Smugmug Review and Coupon
Easy to use, upload, and arrange photos, unlimited storage space, fully customizable galleries, great privacy controls, very cool professional features, Specialized MAC and PC tools
Pro Accounts very Expensive, No Free Account Level, Expensive prints relative to other sites, No discount on larger print orders
Smugmug.com Review Summary
"Like Fort Knox for your photos", SmugMug was once the gold standard of photosharing sites. However, increased competition, and higher prices, have tarnished the site's reputation. Is it still worth considering? Read our review to find out. Compare ZenFolio Vs SmugMug click here.
Quick Stats:
| Pricing | 4 different pricing levels. Pro pricing levels don't really make sense, unless you need to sell your photos. Choose monthly or yearly billing options! |
| Intro Offer | Good, 14 day free trial - Current Smugmug Best Intro Offer |
| Smugmug Print Prices (4x6 glossy) | OK, choose from several different photo labs for fulfillment - 4 choices for Pro accounts |
| Customizable Galleries? | Great, high degree of customization |
| Sell Photos Online? | Yes, for Pro Accounts only, you keep 85% of the sales price (SmugMug Charges 15%) |
| Privacy / Security | Great, custom watermarks, private and password protected galleries, right-click protection |
| Easy to Share Galleries? | Great, simply send a link, no sign-in required |
| Storage / Bandwidth | Great, unlimited storage and bandwidth for all accounts |
Smugmug Likes:
SmugMug's mantras are ease of use and style. Easy for you to upload and arrange. Smugmug is arguably the best premium photo service available today. With no ads, no disk space limitations, and no annual purchase requirements, you can finally upload all the pictures you want, while keeping your photos are safe and secure. Fully customizable galleries and the ability download your full size photos anytime for free (and your friends can download full resolution photos too, if you want them to be able to do so). Not only a photo sharing and printing service, it is one of the few sites where you can upload your entire photo collection for safe keeping in case something ever happens to your computer. There are no annual purchase requirements, so you don't have to worry about losing all your photos if you don't want to buy prints.
Best of all, your friends and family will not have to register for Smugmug just to see your shared galleries or order copies of your pictures. You can set up RSS feeds to keep your friends, family, and admirers automatically informed of your latest and greatest photos. Share your photos on smartly designed iPhone or mobile galleries, and even share the full resolution photos (but only if you choose to) with your friends and family so they can print the pictures at home without ordering them. Smugmug has three levels of service, Basic, Power User, and Professional. For $59.95 a year, step up to the Power User level, and get some high tech features nobody else can offer. Replace SmugMug's header & footer with your own, Light up your galleries with video clips, Use your own hostname, and Right-click protect your photos!
Smugmug Dislikes:
The real drawback to Smugmug is the price, since they raised prices in 2012, the Pro account lost its ability to sell photos, and they added a Pro Business level, which keeps the previous Pro account features, but at double the price.
Bottom Line:
We have always loved SmugMug here at PSR, but were a bit taken aback when they doubled the price and didn't add any significant features. Is it a great service? Of course. Smugmug is one of the best photo sharing services currently available. But, you could get most of the features, and pay less than half with Zenfolio ($120 a year to sell photos and downloads). Or, you could get a lot more features with PhotoShelter, a true professional service used by big name photographers. So where does this leave SmugMug? Somewhere in the middle, which is always a tough position to be in.