Is Flickr just not right for you? Maybe you’re looking for a photo storing and sharing website that gives you more free features, one with photo editing capabilities, or one that gives users the option to have more than one terabyte of storage. Whatever the case may be, we hope to help you find a Flickr alternative that’s better suited for your needs. In this article, we’ll go over six of the best sites like Flickr.
1. 500px
Pronounced “five hundred pixels,” this Canadian photo-sharing website is one of the most often-mentioned alternatives to Flickr. It has similar features to Flickr, including the ability to write descriptions about your photographs and adding “tag” keywords to them to make them easier to find. Also, like Flickr, you can join groups, and share and discuss your favourite photographs with the community. One big difference from Flickr is that instead of buying custom memorabilia created from your photos, you can actually sell it to other people instead! It’s a great website for photography enthusiasts.
2. PhotoBucket
This photo and video-sharing website is another one of the more popular Flickr competitors. With over 10 billion images and over 100 million registered users, the photos and videos on PhotoBucket are used for everything from profile pictures to web journal illustrations, from social media sharing to selling items on online marketplaces. PhotoBucket has many of the same features as Flickr, including free and paid options (with the paid ones removing advertisements and offering more storage space), easy sharing features, and “stories” (which are similar to Flickr’s “collections”). PhotoBucket also allows you to edit or password-protect your photos.
3. Google Photos
Google Photos is another awesome website like Flickr. It’s a fairly new photo and video storage and organization website with lots of cool features. Since Google Photos is owned by – you guessed it – Google, it has some capabilities that other photo sharing sites don’t, such as the ability to analyze and categories photos on its own.
Perhaps the best thing about Google Photos is that it’s free to use, and has unlimited storage. Though Flickr gives users 1000 GB of storage for free, and most users will never need more than that, Google Photos is a great option for those who want to have endless amounts of storage – like a professional photographer, for example. Google Photos is accessible on desktop computers through your web browser, and is also available as an app for both Android and iOS devices.
4. DeviantArt
DeviantArt is one of the largest general art galleries on the Internet. In addition to photography, it also allows users to upload drawings, animations, poetry, short stories, and more. It includes features such as built in web journal capabilities, art tutorials, opinion and popularity polls, and social groups. And, like Flickr, it allows for Creative Commons licensing, so you can allow other people to use your pictures in certain ways.
One of DeviantArt’s stand-out features is its community aspect; some have said that it’s as much a social network as an art gallery. DeviantArt’s users tend to be young and — as the website’s name implies — interested in pop culture that lies a little outside the mainstream. But if you’re someone who likes to show off your artistic talents, you might feel right at home here.
5. SmugMug
SmugMug does online photography differently. It offers unlimited storage space for your photos and videos, and never shows you advertisements. Plus, you can customize your photo galleries in several different ways to show off your personality, or keep your photos as private as you want them to be.
Unfortunately, SmugMug can’t be used for free; subscriptions range from basic ones between $3 and $5 per month to professional ones that cost up to $25 or $35 per month. However, the higher-tier accounts allow you to sell your photos online, and even give you access to a host of powerful marketing and promotional tools.
6. Instagram
Instagram is a relatively new service for sharing photos and videos, but it has quickly gained immense popularity since its debut in 2010. Similar to Flickr, Instagram allows its users to upload, share, and comment on photos and videos for free. One thing that sets Instagram apart, though, is that it has built-in photo and video editing tools. Capture a photo or video, touch it up, and upload it on the spot… all without leaving Instagram! On the other hand, most of Instagram’s functions are only available on mobile devices, so you won’t get a lot of use out of it unless you have a tablet computer or smart phone.
Interested in Instagram? We have a free Instagram course for those looking to learn about it.
Go ahead and give one of these Flickr alternatives a shot! Or, if you already have, let us know if the service you chose was picture perfect, or left you stuck with negatives. We’d also like to hear about any other photo-sharing websites that you’ve heard are good, so be sure to drop us a line in the comments below, or on our social media channels.
One last thing: if an alternative to Flickr has captured your heart and you want to part ways with Flickr, we can show you how to delete your Flickr account.
