As a non-professional user, why would one pay for smugmug instead of use a free site?

Question

As a non-professional user why would one sign up for a SmugMug account? I can share my photos and videos to friends and family a lot of places for free and we can purchase prints there as well. This is a general question, I don't need a feature breakdown vs specific sites.

Answer 1

I know of no free site that gives you even a couple of these:

1. Unlimited storage, unlimited # photos, unlimited # galleries
2. No ads, no ads, no ads
3. Ability to upload and share full resolution originals
4. Customize your site to your own look and feel
5. Ability to use your own custom domain
6. 24x7 customer service to answer your questions
7. Ability to freely share your images in any way you want (direct linking into blogs, free sharing or download of originals, etc...)
8. Solid company financial performance that means the company can be around for a very long time (many formerly free sites are no longer still hosting photos for free)
9. Viewers don't have to register to see your images
10. Rich set of security controls so you can control who sees your images (if you want)
11. Large display sizes (the x3 display size is up to 1200x1600)

Answer 2

The customization of your site on SmugMug is limited only by your imagination and energy. Smugmug is primarily a photo hosting site, not a social network like many. You get way more than you'd expect for the modest annual fee.

Answer 3

Because of the "they will be around a long time" and the "they have high redundancy" and "they use Amazon storage" - I am using this as my Online Backup for all my personal photos. Very inexpensive way to archive all my pictures, much easier than DVD's or hard drives. And accessible from anywhere.

If anyone thinks this is a bad idea, i'd like to hear differing points of view...

Answer 4

I decided to use Smugmug before I even considered becoming professional, and I'm still not a professional photographer (though I am considering it). Let me try to list the most important reasons to me.

1. various privacy levels so I can share some pictures publicly and keep others private for just my family
2. the best looking site, even if you don't customize it (including NO ADS) and the ability to fully customize as much as you want (and they offer help for that customization!)
3. family business with EXCELLENT prompt friendly funny customer service
4. full resolution back up of my photos (and other files too with SmugVault)

I tried a lot of photosites over a few years and finally decided Smugmug is the best. I'm in my fourth year and imagine I'll stay here for a long time, maybe forever. :)

Answer 5

I'm new but I had a previous 'trial' account and I liked it. Very clean interface and the SmugMug folks seem to have the better mousetrap. It’s very professional and void of the usual trashy gimmicks.

As a photographer I’m remarkably unremarkable, although I still enjoy the craft. In any event I’ll likely purchase a pro account along with a custom template.

Dan