Pinterest leads the social sharing landscape, but numerous apps provide equally unique creative spaces. Behance stands out with its community of over 50 million members and specialized features for creative professionals. These Pinterest alternatives serve diverse creative needs and interests effectively.
Design-Focused Apps Similar to Pinterest
Professional designers need specialized platforms that go beyond visual inspiration. These design-focused alternatives to Pinterest come with resilient features built for creative professionals.
Behance: The professional portfolio platform
Adobe’s Behance serves as a powerhouse platform where creative professionals showcase their work and connect with potential clients. The platform hosts millions of professional projects in creative fields of all types. Pro members see a 45% increase in views and engagement during their first month.
Pro members can track detailed analytics about their viewers and content discovery patterns. The platform lets users schedule posts to maximize project engagement. Creative professionals looking for jobs will find Behance’s specialized job board charges no platform fees – a key advantage over other marketplaces that take up to 50% commission.
Dribbble: Where designers showcase their work
Dribbble has grown into a thriving hub for design professionals and now attracts over 16 million users worldwide. Designers share their work through “shots” – bite-sized previews that spark conversation and collaboration within the community.
Dribbble’s strength lies in its dedication to high-quality design work. Users can create customizable collections to organize saved shots by themes or esthetics. On top of that, its integrated job board connects talented designers with companies seeking creative professionals.
Designspiration: Color-based inspiration search
Designspiration takes a fresh approach to visual discovery with its color-based search functionality. Users find only high-quality visual ideas in categories like branding, logo design, and architecture, without any irrelevant content.
The color palette tool stands out by letting users build or customize color schemes from any image. This helps match colors for specific design projects effectively. Users can also create mood boards by collecting favorite images and design elements as references.
These platforms offer distinct advantages to creative professionals:
- Professional Growth: Behance Pro members get 3x more job asks after subscribing
- Community Engagement: Dribbble’s active community gives valuable feedback and collaboration chances
- Trend Awareness: Designspiration helps creatives stay current with design trends
Notwithstanding that, these platforms have their challenges. New users might struggle to stand out on Behance’s competitive platform. Dribbble’s premium features cost $16.00 monthly with a Pro account. Designspiration’s horizontal layout often requires visits to external sites to see vertical designs completely.
Visual Discovery Pinterest Alternatives for Artists
Visual artists looking for fresh views beyond Pinterest can find unique platforms that enhance their creative experience. These alternatives come with specialized features that help artists express themselves and find visual inspiration.
Juxtapost: The visual bookmarking tool
Juxtapost shines as a resilient visual bookmarking platform with features that make content curation easier. The platform excels at organizing visual inspiration through its clean, straightforward interface. “More Like This,” a standout feature, lets users find similar content without leaving their current page.
The platform offers several unique capabilities:
- Export bookmarked content as spreadsheet documents
- Create categories with specific sharing permissions
- Work together on shared collections with other users
- Browse curated selections of high-quality photography and design
Hobbyists and DIY enthusiasts use Juxtapost to share projects and drive traffic to external sites. The platform’s tag-based organization system and advanced search functionality make inspiration easy to find.
We Heart It: Emotion-driven image collection
We Heart It brings a unique approach to visual content sharing by emphasizing emotional connection over collection. The platform serves as a haven for fashion bloggers, artists, photographers, and social media influencers. The platform has grown into a big image-based social network where users share and find inspiration from around the world.
Key features that make We Heart It special:
- Canvas-style profiles that encourage personal expression
- Collection-based organization for mood boards
- Article sharing capabilities for poems, recipes, and creative ideas
- Podcast library integration for multi-media inspiration
The platform organizes content through various channels:
- Home tab featuring followed content
- Discover tab with “The Latest” trending articles
- Popular Images section with chronological filtering options
We Heart It stands out with its steadfast dedication to fostering a positive, uplifting community. The platform leaves out comments to create a safer, more enjoyable environment for creative expression. We Heart It launched the “Heartist” program in 2015 to recognize top users who inspire others through their collections and engagement.
Content creators can earn through sponsorships and brand partnerships on the platform. A premium membership option exists alongside free basic access. Users organize their favorite content into themed collections to access inspiration whenever needed.
The platform covers creative categories of all types including:
- Fashion and beauty
- Travel and nature
- Books and poetry
- Movies and music
- Food and relationships
We Heart It has created its own space in the visual discovery world through unique features and community-focused approach. Artists find a refreshing alternative to traditional content sharing platforms thanks to its emphasis on emotional connection and positive interaction.
Content Curation Apps Like Pinterest
Content curation platforms are a great way to get inspiring content organized. These Pinterest alternatives bring fresh ways to collect and share digital inspiration.
Pearltrees: Mind-mapping your inspirations
Pearltrees gives content organization a fresh spin with its user-friendly mind map-like interface. Unlike regular bookmarking tools, users can create visual collections called “pearls” that link to web pages. Each pearl works as an interactive object you can move around your visual map to create a dynamic organization system.
The platform stands out with these features:
- Browser toolbar integration to save content quickly
- Screenshot previews of saved web pages
- Live discussion features with other users
- Drag-and-drop functionality between collections
Pearltrees makes shared work easier through its social features. Users can explore other people’s collections by collapsing their root-level pearltree to find content that matches their interests. The platform lets you share through:
- Twitter integration
- Facebook sharing
- Blog/website embedding
- Email sharing features
Mix: The evolved StumbleUpon experience
Mix grew from StumbleUpon’s legacy by blending social and semantic personalization into one streamlined platform. The service has grown by a lot, now claiming 21.81% market share with 11,792 customers in the content discovery platform space.
Mix stands out through:
- Personalized content streams based on what you like
- Collection-based organization for saved content
- Social recommendations from people you trust
The platform’s algorithms look at both social signals and semantic data to suggest relevant content. Mix helps you find hidden gems recommended by people you know and trust. The platform works with various content types, from philosophy articles to food recipes, making it perfect for different creative interests.
Flipboard: Magazine-style content discovery
Flipboard turns content consumption into a magazine-like experience. It serves a big community across 34,000 topics and features 26.5 million magazines. The platform connects publishers and creators with worldwide audiences looking for quality journalism and inspiring stories.
Flipboard’s standout features include:
- Organized content through themed magazines
- Posts, videos, tweets, images, and audio integration
- Better content discovery through advanced metadata optimization
Content creators get these strategic benefits:
- Magazine titles work as searchable keywords
- Descriptive metadata helps readers find relevant content
- Social engagement boosts content visibility
The platform thrives on focused curation. Flipboard magazines with clear topics or viewpoints attract more engaged readers. Content creators can reach more people by:
- Adding fresh content daily
- Writing clear magazine descriptions
- Picking relevant topic categories
- Connecting with other magazine makers
Flipboard’s smart system handles 26.5 million magazines across 34,000 topics. Quality content reaches the right audience consistently. The platform helps readers find engaging information without feeling overwhelmed by emphasizing cohesive, compelling content collections.
Specialized Pinterest-Like Apps for Creatives
Creative professionals looking beyond Pinterest have found specialized platforms that meet their unique needs. These apps provide ad-free spaces, thoughtful content curation, and innovative features that spark creativity and promote meaningful connections in the artistic community.
Cosmos: Ad-free visual inspiration
Cosmos has become a breath of fresh air as a Pinterest alternative for creative professionals. The platform shines by providing a clean, distraction-free space where users can focus purely on visual inspiration without ads or typical social media elements.
Key features that make Cosmos special:
- Ad-free experience: Users can browse seamlessly without interruptions and immerse themselves in pure inspiration.
- Minimalist design: A sleek black-and-white interface keeps the focus on curated content rather than the platform itself.
- Intuitive organization: Content can be saved and categorized into “elements” and “clusters,” which gives users a flexible system to organize inspiration.
- Infinite Canvas: This feature provides an immersive way to view, revisit, and showcase creative work.
- AI-powered search: The platform employs artificial intelligence to help users find content by color, phrase, or subject.
The platform’s user-friendly approach has got substantial attention from the creative community. Cosmos hit the top spot in graphics and design on Apple’s App Store in 22 countries recently, with 100,000 new users joining in just weeks.
The platform’s unique appeal comes from its commitment to creating a “sanctuary for imagination”. Users can focus on pure expression and inspiration since the platform removes likes, comments, and other social media elements.
Cosmos fits smoothly into existing workflows with browser and iOS extensions. Users can save content directly from Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest without disrupting their creative process.
Users often describe their Cosmos experience as meditative and purposeful – a form of “digital mindfulness” in their daily routines. This matches the platform’s goal to provide a grounding and immersive creative space.
Are.na: The thinking person’s Pinterest
Are.na stands out as a platform for collaborative and independent research that offers a unique way to contextualize internet content. The platform encourages thoughtful and interconnected content curation, unlike typical social media or inspiration boards.
Key aspects of Are.na:
- Blocks and Channels: The platform organizes content into “Blocks” (images, text, links, or files) and “Channels” (thematic containers for organizing Blocks).
- Flexible organization: Blocks can connect across multiple Channels, which allows complex idea mapping.
- Collaborative features: Users can share Channels with collaborators or make them public to promote community engagement.
- Context preservation: The platform keeps original URLs and sources when saving content.
- No advertising or tracking: User privacy comes first in a distraction-free environment.
Are.na’s content curation approach sets it apart from other alternatives. Users need to think more deeply about their saved and shared content. This thoughtful approach has made Are.na popular among designers, artists, and intellectuals who want a more intellectual online space.
Creative professionals from Apple, Google, Tumblr, and Dropbox use the platform, which shows its appeal to tech and design industries. Universities like MIT, Yale, RISD, Parsons, Pratt, and Columbia have added Are.na to their curricula.
The platform’s freemium business model lines up with its goal to provide space for intellectual work rather than commercial interests. Users looking for an alternative to ad-driven social media platforms find this approach appealing.
Are.na’s design lets users develop ideas over time through slow discovery. This differs from the quick content consumption common on other social media platforms.
Are.na’s unique features have built a loyal user base:
- 80% of users employ Are.na for both personal and professional work.
- Professors and students use the platform successfully in classrooms for collaborative research and project development.
Are.na offers creative professionals a more intellectually stimulating environment for inspiration and collaboration by focusing on thoughtful curation and connected ideas.
Cosmos and Are.na show how creative professionals now approach online inspiration and collaboration differently. These platforms create focused, ad-free experiences that encourage deeper content engagement. They offer unique features tailored for designers, artists, and thinkers who want more than visual bookmarking.
Niche Other Apps Like Pinterest
Beyond design and art platforms, Pinterest and other specialized apps serve specific interests. They create focused communities with curated content for home improvement and culinary arts enthusiasts.
Hometalk: For DIY and home improvement
Hometalk has become a thriving community for DIY enthusiasts and home improvement fans. The platform saw huge growth after 2011 when users showed more interest in do-it-yourself projects instead of hiring professionals.
This digital hub has:
- 169,000 project tutorials about building, decorating, upcycling, cleaning, and organizing
- Video tutorials where viewers can ask questions directly to content creators
- Budget-friendly project ideas sorted by rooms and spaces
Hometalk stands out with its practical approach to project documentation. Each DIY tutorial has:
- Material lists with Amazon product links
- Project budget estimates
- Time requirements
- Difficulty level assessment
- Interactive comment sections
The platform makes money through programmatic advertising and direct sales, linking brands to DIY enthusiasts who need tools and materials. Members gain benefits through:
- Customized bio pages with links to external websites and social media
- A Blogger Traffic Program that rewards regular high-quality content sharing
- Daily email features that send thousands of pageviews to top contributors
FoodGawker: Curated food inspiration
FoodGawker stands out as a carefully curated photo gallery dedicated to food exploration. Platform editors review submissions daily and select only the most appealing, highest quality images.
The platform boosts user experience with unique features:
- Interactive Elements:
- Post titles appear on hover
- Original blog posts open with one click
- Social media sharing options
- Magnifying glass tool shows details
- Content Organization:
- Category-based navigation
- Tag-based filtering
- Post numbering system
- Favorite collection capabilities
Food bloggers get great exposure opportunities on FoodGawker. The platform maintains high standards to ensure published content meets professional photography and presentation criteria. Registered users can:
- Build personal favorite collections
- Sort saved posts with custom tags
- Add notes to bookmarked recipes
- See post engagement through views and favorites
The platform’s food-focused content curation brings clear advantages:
- Quality Assurance: Editorial reviews guarantee high-quality content
- Specialized Focus: Pure culinary content
- Direct Traffic: Links go straight to original recipe sources
- Community Engagement: Tracks interactions through “gawks” and favorites
FoodGawker’s singular focus on food content means a smaller user base than broader platforms like Pinterest. Yet this specialization helps culinary enthusiasts find exactly what they want without sorting through unrelated content.
How to Choose the Right Pinterest Alternative
You need to think about your creative goals and workflow priorities when picking the right Pinterest alternative. Many options exist, and each platform has unique features that might work for your needs. Let’s take a closer look at what matters most in choosing a Pinterest alternative that fits your creative attempts.
Identifying your creative needs
The first step is to understand what you want to achieve creatively. Ask yourself:
- What type of content do you primarily work with?
- Are you looking for inspiration, collaboration, or both?
- Do you need a platform for personal use or professional showcasing?
Each platform serves different creative niches. To name just one example, visual artists might prefer apps like Behance or Dribbble that showcase professional portfolios. People who want to curate different types of content might find Mix or Flipboard more suitable.
These aspects matter when identifying your creative needs:
- Content type: Do you work primarily with images, videos, or text-based content?
- Audience: Do you want to share your work with a broad audience or a specific community?
- Functionality: Do you need advanced features like color-based searches or AI-powered recommendations?
Designers who need color inspiration might love Designspiration’s color-based search functionality. Those wanting a more curated experience might prefer Cosmos with its ad-free environment and AI-powered search capabilities.
Considering community engagement features
The social aspects of creative platforms can make a big difference. Here’s what to look for in Pinterest alternatives:
- Feedback mechanisms: Do you want users to comment on or like your work?
- Collaboration tools: Does your work require team features?
- Networking opportunities: Would you like to connect with other creatives in your field?
Platforms like Dribbble let designers show their work and get peer feedback. Are.na focuses more on collaborative research and sharing ideas.
Look at these community aspects:
- User profiles: How much can you customize your profile? Can you add links to other portfolios or websites?
- Interaction options: What ways can users interact with each other?
- Privacy settings: Who can see your content and how can you control sharing?
Pearltrees gives users real-time chat and lets them drag-and-drop between collections. We Heart It takes a different approach by leaving out comments to create a safer, more positive space.
Evaluating organization capabilities
Good organization helps you manage creative inspirations and projects better. Each platform organizes saved content differently:
- Categorization methods: How can you group and label saved items?
- Search functionality: Can you find specific content in your collections easily?
- Integration options: Will the platform work with your other creative tools?
Platforms organize things uniquely. Pearltrees uses mind map-style layouts while Are.na uses “Blocks” and “Channels” for flexible organization.
These organizational features matter:
- Collection types: What options exist for boards, folders, or custom groups?
- Tagging system: How well can you categorize with tags?
- Export options: Is it easy to export your saved content?
Juxtapost lets users export bookmarks as spreadsheets and create categories with custom sharing settings. This helps manage big inspiration collections or team projects.
Your final choice should factor in:
- User interface: The platform should be user-friendly
- Mobile accessibility: You need uninterrupted access on your phone
- Growth potential: The platform should grow with your needs
The best Pinterest alternative depends on your creative path. Some people love Cosmos’s simple design and ad-free experience. Others prefer Flipboard’s magazine-style curation across 34,000 topics.
The best way to find your ideal platform is to try different ones. Most offer free basic access so you can test their features. Pay attention to how each platform improves your creative process and fits your workflow.
A careful look at your creative needs, community features, and organization tools will help you pick a Pinterest alternative that works now and supports future growth. Whether you’re a professional designer, hobby artist, or someone who loves finding inspiring content, there’s a platform that matches your creative vision.
Conclusion
Pinterest has competition from specialized platforms that offer unique features for different creative needs. Professional designers can showcase their portfolio work, and DIY enthusiasts find inspiration for their projects on these alternative platforms. The focused communities and tailored tools help creators achieve their goals. Creators should select a platform that aligns with their creative vision and workflow priorities.
FAQs
Q1. What are some popular alternatives to Pinterest for creative professionals?
Some popular alternatives to Pinterest for creative professionals include Behance, Dribbble, and Designspiration. These platforms offer specialized features for showcasing work, connecting with potential clients, and finding design inspiration.
Q2. Are there any ad-free visual inspiration platforms similar to Pinterest?
Yes, Cosmos is an ad-free visual inspiration platform that offers a clean, distraction-free environment for creative professionals. It features a minimalist design and AI-powered search capabilities to enhance content discovery.
Q3. Which platform is best for collaborative research and idea sharing?
Are.na is an excellent platform for collaborative research and idea sharing. It allows users to organize content into “Blocks” and “Channels,” fostering interconnected idea mapping and thoughtful curation.
Q4. Is there a Pinterest alternative specifically for DIY and home improvement enthusiasts?
Yes, Hometalk is a platform dedicated to DIY and home improvement projects. It offers a vast collection of tutorials, video guides, and budget-friendly project ideas, making it an excellent resource for home improvement enthusiasts.
Q5. How can I choose the right Pinterest alternative for my creative needs?
To choose the right Pinterest alternative, consider your specific creative goals, desired community engagement features, and organizational preferences. Evaluate factors such as content type, audience reach, functionality, and user interface to find a platform that aligns with your workflow and supports your creative growth.
