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Review: Google Photo Books

Last fall, in an unlikely attempt at thoughtfulness, I created a photo book as a birthday present for my wife. It damn near killed me.

The final result turned out beautifully, and I’d do it again. But in the process of creating it, I discovered what anyone who’s done so already knows: Piecing together a collection of photographs using today’s stalwarts—the Shutterflys and Mpixes and Minteds of the world—involves a healthy dose of crazy-making. Uploading all those photos takes time. Sorting them though clunky interfaces takes even more. And by the time you’re finished, you’ve stared so long at your precious memories that you’re already a little bit sick of them.

Google Photo Books , announced this spring, seeks to remedy that fatigue. Just sort through your sky-high digital photo pile using Google’s AI search chops, pick 20 photos you want to feature (or add more for additional cost), order them however you like, slap a name on the front, and it’ll be on your doorstep in two weeks. A 20-page softcover costs you $10 with 35-cents per extra page, while hardcover runs $20, with extras comping in at 65-cents a shot.

Like so few things in life, it works exactly as advertised. I hopped into my Google Photos collection search page, clicked on a photo of my daughter and added a few favorites to my photo book, repeated with my son, then my wife, and within a few minutes I had a 50 or so page collection of highlights from the first half of the year.

I wanted to group my book chronologically, rather than by family member, but switching around the order was simply a matter of dragging and dropping. Call it five more minutes of fiddling. Google only allows one photo per page, so you can’t tweak layouts even if you want to, beyond choosing how much white border to put around each pic (your options are: none, a little, a little more). Add a title to the front. Add another to the spine, if you’ve packed 48 pages in. Click on Cart, go to Checkout, cough up four bucks or so for standard shipping, and you’re done.

The whole process really did take a fraction of the time that my previous efforts with other services had. And the result doesn’t feel cheap; the photo book that arrived on my doorstep a week and a half later had better-than-decent paper quality, the images looked like faithful reproductions, and it felt substantial. Google also says that eventually, it will automatically recommend photo books for you, based around specific trips, people, or subjects.

I like Google’s photo book approach for a keepsake—but less so as a gift. The stripping down of features that help the process fly also bleed the end result of personal touches, and higher-end finishes. Squeezing in more photos per page feels tedious at the time, but also helps tell a story. A mostly white hardcover book looks stark next to the warmer materials and colors offered by the entrenched photo services. Too much embellishment makes a photo book look garish, but too little can feel sterile. Besides, some people like garish.

That’s not so much a knock against Google as a caution to people who expect more than it offers here. A Google photo book is fast, affordable, and tidy—all qualities its competitors have struggled to provide. Just know that those benefits double as limitations.

You can create and order a photo book in less time than it takes to start a charcoal grill. The Google Photos AI sits at the head of the class; you can search for anything—grass, giraffes, beer—and get back an instant catalog of subject-specific photos you forgot taking. The price beats pretty much everyone, but the print quality doesn’t suffer for it. Works on desktop, iOS, and Android. You really can’t beat it for a quick memento of a specific moment or event.

You get a little more than you pay for, but remember that you’re not paying much. If you start building your photo book before you’ve selected your photos, the search function doesn’t show up, which is… weird. Start in Search first, and add shots to your photo book by clicking the ‘+’ in the upper-right corner. Beyond the photos you pick, there’s virtually no personalization.

8/10 Great for what it is. Just make sure that lines up with what you want.

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The Best Photo Book Service

By Erin Roberts

We live in a digital world overflowing with images and screens. By creating a tangible photo book, you can reconnect with your images, as well as those moments in time. And photo books make sharing memories with family and friends so much easier.

After conducting more than 100 hours of research and testing (which included creating 23 photo books and consulting with a master printer on the results), we recommend Mixbook as the best online photo book service.

Everything we recommend

Easy-to-design photo books with vibrant colors

This service offers the best book-building experience, modern design options, color-accurate photo reproduction, great customer service, and a powerful app.

Buying Options

Budget pick.

Affordable photo books for gifts or small projects

If you want to print multiple copies of a photo book to give as gifts (or for projects that aren’t meant to be keepsakes), this service delivers good-enough books at an affordable price.

Creating photo albums is fun with Mixbook , which gathers images from your computer, social media profiles, online photo-storage accounts, and even your smartphone. In our testing, it offered the best book-building experience of the bunch, as well as some of the best themed layouts. Our finished album looked vibrant, with accurate colors, and had a high-quality feel.

If you just need a basic photo book, VistaPrint can get the job done at a cost significantly lower than our top pick. It offers some of the best album-creation software we tested, including a Smart Assistant option that made album design a snap. Although the cover photo wasn’t as color accurate as that of our top pick, the photos inside were almost indistinguishable, as was the paper quality.

The research

Why you should trust us, who this is for, how we picked and tested, our pick: mixbook, budget pick: vistaprint, tips for making your best photo book, the competition, frequently asked questions.

To discover which features are important in a photo book service, we’ve researched more than 50 companies and created 23 albums since the first iteration of this guide. We’ve compiled a mixture of images from high-resolution DSLR cameras and iPhones, selecting specific examples for both color and resolution testing, and used them to directly compare the image quality of different albums.

When updating this guide, we’ve consulted several experts, including Taylor McAtee, printing expert and owner of Stretch and Staple , a print shop in Seattle. We also crowdsourced input from friends who enjoy making albums with their family photos.

If you want to create an album of your digital photos, a photo book service is absolutely the way to go. Today’s digital photo books look much sleeker and more elegant than the scrapbooks of old. They’re also much easier to replace if an original gets damaged.

Digital photo books can be customized to fit any purpose, such as for a baby book, a family trip album, or even a school yearbook. They also make great gifts for grandparents and family. And if you’re a photographer, photo books are a wonderful way to curate your work in something that can be reproduced for distribution.

If you want to make a fancier book to document a special event, such as a wedding, consider upgrading to a layflat book, which has a unique type of binding that allows two-page spreads to lie completely flat, with no crease in the middle. You could also consider choosing a more luxurious cover, such as leather or crushed silk, to match the occasion.

If you have a collection of vintage photo albums or boxes of family photos sitting around, you might want to scan those photos and upgrade to a digital photo book.

In researching online photo book services, we looked for those that allow you to create a customizable book with captions and multiple photos on one page. We eliminated services that don’t let you at least arrange and reorder photos. And, on the flipside, we dismissed any that looked too technical or complex for people with no design experience.

Many photo-printing services offer frequent, deep discounts and promotions throughout the year, so it can be difficult to make an accurate pricing comparison—but holidays and annual shopping events are a great time to finally click the albums you have waiting in your cart. Otherwise, we can’t say for sure whether one service will be cheaper than another at any given time, so we prioritized services that offered basic, 20-page, approximately 8-by-11-inch books for under $50.

In general, these are the key features we considered:

• Customization options: The best photo book services strike a fine balance between offering a creative, diverse range of editing options and overwhelming people with a dizzying range. The service should work for photo junkies and for people who just want to quickly make a wedding album.
• Intuitive photo book software: The editing tools should be easy to grasp, even at an amateur level. Ideally, they should include all of the basics, such as a black-and-white filter, shadows, brightness, contrast, and saturation, plus the ability to rotate, resize, and reorder images.
• Elegant, ready-made layouts: You should be able to choose from a wide range of photo layouts that can suit any number of photos in a variety of orientations. You should never feel the need to create your own design.
• Flexibility in design: For more-ambitious people, a good photo book service allows you to design a layout from scratch.
• Print quality that’s true to the source files: The photo book shouldn’t make your high-resolution photos look blurry, grainy, or oversaturated. It should capture the resolution and colors as accurately as possible, even if you mostly use photos from Instagram.
• Variety of cover and binding options: The cover is the first thing people see when they look at a photo book. We preferred services with a range of options that look nice and can withstand years of handling.
• High-quality paper choices: We looked for paper that is durable, of high quality, and resistant to tearing. Photo book services should offer a variety of paper types, such as gloss, semigloss, and pearlescent.
• Easy to reprint and revisit: Unlike traditional, scrapbook-like photo albums, digital photo books can be reproduced at any time. Therefore, the service you use should save your photos, layouts, and projects so you can return to print or edit them whenever you want.
• Flexible upload options: A good service should at least be able to receive photos from your computer, as well as from online platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
• Layflat spreads: These spreads allow you to depict one picture across two pages without the center crease of a traditional bound book. Though this sounds fancy, it’s a common offering from photo book services and a worthwhile upgrade in photography or wedding books. We didn’t make this option a requirement, but we gave extra points if a service offered it.

To test these services, we made 20-page photo books using DSLR shots taken by professional photographers, as well as iPhone snaps taken during my honeymoon trip to Tahiti. We specifically selected images that can be harder to print to see how each service performed when tasked with HDR (high dynamic range) images, tricky colors, black-and-white photos, and even dimly lit iPhone snapshots.

We laid out each book in the same order, using the service’s most basic, white template. We also used each service’s default font for captions, sticking with whichever typeface and size were assigned to the theme we chose. All of the companies allow you to change fonts, but that can be a hassle, and we decided the default font would look nice enough. For each book, we also used the default cover and paper options (which are the cheapest or second-cheapest available).

Over the years and several rounds of testing, we’ve asked printing expert Taylor McAtee to compare and contrast print and page quality. We’ve asked friends who enjoy making family photo albums to examine the photo books, and they’ve provided helpful, real-world observations, such as which paper finish might hold up best in the grubby hands of a 5-year-old.

Mixbook has easy-to-use and intuitive design software, vibrant and accurate colors, and modern layouts that make it our pick for the best photo book service for most people. It is one of the few services that offers a dedicated mobile app in case you prefer designing from your phone, and you can invite collaborators to help with or review a project before it goes to print.

Versatile image-uploading options makes it easy to find the photos you want. If most of your iPhone photos end up trapped inside your phone (like ours do), you’ll likely find that adding mobile images directly to Mixbook makes the design process much more efficient.

Using a QR code on your computer screen, Mixbook guides you in selecting and loading pictures from your phone. After you refresh your screen, voilà—your iPhone snaps are now available for you to add to your current project. You can also upload directly from a computer, your social media (Facebook and Instagram), and photo storage accounts (Google and SmugMug).

Its book-building software is the easiest to use. The Auto-Create option feels like magic: after you’ve uploaded your images, a single click of a button builds your book using “only the best images.” It’s an efficient way to get a solid first draft, and it’s easy to customize from that point.

Unlike some of its competitors, Mixbook offers a swap button to swiftly replace one image for another. You can quickly change layouts too: The software displays recommended layouts using your images and may be filtered by number of images per design.

It offers helpful tips to make sure you never feel lost. Mixbook’s guidance boxes were the most helpful resource of any service we tested. These pop-ups, which you can close as needed, provide tips as you start to build a book.

Its photo-editing tools are simple and efficient. These include the same basic options offered by most other services: brightness, saturation, contrast, and opacity. You can crop and zoom in and out of photos easily, though the free-rotation tool was tricky (to fix your horizon lines, you have to click and hold down the arrow in the circle).

Six filters can give your printed photos an Instagram feel; you can also play with shadows and borders or even make a heart-shaped image. Text was easy to insert, and Mixbook offers a plethora of font choices and controls.

Thoughtful little touches make a big difference. When you’re pulling from an available image library in Mixbook, you simply have to hover over a photo to make it bigger. We really liked this feature, since it can be tough to choose your next image based on a tiny thumbnail. (When we used other services, we sometimes had to add the actual photo just to determine if it was the one we’d meant to include in the first place.)

It offers more templates than the competition. Each well-designed template can be kept as is or modified.

Mixbook offers 138 “everyday” album templates, from the simple Minimal White design (which we chose) to birthday, wedding, and seasonal themes. Plus, the themed layouts show actual photo examples, a truly useful feature when envisioning what you’ll create.

Photo reproductions are vibrant and color-accurate. As in previous testing, our 20-page, 11-by-8.5-inch Mixbook photo book was one of the most vibrant among all of the books we created, and the colors most-closely matched those in our original photographs.

Mixbook did a good job of correcting a tricky photo of me about to board a helicopter for the first time: I’m a too-dark, shadowy subject in front of the sunny landing platform where a helicopter and pilot wait. Mixbook struck a better balance of the contrast, picking up more detail in my face while retaining the vibrant background colors.

We reached out to Mixbook to ask about its color-correction practices. CEO and co-founder Andrew Laffoon confirmed that Mixbook automatically applies “very minimal” autocorrection, and that the feature can’t be turned off.

Mixbook uses high-quality paper. Of the six books we created in our most recent round of testing, Mixbook’s simplest album option came with the second-thickest pages—akin to the pages of a coffee-table book. The pages felt durable enough to stand up to the grubby paws of a small child, and they had enough sheen that we also thought they could endure a small mess and be wiped clean.

Its pricing is on a par with that of competitors. Mixbook albums cost about as much as or slightly more than other comparable albums in this category. But it’s always worth seeking out a discount, since the service usually offers an active 50%-off coupon .

If you don’t see a coupon at checkout, you can always make the book and then wait to purchase it until you can get a discount. This is especially handy if you opt for upgrades, like layflat pages, which can nearly double the price of an album.

Mixbook doesn’t spam you with email ads. Unlike Snapfish , which took our order as an invitation to send promotional emails daily, Mixbook didn’t automatically inundate our inboxes with promos once we created an account. We actually had to go into account settings to sign up for Mixbook’s email offers (and you can unsubscribe just as easily).

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Other photo book services offer more photo editing tools. We worked with Mixbook’s available brightness, saturation, and contrast sliders to boost a cloudy day photo. Though the results looked a bit better on screen, the printed version still appeared dark. Of course, you could use an external image-editing program, but we often found we needed to make another small tweak or two once we placed images on the page; editing that image elsewhere and then reimporting it to use in our design felt like a time-consuming chore. A more robust editing suite within Mixbook’s interface would mean we could make any necessary edits seamlessly while creating a photo book.

For a basic photo book at a lower price than our top pick, VistaPrint gets the job done, even if the cover photo was a little oversaturated and the design process wasn’t quite as smooth.

It lacks our top pick’s cute design templates. When you start creating your VistaPrint photo book, you can only select from seven size options, and it doesn’t have any design templates to start from. You can add some 1990s clip art or masks within the editor, but that’s not nearly as attractive or easy as selecting from one of the hundreds of templates Mixbook offers.

Adding photos is easy, yet limited. Unlike our top pick, VistaPrint only allows uploads from your computer and doesn’t allow for HEIC files, which is how iPhones and iPads save images by default.

You can change your device’s camera settings to shoot JPEG, and it’s not difficult to convert HEIC files to JPEG after the fact, but it is one more hurdle that can get in the way when you’re itching to start designing. You could opt to create a book via VistaPrint’s mobile site, which works fine with HEIC files, but that platform isn’t as easy to use as the desktop site.

Photo-editing tools are few, but print quality was nearly perfect. VistaPrint’s editor offers even fewer photo-editing tools than our top pick, and it doesn’t offer a way to fix an imperfect horizon line—a photographer’s pet peeve. By default, VistaPrint will “enhance” all photos automatically; a pop-up window bears this warning as you begin to create your photo book.

We left the auto-enhancement option on, and the results were as good as our top pick, with accurate color reproduction and impressive corrections on our tricky test images. Only the cover image appeared oversaturated, and VistaPrint had two tries at this, since the first copy arrived with a slight wrinkle in the corner of the cover.

Customer service is responsive, too. VistaPrint was responsive to our complaint; it requested images of the damage and then sent us a new copy for free. The new book arrived in just a few days. The cover was unwrinkled but still a bit oversaturated, which made skin tones appear too pink.

It’s a great book and good value. If you just need a simple book, perhaps at a price that makes multiple copies possible, VistaPrint is a solid option. The final result was a very close second to our top pick in terms of color accuracy and page quality, with just a few flaws noticed during the creation process and a not-quite color-accurate cover.

Printing expert Taylor McAtee said you should trust the experts at whichever photo book service you choose. “Just pick the photos you like,” McAtee said, explaining that because your home computer likely doesn’t have a color-calibrated monitor, the on-screen edits you make could look much different when printed.

He also offered two additional tips for selecting photos for a printed book: Avoid washed-out, intentionally very bright (aka high-key) images, which often don’t look as good in print as they might on a glowing digital screen. And don’t apply Instagram filters or use other editing apps that may compress your iPhone files, since doing so can result in a low-resolution photo when it’s printed.

Snapfish was about the same price as our top pick but, as in past years, delivered a book with dull and muted photos and some of the thinnest pages we saw in testing. Snapfish also sent us the most promotional emails following our order—at an annoying pace of about one every other day.

The photo book we built with Pikto looked a lot like the results from our budget pick, VistaPrint, but the service cost a bit more, and its software was clunkier, with no swap button. It was also difficult to connect with its customer service: No one ever answered our calls during business hours, no chat help was available, and the back-and-forth email assistance we did receive was slow.

Walmart Photo is a past budget pick, but the album we created this year wasn’t as good as in previous years. The cover image was oversaturated, making skin tones appear pink and not true to life. Color accuracy was also off throughout the thin pages, appearing dull compared with the competition.

Though Shutterfly was previously a top pick, the last time we physically tested the service, its image quality was a letdown. We took a fresh look for this update but found for its price, about $10 more than our top pick, other photo book services offer better editing tools.

Though we love the minimalist look of Artifact Uprising ’s designs, the books we ordered were both oversaturated. We tested the Hardcover Photo Book and the Photo-Wrapped Hardcover Book, the two most-expensive options we tested. In each book our photos were oversaturated, but especially so for the Photo-Wrapped Hardcover Book. This made my skin look especially reddish-pink in many photos, as though I had a significant sunburn throughout my trip (I didn’t). While turning up the vibrancy can make an image really pop, the downside can be inaccurate skin tones.

Google Photo’s photo books are the path of least resistance for people who already use Google Photos. Although it’s a fast and brainless solution, the automated process allows for little control or creativity. Photos are autofilled in chronological order, and it’s a hassle to move images around if you’d like a different format. If all of your photos aren’t already stored with Google, that adds another step in the process. Layout and design options are limited, and it doesn’t have image-editing tools.

We also checked out Amazon Photos . As with the Google option, creation is a breeze as long as you’re already using it to store your photos. The online software allows for slightly more control over image placement, but it doesn’t have image-editing tools or enough design options overall.

Apple also allows you to create a photo book right from Photos, using the Motif app. But just like the Google Photo and Amazon Photo, this option is very specific to the platform, and you have very little control over design or photo editing.

We made two books with Blurb —one with its web-based software, Bookify, and another with its downloadable software, BookWright.

We were disappointed with the options available in Bookify; it had very few layouts, and they had too much white space for our liking. We also experienced major glitches with captions.

BookWright, meanwhile, offers a huge range of design options, including layouts and fonts, with very little glitching. It reminded us a great deal of Photoshop or InDesign, so if you’ve used those programs before, you may be familiar with the added controls. We also liked that Blurb allows you to upload a PDF to create your book, and that it offers plug-ins for Adobe InDesign and Lightroom. BookWright could be a good choice for amateur photographers or anyone looking to print a series of books.

Nations Photo Lab , our pick for the best online photo printing service , continues to disappoint us with photo book software that offers almost no photo editing and only basic layouts, at a more expensive price than our top pick.

This article was edited by Ben Keough and Erica Ogg.

Where can I get a same-day photo book?

Our previous budget pick, Walmart Photo , offers same-day pickup. And the site, which has some of the best photo-editing tools available, makes designing and customizing an album easy. Other services, like CVS and Walgreens , offer same-day pickup, but we haven’t tested them.

Which photo book services offer apps?

Several photo book services have a mobile app. Our top pick, Mixbook , has an app for iPhone owners . Though our budget pick, VistaPrint, doesn’t offer a dedicated app, the mobile version of the website is okay.

Which service has the best-quality photo books?

Among the 17 books we tested, Mixbook had some of the most vibrant color pages, and the colors most closely matched the colors in our original photographs. Mixbook also had more user-friendly software than most of the other services we looked at.

Meet your guide

Erin Roberts

Erin Roberts is a freelance writer reporting on cameras and camera accessories at Wirecutter. She started her career as a photojournalist working in newspapers—shooting film—and was the mobile-imaging editor at DPReview. She is also a professional photographer who has made her living photographing everything from rock stars to humpback whales.

Further reading

The Best Instant Camera

by Arriana Vasquez and Erin Roberts

The best instant camera for taking high-quality, retro-cool photos is the Fujifilm Instax Square SQ40 .

The 16 Best Tech Gifts for Any Gadget Lover

by Samantha Schoech

Looking for gifts for a tech-obsessed loved one? We have Wirecutter-tested picks, including headphones, speakers, camera tripods, and more.

The Best Online Photo Printing Service

by Phil Ryan

We’ve tested dozens of online photo printing services, and we’ve consistently found that Nations Photo Lab is the best place to get prints.

The 19 Best Gifts for Photographers

by Arriana Vasquez and Phil Ryan

Photographers can be picky about gear—which is why selecting a gift for a shutterbug can be a sticky wicket. Here are stellar finds endorsed by our staff photographers and reporting experts.

The best photo books in 2024: Mixbook, Shutterfly, Printique, Snapfish and more tested

What service should you use to make the best photo books and photo albums? We reviewed and compared five of the most popular services to find out

The quick list

Best overall, best image quality, other services we tested, how we test photo book services, when is the best time to buy a photo book.

• How to choose

Other photo services

Photo book deals.

Whatever the occasion, a personalized photo book always makes a great gift. But where do you begin if you want to turn your photos of a summer trip to Spain or a surprise birthday weekend in the mountains into a beautiful present?

We’ve been testing the best photo book services for more than five years by doing what you would do: creating a photo book. In the process, we looked at which service was the easiest to use, which offered the most options for things like clip art and binding, which had the best image quality, and which offered the best value. 

Our favorite this year? Mixbook , which has been at the top or near the top of our list for several years running. That's because its software is not only the easiest to use, but gives you great creative freedom, too. It's also the only service with live chat support, in case you get stuck. It has competitive prices with frequent discounts, and, of course, its photo books look tremendous. 

If you're looking for other photo-related gifts, be sure to check out our picks for the best photo calendars and best photo cards .

Great features, excellent image quality, the easiest-to-use software, and even online chat support make this our top pick overall.

Read more below .

If image quality is your number-one criteria when choosing the best photo book service, go with Printique, which also has powerful design software.

Read more below.  

While not the flashiest of services, Vistaprint had good-enough quality and affordable prices to make this a solid value pick among photo books.

Read more below.

What we look for in the best photo books

Over the years, we've made nearly 50 photo books from a dozen different companies to find the best photo book printing service. Here's what we look for:

• Image quality: Do the printed photos look good? How close are they to the original?
• Book construction: Is the book well-made, with strong binding?
• Software : How easy is it to make a photo book using the online software?
• Price : How competitive is the cost of the photo book?

The best photo book services

Why you can trust Tom's Guide Our writers and editors spend hours analyzing and reviewing products, services, and apps to help find what's best for you. Find out more about how we test, analyze, and rate.

Our expert review:

Specifications

Reasons to buy, reasons to avoid.

Mixbook was the best service overall for making photo books of the five we tested. Its combination of ease of use, top-notch image quality and good value should make it appealing to a broad range of users. Newbies will love Mixbook’s fun and easy-to-use software while more advanced users will appreciate the wide range of customization options to help you get creative. And the image quality of our 20-page, hardcover book came in a close second to Printique.

If you’re intimidated about designing a photo book, Mixbook takes out the stress with clear and fun-to-use software that helps make the process a breeze. At the same time, there are hundreds upon hundreds of ways to customize your book, including 644 design templates alone, if you want to take a deeper dive. Mixbook had among the best-looking and most user-friendly project editing software of the services we reviewed, matched only by Snapfish . The interface offers a myriad of options but isn’t cluttered and optimizes the space by providing a roomy preview of your project.

In terms of image quality, our finished book from Mixbook tied Printique for the best cover while coming in second place for its interior pages. For the photo books we created during testing, we used an image of a waterfall we shot at Yellowstone National Park. The photo was captured at sunset and Mixbook did a great job of reproducing detail in both the brighter light at the top of the waterfall and the shadow areas in the valley below. On the inside pages, Mixbook's default Everyday Semi-Gloss finish produced solid, pleasing contrast. Both light and dark skintones in our portraits were rendered true-to-life.

Other things we liked about Mixbook are its well-designed mobile app that lets you manage your projects on the site or create products from the photos on your phone. And finally, Mixbook’s handy 24/7 chat support is built right into the design interface, so it’s always available if you get stuck while making a book.

If you order a photo book from Mixbook, be sure to check out its shipping information and deadlines .

Read our full Mixbook review . 

2. Printique

If image quality is your main concern for photo books, Printique is the service for you. While some competing companies have caught up in other ways, Printique still makes the best-looking books around. Their overall stature, however, has slipped a bit, dropping them to second place behind Mixbook after being ranked first for books in years past. What’s changed? Printique’s software feels dated now and is a challenge to use, which could turn off less experienced users. Printique’s photo books are also significantly more expensive than the competition.

For serious photographers (including pros), though, the trade-offs may be worth it. The most distinctive thing about Printique’s books are their very thick, rigid pages, which are similar to what you’d find in a professional wedding photo album. Similarly, even the entry-level books come with a layflat binding that prevents a furrow in the seam between pages, making this design perfect for images that span spreads. The pages display really well with excellent color, skin tone, contrast and sharpness/detail. We also liked the results of a few black-and-white photos we included in our book, which looked dramatic without losing detail.

While Printique’s software offers the most control of the services we tested, we feel it’s better suited to the advanced user than newbies. Seasoned designers will appreciate the variety of rulers, gridlines, submenus, and toolbars offered in Printique’s feature-rich interface, but beginners might be intimidated. 

Another barrier for entry is price. Printique doesn’t really have an “entry-level” book that’s comparable to the other services since it only offers the premium layflat binding option with lavish, thick pages, which cost more. This level of quality doesn’t come cheap.

When ordering a photo book, be sure to check out Printique's shipping information and deadlines , so you know how long to expect before it arrives.

Read our full Printique review .

3. Vistaprint

If you think Vistaprint is only adept at making business cards and other marketing materials, think again. The company has expanded in recent years to include a wide range of personal print-on-demand services including photo books. While it’s difficult to find the book-making option on Vistaprint’s vast website, once you do, we think you’ll be pleased with the process and the results, as we were. Plus, the prices can’t be beat, making it the best value of all the services for books.

For testing purposes, we made hardcover books with all the services in approximately the 11 x 8.5-inch, landscape format since we felt that size would appeal to most users. At $30, Vistaprint’s book was the cheapest of the five companies; $5 less than Shutterfly, which was the second cheapest, and a whopping $45 less than Printique, which was the most expensive. As an added bonus, Vistaprint’s entry-level books come standard at 24 pages, while all the competition’s books start at 20 pages.

Given the affordable price, we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of our photo books from Vistaprint. Our wraparound matte cover shot of a waterfall had rich detail even in the highlight and shadow areas, showing good dynamic range. The white endpapers for the front and rear inside covers have a classy look and feel as does the well stitched binding. The image quality of the interior pages was inconsistent though, with some of our landscape and cityscape images looking vibrant and crisp, while portraits were flat and overexposed at times.

Vistaprint’s software isn’t snazzy, but it gets the job done. It may look basic and a bit dated but unlike Printique’s complicated and outmoded interface, Vistaprint’s rudimentary software provides a relatively stress-free experience for making photo books. Just don’t expect anything fancy or a vast assortment of editing tools and you won’t be disappointed.  

Read our full Vistaprint review .

4. Shutterfly

Shutterfly is an easy to use and reliable service that does a lot of things right. In particular, the paper quality was great overall, and it did a decent job with its photo printing. Mixbook remains the best photo book service overall for its higher quality and better software, but if you want a relatively stress-free experience in creating solid if not spectacular books from a seasoned brand, Shutterfly is the one for you. 

We thought Shutterfly’s software offered a good compromise between providing full control over a project and not overloading you with too much information. If you get stuck while making a product, just click the question mark icon in the lower left to bring up the help overlay. The only downside is we found the software somewhat slow to use; in particular, there was a noticeable lag of a few seconds before images displayed in a layout.

Despite its robust and intuitive software, the resulting photo books were a mixed bag. While the page quality was the best of all the photo books we reviewed, the color was just ok, with some pale skin tones in portraits getting washed out while darker skin appeared oversaturated with a loss of detail.

The default glossy hardcover was quite eye-catching though, and the color of our waterfall shot looked natural with ample detail. But the shiny cover surface is prone to glare. Inside, the pages have a good weight and the smooth matte finish produced minimal reflection. Some brighter images, however, appeared slightly washed out in print. We also weren’t so keen on the binding, which felt flimsy, and cut off the edges of the images in the center crease. So, while Shutterfly did a good job overall, there are enough misses to fall short of the top tier of Printique and Mixbook.

Before ordering, be sure to check out Shutterfly's shipping guidelines .

Read our full Shutterfly review .

5. Snapfish

With how easy and user-friendly Snapfish’s software was to use, we really wanted to like this service more than we did. The process of creating photo books, calendars, and cards with Snapfish was so pleasant, we expected the finished products to be equally satisfying. Unfortunately, its photo book came in last among the services we tested.

The bright glossy hardcover of our book didn’t look bad from a distance, but when inspected closer it lacked detail in the flowing waterfall shot. Not awful but not great either. The print quality of the inside pages is where Snapfish really stumbles. The floppy pages in our standard 8 x 11-inch book were the thinnest of all we created from the various companies. On the other hand, while the stitched perfect binding of the book looked cheap, the crease between pages cut off only a small portion of the images. Comparatively, most of the other books in our testing obscured noticeable portions of photos in the binding.     

We wish all of the photo printing brands would emulate Snapfish’s snazzy software. It’s not only simple to use and logically laid out, it turns the process of creating a photo book into a pleasure rather than like pulling teeth. When creating a book, you can scroll through an authentic looking visual representation of the entire book to see all of the pages more easily. Snapfish’s book builder also had the fastest load times of the various companies we tested, with virtually no lag when dragging and dropping images or scrolling through layouts. 

In the end, Snapfish is something of a conundrum. While we would recommend it for anyone who might be intimidated by the process of creating products, those with more discerning image quality taste for books should look elsewhere.

Read our full Snapfish review .

For testing purposes, we created similar custom-designed books from the five services in our evaluation, Mixbook, Printique, Shutterfly, Snapfish and Vistaprint, which we deemed to be the top companies on the market. We made 20 to 24-page hardcover books with all the services in approximately the 11 x 8.5-inch, landscape format since we felt that size would appeal to most users. The only major difference in the five books was the one created with Printique, which only offers a premium layflat binding and professional-quality, thick pages, even as an entry-level option. 

While creating our books, we picked layouts and designs that were similar across the five services as well. For photos, I used my own portraits, landscapes, and cityscapes, which were shot in both studio and natural light. For portraits, the subjects encompassed a variety of skin tones. The three main factors the services were judged on were software, image quality, and value. For the book-making software, we considered both the levels of customization offered and the ease-of-use. 

For image quality, we compared photos across the selection of books, as well as against the original digital images displayed on a MacBook Air retina display. Criteria for judging included cover quality, paper quality, color, skin tones, contrast, and sharpness/detail. For value, we took into account both the price of the photo books and the level of quality of the finished product. So, for instance, a good quality book that cost a low price would get a higher value score than a poor quality book at a similar price. The same value scale was used for more expensive books in our testing.

This year, we evaluated Mixbook, Shutterfly, Printique, Vistaprint, and Snapfish. However, in years past, we've also tested a number of other services, none of whom made it into our top tier. If you'd like to read those older reviews, they're listed below. Just bear in mind that the quality of some of these services may have changed since we last reviewed them.

  Motif review | Artifact Uprising review | Amazon Prints review | Mpix review | Picaboo review | Blurb Bookify review | CVS Photo review | Walmart Photos review | Mimeo review

Procrastination is a natural human instinct, but it will cost you when it comes to photo books. In particular, if the book is a gift for the holidays or if you just want it quickly for yourself, you’re going to be paying more for rush delivery services, which can increase the cost greatly. And in our experience, fast delivery is the one thing that is seldom discounted by book companies. 

So, try to order you books as early as possible. Not only does it save you time, it gives you the chance to look over the book and order a reprint in case there are any errors. Another reason to order as early as possible is that many of the best photo book services offer big discounts throughout the year — up to 50% off in some cases, or with other extras thrown in. 

How to choose the best photo book service for you

Image quality The most important factor for most people is that their book should look good. But what does this mean exactly? In simple terms, it means the quality of the photos should be great — skin tones should be accurate, lighting should be correct, and details should be crisp. In the best photo books, you should have good contrast, deep blacks, and an overall evenness in color gradation. 

Book construction A photo book should also be built well. You shouldn't see pages coming free from the binding, the paper itself should have a substantial weight and feel, and images and text should be aligned properly.

Book-creation software If a company has poor software, you’re likely to either not be able to create the photo book you want or grow frustrated with the process and give up. While ease-of-use is a key factor, customization is also important too and our favorite brands offered a good combination of both with their software. You should be able to fully edit the book templates, easily find background art and more, and make fine adjustments to your photos, too.

Cost Price is also an important factor. With the exception of the most and least expensive options, you won't find too much variation between photo book printing services. However, some services offer options like better paper, different-size books, and things like lay-flat binding, which means you can open the book flat on a table, and not worry about breaking the spine.

Apart from photo books, we've also tested the best photo card and the best photo calendar services — not surprisingly, Mixbook is at the top of them, too. 

While all of these services have basic photo editors, you'll want to check out our guide to the best photo editing apps to make sure that your images truly look their best. 

Going beyond physical media, the best digital photo frames are also excellent gifts for parents and grandparents, which you can keep updated with the latest photos of your kids.

It's also a good idea to back up your photos, in case you lose your phone or computer. That's where the best photo storage and sharing sites come in — they can keep your pictures safe, and let you access them no matter where you are.

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Dan Havlik has worked in the photo industry for over decades and is currently editor-in chief of Wild Eye ( www.wildeyemagazine.com ), a new magazine devoted to the celebration of nature, wildlife, and underwater photography. He was previously the editor-in-chief of Outdoor Photographer and Shutterbug magazines. He has been an editor and writer for a variety of other publications and websites including Photo District News (PDN), Rangefinder, Wired, Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Consumer Reports, Maxim, Men’s Journal, Imaging Resource, and LAPTOP. Dan is also an avid runner with three marathons under his belt and has written fitness reviews, including guides to the best running shoes and GPS watches, for Business Insider.

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9 Best Photo Book Websites

Don't let your favorite photos go to waste — use these top-tested online services and turn them into keepsake albums.

We've been independently researching and testing products for over 120 years. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Learn more about our review process.

Best Overall

Shutterfly photo books.

Walmart Photo Custom Photo Books

Most Aesthetic

Artifact uprising photo books.

Photo albums create a tangible and lasting archive of memories — ultimately proving to be more durable and accessible than the mess of digital files on your phone and computer. Plus, a custom photo book can be a thoughtful and unique gift for birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, or other special events.

Online photo book services make it easy and quick to choose a theme or layout, upload photos and ship the book straight to the recipient. Best of all, some photo book makers even have apps so you can upload photos directly from your smartphone.

Our product analysts and experts in the Good Housekeeping Institute continuously test everything from the best wedding photo albums to the best printers and so much more. To find the best photo book maker websites, we reviewed each service for factors like ease of use and intuitiveness of the website and app, and, if applicable, photo quality, speed of delivery and extra features like templates, cover options and style.

Shutterfly offers basic photo books at an affordable price. You can choose from a wide selection of themes, like birthday, travel or wedding, or neutral styles , such as modern or rustic. You can also create your own book and choose the book size, cover style and page style, then embellish it with Shutterfly's extensive library of stickers and ribbons to make your book extra special. We appreciate how easily users can edit within their chosen template and the brand's high-quality photo book paper, making Shutterfly a top pick.

You can also opt for one of its 6" x 6" Instant Books , which let you add photos from your phone, tablet or computer in minutes. These mini photo books have only 20 pages, but they're a great place to store goofy candids or Instagram posts you never want to forget. The possibilities are essentially limitless, though the vast array of options could be overwhelming for those getting started.

If you don't want the pressure of deciding on a layout, the brand offers a convenient Make My Book option, in which Shutterfly's professional designers curate your photos and design the book for free. Plus, you'll still have the opportunity to put finishing touches on it before it gets printed. Whether you opt for 50 or 800 photos (the maximum), you'll receive an email notification within 24 hours that your book is complete.

Crunched for time? Design your photo book online and pick up select styles at a Walmart store near you in as little as one hour. Photo books picked up in one hour can have 15 single-sided pages and a linen cover, while same-day pickups (ready in a few hours) can have up to 20 double-sided pages and the option of a hardcover.

On top of the speedy turnaround, Walmart has a great selection of styles : You can choose everything from the photo size and layout to the type of cover, including hardcover glossy or matte, linen, leather and lay-flat glossy or matte. If you need help narrowing down the choices, there's also the option to shop by occasion, whether you're looking for a one-year anniversary or 15th-year anniversary gift .

Despite the fast shipping and variety, our tester noted that the quality was not as high as the options offered by other photo book makers on this list — but that may be expected considering the bargain price tag. Regardless, these photo books still make a superb present that can cost under $10 without compromising on sentimentality.

No matter the occasion, you can't go wrong with one of Artifact Uprising's high-quality photo books. There are numerous design options, including preset books to celebrate the birth of a new baby or commemorating a marriage.

You can choose from lay-flat albums, books with photo strips and even softcover Instagram Friendly Books for the influencer in your life. The company even has an iPhone app that lets you create a photo book right from your smartphone. However, Rothman found the app to be glitchy at times and noted there's room for improvement with the software. Still, the books come out on top for elegance and simplicity .

One online reviewer wrote, "The fabric cover is beautiful. The photos are amazing quality and look amazing even though the photos were taken on film and therefore are a bit grainy." The overall 4.6-star rating (out of 5) backs up that review. Quality and elevated designs come with a higher price tag, but there are options for $20 or less if you're shopping on a budget.

If you have a special project and a little more money to spend, Artifact Uprising offers Design Services , which allow you to work one-on-one with an expert to bring your special moments to life. Just note that the design fee is rather steep at $119 and requires an additional $100 album deposit.

Mixbook Photo Books

When Mixbook says it has "custom photo books for every occasion," it really means it. There are 374 different themed templates to choose from, including everything f rom travel and sports to weddings and recipes.

But that doesn't mean you have to give up creative control. You can still customize the look to your liking, from fun backgrounds to stickers to text using the Editor tool. Plus, there are plenty of paper varieties, from semigloss to ultra-thick matte.

Our testers appreciated the nice balance between good photo editing and price, but one did experience issues with the lay-flat option, in which the photos bled into the crease. You can also use the iPhone app to organize your photos with a tool that the brand calls "Automagic": Simply choose the images you want and select a theme. The goal of Automagic is to help arrange your camera roll so your photos are in order when it comes time to add them to your photo book.

Printique Photo Books

If you're not sure where to start, our pros love Printique because it's super easy to use. You can select one of the many predesigned layouts or create an entire photo book from scratch.

Choose among portrait, landscape and square orientations, as well as hardcover and softcover options. You can even store your memories in a genuine leather or vegan leather book or pick from five different fabric colors. Although you can't choose the color for a hard- or softcover photo book, you can still customize the shape, size and paper type.

Looking for something more advanced? There'sa tool for professional photographers to design and create their own photo books. But if you want to keep things simple, consider starting with one of Printique's 4" x 4" Mini Softcover photo books , which have a maximum of 40 pages and come in three sizes.

Amazon Prints

Is Amazon Photos already your preferred destination for uploading photos? Then creating a photo book through its interface is an easy solution.

Similar to other photo book makers, you can create by occasion and size, or choose its 8" x 8" Premium Photo Book for a versatile option that has a laminated cover and lay-flat binding. There's also an option with standard binding at a lower cost, and all Amazon Prime members get free shipping . (Everyone else is eligible for free shipping with a minimum order of $15.)

In addition to photo books, you can shop large prints, calendars, cards and metal tabletops. There are fewer size and style options than most services when it comes to photo books, but the other photo product choices make up for the lack of available styles. After all, sometimes it's easier and quicker to have fewer options to choose from if you need to pull something together last-minute.

RELATED: 37 Best Personalized Gifts You Can Find on Amazon

Pinhole Press Photo Books

With Pinhole Press, you can choose from various photo book styles ranging from board pages to softcovers to accordion-style setups. Upload your photos and let the system do the work, or manually place the photos into the layout yourself.

One of our testers says her kids love the Custom Board Books , which have themes such as " Count With Me ," " Healthy Habits " and " I Can Be Anything ." These photo books aren't just visually stimulating, but they can also educate and entertain kids for years to come .

"I got my daughter the ' My First Photo Book ' as a toddler and made it all about her — like pictures with family, doing things she likes, her favorite toys, at the playground and beach, etc. — and she still is obsessed with it," says GH Institute Executive Director Lexie Sachs .

We think he custom Photo Puzzle is a fun option for kids, and the Itty Bitty Books are easy to tote around in a work bag for on-hand entertainment. There's less variety in some categories, including Itty Bitty and hardcover books, but with so many additional photo categories other companies lack, there are still plenty of great options for kids.

RELATED: 12 Best Personalized Books for Kids

Google Photo Books

If you store your snaps in Google Photos, then Google's very own photo book maker might be the most convenient option for you. Even though there are no fancy designs, the process is seamless.

Choose from two options: a 7" x 7" softcover photo book or a 9" x 9" hardcover photo book. You can include between 20 and 140 pages, and you have the option to add a spine title if you hit more than 48 pages for a softcover or any number of pages for a hardcover.

Another hallmark of Google Photos is that you can make one photo book and order multiple copies to give to family members and friends who are also pictured in the photos. Since they come at an affordable price point, you could give everyone on your gift list a copy, whether you decide to create a collection of candid photos for your closest friends or a tangible memento of a fun family trip. Though there may not be as many designs and styles to choose from, that can make the customization process less daunting.

Chatbooks Custom Photo Books & Albums

"Set and forget it," one of our testers said about the ease of using Chatbooks, which markets itself as "ridiculously easy." You can upload images from Instagram, Flickr, Dropbox, Facebook or your computer and edit them on your desktop or via the app .

The service's Custom Photo Books & Albums option is great for families looking to personalize a family vacation , as you can choose colors, layouts, cover styles, collages, captions and more. Peruse its vast collection of more than 300 unique book covers, or shop the premium lay-flat and special occasion photo books.

You can also have fun with the Instagram and Facebook series — a 6" x 6" or 8" x 8" book with 60 pages — that lets you store your favorite social media posts in a tangible place to look back on for years to come.

Unique to Chatbooks is its subscription service, which allows you to receive a softcover, hardcover or mini photo book each month. If you and your family love taking photographs of walks in the park, weekend road trips or vacations, this service is ideal for getting your photos in your hands ASAP. One thing to note about the subscription option is that there are only two sizes available (5" x 7" and the monthly mini).

How we chose the best photo book makers

At the Good Housekeeping Institute , our pros in the Media & Tech Lab have been testing photo book makers for more than a decade . For this article, we referenced a robust test of photo book makers we completed in 2009 and ordered a round of new products to test in 2023. We also researched the latest updates and offerings to a variety of apps and services.

When choosing the best photo book makers, our Lab experts consider ease of use, performance and appearance . That means our pros take an in-depth look at a wide range of features, such as how easy it is to navigate the interface and add photos and text to the book; upload and delivery time; the number of styles, covers and templates offered; and the photo, paper and binding quality.

What to look for when shopping for the best custom photo book maker

Keep the following features in mind when choosing the right photo book maker website for your needs:

✔️ Size: Whether you're looking for a small photo book for kids or a much larger album to house snapshots from a long family vacation, there are regular, large and miniature photo book sizes available. It's best to think about how many photos you want to include and where you plan to store the album (i.e., will the book be too tall for your bookshelf or just right on top of your coffee table?).

✔️ Shape: Most photo books are rectangular or square in shape, but some companies also offer photo puzzles, calendars and tabletops to choose from too. The shape is really about aesthetic preference and the orientation you prefer for your photos.

✔️ Page count: Are you compiling 20 photos from your daughter's first-birthday party? Or are you putting together an anniversary album of pictures of you and your partner throughout the years? The number of pages determines the number of photos you can include in an album, so you have enough space to include everything.

✔️ Paper quality: This is probably a no-brainer, as the quality of material your photos are printed on is as important as the quality of the photos themselves. Although companies with higher-quality paper, like Artifact Uprising , may have a higher price tag, the extra money goes toward paper that won't lead to photos bleeding into the crease. But there are still services that are affordable and offer good-quality products, like our best value pick, Walmart Photo .

✔️ Binding quality: Some companies, like Google Photo , will add a binding to your photo album. This feature is especially important when considering the durability and longevity of your photo album. Whether it's a softcover, hardcover or lay-flat book, make sure the binding can withstand accidental drops and the wear and tear of passing the family album around at holiday parties.

✔️ Templates: If your photo album will have a certain theme or be centered around a specific occasion — or it's your first time using a photo book maker — choosing a service that has a variety of templates to choose from will let your creativity flow and also help you warm up to the design process.

✔️ Editing capabilities: When looking at beginner-level or more advanced designer tools, consider how robust or simple they are to use. Having lots of control over the interface is fun, but if you're looking for a more straightforward experience, opt for a service that does the majority of the decision-making for you or offers designer help, like Shutterfly .

What is the easiest way to make a custom photo book?

It really depends upon the service and your preference .

Although some online custom photo book makers also have an app, it can have limited functionality, be buggy or not as easy to use as the desktop equivalent. Often, an app makes it super simple to upload pictures from your phone (a major plus!) but doesn't allow as much flexibility for product assortment or editing once you've selected. That said, designing a photo book on your smartphone or tablet versus a desktop may come down to how many edits you intend to make .

If you plan to do a lot of editing, the non-app version on a larger screen would likely be your best choice. If you want to quickly make a book with limited changes, an app on your mobile device may be the way to go.

Why trust Good Housekeeping?

Elizabeth Berry is an updates editor at the Good Housekeeping Institute , where she ensures product reviews reflect accurate information. To update this guide, Elizabeth gathered notes from previous tests and researched the latest updates to our favorite services.

A previous version of this guide was written by Amina Lake Abdelrahman , a product review writer and editor who worked as an editorial assistant at the Good Housekeeping Institute from 2018 to 2020.

Elizabeth Berry (she/her) is the Updates Editor at the Good Housekeeping Institute where she optimizes lifestyle content across verticals. Prior to this role, she was an Editorial Assistant for Woman’s Day where she covered everything from gift guides to recipes. She also has experience fact checking commerce articles and holds a B.A. in English and Italian Studies from Connecticut College.

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Google Photo Books Review: From Concept to Creation

Every new year, folks like you turn their fave photos from last year into a tangible keepsake like a photo book. It’s a great way to reflect on the past while diving into the future.

Lots of our clients want photo books right after the holidays, and a growing number of online services are catching on. We hear it all the time from aspiring bookers: ‘I don’t know where to start!’ Decent photos are just a screen-tap away these days, but the best photo books need you to pick your favorites and a theme.

If you already use the Google Photos app or have a Gmail address, Google Photos might have already done most of the work for you. It already sorts your photos by date and location, analyzes and recognizes people (and pets!) and makes automatic photo creations to share on social media and with family. Google recently started analyzing users’ photos and suggesting ready-made books that you can order directly from them.

Here’s our Google Photo Books review for an expert take on the service.

How to Access Your Google Photos Account

Not sure if you’re maximizing your Google Photos account – or if you even have one? Here’s how to set it up if you haven’t already:

• Create a Google account. Click here to learn how!
• Desktop users: Go to photos.google.com and sign in
• Mobile users: Install and open the Photos app
• Media that’s already in Google Photos should appear
• Desktop users can drag and drop photos directly in the browser window
• Mobile users can use the Free Up Space feature to manually upload new photos, but once it’s on your phone the photos will sync automatically in regular intervals as a Google Photos backup.
• You’re ready to use Google Photos

Google Photo Books 101

Google Photo Books’ biggest selling point is convenience . It aims to handle the tedious work of photo selection so you don’t have to. One of our designers used her own account for a closer look at the basic click-and-print photo book concept.

Google Suggestions

Google uses artificial intelligence to suggest photo books with good-quality images and a cohesive theme. The app groups your photos by year, album, location, and even faces into drafts that have set titles and themes. There’s a Best of 2018 option for a quick and easy memento that sums up the past year.

Much like those ready-made Facebook slideshows, these suggestions are convenient but not always intuitive. We strongly suggest that you preview them before you order a book . Otherwise, a random food photo or awkward selfie might find its way into the mix.

Here are a couple of nuances Google didn’t pick up on in our designer’s sample book:

• “Google can’t know the difference between work and family and I take a lot of photos on my personal phone for various professional reasons so even though I love my co-workers – they didn’t belong in my family book!”
• “Some of the photos selected were BAD. There were a couple of months I didn’t take as many photos and Google filled the gap with what they could – but I replaced them. I removed a couple of screenshots as well.”
• “To me, a year-in-review photobook is about family, friends and my cats, and there were a ton of food photos I took for my Instagram that got wrapped into the selection that I removed. I take so many food photos, I’m surprised Google did not suggest a separate book just for those!”

Edit and Design in Google Photos

Editing photos.

Want better contrast or a more focused crop? While you can’t edit directly in the photo book interface, it works seamlessly with Google Photos’ other tools . You have two options for editing:

• You can always edit in Google Photos before adding any new items to your photo book.
• If you’re happy with a photo Google selected, but wish it was black and white, you can go find the original photo and make your edits. The photo in your book will update automatically!

Arrangement

Once you’ve picked and polished your photos, it’s time to arrange them on each page. Lucky for you, the hardest part of laying out a yearly book is already done for you – they’re in chronological order!

The default setting is one photo per page, but you can also choose from full-page spreads or partial-page layouts.

Hover over the photo you’d like to change. You’ll get three options:

• A full page square
• A large square with a border
• A vertical image in the middle

If you want to utilize the full page square with a photo that isn’t already square – it will get cropped!

The desktop version even lets you make collages with up to four photos of varying sizes. We wish the mobile app did the same.

Hover over the photo on the page in question and select the illustrated collage. Your main photo dashboard will open for you to select up to three more photos for that page. The best part? It’ll take you right to the group of photos the original came from!

Limits on Design

Design options in Google Photo Books are pretty scarce, but you can’t beat the convenience of how quickly it comes together. If you’re a fan of minimal layouts and simple text, you won’t struggle with the limited design options.

Here’s a list of what we found:

• You can add captions to the inside pages but can’t change the font, size or position at the bottom of the page. So you can’t caption each photo on a collage page.
• You get to title the front cover and spine, but can’t customize the title’s font or size at this time.
• You also can’t add extra graphics or other visuals besides the photos. One hack might be to save various design elements, like text boxes or clip art, as digital images to post in a collage alongside actual photos . Even then, you won’t have much control over the sizing and placement of these items.
• The background color is white, and that’s your only option!
• No easy drag-and-drop features for changing your photos’ order or layout. It is what it is!

Choosing Your Own Photos for Your Book

Not ready to roll the dice with Google suggestions, or Google got it completely wrong? We get it. In fact, most of our own design clients play an active role in the photo selection process . And we know that Google doesn’t get the photo selection perfect.

To make your own photo book draft from scratch, you’ll be giving up some of the convenience that makes this service so unique. But you know better than anyone else which of your memories should make the cut.

You can launch your own Best of 2018 photo book, or pick another theme altogether. Find photos from events that best sum up your life last year, such as:

• Family portraits

You can easily search for something like Christmas or Cats and Google Photos will use its advanced software to find the photos that seem related to your search.

Make sure there’s an even mix of your family, friends, or other criteria based on your theme. Nobody wants to feel left out! They also don’t want to see a 2018 Summer Vacation book that’s mostly photos of your hotel room.

A Google Photo Book will only print 100 pages, so be mindful of how many photos you select. 500 is too many! Try to keep it to an even 100 or less.

Quantity vs. Quality

Google Photos does put some restrictions on the count and quality of pictures in your custom photo books. Right now, you can fit between 20-100 photos in a single book. If you picked a hyper-specific theme like Dog Wearing Sweaters , but only find 15 photos that work, go with a broader idea that covers more content.

On the flipside, try making multiple books with more specific themes if a broad topic like Family 2018 covers hundreds of photos. Or check out our in-depth post on photo selection to pick the best 100 from a huge archive.

You might also see warnings for low-resolution photos that might look grainy or blurry when printed. You can ignore these alerts, but you might not be happy with the final product.

Luckily, most modern smartphones shoot high-quality photos. The real quality risk comes down to human error. Watch out for shots that are blurry, too dark, or show people making weird faces.

How to Do Photo Selection in Google Photos

Choosing your own photos is easy! Find the timeline on the right-hand side of your Google Photos dashboard. Scroll down to January 2018, and select the photos you’d like to use by checking the box in the upper left corner of the photo.

When you have up to 100 photos selected, click the plus sign near the top right and choose Photobook .

The app will import all of your picks into a photo book draft.

Purchase and Printing

Part of a photo book’s appeal is that it offers hands-on enjoyment. You can hold it, flip through the pages, and place it on your coffee table for guests to browse. Right now, though, Google’s options for printing and materials are fairly limited.

• Size: 7-by-7 inches
• Price: $9.99 to start
• Includes: 20 pages
• Add-ons: $0.35 per additional page
• Size: 9-by-9 inches
• Price: $19.99 to start
• Add-ons: $0.65 per additional page

Beyond cover density, there aren’t any options for materials or finishes. Yet the Google Photo Books desktop module boasts “premium, responsibly-sourced paper,” which seems to be semi-glossy based on product photos and reviews.

Other Photobook Options

Apple … sort of.

Die-hard fans might already know this, but can no longer buy Apple photo books straight from the source. The tech giant discontinued its Photo Print Products service in late 2018.

The good news? Apple users can still find a Mac-friendly photo books app. Some third-party vendors like Mpix and Shutterfly offer macOS Photos app extensions that help turn your iPhone pics into photo books.

Professional Photo Printers

They might not be as quick and easy as Google, but lots of printing pros offer photo books with more options for design, materials, sizes, and finishes.

Bigger vendors like Blurb also offer powerful, user-friendly design tools. You’ll have more creative control, though it’ll take more time and effort to get things just right.

You can still use our Google Photos selection tips to make a beautiful photo album book through another service.

Professional Book Design

Let’s face it – most people don’t have the time or design background to create gorgeous photo books. Professional book designers have the technical skills, fancy software, and practical experience to help turn your photo book vision into a work of art.

Maybe Google’s books seem too basic, but you’re not a visual media whiz. You might enjoy an expert design service . Though it will cost more than the DIY route, you can take a big-picture approach while your designer does the heavy lifting and follows your feedback. It doesn’t get much cooler than that!

Save the Past with a Custom Photo Book

So, is a Google Photo Book worth it? The short answer: maybe!

The tradeoff between control and convenience is a common thread throughout this review. We recommend Google Photos service if you want fast, cheap and easy photo books – just double-check those automated suggestions before you order 10 copies.

For a breathtaking family heirloom that highlights your crew’s strengths and silly quirks, we suggest you look beyond Google Photo Books. We’ll review more custom book design platforms soon, so stay tuned.

Related posts:

• Are photo scanning mobile apps good enough? A Google PhotoScan Review
• Google’s New Photo Storage
• A Professional Photo Organizer Weighs in on Google Photos
• Turn Your Vintage Albums & Scrapbooks into Photo Books

About Jens Peterson

Jens is a Marketing Associate at EverPresent. When he's not helping us save family memories, you'll most likely find him cooking spicy food or listening to heavy metal.

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Google Photo Review

Google photo is the minimalist’s choice when it comes to photo book creation. the interface is very simple, but doesn’t provide a lot of customization options..

Top Ten Reviews Verdict

This service is perfect for anyone who frequently uses their Google Photo account and wants a simple photo book.

This service allows you to make photo books in a hurry.

You don’t get a lot of customization options.

Why you can trust Top Ten Reviews Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test .

Google Photo is the minimalist’s choice when it comes to photo book creation. The interface is very simple, but doesn’t provide a lot of customization options. It’s also relatively inexpensive, and the book quality is very good.

This service doesn’t offer 8 x 8 photo books, but there is a 9 x 9 hardcover book. For 20 pages, this book only costs $19.99, which is much cheaper than other services. Google does charge for standard shipping and tax so the price will go up a little bit. To add more pages to the book it only costs $0.65 per page. Pages can be added individually so you don’t need to add two pages at a time.

This book is a quality coffee table book. Our testers loved the look and feel of the cover and felt like it was more professionally made than many of the others we received. It features a cardstock-like flyleaf, which adds to the books overall elegance. The front cover printed a bit darker than we would have liked and it is a tad grainy but it doesn’t look bad. The inner images printed well, overall. Our experts stated that some images came out a bit grainy but others looked wonderful. The quality of your images will partially depend on your phone’s camera since that’s where the images come from. You can also upload photos from your computer, but there are no links to upload directly from social media.

This service defaults to placing one image per page. To add more than one image to a page you will need to click on the “Add Collage Page” link and choose the images you specifically want to use on that page. For single image spreads, there are three layout options: centered on the page or zoomed into either taking up the whole page or zooming into a square window.

The software lets you add captions to each page so you can label them as you see fit. There are no backgrounds and no stickers or embellishments to customize your books with. If you’d prefer a minimalist, white-page book that is simple to create this is the service for you. However, if you want to be able to customize each and every page, you’ll be disappointed with this service. You’ll likely be happier with Shutterfly .

There are only two book sizes: a soft cover 7 x 7 photo book and a hard cover 9 x 9 photo book. You won’t find any landscape or portrait covers as square is the only option. Additionally, Google Photo doesn’t offer premium book options like lay-flat or leather covers.

This service is very easy to use but can be a bit frustrating due to its limitations. The number of photos you select from your album will determine how many pages your book will have. You must have a minimum of 20 pages to place an order. The images automatically fill the book and can be rearranged with just a few button clicks. Google Photo allows you to share albums with others, so it’s easy to make a collaborative photo book for family reunions or sports teams or other groups.

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Google Photo only offers standard shipping so you won’t be able to get your books to arrive any faster. Fortunately, the service does ship to other countries, do feel free to ship gifts to friends or family outside the U.S. If there are any printing errors, Google Photo will replace your book for free. Should you have questions, you can contact a representative via email or find helpful information on the FAQs page or user forum.

Google Photo offers minimalist photo books that only take a few minutes to make. They don’t offer any backgrounds, stickers or other customization options and you can only have one photo per image. The print quality of our book was decent and the binding of the book was excellent. We recommend this service to anyone who wants a photo book in a hurry and doesn’t particularly care for the scrapbooking aspect offered by other companies.

Rebecca is a writer who has covered everything from photo books to graphic design and small kitchen appliances for Top Ten Reviews. Now a gaming writer for Future Labs, she's also contributed to big publications like TechRadar, Windows Central, Android Central, Reuters Legal Solutions Blog, iMore, and more. She no longer works for TTR.

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Wednesday, July 28, 2021

Google photos photobook review (soft & hardcover).

35 pages, 37 photos (including photo on cover, not too many collages) $9.99 for the first 20 pages + $5.25 for 15 additional pages ($0.35/page) + $9.99 Economy shipping Total was $26.42 including tax

71 pages, 102 photos  $19.99 for the first 20 pages + $33.15 for 51 additional pages ($0.60/page) + $12.99 Priority shipping Total was $69.25 including tax

6 comments:

Hi Emi! First of all, congratulations on your wedding - everything looked so beautiful and stunning and I'm enjoying your blogposts on them a lot. You're totally my inspo on a lot of things fashion and shopping - I hope this isn't too nosy or intrusive of a request (please ofc ignore me if so) but I know your last room tour was shot a long time ago and really girly and full of your closet items on display. My room is too! But I'm moving in with my partner next month and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with how to decorate... in a way that isn't too selfish of me? For the both of us? He's really typical techdude 'I don't mind what you do - I'll be happy with anything' but I do think there will be a cause for concern if I make everything pink and floral! lol! Sorry this is a bit rambly, but I'd love a post on furniture/living inspo! Your work chair post was awesome and I just really appreciate how thought out your purchases are. Lots of love x

Thank you so much! My husband is the same way - he'd probably let me decorate any which way, but I did want the our bedroom to reflect BOTH of us, not just me. I think it was good to have just a consistent theme/tone. But ultimately I'm mostly a cheapo when it comes to home furnishings and I'd prioritize price over aesthetic 11 out of 10 times lmao, so I may not actually end up with a home that strictly matches what I'd "imagine". We're actually in the middle of a move right now and would love to share more about how we set up the next house's new rooms when we finally get around to finishing everything up. But it might be a while!

Thanks so much for your reply! I hope the move goes well, moving can be so stressful T_T I look forward to it when you do decide to share!

This was a very thorough review and I want to comment that the review was very good. And it's true there aren't many reviews out there so I thought it worthwhile to respond. The simplicity of the service is good but the quality of the prints were severely lacking for us. Not sure if it's because Google may have outsource to different contractors depending on region but our books had really poor image quality. They looked like they were printed from a home office colour laser printer with very visible pixelation. So much so we are in the process of trying to reach out to Google to address the issue. Costco has better print quality and I would not use this service again.

Both albums look great. Do you know how much each album's weight is?

Your album is beautiful

Pocket-lint

How to create stunning photo books with google photos.

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Key Takeaways

• Use Google Photos to easily create and order photo books featuring your favorite digital images.
• From Google Photos' Print Store, select the photos, add a title, choose the book type, and proceed to checkout.
• Google Photos offers 7-inch softcover and 9-inch hardcover options, with prices starting at $14.99 for 20 pages.

If you use Google Photos to store your pictures in the cloud, you should ensure you're taking advantage of all its cool features. Sure, it's an affordable place to keep your pictures, but it does a lot more than that. One of the cooler features of the service is the ability to turn your digital images into physical prints at the push of a button.

Google Photos tips and tricks: Store and edit your photos like a pro

Google Photos has been around for a number years now and is the go-to service for many people looking to store their photos and videos.

A photo book is one of the most popular items to create with Google Photos, and we're going to show you how to make a book with your favorite photos and have it shipped to your home in just a couple of days. Whether you're using a computer, Android phone, or iOS device , the process of creating a stunning print photo book is quick and painless.

How to create Google Photos photo books

The simplest way to buy a photo book from Google Photos is to visit photos.google.com , log in, and click Print store . From there, build your photo book, review it, select the type and quantity, and proceed to checkout. Enter your shipping details and choose a payment method, including Google Pay, credit, or debit cards. If needed, you can cancel the order within 2 hours of purchase.

On a computer

With google photos, you can create a photo from your computer (though the photos are generally still uploaded to the service from your mobile device). if you'd like to do it from your desktop or laptop, here's everything you need to know:.

• Go to the Google Photos website on your browser of choice.
• Click Print Store on the left side of the screen.
• Click Photo Books on the left under All Products.
• Click the + Make a photo book button on the top right of the screen.
• Select the photos you want in the book from your Google Photos library (you must choose at least 20, but you can use up to 245).
• Click Done on the top right of the screen.
• Click Add a title below the first image and type in your book's title.
• Click Next at the top-right of the screen.
• Choose whether you want a softcover book or hardcover book in the pop-out that opens and click Select.
• Click Checkout in the pop-out.
• Enter your payment and shipping information if it's not already stored.
• Click the Buy button to make your purchase and have your book printed and shipped.

How to use AI to create highlights videos in Google Photos

Google Photos' new Highlight video feature lets you easily create clips with your favorite memories - all thanks to the power of AI.

If you're using an iPhone or iPad to backup your Google Photos, you can actually get a photo book printed right from that device without needing to open a browser on your desktop or laptop. Here's the step-by-step process to create a photo book from iOS:

• Open the Google Photos app.
• Tap the + at the top of the screen (near your profile picture).
• Tap Photo books, prints, & more.
• Tap the Photo books button in the middle of the screen.
• Tap the + Make a photo book button at the bottom of the screen.
• Tap the first photo then tap Add a title.
• Tap Next at the bottom of the screen.
• Choose whether you want a softcover book or hardcover book.
• Tap Check out to pay for your book.
• Tap the Buy button to complete your purchase.

Google Photos Magic Editor: How the AI editor works and where you can get it

Bad Photoshop skills? No worries. Google's new Magic Editor uses gen AI to erase and replace parts of your photo. But that's not all it can do.

Android users aren't left out in the cold here, because they can also create a photo book on Google Photos directly from their phone or tablet . Here's what you need to do:

• Tap the Make a photo book button at the bottom of the screen.

What are the photo books' sizes and prices?

Google Photos provides two photo book options: a 7-inch softcover and a 9-inch hardcover, each holding between 20 to 140 pages. You can add spine titles to softcovers with more than 48 pages and to any hardcover book. Prices begin at $14.99, varying with the book's size, cover type, and page count.

Keep in mind, the final cost may also include shipping fees and taxes. In the Continental US, shipping options include Economy (8–11 business days), Standard (6–10 business days), and Priority (5–7 business days).

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A Look at Google’s $20 Photo Book in a Hands-On Review

In fact, Haywood was so impressed with the print quality and color reproduction that he is considering offering this as a product to his clients for their weddings or other events.

Google Photo Books are available to order now on the Google website . At the moment, these 9″ x 9″ inch photo books are available for just $20 for 20 pages, and $0.65 for each additional page.

• Services & Software

Article updated on August 6, 2024 at 10:59 PM PDT

Best Photo Books for 2024

Commemorate a special anniversary, trip, event and more with these photo book services.

Our Experts

• She received the Renau Writing Scholarship in 2016 from the University of Louisville's communication department.

CNET’s expert staff reviews and rates dozens of new products and services each month, building on more than a quarter century of expertise.

While your photos are always accessible on your phone, sometimes it's nice to have a physical reminder of a special memory, like a wedding or graduation. If you have too many photos of friends and family to store in frames, consider a photo book. They're like pre-made photo albums offered by online platforms where you can send in your photos, pick a design and place an order to be printed and bound into a quality photo book. Whether searching for a thoughtful birthday gift or a way to display your photography , photo books offer a personal touch. The best photo books are highly customizable and more affordable than you might think -- all without the added stress of going to the craft store and spending days scrapbooking.

There are many services available online that can help you craft the perfect photo book, customizable and delivered directly to you. I researched and tested a few of the best photo book services to find out what each’s strengths and weaknesses are. Note that I haven't actually ordered any books I created yet, so I can't compare the quality of the final products.

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• Free designer service
• Many templates to choose from
• Photos must be JPEGs

Best overall service

Shutterfly's easy-to-navigate site can help you assemble your perfect custom photo book with over a dozen occasion templates and book sizes to choose from. It offers tutorials and ideas to help you create your photo books if you want to start entirely from scratch.

To use Shutterfly, you can browse and select a template and upload your photos into the preselected slots. You can add text, design elements and other customizations to your photo books. You can also use Shutterfly's free 24-hour designer service. This service helps take some of the legwork out of the creation process. You can upload anywhere from 50 to 800 photos, and Shutterfly experts will select the best images so your book isn't repetitive or blurry. You can advise how the expert selects which photos to use, how images are sequenced and the amount of design elements or embellishments you'd like.

For the best results, upload and use print-quality photos from your computer or select from photos already uploaded to your Shutterfly, Facebook or Instagram accounts. Any photo you use has to be in JPEG format.

How much it costs: Before shipping and tax, an 8-by-8-inch 20-page softcover photo book would cost about $24. Shutterfly frequently runs sales , so you can be on the lookout for promo codes to apply to your purchase to save some money. As you add or delete elements from your project, Shutterfly will tell you that the price of your project has changed.

• Many page and cover customization options
• Easy to use and navigate site
• Some work involved when switching templates

Easiest to use

Mixbook's minimalist layout makes it very easy to use. The site has dozens of fun photo book themes -- family, seasonal, wedding, travel, baby -- and more specific designs in each category, perfect for photo gifts. There's also the option to put a book together from scratch. Mixbook lets you upload print-quality photos from your computer or phone as well as from Facebook and Instagram, and ones you've already uploaded to the site. Mixbook offers a lot of customization options. You can choose from multiple page finishes and different cover option styles. If you want to get fancy, you can even add matte finishes, a hardcover or leather with a dust jacket.

I used Mixbook to organize my wedding photos and to make a photo book for my dad's birthday. It was easy to add and edit photos, text, extra pages and embellishments to the template I chose. You can swap themes at any time and the photos will transfer over, but from what I can tell, you have to change the pages manually. Both photo books I made turned out great and arrived in a timely fashion.

You can be as creative as you want and veer away from the template as you like -- or stick with the presets. As you build your photo books, you can click Preview to see how the final product will look. When you're satisfied with your photo book, click Order to finalize the photo book size, page and cover finish. 

How much it costs: Photo books can be ordered in landscape, portrait or square shape in 6-by-6-, 8.5-by-8.5-, 10-by-10- and 12-by-12-inch sizes. An 8.5-by-8.5-inch, 21-page softcover book with the regular semi-gloss page finish -- all the cheapest options -- will cost you around $20. Designing a larger book with more bells and whistles will raise the final price. Like its competitors, Mixbook frequently runs promotions that can save you some serious cash.

• Home delivery, same-day pick up and site-to-store delivery
• Large variety of photo book sizes
• Fewer photo editing options
• No embellishment options

Best photo books on a budget

Walmart photo.

If you’re looking to make a photo book without breaking the bank, consider creating one through Walmart's website . You can customize your photo book's size, from 5-by-7 inches up to 12-by-12 inches, as well as the cover type, binding and how fast you want it delivered. I tested out Walmart’s Classic Black photo album template since I already had the photos available. The book was available for home delivery, same-day pick up and site-to-store delivery. Along with sizes, Walmart’s templates have multiple options for covers, but depending on how you mix and match customization options, not every style is available for each configuration. 

Walmart lets you upload photos from your computer, Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, Dropbox and Google Photos, but the site will only hold onto the photos for one year. It was easy to drag and drop photos or swap layout pages in the template. After dropping a photo in, you can click it to make any adjustments. Walmart provides fewer photo-editing options -- a black-and-white or a sepia filter, the ability to crop, zoom and tilt; brightness adjustment and red-eye elimination -- compared to other websites. While building your custom photo book, you can swap templates at any time, but the photos you've placed won't transfer, and you'll need to place them into the new layout. One of the downsides to Walmart's photo books was the lack of embellishments. The program lets you add text, but the ability to add "stickers" like those on other sites, would've taken the design process up a level. 

Once you're finished with your project, click Next to review your photo book in a storyboard format before you order. There's also an option to preview the entire book page by page if you want a more detailed review before ordering. You'll get an alert if you've left any slots blank.

How much it costs: Walmart's 8-by-11-inch, 20-page, hardcover glossy photo book costs about $29 before shipping and tax.

• Many customization options
• Helpful guidance during creation
• Cannot save photos to site to select from

Best photo books for fast checkout

If you're not keen on making an account and getting a slew of promotional emails, Mailpix might be the way to go. With this photo book company, you can make a photo book as a guest, no account needed. Mailpix offers premium ultra lay flat, lay flat, hardcover book and softcover photo book styles, ranging from 8-by-8- to 11-by-14-inch books. The site recommends designing the book on a computer and using JPEG files. You can pick out styles for almost every occasion -- birthday celebrations, Mother's and Father's Day, holidays like Christmas, Halloween and Hanukkah and pet themes.

Mailpix guides you through the process step by step, so you won't feel lost or overwhelmed. There’s a nice variety of page layouts to choose from, and you can choose how many pages are in the book and how many images are on each page. Mailpix provides guidance on image sizing for the highest quality outcome and warns you if a photo’s resolution is too low. There's also an autofill option that helps save time putting all your images in. As you're building your book, Mailpix puts a red line around the page indicating that a section might be cropped out during the photo book printing.

Mailpix updates your price total as you go along, so you're not caught off-guard by the final price at checkout. When you're satisfied with your book, name it and choose how many copies you'd like to order. Select a cover style, add a photo if you'd like and check out.

How much it costs: An 8.5-by-11-inch hardcover book with a standard 20 pages came to $46 before tax and shipping thanks to the current 65% off sale -- ground shipping starts at $9, express shipping runs $20 or more. On Mailpix, every additional page starts at $1.20.

• Easy integration with photos already saved on Google Photos
• Can create photo book from smartphone app
• Not many premade templates/albums

Best if you're new to online photo books

Google photos.

If you use Google Photos , you can avoid uploading your photos to another app and create a hassle-free photo book on your phone with photo books from Google Photos . In the Google Photos app or on a desktop, tap the shopping bag icon (on my Google Pixel 5 phone, it's at the top left of the screen). Tap Photo Books to get started, and you can choose from a few premade albums based on your photos, like Winter Vacation 2023 -- the premade photo albums can be edited as well.

There's also the option to start from scratch and manually add all the photos by tapping Make Photo Book at the bottom of the screen. You can add up to 90 photos to your book. Once you've got all the images you want, you can add a title for your book, hold and drag to rearrange pages, and further edit by tapping on a page.

Google Photos is probably the easiest and most basic choice if you're going to order a photo book. It offers a minimalist layout for photo books, with white pages and places for you to add captions to your photos. There aren't embellishments like there are on Mixbook, but you can still make creative layouts with multiple photos. Google Photos still has editing options in its app for you to add filters before creating a book.

How much it costs : A hardcover 9-by-9-inch photo book costs $30 for 20 pages and 99 cents for each additional page. A softcover 7-by-7-inch photo book costs $15 for 20 pages and 49 cents for each additional page before shipping.

Other options we tested

Apple photos.

Apple no longer has an in-house photo book service , but you can download project expansion apps to create photo books with iOS devices . On your Mac, open the Photos app and choose File > Create > Book . From there, you’ll be directed to the App Store where you can download third-party apps Motif, Mimeo Photos, White Wall, Ifolor Designer, Mpix, Fujifilm Prints and Gifts or Wix Photo Albums to start a project. Any app you download will be available through Book when you create a new project in the Photos app.

Factors to consider before ordering a photo book

Cost is an important factor but hard to gauge between the sites. Depending on the type of book you want to create, embellishments, nicer paper and finishes with extra pages, are going to affect the price.

Book size is likely the first thing you’ll choose when designing a photo book. Depending on which site you use, you can create a photo book as small as 5-by-5 inches up to full coffee book table books.

Creative freedom and customization options are important to consider when choosing a site. If you have a specific vision in mind, you’ll want to choose a service that will let you add stickers, text and other embellishments. Or, if you want to take some of the artistic work out of the process, you’ll want to pick a site with templates available.

Logistics are also a big part of how easy or hard it is for you to use each service. For this list, we’ve considered how easy it is to upload photos, how you can navigate the website, what the average delivery time is after ordering and whether you can create the books through an app or on desktops only.

Photo book FAQs

What do i need to create a photo book.

For most services, all you will need to do is have your collection of photos ready to upload. We recommend creating a specific folder or album on your computer that contains all the photos you want to include to make uploading them to the service easier.

How far in advance do I need to order a holiday photo book?

The delivery time for your photo book will depend on the service you use. For the sites on this list, delivery could be anywhere between same-day and three weeks. During the holidays, plan for a little extra time in your ordering to ensure you get your photo book on time.

How much does it cost to create a custom photo book?

Photo books range in price, as they can be upgraded and customized for extra. The lowest price on this list, without all the bells and whistles, is around $15. If you want to add a hardcover, extra pages, embellishments or different binding materials, those will cost more.

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One mom tried 5 digital photo book services: Here's how they compared

Remember photo albums -- books with clear plastic pockets that held your favorite photos to keep track of memories and memorialize a year of your life?

We don’t do that much anymore. When was the last time you even printed a picture?

But the joy of thumbing through a memory book of photos is still a thing, so services have sprung up online to turn your digital photos into bound books. While some have been around for decades, other newcomers have also come along. Prices and formats vary wildly, so how should you choose the right service for your images?

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"Good Morning America" asked mom Sheila Madrigal from Morgan Hill, California, to order photo books from 5 different services: Snapfish, Shutterfly, Mixbook, Amazon and Costco. She used the same 60 photos in all five books and tried to get the size and layouts of the books as similar as possible. The photos were taken with both her iPhone and DSLR camera.

After the books were created, ordered and arrived at Madrigal's house, we took them to Sam Hoffman of San Francisco’s Lightsource, a fine art print lab. While they don’t make print books at Lightsource, Hoffman evaluated the quality of the books.

Best Image Quality: Costco & Shutterfly

The primary factors Sam evaluated were contrast, warm skin tones, shadow detail, and saturation.

One of Madrigal’s photos showed her family in a field of yellow flowers, her husband Israel is tossing their daughter in the air. Both the Shutterfly and Costco books impressed him with how they handled the image.

In the Costco and Shutterfly books, the field had a rich golden color and skin tones were warm.

“I see the darkness of the blues. The separation of darkness and lighter colors,” said Hoffman.

He used that photo to judge two bottom performers in the image quality category, Snapfish and Amazon.

“There is a greyness in the flesh tones [Snapfish] and this one is the least vibrant of them all [Amazon],” he said.

Best Binding: Shutterfly

According to Hoffman, all the books used semi-matte paper, but the production from each company varied. In some books there was no cover page while others had sophisticated stamped paper in the cover and back page positions. Another difference was the binding. Some had a simple stitched binding that was visible between the pages, while others had stitched and glued binding that looked more sophisticated. Shutterfly’s book had a luxe cover page made of stamped paper, stitched and glued binding, as well as a back cover that was in a different color and design.

Ease of Creation: Snapfish

We let Sheila, who created the books, weigh in on this category. She said the Snapfish tool took her 20 minutes from start to finish to create the book. Uploads were fast, layout was simple and the user interface was intuitive. She ranked Mixbook, Shutterfly and Amazon slightly below Snapfish, but still easy to use.

She gave the Costco the lowest ranking in this category, complaining that the upload of her images took twice as long as some other sites. She said that when she used the Costco tool, it arbitrarily populated her book with the pictures she uploaded, but she had a specific order in mind and had to go back through the tool removing all the pictures then adding them back into the layout where she wanted them.

There was one more problem from the Costco book: it cut her baby's picture in half!

The online tool showed a picture of her three kids fitting on the page but when the printed book was inspected, the baby was only half visible. Sam explained that the image was placed too far into the center of the page, an area printers call the “gutter,” and the baby’s face was obscured. Sheila said it did not look like that in the online tool. Costco declined ABC News' request for comment.

(MORE: Want to move in with your partner? Ask each other these 5 questions first)

Least expensive: Amazon

The most expensive book was from Mixbook at $47.63. Shutterfly came in at $40.72 , Costco and Snapfish were a penny apart at $32.68 and $32.67, and Amazon had the least expensive book at $27.24.

One thing to consider with pricing is that many of these services offer outrageous deals on photobooks with special seasonal codes, sometimes 50 to 60% off.

Here’s a pro tip: keep a file of your favorite photos on your desktop, copy them in there as you take them each month, and when you see a killer deal come up, you’ll be able to create the book and nab a great keepsake at a fraction of the price.

Overall top pick: Shutterfly

Ranking ease of creation, image quality, price and the overall feel of the book’s production, Hoffman liked Shutterfly the best.

Our mom Sheila also liked Shutterfly the best, and resolved to make a memory book every year from now on.

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• Here are the best custom photo book services
• Most user-friendly
• Best for professionals
• Fastest turnaround
• Highest quality

The 5 best custom photo book services to help you preserve your memories

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We've grown accustomed to having nearly every photo we've ever taken at our fingertips and while smartphone and cloud storage is great, there's something wonderful and cozy about reliving memories over a beautiful photo album. 

But nostalgia isn't the only benefit of photo books— you can compile photos taken from multiple sources, tell a story, or create a memorable gift. Custom photo books let us layout our favorite pictures to our exact liking. With themed styles, countless cover choices, and customizable designs, we can capture our memories in a beautiful, bound book. 

We've chosen five of our favorite custom photo book services you can use to make your own album. They offer a range of products with different levels of customization and quality so you can choose the right service for you whether your priority is printing speed, user-friendliness, quality, design options, or price.

Our picks for the 5 best custom photo book services

Best value: Shutterfly Shutterfly is a major photo service platform where you can get prints, design holiday cards, create home decor, and make photo books. It offers dozens of pre-made themed styles as well as the option to completely customize your book. 

Most user-friendly: Mixbook You can start with one of Mixbook's trendy themes or a blank book, choose a landscape, square, or portrait layout, and start adding pictures to its many layout options. 

Best for professionals: Blurb Blurb is designed for amateur and professional photographers, so it works with Adobe InDesign, Lightroom, and Photoshop for the highest quality prints and highest design control. 

Fastest turnaround: Walgreens Walgreens offers a basic, beginner-friendly, and quick custom photo book service. The editor is simple and very easy to use with an overall "fun" feel.

Highest quality: Printique Printique is a great high-quality photo book option for non-professionals, offering leather and fabric covers and only using professional photo and inkjet paper to ensure your photos are printed at their best.

Best value: Shutterfly

Shutterfly is a major photo service platform where you can get prints, design holiday cards, create home decor, and make photo books. It offers dozens of pre-made themed styles as well as the option to completely customize your book. 

Once you choose a size, type of cover, and page type, Shutterfly offers you to "Make it Fast" or "Make it Manually"— either using its shortcuts or a fully customizable layout. 

Shutterfly also offers a "Make My Book" free designer service that's still customizable but removes most of the leg work. You can choose your style and photos, include any special requests, and edit or accept the final product that's guaranteed in three business days or less. 

Browse Shutterfly's photo books here .

Most user-friendly: Mixbook

Mixbook has been rated as many people's favorite custom photo book service because its design system is extremely intuitive and user-friendly. 

You can start with one of their trendy themes or a blank book, choose a landscape, square, or portrait layout, and start adding pictures to its many layout options. 

Mixbook has a huge collection of stickers, designs, and fonts but it also lets you upload your own stickers or backgrounds to make it even more personal. Plus, you can invite others to collaborate on your photo book so they can upload and add their own photos or pages.

Browse Mixbook's photo books here .

Best for professionals: Blurb

Blurb is designed for amateur and professional photographers, so it works with Adobe InDesign, Lightroom, and Photoshop for the highest quality prints and highest design control. 

It also offers its own downloadable design tool which allows for full creative control but isn't very beginner-friendly if you're looking for a "drag and drop" template.

Blurb is great for professional-looking photo books or high-quality gifts. And if you're looking to self-publish your photography: it'll even help you list your book on Amazon and bulk order your product.

Browse Blurb's photo books here .

Fastest turnaround: Walgreens

Walgreens offers a basic, beginner-friendly, and quick custom photo book service. The editor is simple and very easy to use with an overall "fun" feel.

Walgreen's photo books are almost fully customizable and the tools in its editor are neatly organized, which is great for not overwhelming the designer but can arguably make it a little hard to find exactly what you're looking for. 

Though the same-day pick-up is extremely convenient, it does mean quality can be lacking (though it may not be obvious). For example, the fast "flat lay" books aren't bound as a true flatlay but are constructed to give a flat appearance. The photos themselves may also print imperfectly and the quality of your book can heavily depend on your Walgreens location and the experience of the photo team.

Browse Walgreens' photo books here .

Highest quality: Printique

Printique is a great high-quality photo book option for non-professionals, offering leather and fabric covers and only using professional photo and inkjet paper to ensure your photos are printed at their best.

You can choose linen, metallic, or pebble-textured pages in addition to its glossy, matte, and best-selling Luster options. The only things less customizable are the photo layouts themselves: Printique requires the photographs to take center stage rather than stickers, words, or themed designs. 

Though all of Printique's options are already high quality, you can upgrade to a Premium album which is built, bound, and printed a little differently so it has a luxurious feel through every page. Premium albums are customized similarly but have different design options available such as a metal album cover and are created with longevity in mind.

Browse all of Printique's photo books here .

You can purchase logo and accolade licensing to this story here . Disclosure: Written and researched by the Insider Reviews team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our partners. We may receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at [email protected] .

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A comparison of our 9 favorite custom photo book services, for one of our all-time favorite gifts

by Cool Mom Team | Nov 29, 2021 | Art + Decor | 9 comments

Since custom photo books are among our very favorite gifts for the holidays, for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and even for teacher gifts and gifts for favorite sitters, we’ve put together a helpful comparison of our top picks.

For years, we’ve compared our favorite custom photo book companies –there are now so many out there, it can be hard to choose one service over another. Especially because they’re all a little different.

That’s where we come in! We’ve researched and tried dozens of custom photo books for comparison sake over the years, and we’ve narrowed down the list to our absolute favorites, with a few details on what makes each one special.

This post has been updated for 2021

So, if you’ve got a few thousand photos sitting on your phones or laptop albums like we do, pick a date to take care of that — then pick one of our favorite custom photo book services from this comparison, so you can preserve them somewhere more beautifully than “in the cloud.”

Top image: Shutterfly

Related: Creative men’s gifts for hard-to-shop for dads and grandpas

A comparison of our favorite custom photo book services

We may earn a small commission from purchases through affiliate links in this article, which helps support our own small business at no additional cost to you. 

Artifact Uprising Custom Photo Books (starts at $17)

Artifact Uprising makes gorgeous, keepsake albums with exquisite design, and our readers may recognize that we recommend them in our gift guides all the time for all kinds of occasions and people we love.

In terms of artistry and archival quality, you can’t beat these custom photo books; the hardcover books are bound in linen with a variety of dust jacket choices, and they also offer occassion-based photo books  (babies, weddings, travel), as well as extremely affordable softcover books  in all sizes, including a square, 5.5×5.5″ Instagram-friendly book.

We also love their new Color Series Custom Photo Books , to let you create a gorgeous library of small, affordable photo boos — say one you send to Grandma each month?

The downside: I don’t have a professional photographer following my family around all the time making us look as gorgeous as the photos featured here! But hey, that’s what photo editing apps are for, right?

Pinhole Press Custom Photo Books (starts at $14.99)

This wonderful, family-run site is another custom photo book site we’ve recommended for a long time — actually, right when they launched! Since then, they’ve grown beautifully over the years, and offer lots of unique formats for photo gifts, with features like cool spiral binding, an accordion-style brag book, or even photo gifts like photo tile games or puzzles.

Of course they also have classic soft and hard-cover photo books, all with exquisite attention to details like paper and printing.

Their modern, simple styles starts around $19.99 for layflat custom photo books  with nice softcover binding, and there’s a wide variety of beautifully produced  hardcover keepsake photo albums  starting at $49.99 (though most are around $69.99) including their popular  landscape lay-flat photo book with cloth binding , which comes in vertical, horizontal, or modern square sized custom photo books (above).

They starts at at $69.99 for 20 pages, with achoice of ten different binding colors, and the result is just lovely.

Blurb Photo Custom Books (starts at $14.99)

The options from one of the original custom photo book sites,  Blurb Books , are super popular and for great reason — the quality is spectacular, with some of the most customizable options I’ve seen anywhere on the web.Softcover books start at $14.99, hardcovers with image wraps or dust jackets are in the $29 range, and their higher-end hardcover, layflat custom photo book starts at $49.99.

Find options from cookbooks with old family recipes to cute alphabet books starring your very own kids, and of course, the classics.

Additionally, they offer options for book and magazine publishers, or let you become a self-published author yourself. That make the DIY design tools on their site a bit more than what you get from than quick-and-easy, drop-and-go photo book generator — you need to download their BookWright by Adobe design tool first — and that saves you 35% off your first book. But the multiple page templates make it kind of fun to put together, and the result is tops.

Mixbook Custom Photo Books (starts at $15.99)

What started as a series of Mosaic photo books featuring Instagram photos has really grown into a wide variety of books that you can either design yourself , or make it easy using one of their dozens (and dozens!) of custom templates.

A softcover 8×6″ book starts at $15.99, while a premium leather book with dust jacket starts at $44.99 for a smaller size, all the way up to $114.99 for a large 14″x11″ custom photo book.

While they do still offer some of the minimalist designs we originally loved, they have evolved to a more scrapbook-y feel, that may or may not be your cup of tea. However we do appreciate their specific categories for adoption or seasonal albums — plus Martha Stewart Mixbook designs — it really is worth a look around, especially for very reasonable prices.

Related: 8 wonderful Mother’s Day gift book ideas to celebrate all she is, and all she loves.

Shutterfly Custom Photo Books (starts at $14)

Shutterfly was one of the very first services to offer custom photo books and is still a strong — and affordable — option in our opinion, so don’t sleep on them!

Because their background is in photo storage, they understand the value of sorting books by topic or occasion, meaning they offer ready-made templates with themes like Year in Review , Seasonal , Family , and Celebrations photo books  to cover you from graduation to weddings to new babies. (Not necessarily in that order!)

There’s also a lot of modern new template styles ( Simply Modern shown above), as well as a new designer collection of custom photo books , with collabs from various designers and design companies — even a  new “Memories That Spark Joy” book  from none other than Marie Kondo .

And now they’ve launched a new Make My Book service that allows you to send the company all your photos so they can personally do all the work for you. It’s free to get started, and a reasonable $9.99 design fee if you order the book.

Since Shutterfly custom photo book prices are low to start with and they regularly offer big discounts, this is a great way to order books if you’re a few years behind on getting it done.

Related:  18 very cool personalized gifts for adults – all with fast shipping!

Chatbooks Custom Photo Books (starting at $10…sometimes less)

If you want to do as little work as possible, The Chatbooks service is smart — their original custom photo book is a fully automated monthly subscription in which you hook up your camera roll to their free app  (iOS or Android), subscribe, and automatically get a beautiful 30-photo mini album (or Monthbooks  album) mailed to you or a relative, each month for just $5 a month — or $10/15 for the larger Monthbook.

Similarly, Chatbooks offers an Instagram photo series book  (starting at $10), which pulls your Insta snaps into 60-photo albums that only go to print when you’ve uploaded those 60 snaps.

For something more traditional, check out their Premium Layflat Photo Book , a custom photo book with up to 100 premium, archival pages of photos that also can be flowed right in from Instagram, Facebook, Google Photos, Dropbox, Flickr, or your own computer’s photo library.

And, depending on what you tend to post on Facebook (ahem), they also now let you turn your favorite Facebook posts into a photo book. Good idea, if your’e considering leaving the platform but want to keep some favorite photos and posts in hard copy somewhere.

Snapfish Custom Photo Books (starts at $12.99)

If you’ve tried scrapbooking and it just isn’t for you, Snapfish, like Shutterfly, may be what you’re looking for. They offer lots of ready-made template pages, along with options to add in hundreds of embellishments — i.e. fancy clip art designed by the likes of Martha Stewart and Sirron Norris, all to give your book a more personal, scrapbook-y feel. So if modern designs feel “empty” to you and you’re a more is more kind of person, this may be right for you.

One of the big plusses is the ability to design your books (or other photo gifts  from ornaments to mugs to t-shirts) right from the Snapfish app .

Admittedly, the quality of the photo books isn’t quite what you’ll get from Artifact Uprising, Blurb, or Pinhole Press, though they have improved over the years. However, they offer decent books at solidly low prices — Hardcover books start at $39.99, and that $12.99 will get you a 5×7″ softcover. With Snapfish, keep an eye out for frequent discount codes too.

Minted Custom Photo Booklet Cards (starts at $2.52/ea for 25)

While Minted doesn’t specifically offer custom photo albums, they do offer some wonderful   7-page mini-booklet photo cards  — basically mini custom photo books you can send to everyone you love over the holidays. While you do have to order a minimum of 25, they start at just around $2.50 each, which is pretty sweet. Plus, all their designs support the artists and designers who make them.

It’s a terrific option when you want to make a custom photo book, but have quite a few people on your list you’d like to send one too. We also want to mention Minted’s custom photo cover journals . Especially since you can include multiple photos on a cover, they give you that sweet photo book feeling, only with a more practical use than just a coffee table book.

Related:  20 unique personalized gifts for kids, from toddlers to teens

Artkive Photo Books of Children’s Art (starts at $75 plus box fee)

With so many of us using photo books to preserve our children’s artwork, we have to give a nod to the Artkive Photobook service.

This dad-run service has become parents’ go-to way to digitally preserve our kids’ artwork and they do a lovely job. As in, they do the entire job, pretty much. You carefully pack a box of your children’s masterpieces, send them in, and Artkive does the rest for you from professional photography and editing, to designing the book, to sharing a digital proof.

Just know you definitely pay for this service — the box itself costs $39, and you’ll pay an additional fee if you want the artwork returned to you. (Some parents are really fine just having the photographs.)  From there, the photo books cost $75 for 25 photos.

They also offer framed mosaic prints, which recently received an Oprah seal of approval. Though we’ve been recommending them for years. In fact, find their Lifekive Heirloom keepsake prints service in our guide to best gifts for Grandparents  from small businesses.

Written by Cool Mom Team

We spend our time looking for cool stuff, fun finds, and helpful info just for you. Hope this one fits the bill. Bio Twitter Instagram

FOREVER Print should be on this list! It offers the best photo book quality I have ever found. It uses archival-quality materials that will last for generations without fading or deteriorating. Also has tons of templates & size options and is reasonably priced. I have been using FOREVER Print for over a year and highly recommend!

Thanks for the great insight to the various companies. I’m curious to know your process. We have photos on my phone, my husbands phone and from our digital camera. Do you combine your photos into one spot to make sure your books don’t miss images from the various sources? Thanks!

Hi Jessica, with the books that auto-create books from a social photo feed, you can only enter a single feed for them to draw from. If you’re creating your own books however, you can upload your own photos from multiple sources. Check each company’s FAQ because they each differ.

Ditto what Liz said…but I will add that since my husband and I both have Apple accounts, we merge them with our family sharing so all of his photos show up in my feed too. That makes it easier to make sure we have all our photos when it’s time for a photo book!

Thanks for your article. So I want to do a yearbook of my Facebook and/or Instagram posts. I’ve heard of Pastbook, My Social Book, Chatbook, ZNO Timeline book…. I also heard FB no longer allows captions to be exported to these books? Any advice on where I should begin? I’m a bit overwhelmed in deciding which platform to use.

What company is the book towards top with “happy” on it.? Thank you for the reviews 🙂

Hi, Shannon! The link to the company (Artifact Uprising) is directly underneath that photo. They make beautiful albums!

I wanted to do a history of the family with pictures. Do any of these work with quite a bit of text? Thanks

My young one’s elementary class used an Artkive-like book maker called Scribble ( https://scribble.art ). Our teacher was in love with it because they use fancy tech to clean up all the images from your phone. They are fairly new and are willing to give large discounts to teachers!

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The Best Photo Books of 2024

Products are chosen independently by our editors. Purchases made through our links may earn us a commission.

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Reviewed's mission is to help you buy the best stuff and get the most out of what you already own. Our team of product experts thoroughly vet every product we recommend to help you cut through the clutter and find what you need.

Shutterfly Photo Books

Unlimited layout combinations

Great print quality

Fast shipping

May be overwhelming for beginners

Mixbook Photo Books

Bright photos

Many page layouts

Quick shipping

Slightly flimsy binding

Artifact Uprising Photo Books

Soft and hardcover options

High-quality printing

Eco-friendly options

Fewer cover options

Milk Photo Books

Quality photo printing

Easy to customize

No option for text on cover

Picaboo Photo Books

Pages lay flat

Bright photo prints

Confusing customization tool

No autofill or text box option

Updated September 14, 2022

But there's another option that appeals to many, and particularly those who lived it up during the good ol' days of making scrapbooks. Instead of turning to double-sided tape and stickers, you can digitally upload photos directly from your phone to any number of online photo book maker services and turn them into a printed book with binding. Most photo book services allow you to design the book yourself for a truly personal touch.

Shutterfly is the best photo book you can make.

Shutterfly makes the best online photo book. From the ease of uploading photos, to unlimited layouts, a gorgeous print job, and quick shipping—this is the best photo book for your time and money.

Shutterfly offers ample layouts and designs, with additional options for text, graphic, and up to 25 photos per page. Using Shutterfly's online photo book platform, we were able to easily upload our photos and arrange them neatly.

Shutterfly offers one of the biggest layout and design options when it comes to online photo book services, making it easy to find a book style that suits you. You can also add text boxes and graphics to the pages. Though all these features and options give Shutterfly an edge, it’s fair to say the design process could feel overwhelming to some.

The physical photo book arrived and looked just like the online rendering. The cover is bright and shiny, and the pages have a nice weight to them without being overly stiff. Most importantly, the printed photos are colorful, clear, and crisp. Even the photos that take up a full page are high quality. We are incredibly impressed with the creative building process and the finished product, making Shutterly our number one pick for photo books.

Mixbook is the best photo book you can buy for the money.

When it comes to value, Mixbook makes the best photo books. Compared to other photo book services we tested, Mixbook is one of the most affordable print services without sacrificing the quality of more expensive photo books. The online interface took a minute to figure out, but once my images were uploaded, we enjoyed playing around with the various page options and how the photos looked in the different layouts.

There’s also an autofill option if you’d rather have your photos imported straight to the pages. And there are text boxes, frames, and graphics you can add to your pages to make them even more unique.

The front cover is clear and has a slightly matte finish. The interior pages are on the thicker side and the photos are bright, though the binding is flimsier than our best overall pick. Shutterfly. The printing quality is consistent no matter the size of the photo, and the colors are true to life.

And, the Mixbook photo book arrived through the mail quickly. One downside, though, is that the online interface takes some getting used to, mostly because there are so many options shown on screen at once.

For one of the best photo books for the money, you’ve got to go with Mixbook.

Other Photo Books We Tested

Artifact Uprising is a popular photo book service, especially for remembering events like weddings, graduations, and family vacations. While most photo books will look better with professional photos, Artifact Uprising’s materials and layouts cater to high quality images.

The full-page image options look like they will allow your photos to shine for years to come.

We found Artifact Uprising’s online customization process easy to navigate. It was easy and quick to batch upload my photos and start toying around with page layouts and the order of my images. Plus, Artifact Uprising offers some eco-friendly options like 100% recycled options and reclaimed materials like wood fibers and pine wood blocks.

There was the option to auto-populate the book, which is great if you aren’t sure where to start or want to save time. We had the online system autofill the book and then moved a few things around to our liking. There is also an option to add text boxes. However, the design tool has fewer cover and layout options than our best overall selection.

The finished product is a beautiful, minimalist-style photo book that balances white space with the photos. The page layouts look just like they did when we designed them online. For the most part, the photos are crisp and colorful, but a few are slightly darker than what we uploaded.

One thing we'd do differently next time, though, is make sure not to have photos go all the way to the center of the page because some are slightly cut off by the binding, which we didn’t notice in the online rendering.

Creating a photo book using Milk Handcrafted Photo Books was fun, straightforward, and rewarding. The online creation tool was easy to use with a quick photo upload, a single cover option, and many page layouts.

It was easy to customize the pages without being overwhelming or confusing, and though the layouts were limited we had more than enough to create a book we liked.

The fabric exterior is a nice touch, though it means there isn’t a label on the spine or front cover; but there is a title page which is unique.

The photos are printed well with accurate colors, clarity, and just enough shine. The pages and bindings are pretty durable, making this one of the best photo books we've tested.

Picaboo’s photo book process had a balance of pros and cons, but ultimately it ranks lower on our list due to its confusing online customization tool.

The beginning part of the build process went smoothly: The photos uploaded quickly, we chose a cover that rendered well on the surface, and we were pleased with the variety of layout options.

However, we found the online tool overwhelmingly complicated because it had grouped pages in “spreads” with some photos laid out across the binding of the book on one or both pages when the book was flat. We wanted to avoid parts of photos being cut off or hard to see, so we had to ungroup all the spreads in the book before we could pick the layouts we liked and arrange photos.

Despite the headaches, the photo book looked amazing once it arrived. The pages are a bit flimsy but lay flat, which is a feature we love. The cover photo is a bit dark, but the rest of the photos are bright, clear, and true to color.

From start to finish, Vistaprint offers one of the best photo book services. Our photos uploaded quickly, and we were able to use the autofill option to create the base of the book, which makes the process so much easier.

There are only a few photo layout options, but each offers plenty of room and you can select how many photos you want per page.

One gripe we have is with the cover photo. We wanted to use a horizontal image on the vertical photo book. Instead of letting us zoom out with extra white space, the cover photo is zoomed in and cuts off people in the photo.

In person, the Vistaprint photo book impresses with stunning print quality that looks true to what we created online. Even the full page photos are clear and crisp.

The cover cuts off the left and right edge of the photo, and when we run our hands across it, we can feel some small bubbles in the printing.

As long as you have a vertical cover image and don’t mind limited layout options, the Vistaprint photo book is a solid option.

Quick batch upload

Bubbly cover

Few layout options

Flimsy pages

Using Walmart Photos to create a photo book is a bit of a mixed bag—the process was both simple and frustrating. On one hand, we could easily upload photos, select a cover, navigate the layouts, and even use the autofill option.. But on the other hand, Walmart Photos doesn't have any options for text boxes like other online photo book services do.

We found that the size of some images in the layouts seemed small, which meant the final product had a lot of white space and the photos didn’t look as great. The borders for each page are large too, causing the book to look unbalanced.

The photo book itself is low quality: The pages are very thin, the photos are dull, and the cover image is blurry.

Ample layout options

Flimsy Pages

No text options

Creating a photo book with Snapfish is an uncomplicated process similar to others in our guide. We were able to batch upload photos, customize the cover, and place photos ourselves or use an autofill option.

Snapfish offers many different layouts, but the main thing that sets it apart from other services is that many of the layouts require five or more photos. We didn’t like how small that meant each photo needed to be, so we opted to use the layouts for four photos or fewer.

When we got the book, we were disappointed to see that the cover photos (and ones inside the book) appeared to be overexposed—too bright for our liking. Additionally, the colors of the images inside of the book were not entirely accurate and differed slightly from what we originally submitted.

The binding of the book is decently strong, but the pages are flimsy to the point that they feel as if they’d rip if you flip through it. Because the product is average, I’d opt for another service that has more layouts and a better final product.

Dull colors

Unfortunately, our experience with Pinhole Press was aggravating from start to finish. The batch photo upload tool didn’t work well and was slow, and once we selected a cover, we weren’t able to resize, zoom, or make it on the vertical page. The bottom line is that the design tool made filling the book with photos more difficult than other photo books we tested. Pinhole Press also lacks options for text boxes, which most other online photo book services offer.

When the book arrived, we were disappointed to see that it looked nothing like the online preview—two people were cut off in the photo and the title text was so hard to read that we barely noticed it was there. Additionally, the color of the photos in the book appeared darker than other photo books we tested.

On the plus side, the Pinhole Press photo book is durable and sturdy, with thick pages similar to that of a high school yearbook. However durable the photo book is, though, it's not the kind of quality you'll get with our best overall pick.

Thick pages

Difficult cover customization

Dark photos

Complicated photo upload

Amazon Photos only makes photo books in a single size with limited design options. It’s a great choice if you’re looking for a simple, barebones photo book, but if you want something truly customizable, check out Shutterfly instead.

Most other photo books come in a variety of sizes, but Amazon's is only available in an 8-inch by 8-inch size. There's also only one image per page—far more limiting than any other service we tested.

You don’t get to be creative with the images or placement, but the book becomes thick the more images you include since each image is another page.

The finished photo book was durable, with a matte cover and thick pages. Most of the photos printed well but have a dark tint that wasn’t present in the original photos and many other photo books we tested.

Somewhat dark photo printing

One photo per page

One size only

We disliked each step of making a photo book with Printique. For starters, the photo upload tool had one of the longest upload times, which slowed down the design process. Printique has limited layouts, it was difficult to customize each page because I had to manually adjust the images to be the same size or have symmetrical borders. Other photo books we tested automatically adjusted.

Disappointingly, the front and back cover feel like one large sticker spread across the thicker cover material, and in some places there are even bubbles. Printique is one of the more expensive options, so we were disappointed with the poor product given the price.

The interior of the book is quite nice, with incredibly durable pages and brightly printed photos. It’s worth noting that though the pages are thick and strong, the materials are vinyl-like, which we didn’t select. If you’re looking for a flat or matte option this isn’t that—it’s much shinier and almost has a dotted pattern in the light.

Vinyl-like pages

Slow batch upload

Cheap cover

How We Tested Photo Books

We evaluated each photo book's print quality and brightness.

Each photo book was tested in two steps. The first assessment was an evaluation of the online creation process, accounting for photo uploading, the design tools, and placing an order.

The second test evaluated how the physical photo book turned out, including photo printing quality, page material, book covers, and the like.

I’m Liv Birdsall, a contributor to Reviewed where I review lifestyle products ranging from beauty and style to home and garden. I was thrilled to test out photo books because I love memory keeping. I opted to create a photo book using images from my yoga certification training to use as a reference now that I teach yoga.

We created each photo book by uploading the same 45 to 50 photos to each site’s online design tool and tried different features like auto filling the book with photos, adjusting the photo sizes, and moving pages around. We used the same image on the cover of each book to see how it would render and print. We made sure to use all the photos in each book, and then completed the orders for all the books.

Once the photo books arrived, we flipped through them and compared the printing quality. Some photos were dark and dull, some were bright, some were exposed or blurry, and some were true to color. We assessed the pages, bindings, cover quality, and how durable each book felt.

What You Should Know About Buying a Photo Book

We tested the best photo books that you can make online.

Buying a photo book is typically a two part process: designing the book and then ordering the book. The design steps can be as involved as you’d like, similar to scrapbooking.

Some photo book websites allow you to add frames, graphics, and text boxes to each page to customize every detail. Before you begin designing, you’ll first want to gather all your photos for the book in one folder; this is to streamline the uploading process and to get an idea of how large of a photo book you’ll need.

When it comes to designing, give yourself time to be creative. If you want a photo book fast, use the auto-populate tool that many sites offer and then review the photos to make sure they aren’t cut off by any formats and are ordered to your liking.

If you’re looking to customize each page, adjust layouts and photos to make your photo book unique and reflective of the memories you want to capture.

Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.

Meet the tester

Liv Birdsall

Contributor

Liv Birdsall is a Freelance Contributor at Reviewed. She is most passionate about eco-friendly initiatives and alternatives and writes about sustainability across subject areas, including beauty, style, home and garden, and lifestyle. Her writing can be found on USA Today, Reviewed.com, Yoga Journal, and her blog muchmess.com. She works as a yoga teacher, QA Analyst, Copyeditor, and Blog Coordinator, all from her plant-filled home in Columbus, Ohio.

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The best photo books in 2024: create a personalized picture album online

The best photo books not only make excellent gifts but are a great way of storing your most treasured memories

Best print quality

Best for discounts, best top-end photo book, best for busy people, best budget option, best turnaround time, best color accuracy, best for social photos, best for worldwide shipping, best for smartphones, photo book creation advice.

It's never too early to think about the festive season – and the best photo books are a great way to gift your loved ones something sentimental and personal (without breaking the bank!). Whether you want to create a wonderful round-up of your friend or family member's favorite memories or celebrate a specific event, the best photo books are the perfect gift.

A photo book isn't just a great gift though – it's also a lovely way to celebrate your own memories and experiences. Plus, with all of the customizable features and stylish templates available, you can make your photo book truly unique. We particularly enjoy the ability to create your own custom front cover, which truly adds a little extra polish.

• How to create a photo book

Many of the services available here give users the choice between auto-filling the pages of their photo book, or manually arranging the images themselves. If you don't need your book in a specific order, being able to automatically fill the pages can be a fantastic time-saver.

To help you find the best photo book service for you, we've reviewed and rated each of the products in this guide. We've tested each service based on the quality of their books, the speed of the shipping and how functional and user-friendly their photo book creator tools are. Discover our favorites below…

The best photo books in 2024

Why you can trust Digital Camera World Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out how we test.

1. Printique

Our expert review:

Specifications

Reasons to buy, reasons to avoid.

Printique is the online service of Adorama, the well-known photo store in New York. And the company's expertise in photo printing is obvious in the quality of its products and finish it delivers. If you're looking to create a professional photography portfolio, you'd be hard-pushed to find a better photo book service to do it.   

The best photo book options are available in square, portrait and landscape format, in 14 different sizes, plus there are six paper weights to choose from. All of the hardcover, fabric, and leather photo books options have pages that lay flat, which, unlike other companies on this list, Printique doesn't charge extra for. 

The Printique photo editor interface looks a little busy, but is fairly intuitive and easy to use, clearly highlighting book edges, where and how to upload images, and add special features including stickers, shapes and frames. The only slight downside to this service is the lack of editing options after a product has been added to the cart, so make sure you're completely finished creating your book before doing so.

See our full Printique review

When it comes to the best photo book service Mixbook are hard to beat. Their products are available to ship worldwide, it regularly runs big discounts making it very good value. The Mixbook software is very easy to use and it can all be done on your web browser. Choose from over 400 fully customizable templates plus there are lots of backgrounds and stickers you can include to make it really unique. 

There are three different paper finishes to choose from, semi-gloss, pearl and an ultra-thick premium matte paper if you want a lay-flat photo book. We ordered the 8.5 x 8.5-inch classic square glossy hardcover book and found the process very easy. Uploading images was quick and it didn't take long to arrange them.

When the photo book arrived we noticed there was some fringing on the edges of the cover image and the logo. We also spotted some color inaccuracies, especially on the cover which has a red tinge to it. However, most of our issues were with the cover of the book. The images printed on the inside were true-to-color and printed nicely. Plus, the design and layout of the book were genuinely beautiful and helped bring the photos to life. 

We think Saal makes some of the best photo books, at least as far as the very top-end ones go. The  Saal Professional Line Photo Book  is bloody epic. The first thing I love is that Saal probably has the best design software of any printing company. You can create designs with your own software and upload them as PDFs, but Saal’s downloadable desktop software makes life incredibly easy for uploading, editing, adding text and graphic elements, and moving pages around.

The presentation box is utterly stunning, made of a premium leatherette material. The same leatherette finish can also be used for the back and spine of the Professional Line photobook, echoing a consistent level of quality. You can choose any number of finishes for the front cover, but we were blown away by the acrylic cover – it’s thick, hardwearing, looks great, and simply screams quality. 

The whole thing is finished by hand, and is a step above any other premium finish out there – especially since there are no unsightly logos or branding, unlike other print houses. With layflat binding, the pages on the photo book are completely even – making them perfect for laying a big, beautiful landscape or panoramic image across a double-page spread. Pages can be finished in matte or gloss, but my favorite is the silk, which makes portraits looks particularly lavish. 

Colors are authentic, lively and full of pop, even if your images have the most psychedelic palettes, and blacks are deep and rich while retaining plenty of detail.From the instant you open the presentation box to the moment you turn the final page, Saal’s pro photo books are just next-level wow.

4. Shutterfly

Shutterfly is a fantastic option for anyone who wants really simple-to-use software to create a professional-looking photo book. There are lots of templates and background to choose from plus a Many My Book service where you can supply your images and design ideas and Shutterfly designers will do all the hard work for you. 

Shutterfly also offers a number of great discounts throughout the year, so if your need for a photo book isn't immediate, a good offer is always just around the corner.

5. Snapfish

Snapfish has been in the personalized printing business for more than two decades and offer a range of products including photo books. The software is an easy drag-and-drop experience and you can pick from 120 themes. 

The quality of the Snapfish photo book isn't quite as good as other on the list but it regularly offers pretty hefty discounts so if you don't need it straight away look out for these. We were pleased with the photobook we received although the colors seemed to be accurate they were a little more saturated so be careful if you're sending in images that are already highly saturated. We also noticed a couple of wonky prints and once you spotted them they were so hard to unsee. 

If you're after a super high-quality finish, look elsewhere but if color accuracy and value for money is your game, Snapfish is a great option. 

6. Walgreens Photo

Walgreens Photo is one of the best photo book sites to use to make a quick and simple custom photo book. And by quick we mean the same day if you're able to pick it up. Its easy-to-use editor means you can put your design together in no time, and with the company constantly running discount offers, it won't break the bank either.

If you want a photo book in a hurry, you always run the risk of sacrificing quality. And while other services on this list undoubtedly offer a superior finish, Walgreen's still offers a very decent service in terms of print production and value for money.  

7. Mimeo Photos

Mimeo Photos offers both a third-party Photos app extension for MacOS, allowing you to create and edit an Apple Photo project to be printed, and a web-based builder. There are over 50 theme options, including well-known Apple favorites and you can customize layouts and backgrounds for your own personal touch. You can also apply edits, adjustments and filters to any photo directly within the app's design page. 

We created our photo book using the Mimeo Photos app. Once we'd downloaded the app extension, the software itself was relatively easy to use. However, where Mimeo Photos really shone was in the quality of the book we received. We ordered a hard cover book, which arrived with an attractive dust jacket (although the cover image was also printed on the actual cover of the book as well). 

The only gripe we have about this book was that the saturation seems to have been pushed up for the front cover image, as the skin tones on both the dust jacket and the hard cover itself became a luminescent orange. However, the photos inside the book were beautifully printed. They were nice and sharp, with none of the fuzziness experienced in cheaper options. Unlike the front cover, the colors also printed accurately. 

8. My Social Book

My Social Book offers something slightly different from the rest – allowing you to create books from your Instagram or Facebook pictures, providing you a hardcopy of your favorite social media memories. 

The software is easy to use – as you simply link your chosen social media source to  My Social Book, and then choose the time frame you want your book to cover. Fortunately you can exclude those embarrassing posts and out-of-focus images, so that you only print the images you want. And you can also choose the image you want on the cover. However, we found the whole compilation process is rather slow - and the printing and delivery takes its time too.

However, the quality of the printing is much better than an average photo book printer – and this is a great way of ensuring that you have your camera phone pictures backed up in a physical form.

9. Vistaprint

Vistaprint is another experienced personalized photo printer with a lot of customizable options. For photo books, there are three different cover options to choose from including linen, leather and photo. You can also opt for either glossy r standard matte paper. There are two ways to design your book, either using the web-based builder or you can download the offline editor from the Vistaprint website. 

Both are fairly intuitive to use, but Vistaprint's downside is there aren't as many options to choose from as other manufacturers. It does have several options for backgrounds, clip art and frames you can use but they're not the most stylish. 

The web-based builder gives users the opportunity to design their own book from scratch, or have the builder fill in the pages for them. Most other manufacturers offer this service and Vistaprint's isn't much different than the rest – it's a little hit-and-miss. Some pages will look nicely put-together, while others might seem clunky. 

Overall, Vistaprint offers some affordable options for photo books. But if you're looking for more sophisticated design choices, you might want to go for a different manufacturer, such as Mixbook.

Blurb might not have a web-based photo book builder but it does have a lot of other things going for it. For example, unlike any other service on the list, once you create your book with Blurb you can then sell it to other people. This is great if you're a photographer as you can easily self-publish your work and sell it through the Blurb bookstore. There's no need for a traditional publisher and you'll keep more of what you earn. 

Blurb isn't the cheapest by any means but it's still pretty reasonable. Prices start at $21.99 for a 20-page book with each additional page costing $0.25. Blurb offers a range of finishing options including a softcover, hardcover or just jacket plus six different paper choices. If you're unsure what to pick, you can order a swatch kit to make sure you're happy with your choice. 

There are a variety of ways you can create your photobook masterpiece including a plug-in for Adobe InDesign and BookWright, Blurb's unique desktop software. There isn't an online web-builder but Blurb does have an intuitive app for iPhone and iPad that works pretty well. The design templates seemed a little limited so if you wanted to create a super personalized book, one of the other services will probably suit your needs better.

How to choose the best photo book service

If you've made it to the bottom of the list of best photo book services and you're still not sure which one to pick, don't worry! With so many different providers offering so many different book sizes, designs and paper options, it's natural to feel a bit overwhelmed at all of the choice. However, to figure out which service to go with, we'd recommend figuring out exactly what it is you want.

Are you after a super affordable service with speedy shipping? Then Mixbook might just be the provider for you. Alternatively, perhaps you just want the best quality possible? If so, Printique offers excellent print quality with a professional service. 

However, there are features beyond image quality and great shipping to be aware of. User functionality is a key part of creating a good photo book, as you need to be able to navigate the photo book creator tool with ease. Here are some tips to help you make the most of whichever service you end up using:

• You don't need to prepare your pictures in any particular way. Regular JPEGs are fine.

• Some photo book services offer book design tools in your own web browser, others offer free apps you download and run on your computer.

• Your pictures may be cropped. This may apply if you're using multi-photo page templates or printing a picture right up to the edges of the page (borderless).

• Some books come with a lay-flat binding, which makes them easier to leave open.

• You will usually get a choice of paper finish. Glossy paper is good for contrast and color, matte paper is better at hiding fingerprints and reflections, soft-sheen lustre papers offer a good middle-ground compromise.

• We have listed our choice of the best US photobook services – however many of these will ship worldwide.

How to create a good photo book

1. Select your photos  

To make the photo book design process as smooth as possible, we'd recommend selecting all of the images you want to include beforehand. If some of your desired photos are on your phone, it'll definitely make your life easier transferring them to your computer ahead of time!

2. Choose your design

The majority of the best photo book websites have hundreds of potential designs for you to choose from. This might seem overwhelming at first, but you can usually narrow the selection down into different sections, such as weddings, travel, family and more. When choosing your template, we would recommend thinking about what your own photos look like – if they're super busy and colorful, you might want to go for a simpler design to help your images pop.

3. Arrange your photos

What do your favorite books all have in common? They all have a narrative – and so should your photo book. While we're not asking you to construct Macbeth-level storylines, a beginning, middle and end will help your photo book feel coherent and more enjoyable. The simplest way to do this is often construct the photo book in a generally chronological order.

4. Make bold design choices

If you're a fan of scrapbooking, you'll love the stickers and text functionality that many photo book services provide. However, we would caution against overuse, as you don't want to overshadow your photos! 

Best photo frames Best digital photo frames Best gifts for photographers Best photo calendars The best photo printing online Best photo albums Best photo gifts

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Kalum Carter is a photographer, photo editor and writer based in the UK, and for almost a decade he has worked with brands and publications to create, edit, and sequence imagery. Having recently graduated with a Master's Degree in Photography from the University of the West of England (UWE), Kalum joined Digital Camera World as a Staff Writer, covering news, reviews, and his biggest passion – photography books! 

Kalum's photography has been published and exhibited around the world, and he continues to photograph on a project-by-project basis. He is currently working on a personal project capturing the people and landscape of Gower, South Wales. Currently untitled , this body of work will be exhibited for the National Trust later this year.   

• Hannah Rooke Freelance contributor

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