Overview
Pic-Time, headquartered in Israel, treats the gallery as the beginning of a sales conversation. Automated email campaigns fire after delivery, the store sits inside the gallery, and the design work goes into making clients want prints and albums. For photographers whose income depends on that follow-up, it is a genuinely well-built machine.
Picstack launched from Germany in 2024 with the opposite instinct. The gallery is the deliverable, not a funnel. There is no store, no campaign builder, and nothing in the client's view trying to sell them anything. What it adds instead is real-time tracking of what clients actually do, and hosting that never leaves Europe.
Pricing comparison
Picstack lists in euros and Pic-Time in US dollars, so each column is the vendor's own published price rather than a conversion. Pic-Time also meters photo and video storage separately, which matters if you deliver video.
| Plan | Photo storage | Billed annually | Billed monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Picstack Free | 1 GB | Free | Free |
| Picstack Hobby | 5 GB | 5 EUR/mo | 6 EUR/mo |
| Picstack Professional | 250 GB | 10 EUR/mo | 12 EUR/mo |
| Pic-Time Free | 10 GB, then 3 GB | Free | Free |
| Pic-Time Beginner | 20 GB | 7 USD/mo | 8 USD/mo |
| Pic-Time Professional | 100 GB | 21 USD/mo | 25 USD/mo |
| Pic-Time Advanced | Unlimited | 42 USD/mo | 50 USD/mo |
The middle of the table is where the difference bites. Picstack Professional carries 250 GB for 10 EUR a month; Pic-Time Professional carries 100 GB for 21 USD a month. That is roughly twice the price for well under half the storage. Pic-Time's Advanced plan removes the ceiling entirely at 42 USD a month, which Picstack has no answer to if your archive genuinely runs that large.
Two things the table cannot show. Pic-Time's free tier starts at 10 GB and drops to 3 GB after the first few months, so treat it as a long trial rather than a permanent home. And Pic-Time bundles video storage on every tier, from 1 GB on Free up to 60 GB on Advanced, which is a real advantage if you deliver film alongside stills.
On print commission, Pic-Time waives its cut on payments you collect yourself on the Professional and Advanced plans; where Pic-Time collects the payment, the commission falls as you move up the tiers and applies only to your markup. Picstack has no store, so the question does not arise.
Data privacy and GDPR
Picstack is based in Germany and stores all data on European servers. Compliance follows from where the files sit rather than from a contract describing how they travel.
Pic-Time is headquartered in Israel and runs servers across the EU, the US, and Australia. It offers a Data Processing Agreement and Standard Contractual Clauses, which is the normal and lawful route, but it does not guarantee that your clients' photos stay inside the EU. If nobody ever asks, this changes nothing. If a corporate client, a venue, or a careful couple does ask, it is the difference between a clear answer and a qualified one.
Gallery features
Custom branding, password protection, and client downloads are common ground.
Picstack's additions serve delivery: subgalleries that split a wedding into ceremony, reception, and portraits behind a single link, and real-time activity tracking that reports opens, views, and downloads as they happen. Those notifications ship on every plan, including the free one.
Pic-Time's additions serve sales and craft. Automated email campaigns chase print orders after delivery without you touching them. Album proofing lets clients comment page by page and request changes, which is the standout feature if album design is part of your service. Slideshows, a blog, and AI image filters round it out.
What Pic-Time offers that Picstack doesn't
- Integrated print store with worldwide lab fulfillment
- Automated email marketing campaigns triggered after delivery
- Album proofing with page-by-page client comments
- Built-in slideshows and a blog
- Dedicated video storage on every plan, up to 60 GB
- AI image filters and watermark protection
- Multi-brand support as a paid add-on
- Unlimited photo storage on the Advanced plan
What Picstack offers that Pic-Time doesn't
- European-only hosting, so GDPR compliance rests on data residency rather than contract clauses
- Real-time activity tracking and notifications on every plan, including the free one
- 250 GB for roughly half of what Pic-Time charges for 100 GB
- A free plan that does not shrink after a few months
- A client-facing gallery with nothing trying to make a sale
Who should choose Picstack
Choose Picstack if you are paid for the shoot and not for what gets sold afterwards. Photographers who bill a flat fee and deliver digital files get nothing from a store, a campaign builder, or an album proofing flow, and Pic-Time's pricing assumes you are using all three. The EU hosting is the second argument, and for photographers with European clients it is frequently the deciding one.
Who should choose Pic-Time
Choose Pic-Time if print and album sales are a real line in your revenue. Automated campaigns that sell without your involvement can easily cover the price difference in a single wedding season, and no amount of cheaper storage substitutes for that. It is also the right call if you deliver video, need album proofing, or want storage without a ceiling.