Free vs paid galleries
What the permanent free tier includes and which features unlock on each paid tier.
~6 min read
PixVenu offers a permanent free tier so you can try the product end-to-end before paying anything. Free is permanent, not a trial — there's no countdown and no forced-upgrade deadline. New galleries start on the free tier, and the limits below are enforced today by both the server and the database — they aren't a future plan.
The tiers at a glance. PixVenu has one free tier and three paid tiers — Essential, Signature, and Premier. Each paid tier is a one-time purchase (no subscription). Here's what each one allows:
| Capability | Free | Essential | Signature | Premier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Photos | Up to 30 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Video uploads | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Albums | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Welcome video | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Custom themes / branding | — | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Co-hosts (collaborators) | — | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Video guestbook well-wishes | — | — | — | ✓ |
| Lead capture (required uploader email) | — | — | — | ✓ |
| Gallery slots | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Upload window (from event end date) | None — photo-cap governed | 3 months | 12 months | 12 months |
Free tier. Up to 30 photos, and one free gallery live at a time — you can create as many free galleries as you like, but only one can be live or scheduled at once; additional ones stay drafts until you upgrade them or assign a Premier slot (see How many galleries can I create?). The free tier has no time-based upload window — it isn't capped by a calendar deadline, and there is no read-only or auto-close state. Instead, the 30-photo cap is what governs how much a free gallery can hold. Video uploads, albums, welcome videos, custom themes, and co-hosts are reserved for paid tiers.
What the paid tiers add. Essential lifts the photo cap to unlimited and unlocks video uploads, albums, and a welcome video, with a 3-month upload window measured from your event's end date. Signature extends the upload window to 12 months and adds custom themes/branding and co-host (collaborator) access. Premier keeps everything in Signature and adds video guestbook well-wishes and lead capture (requiring an uploader email), plus three gallery slots per purchase instead of one.
Custom themes are the headline paid unlock. Theming and branding controls are plan-gated to Signature and Premier. Features like the slideshow, the written guestbook, and bulk ZIP downloads are available on every tier — they are not paid-only, and there is no "remove the footer" upgrade.
Always included on every tier. QR codes, magic links, digital invitations, and RSVP collection work on free and paid galleries alike. Those are the core sharing surfaces; gating them would defeat the purpose of letting hosts trial the product on a real event.
Upgrading preserves your existing gallery. When you upgrade, the gallery itself is the same row — only the tier changes. The photos and guestbook entries already in the gallery carry across; there's no re-upload, no link changes, and no disruption for your guests. QR codes and magic links you've already shared keep working exactly as before.
Still stuck?
Drop us a line and we'll dig in personally — usually within a business day.
