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Image hosting sites offer secure storage, convenient image management, and reliable access for the audience.
you’re free to trust Geekflare
Imagine the satisfaction of finding just what you needed.
It has put no restrictions on how long the images remain available, even with the free tier.
Users can configure the Imgbb plugin on their website, allowing visitors to directly upload images.
Besides, Imgbb also features an API for further integration into existing systems.
Imgbb Pros
Fantastic free tier.
Advanced use cases with Plugin and API access.
Unlimited space with paid plans.
Imgbb Cons
Lacks cross-platform presence.
All these plans come with no ads, unlimited storage space, direct linking, API access, etc.
SmugMug
Best for Professional Photographers
SmugMug is a premium picture hosting service best suited for professional photographers.
One can also set custom privacy controls for a single image or folder.
SmugMug is a great fit for someone building an online portfolio.
Besides, photographers can link their SmugMug websites to a custom domain for a lasting impact.
The best part is SmugMugs built-in sales tools that enable creatives to monetize their artwork.
SmugMug Pros
RAW file storage add-on.
14-day no credit card trial.
Inbuilt sales and payment.
Unlimited storage with all plans.
SmugMug Cons
Some G2 users complain about the image search.
This works by uploading the pics (and videos) with Photobucket apps (iOS and Android).
Photobuckets strength is straightforward embed links, which auto-optimize the image for the viewers unit.
In addition, Photobucket guarantees no-compression storage to maintain the image and video quality.
Photobucket Pros
Great for sharing and embedding.
Photobucket Cons
G2 users dislike its unintuitive interface.
Absence of no-credit-card trial.
Photobucket Pricing
Photobucket offers a 7-day free trial on its group tier.
It also has a handy file manager to back up, organize, and find important documents.
Internext allows encrypted and password-protected file sharing.
Internext Pros
Encrypted storage and sharing.
Internext Cons
No image-specific features, such as no-compression, etc.
G2 users complain of slow upload/download speeds.
Internxt Pricing
Its unfortunate that Internxt reduced its free tier from 10GB to 1GB.
Imgur
Best for Social Media and Meme Sharing
Imgur is a free image hosting and sharing platform.
Its best known among individuals using it for temporary image hosting for social shares.
The intended Imgur use case is uploading entertaining images.
This meme-sharing platform puts a 50-image upload limit per IP address.
After uploading, one can get the sharing link and BBCode for embedding elsewhere.
One can use Imgur without creating an account.
imgur Pros
Good for casual hosting and shares.
Imgur Cons
Little relevance for professional use cases.
Lacks advanced features for privacy, image quality, etc.
The free plan also restricts someone to upload only safe content and a 50-image quota for non-public photos.
The paid plans also guarantee an ad-free experience for the user and their visitors.
Flickr analytics lets one monitor the visitors and track the most popular and trending photos.
Users can share Flickr photos on social media, via direct links, or on public forums supporting BBCode.
The good thing about shares is the privacy controls a user can set per photo.
Flickr Pros
Full-resolution photo storage.
Unlimited storage for paid users.
Can be used to store all types of images.
Good privacy options for every photo.
Flickr Cons
G2 users report an unintuitive interface.
Users also report excessive advertising in the free version.
Flickr Pricing
Flickr has a single paid subscription priced at $9.49/month.
One can start uploading images without any account.
However, registering with Postimage allows users to access past activity and links for reuse.
The Postimage interface allows setting the size and expiration upfront.
Every upload gets sharable links, including HTML and BBCode.
Postimage uploads arent public if not shared.
But it does not feature additional privacy controls, such as password protected images.
Free users are restricted to a 32 MB upload limit per image and 1000 images per batch.
Plus, the free version is ad-supported and limits the hotlinks to 1280px.
Besides, paid users can upload several batches at once.
It has a Windows app, web interface, and plugins for integrating with external systems.
Postimage Pros
Generous free tier.
Supports batch upload with URLs.
Postimage Cons
Limited privacy controls.
Google Photos has a size limit of 200 MB for images and 10 GB for videos.
Besides auto backup, it also supports manual upload, setting up daily upload limits, and more.
People using Google Photos benefit from the ecosystem of Google apps, enhancing its usability many folds.
Subsequently, the paid plans kick in, starting from as low as $1.99/month.
Anyone can use Google Photos with a Google Account via its apps for Windows, iOS, and Android.
Google Photos Pros
Great for personal use.
API access for developers.
Google Photos Cons
Lacks embedding capabilities on 3rd-party platforms.
No privacy controls for shared images.
Can delete photos due to inactivity.
One can use ImageShack to upload images up to 25 MB via its web interface.
Users can benefit from private sharing, downloading prevention, and watermarking sensitive images.
One can change the default privacy parameters or configure each upload separately.
ImageShacks images can be shared via emails, social media, or direct links.
It also features embeddable links for forums and websites.
All paid users get unlimited storage, image stats, and direct links.
One can still reach the ImageShack account after the trial expirationwithout any upload or sharing ability, however.
ImageShack Pros
Flexible privacy configurations.
ImageShack Cons
Poor documentation.
Trustpilot users report poor customer support.
Pasteboard
Best for Anonymous Sharing
Pasteboard is as simple as it can get with image sharing.
One doesnt need an account to get started with Pasteboard.
you’re able to directly upload an image or use the webcam for an instant capture.
It allows cropping before uploading, in addition to giving a title and description each time.
Lacks features, such as embedding and multiple uploads.
Dropbox users take advantage of its cross-platform presence and features like auto-backup and industry-leading security best practices.
Though its not specifically made for images, Dropbox has some useful features regardless.
All Dropbox files are secured with AES-256-bit encryption at rest and SSL/TLS encryption in transit.
In case of theft, Dropbox also supports remote wipe to preserve sensitive information.
Overall, Dropbox does fine for image hosting, but makes much more sense as a complete package.
Dropbox Pros
Secure sharing.
Image editing and search.
Dropbox Cons
Limited storage.
Lacks simplified image embedding.
The royalties from 500px range from up to 60% to 100%, based on subscription.
Their proprietary algorithm, Pulse, pushes new photos in front of the community to get instant feedback.
Besides, the analytics presents a sneak peek into how your photos perform vis-a-vis other members.
A look at its features indicates 500px isnt meant for plain, simple image hosting and sharing.
Instead, its for professionals to present their portfolio, internet, and build a career in photography.
500px Pros
Unlimited uploads.
Image monetization with royalties.
500px Cons
Limited sharing capabilities.
500px Pricing
The free 500px plan has limited features, such as 21 uploads a week.
Free users get 5 GB free storage (photos+videos), whereas its prime members enjoy unlimited photo storage.
It has an auto-save function to automatically back up every photo in the cloud.
Alternatively, users can selectively backup images.
The storage remains encrypted and visible only to the user and the ones having the password shared with.
The sharing and embedding options are limited, however.
Amazon Photos Pros
Stores full-resolution images.
Unlimited storage with paid plans.
Amazon Photos Cons
Limited to personal use, with restrictions on embedding and commercial use.
Reddit users complain about clumsy user interface.
The iCloud free plan comes with 5 GB of cloud storage.
However, these features have little relevance for image sharing or storage.
iCloud Pros
Secure cloud storage with a free tier.
Multiple privacy-centric features for the paid users.
iCloud Cons
Limited image-centric functionality.
For standalone storage or going beyond 2TB, check out the following iCloud tiers.
What is Image Hosting?
Image hosting, in literal terms, is taking a backup of local files on the cloud.
Some additional features may include sharing, embedding (on forums, personal websites, etc.
), viewer analytics, monetization, global catalog, etc.
How does Image Hosting Work?
Image hosting works by letting the user upload an image (or a batch) to a server.
Generally, image hosting services arent limited to hosting and sharing.
Image hosting vs. Photo-sharing?
Image hosting is primarily aimed at storing images in the cloud for personal or business purposes.
It may offer sharing and other features for covering more use cases, but that isnt necessary.
How is Image Hosting different from Traditional Hosting?
What some of us miss, however, is to optimize the image for better compatibility and visibility.
Here are 4 tips you might utilize, which will reduce the uploading times and increase the reach.
I personally use Google Photos and iCloud, but many professional photographers would be well off with SmugMug.
Likewise, Imgur is perfect for casual shares, while DropBox is great for secure storage and sharing.
Some of the best platforms utilize AES-bit encryption (at rest) and SSL/TLS encryption (in transit).
