Flickr vs. Picasa
I have recently been going back and forth on using Flickr and Picasa Web Albums.
Inspired by a recent comment left on a photo I shared, I decided to do a comparison between the two, and why I have come to selecting Picasa as my choice of sharing photos online.
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FEATURE |
FLICKR OR PICASA |
NOTES |
|
Photo Storage (Free) |
Picasa |
As a free account, Picasa allows you to store 1 GB of photos, while Flickr allows 200 photos. Unless I was uploading 5MB/photo to Picasa, I can store more pictures on Picasa than Flickr |
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Photo Storage (Full) |
Flickr |
Unlimited photo storage for Flickr $25/yr) vs, Picasa’s
|
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Desktop Tool |
Picasa |
Absolutely no comparison here. Picasa’s desktop tool allows you to organize, edit, and manage your photos easily, including uploading and downloading of photos. You can even download other people’s photos using the desktop tool. Flickr is a simple upload utility. |
|
Tagging |
Flickr |
Though both allow tagging of photos, Flickr allows mass tagging, while Picasa does not |
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Sharing |
Picasa |
Both can do public and private sharing, but to share private photos in Flickr, it requires the other users to create or have a Flickr account. Flickr has more options around privacy and how to share, but for me, it is not applicable for how I share pictures |
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Notes/Captions |
Flickr |
Only the owner can add a caption to the photo in Picasa. In Flickr, users can not only add notes, but can add them on the photo themselves |
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Comments |
Tie |
Both work essentially the same |
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Organization / Managing of Photoes |
Picasa |
This is strictly a matter of preference. In Flickr, it’s a 2 folded answer – if you have a free account, Picasa wins because you are not limited to the number of sets/albums. If you have a pro account in Flickr, then it’s a tie. You can organize, manage, edit, your sets and photos all online in Flickr, but you can do the same (and even a bit more) with the Picasa desktop tool. I prefer managing my photos offline, and uploading the photos I want to share. |
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Web 2.0 |
Flickr |
No comparison Picasa has some community blog and photo sharing, but it’s nothing like Flickr |
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Ease of Use |
Picasa |
Strictly a subjective criteria, but I find for what I use photo sharing, Picasa is a much better option for me. I manage my photos offline, and upload them online to share with friends and family. I’m not interested in managing it online (even as cool as Flickr is on that), nor in photo communities. |
In conclusion, the biggest factors that made me go with Picasa is the desktop tool, the value for the price (free), and the ease of use of the site and tool. Though Flickr has a lot of cool online options, I just don't prefer to use/manage photo sharing in that manner.