Whether you’re a UX designer, freelance writer, or photographer, an impressive online portfolio is critical for impressing potential clients and landing future jobs.
But crafting a good digital portfolio can feel like a daunting task, especially when you aren’t even sure which website you should use to create one. Here, we’ve created a list of the best portfolio websites for designers, freelancers, and photographers to ensure you can showcase your best work in any industry.
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Examples of your work one could display in an online portfolio include:
- Photographs
- Writing samples
- Case studies
- Spreadsheets
- Lesson plans
What you include in your online portfolio varies depending on your field and expertise. So to better help you choose a portfolio builder for your needs, let’s dive into some of our favorite portfolio websites to help you make your own, according to your needs.
Best Free Portfolio Websites for Freelance Writers
1. Journo Portfolio
You can easily create a sleek, modern digital portfolio on Journo Portfolio. The site offers nine distinct themes, and adding an article is as easy as pasting a URL and clicking add — the site takes care of incorporating the title, publication, date, content, and image. Features include integrating with Google Analytics or using Journo’s built-in analytics tools to measure visitors. Additionally, your site is automatically mobile-ready.
You can also blog straight from the platform, which could be helpful if you want to showcase freelance work and your current blog in one place. Journo lets you create multiple pages with a Contact Me or About Me page and your freelance portfolio.
Pros
- Live preview editor
- Built-in analytics plus Google Analytics integration
- Pre-built themes
- Subscribe and contact forms
- Mobile-friendly
Cons
- Free plan limits you to 10 articles max
- For unlimited articles, you’ll need to pay $5-$10 per month
2. Muck Rack
Muck Rack is a free media database that helps connect journalists with PR professionals, so if you use the site, you’ll have good opportunities to network and receive PR pitches. You can even include topics you don’t want to cover, filtering out unfit pitches.
Additionally, for true ease of use, Muck Rack creates and maintains your portfolio for you by automatically compiling articles and social media profiles. Once it’s finished, you have the option to customize your bio or choose to spotlight certain pieces.
Muck Rack also offers a news alerts system, which enables you to track stories or tweets about a company, brand, or specific story angle. With their news alerts system, you can see when other journalists share information or publish stories related to your work, which will help you stay on top of trends.
Pros
- Ideal for journalists
- Auto-updates profile
- News alerts system for tracking stories and trends
- Allows you to build media lists easily
Cons
- Some formatting issues when uploading content from Excel
- Doesn’t integrate with other reporting and monitoring tools
3. WordPress
WordPress, a major content management platform, lets you create a free blog with a separate portfolio page. While not explicitly geared towards freelance writers, WordPress offers over 100 free themes to craft a unique blog and showcase your work. This is a good option for you if you want complete creative control over your portfolio.
You might also choose to use WordPress if you want to showcase your writing and other skills. Suppose you want a page for writing or photography, for instance. In that case, WordPress offers a variety of themes and is flexible enough to enable you to demonstrate various pieces of creative work.
Pros
- Ideal for bloggers
- Can create portfolio page separate from blog
- 100+ free themes available
- Comes with SSL certificate and JetPack features for improving website performance
Cons
- Free plan shows ads
- Limited storage at 3 GB
4. Clippings.me
Clippings.me is a site with a simplified approach to sharing your best articles, collateral, or other types of marketing materials.
You can upload your PDFs, links, and related multimedia to Clippings.me to create a sharp-looking portfolio that specific categories of your choosing can categorize. You can even use social links on your page for other professionals to reach you more easily.
In addition to uploading and maintaining your own portfolio, you can browse through other freelancers’ pages to network and potentially gain prospective clients or collaborators.
Pros
- Designed intuitively for writers — by writers
- Ideal for beginner or experienced writers looking to expand their careers
- Offers a journalism directory
Cons
- Can only feature up to 10 articles under the free plan
Best Free Portfolio Websites for Designers
5. Behance
With millions of UX/UI designers, artists, and photographers on the site, Behance is one of the most widely-used online portfolio websites. It’s also straightforward to use — you can organize your work based on the project, list projects under construction, and ask followers for feedback. Additionally, the site allows you to link your portfolio to your social media accounts.
Behance’s massive digital community makes it an excellent option to get your name out there, particularly since recruiters and interviewers peruse the site to find talent. However, Behance displays the number of people who have viewed and liked your work, which can be more advantageous — but riskier — than a more straightforward website portfolio.
Pros
- Ideal for creatives who don’t have time to create their own standalone portfolio site
- Can get feedback from followers
- Includes social proof in terms of views and likes on portfolio site
Cons
- Limited design and feature options on free plan
- The display of views and likes can be risky if not enough people see or appreciate a project
6. Adobe Portfolio
If you already have a Creative Cloud membership, then Adobe Portfolio is an excellent option to create a single-page website or a full gallery of your work. With Adobe Portfolio, you can set up a sleek and customized portfolio in minutes, and each of the platform’s themes are automatically optimized for any device.
Additionally, Adobe Portfolio offers the ability to integrate with Behance and Adobe Lightroom to import your projects for greater visibility.
Pros
- Option to create multi- or single-page website
- Offers 18 responsive themes
- Integrations with Behance and Adobe Lightroom
Cons
- Only free if you have Creative Cloud membership
7. Fabrik
Fabrik is the portfolio platform for creatives. Designers can organize their projects without touching any code with unique website styling and technology. This enables users to upload their portfolios easily and even supports blogging capabilities.
Fabrik’s themes are intuitive and made adaptable to your project content needs. This flexibility lets users experiment with multiple layouts designed to compliment media formats needed, whether it’s graphic design, fashion, or more. With straightforward configurations, the Fabrik portfolio is an easy choice to build and maintain your portfolio across all devices.
Pros
- Ideal for creative designers of various specialties
- Allows an unlimited number of blog posts
- Responsive customer support
Cons
- Have to integrate other functionalities like ecommerce or other third-party extensions externally
8. Crevado
One of the most straightforward free portfolio websites, Crevado lets you use a simple drag-and-drop tool to upload your projects and rearrange them on the screen for true ease of use. The site is also automatically optimized for any device, so your portfolio can be viewed on a smartphone, tablet, or desktop.
Crevado also has secure hosting and SSL certification, so your portfolio site remains secure. You can customize your design to suit your preferences without writing any code. Best of all, you can sell your work online thanks to the platform’s integrations with PayPal and Fotomoto.
The only downside is that free users can’t remove the link to Crevado in their website footer. You’ll have to upgrade to a pro account to do so.
Pros
- Drag-and-drop interface
- Responsive designs
- Secure hosting and SSL certification
- PayPal and Fotomoto integrations allow you to sell work
Cons
- Free plan shows Crevado link in website footer
9. Pixpa
Pixpa is an all-in-one, DIY website building platform designed to empower creative professionals, freelance writers, and business owners by helping them build feature-rich, professional websites without touching a single line of code.
Pixpa offers a range of modern, mobile-friendly, and responsive templates which can be fully customized using the easy-to-use visual editor and drag-and-drop page builder. Rich features, including blogging tools, built-in SEO and marketing tools, social media integrations, multiple gallery options, ecommerce functionality, make Pixpa the perfect portfolio-building platform for writers and creative professionals. The full-fledged blogging platform powered by an intuitive and versatile WYSIWYG editor, allows you to create, edit, schedule, and publish blog posts, all in one place.
Pros
- Beginner-friendly, no-code website building platform
- Extensive SEO tools allow you to add custom tags and metadata
- SSL security on all websites
- 24×7 customer support through email and live chat
Cons
- No built-in options for purchasing custom domain names
10. Dunked
Dunked is a platform built with designers and creatives in mind. With over 100,000 users, this online portfolio builder lets you share your talents on a stylish and simplistic website.
Dunked’s gallery of professionally designed templates are crafted to complement your creativity and focus on your work. Choose the best meant for your aesthetic and switch between themes when they suit you.
Upload images or multimedia from sites like YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr, SoundCloud, then drag and drop until the website looks exactly how you want.
Pros
- Ideal for designers and other creative professionals
- All templates full responsive and retina-display ready
- Click-and-drag simply website editing tool to customize your portfolio
Cons
- HTML and CSS knowledge necessary for more extensive customization
- Can’t support case studies or blog posts
Best Free Portfolio Websites for Photographers
11. Flickr
Undoubtedly one of the most well-known portfolio sites with billions of photos and millions of members, Flickr is a good site to share your own work, connect with other photographers, and find inspiration for future projects.
However, Flickr’s community-oriented platform can make it difficult to showcase your best work and appear professional — particularly since the site is used to share images with friends and family. For this reason, many designers also suggest creating a more polished portfolio website and then linking to that website from Flickr.
Pros
- Ideal for photographers just starting out
- Great to connect with others and find inspiration
Cons
- Limited to GIF, PNG, and JPEG photo formats
- Limited to 1,000 photos on free plan
12. Portfoliobox
Portfoliobox is a website builder specifically designed for photographers, and it’s a good option for crafting a professional-looking responsive gallery of your best work.
Portfoliobox offers an ecommerce link that allows you to sell your prints or other artwork directly from the site (without paying any commission). With the free plan, you can create a blog further to attract visitors and potential customers to your site.
Best of all, Portfoliobox doesn’t make you use a standard theme — instead, you can integrate any style for any page to cultivate a unique, one-of-a-kind website. With more than one million users, it’s a good option for professional and novice photographers.
Pros
- Ideal for photographers at any skill level
- Can sell prints on this site commission-free
- Can use different styles for every page
Cons
- No drag-and-drop functionality
- Limited customization options for ecommerce
13. Krop
Krop is a creative industry portfolio hosting website used by the most talented candidates at all experience levels and the globe’s most respected creative brands.
With Krop’s software, creatives can spend less time editing and formatting and more on their own projects. Curating portfolio albums is done quickly, and the software offers powerful customizations for personal brandings like logos, color palettes, and more.
This site also serves as a job board, helping professionals network with one another across the globe. Users can strategically place themselves in front of respected creative brands and find work at all experience levels, too.
Pros
- Ideal for creative professionals such as photographers, illustrators, or animators
- Password protection for individual albums to share with clients privately
- Unlimited storage for multimedia
- No HTML or CSS knowledge is necessary
Cons
- The majority of job postings are limited to the United States
14. YouPic
YouPic’s users include famous photographers like Joel Meyerowitz and Julia Fullerton-Batten. Another site specifically designed for photographers, YouPic, enables you to craft a free stunning portfolio to showcase your work. It also allows you to buy prints from other photographers or sell your own to earn additional income.
Additionally, the site offers interactive courses to improve your photography skills and a Pinterest-style “Explore” page that lets you check out famous photographs, new artwork, and stories to inspire your gallery. And most interesting to note, YouPic allows users to copyright their photos on the blockchain, and it’s the first decentralized photography platform. That means YouPic is one of the few platforms that won’t take any rights or ownership of your work.
Pros
- Can sell prints on this site commission-free
- Can copyright photos on blockchain
- Doesn’t take any rights or ownership of your work
Cons
- Premium membership is required for YouPic to promote your work
15. Format
Format is a portfolio website for photographers looking to create and curate their own digital gallery or store. Built with tools to help you build a professional website, it offers solutions for supporting a photography business, plus cloud storage to protect your work.
Format has a suite of templates made to fit any aesthetic. It’s designed to serve particular professional situations best, such as for wedding photography or to showcase your artworks. It can also change how viewers navigate your work, from gallery formats to more interactive scrolling or slideshow options.
Pros
- Ideal for professional photographers
- Can support high-quality photos
- Can integrate online stores with no fees for sales
Cons
- The interface comes with a learning curve, but users don’t have to worry about code
Creating Your Online Portfolio
An online portfolio provides evidence of your work and skills, which can set you apart from other candidates or professionals in your field. Using any of the tools above, you can create a free portfolio in no time. What are you waiting for?
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in April 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
