Which Is Best WordPress Photography Theme? Photocrati vs Sell Photos

If you’re a professional or aspiring photographer, then you probably in some moment wanted to show your portfolio or even sell your own photos. Forget online services to sell photos and get yourself a good WordPress photography theme, so you don’t have to split the money with third-party platforms.

It is very easy to make a photography/portfolio site and even start selling your media using WordPress + quality photography theme.

If you’re like most photographers trying to make a living off their craft, then there are some great advantages to having your own personal website.

Do you want to build your own stock photography website and be able to sell photos with WordPress, where you keep all of the sales revenue? Do you want to protect your high-resolution images from thieves? I will show you how.

You will need the best WordPress photography theme available. The best choices are Photocrati, a very popular theme, and the Sell Photos theme from Graph Paper Press, which, thanks to its Sell Media plugin, offer most features and options if you intend to earn money by selling photos.

 

Photocrati vs Sell Photos Comparison

blank-comparison
  • Theme
  • Responsive
  • Retina/Hi-Def display
  • Watermark Option
  • Related Products Feature
  • Allow Others to Upload
    Allow others to upload their photos and sell through your site
  • Price Variations
  • PayPal
  • Stripe Gateway
  • Built-In Lightboxes
  • Galleries
  • Right Click Protection
    Disable right clicks on your website to prevent visitors from easily saving and copying your images.
  • Sell Prints
  • Sell Photos
  • Assign Licenses
    Assign licenses (commercial, personal, etc.) to your images to increase the price.
  • Backup Files
  • View Sales Reports
  • Newsletter integration
  • Magnify Images
  • Price
sell photos vs photocrati comparison
  • Sell Photos
  • Only with pricing plan which includes Sell Media plugin
    Plugin and extensions come with Professional pricing plan
  • Only with pricing plan which includes Sell Media plugin
    Plugin and extensions come with Professional pricing plan
  • Only with pricing plan which includes Sell Media plugin
    Plugin and extensions come with Professional pricing plan
  • Only with pricing plan which includes Sell Media plugin
    Plugin and extensions come with Professional pricing plan
  • Only with pricing plan which includes Sell Media plugin
    Plugin and extensions come with Professional pricing plan
  • Only with pricing plan which includes Sell Media plugin
    Plugin and extensions come with Professional pricing plan
  • Only with pricing plan which includes Sell Media plugin
    Plugin and extensions come with Professional pricing plan
  • Only with pricing plan which includes Sell Media plugin
    Plugin and extensions come with Professional pricing plan
  • Only with pricing plan which includes Sell Media plugin
    Plugin and extensions come with Professional pricing plan
  • Only with pricing plan which includes Sell Media plugin
    Plugin and extensions come with Professional pricing plan
  • Only with pricing plan which includes Sell Media plugin
    Plugin and extensions come with Professional pricing plan
  • Only with pricing plan which includes Sell Media plugin
    Plugin and extensions come with Professional pricing plan
  • Only with pricing plan which includes Sell Media plugin
    Plugin and extensions come with Professional pricing plan
  • In order to get Theme + Sell Media plugin 149$
photocrati vs sell photos compare
  • Photocrati
  • Fancybox, Lightbox, Thickbox, or Magnific style
  • 79$
    Your initial payment gives you lifetime rights to use the Photocrati theme. You can cancel anytime and continue to use the theme forever. Annual renewals provide ongoing access to updates and support.

 

Best WordPress Photography Theme

Being a great photographer does not mean you are awesome at building websites. But don’t let that worry you. WordPress is made to be an easy and simple solution for creating websites.

WordPress can offer you a powerful solution for selling media and getting noticed when taking advantage of the premium themes created for the WordPress platform. However, not all themes are equal. Even premium themes that promise various features can let you down.

The below mentioned themes once set up, will require just occasional maintenance so you can put effort and time into what you like.

 

#1 Photocrati WordPress Photography Theme

Photocrati theme is a premium WordPress theme designed especially for photography websites. Photocrati theme is considered one of the best-selling WordPress themes for photographers.

Many photographers especially love the theme since it has great built-in features for professional photographers and hobbyists.

If you are a professional photographer, then you will appreciate the useful features which come with this theme. Let’s see what kind of great features Photocrati theme offers.

 

Built-In Gallery Management

Photocrati theme comes with a built-in gallery management feature that allows you to upload, display and manage unlimited galleries. You can use the image resolution options to make the images to be re-sized or just keep full-sized images.

When the users are uploading the images, the theme will re-size images to make galleries loading faster. The theme will store the original images. This built-in gallery management system includes centralized gallery management, custom cropping of thumbnails, and image watermarking.

 

photography wordpress theme

 

If you were previously using the NextGen Gallery WordPress plugin as your gallery management system, the Photocrati theme provides the NextGen import setting. This option will copy all the NextGEN Galleries and let you manage the gallery in the Photocrati system.

You can display galleries in four options: slideshow, thumbnail, filmstrip, and blog style. All the built-in layouts in Photocrati Theme are available with a rotating slideshow option for the homepage.

Photocrati theme comes with four built-in lightboxes to open your thumbnail galleries. You can choose whether you want to use Fancybox, Lightbox, Thickbox, or Magnific style.

 

Built-In Ecommerce

The Photocrati theme comes with a powerful e-commerce solution. You can enable e-commerce across all gallery types and download digital images.

You can sell your work and photography to earn money. The theme uses PayPal IPN notifications to deliver the thank you emails. The users need to enable IPN notification to complete this task in their PayPal account.

 

photocrati ecommerce

 

Customization Possibilities

The theme comes with a theme options panel from where you can adjust the layout, sidebar width, backgrounds, logo, colors, fonts and headings, social media, etc.

Photocrati theme offers five customization areas, including global, header, footer, body, and sidebar. Every area is equipped with appropriate features.

The theme is designed to support full width and one-column homepage with various features. These include background adding, media/ mp3 adding, content background, choosing generic fonts and layouts, logo creation, menu options, footer widget placement, etc.

Photocrati Theme also comes with CSS and Dynamic Styling options allowing the users to change the website style and layout.

 

Premade Designs

The developers have included 60 Plus themes, which are built into one to meet all photographers’ needs. The users are also offered 15 photo galleries and photo blog layouts in this theme.

 

best photography wordpress themes

 

Right-Click Protection

You have the option to disable right-click options to protect your images from the download. This option is set on by default.

 

Fully Responsive

The theme is fully responsive and optimized for all devices, including handheld devices like phones and tablets. Another feature that is available in the theme is. According to the website, the feature helps the website owners track visitors, clicks, page views, and interests.

 

sell photos online with photocrati theme

 

Blog Templates

You can choose from the multiple blog template styles available within the theme. Those are Masonry, Masonry Minimal, Image Wall, Grid, Featured Image Left, Featured Image Right, and the standard Legacy blog template.

Set a default featured image for when a specific post/page image is not set. Or let the theme use a gradient as the backup default. All blog template styles are fully responsive for mobile devices.

 

Featured Posts Widget

The Photocrati Theme includes widget areas for site customization. Widget areas include locations within the header, on posts and pages, and the homepage when the Homepage Template is used.

You can also display featured posts using the Featured Posts Widget. Chose from a specific category or multiple tags. You can use a blog template style and include a thumbnail for each post and display excerpts.

 

Photocrati Review Summary

Overall I found that the Photocrati  WordPress theme for photographers lives up to its name. I’m really impressed with the amount of control this theme gives to photographers who may have zero experience in coding or website building/design.

I think it’s a great fit for photographers or even other types of visual artists who need a central hub for their work online. This theme goes beyond a mere portfolio or blog with the eCommerce feature and becomes a business solution.

Your initial payment gives you lifetime rights to use the Photocrati theme. You can cancel anytime and continue to use the theme forever. Annual renewals provide ongoing access to updates and support. If you cancel, you’ll lose support and updates when your membership expires.

 

#2 Sell Photos WordPress Photography Theme

Sell Photos is a WordPress theme from Graph Paper Press that helps you sell photos online with a clean and responsive design. You also have the option to make it an e-commerce shop for selling photos via the Sell Media plugin.

Sell Photos adapts to different screen sizes, which means your site will look great no matter if visitors browse it using a tablet, phone, or any other handheld device.

You can easily customize the theme per your wishes. Change background and header images, add a logo, favicon, tweak color, create custom menus, pick custom fonts, add widgets… and preview the changes live before your visitors see them.

 

Best WordPress Photography Theme

 

Slideshows are easily added, which means you can drag and drop images into order and add as many images as you like. All text can be translated into your own language by including your own translation file.

Sell Photos theme can be purchased via 3 pricing plans. The Basic plan gives you access to all Graph Paper Press themes, including the Sell Photos theme for 99$ for 1 year.

The Professional plan grants access to all plugins and extensions (need it if you intend to use Sell Media plugin) in addition to themes for 149$ per year. Forever pricing plan has no limits but costs a one-time fee of 399$.

Sell Photos Features:

  • Customize theme and preview the changes live
  • All text can be translated
  • Add blocks of content to the “widgetized” sidebar
  • Manage navigation menus or even create drop-down menus

 

Sell Media Plugin For Selling Photos

This theme’s real power comes with the Sell Media plugin, which is necessary if you intend to use the theme for selling your media online. The Sell Media plugin is largely focused on solving issues when wanting to sell images, video, audio, etc., online.

Sell Media is a WordPress plugin that allows you to sell, license, and protect images, videos, audio files, and PDFs directly from your website. You can also assign different license types (commercial, personal, etc.), sell reprints of images, etc.

This plugin comes with additional features in the form of extensions. These extensions are essentially plugins that extend the Sell Media plugin’s functionality.

 

sell media wordpress plugin review

 

Here are some possible uses for Sell Media:

Stock photography website – Create a stock photography website. Sell images that you upload into WordPress. Assign different license types (commercial, personal, etc.) to increase the image download price. Sell reprints of images that you upload into WordPress.

  • Stock video website – Sell stock video files that you upload into WordPress. Assign different license types.
  • Audio marketplace – Sell audio files directly from your website. You can Assign different license types.
  • Document downloads – Sell file (pdf, doc) downloads.

 

wordpress themes photography

 

 

Sell Media Extensions:

  • Sell photo reprints – Sell prints directly from your WordPress site and ship them directly to your customers.
  • Watermark your imageProtect images using a watermark image of your choice.
  • Integrate with newsletter list – Integrate your web store with your newsletter list.
  • Backup uploaded items – Amazon cloud storage solution for your file uploads.
  • Process credit cards with Stripe – Accept credit card purchases directly on your site from buyers worldwide.
  • Offer discounts – Create an infinite number of discount codes and share them with your customers to help drive sales.
  • Magnifier – Add a “magnifying glass” over images, allowing buyers to inspect the image closer.
  • Add bulk – Upload multiple single products at once and assign collections, licenses, and other price settings in one click.
  • Access control – Grant free access to specific products or product galleries to either all site visitors or only clients with valid passwords.
  • Model release – Attach a model release document to your images or videos for safekeeping, future reference, and most importantly, legal protection.
  • Commissions – Reward contributors with sales commissions for specific products sold.
  • Free downloads – Generate leads and grow your mailing list by offering visitors free downloads.

 

Sell Photos Theme Review Summary

Sell Photos WordPress Photography theme integrates tightly into WordPress, which means you won’t have to learn a new system just to sell your media online. There are no various features and resources that you will probably never use and which cause slow page load.

Theme and Sell Medial plugin comes with basic features needed to start selling photos. All other features are built as“extensions.”

In that case, you can choose and install only those features you need and wish to use. Using Sell Photos + Sell Media, you can build your own independent photography store.

You can sell prints, photo downloads and create an infinite number of price groups and licenses that suit your business. You determine all pricing, and you keep 100% of the sales.

 

Photocrati vs Sell Photos Comparison Conclusion

If you are looking to set up an impressive photography website while making it look custom and retaining the ability to change the design and galleries with ease, PhotoCrati is an excellent solution.

It’s affordable and takes little techy know-how. Sell Photos combined with the Sell Media plugin is also a good choice. Very simple, elegant, lightweight, etc. It is a good choice for everyone wishing to cash in their hobbies or professions.

If you are interested in alternative that doesn’t include WordPress, then I suggest you check my SmugMug review. It is website builder which focuses on letting you set up beautiful galleries and sell your work.

If you need an automatic print fulfillment service to sell photo print right from your WordPress website, then NextGEN Pro will have everything you need. Or you can use the Graph Paper Press print-on-demand option.


DISCLOSURE: Posts may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of those links, I might get a small commission, without any extra cost to you. Read more about it here.

19 thoughts on “Which Is Best WordPress Photography Theme? Photocrati vs Sell Photos”

  1. I love your blog post about the best WordPress photography themes. I especially like the table of contents at the top of your post, which explains the best WordPress photography themes in a very easy-to-read and concise manner. I’m a photographer and I know firsthand how difficult it can be to find a good nature photography theme, so I appreciate that you made this post.

  2. Many photographers especially love the theme since it has great built-in features for professional photographers and hobbyists.

    If you are a professional photographer, then you will appreciate the useful features which come with this theme. Let’s see what kind of great features Photocrati theme offers.

  3. These 2 themes are exceptional! you have shown a lot of features. Really appreciate your work. Thanks for sharing the good resources.

  4. Thanks for the great info. I would like to know about the word-press photography theme that offers video tutorials. Also, I’m looking for a theme that offers photo and video display, and also with the ability to individually implement custom ads.

  5. Hi Kasa, Couldn’t leave the site without appreciating the efforts you put in to compile the list. It took me about an hour to vet them but have found a few for my final selection. As a beginner, you have no idea what you are getting into and finding what you like it not always easy.

    This page narrowed it down from all those thousands of photography themes to just 2. Thanks for helping me make that selection. Cheers!

  6. Thank you for your comparison of the two themes. I am in the process of starting an online photography business to sell downloadable racing photos. I am mostly interested in the Photocrati Theme. There is a red check mark by “Related Products Features” for this theme which means it does not have this option. Could you explain what is the “Related Products Feature”.

    Thanks

    1. Hey Jerry,

      I meant it does not have cross-selling option. It is when buyer is checking one product he can see related products (in this case photos).

      Amazon is great example of that. If you check most products on Amazon you will see option to purchase additional items.

      For example, you are checking mobile phone but below see recommended products related to one you are checking. Like phone battery or some other accessories.

      In case of photography if buyer is checking photo of BMW, he could see other related photos showing BMW.

      Recommended products, cross-selling, what other bought — no matter what it is called, it increases sales.

      If this feature is important for you I suggest contacting Photocrati support to be sure. Products get updates and changes so comparison might not be correct.

      I tried to keep it updated but it is hard to keep pace with constant changes for every product.

  7. Thank you for this write-up. We appreciate it when people go out of their way to share their feedback. One note – some of your facts in the comparison chart aren’t correct. For example, NextGEN Pro (included in Photocrati Pro) has more display types than what you stated. It also includes Stripe, which isn’t in the chart.

    Thanks again!

  8. Great information! But who is hosting all you GBs of images? Isn’t a full service like Photoshelter, Zenfolio, Smugmug worth the money you would be paying to host your own archive? Just curious as I’m in the process of seitching so I’m shopping around for a solution.

    1. Having you own site and hosting is far more cheaper than paying monthly for services like you mentioned.

      But then again if you are not familiar with WordPress and dont want to bother with payments, hosting etc. then those services come in handy.

      I would rather put a little effort and keep all profit to myself than pay various fees to others. But that is just me 🙂

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