A Practical Software Directory for Solo Builders
Showing prospective clients what you can do
A portfolio brings together selected examples of your work and helps prospective clients understand your skills, experience and approach.
Tools in this category will help you to...
Organise work samples, explain your contribution to projects and share a public showcase or private client gallery. Some tools provide a simple page for examples and contact details; others include image delivery, client selections and sales. Choose the features that suit your work, whether that means linking to published articles, explaining a design project or presenting a collection of photographs.
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Behance is Adobe’s creative portfolio platform, where designers, illustrators, photographers and other creatives present their work through individual projects. Combine images, text, video and other media to explain a brief, show your process and present the finished result. Each project has a shareable link and appears on your profile, while visitors can follow your work and explore related creative fields. Basic profiles and project publishing are free. Optional Behance Pro features include detailed analytics, additional profile customisation and private sharing controls. It provides a public showcase within a creative community, with the layout and presentation options offered by that platform.
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Carrd lets you build a responsive one-page portfolio without writing code. Start with a template, then add a short introduction, images, work samples, links to published projects and a way for prospective clients to contact you. It can suit writers, consultants, developers and creatives who need a compact showcase. The free plan supports up to three sites on a Carrd address, with Carrd branding. Pro Standard costs US$19 a year and adds custom domains, contact forms and branding removal, among other features. Your domain is purchased separately. Larger portfolios with many individual project pages may need a different approach.
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jAlbum is desktop software for Windows, macOS and Linux that turns photos and videos into online galleries. Organise work into albums, choose a gallery design and add captions to explain individual images or projects. Publish the finished galleries to your own website or use jAlbum’s hosting service. This gives photographers, artists and designers a way to maintain an image portfolio alongside an existing site. The free edition is limited to small, non-commercial galleries. Commercial portfolios require a paid Pro licence for your own hosting, or a suitable jAlbum hosting plan with commercial rights. Gallery features vary with the chosen design.
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SmugMug helps photographers organise images, share galleries and present their work online. Its Portfolio and Pro plans include customisable portfolio websites and tools for selling prints and digital downloads, with print orders handled through connected labs. Privacy controls let you decide which galleries are public and which are shared with clients. Paid plans include unlimited full-resolution JPEG storage; RAW-file backup is a separate paid addition. A 14-day free trial lets you explore the platform before choosing a membership. There is no ongoing free plan, so consider whether you need its photo storage and delivery features alongside a public portfolio.
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Zenfolio combines photography portfolio websites with galleries for sharing and delivering client work. Choose a website template, organise photographs into collections and provide galleries where clients can review and select images. Depending on your plan, you can also sell prints and digital downloads, use your own domain and add booking or marketing tools. It can suit photographers who want their public portfolio and client workflow in one service. A 14-day free trial requires no credit card, with a paid subscription needed afterwards. Compare storage allowances, selling features and optional extras before choosing a plan, particularly if you only need a basic showcase.
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