An objective comparison of MesGaleries and Lumys: pricing, features, and the strengths of each platform. A guide to choosing the right solution for your photography business.
Article updated in October 2026: we have added the photographer website, now included with MesGaleries, and updated Lumys's plans.
Are you torn between MesGaleries and Lumys for hosting and delivering your client photo galleries? This factual comparison, best read alongside our other platform comparisons, will help you decide in just a few minutes.
We present the real strengths of each platform, including the areas where Lumys does better than MesGaleries, and we say plainly what MesGaleries adds: selfie face recognition, collaborative galleries, and a website and blog included in the subscription. The prices and quotas quoted can be checked on both platforms' websites.
Lumys at a glance
Lumys is a French platform well established among professional photographers. It offers a free Essai plan (10 GB, 15% commission on sales), then three commission-free plans: Starter at €9/month billed annually (30 GB), Pro at €25/month (500 GB) and Premium at €40/month (1,000 GB), or €11, €30 and €48 when paid monthly. Its recognized strengths are triple backup, schedulable automatic archiving, and phone support based in France. The interface is geared toward the traditional workflows of professional photographers.
Detailed comparison table
| Criterion | MesGaleries | Lumys |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | French 🇫🇷 | French 🇫🇷 |
| Data stored in France | Yes | Yes |
| Free plan | Yes: Free plan (5 GB, 2 galleries), with no time limit | Yes: Essai plan (10 GB), with a 15% commission on sales |
| Entry-level paid plan | €15/month or €150/year (80 GB) | €9/month billed annually, €11 month to month (30 GB) |
| Photographer website | Yes: no-code visual editor and contact form from Standard (€15/month); pages, blog and custom domain name from Gold (€28/month) | No: galleries are embedded in your existing website; domain name for galleries from the Pro plan (€300/year) or as an add-on (€65 excl. VAT) |
| Collaborative multi-photographer gallery | Yes (since 2010) | No |
| Face recognition | Yes, by selfie, from the Free plan | No |
| Triple backup | Double | Yes (key strength) |
| Automatic archiving | Manual | Automatic and schedulable (key strength) |
| Phone support | Email/ticket < 18 min | Phone (key strength) |
| Eco-friendly solar-powered hosting | Yes | Not disclosed |
| Sovereign AI | Yes (Mistral AI, run locally) | Not disclosed |
The real strengths of Lumys
Let's be clear about the concrete advantages of Lumys, some of which go beyond what we offer:
- A long-standing French platform, mature and well known in the industry
- A lot of storage for the price: 500 GB from the Pro plan (€25/month billed annually), 1,000 GB on Premium
- Automatic triple backup of your data for maximum security
- Schedulable archiving with automatic client notification
- Local phone support based in France, valued by professionals
- Built-in protection with watermarking and right-click blocking
- A free Essai plan with 10 GB, funded by a 15% commission on sales
- An established community of French professional photographers
What MesGaleries does better
Here is what MesGaleries offers that Lumys does not, or not in the same way:
- Selfie face recognition, included in every plan, Free plan included: decisive for sports and event photography
- Collaborative multi-photographer gallery: a MesGaleries signature since 2010, not available on Lumys
- Photographer website and blog included in the subscription (details below)
- Automatic face blurring to respect image rights
- Déroulé module to plan the schedule of the big day
- Official extension for Adobe Photoshop from the Standard plan, and the option to connect your own AI (Mistral, ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini) on every plan
- Interface available in English, as well as in French, Spanish and German
- Free plan with no time limit (5 GB, 2 galleries, no credit card)
- Eco-friendly hosting, powered by solar energy
- French AI from Mistral AI, integrated and run locally
- One-click gallery creation
- Support based in France, average response time under 18 minutes, weekends included
Your website in the same place as your galleries. Since August 2026, you have been able to build your photographer website on mesgaleries.com without writing any code: you edit text directly on the page, drag and drop sections to rearrange them, and your changes are saved automatically. The home page, which links to your showcase galleries, and the contact form are included from the Standard plan (€15/month or €150/year). The Gold plan (€28/month or €280/year) adds extra pages, a built-in blog to support your SEO, and the option to connect your own domain name, under which your galleries appear as well. Lumys does not offer a website: its galleries are embedded in a site that you build and pay for elsewhere. With MesGaleries, your website, blog, galleries and store come under a single subscription.
When to choose MesGaleries
MesGaleries is the best choice if you are a wedding photographer who needs a collaborative gallery, a sports or event photographer for whom face recognition changes everything, or if you would rather have your website, blog and galleries in a single subscription than build and pay for your website separately.
The permanent Free plan lets you try it out without any sales pressure, for as long as you like. Photographers who care about sustainability and digital sovereignty (French AI) will also find that it shares their values.
When to prefer Lumys
Lumys is the natural choice if you prioritize schedulable automatic archiving and phone support from an experienced French team. It is a mature platform with an established and respected professional community.
Photographers used to traditional workflows who value automatic triple backup will find Lumys a proven, reliable solution. Among other French platforms, see also our MesGaleries vs Jingoo comparison.
Our recommendation
For a wedding, sports or event photographer who wants face recognition, collaborative galleries and a website all in one place, MesGaleries is the best choice. Lumys remains the better option if what you want above all is a lot of storage, automatic archiving and phone support.
The MesGaleries Free plan can be used indefinitely and lets you test the platform on two galleries, with no time limit. You can create your account in under a minute, upload a test gallery, and judge the interface for yourself. Full plan details are public.
To discover solutions tailored to your specific line of work, visit our dedicated pages by specialty: wedding, sports, equestrian, school, real estate, events, portrait, photo booth, newborn, cycling, performing arts, food, animal, automotive.
