Imgur is removing its Pro subscription service in favor of a fully free system supported by advertising revenue. Imgur Pro seemingly brought in a small amount of the overall revenue for the image sharing service.

This will mean all users on Imgur --180 million last month -- will be able to utilize some of the features available for Pro users like commenting, image analytics, editing tools, thumbnail options and unlimited storage.

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Imgur Pro subscribers who paid in the past 30 days will be refunded the full amount, a nice move by Imgur. Some pro users are not happy their investment has been for nought, now everyone will get the same privileges.

The announcement comes a few days after the GIF maker was released on Imgur. It also comes five years after the launch of the professional option.

Imgur has been going for six years. It was originally created as a way for Redditors to post quick photo links.

Even with the recent influx in advertising, Imgur claims its focus is on making the easiest image sharing service on the web. Hopefully, new investments in mobile will pay off in a space where Instagram is currently the king of photos.

Imgur is still a privately held company and is one of the hottest startups on the block. It's already being eyed by Yahoo for an apparent $1.1 billion acquisition. Yahoo couldn't come to a satisfactory deal, however, and failed to move in on the acquisition.

It's unclear if the Imgur group is looking to go public, or will remain a private entity similar to Reddit and other web based services. 

TagsImgur, photo sharing, Reddit, Imgur Pro