There are a million reasons not to use Instagram. I don’t want to support Mark Zuckerberg. While the best alternative is to get out the social network as a whole, is it perfect? Maybe you only have tired of doomscrolling or want more control over your feeds. There are better options for you.
Here are some of my preferred social media platforms for photography that are not (still) in possession of META.
Instagram alternatives for the social butterfly
Pixel
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
Pixel Try to bring you back The old days of Instagram. Back when they used to see, there was a wall with photos. No stories, no videos, no roles, nothing. Only people who knew them or from whom they were inspired they shared their photos. No ads, no algorithms, only photos of people who follow them or topics in which they are interested. So much easier to make it.
Pixelfed is a federated app, which means that it is executed on the same technology as mastodon. So you can simply register with your mastodon account and at the same time publish photos for pixelfed and your mastodon feed. However, you don’t have to combine the two if you prefer not to. You can create a new account on a separate pixelfed server to keep these two life separately. And if you hate starting fresh, you can import your Instagram feed into pixelfed Use the import tool.
Photographers in particular enjoy the pixel fed and call it a “”Breath of fresh air“If you manage to correctly mark your contributions and add strong caps, you will receive a high quality commitment, which is much more difficult to find on Instagram, between all sponsors and bots.
Pinksky
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
Pinksky is a really interesting third-party app created with the Atprotocol network for bluesky. Bluesky proves to be a Popular alternative to X and threadsAnd this app of third-party providers also turns bluesky into a kind of Instagram alternative.
You register with your bluesky account (secured with Oauth) and the app filters all content from your feed to display only photos and videos. In contrast to Pixelfed or other Instagram alternatives, Pinksky does not need a setup at all. Just follow people who publish great media content and open Pinksky to filter out anything but that.
Pinksky adds a unique function that Bluesky does not yet have – stories. You can use the app to publish photos or links that disappear in 24 hours (although you are still visible in your Bluesky account). Bluesky also supports user -defined feeds so that you can create a photographed feed in bluesky and then use Pinksky to display it.
Pinksky Is available on the iPhone, Android and even as a web app.
FlashA similarly designed app, is currently available in Beta and should soon come to the market in public.
Snapchat
It may sound strange, but if you face Instagram burnout, it could be time to look at yourself Snapchat again. No, it is neither a sexting app (or anyway as one as one) nor an app for only teenagers. In the age of Doomscrolling, a short -lived platform such as Snapchat, which after a while has extinguished most of the content, is a way to connect with people that go beyond sharing roles.
If your goal for a social network is to share your life in a visual way and connect with your friends, Snapchat is actually a great way to do this. You can publish stories, display and answer messages, and there is always this Snapchat filter with which you can play. Of course there are no roles and no algorithmic feed, but isn’t that the point here?
Tumblr
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
Yes, Tumblr It’s still one thing, and depending on who you ask, you thrive well. As a shoot on the traditional blogging platform, you can publish text, pictures, videos, audio or even gifs. You can also post everything you like in your blog. There are communities that can join the exploration page for finding new content and profiles that you can follow to create your own feed. If you are looking for a variety of content, Tumblr may be a good choice for you.
Instagram alternatives for serious photographers
VSCO
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
Technically, VSCO is a photo and video editing app. But over the years it has accumulated a niche, but an active community of photographers who use the app to publish its own creations.
The strengths of VSCO are in its photo tiles and editing suites. You can adapt the filters to create a unique style with surprising lightness. The app has a minimalist design, free of ads or any doomscrolling tactics. VSCO is free to post, but access to these coveted presets and filters costs 29.99 US dollars a year.
Flickr
Flickr Is still a strong pillar in photography community. First you can upload images without compression in full resolution, and you can organize photos with albums, galleries and tags. You will also receive 1,000 GB of data free of charge, which is more than enough for most users. There are ads, but a Flickr Pro subscription is removed with the memory limit.
Glass
Glass Is a relatively new player on the field and you can see it as a new alternative to Flickr. It focuses on the presentation of a beautifully designed algorithm and free shop window of photographs and the promotion of a secure community. There are no free plans here, so people who come in glass have seriously with their craft. A glass subscription costs 40 US dollars a year.
Alternatives to Instagram roles
Tiktok
Tiktok Is not really an alternative to most of the Instagram content, but it is certainly the king of the short form video. Tikoks for you Page -Algorithm is coordinated to show you more exactly what you are and what the app is the app works. If you just want to watch a video, Tikkok can be a great alternative to Instagram roles. Alternatively, you can publish photos, although they have to be uploaded as “slide shows”, which can be a little more extensive than videos.
YouTube shorts
With YouTube Shorts, you may be able to do it in peace, but you can do it in peace. So I like to think about it. The social element is much less noticeable here and comments are easy to ignore. In addition, the recommendation engine from YouTube knows, at least in my experience very well. If you want a more relaxed alternative to Instagram -Reells, in which you are not bombarded with notifications about the 17 roles that your friend shared on that day, this is a good choice.
