Updated Snapwire Review 2019
I have just published an updated Snapwire review on my YouTube channel. I reveal and explain how much money you can earn on Snapwire.
Watch the video until the end because I also reveal you the BEST 4-step formula to make money online as a photographer. Learn the 4-step formula in my Ultimate Make Money Online Guide here.
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On YourOnlineRevenue.com we are always looking for new apps and opportunities to earn money online. One of our readers said recently that he had noticed a mobile app called Snapwire where you could earn good money by taking pictures.
I decided to download the app, take a closer look at it and analyze how much you could really earn by using the app. I have also read experiences from tens of other people who have used the app and tried to make money with it. Some of them are photographers on a professional level.
My goal is to answer all your questions in Snapwire review regarding their app and earning potential. If you have any questions or comments, you can always feel free to give them below this article and I will answer all of you personally.
(In this review I am using screenshots from their desktop version because some users said it’s easier to use than an app. I find it also more comfortable using the laptop than a smartphone in the long run.)
Snapwire Review
Name:Â Snapwire
Type:Â Make Money Online by Selling Photos. (Mobile App + Desktop)
Short Review:Â Snapwire is a cool mobile app with a high-quality design and functionality. They have many big clients who are buying pictures from their service.
Making money as a photographer with this app requires most likely lots of and a high-quality equipment. You must have professional-quality picture in order to make sales. The payout is quite good because usually clients pay $50 for the winner of the image contest. However, you need to submit tons of pictures before making many sales.
If you are a professional photographer and don’t mind spending lots of time on their app and website, you can give it a try. For those who are looking for better opportunities (even without photography skills) I recommend taking a look at My #1 Recommendation for making money online.
What Is Snapwire?
Snapwire is a mobile app and a platform that connects clients who need pictures with photographers. It has already been around for a few years and grown to become one of the biggest apps that pay money for selling your pictures. It has more than 100,000 downloads on Google Play and 1,433 user reviews with an average rating of 3,9 stars out of 5.
Based on the information on their homepage it’s used by the following brands/companies:
All in all, we can confidently say that Snapwire is a big player in the market.
However, the other question is whether it’s a profitable app for earning money as a photographer. Let me show how the process works.
How Does Snapwire Work?
There are basically two ways to earn money through Snapwire.
- Attend contests by clients and earn money by winning the contest (also known as challenge).
- Build your portfolio and make direct sales to customers.
The most common way to earn money on Snapwire is through contests. The process goes like this:
- A customer places a request and tells photographers what kind of picture he is looking for. He also sets a deadline when the contest will end.
- Photographers start submitting pictures.
- The customer nominates some pictures and gives points for photographers. Nominated pictures are “the right kind of pictures” that the client is looking for. By using the nomination he can give better indications and directions for new people who join the contest.
- When the deadline expires the client chooses the best ones and pays for photographers.
Now let’s have a look what kind of challenges they have.
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Snapwire Challenges
In a challenge, the client gives a description of what kind of pictures he is looking for. Here’s an example from the contest called “Street Food”:
As you can see above, the client gives written instructions and also provides a few inspirational images. They also give the prize for the winner. In this case it’s $75. The reward for the winner depends between different contests but in my experience it seems to be around $50 on average.
Then photographers start submitting their pictures. At the moment there are 256 photos submitted for Street Food challenge by 92 participants. 32 of those pictures are nominated and they fit the exact critetria the client is looking for. The client follows the image flow and gives points for pictures. You can see what kind of pictures are leading the contest and your task is naturally to outrank them.
As you can see, the pictures aren’t complicated in this contest and you could participate this challenge quite easily. But do notice that all pictures have a high quality. (The original images are sharper than in this screenshot.) You would have hard time to win the contest if you are only using your smartphone camera.
Many contests are also very specific. So, you need to go to a certain place or travel in order to participate the contest. This requires time and effort to move around and take your equipment with you.
How Much Can You Really Earn with Snapwire?
The contest prizes are nice: $25, $50, $75 or even $125 if your picture is selected. However, you won’t get the whole prize for yourself because Snapwire takes a little fee. The following picture from their website explains the fees.
In contests, you’ll get 70% of the price and if you are selling directly from your portfolio, you can keep 50%. So, if you win a $100 contest, you’ll receive $70. In my opinion, these fees are quite big if we compare to other marketplaces. What do you think?
One experienced user mentioned that when your ranking goes up (by getting more sales and points from clients) you may have an opportunity to receive direct requests from clients. This will probably be more interesting than attending contests where your chances of winning are small.
The earning potential of Snapwire isn’t huge. Imagine that hundreds of photographers participate the contest and you are supposed to have the best picture. It’s not that easy, huh?
One photographer called Jennifer McCallum had submitted 1,079 images and her earnings were $665. It means that she earned ~$1,62 per image. She needs to travel to the right place, arrange the appropriate setting, have the right light and choose the best one. Then she submits the picture to her computer. After that she can but it to Snapwire.
Let’s estimate that the process has taken at least 15 minutes per image. Then she would have spent around 270 hours for the whole process which makes her hourly earnings ~$2,5. That’s way below the minimum wage. Of course, this is just an estimation but it gives us a good picture how challenging it can be to make money using this app.
We also need to take into account that Jennifer has years of experience of photographing and her pictures are have a very high-quality. You can judge yourself:
Snapwire Reviews
Here are two examples of Snapwire reviews on Google Play.
Mike Evans likes the app because it gives him an opportunity to grow as a photographer. However, LaMarcus Smith doesn’t like the app because the earning potential is extremely small.
Based on the reviews I have read, people who want to make money are not satisfied with this app because the earning potential is really small.
Those who are just using it as a hobby to improve themselves as a photographer like it. But remember that hobbies usually don’t pay you money but you need to pay to have hobbies. That’s a great difference between a business and a hobby.
Several users also reported about the errors they had while using Snapwire app. I didn’t experience any problems while using the app. Hopefully they have fixed the errors. Another option is that the errors would occur if I would use the app even more.
One person reported that it takes ages to upload pictures (10 minutes each). I would like to hear how has the app worked for you.
Conclusion – Is Snapwire Worth It?
If I would have a company that needs very high-quality pictures for an extremely specific need, I could consider using Snapwire. It’s an easy way to get lots of great images with low effort. Of course, it costs money so I would first evaluate whether it’s worth investing or not. At the moment I don’t have that need.
For money-making purpose Snapwire isn’t the best opportunity out there. Yes, you can earn some money every now and then but if you are not a world-class photographer, your earnings will most likely be below the minimum wage. If you would create a photographing business, you could possibly earn $50 per hour instead of $50 prize from the contest that is extremely hard to win.
Still, if you want to get new ideas and skills as a photographer, you can certainly download their app and try a few contests.
I decided already some years ago that I stop running behind low-paying opportunities. That’s why I have concentrated on Wealthy Affiliate training because the earning potential is much greater. In addition, my income has been grown already 9 months in a row. How many other jobs you could have where your salary grows 9 months in a row?
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What do you think about Snapwire?
What are your favorite methods for earning money online?
This is the reason why I want to buy a quality camera (aside from vlogging), taking good photos is not just a hobby but actually you can make a lot of money from it. But the sad thing the competition when it comes to be a good photographer is really difficult. There is a lot of good photographers out there but I want to take to risk to compete with them.
Yeah, you can definitely make a career as a photographer.
I think it just requires lots of practice, effort and learning like any other career. If you are creative, you can find ways to make good money with it.
But for now I think having a good camera is just a dream for me as of now because I cant afford buying it for now. I promised to my self that after my study then get a job, the first thing that I am going to buy is a camera. Even though I will not earn from it at first the important is that I can do what I want to do, which is capturing things and special occasions.
It’s great that someone can earn by taking up shots for Snapwire, but I must say that as I recently had issues with my smartphone and uses my laptop to do my online work. I don’t see myself earning on this site anytime soon. The firm I work with doesn’t have the need for pictures, but it great you did quite a great and comprehensive review about Snapwire.
What kind of online jobs would you like Henry?
I find it interesting, but for someone who is not a professional photographer nor have the tools to make those high quality photos, this kind of job is just not for me. I love taking pictures of stuffs, but I usually just use my phone’s camera and even though it can capture pretty good quality images, they cannot compete with those from professional cameras. Then again, this can be a really good opportunity for those who are passionate with this kind of art and self expression. This can be a really good exposure for them and a chance for these big companies to notice their work.
Good points!
Hmm, looks cool and attractive. But you must be on top of your game in the photography world in other to earn such amounts, it’s really a cool business and I know some photography pros will likely be pulling such figures out, but it requires hard work, and being at the right place at the right time to get some great scenes and moments, that people will like paying for.
Yes, it really requires good skills to earn money with Snapwire. I saw that the best pictures have an extremely high quality and photographers were creative. I think I’ll stick to affiliate marketing and maybe do photographing sometimes as a little hobby 😉
The fees seem a bit steep but when you consider that you can get $70 for just one picture then it sounds a lot better. I think the only problem is that it seems to be much better as a little thing on the side to get some extra money rather than a proper method of making money. Competitions are always risky and the fact that you are not always guaranteed income is not exactly the best thing if you want to make a steady stream of revenue.
Yeah, winning competitions on Snapwire requires usually lots of work and creativity. There are usually tens (or even hundreds) of other experienced photographers competing against you in challenges. If you have a great equipment, professional skills, and creativity, it’s possible to win those challenges.
However, if you have all those qualities, you could earn more by having your own business as a photographer.
Seems like a good tool to use for earning income but more as a hobby than a main income stream. I have participated in similar contest sites before and it really isn’t that appealing to me since you wouldn’t know how well your entry would fare and it could end up earning you nothing for the amount of work you put in.
I see that they also have other options but I don’t think you could rely on that too much either since you never know how many people would buy your images. Still, like I said, it’s still a good option to have if you already take lots of pictures anyway, and thankfully you have put up your great research here again so I can at least be sure that it’s not a scam.
Yeah, Snapwire is hardly worth the time and monetary investment unless you just want to learn more photographing. Time is money and it would take tons of time to participate contests until you could earn some income.
For photographers one interesting way to earn money would be building a basic website and adding affiliate links there. They could earn money for promoting cameras, lenses and other useful stuff.
The idea is great…for the clients. They get lots of pictures to choose from but it is very difficult for the user to win a contest. It requires a lot of luck so you can invest your money and effort to it and not get any money at all.
True. I also think that Snapwire opportunity is more interesting for clients than photographers.
This would be great if $50 per submit of photo but sad to know this is a competition and i am very hopeless with it because i do not have the talent in photography. I do not have also the required equipment of photo capturing device i only have cellphone with low mega pixels in it. Thank you for the review and nice to hear they pay you real not like others which is scam apps.
Yeah, probably Snapwire isn’t then a suitable app for earning money for you at the moment. But there are other great opportunities 🙂
Somewhere in the post you talked about an experienced user saying a snapwire member will have the chance of making direct sales to clients, an option accessible by only high ranking users. This is where it gets really difficult and challenging for new/low ranking users.
Another thing about Snapwire that i find uninteresting is the contest. I don’t think it’s a fair process and that’s why I strongly recommend and agree with your conclusion.
Yeah, making money with Snapwire isn’t easy. Somebody could use it as a hobby but for a source of income there are better options out there.
I am sure Snapwire would be a great earning platform for talented and passionate photographers online. I know there are so many photo selling apps online, but Snapwire hopefully has a difference to make. Earning potentials in most of those photo selling platforms are uniquely low and photographers lament at this. I was once a photo dealer at some of those photo selling sites, but opted out when I started freelancing.
I have been keenly interested in affiliate marketing for more than ten years, but didn’t get trained like this. I have already gone through the testimonials and have begun studying the training manual. I hope I will be able to post my testimony soonest.
Photo banks and companies like Snapwire are great for sure. They provide high-quality images for companies that need them. But for a photographer who wants to earn money they aren’t so good.
I’m happy to hear that you have started affiliate marketing training. I guess you signed up on Wealthy Affiliate? Usually, it takes some time to get the ball rolling but once you start earning, your income will grow like a snowball. That’s the beauty of affiliate marketing.