Top 5 Image Hosting Service

With digital photography becoming so popular, it’s hard to find a person without a digital camera. With the idea of Mobile Cameras coming out of age, photography has become a passive hobby for many. With such advancement of digital world, what required next was a place to store and share these. A look at the options available for the users, one will really get lost in the sea of image host. We have every kind of image host available – one targeted at families, one targeted at web administrator and so on. Below is the list of Top 5 image host according to me.

1. Photobucket

Photobucket is an image hosting, video hosting, slideshow creation and photo sharing website. It was founded in 2003 by Alex Welch and Darren Crystal and was acquired by Fox Interactive Media last year. It undoubtedly is the most popular of the entire image host and the most successful. The offer two kinds of membership – Regular and Pro Memberships. Their feature includes:

- Upload from Computer, from URL, by mobile or email.
- Free user account has an upload limit of 1mb per file.
- Multiple image upload.
- Advanced Image editing and effects.
- Upload Videos.
- 10 GB monthly bandwidth limit and 1GB upload limit for free users.
- Unlimited Bandwidth and 5GB storage space for Pro User.
The major draw back with these guys is that they don’t have a referral policy, even for Pro Members. Be careful in using Photobucket. It’s the best for sharing family photos and all but if you are looking for hosting images for your website, then looks somewhere else. I used to do that and pretty easily got addicted to them and suddenly found that I am using more than 10GB bandwidth; hence I have to go for Pro membership. Trust me Pro membership is worth it.

2. ShareaPic

ShareaPic offers a sharp contrast to Photobucket. They decided to concentrate on the options Photobucket left open. They offer the users an opportunity to earn from their pics and seriously becoming very popular with webmasters and forum owners. Their album interface may not look as great as Photobucket but still is very cool. They claim to pay 0.22$ per 100 picture views. The also allow you to add your Bidvertiser code to your albums. Earlier it was adsense. Their major feature includes:

- Unlimited Bandwidth.
- Unlimited Storage Space.
- Earn money sharing pictures.
- Add Bidvertiser code and earn money.
- Create unlimited Galleries.
For the webmasters Shareapic offers an added advantage. Their Gallery get indexed in Google search and here is the catch you can use it to increase in links to your site. What you have to do is simply add your sitename along with Gallery name.

3. ImageVenue

The above mentioned file host has strict restriction about the content of the files and in many cases you will find they removing your files in violation of TOS. If you are looking for an alternative then Imagevenue is the place. Actually their performance is too good when compared to the other two but their interfaces are very simple. Major features are:

- Upload option from file only.
- Unlimited bandwidth.
- Unlimited Storage space.
- 1.5MB file size limit.
- Registration not required.

4. ImageShack

ImageShack has been in service from 2003. they offer free as well as paid service. The major features are:

- Upload options: from file, from URL, by email or directly from mobile.
- Max file size of 1.5MB.
- No storage restrictions.
- Bandwidth limited to 100MB/hour.

5. PicTiger

One of the youngest entrants to the image hosting service is Pictiger. It’s one of the most promising among all the new comers. Where Pictiger scores in comparision to other hosting service is its bulk uploading capability. Major features are:

- Unlimited bandwidth.
- Unlimited Storage.
- Upload up to 100 images in one click.
- Advance editing and Tagging of Images.