SmugMug
Ranked 3 of 3 photo sharing services by recommenders
Long-running photo hosting service people trust to keep their photos safe, and a model others copy. Critics point to the free tier's 1000-photo limit and dated design.
Long-running photo hosting service people trust to keep their photos safe, and a model others copy. Critics point to the free tier's 1000-photo limit and dated design.
8 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 75%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Saved photos from being lost
“Thanks to SmugMug, need to give credit to them for saving it.”
Comment from 3 Jan 2026 in “Why your early 2000s photos are probably lost forever” Loyal long-term customer experience
“I was a happy customer for almost 20 years”
Comment from 17 Jun 2026 in “Want your images back? Sure... That'll be $5!” Beloved feature on its platform
“it's a core and beloved feature on our other platform, SmugMug”
Comment from 26 Apr 2026 in “Flickr: The First and Last Great Photo Platform” Copied as a model
“just turn it into an exact copy of SmugMug”
Comment from 26 Apr 2026 in “Flickr: The First and Last Great Photo Platform”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Free tier capped at 1000 photos
“wasn't it Smugmug that introduced the 1000 photo limit for free users?”
Comment from 24 Feb 2026 in “Unsung heroes: Flickr's URLs scheme” Dated, busy early-2000s web design
“holy early 2000s big bold brash neon web design”
Comment from 26 Apr 2026 in “Flickr: The First and Last Great Photo Platform”
Other photo sharing services people recommend
The two most recommended other photo sharing services, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flickr | 54 | 29 | 65% | 7 | 20 yrs12 owners | — |
| Glass photo sharing | 7 | 1 | 88% | 4 | — | — |
| SmugMugThis page | 6 | 2 | 75% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
6 of the 8 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I was a happy customer for almost 20 years”
“holy early 2000s big bold brash neon web design”
“it's a core and beloved feature on our other platform, SmugMug”
“just turn it into an exact copy of SmugMug”
“wasn't it Smugmug that introduced the 1000 photo limit for free users?”
“Thanks to SmugMug, need to give credit to them for saving it.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.