PhotoCircle vs DropEvent: The Best PhotoCircle Alternative for 2024

People have always loved sharing their experiences with others. Explorers kept records, scientists drew diagrams, and artists opened new avenues with their art. However, it was often years before those accounts reached others.

These days, though, all you need is a smartphone, and you can transmit your life events to anyone around the globe. And we do most of our sharing through photos. Whether it’s a beautiful sunset or a quirky occurrence, we snap it with our phones and instantaneously share it with our loved ones.

This very human need to share photos with friends and family is behind the creation of so many photo-sharing tools. And while that has made our lives easier in so many ways, it also complicates matters. Which tool should you pick to share? Which tool keeps your private memories private?

This blog will compare two highly popular photo-sharing tools, i.e., PhotoCircle vs DropEvent, to help you discover exactly that!

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Inside this Blog

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• PhotoCircle vs DropEvent At a Glance
• Features
• Pricing
• Pros and Cons
• The Verdict

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Looking for the best Dropbox alternative? Check out Apple Photos!

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PhotoCircle vs DropEvent At a Glance

Unsurprisingly, both platforms have features to recommend them. The table below summarizes them for you:

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Quick Comparison Table

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What is PhotoCircle?

The PhotoCircle app lets its users create circles and send invites among families, friends, and businesses for private photo-sharing.  

Unlike most photosharing tools out there, PhotoCircle’s focus remains on keeping users media private and making sharing it simple. And people loved using it until the ads started showing up.

Since there’s no way to get rid of those ads without reading them, i.e., no cancel button, this can detract the user’s enjoyment of using this app. After all, not everybody wants to pay for an ad blocker or spring for the paid version!

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What is DropEvent?

DropEvent is a web app that simplifies how you store, collect, and share your photos and videos.

Its users appreciate the speed and ease with which they’re able to share or collect media.

Additionally, only one person, i.e., the primary account holder, needs to have a DropEvent account for the sharing to begin. After that, they can even invite non-users to view or edit the media in their DropEvent galleries.

It turns any photo-heavy event, such as a wedding, into an opportunity. The newly wedded couple can send their pictures to loved ones who are unable to attend the festivities. They can also ask those present to add their pictures directly to the digital wedding album.

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Also Read: How to Preserve Your Wedding Memories with DropEvent’s Photo-Sharing Platform

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PhotoCircle Features

Photocircle comes with many great features, but the following three make it a user favorite:

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Feature #1 – Create Private Circles

As you’d guess from the name, the app lets you create shared photo albums or Circles. You can make one exclusively to share group photos of friends and another one for the family.

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Creating a Circle has three main steps:

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1. Giving the photo circle a name
2. Inviting select friends/family to it
3. Adding photos and videos they’d like to see

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Besides that, it’s also possible to join a friend's Circle. They’ll need to send you a Join Link or invite.

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Feature #2 – Default Privacy

One main reason many people don’t like sharing their life experiences on social media is how public it is. PhotoCircle removes that caveat by ensuring only members of your Circles can view, engage, and contribute**.**

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Feature #3 – Transfer Photos

Want to save an individual photo? You can do so by opening it and tapping the option button. Looking to save entire circles to your phone? Do it with PhotoCircle’s Save all to Photo Library option.

Automatic syncing is available for most platforms, such as Apple iCloud (iPhones), photos app (Mac), and photo library (PCs). If you have an Android phone, your photos will sync in the Google Photos library.

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‍Also Read: Google Photos Vs DropEvent: Which One’s Best for Group Photo Sharing (2024)

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DropEvent Features

We saw why people love PhotoCircle. Now let’s see the other half of the PhotoCircle vs DropEvent equation, i.e., the standout features of DropEvent:

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Feature #1 – Collect Pictures Within Minutes

DropEvent offers multiple ways to invite non-users to view photos and videos. Once the sign-up is complete, an account holder can begin sharing almost immediately via:

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• Link
• QR code
• Email

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But before they do so, it’s best to take advantage of another great feature of this app and set permissions. These controls decide who can take the following actions once they’ve arrived at your DropEvent gallery:

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• Simply view your content in a gallery you’ve specified
• Interact with your content, such as by downloading or liking and commenting on it
• Upload relevant photos to your gallery

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Finally, DropEvent also lets users set start and end dates for galleries. That way, you limit when someone you’ve invited will be able to add or view a gallery. Once the end date passes, DropEvent automatically archives that gallery for you!

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Feature #2 – Create Albums and Slideshows

DropEvent users come in all flavors. Some utilize it but keep their photos private, while others want to share their media with friends, family, and even clients. It is why being able to organize your gallery the way you want is a perk!

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Customization also includes:

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• The addition of logos—perfect for photographers, marketers, etc.
• The selection of colors to match your theme/objective

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Similarly, how you want to organize an album is up to you. So, you can pick between:

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• Grid of thumbnails
• Grid of featured photos
• Pinterest-esque waterfall
• Date of upload or capture
• Order of upload or file name
• Most recently uploaded or captured
• Random

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Once the albums are in shape, DropEvent users can decide if they want to share their own pictures and the ones they’ve received from others via slideshow. For that, you can sort the content you want to display and move it to a separate gallery.

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Slideshow features include:

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• Background music
• Time interval between pictures
• Show/hide captions, gallery link QR code, or watermark
• Captions and photo size

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Feature #3 – Share Using QR Codes

DropEvent lets you receive—and share—pictures from non-users. This is especially helpful for people who aren’t as familiar with the way most photosharing tools work. All they need to do to arrive at your gallery is scan the QR code you send their way.

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Depending on your permission settings, the visitors can:

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• View individual photos or the whole gallery
• Add photos/videos
• Download photos/videos
• Comment or like

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Additionally, DropEvent lets you decide:

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• The size of the images your contributors can send
• Whether you’ll want to approve before their photos show up in your gallery
• If you want to create separate folders for each contributor
• Whether others will see your contact info
• If you require an email address before they can upload

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Finally, DropEvent is rolling out the option of stylization of QR codes. It should be immensely useful for those using it for professional and personal purposes. For instance, wedding photographers can match the code with a client’s wedding colors.

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Also Read: 11 Reasons to Use DropEvent for Your Wedding Photo Sharing

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PhotoCircle Pricing

PhotoCircle’s regular version is free for personal use, but there is a separate tier for businesses called Enterprises.

If you don’t mind the ads, you can use the regular version of PhotoCircle for event photo sharing. But if you find the constant barrage of ads intrusive, then you can purchase a PhotoCircle+ subscription. And while the pricing will depend on where you’re located, the usual rate is $8-$12 per year—NOT a one-time purchase!

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Businesses can use PhotoCircle’s Enterprise tier to:

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• Collaborate on projects
• Showcase products

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DropEvent Pricing

You can pick one from the three tiers DropEvent offers based on your photosharing and storage needs. For instance:

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• The Photos Only plan’s best if you won’t be downloading many pictures or uploading videos and just need to store pictures.
• But get the Photos + Videos subscription if you want to download a certain number of photos and save videos.
• You get additional photo storage space, a higher number of photo downloads, and multiple galleries in the last tier, i.e., the Event Pros.

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Regardless of the plan you stick with, DropEvent doesn’t compress your photo quality to conserve space. It also backs up all your content in Dropbox for added security.

Most marketing firms and businesses spring for the Event Pros plan since it tacks on multiple galleries & auto-archives folders past their due dates. Both features are useful in the case of multiple clients or several projects.

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Also Read: The Best Amazon Photos Alternative for 2024

PhotoCircle Pros and Cons

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Pros

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• Photocircle is free to use and lets you invite people with a shareable link that can be sent through text or email.
• No worries about using space on your personal device since you can delete your photos and videos once you’ve uploaded them to PhotoCircle.
• The invitation duration can be extended, which lets you share for a longer time. Perfect for loved ones posting leading up to a wedding or for generating buzz for a professional event.

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Cons

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• Users complain about the inappropriate nature of the ads that show up in PhotoCircle’s free version. They’re not family-friendly since they contain lewd pictures.
• Locating which pictures your Circle members have commented on requires you to scroll through until you get to the one with the comment.
• The upload order can glitch up, so the pictures don’t show up in chronological order. This can be a hassle since the photos aren’t sortable in different ways, such as based on album creator, time, day, or order of upload.

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DropEvent Pros and Cons

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Pros

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• DropEvent is the best way to collect photos from a group because of how lightning-quick and easy it is to use. The same is true for photosharing with both non-users and users.
• The Dropbox backup ensures your media is safe.
• Hands you the reins completely, whether it’s about letting others upload pictures, pre-approval of what’s being uploaded, downloads, etc.

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Cons

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• You get 20GB of cloud storage if you’re using the free tier.
• DropEvent reviews all talk about one thing—no mobile app.

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Also Read: Family Album vs. DropEvent

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The Verdict

It may seem to you that there’s no clear winner in the DropEvent vs PhotoCircle match. And that’s okay. You should pick either app based on what you’ll be using it for! Here’s what we recommend:

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Why Stick with PhotoCircle?

Keep using PhotoCircle if:

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• You want to upload lots of videos that you can then delete from your phone or camera to save up space and still be able to share them with friends and family.
• You usually employ it to share pictures of your kids and would rather limit the number of people to those you know well.

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Why Opt for DropEvent?

The choice between PhotoCircle vs DropEvent becomes easier if these are your priorities:

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• Creating private events where you can share and collect media in complete security.
• Ensuring multiple contributors can send in content captured during events like weddings, conferences, etc.
• Working as a solo marketer or for an agency that would benefit from galleries and QR codes customized with your client’s logo or colors.

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Looking for a simple method to gather and share photos? Try DropEvent!

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FAQs

1. Can I use PhotoCircle on my computer?

Currently, the use of PhotoCircle on computers is exclusive to the Business Platform. And while they have mentioned plans to release a version for regular users in late 2023, it has not happened yet.

2. Which app is better for sharing photos?

DropEvent remains the best app to share photos because it lets you do so far and wide. For example, you can invite non-users to view and interact with your DropEvent gallery via email, link, or QR code.

3. Does PhotoCircle have a limit?

Yes, PhotoCircle has a limit. ****Images undergo compression and resizing, with a maximum limit of 3 megapixels. Video clips are restricted to a 60-second duration, featuring a 720p resolution.

4. What is the app that lets you share photos with a group?

DropEvent continues to excel as the premier app for photo sharing, enabling you to share your photos extensively and in various ways. Invite non-users to explore and engage with your DropEvent gallery through email, link, or QR code invitations.

5. How long can videos be on PhotoCircle?

Videos on PhotoCircle can be 60 seconds long.

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