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10 Best Portfolio Website Templates We Recommend

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Updated on August 29, 2023

If you’re looking to build your reputation, attract new clients, and showcase your work, there’s no better way than using a website builder to create a professional, impeccably designed portfolio website.

Don’t worry – you don’t have to be a coding expert to make this a reality. There are a ton of pre-existing portfolio website templates out there that will make showcasing your work simple, without forcing you to compromise on your ideal aesthetic.

But the choice can be overwhelming when there are so many good templates to pick between. Should you go minimalistic or bold? Do you need to pay for one, or can you take advantage of a free website template?

That’s why we’ve written this handy guide. You’ll find a list of all the essential elements your template should feature, and some inspiration to get your creative juices flowing. We’ve scoured the internet from top to bottom, rooting out the best portfolio templates so that no matter what field you work in, you can find one that’s right for you.

Our Top 10 Portfolio Templates

Check out these 10 inspiring portfolio templates below, built using website builders such as Squarespace, Wix, Shopify, WordPress, and more!

#1. Beaumont

Made by Squarespace

Channeling clean lines and white space, Beaumont places your work in the spotlight. Its attractive, tiled design gives you plenty of room to display a large number of projects, which are easily visible to visitors as soon as they land on the page. As well as featuring a navigation bar at the top of the template, each project tile leads to a specific gallery page, perfect for displaying a high volume of images. We like it because of its minimalist, no-fuss approach that lets your talent do the talking.

Price	Squarespace plans range from $16 to $49 per month (billed annually)
Useful Features	✔ Gallery pages ✔ ‘About Me’ page ✔ Previous clients ✔ Social media links ✔ Contact form ✔ Optimized for mobile devices
Suited To	Photographers and artists with a large body of work to display

#2. Elliott

Made by Squarespace

If the saying ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ had to be represented by a single template, this would be the one. Elliott is all about dramatic impact, and large, immersive images capable of leaving your visitors breathless. This template has minimal text, preferring to let the visuals do the talking. We particularly like the gallery carousels, which will give your work the screen space it deserves and can be navigated using the side arrows.

Price	Squarespace plans range from $16 to $49 per month (billed annually)
Useful Features	✔ Dropdown menu from navigation bar ✔ Gallery pages ✔ ‘About Me’ page ✔ Social media links ✔ Contact form ✔ Optimized for mobile devices
Suited To	Landscape photographers and artists who specialize in large-scale work

Advice From the Expert

Your portfolio website comes with some significant benefits. It demonstrates your professionalism and dedication, as well as showcasing your talent. You speak about the sophistication of your approach to your business. You can also use this portfolio to define your unique identity or brand, which will help you cut through the noise in your field. With the right design, you can create a search function that allows the potential client to see if you can offer what they require.

Using a website builder makes the creation of a portfolio website relatively easy. The builders help you to drag and drop features and tools into place without much technical ability. Some templates are excellent and will present you as a professional business, which will appeal to the target demographic.

Harvey Morton Digital Consultant

Harvey Morton is a leading digital expert, able to help businesses create and maintain websites. For more information visit www.harveymorton.digital

#3. Nolan

Made by Squarespace

Big, bold, and perfect for punchy creative businesses, Nolan’s monochrome design is a definite attention-grabber. Its striking entry page introduces your portfolio straight off the bat, so your visitors won’t be in any doubt about what you can offer them. It has a more balanced text-to-image ratio than other portfolio sites, so will be perfect if you run an agency with more than one service to offer.

Price	Squarespace plans range from $16 to $49 per month (billed annually)
Useful Features	✔ Gallery pages ✔ ‘About Me’ page ✔ Social media links ✔ Contact form ✔ Optimized for mobile devices
Suited To	Design agencies and consultants

Find Out More:

Squarespace Review – Our detailed review breaks down the positives and negatives of Squarespace so you can see if it’s right for you.
Squarespace Pricing Guide – Our pricing guide will help you find out more about Squarespace’s pricing plans, what they include, and how much they cost.
7 Best Website Builders for Artists – Get a detailed breakdown of how Squarespace and other builders work for those making artistic portfolios.

#4. Interior Design

Made by Wix

This interior design template from Wix oozes indulgence and class. Its jewel-colored tones pop out from the neutral background, making it ideal if you want a template with a luxurious edge. It opens with a unique ‘layering’ slideshow of images in the header, while the sticky sidebar on the lower left-hand side travels with you as your scroll, so it’s always within easy reach. It’s an opulent choice, and we love the strong ‘premium’ flavor it dishes up.

Price	Wix’s paid plans cost between $16 and $59 (paid annually), but it also offers a limited free plan.
Useful Features	✔ Sticky navigation bar ✔ Gallery pages ✔ ‘About Me’ page ✔ Social media links ✔ Contact form ✔ Additional blog ✔ Optimized for mobile devices
Suited To	Interior designers, artists, and photographers

Find Out More

We think this Wix template is a great choce for students, especially as it’s free! Check out our Student Portfolio Tips for specific advice for students.

#5. Commercial Photographer

Made by Wix

If you’re looking for a fun and dynamic creative template, this design is a hole-in-one. The tiled homepage mimics a social media feed, and can support animated media as well as static images. Clicking on a tile enlarges it for a full-screen close-up. Unlike other templates in this list, a contact form is included in the footer of every page, as well as having its own designated area of the site. Plus, the template comes with e-store functionality, so you can sell prints and other merchandise alongside your portfolio too.

Price	Wix’s paid plans cost between $16 and $59 (paid annually), but it also offers a limited free plan.
Useful Features	✔ Sticky navigation bar ✔ Gallery pages ✔ ‘About Me’ page ✔ Social media links ✔ Contact form ✔ e-Store functionality ✔ Optimized for mobile devices
Suited To	Contemporary photographers, graphic designers, illustrators, and creatives who want to be able to sell online alongside showcasing their work.

Find Out More:

Wix Review – Our Wix review is the best place to start if you want to know more about one of the most popular builders available
Wix Pricing Guide – We zoom in on Wix’s premium plans, and how much it’ll cost you to build a portfolio with them.

#6. Showcase

Made by Shopify

Showcase is a study in minimalism. Ideal for barbers, the template’s brown- and beige-based palette helps build a brand relevant and attractive to your audience, while the prominent calls-to-action (CTAs) in the top banner will help visitors navigate your portfolio of perms and fresh fades with ease.

You can populate your website’s background with striking full-width images or videos, and show off your products with box-like image grids to differentiate between the different services, products, and packages you offer.

We also love the testimonials and five-star customer reviews this portfolio template allows you to showcase towards the bottom – after all, why boast about your skills when your customers can do it for you?

Price	$320
Useful features	✔ Gallery pages ✔ ‘About Me’ page ✔ Client testimonials ✔ Social media links ✔ Contact form ✔ Optimized for mobile devices
Suited to	Barbers, hairdressers, male beauty and skincare products

#7. Publisher

Made by Shopify

Shopify’s hip, quirky Publisher template is ideal if you want a portfolio with a modern, reinvigorating design. Its image-rich layout plays with form and function – varying the size and placement of the visuals to give your portfolio’s reader an immersive, engaging experience.

There’s plenty of room for copy, too – although the portfolio template’s design language prefers to keep the focus on the images, rather than the words. You can easily showcase gift cards to sell your work, and show off your latest stock arrivals in neat vertical columns that’ll catch eyes, capture minds – and win hearts!

Price	Free
Useful features	✔ Gallery pages ✔ ‘About Me’ page ✔ Social media links ✔ Contact form ✔ Optimized for mobile devices
Suited to	Photographers, creatives, booksellers, print media enthusiasts, hipsters

#8. Sketch

Made by WordPress

Bold and contemporary, Sketch’s all-white design is the perfect canvas for a pop of color. The light and airy layout puts your work in the spotlight, integrating the homepage and gallery into one so that visitors can see your work as soon as they land on your site. This template is quite simple and uncluttered, but there’s room to expand. You have the option to add additional pages, as well as build out a blog if you want to.

Price	This is a free WordPress theme, but your WordPress.com plan will cost between $4 and $45
Useful Features	✔ Dropdown options from fixed navigation bar ✔ Gallery pages ✔ ‘About Me’ page ✔ Extra, customizable pages ✔ Blog ✔ Social media links ✔ Contact form ✔ Testimonials ✔ Optimized for mobile devices
Suited To	Illustrators, digital artists, and graphic designers

#9. Eris

Made by WordPress

If your aim is to build a portfolio that mimics the ambiance of an art gallery, Eris is a natural choice. Its striking monochrome palette is the perfect backdrop to show off your work, with multiple page layout options available and a large carousel image slider at the top of the homepage. You can also choose between a standard navigation bar or a hidden menu, to make sure there aren’t any distractions from your images. If you’re looking for elegance and modernism, Eris is a strong contender.

Price	This WordPress theme is $62, in addition to your WordPress.com plan which will cost between $4 and $45
Useful Features	✔ Variety of menu display options ✔ Customizable gallery pages ✔ ‘About Me’ page ✔ Blog ✔ Social media links ✔ Contact form ✔ Search function ✔ Optimized for mobile devices
Suited To	Photographers and artists

Find Out More:

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org – What’s the difference, and which one is best for you? We’ll answer these questions and many more in our comparison guide.
WordPress.com Review – Once you’ve decided WordPress.com is the one for you, take a look at our full review, where we get stuck into everything it offers.

#10. Fuller Group

Made by GoDaddy

The Fuller Group template channels a strong and industrial design that’s bolder than other portfolio templates. It employs a modern feature set, with large images to showcase your work to its best advantage. The drop-down menu in the navigation bar allows you to separate projects, displaying the many facets of your skillset in one place. We also love the testimonials section at the bottom, so visitors can get a real appreciation for your professionalism.

Price	GoDaddy plans cost between $9 and $19.99 a month, although there's also a free trial available.
Useful Features	✔ Sticky navigation bar ✔ Project gallery pages ✔ ‘About Me’ page ✔ Social media links ✔ Contact form ✔ Testimonials ✔ Optimized for mobile devices
Suited To	Architects, design agencies and consultancies, and corporate creative businesses.

Find Out More:

GoDaddy Website Builder Review – Our review will take you through everything GoDaddy offers, and why it could be the builder for you

What Features Do the Best Portfolio Website Templates Have?

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In our experience, using a template is the smartest way of getting online fast with a portfolio you can be proud of.

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choice, so here are some key features you’ll want to look out for when narrowing your options down:

A slick and professional aesthetic
A mobile-friendly, responsive design
Easy-to-browse galleries for your work
A contact form
An ‘About Me’ section
Links to Social Media
User testimonials

A portfolio website is designed to show off your work, but that job becomes much harder if the site’s theme is at odds with your style. Every element of your portfolio should complement you and your talent, as well as being functional and easy-to-use.

But what qualifies a template as slick and professional? Look for layouts that don’t feel too cluttered and have plenty of space for high-quality images, as well as a color palette that matches your style of work. It’s also worth checking that it has the capacity to do everything you need it to. If you look at a template and feel like the quality is on par with something you’d pay for, you’re on the right track.

One thing you won’t have to worry about too much is functionality. All premade templates undergo thorough testing to make sure they work properly. So not only will your chosen template look great, but technical errors should be few and far between.

Picking a premade template rather than designing your own doesn’t mean you have to give up your editing rights. All templates are customizable, at least to some extent. This means you can tweak to your heart’s content, safe in the knowledge that the heavy lifting and arduous groundwork has already been done.

Responsive and mobile-friendly templates will auto-optimize your portfolio for different screen sizes. This means that they’ll render correctly whether your visitors are browsing on a desktop, smartphone, or tablet.

This is important if you’re hoping to win new business from your portfolio. 61% of people won’t bother returning to your website if it isn’t optimized for mobile, with 40% of them turning to a competitor site instead. If you want to stand out from the crowd and elevate your chances of attracting new clients, a mobile-friendly design is one of the key basics you need to ace.

All the templates in this list are fully responsive. In fact, all website builders make sure your site can be viewed effectively on a range of mobile devices. Often, you can preview this when you’re customizing your chosen template. Find the small mobile or tablet icon at the top or side of the page, and click between them to double-check how your design will render across different screen sizes.

Your portfolio website exists for one reason: to showcase your work to the world.

When picking a template, making sure it has an attractive and easily navigable gallery system is crucial. Not only will this make it easy for potential clients to see what you can do, but it gives your work the space it deserves to shine.

If visitors find your images too difficult to look through, or poorly rendered, they won’t stick around for long. Going without a functional gallery feature will cost you traffic and opportunities.

Your ‘About Me’ section is a great opportunity to tell the world who you are, what you do, and where your skills lie. Now isn’t the time to get camera-shy – being clear about your abilities is crucial if you’re hoping to win over new clients!

Not only that, but it puts a face to the work on display, and helps to build up your credibility.

If you select a template without an ‘About Me’ section already included, you can add an extra page when you come to customizing your site, but opting for a design that already ticks this box can save you time. Simply edit the text, add your picture, and you’re ready to start making a good impression!

Social media platforms aren’t just an ideal way to cultivate a loyal following. Linking them up with your website is a smart way to grow your audience – plus, it helps to build relationships.

If a visitor lands on your website to view your work and there aren’t any visible opportunities for them to continue following you, they’ll fade into a search statistic. However, if your social media links are prominently featured, they can follow you and remain up-to-date with the work you’re doing.

Almost all templates come with the option to add your social media icons to your pages, giving users a quick and easy way to become long-term followers.

Your portfolio is all about showcasing your work and what you can do, but having a section on your site to feature user testimonials will support this, and lend some social proof to your skillset.

88% of customers trust online reviews just as much as they do personal recommendations, so if you’ve had positive feedback from previous clients, it’s a good idea to shout about it. It’ll distinguish you from your competitors!

Some templates build testimonials into their homepage design, whereas others have a designated area of the site to store reviews. Which one you opt for is down to personal preference, but both help to promote what you have to offer.

Portfolio Website Templates: Summary

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If you were feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of templates out there, we hope that you’re more confident now that we’ve shown you the 10 best templates on the market.

And don’t forget, the designs we’ve featured here only make up a very small slice of what’s on offer. If they aren’t quite what you’re looking for, don’t lose hope. It’s important that you choose a design that complements and accentuates your work – a portfolio isn’t any good if it distracts from the pieces it’s designed to showcase!

Why not start with Squarespace? They came out top in our research process for best designs, so if you’re still undecided, exploring their library of templates – or diving back into some inspiration, with our guide to the best marketing portfolio examples – is a good place to continue your search.

Written by:

Jordan Glover Writer

Once upon a time, my digital knowledge was virtually nonexistent – I couldn’t even hook a printer up to my laptop without a good helping of blush-inducing curses. Since then, I’ve worked hard to change that and, thanks to the team here at Website Builder Expert, I’ve learned a lot (who knew that hosting doesn’t just refer to handing out drinks at a summer BBQ?). Using my passion for words and my own experiences with website-building and digital marketing, I’m determined to help others like me get comfortable and take the internet by storm– without any stress or the need for profanities!

Researched by:

Natasha Willett Lead Researcher

I love to understand human behavior and the cognitive biases that drive us to do what we do. For over nine years I have worked as a mixed method researcher – research using a mix of numerical data and personal experiences – across a range of sectors, from insurance and policy development to finally arriving at Website Builder Expert five years ago. Fascinated by consumer decision-making, I meticulously built our leading ranking methodology to explore where providers like Wix sit within a competitive industry and what value they truly bring to our audience.
As a member of the Market Research Society, I’m an advocate for high ethical, commercial, and methodological best practices. All of this combines to give you the most ethical recommendations based on real data.

10 Best Portfolio Website Templates We Recommend

Our methodology

Our Top 10 Portfolio Templates

#1. Beaumont