One of the most thoughtful gifts you can buy someone is one of the best photobooks. They make for a lovely way of commemorating an important life event, or putting together precious memories. But which photobook service is the best to use right now?
We evaluate the best photobooks according to a number of different factors, from price to print quality. We've been doing it for nearly ten years at this point, and we've seen just about every option available.
Our favorite service right now is MixBook. It offers some of the best print quality and the books themselves feel very premium in hand. If that's too expensive for you, there are plenty of other options — here they are.
The best photo book services
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Best overall
Simply put, Mixbook remains the best service of the five we tested for making photo books. While some competitors excelled at one thing or another, Mixbook does just about everything right. Its software was refreshingly easy to use and also a lot of fun. Beginners will love it, but at the same time, advanced users will appreciate the range of ways they can customize their photo books. Most importantly, the image quality of our book was excellent, coming in a close second to Printique.
We named Mixbook the best photo book service last year, but the company is not resting on its laurels. It continues to add editing tools to its software, including some that are powered by AI. We also liked the new Mixbook Movies feature that automatically transformed our photo book into a video presentation with music and panning and zooming effects to give the images a sense of motion.
If you're feeling daunted by the idea of creating a photo book, Mixbook simplifies the experience with its user-friendly and engaging software. It makes the whole process easy and enjoyable. Plus, there are countless customization options available, including 644 design templates for those who want to explore more. Among the services we evaluated, Mixbook stood out for having some of the most attractive and intuitive editing tools, rivaled only by Snapfish. The interface is packed with features yet remains clean and organized, giving you a clear preview of your project.
Regarding image quality, our completed book from Mixbook tied Printique for the best cover and took second place for the interior pages. During our testing, we used a sunset photo of a waterfall we captured at Yellowstone National Park. Mixbook did an impressive job capturing the details in both the bright areas at the top of the waterfall and the shadowy sections in the valley below. On the interior pages, Mixbook’s standard Everyday Semi-Gloss finish provided strong, appealing contrast, accurately reflecting both light and dark skin tones in our portraits.
We also appreciated Mixbook’s well-crafted mobile app, which allows you to manage your projects online or create products using photos from your phone. Additionally, Mixbook offers convenient 24/7 chat support integrated into the design interface, so help is always available if you run into trouble while creating your book.
- Read our full Mixbook review
Best image quality
If high image quality is your top priority for photo books, you should definitely consider Printique. Although some competitors have improved in other ways, Printique still produces the most visually and tactually appealing books. However, its overall ranking remains in second place behind Mixbook. This is mainly due to Printique’s software, which despite some recent improvements, still feels outdated and can be difficult to navigate, which may discourage less experienced users. Additionally, Printique’s photo books tend to be much pricier than those from other providers.
For serious photographers, including professionals, the trade-offs with Printique may not matter much. One of the standout features of Printique’s books is its exceptionally thick, rigid pages, reminiscent of those found in high-quality wedding photo albums. Even the entry-level options come with layflat binding, which eliminates any crease in the seam between pages—ideal for images that extend across spreads. The pages showcase excellent color accuracy, skin tones, contrast, and sharpness. We were also impressed with the black-and-white photos included in our book, which appeared striking while maintaining fine detail.
Although Printique’s software provides the most control of the services we tested, it seems more tailored to advanced users than beginners. Experienced designers will like the array of rulers, gridlines, submenus, and toolbars available in Printique’s comprehensive interface, while newcomers might find it a bit overwhelming. The software has been improved since the last time we tested it and now includes an Easy Books editor, which will automatically place and design your book in a few seconds. We also appreciated the company’s new live chat helper, which gives you real-time answers to design questions from Printique’s customer service.
Printique’s level of quality doesn’t come cheap. The company doesn't offer a budget-friendly, entry-level book option like some other services. Instead, it exclusively provides premium layflat binding with luxurious, thick pages, which comes at a higher cost.
- Read our full Printique review
Best value
If you’re looking for a cheap photobook and don’t mind some print inconsistencies or potential production woes, then the Vistraprint photobooks are a great option. They won’t break the bank, and you’ll get a lovely, glossy hardcover photo book to show off your holiday snaps the next time you have visitors — or fancy a quick trip down memory lane.
Using Vistaprint’s online editor is refreshingly straightforward, with intuitive tools that make it easy to lay out pages and customize designs. We did find it slightly restrictive, though, so those who want game-changing customizability would be better off with one of the more in-depth options from Mixbook. Still, if cheap is your game — you’ve found your winner.
There are some reasons you might want one of the competitors. The print quality of the Vistaprint book was questionable at times. The photos were sometimes washed out, and there was even pixellation on some of our images. The colors, too, weren’t the most accurate, with some bright colors seeming oversaturated. Production quality was also an issue. Some of our pages were stuck together on arrival, and our “Tom’s Guide” pages, with their block blue backgrounds, had some streaking, suggesting print quality issues.
But despite those issues, we’d still say the Vistaprint photobook is a great budget alternative to our other guide entries. While you might miss the glorious photo print quality of Mixbook or the insane customization options of Printique, you’ll love the glossy hardcover and thick pages. So, next time you’re looking to show off those photos of your latest vacation to friends and family (and don’t want to spend loads of money!), then Vistaprint is the way to go!
- Read our full Vistaprint review
Best for novices
Chatbooks is unique among the photo book services we tested in that it's the only one that offers a subscription, which could make it the best option for those who purchase a lot of photo books during the year.
With a Monthbook subscription, you can receive 12 hardcover photo books (5x7 inches, up to 60 pages each) per year. The subscription costs $20 per book when billed monthly or $219.98 per year when billed annually — which brings the cost down to $18.33 per book. Granted, they're not the biggest photo books, but it's something.
Pricing aside, we were very impressed with the quality of the Chatbooks we made. We ordered one of its top-tier items (Luxury Layflat) and found that the photos were as sharp and vibrant as those from Printique and Mixbook.
Chatbooks' design interface was also well-designed and very easy to use. However, you don't get as many options to customize your book as you do with Mixbook and Printique, so more advanced photo book makers may find it limiting.
Novices, however, will find there's more than enough options to keep you more than satisfied — especially when you see the final product.
- Read our full Chatbooks review
Other services we tested
How we test photo book services
For testing purposes, we created similar custom-designed books from the six services in our evaluation (Mixbook, Printique, Chatbooks, 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.
Software
For the book-making software, we considered both the levels of customization offered and the ease-of-use. Some services lock you in to just a few templates, while others give you free rein to make your own designs. The better services also let you more freely edit photos (though you should use the best photo editing software to really make them shine), and also give you a greater variety of options when it comes to things like borders, clip art, fonts, and colors.
Image quality
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.
Value
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
When is the best time to buy a photo book?
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.
FAQ
Which photo book service has the best quality?
Having tested a number of photo book services over the years, Printique has consistently delivered the best in terms of image and paper quality. However, in recent years, Mixbook has been a very close second.
How long does it take to get a photo book printed?
That depends on the service you choose. Some are quicker than others, although expect to be waiting a couple of days for your photo book to arrive. Some services offer an expedited service so that you can get them quicker, although expect to pay a little more.
Which is better, Mixbook or Shutterfly?
If it wasn't obvious already, we think Mixbook is the best photo book service. Not only does it deliver much better quality photo books than Shutterfly, but Mixbook's book-creation software is much more comprehensive in the tools and services it offers. And, Mixbook offers online support in case you get stuck.
Snapfish vs. Shutterfly
Which is better, Snapfish or Shutterfly?
Owing to their popularity, many have asked if Shutterfly or Snapfish is the better service for photo books. While neither made it into our top three, based on our testing over a few years, we can say that Shutterfly is the better service. We preferred Snapfish's book-creation software over Shutterfly's — it's well organized, easy to use, and makes the whole process fun — but unfortunately, the finished photo book was the worst among the services we tested.
Are CVS or Walgreens good for photo books?
Only if you really need a photo book in a pinch, or are trying to save money. We've tested CVS Photos in the past, but have generally found the quality of their photo books to be far lower than some of the other services we've used, like Mixbook. However, CVS and Walgreens both offer same-day photo books, so if you've missed the deadline for other services, they can come to the rescue. In both cases, a20-page 8.5 x 11-inch layflat photo book starts at $39.99.
Why do my photos look blurry?
If your photos look fuzzy in your printed photo book, chances are you used an image that was too low of a resolution, and tried to make it too large. When adding photos to your photo book, most services will give you a warning that the image you're trying to use has too low of a resolution; it's good to pay attention to these notifications, otherwise you're going to end up with a lousy product.
Other photo services
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.
