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The Best Photo Book Companies

Where is the Best Place to Get Photo Books Out There Today?

Photo books are a fantastic way to keep our special memories in a tangible, beautiful format instead of just storing pictures on computers or in boxes. They are perfect for different occasions, like giving them as anniversary gifts, thoughtful birthday presents, or even creating yearly projects to decorate coffee tables, making it easy to look back on good times.

For example, weddings and engagements have become extra special with the rise of personalized photo books. Couples use their wedding or engagement photos to create these books, allowing guests to sign and leave heartfelt messages during the wedding reception. This makes photo books an important part of people's lives as they become a way to treasure precious moments, experiences, and important events.

Monday, November 4th

2024 Photo Book Company Reviews

Mixbook Review Top Consumer Reviews Best-In-Class Blue Ribbon Award 5 Star Rating

Mixbook

5 Star Rating Top Consumer Reviews Best-In-Class Blue Ribbon Award

Mixbook is an online print store that offers a wide range of products, including over 600 themes available for photo books, making it easy for customers to find designs that suit their preferences. Mixbook guarantees 100% customer satisfaction and offers a refund or credit for future purchases if customers are not happy with their orders. The company has an excellent reputation, with an "A+" rating from the Better Business Bureau and many positive reviews from satisfied customers. Overall, Mixbook is a high-quality and modern option for creating photo books and easily earns its spot on our list as the #1 option for photo books.

Chatbooks Review 4.5 Star Rating

Chatbooks

4.5 Star Rating

Chatbooks was founded to turn Instagram photos into automatic photo books. Despite growing in size, the company remains committed to a personal touch and its mission of strengthening families through photo books. With over 300 themes available, a user-friendly interface, and mobile integration, Chatbooks offers a range of products at different price points, from one-time purchases to subscription plans. The Chatbooks Love Guarantee ensures customer satisfaction, and despite a lower BBB rating, the company receives positive reviews and top marks for its tech and mobile integration.

PikPerfect Review 4.5 Star Rating

PikPerfect

4.5 Star Rating

PikPerfect is a family-run business based in Zurich that specializes in designing and printing photo books and wedding albums. They offer a bespoke approach, allowing customers to curate their albums carefully with the help of experienced designers. While PikPerfect receives high praise for its personalized treatment and quality products, the higher prices and shipping costs may not make it an ideal choice for those on a budget. However, it stands out as a top option for customers seeking a personalized treatment for their photo books or wedding albums.

Vista Print Review 4 Star Rating

Vista Print

4 Star Rating

VistaPrint is a unique photo book company that caters not only to individuals but also to small business owners looking to create custom marketing products. They offer hardcover and spiral-bound options for photo books, but there are no pre-made themes, so customers have to build their books from scratch. Overall, it's a good photo service for DIY fans who enjoy customizing their projects even if it's not ideal for those looking for pre-designed themes.

Nations Photo Lab Review 3.5 Star Rating

Nations Photo Lab

3.5 Star Rating

Nations Photo Lab offers a wide range of options for turning memories into art, including photo books, prints, wall decor, and more. While they have 150+ pre-created photo book styles and allow for customization, they offer fewer themes compared to some other services. Despite a high BBB rating, customer reviews are mixed, raising questions about the end quality of photo books here. Nations Photo Lab is ranked here as a mid-range service, catering more to photography enthusiasts, because there are other services with more modern features and themes.

CVS Review 3 Star Rating

CVS

3 Star Rating

CVS is a convenient option for putting together a photo book, and they offer same-day pickup. With 75 themes available and various cover choices, users have some creative freedom in designing their photo books. However, CVS has received low ratings from both the Better Business Bureau and customers, making it a less appealing choice compared to other services with better customer satisfaction and more design styles. While it offers some unique features like importing photos from social media, the overall photo book experience is just average.

Picaboo Review 2.5 Star Rating

Picaboo

2.5 Star Rating

Picaboo is a photo book company founded by Howard Field and Kevin McCurdy in 2002. They offer 36 themes for easy selection and cater to less experienced designers who prefer a simpler approach. However, recent customer reviews have been negative, and their options and features are limited compared to higher-rated photo book services. Especially considering the ratings and customer feedback for Picaboo, this service fails to impress compared to other companies with much more robust photo book features available.

Photobook America Review 2 Star Rating

Photobook America

2 Star Rating

Photobook America offers a wide range of products beyond photo books, including metal prints, puzzles, luggage tags, and more. They have 229 different themes for photo books, allowing customers to create personalized products. However, the prices are higher compared to other options, and recent reviews suggest a decline in quality and delayed shipments, leading to a lower-than-average score in this review.

Shutterfly Review 2 Star Rating

Shutterfly

2 Star Rating

Shutterfly is a well-known photo printing company offering a wide range of personalized photo products since 1999. They provide 101 pre-made themes for photo books and offer a 24-hour Designer Service for free customization. However, their reputation has declined significantly, with numerous complaints about product quality and customer service, leading to low customer satisfaction and ratings. We recommend that you choose a different photo book option from our list.

Snapfish Review 1.5 Star Rating

Snapfish

1.5 Star Rating

Snapfish is a photo service with a wide variety of themes for photo books, offering ease of design for users. However, it has received significant negative feedback, resulting in a low recommendation due to glitches, print quality issues, and higher prices compared to other options. For these reasons, Snapfish earns the dubious "honor” of being the last-place photo book pick in this review.

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Continued from above...

In the past, making a photo book was a lot of work. It involved printing loads of photos, getting binders, stickers, fancy paper, and special tools for adding cool borders. Hours were spent carefully gluing the pages together and writing descriptions for each picture. Although some people enjoyed this scrapbooking process, it took a lot of time and resulted in big, bulky books that took up a lot of space.

Thankfully, in today's digital age, photo books are easier to make than ever. Many people opt to create photo books online due to their convenience and endless creative possibilities. With just a few clicks, you can capture family vacations, document special events, or preserve moments with loved ones. The ability to create photo books online has led to a significant rise in the number of people who now choose to immortalize their cherished moments in these beautifully designed keepsakes.

What's really fantastic about online photo books is how flexible and customizable they are. They can be super simple with just photos laid out neatly, or they can be like fancy scrapbooks with fun borders, stickers, and our own text. For example, if you're making a photo book about your beach vacation, some websites even offer special themes that let you add seashell stickers, "sandy" texture pages, and frames with palm trees to match the beachy pictures.

That's pretty awesome, right? So, no matter what style you like or what you want to remember, creating a photo book gives you the freedom to be as creative and personal as you want.

If you're looking for a fresh new way to collect your photographs, or you just have some memories that need to be shared, don't worry. There are so many places to get photo books these days that it can be overwhelming. Fortunately, we've done the research to help you find the photo service that caters to your unique needs and crafts a photo book made just for you.

To help you get started we've put together some tips to point you in the right direction:

  • Cost: Compare the photo book cost with other competitors. Check if you pay per page or for the entire book, regardless of its size. You may also want to see if there are extra costs for delivery, or if that's included in the price of the photo book.
  • Customization: Depending on what you need your photo book for, you may want to look for various size options and choose between softcover and hardcover books. Ensure there are ample choices for fonts, colors, borders, stickers, themes, and photo arrangements.
  • Features: To make sure that you have the best experience creating your photo book, you may want to prioritize user-friendly websites that offer easy navigation and straightforward tools for creating your photo book. Avoid platforms that may cause confusion and frustration during the creation process.
  • Customer feedback: Ultimately, customers like you are some of the best people to check in with when making your decision. They, like you, have a clear idea of their preferences and have made photo books with these companies before. So make sure you check out customer feedback and BBB ratings to ensure that photo service is the one that meets customers' needs.

To help you find the best spot to get a photo book today, Top Consumer Reviews has assessed and ranked different photo services to put together a beautiful collection of your favorite memories. Whether you're seeking a wedding photo book or something to track memories for your little ones, there are options out there for everything (even the DIYers who want to be more hands-on). We hope this takes out the stress of photo book creation and helps you get back to organizing the memories most important to you!

The Best Photo Book Companies Compare Photo Book Companies Compare Photo Book Company Reviews What are the best Photo Book Companies Best Photo Book Company Reviews

Photo Book Company FAQ

Photo Books are available year-round, ranging in celebration type, shapes and sizes. Photobooks can be used for any life event, keeping the memory within wedding albums, yearbooks, travel adventures, and more. A lot of companies allow the customer to pick a style and size to best fit for the occasion. When it comes to the type of cover, many companies have softcover, image-wrap hardcover, debossed hardcover, flush mount, or deluxe hardcover, to name a few.
Depending on the size, and type, the number of photos can range from 50 to 800 per photo book. On average a typical photobook has about 20 pages that are customizable. Each page can contain several photos and if you run out of pages, most companies will add a page for an additional cost.
Photo books range in value of $15.99 to $39.99 depending on the company, size, material, style, and number of pages. Some companies offer discounts upon first purchase and include monthly free promos. Cover styles can include softcover, hardcover, and leather. Paper type options can range from the base type of semi-gloss finish to premium matte lay flat.
Photo books come in all shapes and sizes. Standard photo books normally start at 8.5-inch x 8.5-inch and can get larger or smaller. The maximum size available is 12-inch x 12-inch. The minimum size offered is 5.5-inch x 4-inch. Some companies do offer layout size options as well.
Delivery can take anywhere from 2 to 3 weeks depending on the what you order. Bulk deliveries may take longer than the normal to receive. Shipping costs vary on the specific service and size of the package.
Most companies have you start out with picking either a theme/style of photobook, whether it is modern, simple, birthday, wedding, you name it they will have it. Then you select the size of the photobook and the type of cover and paper within. Finally, the fun begins, insert photos. For some people it may be easier to have the photos already downloaded on your device before you upload them to the photobook
Customization can differ per company. Customization can include size, style, type, format, color, font, quality, page style, and number of pages. Some companies offer bulk bundles of photo books (like yearbooks for schools).
Depending on the company, if you are not satisfied with your purchase you can return your product with a full refund. Most companies offer a customer satisfaction guarantee and excellent customer service options. Make sure to check the site has a customer satisfaction guarantee before purchasing.
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