Review: Picasa vs. Flickr

So I've been trying to decide on a way to post our images online for about two weeks.

I looked at both Google's product: Picasa, and Yahoo's product: Flickr. I decided to go with a Flickr pro account ($24.95 per year- unlimited space, unlimited sets/collections), and heres why:

I was looking for several qualities that would help with image management and found Picasa to be somewhat limiting. The largest drawback in my mind is Picasa's organization functions. I like the fact that Flickr gives you the ability to place photos into sets, and sets into collections. Its like using a folder and sub-folder system. Picasa doesn't seem to include this functionality, all you get are albums (just like sets in Flickr). Tags are a huge bonus, but are available on both applications (this is a way for you to label your imagery and quickly recall them later).

I found Picasa's site to be somewhat lacking and not as user friendly to navigate as an end user. In stark contrast Flickr definately seems easier to use and well laid out. The only beef I have with Flickr's site is you are somewhat limited in how it can look (no color changes and minimal layout options). The batch comands in each application seem robust and easy enough to use.

I downloaded Picasa's software to my computer and found it immediately frustrating to use. It found every image on my computer and basically collected them into their own groups. Now it didn't move any of them obviously, but the user interface was horrible to use. I suddenly had over a thousand new "folders" full of images.

It felt cumbersome and lacking in many ways. On the other side of the spectrum, Flickr's uploader tool, while stripped of most functionality that Picasa includes (aka, editing), does its job beautifully to help you upload your images directly to your Flickr account. Sure its like comparing apples with oranges, but it was simple, easy to install and easier still to use.

Besides all of this, Flickr offers a tracking service that helps you keep tally on just how much exposure your photos are getting. Compare the data limit between the two and theres even less contest- unlimited space with Flickr versus an extra 10 GB in Picasa (you begin with 1024 mb available by the way), and this for roughly the same price- its nearly laughable.

The one thing that I did like from Picasa that Flickr doesn't offer, was its wonderful people labeling system. This is perhaps easiest replicated in Flickr by using tags.

So I've decided to stick with Flickr and build our photo albums with it...