Xposure or picdrop.
picdrop is a German review and delivery tool built for professional workflows: agencies, picture editors and commercial shoots where somebody has to approve frames before anything is published. It is unusually good at that job and deliberately narrow, which makes this an easier comparison than most.
Xposure
Better if you sell to consumers and want a store, a portfolio and bookings.
- Sell downloads and prints from the gallery
- Portfolio and delivery on one account
- Booking, contract and deposit in one flow
picdrop
Better if an art director approves your frames and you never sell a photo.
- Yes, no and maybe flags on each frame
- Drawing and notes directly on an image
- Team review from a shared inbox
What does each plan cost per month?
Monthly billing, euros for both, by how much you store. Shorter is cheaper.
Studio includes team logins. Source: picdrop.com/web/pricing.
How do Xposure and picdrop compare, feature by feature?
| Xposure | picdrop | |
|---|---|---|
| Galleries | ||
| Client galleries with PIN protection | ||
| Photo proofing & favourites | ||
| Yes / no / maybe flags on a framepicdrop uses colour flags; we have a single favourite plus notes. | No | |
| Drawing and annotation on an image | No | |
| Comments on individual photos | ||
| Separate guest PIN for viewersFamily can browse and buy without touching the selection. | No | |
| Video hosting and conversionOurs is metered in minutes: 60 kept on Pro, 300 on Studio, with add-ons for more. Starter links films from YouTube or Vimeo. | Pro and Studio | |
| EXIF-aware photo presentation | No | |
| Selling | ||
| Sell digital downloadspicdrop states selling images "is not on our agenda". | No | |
| Bookings | ||
| Online session booking with deposits | No | |
| Contracts & e-signatures | No | |
| Website | ||
| Custom domainpicdrop forwards your domain to picdrop rather than serving from it. | Every paid plan | Forwarder only |
| Public portfolio websitepicdrop says it does not offer such a service. | No | |
| Plans | ||
| Free planOurs is a portfolio plan: client galleries start at $9/mo. | Portfolio and 5 GB, no client galleries | 1 GB, up to 3 galleries |
| Entry paid planpicdrop lists net prices, so VAT is added on top. | $9/mo (Starter) | €14.99/mo (Pro) |
| Team members with permissionsXposure gives each person their own login with a role: admin, editor, photographer or viewer. Seats are $14 a month and the owner needs none. | Studio | Advanced & up |
picdrop pricing and plan details from their own pricing page. Competitor pricing changes, so treat this as a snapshot rather than a quote.
The question is who opens the link
Almost everything here follows from one thing: picdrop is built for a client who is approving work, and Xposure is built for a client who has received it. An art director marking forty frames as yes, no and maybe needs a different surface to a couple choosing twenty photographs for an album, and both tools are honest about which one they are.
That is why picdrop has drawing tools and shared inboxes, and why it has no store, no booking and no portfolio. It is a stage in a commercial workflow rather than the whole relationship with a paying client.
No store is a decision, not a gap
picdrop is unusually direct about this. Its FAQ says selling images and ordering prints "is a very large, complex area" and "is not on our agenda", and it says the same about portfolio websites. That is worth respecting rather than treating as a missing feature.
It does mean the arithmetic is simple. If prints, albums or paid digital downloads are part of what you earn, picdrop cannot carry that revenue and you will be running a second platform beside it. If you deliver commercial work for a flat fee and never sell a print, that objection disappears entirely and picdrop looks very strong.
What the prices do and do not tell you
picdrop starts at €14.99 a month for Pro with 500 GB, which is a lot of storage for the money, and rises steeply to €39.99 for Advanced and €99.99 for Business as you add team seats rather than capacity you would use alone. The tiers are shaped for studios and agencies, not sole traders.
Two things the pricing page does not make obvious. Every figure is net, so VAT is added on top, which is easy to miss if you are comparing against a platform that quotes gross. And it advertises two months free on annual billing without ever showing the annual figure, so you cannot check the yearly cost before you sign up.
picdrop against the others.
Moving galleries from another platform? Read how switching works, one gallery at a time.
Try it on your next client.
Fourteen days of Pro, no card. Move the rest once you have seen a gallery delivered.