The verdict for a photography site
A photography site needs storage, bandwidth and image caching more than CPU. A shared cPanel plan carries a portfolio comfortably, and L-Basic at ₹300 a month before 18% GST is where most photographers should start. Client proofing, downloads and print sales are a different product, rented from a gallery platform.
- Portfolio site: shared hosting, WordPress or a static gallery, your own domain.
- Client delivery: a gallery platform with passwords, download limits and print orders.
- Archive: masters on a local drive plus an offsite copy, never only on the web server.
What a photographer needs from a host
Five things decide the plan, and only one of them is about power.
- Disk for web-sized images, which is far smaller than the shoot archive.
- Bandwidth for people scrolling a full gallery, not just a landing page.
- Caching that serves repeated gallery views without rebuilding the page each time.
- HTTPS on the whole site, because browsers mark plain HTTP as not secure.
- A backup you have actually restored once.
Sizing starts from what you publish. A gallery of 60 photos exported at roughly 2048 pixels on the long edge, in WebP, is a few dozen megabytes. Ten such galleries still fit inside an entry shared plan. Uploading 40 MB camera files to a gallery is what makes a host look slow.
The four routes compared
Two of these host a site you own and two rent you a platform. The prices below are WebJi's own, before 18% GST.
| Route | Price band (₹, before GST) | Panel | Support channel | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shared cPanel hosting | 300–700 per month (L-Basic to L-Developer) | cPanel with Softaculous | Email, 24/7 | A portfolio site and a blog you own |
| WordPress hosting | 400 per month (WordPress Unlimited) | cPanel, WordPress preconfigured | Email, 24/7 | A WordPress portfolio with plugins and updates |
| Portfolio platform | Vendor subscription, billed yearly | Vendor editor only | Vendor's own desk | A site you never want to maintain |
| Client gallery platform | Vendor subscription, often by storage | Vendor dashboard only | Vendor's own desk | Proofing, downloads and print sales |
The rented routes remove maintenance and remove the export. If the portfolio has to last a decade and survive a platform changing its plans, keep it on a host you control and rent only the delivery layer.
Keep the gallery fast on a shared plan
Speed on an image-heavy site is an export decision before it is a hosting decision. These five steps carry most of the gain.
- Export gallery images at about 2048 pixels on the long edge, not at full resolution.
- Save as WebP where the plugin supports it, with a JPEG fallback.
- Lazy-load everything below the first screen, and leave the hero image eager so the largest element paints first.
- Turn on LiteSpeed cache in cPanel, and purge it after you publish a new gallery.
- Serve responsive sizes so a phone does not download the desktop file.
You know it worked when a phone on mobile data loads the first gallery screen in a couple of seconds and later images fill in as you scroll, without the layout jumping. If the origin still serves a multi-megabyte file per photo, the plan is not the problem.
Client proofing and print sales belong on a gallery platform
Delivery is a product: password-protected galleries, download limits, favourites, expiry dates, invoices and print fulfilment. Building that on a shared account means a plugin stack, a payment gateway and a support burden every time a client cannot open a link.
The split that works is boring and reliable. The hosted site carries the portfolio, the about page, the enquiry form and the pricing page. The gallery platform carries the shoot. Link the two, and the client never sees the seam.
Back up the work you cannot reshoot
Hosting backups protect the site. They are not an archive, because a deleted gallery and a failed server can both remove the only copy on that account.
- Keep camera masters on two local drives, one of them off-site.
- Keep the published gallery files in the hosting account, with its own backup schedule.
- Add an offsite copy for the site itself: WebJi's Backup.Help plan includes 200 GB at ₹1,300 a month before 18% GST.
- Restore one file from the backup once, so you know the archive is readable.
The backup solutions page covers the plans, and hosting for portfolio sites covers the design side of the same decision.
When to email support
Email support@webji.services when image uploads fail partway, HTTPS stops working after a domain change, or a migration needs the database and the uploads folder moved together. Include the domain, the plan and the error the browser or uploader shows.
Email support is 24/7 in Hindi and English, with an average first reply under 60 minutes. The office phone is not a support line. Plans are billed in INR with 18% GST added on the invoice, on shared hosting that includes LiteSpeed, NVMe storage and a free SSL certificate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which hosting is best for photography websites?
A shared cPanel plan with NVMe storage, LiteSpeed caching and a free SSL certificate carries a portfolio site. WebJi L-Basic is ₹300 a month before 18% GST, and L-Developer at ₹700 a month gives more CPU and processes when galleries get busy.
How much storage does a photography portfolio need?
Publish web-sized exports, not camera files. A gallery of 60 images exported at about 2048 pixels on the long edge is a few dozen megabytes, so a portfolio of several galleries fits well inside a shared plan; the masters belong on a local drive and an offsite backup.
Do I need a CDN for a photography site?
Not at first. LiteSpeed cache and correctly sized WebP images do most of the work for a portfolio with moderate traffic. Add a CDN when visitors are spread across continents or when a launch sends a burst of traffic to one gallery.
Can I deliver client galleries from my own hosting?
You can, but it is a different job: password-protected delivery, download limits, favourites and print orders are features of a gallery platform. Rent that, and keep the hosted site for the portfolio and enquiries.
How do I back up a photography website?
Keep the masters off the web server, take a hosting backup of the site and database, and add an offsite copy. WebJi's Backup.Help plan includes 200 GB of storage at ₹1,300 a month before 18% GST for sites that hold work you cannot reshoot.
Will a cheap shared plan slow my galleries down?
Only if the images are oversized. A 6 MB export from a full-frame camera will feel slow on any plan; the same photo at 2048 pixels in WebP loads quickly. Fix the export before you buy a bigger server.