If you're a wedding photographer or event professional evaluating your software stack, you've probably come across both Maroo and Pixieset. On the surface, they look like they compete — both handle client-facing workflows and both process payments. But dig a little deeper and you'll find they're built for fundamentally different jobs.
Pixieset is gallery-first. It was built so photographers can deliver stunning photo and video galleries, sell prints, and manage a client booking workflow around that delivery experience. Maroo is payments-first. It was built so wedding and event businesses can invoice clients, pass processing fees, pay contractors, and handle 1099 filings — the financial infrastructure behind the shoot.
Many photographers use both. This guide breaks down where each platform excels, where each falls short, and how to decide which one — or which combination — belongs in your business.
Maroo is a business management platform built specifically for the wedding and event industry. It centers on invoicing, contracts, and payments, with contractor payouts, W-9 and 1099 e-filing, CRM, and integrations with QuickBooks, Zapier, and Make.com. Its defining feature is the ability to pass all processing fees to clients — meaning photographers and planners can operate with $0 in payment processing costs on most plans.
Maroo supports wedding photographers, videographers, planners, florists, DJs, caterers, and any event professional who invoices clients and pays vendors or contractors. Over $300M in invoices have been created on the platform, with 94% paid on time.
Pixieset is an all-in-one platform for photographers. It started as a client gallery and delivery tool and has grown into a broader suite that includes a website builder, studio manager (CRM, contracts, invoices, questionnaires), and an integrated print store with automatic lab fulfillment. Pixieset's client gallery experience is genuinely best-in-class — beautiful, brandable, mobile-optimized, and deeply integrated with print labs like WHCC, ProDPI, and Miller's.
Pixieset is built exclusively for photographers. If your business involves non-photography services or you pay contractors, it's a narrower fit.
This is one of the clearest differences between the two platforms. Pixieset is built with photographers in mind, especially when it comes to photo delivery. It offers dedicated gallery storage and delivery features, giving clients a polished space to view, download, and purchase photos.
Maroo, on the other hand, is an all-in-one platform for managing a business. It brings together core workflows like CRM, invoices, and leads in one place, making it better suited for professionals who want to handle client management and business operations from a single platform.
That said, Maroo does not offer a dedicated photo storage or gallery delivery feature. So if storing and delivering photos is a major part of your workflow, Pixieset has the stronger offering in that area. But for managing the broader side of your business beyond galleries, Maroo covers more operational needs in one system.
This is where Maroo creates a material cost advantage that Pixieset simply doesn't offer.
Pixieset processes payments at standard rates: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction through Stripe (the most common option). On a $5,000 wedding photography invoice, that's roughly $175 in fees absorbed by the photographer. Those fees are a fixed cost of doing business on Pixieset — there is no option to pass them to clients.
Maroo allows you to pass all processing fees to clients. On every plan, photographers can enable fee-passing so that ACH and card fees are added to the client's total rather than deducted from the photographer's payout. The result: $0 net payment processing cost for the photographer. (Note: surcharging is not permitted in Connecticut and Massachusetts, so photographers in those states cannot use this feature.)
Maroo's ACH fees are also notably lower — 1.5% on Starter, 1.25% on Business, and 1.0% on Pro — compared to Pixieset's 1% ACH (US only). For high-volume businesses, the Business or Pro tiers make ACH an even more attractive option for large invoices.
B2B ACH payments (business-to-business bank transfers) are free on all Maroo plans — a useful feature for photographers who invoice corporate clients, venue partners, or agencies.
Pixieset has built one of the best print sales workflows in the industry. When a photographer enables the print store, clients can order prints directly from the gallery. Pixieset automatically routes orders to integrated print labs — WHCC, ProDPI, Miller's Professional Imaging, Mpix, and others — handles fulfillment, and delivers to the client. The photographer sets their markup and earns the margin. On paid plans, there's zero commission to Pixieset. On the free tier, Pixieset takes 15%.
Maroo has no print store and no lab integrations. If print sales are a meaningful revenue stream, Pixieset is the clear choice.
On the flip side, Maroo has built a contractor payments and 1099 workflow that Pixieset entirely lacks. Wedding photographers who work with second shooters, photo editors, videographers, or other freelancers can pay contractors directly through Maroo, collect W-9s digitally, and file 1099s come tax season. This is a genuine operational advantage for photographers running small teams or collaborating with other professionals regularly.
Maroo also integrates with QuickBooks Online, making it possible to keep bookkeeping and tax prep in one place — again, something Pixieset doesn't offer.
Pixieset is purpose-built for photographers. Every feature — from the Lightroom plugin to the gallery app to the print lab partnerships — reflects a deep understanding of the photographer's workflow. If you are a photographer and only a photographer, Pixieset's depth in its lane is hard to beat.
Maroo, by contrast, was built for the entire wedding and event industry. Planners, DJs, florists, caterers, videographers, and photographers all use the platform. This broader lens means Maroo's features — invoicing, contracts, CRM, contractor payouts — are general-purpose enough to fit virtually any event professional's business structure.
Zapier and Make.com integrations (on all Maroo plans) mean you can connect Maroo to hundreds of other tools — email marketing platforms, project management apps, scheduling software, client communication tools — that Maroo doesn't natively include. Pixieset has no Zapier integration, which limits its extensibility.
The real cost of a payment platform isn't just the subscription fee — it's the subscription fee plus the processing fees you absorb. Here's how Maroo and Pixieset compare at different invoicing volumes.
Assumptions:
- Maroo fee-passing scenario (b): fees passed to clients = $0 net cost to photographer
- Maroo fee-absorb scenario (a): 1.5% ACH average (Business plan), paid annually
- Pixieset: Suite Pro plan ($38/mo) + 2.9% + $0.30 card processing per transaction (assuming average $2,500 transaction)
- All figures are approximate annual costs
Key takeaway: At high invoicing volumes, the fee-passing capability on Maroo creates a dramatically different cost structure. A photographer invoicing $250,000 per year could pay $600/year on Maroo Business with fee-passing versus over $7,700/year on Pixieset's Suite — a difference of more than $7,100 annually. Even without fee-passing, Maroo's ACH rates are significantly lower than Pixieset's standard card rates for large transactions.
For Pixieset, the cost calculus improves if clients use ACH (1%), but the fee-passing option never exists regardless of plan.
1. Photo delivery is your primary client-facing deliverable. There is simply no better gallery delivery product for photographers. The client experience, gallery branding, video hosting, and mobile app are all exceptional.
2. You sell prints. Pixieset's automatic print lab fulfillment (WHCC, ProDPI, Miller's, and others) is unique in the market. If you want to offer prints without managing fulfillment yourself, Pixieset is the easiest path.
3. You want an all-in-one photographer stack. Website + gallery + studio CRM + print store in a single login is genuinely convenient. If you want to minimize the number of tools in your workflow, Pixieset's Suite delivers that.
4. You use Lightroom. The native Lightroom plugin makes upload and delivery seamless.
5. You're just starting out and want a free tier. Pixieset's free gallery plan lets you get started with zero upfront cost (though the 15% store commission applies on the free tier).
1. You want to stop paying processing fees. If keeping more of every dollar you invoice matters, Maroo's fee-passing feature is unmatched. (Note: not available in CT or MA.)
2. You pay contractors. Second shooters, editors, associate photographers — if you regularly pay other people from a job, Maroo's contractor payouts and W-9/1099 filing system saves hours during tax season.
3. You need QuickBooks integration. Maroo connects directly with QuickBooks Online for clean bookkeeping without manual data entry.
4. You're in the broader event industry. Planners, videographers, DJs, florists, caterers — Maroo was built for all of you, not just photographers.
5. You want Zapier/Make.com automation. Maroo connects to hundreds of tools, letting you build a customized workflow around the apps you already use.
6. You're invoicing large amounts. At high invoicing volumes, Maroo's ACH rates and fee-passing create significant annual savings compared to card-heavy platforms.
Many working photographers use Pixieset for client gallery delivery and print sales while running their invoicing, contracts, and contractor payments through Maroo. The two platforms don't overlap in their strongest features — Pixieset excels at what happens after the shoot, Maroo excels at the financial mechanics of the business. Using both gives you best-in-class gallery delivery and best-in-class payment infrastructure without compromise.
Q: Does Maroo offer client photo galleries?
No. Maroo is a business management and payments platform — it does not include photo gallery delivery, image hosting, or print sales. For gallery delivery, Pixieset, Pic-Time, or ShootProof would complement Maroo well.
Q: Can I pass credit card fees to clients on Pixieset?
No. Pixieset does not offer a fee-passing or surcharging option on any plan. Processing fees (2.9% + $0.30 for Stripe card transactions) are always absorbed by the photographer.
Q: Does Pixieset handle contractor payments and 1099s?
No. Pixieset's Studio Manager handles invoicing to clients but does not include outbound contractor payments or 1099 tax filing. For businesses that pay second shooters, editors, or other freelancers, Maroo fills this gap.
Q: Is Maroo only for photographers?
No. Maroo is built for the entire wedding and event industry — photographers, videographers, planners, florists, DJs, caterers, officiants, and any other event professional who invoices clients and manages contractors. Pixieset is built exclusively for photographers.
Pixieset is one of the best platforms ever built for photographer client delivery. Its gallery experience, print store, and Lightroom integration are genuinely best-in-class, and the all-in-one Suite is a compelling offer for photographers who want everything in one place. If stunning gallery delivery and automatic print fulfillment are your top priorities, Pixieset belongs in your workflow.
Maroo is the right choice when your priorities shift toward the financial side of your business — keeping more of every dollar you earn, paying contractors cleanly, staying organized at tax time, and integrating your payments with QuickBooks and automation tools. For photographers invoicing $100K or more annually, the combination of fee-passing and low ACH rates makes Maroo a serious cost advantage over any platform that buries fees into your payout.
For many photographers, the best answer isn't one or the other — it's both. Deliver galleries through Pixieset. Run your business finances through Maroo.
Ready to see how much you could save on processing fees? Start for free on Maroo — no subscription required, no commission on invoices, and fee-passing available from day one.
