SmugMug vs Stingle Photos
SmugMug
smugmug.comStingle Photos
stingle.orgSide by side
| Figure | SmugMug | Stingle Photos |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $10/mo | $2.49/mo |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 12 | 10 |
| Spec score · Photo Storage Services | 8.6 (#11) | 8.7 (#9) |
| Product | SmugMug describes its service as an all-in-one platform for storing, sharing, and selling photography. | Stingle Photos combines an encrypted gallery and camera with cloud backup and synchronization for photos and videos. |
| Rating on Apple App Store | 4.8 out of 5 from 48K ratings | 4.0 out of 5 from 2 ratings. |
| Rating on Google Play | 4.5 out of 5 from 7.58K reviews | 3.6 out of 5 from 167 reviews. |
| Support | SmugMug advertises 24/7 human customer support and provides a support center and contact channel. | The contact page directs users who need faster support to Telegram. |
Plans
SmugMug
- Direct$20 a month
- Portfolio$23.50 a month
- Pro$37 a month
- SmugMug Source RAW add-on$10 a month
- SmugMug Source RAW storage add-on$10 a month
- Direct$20 a month
- Portfolio$23.50 a month
- Pro$37 a month
- Direct$240 a year
- Portfolio$282 a year
Stingle Photos
- 1 GBFree
- 100 GB monthly$2.99 a month
- 300 GB monthly$4.99 a month
- 1 TB monthly$11.99 a month
- 100 GB yearly$29.90 a year
- 3 TB monthly$35.99 a month
- 300 GB yearly$49.99 a year
- 5 TB monthly$59.99 a month
- 1 TB yearly$111.99 a year
- 3 TB yearly$359.99 a year
In their own words
SmugMug
SmugMug is a photography service for storing, sharing, and selling images. Its plans include unlimited full-resolution JPEG storage; RAW storage is a separate add-on priced at $10 a month for up to 1TB, then $6/mo for each additional TB. The Direct plan is $20 a month billed annually and includes privacy controls, digital delivery, Lightroom integration, and 24/7 live human support. Portfolio costs $23.50 a month billed annually and adds print and digital download sales, website templates, and order fulfillment. Pro costs $37 a month billed annually and adds custom pricelists, coupons and packages, client favoriting, and customer download limits. Subscribers can manage photos with iOS and Android apps, or use macOS and Windows apps for automatic uploads. Integrations include Adobe Lightroom and uploads from Flickr and Dropbox. Privacy settings, passwords, watermarks, and right-click protections help control access to photos and galleries. SmugMug offers a 14-day trial but no free plan.
Stingle Photos
Stingle Photos is a gallery and camera app for backing up and syncing photos and videos across devices using the same account. It backs up files in the background and supports video recording and playback. Files are encrypted locally before they are sent to cloud storage. Stingle names XChaCha20 with Poly1305 for file data, X25519 for public-key cryptography and Argon2 for key derivation; it says sensitive photo and video metadata is encrypted in the file header. Albums can be shared with other Stingle users using encrypted album keys. The product is open source under GPLv3, and listed platforms include Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows, API access and self-hosting. The free plan includes 1 GB. Paid storage starts at $2.99 a month for 100 GB; other listed plans include monthly and yearly capacities up to multiple terabytes. Users can host their own API server, with Linux, S3-compatible storage, a domain name and Git among the prerequisites. The hosted service uses DigitalOcean and Wasabi hot cloud storage. The provider cannot recover or change a forgotten password, so users should save the recovery phrase. The maker’s August 2026 post says the iOS app is available on the App Store and includes a built-in camera; a web version is planned.