The best photo albums offer the best ways to preserve all your summer vacation memories. Whether she’s recently returned or is still on the road, you don’t want all the photos you’ve taken languishing on your phone or camera, or worse, in some folder on your computer.
But before you pick the first photo book service you come across, it’s worth finding out which photo book is the best. That’s why we tested the best photo book companies to find out which one really lets you create the book you want to make, is easiest to use, has the most compelling photos, and is the most affordable.
You are reading: Photo books best deals
To review the best photo albums, we follow the same steps as you: we take a bunch of photos, upload them to the service, and create a photo album. then we print them to determine which ones are of higher quality.
what are the best photo books?
This year, printique overtook mixbook as the best overall photo book service, but not by much. we found the quality of your book, both in terms of image reproduction and layout, as well as the versatility of your software, to be top notch. and although printique is a little more expensive than mixbook, the price difference was not that great.
Still, mixbook is a close second, and previously our favorite photo printing service for several years, mixbook not only produced a great photo book, but also has excellent software. mixbook has a huge library of backgrounds, templates, and clip art that is easy to search. mixbook templates are fully editable and there are many tools to edit not only photos but clip art as well. mixbook also offers a lot of offers.
not sure which service to use? Check out our detailed comparison between mixbook and printique.
For those on a tight budget, we recommend the Costco Photo Center. while it doesn’t offer the same level of flexibility and options as mixbook and printique, you still get a decent selection of editing tools. Similarly, the quality of the printed book was not as good as that of the mixbook. And there’s no competition with Costco’s low prices, even for non-members. However, Costco has removed one of its best features, its in-store photo centers, so everything you order will have to be delivered to your home.
If you want to make invitations, we’ve also tested the best photo cards and photo calendar services. Read on for a more detailed look at what we liked about the best photo book services.
the best photo book services today
printique is our top choice for photo books. Unlike every other company whose photo books we tested for this roundup, Printique’s cheapest hardcover book is a layflat, a style that’s an extra-cost option from the other companies. therefore, to some extent, comparing printique’s book with the others could be considered unfair. however, the fact remains that printique offers excellence across the board. the software is fun, creative, flexible and versatile. the photo quality is hands down the best. and the book is simply excellent.
sure, the printed book is more expensive than the rest, unless you compare. For example, MixBook, which was a close second in photo books to Printique, offers layflat books (as do many of the other services). So while Mixbook’s standard hardcover book costs considerably less than Printique’s book, Mixbook’s less expensive layflat is considerably more. If price is a concern, go with a standard Mixbook hardcover; otherwise take a closer look at printique.
When ordering a photo book, be sure to check printique’s shipping information and timeframes- opens in a new tab, so you know how long to expect before it arrives.
Read our full printique review.
mixbook was beaten by printique for producing best photo book; however, mixbook is again our first choice for standard photo albums. mixbook software is flexible, versatile, creative and easy to use, with great functionality. plus, mixbook makes creating a book according to your personal vision a lot of fun. our tests resulted in an excellent quality book with warm, bright and lively photos.
However, if you want a layflat book, go for printique, which combines with mixbook for our favorite photo book software. While Printique offers great print quality, it doesn’t have standard hardcover books. all of their hardcovers are layflat books. (mixbook has both types). and for layflats, printique is less expensive than mixbook.
If ordering a mixbook photo book, be sure to check the mixbook submission deadlines (opens in a new tab).
read our full mixbook review.
Most people will probably be quite satisfied with any photo book they order from shutterfly. With millions of users, shutterfly has learned to provide the majority of customers with the quality services and products they want to buy. In fact, you may already have a huge library of photos stored on Shutterfly, because it’s so convenient. however, shutterfly shares third place in our photo book tests with costco and vistaprint. That’s because, while powerful and flexible, Shutterfly’s software has some key limitations. and while attractive, shutterfly’s book doesn’t have the photographic quality of mixbook or printique, and costs about the same as mixbook.
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Even if your photo library is already on shutterfly, it’s worth uploading some photos to mixbook or printique, whose software will do a better job of enabling your creativity and whose photo albums will display your photos in a better way. light.
Before ordering, be sure to check shutterfly’s shipping guidelines- opens in a new tab to find out how long it will take to deliver your photo album.
Read our full shutterfly review.
the costco photo book is a bargain price, and the quality of the photos in the book is generally quite nice and attractive; However, Costco’s book software doesn’t cover all the basics. for example, straight photo edges and photo editing tools are limited, and you can’t split a photo across two pages.
Also, it’s clear Costco isn’t spending a lot of money on book production. the paper is not of great quality, and the binding seams were showing after a few openings and closings. Still, Costco’s book is significantly lower than competitors, which may offset the limitations of the software and physical book. If your budget is flexible, check out mixbook or printique for a much more creative and engaging book that I’d be proud to show off.
Be sure to check Costco Photo Center’s shipping guidelines- opens in a new tab for more information on how long it will take to print and ship your photo album.
read our full review of the costco photo center.
vistaprint photo book is medium quality. photos are generally bright and lively, but reproduction is jerky, with some images exhibiting exposure and color shift issues. The options, functionality, and content of VistaPrint’s book software are limited, including the fact that it does not have templates. you can start with a blank book or let the software design your book for you.
While the physical book is of better quality than the costco one, the cover is sticky, has air bubbles under the surface, and the binding is cracking. but unlike costco, the vistaprint book is not a bargain. in fact, it’s priced similarly to mixbook, offering much more robust and fun software, and great print quality.
be sure to check vistaprint’s shipping guidelines- opens in a new tab for information on how long it will take to print and ship your photo book.
read our full vistaprint review.
photo book submission guidelines
If you’re planning to order a photo book for a special event, like a birthday or wedding, be aware that it will take some time to print and ship.
Below are links to estimated shipping times for the best photo book services; keep in mind that in many cases it will take a day to print the book and at least another day to ship it. We recommend ordering a photo book several weeks in advance, in case there is an error with the book or a shipping delay.
- mixbook shipping information and deadlines (Opens in a new tab)
- printique shipping information and deadlines (Opens in a new tab)
- costco photo center shipping guidelines-Opens in a new tab
- shutterfly shipping guidelines-Opens in a new tab
- vistaprint shipping guidelines-Opens in a new tab opens in a new tab)
when is the best time to buy a photo book?
Often, we don’t order a photo book until the last possible minute, which is natural, but that means you’ll pay more for express delivery services, which can add significantly to the cost. If you want to order a photo album as a gift, try to do it as soon as possible. not only does it save you time, but it gives you the opportunity to review the book and request a reprint in case there are any errors.
Another reason to order early is that many of the best photo book services offer deep discounts throughout the year – up to 50% off in some cases, or with other extras included. so if you can afford to wait, you can create a photo book on the service of your choice and wait until there’s an offer you like.
how to choose the best photo album service for you
image quality
Above all else, the best photo book should look good. This means that the quality of the photos must be excellent: skin tones must be accurate, lighting must be correct, and details must be sharp. in the best photo albums, it should have good contrast, deep blacks, and an overall uniformity in color gradation.
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book construction
A photo album should also be well built. you shouldn’t see pages coming loose from the binding, the paper itself should have a substantial feel, and the images and text should be aligned correctly.
book creation software
You should also choose a photo book service based on their software. Some, like Mixbook, allow for far more creative options than others, allowing you to fully edit the template, easily find background art and more, and also make fine adjustments to your photos.
cost
price is also an important factor. With the exception of the most and least expensive options, you won’t find much variation among photo book printing services. however, some services offer options like better paper, different sized books, and things like lay-flat binding, which means you can open the book on a table and not worry about tearing the spine.
how we test photo book services
We looked at five of the most popular printing services (printique, costco, mixbook, shutterfly, and vistaprint) to see which ones provided a great user experience and a photo book you’d be proud to offer.
This year, we skipped several photo book services that failed to impress us in previous years, but you can see their previous reviews here:
• artifact lift review • walmart photo review • cvs photo review • mpix review • snapfish review
For this year’s test, we used stock photos of two families (one Caucasian and one African American). we edited one image so it was a bit underexposed. this tested the ability of photo services to balance various exposures as well as different skin tones.
more: best photo editing software and apps
We designed a 20-page photo album with these photos. To test the flexibility and creativity that each software allowed, our design included rotated and resized images and clip art along with angled text. we took advantage of the best that each service had to offer in terms of templates, layouts, clip art, text, and backgrounds. however, it was sometimes difficult for us to locate the right content on sites whose libraries were not well organized or searchable.
When rating software, we use the following criteria:
- ease of use
- user interface and workflow
- functionality
- creative flexibility
- quality and versatility templates, clip art, layouts, and backgrounds
After our print photo books arrived, we assembled a jury of printing and photography experts as well as ordinary consumers to rate the books, using the following criteria:
- overall attractiveness and quality of the physical book
- photo quality
- color and skin tones
- dynamic range and exposure
- focus and clarity
- balance of various images
- type quality
- paper quality
- binding quality
During the evaluation, all books were identified by numbers instead of marks. Although the name of some of the vendors is printed in the books, the jury was discouraged from looking at those brand identifiers until after evaluation.
If a photo book had obvious flaws, such as misnumbered pages, poor photo reproduction, or some other problem as a result of the printing process, we requested a reprint to see if the errors were a one-time occurrence.
We rate the software separately from the print book, then average the two to get an overall book rating. We also factor cost into our overall rating. In our print ratings, we gave the highest weight to the services’ photo reproduction quality, because that’s the purpose of a photo book.
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