Map the job before comparing products
Write down where originals live, where proofs are exported, what the client must decide and what you need back. Include the small manual steps: renaming, uploading, copying image numbers, checking a package limit and reconciling revised selections.
This exposes whether you need a full client-gallery ecosystem or a narrow connection between tools you already use. Both can be right; they solve different workflow shapes.
Count new sources of truth
Every extra image library, client list and project status can drift from the others. Prefer software that clearly owns one stage or integrates with the system that already owns it.
For example, a photographer delivering and selling through a gallery platform may sensibly keep proof selections there. A photographer whose proofs already live in Dropbox may benefit from a selection layer that leaves the folder as the source.
Test the return journey
Product demos often stop at the attractive client screen. Keep testing until the choice is back in Lightroom, Capture One, the retouch queue or the production record. Stable filenames and export formats are usually more valuable here than another presentation option.
Use one representative client job, including a phone review, an interrupted session and a changed decision. Measure setup time and the steps after submission, not only the client-facing moment.
Choose the smallest dependable system
Feature breadth is valuable when you use it. Otherwise it increases configuration, training and migration cost. The goal is not minimal software at any price; it is the least complicated dependable route through the whole job.
Revisit the decision after several shoots. A tool should create a visible reduction in admin without making file ownership, client privacy or final delivery harder to understand.