Pic-Time is built around the sale: a print store wired to 30+ labs, slideshows, an album designer. It is good at that. Encore is built around what happens between the shutter and the client's phone.
vs
Pic-Time
SHA-256
Receipts chain
9:16
Reel auto-cut
365d
Anniversary email
1-of-1
Per-tenant brand
The argument
Pic-Time's published plans put a print store on every paid tier, with commission taken on your markup rather than the whole sale, and their higher tiers reduce or remove it and let you self-fulfil. Their top tier adds face recognition and selfie search so a guest can find themselves. That is a serious sell-side product and Encore does not have an equivalent shipping today.
So the reason to look elsewhere is not the storefront. It is that a gallery platform is also a delivery record, and Pic-Time is not built as one. Encore writes every view, favourite and download into a per-studio append-only chain where each event carries the hash of the one before it, so a changed row is detectable rather than silent, and the head is periodically countersigned by an independent timestamp authority. When a client says they never got the photos, that is a lookup instead of an argument.
The second difference is timing. Pit Pass turns a gallery live during the shoot, so frames land while the night is still going. For anyone shooting events where the client wants something to post before they go to bed, that is the whole product.
The third is identity. A Roll ID stays with a frame across every gallery it ever appears in, so the photo a magazine asks about in March is unambiguously the same file you delivered in October.
On storage, read both meters. Pic-Time's published free tier is 10GB reducing to 3GB after six months, with paid tiers at 20GB, 100GB and an unlimited top tier. Encore meters storage on every plan with no photo-count ceiling.
Where they fall short
DELIVERY AS EVIDENCE
Views, favourites and downloads are hash-chained per studio and exportable. Not a view counter you have to trust - a record where tampering is detectable, anchored periodically by a timestamp authority's own token.
LIVE DURING THE SHOOT
The gallery fills while you are still working. Guests are looking at the night before the night is over.
ONE ID, FOREVER
A permanent, quotable ID per frame that survives galleries, exports and reprints. Copying a photo somewhere else does not create a second identity for it.
TEN FINISHED THEMES
Soft Light for weddings, Marquee for music, Contact Sheet for sports, Field Notes for editorial, Heirloom for portraits. Custom domain, fonts and colours on top.
Brutal honesty
We respect your time enough to name when Pic-Time (or another platform) is genuinely the better call. Read this before you switch.
Pic-Time's store is on every paid plan, wired to 30+ labs, with commission only on your markup and self-fulfilment on higher tiers. Ours is not shipping. If gallery print revenue matters to you, this one is not close.
Pic-Time's top tier does face recognition and selfie search. Encore searches photo CONTENT and deliberately does not do face recognition. If a 400-guest wedding needs everyone finding their own photos unaided, that is a real gap.
Their album designer is part of the product. We have no equivalent and no plan to pretend otherwise.
Side by side
Live gallery during the shoot
Tamper-evident audit chain, exportable
Permanent Roll IDs across galleries
Print store
Commission on print sales
Client face / selfie search
Album designer
Custom domain
Watermarking
Metered by
One-tap 9:16 highlight reel
| Feature | Encore | Pic-Time |
|---|---|---|
| Live gallery during the shoot | Yes | No |
| Tamper-evident audit chain, exportable | Yes | No |
| Permanent Roll IDs across galleries | Yes | No |
| Print store | Not yet | Yes, 30+ labs |
| Commission on print sales | n/a | On your markup; reduced on higher tiers |
| Client face / selfie search | Content search, no face recognition | Yes, top tier |
| Album designer | No | Yes, top tier |
| Custom domain | Yes | Professional tier and above |
| Watermarking | Yes, per gallery + per frame | Yes |
| Metered by | Storage | Storage |
| One-tap 9:16 highlight reel | Yes | No |
Migration
Export a gallery from Pic-Time as a zip. Drop it on the Import page. We unzip, run every frame through the variant pipeline, and assign Roll IDs starting from your studio's next number. Multi-GB shoots run server-side so you can close the tab - Roll IDs appear as photos finalize.
Also comparing
Encore vs Pixieset
Pixieset is a filing cabinet. Encore is the gig.
Encore vs Picflow
Picflow looks great. Encore is built to ship.
Encore vs SmugMug
SmugMug answered 2002. The job is 2026.
Encore vs ShootProof
ShootProof runs your business. Encore ships the night.
Encore vs CloudSpot
Same shape. Different thing underneath.
Encore vs Dropbox
Dropbox is storage. A gallery is a delivery.