Flickr responds to Instagram defectors, offers 3 months of Pro for free

Flickr gives big fat holiday gift

Although many companies give away services and products during the holidays to attract customers that are in the mood to buy, Flickr is now offering three months of Pro account status for free, which most suspect is a direct response to Instagram users defecting after a massive controversy surrounding their terms of service, which they have since reversed, but many users either don’t know, or have a bad taste in their mouth.

The three free months of Flickr Pro is for photo and video hosting, typically $24.95 per year, which is already inexpensive, but much more expensive than free options. Like Instagram. Unlike most free offers, Flickr does not require a credit card number up front, so the offer should even attract users that aren’t serious, hobbyists, and professionals alike.

What sets Flickr Pro apart, however, is that users have “unlimited” uploads of up to 50 MB per photo with unlimited viewing of your photo library, and the ability to post photos in up to 60 groups. Pro users can also download high resolution images, upload, and play unlimited HD videos. Without a Pro account, free account users may only upload 300 MB per month, can only post in up to 10 groups, view most recent 200 photos, and download, upload, and view up to two videos per month.

The uploads are only “unlimited” to an extend, as Flickr, owned by Yahoo! reserves the right to not become a “content distribution network,” as spelled out in the disclaimer attached to the three months free. The terms read, “To avoid abuse of our unlimited storage, we do monitor accounts for excessive usage. Yahoo! limits the number and size of photos allowed from an account within a given timeframe. While our goal is to ensure that everyone benefits from unlimited storage, Flickr is not intended to be used as a content distribution network.”

Further, the free offer is open to people who don’t have a Flickr account yet, which can be set up in seconds through Facebook, Yahoo, or even Google sign in. With the low bar of entry, how easy it is to set up, and Flickr’s new highly acclaimed iPhone app and community, the company is set to see some pretty substantial growth in coming weeks.