20 Best Creative Portfolio Websites – Need an Online Portfolio?

If you want more exposure, as a photographer or as an artist, having a portfolio website is always a good idea. Online portfolios are often created using a portfolio templates and WordPress tend to lead the field. Some however, implement unique solutions using custom-made designs that are fully tailored according their specifications and taste.

However, having your own website is not the only option, and with a website comes hosting agreements, platform maintenance, SEO work, social media promotion and so on. For an artist with limited or no programming or web-mastering skills, it takes time from creative work and it may be a challenge to keep a website up to date at all time.

If you want to devote more time to creating awesome artworks without worrying about the geeky aspects of web maintenance, a more viable solution would be to avail the services of hosted online portfolio websites. These websites can give you a professional portfolio with an added benefit of accessibility to other members and their loyal fans and followers. This is awesome since these platforms are not only websites to host online portfolio, but they also give you can opportunity to grow and be known quickly as an artist.If you consider this option you should do some research to find the solution that match your profile and needs best. Some sites are niche specific and focus in e.g. logo designs or photography while others embrace many creative branches.

In most cases, other members can constructively comment on your work and you can give comments to theirs. In addition, some of these websites have commercial aspects and allow you to sell your work or your creative services. This is mainly true for freelancer and design contest websites that you, as a designer, probably either love or hate. In this article, you will find a list of websites with good hosting offerings for your creative portfolio. You can also use these websites to find creative inspiration, design elements and so on. Check them out, share your thoughts, bookmark them or share this article to your friends at your pleasure.

Another great way to build portfolios are using WordPress. If you like WordPress, make sure to check out the thousands of fully-licensed premium themes found over at Envato Market.

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Behance – VISIT SITE

The leading online platform to showcase & discover creative work. The creative world updates their work in one place to broadcast it widely and efficiently. Companies explore the work and access talent on a global scale.

Krop – VISIT SITE

Krop is is a creative industry job board and portfolio hosting website used by the most talented candidates at all experience levels, and the globe’s most respected creative brands. It has a unique business model in the sense that your membership as a creative is free. Businesses who want to search database however have to purchase a Database Search Subscription to view the portfolios and resumes of highly qualified candidates.

Carbonmade  – VISIT SITE

Carbonmade is a free portfolio service that focuses on simplicity and ease of use. Basically, it is not the type of site where you can do a lot of things as it give particular attention to core functions of a portfolio. If you want to show-off your work without much hassle then definitely Carbonmade is right for you. Currently, it boasts of thousands of hundreds of thousands of portfolios of different artists across the globe. They also have premium membership option to access added features.

Coroflot – VISIT SITE

Coroflot creates better professional experiences for designers of all backgrounds all over the world. Whether it’s connecting designers with outstanding career opportunities, giving innovative companies access to leading talent, or bringing exposure to amazing design work, Coroflot is great portfolio platform for designers. It promotes dozens of design disciplines, including industrial, fashion, 3D modeling, architecture, illustration, graphic, UX and many more. Registration is free with unlimited file upload.

Shown’d – VISIT SITE

SHOWN’D aims to provide users with a centralized hub to maintain a portfolio and secure employment. Its powerful tools and clean design makes sure to keep the focus on the artist and their vision. Employers benefit from the vast array of creative professionals and artwork displayed on the web site as well as the tools provided for sorting through the various showcases. It has a free offering with capability to import your images from Flickr.

DeviantArt  – VISIT SITE

If you are looking for a good deal of exposure for your work, DeviantArt definitely is a great for you. DevianArt is an old and established site with millions of registered users who can give your creative profile a boost. It is an interactive community where you can have work critiqued to improvements.

Shadowness – VISIT SITE

When Meng To created Shadowness in 2001, he saw it as a personal art project. Little did he know that Shadowness would grow into an art community serving over 50,000 artists and designers, worldwide, as well as an audience of millions of viewers monthly. Shadowness visions itself to create a simple and powerful tool to allow artists and designers to connect to each other and share their work. It’s tight-knit, pretty picky about work, but always friendly, ready to help and learn.

Portfoliopen – VISIT SITE

Portfoliopen helps you create and manage your online portfolio website. Designed especially for designers, Portfoliopen has a user-friendly interface with features that help you create a professional looking portfolio in minutes without any HTML or programming. Portfoliopen is an easy tool to show off your work. It’s a worry free hosted solution, so you don’t have to install anything, no setup required, you don’t have to worry about hosting, programming, search engine optimization, and other weird things like that.

VoodooChilli – VISIT SITE

VoodooChilli is another online portfolio platform with professional look, easy to use interface and a large community of artists. It offers free membership that you can upgrade to premium account. The paid membership account features hosting of unlimited images, premium themes and branding options and many more.

LogoPond – VISIT SITE

LogoPond is a great portfolio site for those who are into logo design. As the name suggests, it is composed of active community of logo designers where they can upload their work and share them to the world. It is great for exposure and for getting critiques and suggestions.

Creative Binge – VISIT SITE

Seeing a gap in the online portfolio market, Creative Binge was created in 2007 to offer a simple way for creative people to share their work with others and be found by potential clients. With a strong focus on showcasing great work, Creative Binge also has plans to offer a unique method for competing in design competitions, friend networks and job board functions.

Design: Related – VISIT SITE

Design:Related is a community site with portfolio, inspiration, and news tools that brings together creative people from different disciplines (and parts) of the design and art world. The design:related community serves to motivate designers and creatives to share their work and visual ideas, network and collaborate with other creatives, and find job opportunities. It has an attractive and clean portfolio design with easy to use admin and dashboard panel, user tools and pages, as well as networking and activity systems.

Glossom – VISIT SITE

Glossom is a platform unlike any other for creative professionals from all mediums. Whether you work in fashion, design, photography, illustration, videomaking or any other creative media, Glossom allows you to organize your work in Collections and share them quickly throughout the digital world.  Glossom provides you with the tools you need to curate and promote your work or to explore other Collections for inspiration while working on your next professional or personal projects.  Glossom’s tools allow you to share visual snippets of your portfolio in an elegant, powerful and dynamic way. Like a Tweet or Facebook status update, The Collection in Glossom is an innovative social object designed for the digital world and not as a replica of the printed world. The Collection encourages creatives to maximize their reach and message in a fast visual format.

Creative Shake – VISIT SITE

CreativeShake is one of the awesome the online portfolio showcase for the world’s art community. Upload your portfolio for free and let your art be seen. Right now, there over 50,000 artists use this service. It also has a paid membership option where you can store more photos and videos.

Flickr – VISIT SITE

Perhaps, the one of the most popular websites for creative individuals especially photographers is Flickr. It has a large community of members and it a secure and stable platform to build a portfolio with. Powered by Yahoo, Flick membership is free but if you need more space for your data, you need to obtain a premium account.

500px – VISIT SITE

Another portfolio website for photographers that offer free hosting on a limited basis is 500px. It is a photo community powered by creative people worldwide that lets you discover, share, buy and sell inspiring photographs. It does only allow you to upload your work but also gives you a possibility to sell them. You can also build cool photography websites yourself using photography themes for platforms like WordPress.

Crevado – VISIT SITE

Crevado is an online tool which makes it easy for Artists, Illustrators, Photographers and other creatives to create an online portfolio so they can showcase their work online. With Crevado, it’s also possible to sell your work online – its PayPal integration makes it a cinch to receive payments online. Crevado is free, quick and easy to use – you don’t need to be a technical guru or programming whizz. You can manage your entire online portfolio yourself using just a web browser. Crevado Portfolio sites are designed to impress and are perfect for promoting you and your awesome creations.

Creattica – VISIT SITE

Creattica is a gallery of great design and inspirational imagery. Anyone can submit their work for consideration and voting on items is open to one and all. The best work is accepted and featured in the gallery which receives thousands of visitors every day. To start submitting your work simply create an account and then go to the Submit Form.Submissions take up to a few days to review depending on the volume of work coming in. To vote on other people’s work you’ll also need an account.

Dripbook – VISIT SITE

With Dripbook your portfolios are the focus, allowing you to impress clients and collaborators alike. Dripbook’s drag-and-drop organize section allows you to create, assemble, and re-arrange portfolios easily. If you want to be a member, you have 30 day trial period. After which you can choose an account whether it is standard, pro, or premium.

Viewbook – VISIT SITE

Viewbook enables image creators to design and manage their portfolio websites and show their work in a flexible and beautiful way – on the Web, iPad and iPhone.

Sonny M. Day

Sonny M. Day is a passionate SEO and web design enthusiast who loves photography, mountain climbing, snorkeling and dirt bike riding.