Flickr VS DeviantArt
There are two major sites among all, you can trust for your photo, art sharing and storing needs. DeviantArt and Flickr. Both sites are here like forever. DeviantArt is more old. Both have free (and not free) and pretty photos. What is the difference between their services, history and features?
DeviantArt emerged in 2000 but Flickr emerged in 2004. Flickr is a revolution in photo storage, sharing and organization, making photo management an easy, natural and collaborative process. You can get comments, notes, and tags on your photos, post to any blog, share and more at Flickr. DeviantART was wholly owned by DMusic Network, LLC, and then Lynx Technology Group, LLC. A gentleman by the name of Michael Ovitz (former President of the Walt Disney Company. Founder of the Creative Artists Agency and a Hollywood legend to boot.) was the owner of all three of these companies. DeviantART was nearly shut down before it reached its first birthday but was saved by third co-founder.
If I offer you two images / photos to distinguish between that which one is from which service, you will immediately recognize. Consider the following two photos. You know which one is from DeviantArt and which one is from Flickr, Don’t you? This is amazing….isn’t it?
I am 99% sure you guessed it right….
:: Whats the Difference? ::
The Cost
DeviantArt is free forever but at Flickr there is some cost if you go pro, otherwise there is limit.
Users / Community
Pure artists and designers are at DeviantArt. Photographers are at Flickr. At Flickr, people like Flickr but at DeviatArt artists love DeviantArt and live DeviantArt. Users of DeviantArt are more possessive about their resources and creative work. Flickr user usually doesn’t care (about Flickr). If DeviantArt dies today, thousands will die with it. If Flickr dies, its users will go to Picasa. Oh! Did I just mention Picasa?
Photos Sharing and Management
Photo sharing and discussions happen at deviantArt. At Flickr there is sharing and better management for photos and images.
Popularity and Exposure
DeviantArt is less popular. Wonder why? Because mostly artists and designers are using it. Flickr is more popular because all Yahoo maniacs, photographers from around the world and every home user with photo collection obsession is using Flickr. I have got to tell you. People search images from Google and then from Flickr. They come at DeviantArt when they need some huge stuff and their need is not ordinary. DeviantArt is popular among artists but Flickr is popular among people (I mean ordinary users).
User Friendly
DeviantArt is less user friendly. Flickr is more User friendly. Flickr offers RSS and all and is more social. DeviantArt upload facility is less friendly as compared to the Flickr flash uploader devil.
Print Version
Print version at deviant is available for its art work in many cases which you can order. At Flickr there is no such stuff.
The Quality
DeviantArt is great for quality art work and design. Flickr is good but not so good.
Money Making
DeviantArt is money for artists. Artists can sell their best art work but at Flickr there is no such facility.
Online Portfolio
DeviantArt is true portfolio for artists. Flickr is portfolio for photographers or ‘look at me gallery’ for home user.
Facilitates / Desktop and Mobile Apps
Flickr facilitates users more as it has got many desktop apps and clients but DeviantArt does not supports user in this way.
Which service do you like for your photo sharing and storing needs?
Topic: Internet/ Web, Flickr, Social Streams, Deviantart
Tags: art, comparison, photos, Flickr, photography, vs, Deviantart, flickr vs deviantart, flickr vs
Author
Hiroshi is a senior web developer, entrepreneur, founder and CEO of TechMynd. You can subscribe to TechMynd's newsletter to receive free software, giveaways, technology news and updates in email. Become our fan on Facebook, follow us on Twitter. Got any question? Contact us or visit us on our Google Profile.
@Djorak: Exactly! The purpose of post is not to tempt you to choose one between Flickr or DeviantArt. If you have got photos to share, go for both services. Everybody likes to have more exposure. Both services have got their own unique facilities which other service won’t offer.
Interesting article, I was just wondering if it was better to be on Deviant Art than Flickr.
As for myself I’m a DAddict. :D
But to share my photos a little more, I think I will open an account on Flickr…