Portfolio builders
Cliux vs Format
Pick Cliux if you want a freeform canvas for the whole site, with a store, bookings and memberships on every plan and an agency console. Pick Format if you want a photographer's toolkit: client proofing galleries, file transfers, contracts and image-heavy hosting on themes made for the trade.
In Format’s own words: “The Portfolio Builder for Photographers”
Side by side
What each product offers
Every figure in the right-hand column links to the page it was read on and the day it was read. Cliux figures are read from the product's own catalogue.
| Feature | Cliux | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest paid plan | $9 a month per published site, or $90 a year; building and previewing is free | Basic: $10 a month billed annually, $14 a month billed monthly[1] |
| Free plan | Free to build and preview with a password-protected share link. A personal site is free to build and preview; publishing it is $9 a month. An agency's Starter plan is free and publishes 2 client sites; Agency and Scale add sites and seats. | No free plan; a 14-day trial site is online on a free .format.com address[1] |
| Fees on your sales | 0% platform commission on any sale; payments go to your own Stripe account and Stripe's processing fee applies | No Format commission on store sales; processor fees apply[2] |
| Editor model | Freeform canvas: drag anything anywhere, pixel placement, with a separately tunable phone layout | Theme-based sites; the Flex Block section gives a drag, resize and overlap canvas inside custom pages[3] |
| Sites per plan | Personal: as many sites as you publish, $9 a month each; Starter: free, 2 client sites and 2 seats; Agency $49 a month for 15 client sites and 10 seats; Scale $99 a month for unlimited client sites and unlimited seats | One account can hold several sites, each with its own subscription[4] |
| Team seats and client access | Agency console: owners and admins reach every client site; a site role reaches only the sites it is granted; custom roles with 8 permission keys | not found on official pages (no collaborator or team article in the help centre)[1] |
| Selling online | Online Store: physical and digital products, card or bank transfer, shipping zones, stock, discount codes; no product variants | Format Store on Pro (15 products) and Pro Plus (1000 products); none on Basic[1] |
| Blog | Blog with categories, tags, authors, comments and scheduling | Included on all plans with tags, comments and per-post SEO[5] |
| Forms | Forms with a submissions inbox, spam filtering, email alerts and webhooks | Contact form and mailing list form on all plans[6] |
| Custom code | Page code panel in the editor: your own JavaScript, addressing elements by name, in a sandbox; no server-side code | CSS on all plans; theme HTML files and HTML blocks on Pro and Pro Plus[7] |
| Custom domain | Connect a domain you already own: two DNS records (@ and www) pointing at Cliux, certificate issued for you; every site also keeps a Cliux address | Connect an existing domain on all plans; a free domain for the first year on Pro and Pro Plus yearly[8] |
| AI site generation | None | not found on official pages; Format blocks AI training crawlers by default[9] |
| Starting points | 11 design themes x 8 site types, then change anything | More than 90 themes, switchable without losing content[10] |
| Code export | None | No site or code export; images can be downloaded, page text cannot be extracted[11] |
| Support | Human support seven days a week by chat and email; priority support on Pro Plus[12] | |
| Pages or projects per plan | One-click publish with version history and rollback; up to 200 pages per site | 10 pages and 70 images on Basic; unlimited pages on Pro and Pro Plus[1] |
| Views per month | Hosted by Cliux on a Cliux subdomain; no published uptime figure | not found on official pages (no view cap is published; storage and image counts are the meters)[1] |
| Client proofing | Password-protected share previews with an expiry and a comment thread for whoever reviews; no per-image proofing galleries | Client galleries with favouriting, downloads, watermarking and passwords on every plan; file transfers and contracts in Workflow[13] |
Where they lead
Where Format is stronger
A commission-free store on Pro and Pro Plus with PayPal or Stripe[2]
Photographer business tooling on every plan: client proofing galleries, branded file transfers, contracts[13]
Image-centric hosting: large files, up to 1 TB of image storage and hosted video on Pro Plus[1]
A free domain for the first year on yearly Pro plans and a 30-day money-back guarantee on annual plans[8]
Human support seven days a week and more than 90 switchable themes[10]
Where we differ
Where Cliux is different
Freeform canvas: drag anything anywhere, pixel placement, with a separately tunable phone layout
11 built-in apps on every published site, no per-tier ladder: Blog, Online Store, Bookings, Events, Restaurant, Community, Donations, Members Area, Paid Subscriptions, Forms, Smart Chat
Starter: free, 2 client sites and 2 seats; Agency $49 a month for 15 client sites and 10 seats; Scale $99 a month for unlimited client sites and unlimited seats
Agency console: owners and admins reach every client site; a site role reaches only the sites it is granted; custom roles with 8 permission keys
0% platform commission on any sale; payments go to your own Stripe account and Stripe's processing fee applies
Proposals, contracts and invoices in the agency console, paid into your own Stripe account
Moving over
How a move from Format works
There is no import tool. This is what a switch involves, step by step.
There is no import tool, and Format publishes no site export. Download your images from Format first, then open the old site beside a new Cliux site and rebuild each page on the canvas.
Publish on your free Cliux address, share the password-protected preview with whoever signs off, and keep the old site live until you are happy.
Point your own domain at Cliux: two DNS records, and the certificate is issued for you; the Cliux address keeps working beside it.
Frequently asked questions
Have other questions?Use the contact form
Cliux: the whole page is a freeform canvas with a derived, tunable phone layout. Format sites follow a theme; its Flex Block section gives a drag, resize and overlap canvas inside custom pages.
Neither: Cliux takes 0% and Format states no commission on Store purchases. Processor fees apply on both. Format's store starts on Pro; the Cliux store is on every published site.
Not as a gallery. A Cliux site can share a password-protected preview with an expiry and a comment thread for the reviewer, but there are no per-image proofing galleries. Format includes client galleries with favouriting and downloads on every plan.
A personal site is free to build and preview; publishing it is $9 a month. An agency's Starter plan is free and publishes 2 client sites; Agency and Scale add sites and seats. Format has no free plan; the entry is a 14-day trial.
Connect a domain you already own: two DNS records (@ and www) pointing at Cliux, certificate issued for you; every site also keeps a Cliux address. Format connects an existing domain on all plans and includes a free first-year domain on yearly Pro plans.
Get started
Build it on the canvas, then decide.
Building and previewing costs nothing. Publishing with your own domain is $9 a month on a personal site, and the agency Starter plan publishes 2 client sites for free.
Sources (13) and editor’s note, checked on 2026-09-18
- [1]format.com › pricing-portfolio
- [2]help.format.com › articles › 28139512330643-Format-Store-overview
- [3]help.format.com › articles › 40378133636883-Flex-Block-overview
- [4]help.format.com › articles › 28139445683475-Add-a-New-Site-to-your-Format-account
- [5]help.format.com › articles › 32671200431507-Blog-overview
- [6]help.format.com › articles › 28139467422867-Creating-a-Contact-Page-with-a-Contact-Form
- [7]help.format.com › articles › 28139451213587-Advanced-Code-Editor
- [8]help.format.com › articles › 28139494971155-How-to-get-a-free-custom-domain-name
- [9]help.format.com › articles › 28139412042259-Understanding-AI-and-how-Format-protects-your-content
- [10]format.com
- [11]help.format.com › articles › 32173761860627-How-to-export-or-download-your-website-content
- [12]help.format.com › articles › 28139365191059-How-to-get-help-at-Format
- [13]format.com › workflow-photography-studio-management
Editor’s note: the facts on this page were checked on 2026-09-18 against Format’s own pages; prices and plans change, and the other product’s site is the authority on itself. Not read on official pages: The help centre answers 403 to plain fetches; its articles were read through the help centre JSON API; Whether the promotional annual prices shown for Pro and Pro Plus are the standard price after the promotion ends; The pricing page disagrees with itself on Basic client galleries (10 on the card, 3 in the table); Team seats, roles or collaborator access: no official page found either way; Built-in visitor analytics: not found; Google Analytics is connected by ID; Bookings, memberships and white label: not found on official pages. Format is a trademark of its owner; this page is not affiliated with or endorsed by Format. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will correct it.