Both let you store and share photos. But they solve very different problems. Here's an honest breakdown of when to use each.
| feature | ZipGallery | Google Photos |
|---|---|---|
| AI-generated titles & alt text | ✓ Yes — AI-generated metadata | ✕ No |
| SEO-friendly gallery pages | ✓ Structured data, custom slugs | ✕ Not indexable by Google |
| Share without viewer login | ✓ Public link, no account needed | ~ Link sharing, but Google account encouraged |
| Embed in website / WordPress | ✓ Embeds via iframe | ✕ No direct embed support |
| Custom gallery URL | ✓ /g/your-slug | ✕ Long random Google URL |
| Batch ZIP upload | ✓ Upload hundreds of photos at once | ✕ Individual or folder sync only |
| WebP image optimisation | ✓ Auto-converted, 3 variants | ✕ Compressed but not web-optimised |
| IPTC metadata in downloads | ✓ Available on Pro+ | ✕ No |
| Mobile photo backup | ✕ Not a backup tool | ✓ Automatic from iOS & Android |
| Face recognition | ✕ No | ✓ Yes |
| Free storage | 1 gallery / 50 images free | ✓ 15 GB shared with Google account |
| Smart tagging / albums | ✓ AI categories, Smart Albums | ✓ Auto-albums (date/place) |
| Privacy control | ✓ Public / private per gallery | ~ Link sharing only, no granular control |
| No Google account required for viewers | ✓ Completely account-free viewing | ✕ Often prompts for Google login |
| Pricing | Free + £5/mo Pro | ✓ Free up to 15 GB |
Google Photos is fundamentally a personal photo backup and library tool. It excels at keeping your phone photos safe, helping you find old memories, and sharing informally with family. But it was never built for professional delivery or public web galleries.
ZipGallery is built specifically for the moment when you need to publish a gallery on the web and share it with someone who shouldn't need a Google account. Every gallery gets a clean URL, every image gets AI-written metadata, and the result is something you can embed in a website or send to a client without them seeing Google's UI.
For photographers, content creators, or anyone presenting photos professionally, these differences matter significantly. Google Photos links look like photos.app.goo.gl/AbCdEfGhIjKl and may prompt viewers to sign in. ZipGallery galleries look like zipgallery.co.uk/g/barcelona-trip and open immediately in a clean viewer.
This is the most important difference for anyone who wants their photos to be found online. Google Photos albums are not indexed by search engines — not even by Google Search itself. The URLs are not crawlable, there are no title tags, and there is no alt text on images.
ZipGallery galleries are fully crawlable. Each page has a title, meta description, and structured data. Every image has AI-generated alt text. This means your gallery can appear in Google image search, attract organic traffic, and be accessible to screen readers — none of which is possible with Google Photos.
Create your first gallery in minutes. Upload a ZIP, let AI write the metadata, and share a clean link — no Google account required.
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