If you've been on PurplePort for a while you know the shape of it. It's where most UK models and photographers end up, it's busy, and the free account is kept tight so that you upgrade. That's a fair way to run a big site. It also means a lot of people are paying every month for a portfolio they update three times a year. This is a look at SaltBrite as a PurplePort alternative, written by the people who run SaltBrite, so weigh it accordingly.
What a free PurplePort account gives you
PurplePort publishes the restrictions on free accounts in its help pages, and the list is longer than most people realise. These numbers come from its article on VIP benefits, dated June 2024, so check them against the site before you rely on them.
- 15 images in your portfolio. Anything more is uploaded but hidden and locked.
- Albums hidden from everyone but you.
- Four new messages a day.
- One casting call every seven days, and no paid casting calls in either direction. You can't post one and you can't apply to one.
- No portfolio stats, no bulk editing of images, and website links stripped out of your notes.
VIP removes all of that. You pay monthly or yearly (the price is on the subscription page once you're logged in; PurplePort's own line is that it costs less than a cup of coffee), and if you stop paying, everything past 15 comes down. PurplePort keeps the removed images for six months in case you come back.
None of this is a secret and none of it is unreasonable. The question is whether you want to keep paying it for the portfolio part, when the portfolio part is the easy bit to do elsewhere.
What SaltBrite is
SaltBrite is a portfolio site for models, photographers, studios, stylists and make-up artists. It's British, it opened in October 2026, and the profile is free: up to 50 photos, a page for each one with loves and comments, messages between members, and a review system where one member says whether they'd recommend another and why. There's no VIP tier. Everything a member can do, every member can do.
The photo handling is the part that took longest to build. You can upload a JPEG, PNG or WebP of up to 20 MB, and the site keeps a copy up to 4,000 pixels on the long edge for big screens, a 2,400 pixel one for ordinary monitors and smaller ones for grids and phones, sending whichever the screen in front of you needs. It keeps your original file too, untouched, so a crop can always start from the real thing. The photo page is a dark stage with the picture whole and centred, never cropped and never stretched past its own pixels, with the title, caption and comments beside it.
The profile has a few layouts to pick from. One wide photo across the top with a crop you drag into place, or a portrait photo beside your details, or three photos side by side on one line. Under that the portfolio is either natural shapes or squares, your choice. A model's stats show in whichever units the viewer uses, and anyone signed in sees roughly how far away you are from them.
PurplePort, free account
- 15 portfolio images, the rest hidden
- Four new messages a day
- One casting call a week, none of them paid
- References from people you've worked with
- Groups, and a shoot diary on VIP
- VIP paid monthly or yearly to lift the limits
SaltBrite
- 50 photos, all of them shown
- Messages between members, no daily cap
- Yes or no recommendations with a few lines, and a reply
- Private bookmarks of profiles and photos
- Photos kept up to 4,000 pixels wide
- Five photos and a hand review before you go live
What SaltBrite doesn't have yet
It's new, and new means quiet. PurplePort has had more than a decade to fill up with members, castings and group threads, and SaltBrite has had a few weeks. If you want to find a photographer for Saturday, PurplePort is still where you'll find one this Saturday.
Castings are next on the list and don't exist yet. Search is built (by type, town, distance, and for models their height, age and the rest) but it's held back until there are enough public profiles to be worth searching, so for now a new profile is found through its own address, through shares and through the home page. There's no forum, no shoot diary and no app.
So you don't have to choose, and most people shouldn't. Keep the PurplePort account for the castings and the groups. Put the portfolio where it costs nothing and shows every photo at full size, and link to it from wherever you're allowed a link.
Keep the account you use for castings. Put the portfolio where it costs nothing.
Moving your portfolio over
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Join
Say whether you're a model, photographer, studio, stylist or make-up artist, pick a username (it becomes your address, saltbrite.com/yourname), and verify your email with the code it sends. You can join with Google instead if you'd rather not have another password.
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Fill in the profile
Your town (type it and pick from the list), a bio, and the details for your type. Models get the full stats grid, in centimetres or feet and inches, and a list of the work they want. Photographers say what they shoot, where, and whether they pay, trade or decide per job.
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Upload five photos
Up to five at a time, dropped onto the page. Each gets an optional title and caption and a tick if it contains nudity. The first one becomes your main photo, and you can change that from any photo's edit page.
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Wait for a person
Once you have five photos a person looks at the profile before it goes public. The page goes public once they have, and until then you can see and edit it yourself.
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Keep adding
Up to 50. Newest photos go to the front of the portfolio, and you can put a landscape photo across the top of the page and crop it yourself so the frame doesn't cut through a face.
The rules
Short list. The photos are your own work or you have the right to use them. Everyone shown is 18 or over. Artistic nudity is allowed as long as the photo is marked, and a marked photo sits behind a cover until a visitor chooses to see it and is never used as your main photo. Nothing pornographic or explicit. The person who reviews your profile checks those, which is slower than a bot and a lot better at it.
If you try it and something you need is missing, say so on the contact page. The site is small enough that the answer comes from the person who can change it.
Questions people ask
Is SaltBrite free?
Yes. A profile with up to 50 photos, messages between members, recommendations and bookmarks cost nothing, and there's no VIP tier holding anything back.
Do I have to leave PurplePort?
No. Most members will keep a PurplePort account for its castings and groups and put their portfolio on SaltBrite, where it costs nothing and every photo is shown at full size.
Does SaltBrite have casting calls?
Not yet. Castings are next on the list. Search by type, town, distance and a model's stats is built and switches on once there are enough public profiles.
Can I show nude work on SaltBrite?
Artistic nudity is allowed as long as the photo is marked. A marked photo sits behind a cover until a visitor chooses to see it and is never used as your main photo. Nothing pornographic or explicit, and everyone shown must be 18 or over.
Join SaltBrite
Put your book where it can be seen
Join as a model, add five photos and a person reviews your profile before it goes live.
Join as a model
