SmugMug Pricing 2026

SmugMug has three self-serve plans, Direct, Portfolio and Pro, plus an Enterprise plan with no published price. The plans page shows one number per plan: a monthly figure, billed annually. The price you pay if you want to be billed month to month is not in the page at all. It is loaded by JavaScript from SmugMug’s own plan API after the page opens, which is why so many summaries of SmugMug pricing quote only half of it.

So I did what I do before I recommend any tool to a store owner. I read the SmugMug plans page and the plan data it loads, the terms of use, every one of the 214 articles in the SmugMug help centre, and every feature, selling, storage, perks and referral page linked from the site’s menus. SmugMug publishes no working sitemap (sitemap.xml returns 404), so that crawl is my list of pages. Every figure below is what those pages said on 22 September 2026, in US dollars, before tax.

Now the honest part. I have run high-ticket stores for more than 15 years, selling products in the $1,000 to $5,000 range, and almost every store I build or coach runs on Shopify. SmugMug is not a store platform. It is a photo platform for photographers: unlimited storage, client galleries, a portfolio site and print sales fulfilled by labs. If you want to sell furniture, gym equipment or anything else you dropship, SmugMug is the wrong tool and I will tell you what to use instead.

It does earn a place in a high-ticket business in three situations. You want a safe, full-resolution home for product shoots and lifestyle photography. You hire a product photographer and want a proper gallery to review and download their work. Or your store sells wall art or photography, where SmugMug’s lab-fulfilled print sales are the product. By the end of this you will know what each plan costs on each billing cycle, what SmugMug takes from every sale, what RAW storage adds, and whether you should buy it at all.

SmugMug Pricing at a Glance (2026)

These are the three self-serve plans. The yearly figures are what the plan cards show. The monthly figures are the month-to-month prices from the same plan data, which the page only swaps in when you click the monthly toggle.

Plan	Billed yearly	Yearly total	Billed monthly	Monthly billing over 12 months	Yearly saving
Direct	$20.00 a month	$240	$29.00	$348	$108 (31%)
Portfolio	$23.50 a month	$282	$35.50	$426	$144 (34%)
Pro	$37.00 a month	$444	$52.00	$624	$180 (29%)
Enterprise	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published

The yearly and monthly prices come from the SmugMug plans page and the plan list it loads from api.smugmug.com, which returns six prices: $240, $282 and $444 a year, and $29, $35.50 and $52 a month. The per-month yearly figures on the cards are those annual totals divided by 12. The last two columns are my arithmetic: $29 x 12 = $348, and $348 minus $240 is $108.

The plan data labels every price as tax not included, and it reports a discount of 0% on all six. Enterprise has no price anywhere. Its card reads: “A white-glove, tailor-made plan for serious volume and specialized needs.” The button sends you to a contact form.

Where SmugMug’s Own Pages Disagree

The plans page is clean. Some older pages on the same domain are not, and you should know about them before you rely on anything you read elsewhere.

A 30% off ribbon with no terms

Nine older feature pages, including the unlimited storage, photo backup, image hosting and sell photos online pages, show a ribbon at the top advertising 30% off for a limited time. There is no end date, no code, no condition and no link on the ribbon. The plans page shows no sale, and the plan data reports 0% discount on every plan. I am not promising you 30% off, because I cannot find anywhere SmugMug says what it applies to. If it shows up at checkout for you, good. Plan on the list prices above.

Old plan names that still turn up

SmugMug used to sell plans called Basic and Power. Both are gone from the plans page, and the old URLs for them, along with the old Portfolio and Pro plan URLs, now redirect to /plans. The Refer-a-Friend page still lists Basic and Power, and one help article still mentions Power. If you read a review quoting a Basic or Power price, it is describing a plan you cannot buy.

Referral credits that do not match today’s prices

The SmugMug Refer-a-Friend page says a friend using your referral code gets 20% off their first year, and it lists what the referrer earns: $42 off when a friend buys Direct, $49 for Portfolio and $77 for Pro. Those credits do not line up with current prices. Twenty percent of Direct’s $240 is $48, not $42. Treat the 20% as the offer and the dollar figures as out of date.

What Each Plan Includes

The feature comparison grid at the bottom of the plans page, with a column per plan, is what separates them, not the marketing copy above it.

Direct: $20 a month billed yearly ($29 monthly)

Direct is storage, sharing and delivery. You get unlimited photo storage, unlimited full-resolution JPEG storage, digital delivery, QR codes for quick delivery, client galleries for review or download, custom display sizes and private galleries, automatic upload from SmugMug’s apps, Lightroom sync, uploads from Flickr and Dropbox, and 24/7 live support.

What Direct does not get is selling. The grid gives it no digital download sales, no watermarks, no website templates and no custom domain. Its print lab and cart rows are marked not for profit, which means you can order prints of your own photos but cannot sell them. A SmugMug help article says Direct can still switch site themes and personalise the homepage, so it is not a blank page, just not a storefront.

Portfolio: $23.50 a month billed yearly ($35.50 monthly)

Portfolio adds everything you need to sell. That means print and digital download sales, watermarks and theft protection, website templates, a custom domain, card and PayPal payments, automatic tax collection and receipts, full-service order fulfillment, proof delay and sales statistics. The grid lists no credit card processing fees for either selling plan.

One limit matters if you plan to sell. The help article on pricelists says Portfolio accounts can build many pricelists, but only one can be active at a time, and it applies to every gallery with printing turned on.

Pro: $37 a month billed yearly ($52 monthly)

Pro adds the tools a working studio needs. You get multiple active pricelists, so each gallery or client can be priced differently, plus custom photo packages, a coupon creator and branded packaging with thank you notes. It also adds platform access for an assistant or second shooter, full control over client downloads and client favoriting.

Client favoriting is the feature I would point a store owner to. If you hire a photographer and want to star the frames you want edited, that row is ticked for Pro only.

Enterprise: no published price

Enterprise is aimed at studios, teams and institutions. The contact form behind it calls Enterprise a SmugMug Venture solution. There is nothing to compare on price, so I have left it out of the comparisons below.

The 15% SmugMug Keeps From Every Sale

The plan price is not the whole cost if you sell. SmugMug’s help article on getting paid explains the split in one sentence: “Your profit is calculated as 85% of the difference between the price you set and SmugMug’s default print prices.” Downloads work the same way on the amount you charge above SmugMug’s base cost.

The same SmugMug help article on profits says what the 15% covers: “The 15% SmugMug retains includes credit card payment fees, customer service, and the costs of administering the program.” That is why the plans grid can say there are no card processing fees. They are inside the 15%.

SmugMug’s own example is a 5×7 print. You price it at $10.79, the default price is $0.79, so the markup is $10.00 and you keep $8.50. Scale that to a wall art sale where your markup is $200, and SmugMug keeps $30 while you keep $170. The 15% comes off the markup only, never off SmugMug’s base price.

Digital download base costs

Digital downloads carry a base cost of $0.49 for a single file and $1.99 for a whole gallery download, according to the same article. Your 85% is calculated on what you charge above those amounts.

When you actually get paid

SmugMug pays automatically the following month once you have at least US$500 in unpaid profits at the end of a month. Below that, you can request a one-time payment once you have at least US$5, or US$10 for international sellers, but you have to ask each month. US sellers are paid by ACH direct deposit and international sellers by PayPal. A W-9 is required on Portfolio and Pro with the shopping cart turned on, even at zero profit.

The terms of use add one catch. Profits generated during a free trial are not yours unless you go on to buy a qualifying plan and pay for it.

RAW Storage Is Extra: SmugMug Source

The plans include unlimited JPEG storage, not unlimited RAW storage. RAW files live in an add-on called Source. The SmugMug Source page prices it at $10 a month for the first terabyte and $6 a month for each additional terabyte, billed monthly, and says it can be added to any SmugMug subscription.

So a photographer holding 3TB of RAW files pays $10 + $6 + $6 = $22 a month for Source, on top of the plan. The help centre sets a 3GB limit per RAW file and lists the supported formats, including CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, RAF and DNG. RAW files can never be sold. If shopping is on in a gallery with RAWs, only the display JPEGs are purchasable.

For a store owner, Source is usually unnecessary. Your photographer keeps the RAWs. You need the finished, edited JPEGs, and those are unlimited on every plan.

Storage Limits on Every Plan

SmugMug’s unlimited storage has edges, and the help centre spells them out. Your account includes unlimited storage of JPEG, GIF and PNG files, and of videos under 3GB and 20 minutes. Video is stored at up to 1080p. SmugMug’s video article says that if your video is larger than 1080p, it will be converted and stored at 1080p, and that it does not keep a copy of the original video.

There are structural limits too. Each folder level holds up to 5,000 folders, galleries or pages, and a gallery holds up to 5,000 assets. For a product catalogue, that is far more than a store will use.

If you need 4K product video, SmugMug is not the place to host it. Put video on a proper video host and keep SmugMug for stills.

Free Trial, Renewals, Refunds and Cancelling

Every plan comes with a 14-day free trial, and SmugMug’s selling pages say no credit card is required. The SmugMug terms of use say that at the end of the trial, your account automatically terminates unless you choose a plan and add payment details. That is the reverse of most software trials, and it is the friendlier version.

Once you pay, the subscription renews automatically for the same term unless you cancel before it ends. The terms are blunt about refunds: “All Subscription Fees are nonrefundable.” There is no money-back window for the subscription itself, so use the 14 days properly. The terms also say your statutory rights are unaffected if you live somewhere with a legal right of withdrawal. This is general information, not legal advice.

Upgrades, downgrades and price changes

Upgrading mid-term charges the pro-rated difference, and your renewal date stays the same. SmugMug’s help article on changing plans says any remaining balance from your old plan is credited toward your next renewal. If SmugMug changes a plan’s price, the terms say it will notify you before your renewal date.

Stepping down from Portfolio or Pro has consequences. Your pricelists are deleted and assistant passwords stop working. If you move to Direct, watermarks are removed from your photos.

Cancelling

You can cancel from your account settings at any time. According to the help centre, the account then closes at the end of your current term, monthly or annual. The same article warns that closures are immediate once they take effect and that your images only have a short time to recover, so download anything you need before the term runs out.

Flickr Is Owned by SmugMug but Priced Separately

People often assume a SmugMug plan includes Flickr. Flickr’s terms of use state that Flickr, Inc. is owned by SmugMug, Inc., and SmugMug’s about page describes the company as the rescuer of Flickr. None of the SmugMug pages I read bundles a Flickr Pro membership into a SmugMug plan. What every SmugMug plan does include is the ability to upload photos from Flickr.

Flickr Pro is a separate purchase. The prices behind Flickr’s upgrade page are $11 a month, $82 a year or $148 for two years. It is a separate product with its own features, so it does not replace Portfolio or Pro.

SmugMug Discounts and Coupons

Here is every route to paying less that SmugMug itself publishes. A friend’s referral code gives you 20% off your first year. Charitable 501(c)(3) non-profits, or the international equivalent, can apply for a free or discounted account, although clubs, camps, schools and religious and political organisations are excluded. And the yearly plans save 29% to 34% against paying monthly.

The Perks page lists partner discounts for subscribers, such as 15% off tethering tools and 35% off photo tutorials. Those are discounts on other companies’ products, not on SmugMug.

A note on the link I use. My SmugMug link carries a coupon code in its URL, but no SmugMug page I read says what that code is worth. The plan data returned identical prices with it and without it. I am not going to promise you a discount I cannot see.

Is SmugMug Right for a High-Ticket Store?

You want to sell products you dropship

Then skip SmugMug. It sells prints of photos through its own labs. It cannot list a $3,000 sofa from a US supplier, run a product catalogue or take a deposit. Build on Shopify. My Shopify website builder review covers what you get. My guide to the best ecommerce website builders compares the other options.

You want a safe home for product and lifestyle shoots

This is where Direct earns $240 a year. A good lifestyle shoot for a high-ticket product can cost more than the plan, and the files are what your product pages, ads and email all run on. Direct keeps full-resolution JPEGs with no storage cap, private galleries you can share with a designer or ad agency, and Lightroom sync. If you shoot some of your own images, my guide to shooting product photos that convert without a studio pairs well with it.

You hire a product photographer

Many photographers already deliver through a gallery platform they pay for, so you may not need SmugMug at all. If you are the one setting up the gallery, Direct handles review and download. If you want to star the frames you want retouched, client favoriting is on Pro only, at $444 a year. That is a lot to pay for proofing, which is why I cover cheaper client gallery tools in the comparison below.

Your store sells wall art or photography prints

This is the one case where SmugMug’s selling tools are the product. Portfolio gives you lab fulfillment, a cart, tax collection and shipping handled for you, in exchange for 15% of your markup. Pro adds different pricing per gallery, coupons and packages. Compare that against running art on a general platform, which I cover in my guide to the best ecommerce platforms for selling art.

How SmugMug Pricing Compares

This is the cheapest paid plan on each platform as its own pricing page showed it on 22 September 2026. The sales fee column is what each vendor says it takes from sales on that plan or, where that plan cannot sell, on the plans that can.

Platform	Cheapest paid plan	Billed yearly	Billed monthly	Sales fee
SmugMug	Direct	$20 a month	$29	Direct cannot sell. 15% of markup on Portfolio and Pro
Pixieset	Client Gallery Basic	$8 a month	$10	None on paid plans. 15% on the free plan
ShootProof	1,500 Plan	$8.33 a month	$9.99	Commission-free on every plan
Pic-Time	Beginner	$7 a month	$8	Commission on markup. Rate not shown on the pricing page
Zenfolio	Basic	$7 a month on sale (normally $9)	$9	Basic cannot sell. 7% of order sub-total plus card fees on Professional and Advanced
Pixpa	Basic	$5.40 a month	$9	0% on every plan
Format	Basic	$10 a month	$14	Commission-free online store
Squarespace	Basic	$19 a month	$25	2% online store fee on Basic, 0% on Core and above
Shopify	Basic	$29 a month	$39	Card rates from 2.9% + 30¢

Two things jump out. Only Shopify costs more at the entry level, and SmugMug’s cheapest plan cannot sell anything. On the other hand, among the dedicated photo platforms here, it is the only entry plan with unlimited photo storage. Pixieset’s Basic plan holds 10GB, ShootProof’s 1,500 Plan holds 1,500 photos, Pic-Time’s Beginner plan holds 20GB, and Zenfolio’s Basic plan holds 15GB.

The sales fee comparison is not as simple as 15% against 7%. Zenfolio’s fee article charges its 7% on the whole order sub-total, then adds processing of 2.9% + $0.30 on Stripe. On a $75 print with a $25 lab cost, SmugMug keeps $7.50 and you keep $42.50. Zenfolio takes $5.25 plus about $2.48 in Stripe fees, leaving you about $42.27 before tax and shipping. They land in almost the same place. My guide to the best SmugMug alternatives goes through all nine alternatives in detail.

For a closer look at two of them, read my Pixpa review. My Squarespace review covers the other.

Which SmugMug Plan Should You Buy?

If you only need storage and delivery, buy Direct on the yearly plan, $240. Do not buy it monthly: $348 a year for the same thing is $108 thrown away.

If you sell prints or downloads, Portfolio at $282 a year is the floor, since Direct cannot sell. Move to Pro at $444 only when you need different prices per gallery, packages, coupons, client favoriting or an assistant login. The $162 a year between Portfolio and Pro pays for itself if one of those features adds a couple of print orders a month.

Add Source only if you need SmugMug to hold RAW originals. For most store owners it is an extra $120 a year for files your photographer already keeps.

Where this sits in a high-ticket budget

In a store selling $2,000 products, $240 a year to protect the images that sell them is cheap insurance. But it is a line item, not a strategy. Put your first dollars into the store, the suppliers and the traffic. My guide to finding high-ticket dropshipping suppliers will do more for your revenue than any photo platform.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does SmugMug cost?

Billed yearly, Direct is $240 ($20 a month), Portfolio $282 ($23.50 a month) and Pro $444 ($37 a month). Billed monthly, they are $29, $35.50 and $52. Enterprise has no published price. Prices exclude tax.

Does SmugMug have a free plan?

No. SmugMug offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required, and the terms say the account closes at the end of the trial unless you pick a plan.

How much does SmugMug take from sales?

SmugMug keeps 15% of your markup, meaning the difference between your price and its default print price or download base cost. You keep 85%. Its help centre says the 15% includes credit card payment fees.

Does SmugMug give refunds?

Not on subscriptions. The terms of use state that all subscription fees are nonrefundable, and cancelling stops the next renewal rather than refunding the current term. Physical print orders are covered separately by a 30-day return policy.

Is RAW storage included?

No. JPEG storage is unlimited on every plan, but RAW files need SmugMug Source at $10 a month for the first terabyte and $6 a month for each additional terabyte.

Does SmugMug include Flickr Pro?

No page I read says so. SmugMug owns Flickr, and every plan can import photos from Flickr, but Flickr Pro is sold separately at $11 a month or $82 a year.

My Verdict on SmugMug Pricing

SmugMug’s pricing is simpler than most. There are three plans, two billing cycles and one sales cut, and the yearly plans save 29% to 34%. The traps are small and avoidable. The cheapest plan cannot sell. RAW storage costs extra. There are no refunds once you pay. And an unexplained 30% off ribbon sits on older pages that the plans page and the plan data do not back up.

For photographers, Portfolio at $282 a year is a fair price for unlimited storage, a portfolio site and fulfilled print sales at 15% of markup. For a high-ticket store owner, the honest answer is narrower. Direct at $240 a year is a good vault for product and lifestyle shoots. Pro makes sense only if you proof a lot of photography yourself. And if your store sells wall art or prints, Portfolio or Pro can be the store itself.

If what you actually need is a store for products you source, SmugMug is not it. Start on Shopify, and read my guide to building a Shopify dropshipping store before you spend a dollar on anything else. For how the features work day to day, read my full SmugMug review.

If you would rather build it yourself with guidance, my private high-ticket dropshipping coaching covers the same ground one to one. If you are new to the model, start with what high-ticket dropshipping actually is.

Before you pick products, work through my list of high-ticket niches. Before you register a company, read my guide to business formation for high-ticket dropshipping.

You can find everything else on the Ecommerce Paradise home page.

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