If you edit in Lightroom Classic, your proofing tool choice comes down to one question: how do client selections get back into your catalog?
Every proofing platform handles the gallery side well enough. Clients browse photos, tap their favorites, submit. That part is mostly solved. The part that varies wildly is what happens after. Some platforms give you a CSV. Some give you a list of filenames. Some give you nothing at all and expect you to figure it out. And one syncs selections directly into your Lightroom catalog with a plugin.
This guide compares the major client proofing options specifically through the lens of a Lightroom Classic user. Not "which platform has the nicest gallery themes" — which one gets you from client submission to editing fastest.
What to Look For
Before diving into specific tools, here's what actually matters when you're choosing a proofing platform as a Lightroom Classic user:
How selections come back to you. This is the big one. Does the platform export a CSV? A list of filenames? Do you have to copy and paste them into Lightroom's text filter one by one? Or does something smarter happen?
Client experience. How easy is it for your clients to view photos and make their picks? Does it work on mobile? Do they need to create an account or download an app? Can you set selection limits so they don't pick 300 photos from a 500-photo gallery?
Upload and setup time. How long does it take you to go from "finished culling" to "client has a link"? Some platforms make this painless. Others involve multiple steps, export presets, and manual configuration.
Pricing. Most platforms have free tiers, but they vary in what's included. Storage limits, branding, download restrictions — the details matter.
Pixieset
Pixieset is the most widely used proofing and gallery platform among wedding photographers. It's been around since 2013 and has a massive user base.
Client experience: Clean, modern galleries. Clients can favorite photos and download selections. Mobile-friendly. The selection interface is straightforward — clients tap a heart icon to mark favorites. You can set selection limits and deadlines. No app download needed.
How selections come back to you: This is where it gets manual. When your client submits their favorites, Pixieset gives you a list of selected filenames. You can download the selected photos as a ZIP, but if you want to find those photos in your Lightroom catalog, you're matching filenames yourself. The common workflow is to copy the filenames and use Lightroom's text filter or Library Filter bar to find them. For 50 photos this is tedious. For 200 it's a real time sink.
Lightroom integration: Pixieset has a Lightroom Classic plugin, but it only handles uploads — you can publish photos from Lightroom directly to your Pixieset galleries. It's a one-way sync. There's no way to pull client selections back into Lightroom through the plugin. You're still working with exported filenames for the return trip.
Pricing: Free plan available with Pixieset branding and 3GB storage. Paid plans start at $8/month.
Bottom line: Pixieset is a solid all-around platform, but it treats Lightroom Classic as an afterthought. If you're already using it and the manual matching doesn't bother you, it works. But if matching filenames is the part of your workflow you want to fix, Pixieset doesn't solve that.
Pic-Time
Pic-Time is Pixieset's closest competitor and has gained a lot of ground in recent years, especially among wedding photographers who want built-in sales features.
Client experience: Beautiful gallery design with a focus on the viewing experience. Clients can favorite photos, and the selection UX is polished. Mobile experience is strong. Pic-Time also offers a storefront for print sales directly within the gallery, which is a differentiator if you sell prints.
How selections come back to you: Pic-Time has the most developed Lightroom workflow of the traditional gallery platforms. On paid plans, you can click "Sync Gallery" within the Lightroom plugin and it creates a Selections folder containing your client's chosen photos. You can also sync from a downloaded CSV. This is a real step up from manually copying filenames — but it works by creating collections within Lightroom rather than applying labels or flags to your existing catalog photos. Your original catalog organization stays untouched, and the selections live in a separate folder.
Lightroom integration: Pic-Time's Lightroom plugin handles both uploading and selection sync. You can create galleries, publish photos, and pull back client selections all within Lightroom. The selection sync feature is only available on paid plans. It's the closest any traditional gallery platform gets to a full round-trip workflow, though it stops short of applying metadata (color labels, star ratings) directly to your photos.
Pricing: Free plan available with Pic-Time branding. Paid plans start at $10/month. The free tier is more generous than most competitors.
Bottom line: Pic-Time is the strongest all-around competitor for Lightroom Classic users. The gallery design is excellent, the print sales features are mature, and the selection sync through the Lightroom plugin is a genuine workflow improvement over Pixieset and ShootProof. If you're on a paid plan and you're comfortable with selections living in a separate Lightroom collection rather than as labels on your existing photos, Pic-Time gets you most of the way there.
ShootProof
ShootProof has been around since 2010 and positions itself as a full business suite for photographers — galleries, contracts, invoicing, and proofing in one platform.
Client experience: Functional but less visually refined than Pixieset or Pic-Time. Clients can select favorites and the platform supports PIN-protected access. The interface works on mobile but feels slightly dated compared to newer competitors.
How selections come back to you: ShootProof provides a list of favorited photos. You can download them or view the filenames. The workflow for getting them back into Lightroom is the same manual process as the others — copy filenames, search in your catalog, flag or label them one by one.
Lightroom integration: ShootProof has a Lightroom publishing service that handles uploading from Lightroom to ShootProof galleries. This is useful for the upload direction, but it doesn't help with getting selections back. The sync is one-way.
Pricing: Plans start at $10/month. No true free tier — they offer a trial period instead.
Bottom line: ShootProof makes sense if you want an all-in-one business tool and don't mind the dated interface. But for the specific problem of Lightroom selection sync, it's no different from the others.
Adobe Lightroom Web (Built-in Sharing)
Lightroom Classic has a built-in option for sharing galleries through Adobe's cloud. You can sync collections to Lightroom Web and share a link with your client.
Client experience: This is the weakest of all the options. Your client needs an Adobe ID to interact with the gallery. They can "love" photos by clicking a heart icon, but they have to open each photo individually to do it — there's no grid-level selection. There are no selection limits or deadlines. No PIN protection. The interface is designed for Adobe users, not photography clients.
How selections come back to you: The "loved" photos sync back to Lightroom Classic through the cloud. In theory, this is the most integrated option since it's Adobe's own ecosystem. In practice, it requires your client to have an Adobe account and navigate an interface that wasn't designed for proofing.
Lightroom integration: Native, since it's Adobe's own system. But the client experience is bad enough that most photographers don't use it for proofing.
Pricing: Included with your Adobe Photography Plan subscription.
Bottom line: Free and technically integrated, but the client experience is so poor that it creates more problems than it solves. Asking a bride and groom to create an Adobe ID and figure out how to heart photos one at a time is not a professional proofing experience.
CloudSpot
CloudSpot focuses on gallery delivery and proofing with an emphasis on design and customization.
Client experience: Visually strong galleries with customizable branding. Clients can favorite photos and submit selections. The mobile experience is solid. CloudSpot offers selection limits and the overall UX is clean.
How selections come back to you: CloudSpot has a "Copy Filenames" button in their analytics dashboard that copies your client's favorited filenames to your clipboard. You then paste those filenames into Lightroom's Library Filter bar to find the matching photos. It's a small convenience over manually typing filenames, but you're still doing the search-and-flag process yourself.
Lightroom integration: CloudSpot has a Lightroom plugin for uploading photos from Lightroom to CloudSpot galleries. Like Pixieset, it's a one-way sync — it doesn't pull selections back. The clipboard copy feature for favorites is handled through the CloudSpot web dashboard, not through the plugin.
Pricing: Free plan available with CloudSpot branding. Paid plans start at $10/month.
Bottom line: CloudSpot is a strong gallery platform, but for Lightroom Classic users it has the same limitation as every other platform on this list — no automated way to get selections back into your catalog.
Gallerina
Gallerina is a proofing platform built specifically around the Lightroom Classic workflow. Where other platforms treat the sync back to your catalog as an afterthought, Gallerina treats it as the core feature.
Client experience: Clean, mobile-friendly proofing galleries. Clients tap to select favorites on any device, no app download or account creation needed. You can set selection limits and PIN-protect sessions. If you organize your proofing photos into groups (ceremony, reception, getting ready), those groups carry through to the client's gallery so they can browse by section rather than scrolling through hundreds of photos in one flat list.
How selections come back to you: Gallerina has a Lightroom Classic plugin called GallerinaSync. You open the plugin inside Lightroom, select your project, and click Sync Now. Your client's selections appear as color labels on the matching photos in your catalog. Star ratings, client comments, and keywords come through as well. If you used groups in the proofing gallery, those groups show up as collections inside Lightroom after syncing, so you can filter through ceremony, reception, and getting ready selects separately and start editing section by section. The entire sync takes about 10 seconds.
Lightroom integration: Native plugin that works with any catalog structure and matches photos by filename. For photographers who use Capture One or other editors, Gallerina also offers XMP export.
Pricing: Free plan with 1GB storage, unlimited portfolios, client proofing, and the Lightroom plugin included. No features locked behind the free tier. Paid plans for additional storage are coming soon.
Bottom line: Gallerina is the only proofing platform where client selections land directly on your Lightroom catalog photos as color labels — instantly, in seconds. No CSV downloads, no filename searching, no manual matching. If you organize your proofing gallery into groups, those groups become collections inside Lightroom after syncing, so your edit is already structured before you touch a slider. The free tier includes the Lightroom plugin with no feature restrictions.
The Comparison at a Glance
Every platform on this list handles the gallery side competently. Your clients will have a good experience browsing and selecting photos on any of them. The real difference is what happens after your client hits submit.
With Pixieset, ShootProof, and CloudSpot, you get a list of filenames and spend 20 to 45 minutes matching them back to your Lightroom catalog. CloudSpot's clipboard copy saves a few clicks, but you're still searching and flagging manually.
With Pic-Time, the Lightroom plugin can sync selections into a dedicated collection within Lightroom — a real improvement over manual matching. But it requires a paid plan, and the selections live in a separate folder rather than appearing as labels on your existing catalog photos.
With Lightroom Web, the selections technically sync back, but the client experience is bad enough that most photographers avoid it entirely.
With Gallerina, selections sync directly to your existing catalog photos as color labels, star ratings, comments, and keywords. Groups from your proofing gallery become collections in Lightroom, so you can jump straight into editing ceremony selects or reception selects separately. One click and you're working.
If you already use Pic-Time on a paid plan and the collection-based sync works for your workflow, you're in a good spot. But if you want selections applied directly to your catalog photos as metadata, or if you're on a free tier and want Lightroom sync included without paying, Gallerina is the only option that offers that.
The free tier includes everything you need to test it — create a project, send your client a proofing link, and try the Lightroom sync on a real shoot. You'll know within one project whether it fits your workflow.