ShootPortal vs. Aryeo vs. HDPhotoHub: Which Platform Is Best for Real Estate Photographers?

The three platforms at a glance

Aryeo: the Zillow-connected storefront

Aryeo gives agents branded order forms, handles scheduling and delivery, and connects to Zillow features including Zillow 3D Home, Virtual Staging AI, and Showcase. Zillow acquired Aryeo in 2023 and placed it in its ShowingTime+ suite. Its Lite plan is free; Pro adds advanced scheduling, payroll and invoicing, reporting, a marketing center, and the Aryeo Go mobile app.

HDPhotoHub: pay-per-delivery with a marketing kit

HDPhotoHub, around since 2017, covers ordering, Smart Scheduling, delivery, and payments, and charges only when you deliver. Its Full Delivery tier adds property sites, flyers, social graphics, video reels, and a weekly traffic report. Teams are unlimited at no extra cost.

ShootPortal: a project workspace for every job type

ShootPortal starts each job as a request, turns it into an estimate the client approves, schedules it by proposing a time, and then runs review, payment, and delivery in a client portal branded with your logo, colors, and domain. It was built by a drone business owner, so it assumes not every job is a listing package. It doesn't do property websites or Showcase.

Pricing: subscription tiers vs. per delivery vs. flat

The three pricing models behave very differently as you grow, so start with the published numbers:

• Aryeo (official pricing): Lite is free. Pro is $49/month for 100 annual listings and 1 team member, $99/month for 250 listings and 3 members, or $179/month for 500 listings and 5 members. Enterprise is custom. No self-serve trial is stated; Pro is sold through a demo.
• HDPhotoHub (official pricing): $5 per Basic Delivery or $10 per Full Delivery (with the Marketing Kit), USD. No monthly subscription.
• ShootPortal: Studio plan at $29/month or $24/month billed annually, with no listing caps or per-delivery fees. 14-day free trial, no credit card.

Here's what a year of platform fees looks like at three volumes:

The pattern: HDPhotoHub Basic is cheapest at low volume and when work is seasonal, Aryeo's tiers stay competitive as long as you fit the listing and seat limits, and a flat plan pulls ahead the more you deliver. If you only need delivery, Aryeo Lite at $0 beats all three. For a monthly break-even formula, see our HDPhotoHub alternatives guide.

Feature comparison table

The full side-by-side. ShootPortal is highlighted because it's ours, not because it wins each row; it clearly doesn't.

Pricing your own services rather than the software? See the real estate photography pricing guide.

Booking and scheduling

This is where the three philosophies differ most, and where your client mix should drive the decision.

Aryeo and HDPhotoHub: the agent orders

Both are built for agents who know what they want. Aryeo's order forms support a product catalog, add-ons, multiple appointments per order, promo codes, and payment upfront, as a deposit, or on delivery. Its schedulingadds territories, per-member booking limits, and travel-time buffers. HDPhotoHub's shopping cart suggests add-ons based on what's already in the order, and Smart Scheduling factors in drive time and job duration. For repeat agents ordering standard packages, this is the fastest possible flow.

ShootPortal: the client requests, you quote

ShootPortal works differently. The client submits a request with the property address, a service from your catalog, a preferred date, and notes. ShootPortal can produce a preliminary estimate including a travel fee, then you send the official estimate. Once it's approved, you propose a shoot time and the client accepts, declines, or counter-proposes. Shoots push to your Google Calendar, and your Google events show read-only in ShootPortal so you can spot conflicts.

The trade-off is real. Agents can't pick an open slot themselves in ShootPortal, and there's no drive-time routing. That costs a little speed on routine listings and gains flexibility on anything that needs a quote. Our booking software guide compares more scheduling approaches.

Client management and project tracking

Knowing where every job stands, and what every client has bought from you, is the second biggest difference.

• Aryeogives agents a login portal and you a content dashboard; Pro adds a reporting dashboard and payroll. How deep its client records go isn't spelled out on the pricing page.
• HDPhotoHub keeps client profiles with order history and supports special pricing per client, which is handy for brokerage deals. Payroll visibility helps with paying team members.
• ShootPortal keeps a fuller CRM record: contact details, referral source, timestamped notes, a message timeline, property history with revenue per address, lifetime revenue, outstanding balance, and last portal login. Every project moves through eight pipeline stages from new request to delivered, and clients message you on the project rather than by text.

If you mainly serve a few dozen agents who order the same package, Aryeo or HDPhotoHub records are plenty. If you juggle agents, builders, and commercial clients with different histories, the CRM depth matters more. The photography CRM comparison goes further on this.

Delivery, payments, and video review

Delivery

All three handle photos, video, and 3D embeds. HDPhotoHub's login-free download pages with automatic MLS resizing and Matterport, iGUIDE, and Zillow 3D embeds are a high bar. Aryeo offers branded delivery pages and a download center, and is the route to Showcase. ShootPortal offers Print (full-resolution) or MLS (2048px) downloads, single or ZIP, plus Kuula tours and embeds from Matterport, Polycam, and others, along with share links for people without an account.

Payments

HDPhotoHub has the broadest payment options: Pay to Download, Stripe or Square, deposits, tax, tips, and promo codes. Aryeo supports upfront payment, deposits, invoicing on delivery, promo codes, and automatic tax. ShootPortal uses Stripe Connect, so payments land in your own Stripe account, with deposits on approval and an option to unlock downloads only after the final payment. It has no Square, tips, or promo codes.

Video review

This is ShootPortal's clearest advantage. Clients leave time-stamped comments pinned to a spot on the frame, you reply in threads and resolve them, and each cut is a numbered version. Photos and other deliverables get approve or reject with written feedback. Neither Aryeo nor HDPhotoHub describes an equivalent on its official pages; HDPhotoHub connects to Vimeo for video hosting.

Marketing, Showcase, team, and branding

Property marketing and Showcase

Aryeo is the only one of the three with Showcase delivery; Aryeo says it's the only platform anywhere that offers it. HDPhotoHub's Full Delivery bundles property sites, flyers, social graphics, reels, and a weekly traffic report for $10. ShootPortal has neither, and won't suit businesses that sell listing marketing as a product.

Team

HDPhotoHub wins here: unlimited team members at no extra cost. Aryeo Pro tiers include one, three, or five seats. ShootPortal supports staff accounts with granular permissions and project assignment, but no automatic photographer assignment or drive-time dispatch.

Branding

All three put your brand in front of clients in different ways. Aryeo offers branded delivery pages and a branded mobile app add-on. HDPhotoHub offers a white-label iOS and Android app for a one-time configuration fee. ShootPortal gives each business a portal with its logo, colors, light or dark theme, a custom domain, email from your own domain, and an editable public landing page, though it isn't full white-label.

Strengths and limitations of each platform

Aryeo

• Strengths: Showcase delivery, a free Lite plan, Zillow integrations, and agent familiarity.
• Limitations: annual listing caps and seat limits per tier; no self-serve Pro trial; Zillow ownership is a concern for some independent photographers (see our Aryeo alternatives guide).

HDPhotoHub

• Strengths: no subscription, unlimited team, the Marketing Kit, Pay to Download, Square and Stripe, and QuickBooks.
• Limitations:costs rise one-for-one with volume, the Marketing Kit doubles the per-delivery price, trial terms aren't published, and cart ordering suits listings more than quoted work.

ShootPortal

• Strengths: request-and-estimate workflow with travel fees, frame-pinned video review, a full client CRM, an 8-stage pipeline, and one flat price.
• Limitations: no Showcase, no property websites or marketing kits, no client self-booking, no SMS, e-signature, or QuickBooks, and Stripe is the only processor.

Which platform should you choose?

Where ShootPortal fits, and where it doesn't

ShootPortal makes the most sense when the hard part of your business is everything between "can you shoot this?" and "the files are downloaded": quoting, scheduling, feedback, getting paid. It makes the least sense when your value to agents is listing marketing or Showcase. In that case, Aryeo or HDPhotoHub is the better tool, and we'd rather you pick it than switch and regret it.

For the broader field beyond these three, read the 10 best real estate photography software platforms. If ShootPortal sounds like a fit, see how it works or run your next real job through the free trial.