Client galleries that host video: how each platform meters it (2026)

Video is where client gallery pricing gets confusing, because the eight platforms count it three different ways. Pixieset and FOCL count hours. Pic-Time, Zenfolio and, from 23 September 2026, ShootProof count gigabytes. CloudSpot does not host video at all; it embeds a link. SmugMug says unlimited but caps each file hard. PASS does not mention video anywhere on its pricing or product pages. We make FOCL, and every other figure below is from the company’s own pricing page or help center on 12 September 2026.

How each platform meters video

Platform	Metered by	Included video	Per-file limits	4K	More video
Pixieset	Hours	Free 30 min, Basic 1 h, Plus 2 h, Pro 5 h, Ultimate unlimited	Not stated	Plus and up; Free and Basic are HD	$5 a month per extra hour
Pic-Time	GB, separate video pool	Free 1 GB, Beginner 5 GB (about 30 min), Professional 30 GB (about 3 h), Advanced 60 GB (about 6 h)	Featured videos up to 90 min; clips up to 3 min alongside photos	All plans	Add-on: 100 GB $10/mo billed annually or $16 monthly; 1 TB $25/$42; 2.5 TB $40/$66; 5 TB $60/$100
ShootProof (from 23 Sep 2026)	GB	Free none; Starter 20 GB and Standard 100 GB shared with photos; Professional 50 GB, Advanced 100 GB, Premium 150 GB as a separate video pool	Not stated	Up to 4K	Bigger plan; video archiving $2.99/mo for 25 GB then $0.05 per GB
Zenfolio	GB	Basic 15 GB and Professional 150 GB shared with photos; Advanced 150 GB separate video pool (about 10 h)	20 GB and 60 min per file, 30 fps, 2 audio channels	Advanced only; Basic and Professional are HD	Add-on storage up to 100 TB, price not stated
FOCL Galleries	Hours	None on Free; Essentials 3 h, Studio 10 h, Pro 30 h	30 GB per file; files above about 200 Mbps bitrate cannot be processed	No resolution cap published; the original file is downloadable	$5 a month per extra 10 hours
SmugMug	Unlimited uploads	All plans	20 min and 3 GB per video; 5,000 items per gallery; the original upload is not kept	Not stated	Not needed
CloudSpot	Links only	All plans embed YouTube, Vimeo, Animoto or Google Drive	Set by the host	Set by the host	Pay the host
PASS	Not mentioned	Not mentioned	Not mentioned	Not mentioned	Ask PASS

Hours, gigabytes, or links

Hours are easy to explain to a client and blind to file size. A 4K hour and an HD hour cost the same on Pixieset and FOCL, which favors heavy 4K files. On Pixieset, Free and Basic play back in HD only, and past your plan’s hours it is $5 a month per extra hour. On FOCL it is $5 a month per extra 10 hours, and there is no video at all on the free plan.

Gigabytes reward efficient exports. Pic-Time’s own conversion is roughly 10 GB per hour (30 GB is “about 3 hours”); Zenfolio’s is roughly 15 GB per hour (150 GB is “about 10 hours”). A tightly encoded 1080p ceremony edit uses a fraction of what a high-bitrate 4K master does. On Zenfolio Basic and Professional, and ShootProof Starter and Standard, video shares one pool with photos, so a big film eats photo space. Pic-Time, ShootProof Professional and up, and Zenfolio Advanced keep a separate video pool, so a big film cannot crowd out the photos.

Links cost nothing on the gallery side. CloudSpot embeds a YouTube or Vimeo video and, when the client wants to download it, sends them to the third-party site. The trade-off is that the film sits under someone else’s branding and rules, and the download experience is not yours.

The per-file caps that bite on a wedding

Read these before the meter, because they decide whether a file uploads at all.

• SmugMug: 20 minutes and 3 GB per video. A 5-minute highlight film fits. A 45-minute ceremony edit has to be split into three parts.
• Zenfolio: 60 minutes and 20 GB per file. Most ceremony edits fit. A full-day documentary edit does not.
• Pic-Time: 90 minutes for a featured video, 3 minutes for a clip placed among the photos.
• FOCL: 30 GB per file and roughly 200 Mbps. A ProRes or all-intra master will not process. Export a delivery version in H.264 or H.265 first. The file then streams adaptively and the couple can download the original or a 1080p web copy.
• Pixieset and ShootProof do not state a per-file limit on their pricing pages.

Worked example: a highlight film plus a ceremony edit

Take a 5-minute highlight film and a 45-minute ceremony edit, 50 minutes in total. Using Pic-Time’s conversion that is about 8 GB; using Zenfolio’s, about 12 GB. Call it 10 GB for one wedding, and 100 GB for ten weddings kept online.

One wedding

• Pixieset: 50 minutes is over Free’s 30, so Basic at $10 a month, or $8 billed annually, in HD. For 4K playback, Plus at $20 or $16.
• Pic-Time: 10 GB is over Free’s 1 GB and Beginner’s 5 GB, so Professional at $25 a month or $21 billed annually.
• ShootProof (from 23 September): Starter’s 20 GB is shared with the photos, so one wedding’s video takes half of it at $9.99 a month. Standard’s 100 GB is $19.99.
• Zenfolio: Basic at $9 a month holds it in HD, and 45 minutes is under the 60-minute cap. 4K needs Advanced at $40.
• FOCL: Essentials at $10 a month, or $100 a year. 50 minutes uses under a third of its 3 hours.
• SmugMug: Direct at $29 a month, or $20 billed annually, with the ceremony split into three files.
• CloudSpot: any plan from Free, plus whatever the video host charges.

Ten weddings, about 100 GB or 8 hours 20 minutes

• Pixieset: Pro’s 5 hours at $30 plus 4 extra hours at $20 is $50, the same as Ultimate’s unlimited hours at $50 a month or $40 billed annually.
• Pic-Time: Professional plus the 100 GB add-on is $41 a month, or $31 billed annually. Advanced’s 60 GB alone is not enough.
• ShootProof: Professional’s separate 50 GB pool is short; Advanced’s 100 GB is $51.99 a month or $519.99 a year.
• Zenfolio: Advanced’s 150 GB video pool at $40 a month. The standard annual price is not shown on their page.
• FOCL: 8 hours 20 minutes is under Studio’s 10 hours, at $19 a month or $190 a year.
• SmugMug: still Direct at $20 to $29, still in 20-minute pieces.

The pattern: for one wedding in HD, Zenfolio Basic at $9 and Pixieset Basic at $8 billed annually are the cheapest entry points, and both undercut FOCL’s Essentials. For one wedding in 4K, Pixieset Plus at $16 billed annually is the cheapest plan that states 4K playback. At ten weddings the two hours-based platforms diverge: FOCL Studio covers 8 hours 20 minutes for $19 where Pixieset needs $40 to $50, while the gigabyte platforms land between the two. SmugMug is the cheapest of all if you can live with 20-minute files and no original kept. See FOCL vs Pixieset and FOCL vs Pic-Time for the rest of those comparisons.

Downloads, ZIPs and watermarks

Video downloads are handled separately from photo downloads on every platform that hosts them, so check them separately.

• FOCL: original or 1080p, never inside the photo ZIP, never watermarked.
• ShootProof: original or 1080p per the help center; slideshows download at 1080p.
• Zenfolio: download from galleries; sell video in packages on Professional and up.
• SmugMug: the original upload is not kept, so keep your own master.
• Pic-Time: can sell videos in the store; download options not stated on the pages we read.
• CloudSpot: the client downloads from Vimeo or wherever the file lives.

For how to present a film next to the photos so couples actually watch it, see delivering wedding video alongside photos. For the photo side of the same storage math, see cheapest client gallery per GB.