Picnik

The photo editor in your browser, bought by Google and closed two years later

Shut down
19902026

Picnik was a Flash-based photo editor that ran in the browser, built in Seattle by former Microsoft engineers Mike Harrington and Darrin Massena with Jonathan Sposato, launched publicly in 2007 and made the default editor on Flickr that year. Fast, friendly and free with a $24.95 premium tier, it edited millions of photos a day. Google bought it on 1 March 2010, folded its tools into Google+ and shut picnik.com on 19 April 2012.

Timeline [edit]

  1. 2005
  2. 2005 Launch
    Founded as Bitnik

    Two ex-Microsoft engineers start a browser photo editor in Seattle.

  3. 2007
  4. March 2007 Launch
    Picnik opens

    Photo editing in a browser tab, in Flash.

  5. December 2007 Peak
    Flickr's default editor

    Picnik reaches tens of millions of Flickr users.

  6. 2010
  7. 1 March 2010 Acquisition
    Google buys Picnik

    Undisclosed sum; the premium tier becomes free.

  8. 2011
  9. September 2011 Feature
    Creative Kit in Google+

    Picnik's tools move into Google's social network.

  10. 2012
  11. 20 January 2012 Shutdown announced
    Spring cleaning

    Google announces the 19 April closure and refunds.

  12. 19 April 2012 Shutdown
    picnik.com closes

    Users get a Takeout download; the team stays at Google.

The site through time

Browse picnik.com as it was, via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine:

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Full archive →

Ownership [edit]

Picnik, Inc. 2005–2010 Founded Founded in Seattle by Mike Harrington and Darrin Massena with Jonathan Sposato
Google 2010–2012 Acquisition Bought the team and folded the tools into Picasa and Google+

Why it shut down [edit]

Official line: Google bought Picnik on 1 March 2010 and on 20 January 2012 announced it would close the site on 19 April 2012 "so the Picnik team can continue creating photo-editing magic across Google products", moving its tools into Google+ as the Creative Kit, refunding premium subscribers and giving everyone a download of their work.

Our analysis: Picnik was the first photo editor most people used without installing anything, and it was good enough that Flickr made it the default. Google bought a team, not a product, and once the team's work was inside Google+ the standalone site was a distraction in a year of "spring cleaning". Its users went to Pixlr and later Canva; the browser editor it pioneered is now everywhere.

History [edit]

Editing in the browser

Picnik began in Seattle in 2005 as Bitnik, founded by Mike Harrington and Darrin Massena, two ex-Microsoft engineers, with Jonathan Sposato, and opened as Picnik in early 2007. In an era when photo editing meant buying Photoshop Elements, it ran entirely in the browser in Flash: open a photo from your computer, Flickr, Facebook or Picasa, crop it, fix the exposure, add text or a frame or a sticker, and save it back, with a cheerful interface that assumed you were not a professional. Flickr made Picnik its built-in editor in December 2007, which put it in front of tens of millions of people, and Yahoo, Photobucket and MySpace followed. Premium features cost $24.95 a year, and the company of about twenty people was profitable.

Google

On 1 March 2010 Google announced it had bought Picnik for an undisclosed sum, and the founders wrote that they would keep the site running while working with the Picasa team. For a while that was true: the premium tier became free, and Picnik's tools appeared in Picasa Web Albums and, in 2011, inside Google+ as the Creative Kit. On 20 January 2012, in one of Google's "spring cleaning" announcements, the company said Picnik would close on 19 April 2012, refunded premium subscribers, and offered a "Picnik Takeout" download of users' saved images. The Seattle team was absorbed into Google's photo work; the domain went dark on schedule.

Afterlife

Picnik's closure sent its users to Pixlr, Aviary, which took over Flickr's editing, and BeFunky, and its founders went on to Sposato's later ventures. The idea of editing photos in a browser tab, once a novelty, became simply how photo editing worked.

The domain today

picnik.com is unrelated to the editor; the name has been reused since Google let it go.

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Sources [edit]

  1. Google acquiring Web-based photo editor Picnik CNET 1 March 2010 [archived]
  2. The Picnik is over: Google plans to shutter popular photo editing service GeekWire 20 January 2012 [archived]
  3. Picnik image editing service to close TechRadar 20 January 2012 [archived]
  4. Renewing old resolutions for the new year Google (Official Google Blog) 20 January 2012 [archived]

Last verified: 15 August 2026. Spotted an error? Suggest an edit (corrections with sources are reviewed and applied).