Photobucket

Last updated

Photobucket
Photobucket new logo.svg
Type of site
 Image hosting service
Available inEnglish
OwnerPhotobucket.com, Inc.
Created byAlex Welch, Darren Crystal
URL photobucket.com OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional (required for uploading files)
LaunchedMay 8, 2003;22 years ago (2003-05-08)
Current statusActive

Photobucket is an image hosting and video hosting website, mobile app, and online community that lets users upload, store, organize, and share digital photos and videos online.

Contents

Photobucket once hosted more than 10  billion images from 100 million registered members. Links from personal Photobucket accounts were often used for avatars displayed on Internet forums, storage of videos, embedding on blogs, and distribution in social networks. Images hosted on Photobucket were frequently linked to online businesses, online auctions, and classified advertisement websites like eBay and Craigslist.

The website was founded in 2003 by Alex Welch and Darren Crystal and received funding from Trinity Ventures. [1] [2] It was acquired by Fox Interactive Media in 2007. In December 2009, Fox's parent company, News Corp, sold Photobucket to Seattle mobile imaging startup Ontela. Ontela then renamed itself Photobucket Inc. and continues to operate as Photobucket. [3]

In late June 2017, Photobucket dropped its free hosting service, and started requiring a US$99 annual subscription to allow external linking to all hosted images, or a US$399 annual subscription to allow the embedding of images on third-party websites, such as personal blogs and forums. This policy change, enacted with minimal advance notice, has been highly controversial. Even years after abandoning free accounts, Photobucket keeps sending email offers that variously attempt to cajole or threaten users to switch to the paid plan. [4] [5] [6]

At its peak, Photobucket employed 120 people and accounted for 2% of American internet traffic. In 2019, the company employed 10 and ranked approx. 1,500th according to Alexa Internet. [7] [8]

History

Photobucket was founded in 2003 by Alex Welch and Darren Crystal and received funding from Trinity Ventures. [9] [10] It was acquired by Fox Interactive Media in 2007.

In December 2009, Fox's parent company, News Corp, sold Photobucket to Seattle mobile imaging startup Ontela. Ontela then renamed itself Photobucket Inc. and continues to operate as Photobucket. [11]

In 2011, Photobucket became the default photo sharing platform for Twitter. [12] At that time, according to a report by Sysomos, 2.25M images were shared on Twitter daily, which accounted for 1.25% of all Tweets posted. [13]

On November 15, 2012, Photobucket announced the availability of "Photobucket Stories" which enables the user to combine photos, videos, and text into complete, sharable narratives. [14]

On June 28, 2017, Photobucket changed its Terms of Use regarding free accounts and third party hosting (hosting on forums, eBay, etc.). Only the most expensive plan, at US$399.99 per year, permitted third party hosting and linking to forums. [15] [16]

In 2017, Denver Better Business Bureau gave the company an "F" rating, the worst they issue, citing fifteen complaints related to the change in terms and no response from the company. The company is not BBB-Accredited. [5] [17]

On May 17, 2018, Photobucket introduced new plans, including US$24.99/year that included 3rd party hosted images. [18]

In 2019, they introduced two plans that include third party hosted images, US$29.99/year with 2 GB or US$69.99/year with 20 GB. [19] Effective June 1, 2019, free Photobucket and the "beginner" paid plan accounts were restricted to a hosting bandwidth of 25 MB per month. [20] Free accounts who use more than 25 MB of bandwidth will have all of their hosted photos watermarked and blurred. [21]

On December 11, 2024, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Photobucket after the company changed its privacy policy to allow Photobucket to sell user's photos to companies training AI models. The lawsuit alleges that Photobucket violated privacy laws in California, New York, and Illinois by using the photos without obtaining user consent, forcing users to agree to Photobucket's new privacy policy to delete their accounts, using sensitive geolocation and biometric data in the training data, and violating intellectual property laws. [22] [23]

In September 2025, Photobucket introduced the My Bucket Plan, aimed at modernizing its service offerings and focusing on cloud storage for photos and videos. The plan provides users with up to 1 TB of storage for high-resolution photos and videos, along with features such as automatic backup, customizable albums, and compression-free storage, marking a shift toward larger storage plans and subscription-based cloud services for both individual and professional users. [24]

In early 2026, Photobucket updated its service tiers to include a Free Plan for new users. This plan allows users to organize and share photos and videos with restrictions on the number of buckets and visible media per bucket, providing an entry point to the platform’s core features without a paid subscription. [25]

Features

The service supports both individual use and community-oriented sharing through its Group Buckets, where members can collaborate by contributing and viewing shared albums.

Photobucket allows registered users to upload an extensive range of image and video formats, preserving original quality with its compression-free guarantee.

Media can be made private by default or shared via customizable sharing links or within private groups.

The service is available through web browsers and a dedicated mobile app experience that offers auto backup, organization tools, photo editing, album creation, and cross-platform access. [26]

Users can organize content into Buckets and Albums, adjust views and sort orders, and order physical prints directly through the app or website interface.

Photobucket operates on a subscription model with tiered storage and feature options. Plans include basic storage and backup, Group Bucket sharing, personal and social sharing tools, mobile auto backup, photo editing, video playback, and direct hosting links for embedding in blogs, listings, and forums. Higher-tier plans provide extensive hosting capabilities and unlimited storage. [27]

Fuskering

Although it is possible to set Photobucket albums to "private", this does not prevent the photos within being accessed by someone who knows or can guess the URL. Programs called fuskers exist, which can test for likely photo URLs. This has led to "private" photos on Photobucket being downloaded and distributed elsewhere on the Internet without the consent of their uploaders. [28] [29]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "2% of U.S. Internet Traffic goes through Photobucket". techcrunch. Archived from the original on October 16, 2022. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  2. ↑ "PhotoBucket Closes $10.5M From Trinity Ventures". techcrunch. Archived from the original on October 16, 2022. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  3. ↑ "It's Official: Ontela Bought Photobucket from News Corp". xconomy. Archived from the original on August 19, 2019. Retrieved February 11, 2010.
  4. ↑ "Photobucket's bizarre emails are the last straw for many people". Aqueous Digital. Archived from the original on November 18, 2023. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
  5. 1 2 "Photobucket.com, Inc. | Complaints | Better Business Bureau® Profile". www.bbb.org. Archived from the original on December 7, 2021. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
  6. ↑ Kenseth, Lars. "All the Urgent Messages I Have Received from Photobucket". McSweeney's Internet Tendency. Archived from the original on November 18, 2023. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
  7. ↑ "Photobucket: From Rise of Fame to Breaking Billions of Photos to Present Day". PhotographyTalk. December 13, 2018. Archived from the original on November 18, 2023. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
  8. ↑ Lee, Dami (June 24, 2019). "Photobucket still has your photos, and it wants you to come back". The Verge. Archived from the original on November 18, 2023. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
  9. ↑ "2% of U.S. Internet Traffic goes through Photobucket". techcrunch. Archived from the original on October 16, 2022. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  10. ↑ "PhotoBucket Closes $10.5M From Trinity Ventures". techcrunch. Archived from the original on October 16, 2022. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  11. ↑ "It's Official: Ontela Bought Photobucket from News Corp". xconomy. Archived from the original on August 19, 2019. Retrieved February 11, 2010.
  12. ↑ Kiss, Jemima (June 1, 2011). "Photobucket: Twitter's surprise new partner for photo-sharing tool". The Guardian. Archived from the original on August 16, 2017. Retrieved December 16, 2016.
  13. ↑ "How People Currently Share Pictures On Twitter". blog.sysomos. Sysomos. June 2, 2011. Archived from the original on August 2, 2011. Retrieved June 2, 2011.
  14. ↑ "Photobucket Unveils "Stories" Feature for Creating Lasting Multimedia Narratives". blog.photobucket. Archived from the original on January 16, 2013.
  15. ↑ "Photobucket - Photo and image hosting, free photo galleries, photo editing". Photobucket. Archived from the original on July 1, 2017. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  16. ↑ "Photobucket subscription pricing 2019". photobucket.com. Archived from the original on October 7, 2019. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
  17. ↑ "Denver Business Journal: BBB issues warning about Photobucket". bizjournals. Archived from the original on September 15, 2017. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  18. ↑ "Beginner Plan". Photobucket. Archived from the original on May 17, 2018.
  19. ↑ "Beginner + and Intermediate Plans". Photobucket. Archived from the original on September 25, 2017. Retrieved September 24, 2017.
  20. ↑ "Photobucket Plans". Photobucket. Archived from the original on January 20, 2020. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
  21. ↑ "Photobucket is going to start blurring/watermarking pics". sevenstring. Archived from the original on November 23, 2020. Retrieved September 15, 2019.
  22. ↑ Belanger, Ashley (December 11, 2024). "Photobucket opted inactive users into privacy nightmare, lawsuit says". Ars Technica. Retrieved December 14, 2024.
  23. ↑ Riley, Tonya. "Photobucket Sued for Training AI With Photos Without Consent". Bloomberg Law. Retrieved December 14, 2024.
  24. ↑ Photobucket Team (September 30, 2025). "New My Bucket Plan: Protect more of your memories for less!". Photobucket Blog. Retrieved February 11, 2026.
  25. ↑ "Free Plan". Photobucket Support. Photobucket, Inc. Retrieved February 11, 2026.
  26. ↑ Photobucket (February 10, 2026). "Photobucket app offer". Photobucket. Retrieved February 11, 2026.
  27. ↑ Photobucket Support (October 22, 2025). "Photobucket subscription and storage options". Photobucket Support. Retrieved February 11, 2026.
  28. ↑ Read, Max. "Ladies: 8,000 Creeps on Reddit Are Sharing the Nude Photos You Posted to Photobucket". Gawker Media. Archived from the original on August 12, 2012. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
  29. ↑ Notopoulos, Katie. "The Dark Art Of "Fusking"". BuzzFeed. Archived from the original on August 12, 2012. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
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