Website, galleries, store, and Studio Manager

Plan a Pixieset move without treating four products like one file transfer.

A Pixieset account may contain a public website, client galleries, store settings, and Studio Manager records. Those parts need separate inventories and separate acceptance checks. Patsy does not claim a one-click Pixieset import.

Before deciding

Know what the current platform is doing well.

A move is justified by a specific improvement, not by temporary frustration with one screen or one price increase.

Read Patsy vs Pixieset

Pixieset offers several products and plan combinations, so two photographers may have very different data in accounts that look similar from the outside.
The public site can be rebuilt before active client galleries move. Keeping those schedules separate usually lowers risk.
Gallery favorites, passwords, order history, contracts, questionnaires, and automation history should not be assumed to transfer automatically.
A free Pixieset gallery plan carries a store commission, while upgraded accounts remove the Pixieset commission. Compare the full workflow and costs, not only the website subscription.

Collect before starting

The account is not the backup.

Create an independent record of files, active client promises, business data, settings, links, and ownership before cancellation becomes a deadline.

A list of every public page, navigation item, blog post, form, custom URL, and search-visible page
Original website copy, logos, fonts, brand colors, favicons, and the highest-quality source for every portfolio image
A gallery inventory with client name, event date, privacy setting, password, expiration, download rules, favorites, and order status
Product catalogs, price lists, tax settings, shipping settings, coupons, email templates, and connected payment information
Studio Manager contacts, leads, jobs, contracts, questionnaires, invoices, payment records, and workflows that must remain available
Domain registrar access, DNS records, email-service records, analytics, search tools, and any links pointing directly to Pixieset galleries

Staged migration plan

Move the lowest-risk work first. Move the domain last.

Each phase has a result to verify before the next phase begins. Keeping the systems overlapped costs more briefly and can prevent much larger client-facing failures.

1. Inventory the actual Pixieset account

Separate website, gallery, store, and Studio Manager work before deciding what moves.

Record the active Pixieset products and subscription level.
Mark each item as rebuild, copy manually, retain temporarily, archive, or retire.
Identify active client promises, open orders, unpaid invoices, and galleries that cannot tolerate a broken link.

2. Rebuild and review the public site

Create the new discovery and inquiry experience while the current client system stays live.

Give Patsy the approved brand assets, services, locations, portfolio choices, and current copy worth keeping.
Review page hierarchy, mobile layout, contact forms, calls to action, titles, descriptions, image text, and planned redirects.
Keep the new site on a review address until the photographer has approved every public page.

Be carefulRebuilding a page does not preserve its search history by itself. Old URLs, internal links, page meaning, and redirects require deliberate review.

3. Verify the client-work destination

Do not move private client work until the destination has passed storage, authorized-access, delivery, and commerce tests.

Keep Pixieset live until every imported or recreated gallery, favorite, download rule, client link, and order record has been verified in Patsy.
Start with one internal test gallery and one low-risk completed client.
Verify privacy, signed access, image quality, ordering, downloads, favorites, email delivery, mobile access, and client instructions before moving anything active.

Be carefulDo not tell clients their gallery moved until the photographer has opened the exact link and tested it as a client would.

4. Move the domain last

Change public traffic only after the replacement path works.

Confirm the domain owner, registrar login, DNS records, and email dependencies.
Test the inquiry form, automated acknowledgments, analytics, search verification, and important redirects.
Keep Pixieset active through an agreed overlap period, then cancel only after the data-retention checklist is complete.

Review manually

Data that rarely behaves like a simple file copy.

Gallery favorites, visitor activity, passwords, download history, and expiration rules
Open print orders, refunds, coupons, taxes, shipping, product markups, and price-list assignments
Contracts, questionnaires, invoices, payment records, workflow steps, and lead status
Blog formatting, embedded media, form destinations, page-specific SEO fields, and image captions
Links sent to clients, shared on social profiles, placed in email templates, or embedded on partner websites

Cutover checks

Evidence that the replacement is ready.

Every priority old URL has a deliberate destination or a deliberate retirement plan.
The inquiry path works on a phone and the photographer receives a real test submission.
If gallery migration is considered later, the verified destination has passed link, password, download, favorites, and ordering tests outside the administrator account.
No open order, invoice, contract, or client decision remains available only inside an account scheduled for cancellation.
The domain, business email, analytics, and search tools still work after DNS changes.

Platform sources

Patsy and PA Digital Studio are not affiliated with Pixieset. Export tools and platform policies change, so confirm current documentation and account options before planning the move.

Ready when you are

See the replacement before moving anything out of Pixieset.

Build and review the public direction first. Keep the existing site, account, client galleries, and domain untouched until you deliberately approve a change.

See what Patsy can do for you