What 22Slides does

22Slides is a privately held, bootstrapped SaaS company founded in 2011 and headquartered in Murrieta, California, that operates a specialized website builder aimed at professional photographers. The platform — currently 22Slides V2 launched in May 2022, alongside a maintained legacy V1 — enables photographers to create portfolio websites without coding through a WYSIWYG admin interface with mix-and-match page sections, theme-based architecture, intelligent image handling (focal point detection, automatic device-aware resizing, WebP/AVIF support), password-protected galleries, automatic TLS, and SEO features (semantic HTML5, sitemaps, URL redirects). Underlying infrastructure is built on Amazon AWS with a globally distributed CDN of 200+ servers, and the company measures 99.904% website uptime with ~45% faster page loads and ~79% faster image download speeds than WordPress hosting in a third-party case study.

The business runs on a single subscription tier ($10/month billed annually or $12/month billed monthly) for the self-serve platform, supplemented by a Full-Service Design offering launched in May 2024 that charges $50–$1,000 per project for custom build, logo, collateral, copywriting, migration, and SEO work performed by 22Slides staff. GTM is product-led growth: a 30-day free trial with no credit card, direct signup at 22slides.com, organic search targeting photography-portfolio keywords, and a high density of customer testimonials driving word-of-mouth within the photographer community. A minimal integrations footprint (Stripe, Help Scout, Mailgun, AWS, DigitalOcean, Campaign Monitor, plus recommended third parties like Ecwid, branchbob, SnapWidget, Klaviyo, MailChimp, Vimeo, YouTube) keeps the company focused on its core image-handling pipeline rather than platform breadth.

Name

22Slides

Legal name

22Slides

Website

https://22slides.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

22Slides is a bootstrapped SaaS company that operates a specialized website builder for professional photographers, offering hosted portfolio websites with intelligent image handling on AWS, a global CDN, and an optional full-service design add-on.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Photography Portfolio Website Builder

NAICS

Software Publishers (513210)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Low-Code/No-Code Application Platforms (HDAEAKAA)

Keywords

• Photography portfolio websites
• Website builder software
• Image hosting platform
• Photography portfolio builder
• SaaS website creator

Headquarters

HQ city

Murrieta

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Subscription - Monthly/Annual Plans: Core revenue from subscription plans for website hosting. Monthly plan at $12/mo or annual plan at $10/mo (paid yearly). Includes hosting, CDN, TLS certificates, free domain for one year, and ability to host two websites on one account.
2. Full-Service Design (Professional Services): One-time custom design and development service for website creation. Prices range from $50 to $1,000 depending on complexity. Covers web design, logo design, collateral design, custom development, content migration, copywriting, SEO, and consulting.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

22Slides operates a self-serve SaaS platform that enables photographers and other visual artists to create personalized portfolio websites using a WYSIWYG editor. The platform includes intelligent image handling with focal point detection, interchangeable page layouts, automatic HTTPS, a 200+ server global CDN, and built-in SEO features. Customers can subscribe to a single all-in-one plan that includes hosting, CDN, TLS certificates, a free domain for one year, and the ability to host two websites per account. An optional Full-Service Design offering provides custom website creation priced between $50 and $1,000.

Product overview

22Slides is a specialized photography portfolio website builder offering two platform generations (V1 and V2) alongside professional design services. The core product, 22Slides V2, is a do-it-yourself website builder that prioritizes image quality and provides photographers with intuitive tools to create portfolios. The platform offers multiple interchangeable layout options, intelligent image handling with automatic focal point detection, and various content section types including image galleries, slideshows, text spreads, links, and page collections. V1 remains available for existing customers as a maintained legacy platform. The Full-Service Design add-on provides professional website creation for those preferring custom design work. The platform integrates with third-party services for e-commerce (Ecwid, branchbob), video hosting (YouTube, Vimeo), analytics (Google Analytics, Clicky), email marketing (Klaviyo, MailChimp, Campaign Monitor), and customer support (Help Scout).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• 22Slides V2 Platform

Quantifiable outcome

• ~45% faster page loading vs. WordPress (288ms vs. 510ms page-ready average)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers27 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration23 records

Feature10 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Hover.comcoreGTM or Marketing Partner22Slides has partnered with Hover.com to provide a free custom domain name for one year for each website created on the platform. This drives customer acquisition and reduces setup friction. The partnership was enhanced in July 2025 when the free domain voucher expiration was increased from 1 day to 7 days. Free domain redemption is available through the Settings page of the admin area.
• Hover.comcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerDomain registrar partnership for free domain offering. After the free first year, domain renewal prices are approximately $15/year through Hover.
• StripecoreTechnology or IntegrationStripe processes all payments and keeps financial data. 22Slides shares customer name, email, and payment info with Stripe for payment processing.
• Help ScoutcoreTechnology or IntegrationHelp Scout handles customer support messages. 22Slides shares customer email address and support correspondence with Help Scout.
• MailguncoreTechnology or IntegrationMailgun handles transactional emails and contact form messages. 22Slides shares email address and contact form content with Mailgun for email delivery.
• Amazon AWScoreTechnology or IntegrationAWS powers the core image handling and delivery system. Uploaded files and site content are stored and processed on AWS infrastructure. 22Slides brought image processing in-house in June 2023, building on AWS for reliability and scale.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Pixpa: All-in-one portfolio and ecommerce platform for photographers, artists, and creative pros. Direct vertical peer with subscription pricing, galleries, and client proofing features.
• Zenfolio: Photography portfolio website builder with client proofing, galleries, and commerce for professional photographers. Closely matches 22Slides' vertical focus and SMB photographer customer base.
• Cargo: Portfolio website builder used by photographers, designers, and other creatives. Comparable focus on visual portfolios for creative professionals with template-based sites.
• PhotoShelter: Portfolio, storefront, and DAM platform targeted at professional and commercial photographers. Comparable in vertical specialization and emphasis on image delivery and rights management.
• SmugMug: Subscription-based photography portfolio and storage platform offering portfolio sites, client proofing, prints, and video for professional photographers. Direct competitor serving the same vertical with overlapping feature set.
• Adobe Portfolio: Portfolio website builder bundled with Adobe Creative Cloud for photographers and creative pros. Directly comparable offering focused on photography portfolios with templated site building.
• Format: Portfolio website builder serving photographers, designers, illustrators, and other creatives. Closely comparable builder model aimed at creative professionals, with templates and ecommerce features.

Broad incumbents

• Squarespace: Major general-purpose website builder widely used by photographers as an alternative to dedicated portfolio platforms. Larger incumbent with overlapping templates, hosting, and commerce, but broader market focus.
• WordPress.com: Hosted WordPress platform used by many photographers for portfolio sites. Larger general-purpose incumbent; 22Slides explicitly markets its performance advantage against typical WordPress hosting setups.
• Wix: Large incumbent general website builder with photography templates and ecommerce. Competes with 22Slides for the same SMB customer segment but lacks vertical specialization in image quality.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/22slides
• Instagraminstagram.com/22slides
• Facebookfacebook.com/22slides
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/22slides

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about 22Slides