What Picdrop costs in 2026
Picdrop restructured its plans on May 12, 2026. The old ladder was Lite at 9.99 euros a month with 10GB and 20 galleries, Pro at 14.99 euros, and Business at 89.99 euros. Lite was retired and folded into Pro, and an Advanced tier was added between Pro and Business. The current ladder, as of September 2026, is a Free plan with 1GB and 3 galleries, Pro at 17.99 euros a month or 14.99 euros a month billed annually with 500GB, Advanced at 47.99 euros or 39.99 euros annually with 1TB and team seats, and Business at 119.99 euros or 99.99 euros annually with 3TB. All prices are net, so VAT is added on top. In US dollars, Pro is $18.99 monthly or $15.99 annually.
Two things are worth knowing before you compare. The 14-day trial runs on Advanced features with no card required, and when it ends the account drops to Free rather than charging you. And Free is tight: 1GB is roughly one small shoot, and anything over the 3-gallery limit becomes inaccessible to clients until you upgrade. Verify the numbers on picdrop.com before deciding, since the page changed once this year already.
Why the price change stings
Lite was the plan most solo photographers were actually on. It was cheap, and 10GB was enough if you cleared old galleries as you went. Moving those users to Pro nearly doubles the bill for the same workflow, and the 500GB that comes with Pro is not something a wedding or portrait photographer asked for. The extra storage is the reason for the price, and it is also the thing you do not need.
The deeper issue is the shape of the bill. A monthly plan charges for time. Photography revenue arrives per shoot, bunched into a busy season. On Pro at 14.99 euros billed annually you pay about 180 euros a year plus VAT. That is fine if you deliver forty galleries. It is a poor deal if you deliver twelve, because you paid for the same shelf in the months it sat empty.
Lensdrop bills the other way round: one payment per gallery, sized to the shoot. Small 5GB for $2.99, Standard 15GB for $6.99, Large 30GB for $12.99, XL 50GB for $19.99. Twelve Standard galleries is $83.88 for the year, and a quiet month costs nothing. One free gallery at 5GB comes with the account, which is five times what Picdrop's free plan holds. Lensdrop bills in US dollars, so European photographers pay the USD price on their card.
Picdrop vs Lensdrop side by side
| Picdrop | Lensdrop | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Monthly subscription, 17.99 to 119.99 euros net as of September 2026 | One time per gallery, $2.99 to $19.99 by storage size |
| Free tier | 1GB, 3 galleries | 1 gallery at 5GB |
| Cheapest paid step | Pro at 14.99 euros a month on an annual plan, about 180 euros a year | One Small gallery at $2.99 |
| What you buy | 500GB of storage whether you fill it or not | Storage for one specific shoot |
| Idle cost | Full subscription price | Zero. No gallery, no charge |
| Proofing | Comments, color markers, votes, scribbles, Lightroom and Capture One export | Watermarked previews and a downloads switch. No markup tools |
| Camera to gallery | Live Push on Pro and above | FTP upload straight from the camera on every gallery |
| Delivery status | Real-time notifications on client activity | Activity tab per gallery: people, downloads, a world map, and a first-open notification |
| Client experience | Branded gallery, presentation mode, client uploads | One PIN-protected link, no client signup |
| Hosting | Germany, GDPR compliant | Cloudflare R2 served from Cloudflare's edge, no client accounts holding personal data |
| RAW and video | Supported, with video conversion hours per plan | Photos only |
Competitor pricing summarized from Picdrop's public pricing page as of September 2026 and simplified for comparison. Verify on the linked page before deciding.
Picdrop vs WeTransfer
This is the comparison most people start with, because WeTransfer is where they are coming from. WeTransfer moves files. It does not preview them well, it does not let a client pick favorites, the free tier expires links in days, and there is no way to know whether the client opened anything. Picdrop fixes all of that, which is why photographers upgrade to it.
The catch is that you pay for the fix every month. If what you needed from Picdrop was a gallery that looks professional, protects the files, and tells you when the client has seen it, a pay-per-gallery tool gets you there without the subscription. If what you needed was the proofing round with markers and comments, Picdrop earns its price. We cover the WeTransfer side in more detail in WeTransfer and Google Drive for client photos.
When Picdrop is still the right choice
If your work involves a client sitting in on the edit, Picdrop is hard to replace. Collaboration mode with color markers, scribbles, and comments is a real working tool for commercial, food, and advertising photographers who need an art director's feedback on 400 frames by tomorrow. Live Push during a tethered shoot, RAW support, and export of selections straight into Lightroom or Capture One all belong to that same workflow. Teams also do well on Advanced, where four seats and a terabyte at 39.99 euros a month is reasonable per person.
German hosting matters to some clients too. If a contract requires data to stay in the EU, that is a hard requirement and Picdrop meets it cleanly.
Lensdrop does not compete on any of that. It has no markup tools, no video, no team seats. It uploads a finished shoot, protects it with a PIN, shows watermarked previews if you want them, and hands over clean originals in bulk. If your galleries are the last step of a job rather than the middle of one, that is the whole requirement.
Trying the other model
- Deliver one real shoot on the free tier before changing anything. The free gallery at 5GB is enough for an honest test.
- Count last year's galleries and divide what you paid Picdrop by that number. If it is above $7 a gallery, per-gallery pricing is cheaper for you.
- Keep Picdrop for the jobs that need proofing and move final delivery elsewhere. Nothing requires one tool for both.
- If you are still on the old Lite price, check your billing settings for the date it changes. Picdrop shows the next plan and price there before it applies.
Full tier list on pricing. To see how the whole category prices, read client gallery pricing compared, or the Pixieset comparison if that is the other tool on your shortlist.