Credit:
Reviewed / Jackson Ruckar
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Credit:
Reviewed / Jackson Ruckar
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Shutterfly delivers quality products in an immense variety. They have a user-friendly website and app, and you can even make a professional photobook. Read More
Amazon Photo makes quality prints, but the options are pretty standard. The app is easy to use and allows for unlimited photo storage with prime. Read More
Walmart Photo has decent quality prints, low prices, and a large variety of options, including tapestries, easels, jewelry, and phone cases. Read More
Snapfish is one of the pricier options for print services, but its quality is just average. The most common problem we had was with color. Read More
The CVS app allows imports from multiple sources, along with several print options, like photo books, cards, and calendars. Read More
There’s something about holding a photo in your hands that digital photos can't touch. Turning a photo from your phone into a greeting card or gift might be one of the most meaningful developments of the age of technology.
But if you want quality, it matters which photo printing service you choose. After months of research and multiple orders from 10 different photo printing services, we found that not all online photo printers deliver the same quality of products.
In the end, Shutterfly (available at Shutterfly) is the best photo printing service online for top-quality photo prints. Not only does it offer a gigantic variety of photo print options and gifts, but the quality is superb. However, there are many great photo printing services in our guide below.
Shutterfly, a photo printing service, offers a huge variety of print and gift options.
The Amazon Prints offerings are pretty basic, but the photo quality is respectable and the price is reasonable for this photo printing service.
We love using Walmart's photo printing service.
Variety of options
Several importation options
Minor color errors
Low quality photo books
Pricey
Variety of options
Same-day pickup
App
Envelope is dangerously thin
Minor color and cut errors
Walgreens is also one of the best photo printing services.
Variety of options
Same-day pickup
App
Envelope is dangerously thin
Quality prints
Variety of options
No app
Prints a little dark
AdoramaPix is a usable photo printing service.
RitzPix is a great way to use a photo printing service.
Variety of options
App
Low quality prints
App and website are buggy
Envelope is dangerously thin
We judged each photo for its quality in comparison to the original and for consistency from one photo to the next with these photo printing services.
Hi, I’m Sarah Kovac. After many, many years of spending way too much money and emotional energy trying to find my loved ones the perfect gift, I’ve come to the conclusion that photo gifts are really the only surefire way of getting somebody a present that will be extra special.
I have three kids, and I know that if I’m drawing a blank on a gift for the grandparents, there are few presents that will bring them more joy than seeing the smiling faces of their kids and grandkids—be they on a coffee mug, a blanket, or a framed print for the office.
Over the years, I have reviewed hundreds of products, websites, and even software. I’ve been trained in design, and I have a deep appreciation for intuitive layouts that give me a lot of options without overwhelming me.
While I can speak to the typical user’s experience with these online photo printing service sites, I am not a professional photographer with a deep understanding of what makes a perfect quality print. Luckily, Jackson Ruckar, formerly our head photographer at Reviewed, was available to lend his professional critique of the photos we received from each of these best photo printing services.
When Ruckar first picked up a camera 15 years ago he became an addict. Since then he has worked as a photojournalist for the U.S. Army, various magazines, and now USA Today. When reviewing photo-printing services, he focused on color accuracy and print defects.
We selected 10 of the most popular and best photo printing services online and ordered a variety of products from each: 8x10s, 4x6s, and wallets. Two of the photos we used were taken on an iPhone SE, two were taken on an iPhone X, and two were taken by our professional photographer on a DSLR camera. One photo from each camera was in black and white, and one was full color so that we could see how each service handled both color and grayscale.
Without consulting each other, Jackson and I judged each photo for its quality in comparison to the original, and for consistency from one photo to the next (we ordered duplicates in order to compare them to each other).
I spent time on each service’s website and app (if applicable) on both iOS and Android to judge ease of use and see what special features each service might offer. After these considerations, we narrowed our picks down to the top five performers in reprint quality and ease of use.
From those services, we ordered 20x30 enlargements and photo books to get an idea of how well they handled these special orders.
When we took into consideration the quality of the original prints, the quality of the special orders, the ease of use and special features of each service, and of course the price, we found that Shutterfly is the best photo printing service to use.
Our testing showed very clearly that the same image with the same photo service can yield drastically different print results from one size to the next. If you are only interested in printing 4x6s and 5x7s, probably just about any photo service can get you decent prints. But once you start moving toward less common print sizes like 18x24s or wallet-size images, print quality can suffer.
The photo printing services that we tested were pretty hit and miss in producing high-quality black and white prints. And the ones that didn’t turn out great lost a lot of detail if the print was too dark or too light. Luckily, we did that research for you to find you the best photo printing service.
So often, saving money means receiving a lower-quality product. In our testing, we found this is not the case with photo printing services. Some of our most affordable services sent us back the highest quality photos.
If your image is not great to start with, expect your reprints to be just as bad or worse. Even the best photo printing service can’t make up for a bad image.
Some photo printing websites are way too complex for those of us who aren’t professional photographers. As we were testing, it was easy to tell that some of these services are intended for professional photographers, while some are designed for the consumer just looking for a cute Christmas present or birth announcement. Our Best Overall winner, Shutterfly, is easy to use and offers enough variety for the shopping needs of the average consumer while delivering high-quality prints that professionals would appreciate.
If you are shopping for the best photo print services to order custom holiday cards or announcements, all of the services we tested can accommodate your order. They all offer similar photo card templates, and you can pretty much design the exact same card at any of these websites. However, there are a couple of things to consider when ordering your photo cards.
Most of these services require a minimum order of 20 to 25 cards. So, if your list of recipients is on the small side, use a service that doesn’t have minimum ordering requirements. Of the 10 services we tested, only Walmart Photo, Nations Photo Lab, AdoramaPix/Printique, and RitzPix don’t have minimum order requirements for photo cards and invitations.
On a related note, most services advertise their custom cards with an “as low as…” price. That price assumes that you will be ordering a huge quantity of cards. The likelihood is that your actual price per card will be considerably higher than the one they advertise. Unless you’re ordering 3,000 cards. But who does that?
Many of the test prints we received back from these photo printing services really struggled with print quality when it came to small format black and white photos. Black and white holiday photos can look super classy, but if you pick the wrong photo service, your black and white holiday cards may look washed out or too dark to see details. Our top pick, Shutterfly, handled small black and white prints really well. Most of the others we would not recommend for black and white photo cards.
As a photojournalist, Jackson has had stints working with bands, the military, and professional baseball teams before landing with Reviewed. Outside of Reviewed, he can be found looking for the next game to relieve his "Gamer ADD" or growing his beard.
Sarah Kovac is an award-winning author and accessibility editor for Reviewed. Previously, she worked with a multitude of outlets such as Wirecutter, TIME, PCMag, Prevention, The Atlantic, Reviews.com, CNN, GOOD, Upworthy, Mom.me, and SheKnows.
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