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Photobucket Image Hosting Alternatives


Unlimited Photo Storage

A few weeks ago, we posted that Photobucket is no longer allowing users to do 3rd party hosting and hotlinking unless the users purchased an outrageous $399.99/year package or $39.99/month — essentially holding everyones images as "ransom". This has caused an uproar on the internet because images will not be shown on forums and sites unless people paid the "ransom".

Photographers and just users in general have been looking for alternatives to Photobucket. Below, we'll list out a few options and routes you can go with.
  1. SmugMug (PAID) - We have an advertising relationship with SmugMug
    SmugMug is polished, clean, professional and has a modern looking interface. It is filled with photo uploading/sharing features and even supports video hosting. Tons of customization as well as organization options are equally present but they don’t come free.

    SmugMug requires you to purchase one of their monthly or yearly plans to be able to use their services.

    • Basic: $47.88/year ($3.99/month) or $5.99/month
    • Power: $71.88/month ($5.99/month) or $8.99/month
    • Portfolio: $150/month ($12.50/month) or $20/month
    • Business: $300/month ($25/month) or $35/month
  2. Flickr (FREE/PAID)
    To upload an image or a video, you must have an account. It offers three types of account: Free, Flickrpro and Flickrpro+. If you have a free-type account, you are able to get 1TB cloud storage for free, but each photo you upload is limited to 200 MB and each video up to 1GB and no longer than 3 minutes. The Flickrpro and Flickrpro+ account frees you from any ads. With Flickrpro+, instead of paying monthly you save some money by paying for the year upfront.

    • Flickrpro: $5.99/month
    • Flickrpro+: $49.99/year
  3. ImageShack (FREE)
    ImageShack is a platform dedicated for image hosting and sharing. There is a 30 day free trial and after that, you have to pay $2/month to continue using it. You can use it to upload your photos fast and effectively, send it to social networking sites, create direct links to embed images and send pictures via email. But just like Photobucket, it is filled with advertisements and the number of images you can upload per day is limited.
  4. Imgur (FREE)
    Whether you’ve logged in or not, you can always upload pictures as you like. It offers four ways to upload pictures: browse you computer, enter image URLs, drag and drop and paste from your clipboard. Once a picture is uploaded, you will get multiple links to it, which enable you to insert the picture to any forums and blogs.
  5. TinyPic (FREE)
    TinyPic is owned by Photobucket, but you will find it much better to use. You don’t need to have an account to access its uploading function. It provides three file type options for you: Image, Video and Url. But you are only allowed to upload one image or video at a time or in a batch of up to five (5). Image shall not be larger than 1600 pixels, and video not be longer than 15 minutes. Once uploaded, the link to the image will have its own unique link. So the filename is not preserved.
  6. UltraIMG (FREE)
    UltraIMG is a free image hosting platform. UltraIMG supports almost all image formats that are currently operation in the photography industry including JPG, BMP, GIF, PNG and much more. However, UltraIMG only supports of the uploading image of up to 2 MB only.
  7. Web hosting (PAID)
    If you are knowledgeable or prefer more freedom and customizability, web hosting (ie. GoDaddy, 1&1, etc.) is an option. Price depends on the package that you choose. You will also need to purchase a domain (ie. .com, .photography). Both web hosting and domain names are purchased per year. So purchasing both, it will more than likely cost more than all the other options listed but you have the ability to create your own website, sub-domains, your email address and not have to worry about transferring images if the free site stops 3rd party hosting or jacks up the price.
If there are any sites or services that you think can help other photographers, feel free to contact us or leave a comment.


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