If you photograph for a living, the tool you use to hand work to clients quietly shapes how your studio feels. Two names that come up often are Capturely and Zenfolio, and they answer that question from different starting points.
This is an honest, working-photographer's comparison. The short version: Zenfolio is a broad, long-established platform that photographers often use for a portfolio site, client galleries, and selling prints; Capturely is a focused client-gallery delivery tool built around getting a finished shoot into your client's hands cleanly. Below is where each one shines and who each one suits. For Zenfolio's exact capabilities, plans, and storage, verify on their site, since those details change.
What each tool is, in one breath
Zenfolio has been around for years and is generally positioned as an all-in-one for photographers, spanning a public portfolio website, client galleries, and a sales layer for prints and digital downloads. It aims to be the place your whole business lives. For exact features, plans, and storage you should always verify on Zenfolio's own site, because those details change.
Capturely is narrower on purpose. It's a client-gallery delivery platform: you upload a shoot, share a gallery link, and your clients view, favorite, and download with no account required. Less surface area, fewer decisions, a faster path from export to delivered.
Delivery: the moment the client opens the link
This is the experience clients actually judge you on, so it's worth being specific about Capturely here:
- Cinematic full-screen covers that open on the client's name, so the gallery feels made for them
- A justified-grid viewer and a clean lightbox, with photos kept in their shot orientation
- Full-resolution downloads, either single photos or the whole gallery as a zip
- Per-photo download counts so you can see what landed
- View-only galleries when you'd rather not hand over files yet, with an optional watermark
Zenfolio also delivers galleries and downloads and is known for pairing that with print-sale flows. If you'd like your delivery and your selling to live in the same place, that integration can be a real draw. Confirm the current viewer and download specifics on their site.
Favorites and proofing
Capturely's proofing is built for selections. Clients heart photos to build a pick list, you can set an optional pick limit, and there are per-photo comments so feedback sits on the exact frame. The first action a client takes asks for their name, so picks and notes are attributed without forcing an account. Platforms like Zenfolio offer favoriting and proofing too; check how limits, comments, and accounts work in their current version on their site.
Privacy and self-deleting galleries
This is where Capturely's philosophy is most distinct. Galleries can auto-delete on a schedule you choose, from 7 days up to a year, on a custom date, or never. Deletion is permanent, and the client gets an email reminder a few days before the gallery closes. The result is genuine privacy and lean storage instead of an ever-growing archive.
- Galleries aren't indexed by search engines by default
- A password makes a gallery private
- Expired or password-protected galleries are never indexable
Branding
Both tools care about making galleries feel like yours. With Capturely you can remove Capturely branding on paid plans; every account also gets a free yourstudio.capturely.me subdomain, and a public studio page lists your active galleries. Zenfolio, being portfolio-first, has long been associated with custom domains and site branding as part of its website builder; verify the specifics for your plan on their site.
Search and discovery
There are two different kinds of search worth separating. Public, SEO-style discovery is where a portfolio platform like Zenfolio tends to lean in, because a public website is meant to be found. Capturely takes the opposite stance for client work: galleries stay out of search engines by default to protect client privacy.
Pricing philosophy
The pricing question is really a philosophy question. Zenfolio bundles portfolio, galleries, and a sales engine, so you're often paying for a wider platform and, depending on the plan, the ability to sell prints. Always check current Zenfolio pricing and tiers directly, as they update over time.
Capturely prices the delivery job plainly:
- Free: 1 gallery, 15 GB, 14-day expiry, no card
- Pro: €10/mo or €70/yr, unlimited galleries, 120 GB (plus a 30 GB bonus), branding removal
- Studio: €25/mo or €180/yr, everything in Pro plus 500 GB (signed webhooks and RAW support are on every plan)
- Extra storage in 100 GB blocks at €5/mo or €48/yr, plus 14 days of Pro on every new account, no card needed
Side by side
| Area | Capturely | Zenfolio (verify on their site) |
|---|---|---|
| Primary focus | Client-gallery delivery for finished shoots | Broad platform: portfolio, galleries, and print/digital sales (verify) |
| Client access | View, favorite, download with no account | Galleries and storefront; check account requirements |
| Delivery viewer | Cinematic name covers, justified grid, lightbox, full-res zip | Galleries with print-sale flows; verify viewer details |
| Proofing | Hearts, optional pick limit, per-photo comments | Favoriting and proofing; verify current behavior |
| Privacy and expiry | Self-deleting 7 days to 1 year or forever; not indexed by default | Verify privacy and retention options on their site |
| Branding | Branding removal on paid; free subdomain; public studio page | Custom domain and site branding; verify per plan |
| Selling prints | Not the focus | Storefront for prints/digital; verify current capabilities |
| Pricing model | Flat plans for delivery, €10 or €25 a month | Platform tiers; verify current pricing |
Who each one suits
Choose Zenfolio if you want one platform to host your public portfolio, run client galleries, and sell prints, and you're happy managing a broader system to get that range. It can be a sensible home base if selling and discovery are central to how you work. Confirm the current feature set and pricing on their site before you commit.
Choose Capturely if delivery is the job and you want it to feel premium and effortless: a cinematic gallery that opens on your client's name, no account friction, real privacy with self-deleting galleries, clean branding, and pricing that maps to delivery rather than a whole platform.
The best delivery tool is the one your clients never have to think about. They open the link, see their name, and the photos do the rest.
Capturely also rounds out the delivery workflow with privacy-friendly analytics (no cookies, covering unique visitors, views, favorites, countries, devices, and how many visitors are online now), reviews and photo comments, notifications with a daily digest, webhooks for Zapier, Make, and n8n, twelve built-in gallery languages with AI translation into others on paid plans, a referral program for account credit, and Stripe billing.
If your studio is built around handing finished work to clients cleanly and privately, the fastest way to decide is to deliver one real shoot through Capturely and watch how clients respond.
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