Cloud storage · checked 2026-10-20

Can I vibecode Pixieset?

KINDA· weekend project

The delivery half of Pixieset is a weekend: originals on a disk, resized copies, collections with a PIN, favourite lists, size-limited downloads and a streamed zip. An agent builds that in a day and storage is the only recurring cost. What a copy lacks is what turns galleries into income and a studio: a store that sends orders to print labs with payments and tax handled, Studio Manager for contracts, invoices and bookings, the website builder, email campaigns to a client list and mobile gallery apps. Photographers who only deliver files can replace it; those who sell prints or run their studio from it can't.

$10/moprice

$120you'd save a year

weekendbuild time

—people replaced it

Before you start

What you need on hand.

DifficultyIntermediate · Some system setup or keys.

TimeA weekend; image handling and zip streaming take the longest

Claude Code, Codex or CursorAny of them can run the prompt.
Python 3.12 and libvipspyvips needs the libvips library installed on the machine.
SMTP credentialsA transactional provider's free tier is plenty for one photographer.
A public address and disk spaceA small VPS with attached storage behind Caddy, or a home machine and a tunnel.
Your Pixieset downloadsDownload each collection before you cancel; there is no whole-account export that we found.

Before you buildPixieset Free gives 3 GB and unlimited galleries, with a 15% commission on store sales. If you only deliver a few small shoots, you may not need to pay or build.

1. Install one agent: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor.
2. Make an empty folder and open it in the agent.
3. Paste the prompt below, press enter, and answer its questions as it builds.

The prompt

Build me a private client gallery and delivery site to replace Pixieset's Client Gallery. Requirements:

- Python 3.12 + FastAPI with Jinja2 pages and a little vanilla JS. `uvicorn` serves
  http://127.0.0.1:4950: collections at /c/<slug>, admin at /admin.
- Storage: SQLite at ./data/gallery.db (SQLAlchemy) for collections, sets, photos (EXIF date,
  size), visitors, favourites and a download log. Originals in ./data/originals; 600 px and
  2048 px JPEG copies in ./data/cache, made with `pyvips` when a photo is uploaded.
- Admin: create a collection, drag in photos or a zip; sets from subfolders; set cover, title,
  event date, optional PIN, expiry date and which download sizes are allowed (web, original, none).
- Client page: grid, lightbox with arrow keys and swipe, and a heart to favourite. A visitor
  gives an email once, kept in a signed cookie; favourites belong to that email.
- Favourites: "Send my selection" freezes the list, emails me the filenames through SMTP (.env)
  and lists it in admin with a CSV export.
- Downloads: one photo, one set or everything as a streamed zip (`zipstream-ng`, no temp files);
  a PIN required before any download; every download logged with the visitor and size.
- Branding: a logo, accent colour and the photographer's name from a settings page.
- One photographer, one password in .env (signed cookie). No client accounts, no telemetry,
  local-first: outbound calls are SMTP only.
- Out of scope: store and print fulfilment, payments, website builder, contracts and invoices,
  email campaigns.
- README: installing libvips, serving behind Caddy or a tunnel with HTTPS, backing up ./data, and
  a warning to keep originals backed up somewhere else as well.

Opens your agent with the prompt filled in, you press enter. Or copy it and paste it into an empty folder.

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Then keep going

Next prompts, same folder.

The first prompt builds the core. Run these one at a time in the same folder to grow it into your own Pixieset.

Add watermarks and download limits to the gallery in this folder. Requirements:

- Upload a PNG logo in admin; choose its position, size and opacity per collection and apply it to the 2048 px copies with `pyvips`.
- Per collection, limit free downloads to N photos per visitor and show how many are left.
- Originals are never served from a public route; check the PIN and the limit on every download.
- Changing the watermark regenerates only that collection's copies, in the background.
- Add tests for the limit and for unmarked files never being reachable. Update the README.

Add expiry reminders to the gallery in this folder. Requirements:

- A daily job emails every visitor who registered on a collection 14, 7 and 1 days before it expires, with the gallery link and the count of photos they favourited.
- A manual "extend by 30 days" button in admin that resets the reminders.
- Send each reminder once, log it, and include an unsubscribe link that stops all mail to that address.
- Send through SMTP at no more than 30 mails an hour.
- Update the README.

Add a quote request to the gallery in this folder. Requirements:

- In the favourites view, let a visitor mark photos for prints or retouching from a price list in prices.yaml.
- Store the request, email me a table of filenames, items and totals, and show it in admin with a status of new, quoted or paid.
- No payment processing: the page says I will send an invoice.
- Export a request as a CSV I can paste into my lab's order form.
- Update the README.

What you lose

The store: print-lab fulfilment, card payments and coupons handled for you
Studio Manager for contracts, invoices, bookings and questionnaires
The website builder and the mobile gallery apps
Email campaigns to your client list
The AI Photo Editor and the storage and delivery that someone else runs

Why people still pay

A client gallery is the last thing a client sees, so photographers pay for one that looks like their brand, opens on every phone and takes payments for prints without further work. The Free plan covers a few shoots; the paid tiers remove the 3 GB cap, the commission on sales and the Pixieset branding.

Moatintegrations switching costs execution polish

Do the math

Pixieset or your own copy?

Over

Your usage

Count my time12h ×$/h

Pixieset, 1 yr$120

Your own copy, 1 yr$165running + build session

Paying is cheaper by$45never pays for itself

Estimate · A VPS with 100 to 200 GB of disk or object storage runs a few dollars to about twenty a month. The build is token usage on your agent plan.

Leaving Pixieset

Take your data, then cancel.

1 · Take your data out of Pixieset

1Open the collection, click the Download icon, enter an email (and the PIN if one is set), choose the sets, size and destination, and start. A full collection arrives as a zip, split over several for large ones.
2Original-size downloads generally need a paid Client Gallery or Suite plan, so check the collection's download settings first.
3We found no export of your client list, orders or store settings: note what you need, or ask support@pixieset.com.
4Websites and Studio Manager data (contracts, invoices) are separate products with their own pages.

2 · Cancel Pixieset

1Go to Profile icon, then Billing.
2Click Change Plan next to the subscription, then Cancel Subscription.
3Cancelling fully ends the subscription and removes access to that product. For yearly plans you can cancel now or at the end of the cycle.
4Pixieset doesn't give refunds for account cancellations.

On a yearly plan, cancel at the end of the cycle to keep what you paid for.
The Free plan holds 3 GB. We found no statement of what happens to a larger library after a downgrade, so ask support before you cancel.
Download every collection you want to keep before you cancel, and tell clients where to find the new gallery.
Suite plans bundle Client Gallery, Website and Studio Manager, so cancelling one product is a plan change, not a full exit.

Checked 2026-10-20 against Pixieset's docs: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

The escape hatch

Don't feel like building it? These are already free.

LycheeOpen sourceMIT PHP photo gallery with albums, public and unlisted sharing, tags and download options; no store or client proofing.★ 4.3k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗PiwigoOpen sourceGPL-2.0 PHP gallery with albums, user permissions, tags and plugins; also offered as a hosted service.★ 3.9k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗PhotoviewOpen sourceAGPL-3.0 gallery that browses photos already on your disk, with face detection and sharing links.★ 6.6k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗

All 4 free alternatives to Pixieset ›

The numbers

Pixieset pricing

Plan	Monthly	Annual, per month	What you get
Free	$0	$0	3 GB photo storage, unlimited galleries, integrated store, up to 3 mobile gallery apps.
Basic	$10	$8	10 GB photos, 30 minutes of HD video, custom domain and branding, full-resolution downloads, 100 campaign emails a month, unlimited mobile gallery apps.
Plus	$20	$16	100 GB photos, 500 campaign emails a month, everything in Basic.
Pro	$30	$24	1 TB photos, bulk share of collections, RAW photo upload, everything in Plus.
Ultimate	$50	$40	Unlimited photo storage, 10,000 campaign emails a month, everything in Pro.

Free tier: 3 GB of storage, 15% commission on store sales, up to 3 mobile gallery apps.
Billing: Monthly or yearly; yearly plans are up to 20% cheaper. Cards only (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover). Plan changes are prorated. Client Gallery, Website, Studio Manager and Photo Editor are priced separately, with a discounted Suite.
Hidden costs: Extra campaign emails cost $10 a month per additional 5,000, extra video storage $5 a month per additional hour, and the Photo Editor add-on $12 a month. Commission is a point of confusion: the FAQ says paid plans pay none, while the store sections of the plan cards still say Commission fee.
Source: pixieset.com

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Questions

Pixieset, briefly

Not answered here? Tell us and we'll add it.

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Free gives 3 GB of storage and unlimited galleries, with a 15% commission on store sales.

Kinda. The core is a weekend build with the prompt on this page, but real gaps remain: The store: print-lab fulfilment, card payments and coupons handled for you, Studio Manager for contracts, invoices, bookings and questionnaires.

About $10 a month on the Client Gallery Basic plan, $120 a year (checked 2026-10-20).

The store: print-lab fulfilment, card payments and coupons handled for you; Studio Manager for contracts, invoices, bookings and questionnaires; The website builder and the mobile gallery apps; Email campaigns to your client list; The AI Photo Editor and the storage and delivery that someone else runs. If any of those matter to you, keep paying.