer support. Apart from its wide-ranging knowledge base called the Support Center, their support team features respectful and helpful staff. The company provides useful resources such as video tutorials available on YoutTube, as well as their SmugMug Business School for guidance on how to market and sell your products.
They also offer 24/7 email support. Unfortunately, live chat and phone support are not available options at the moment.
See more Smugmug support features
SmugMug Pricing:
SmugMug pricing is tiered into four options. If you compare them with industry standards, their plans aren’t expensive. However, the higher the price structure, the more advanced the features and customisation options. The company offers Smugmug discounts regularly, too!
Free trial/refund policy/money-back guarantee:
There is a 14-day SmugMug free trial. Use this opportunity to test SmugMug and find out if it works for you. As shown on the terms of service page, the company also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Here’s the link to the free trial.
If you want to avail of SmugMug discounts, get the SmugMug coupon code through this link.
>> See latest Smugmug coupon code and Smugmug discounts <<
Conclusion and Recommendation To Our SmugMug Review:
What is it best for?
To conclude this Smugmug review, Smugmug is a perfect choice to create your portfolio website for beginners and established photographers.
What is it not best for?
It would’ve been better if SmugMug offered an integrated blogging feature instead of having to connect to third-party sites.
SmugMug Alternatives;
Here is a list of SmugMug alternatives you should consider;
| Platform | Key Features | Price (Basic Paid Plan) | My View | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 Squarespace | Beautiful templates, social media integration, SEO tools | $12/month Check Pricing | Squarespace is a great all-around portfolio builder with excellent design aesthetics. | Try For Free |
| 2. Format | Client proofing, online store, themes optimized for artists | $6/month Check Pricing | Format is great for professionals, offering client proofing and online store features | Try For Free |
| 3. Smugmug | Unlimited photo uploads, eCommerce capabilities, privacy controls | $7/month Check Pricing | SmugMug is an excellent choice for photographers, offering unlimited photo uploads. | Try For Free |
| 4. Pixpa | E-commerce, client proofing, blog, custom CSS | $7/month Check Pricing | Ideal for creatives who need a blend of portfolio and e-commerce | Try For Free |
| 5. Adobe Portfolio | Integration with Creative Cloud, clean templates, automatic optimization | Included with Creative Cloud ($20.99/month) Check Pricing | Ideal for existing Adobe Creative Cloud subscribers | Try For Free |
| 6. Wix | Extensive customization, large app market, ADI feature | Free to start, paid plans from $14/month Check Pricing | Best for maximum creative control | Try For Free |
| 7. Weebly | User-friendly, built-in SEO tools, advanced website analytics | Free to start, paid plans from $6/month Check Pricing | Good for beginners with small portfolios | Try For Free |
| 8. Duda | Collaboration tools, excellent templates, widget personalization | $14/month Check Pricing | Great for collaborative portfolio building | Try For Free Check Pricing |
| 9. Zenfolio | Client access pages, built-in marketing tools, unlimited storage | $5/month Check Pricing | Best for professional photographers who want client access features | Try For Free |
| 10. WordPress.com | Massive flexibility, huge template selection, powerful blogging features | Free to start, paid plans from $4/month Check Pricing | Best for those who want maximum flexibility and blogging capability | Try For Free |
- SmugMug vs Zenfolio: If you compare SmugMug and Zenfolio, SmugMug is more suitable for photographers who work with genres other than wedding and events. Zenfolio works better if you’re catering to an audience for family portraits, weddings, and other life events.
SmugMug Review Final Word
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FAQ
What are third-party apps supported by SmugMug?
Among the compatible Windows-based and Python-based file transfer apps supported by SmugMug are the following: Lightroom 3 and higher BlogStomp Aperture SmugMug Uploader PicBackMan
How many print lab partners does SmugMug have?
Right now, the platform has four partner print labs that ship worldwide and in Europe. Bay Photo (global) EZ Prints (global) WHCC (global) Loxley Colour (Europe only)
That’s all for now:
We hope you have enjoyed our Smugmug review and have gleaned some useful information. Please do keep an eye out for our articles as we have lots of information relating to online services offered. You may be interested in our related website builder, eCommerce platform review and comparison articles below;