Billed in US dollars
Lensdrop charges in USD outside India: Small 5GB for $2.99, Standard 15GB for $6.99, Large 30GB for $12.99, XL 50GB for $19.99, each bought once. There is no AED price, so your bank converts and may add a foreign transaction fee. At these amounts it is small, but it is real and you should expect it.
There is no subscription and no minimum spend. One free gallery at 5GB comes with the account, and the payment provider is the merchant of record, so the invoice and any tax treatment sit with them rather than with you.
Why per gallery fits event work
A UAE wedding is frequently several deliveries: the mehndi, the nikah, the reception, sometimes a separate ladies' gallery, often on different nights. Each of those is a natural gallery with its own guest list, and each carries its own link and PIN. On a monthly plan they are one undifferentiated bill. On per gallery pricing you buy the ones you actually deliver, and a short ceremony costs $2.99.
The separate PIN matters more here than in most markets. Where a client asks that one gallery reaches only the family and another reaches everyone, separate galleries with separate PINs is the mechanism, not a settings page.
Expo, conference and corporate work has the seasonal shape a subscription punishes: heavy through the season, quiet through the summer. Per gallery pricing charges nothing in the quiet months.
Guests abroad, opening on phones
- One link and a PIN. No app, no account, no email required from the guest.
- Photos served from a global edge network, so relatives in London, Kochi or Manila load them from somewhere near them.
- Full resolution downloads, single photos or the whole gallery as a zip.
- A mobile first viewer, because that is where these links actually get opened.
Lensdrop never sells to your clients and takes 0% of anything you sell elsewhere. There is no store, so there is nothing to take a commission from.
Questions UAE photographers ask
Can I pay in AED, or with a local method?
Not today. Payment is by card, plus Apple Pay and Google Pay where your browser offers them. The INR rail and UPI exist only for India.
Can I keep some galleries private to close family?
Yes, and the clean way is one gallery per audience, each with its own PIN. Watermarked previews and client downloads are separate switches, so a gallery can be viewable without being downloadable.
Will it cope with a three night wedding?
Yes. Uploads are resumable and go straight from your browser to storage, and galleries in the thousands stay fast to browse. If you shoot tethered or want photos going out during the event itself, there is a live mode that publishes as you shoot.
When a subscription is the better buy
If you deliver more than roughly three galleries a week year round, an unlimited monthly plan will cost less than paying per gallery, and that is the honest answer. Per gallery pricing suits seasonal and mid-volume work, which covers most wedding, event and portrait photographers here. The pricing page has the ladder, and the free gallery is enough to deliver a real job first.