Best Website Builder for Photographers: 5 Top Picks

If you’re a photographer who wants to launch a professional website, you’re probably wondering what the best website builder for photographers is. As a brand & website designer, I often work with photographers and have tried many different website builders. In this article, I will share my top 5 picks and explain their pros and cons so you can make an informed decision. Grab your favorite beverage and let’s dive in! ☕

The Benefits of Having Your Own Website

As a photographer, you work in a visual medium. Your website gives your prospective clients information about your photography services and is a digital portfolio of your work and style. It’s a place to showcase your skills, creativity, and unique personality to attract an audience that resonates with your vision and aesthetics.

A stunning website naturally attracts more people and speaks highly of you as a professional. Your website design needs to match the quality of your photography portfolio!

What Is a Website Builder and Why Do You Need One?

In the past, you had to know how to code to design a professional website. Now there are website builders that allow you to create beautiful websites without any coding knowledge or technical expertise. 

Most website builders have a drag-and-drop editor and pre-designed templates that you can customize for your business. This makes creating your photography website much easier!

Not all website builders were created equal. For professional photographers, it’s important to choose the right website builder that allows you to portray your brand in the best light!

What Is the Best Website Builder for Photographers? 5 Ideas

• Best Overall: Showit
• Most Affordable: WordPress
• Free Hosting: Squarespace
• SmugMug: Photographers-Focused
• Best for E-Commerce: Wix
  

1. Showit

Showit has become increasingly popular with creative entrepreneurs and small business owners because it offers unmatched creative freedom for your professional photography website. Showit designs are absolutely stunning, and the website builder is intuitive and easy to use. 

Fun fact: Showit was originally created specifically for professional photographers, so it’s no surprise that the platform prioritizes beautiful aesthetics and unique layouts.

✅ Creative Freedom

One of the biggest differences that sets Showit apart from other website builders is how stunning and unique your website design can be. There are virtually zero restrictions on what your photography site can look like and you can get really creative with how you feature your online portfolio. I’m a Showit Design Partner and it’s definitely my favorite website builder for photographers!

Here’s an example of a Showit website I recently designed for a wedding photographer!

✅ Mobile Design

Research shows that 60%+ of website traffic comes from mobile devices. This means that over half of your website visitors are most likely browsing your website using their phones. Photographer websites should be optimized for mobile so that your website visitors have a smooth experience as they read more about your services, check out your portfolio site, and more.

Most website builders automatically optimize your website’s desktop version for mobile. However, mobile versions often lack functionality and end up looking awkward. As a result, there’s a higher chance that your website visitors will bounce. No one likes navigating a confusing website!

Showit solves this problem with a completely new approach. Instead of automatically optimizing your website for mobile, it has editing tools you can use to create a separate mobile version of your website for your photography business. 

When you create your website on Showit, you can create a desktop version and a mobile version and optimize both to fit the right screen size. You can even create special elements for your website’s mobile version that don’t exist on the desktop! This is one of my favorite Showit features 🤩

✅ WordPress Integration for SEO

SEO, or search engine optimization, helps people find your website when they search for related terms on Google. For example, imagine you’re a wedding photographer in New York City. Someone may search for “wedding photographers in New York City,” and your website would come up!

Showit is one of the best website builders for SEO. Its intuitive interface makes it incredibly easy to optimize technical SEO elements, such as your page titles and meta descriptions. 

But what’s even more important is that Showit has a blogging integration with WordPress. WordPress is arguably the most powerful platform for SEO, and Showit allows you to publish your blog posts through WordPress, which can help boost your rankings.

✅ Amazing Customer Support

You’re inevitably going to have questions about how to use your website or tweak your design. Maybe you want to add a new package to your services page or update your portfolio. 

Whatever the case is, the Showit team is incredibly easy to reach with any questions you may have. They’re warm, friendly, and capable. This makes updating your photography website a breeze!

❌ Limited E-Commerce Opportunities

Despite all its strengths, Showit may not be the best platform for you if you want a website builder with robust e-commerce features. While it’s possible to sell digital products using Showit, its e-commerce capabilities and marketing tools are not as extensive as those you can find on other website builders. If you have a big online store, you may want to consider another platform.

Showit Pricing

You can get a Showit subscription for as low as $19/month when billed annually. 

Showit has three pricing plans available: Showit, Showit & Basic Starter Blog, and Showit & Advanced Blog. If you don’t want a blog, then you can choose the basic Showit subscription. If you’re planning on blogging, you’ll need the Basic Starter Blog plan. If you already have an existing blog and want to migrate it from WordPress or Squarespace, get the Advanced Blog plan.

If you’re ready to get started with Showit, use my referral link to get your first month free! 

2. WordPress

Released in 2003, WordPress is one of the oldest website builders out there. It continues to be a popular choice for many photographers because of its flexibility, extensive features, and SEO tools.

✅ Photography Site Themes Available

WordPress has many photography templates available that specifically cater to the needs and aesthetic preferences of photographers. You can choose from different styles and customize your template to express your unique personality.

✅ SEO-Friendly

WordPress is one of the best website builders for SEO. There are many SEO plugins and tools to help you optimize your website content so that it ranks higher in search engines. That said, you won’t get strong SEO just by hosting your website on WordPress. Even though WordPress gives you a competitive edge, there’s a lot more that goes into increasing your search engine rankings.

✅ Affordable Website Builder

WordPress is the most affordable website builder for photographers on this list. You can get started with a free plan, but keep in mind that it’s quite limiting. The paid plans start as low as $4/month when billed annually and include a free domain name.

❌ Hard to Use

WordPress is not as intuitive as other website builders for photographers on this list and you may sometimes even need some technical or coding experience. If you want to design on WordPress, you’re going to have to learn about themes, plugins, and widgets, which can be a bit of a learning curve. If you want to be able to update your website with just a few clicks, WordPress is not the best website builder for you!

❌ Outdated Design

Many WordPress websites often look, for the lack of a better word, dated. WordPress doesn’t allow for as much creativity as a platform like Showit does, so you’re going to be more limited with your aesthetic choices.

3. Squarespace

One of the most popular website builders for photographers, Squarespace has an intuitive editor, attractive templates, and custom domain hosting. It’s a beautiful platform that many photographers love!

✅ Beautiful Design

You can easily create a stunning website on Squarespace. From sleek and modern designs to elegant and artistic layouts, you’ll have many templates to choose from. Many of them are tailored specifically to photographers. Squarespace websites look modern and aesthetic. They’re perfect for showcasing your photography portfolio!

✅ Easy to Use

With its intuitive drag-and-drop interface and seamless editing tools, Squarespace stands out for its ease of use. You don’t need any coding knowledge or design background and can easily customize layouts, fonts, colors, and images to fit your brand. It’s easy to build and update your website for years to come!

✅ Free Custom Domain

When you create a website with Squarespace, you can claim a free custom domain. Squarespace makes it easy to register your domain directly through its interface without any additional cost! Many of my Showit clients still keep their Squarespace domain when they switch from Squarespace to Showit.

❌ Limited Creativity

Despite its beautiful templates and customizable design elements, Squarespace’s templates have a predetermined grid structure that can often feel limited to photographers. The drag-and-drop interface allows for easy customization, but it can be hard to create a truly unique website that visually stands out.

❌ Limited SEO

Squarespace provides some basic SEO tools to help improve your website visibility, but it’s not the best platform for search engine optimization, especially when compared with more open-source platforms like WordPress and Showit.

Squarespace Pricing

When paid annually, the lowest Squarespace plan starts at $16/month. The Personal Plan will likely be enough for most photographers, but some may need to invest in the $23/month Business Plan. Most photographers won’t need to get the Commerce Basic ($27/month) or Commerce Advanced ($49/month) plans.

4. SmugMug

SmugMug is a comprehensive website builder designed specifically for photographers. Unlike general-purpose website builders, SmugMug focuses exclusively on serving the photography community and making it easy for you to book clients and share photos.

✅ Simple Drag-and-Drop Design

SmugMug has photography website templates that you can customize without any coding knowledge or technical skills. These templates are specifically designed for photographers, so their layouts make sense for the nature of your business and make it easy to showcase your work.

✅ Unlimited Photo Storage

SmugMug offers unlimited storage so you can upload and display your entire portfolio, even if it’s thousands of high-resolution images, without compromising on image quality or quantity. You can also create password-protected client galleries to share photos.

✅ Integrated Sales Features

SmugMug has built-in eCommerce functionality so you can sell prints, digital downloads, and other photo products on your website. You can use SmugMug’s secure payment processing, but keep in mind that they charge transaction fees.

❌ Limited Template Selection

It’s great that SmugMug offers website templates tailored to photographers, but they are quite limited compared to other website builders. It can be hard to make your SmugMug website stand out because the template layouts are quite generic.

❌ Transaction Fees

SmugMug offers an integrated solution for photographers to sell your prints, digital downloads, and photos directly from your website, but you’ll have to pay transaction fees. It’s expected for an e-commerce platform to charge transaction fees, but it’s something that photographers considering SmugMug should know.

SmugMug Pricing

SmugMug has three different pricing plans that photographers can choose from: Power, Pro, and Venture. The Power Plan costs $15/month and gives you easy access to share galleries. The Pro Plan costs $45/month and comes with some advanced features, such as custom pricelists for photos and galleries. Venture is the most expensive plan starting at $500/month and it gives you access to a hands-on account representative for any and all SmugMug needs.

5. Wix

Last but not least, Wix comes with an extensive library of customizable templates and an intuitive drag-and-drop editor. It’s a popular website builder for photographers who want their website to have e-commerce features.

✅ User-Friendly Interface

Wix is a good website builder because it makes the process of building a website very easy! You don’t need to know any code or have any design skills. It’s easy to adjust layouts and customize your website with your visuals, copy, and branding.

✅ E-Commerce Capabilities

Out of all website builders for photographers on this list, Wix has the most robust e-commerce capabilities. You can create product listings, set pricing & shipping options, and accept secure payments from customers worldwide. If you’re a photographer who has an online store, hosting your website on Wix could be a good idea for you!

❌ Outdated Design

Creating a website on Wix is easy, but many websites end up having outdated aesthetics. As a photographer, it’s extremely important to showcase your brand in the best light, and a platform like Showit is more visually appealing.

❌ SEO Limitations

Just like Squarespace, Wix is not the best platform for SEO. While it’s certainly possible to rank for keywords with a Wix website, it’s much easier to do with WordPress or Showit!

Final Thoughts: Showit Is the Best Website Builder for Photographers

In my opinion, Showit is the best website builder for photographers because it comes with unmatched creative freedom as well as strong SEO capabilities. You can create a beautiful website with unique layouts and optimize it for mobile by creating a separate mobile version, which is a huge advantage. Plus, Showit integrates with WordPress for blogging, which makes it easier to start ranking on Google. In my 10+ years as a brand & website designer, I haven’t found a better website builder than Showit!If you’re ready to build your website on Showit, learn about my website design services 😊