Got boxes of old film just sat gathering dust? A film scanner such as Kodak’s Scanza, can be ideal for digitizing your old film or family photos and breathe new life into them.

The best slide to digital image converters should turn your old analogue film into a quality and high resolution digital file, giving you plenty of options for how you want to process and share your newly converted digital images.

The Scanza is made by Kodak and has a respectable maximum resolution of 14MP (can be interpolated up to 22MP) and is compatible with a wide range of films, such as 35mm, 126, 110, Super 8 and 8mm negatives.

In this review we dusted off some old 50mm color slides, 135 B&W film and 110 color negatives to put the Scanza through its paces to see how it performed and if you should buy one if you’re looking to digitize your old film and slides.

Kodak Scanza: Design & features

Kodak’s Scanza has dimensions of 4.7x4.7x5” and is about the same size and shape as a small flowerpot. While it’s not the smallest digital scanner we’ve reviewed (Kenro’s KNSC201 was just 3.4x3.4x4”) the Kodak Scanza boasts a wider compatibility of film and has an articulating screen too.

It comes boxed with no less than three adapter trays and three additional inserts, making the Scanza perfectly equipped to deal with 35mm, 126, 110, Super 8 and 8mm negatives. While it's great to be able to scan such a wide breadth of film varieties, the adapter system does mean you end up with lots of plastic loading trays that you need to store somewhere safe when not in use, so you'd have to be careful not to misplace or break them.

All of the film adapter trays slot into the device at the side, that is with the exception of the 8mm/Super 8 insert which slots into the front, this seems like a bit of an odd design choice as on scanners like the Kenro KNSC201 even the tiny Super 8 film adapter is shared with the others like 135 and 110. This also means you have four openings into the main scanning bay which allow dust to get in.

Unlike the recently reviewed Kenro KNSC201 or Kodak Slide N Scan , the Kodak Scanza features doesn't feature any dust guards or flaps to prevent dust from getting in, and with twice as many openings as a conventional film scanner, that became a problem as dust and debris ended up on the backlight which then showed up in our scans unless cleaned meticulously beforehand.

Apart from the aforementioned dust issue, the overall construction of the Scanza felt good and durable despite being made from plastic. The articulating 3.5” TFT display also felt sturdy too. The main weak point is likely to be the six plastic adapters and inserts which could be easily be broken if for example stepped on. It also means you have six small plastic accessories that could be misplaced.

On the back you’ll find the Micro USB port which powers the Scanza by a computer’s USB port, or with one of the UK, Europe or US wall adapters that come in the box.

One disadvantage with some other film scanners we’ve looked at is the output options can be limited. Thankfully the Scanza features both a 3.5mm output for composite as well as a HDMI Mini that can be plugged into more modern TVs with a HDMI port using the included cables. Frankly, having both seems a bit unnecessary but we'd rather have them than not. The 3.5" display is quite small so it's good to be able to see what you're doing on a larger monitor, or share a slideshow of your scans with friends and family on a TV.

The Scanza doesn’t feature any built-in memory so you’ll need a memory card to save your scans to. It’s compatible with SD or SDHC cards up to 128GB in size and it's worth noting that SDXC cards aren't supported.

Kodak Scanza: Performance

Image quality was good with the film adapter trays doing a decent job of holding the film flat as it passed through so that there wasn’t any soft out of focus spots where the film might bend or warp.

You have the option of shooting at the native maximum resolution of 14MP or boosting the resolution artificially with a high resolution mode that allows you to print or view images at up to 57% larger. Interpolation is the process of artificially adding extra pixels to an image so that it can be viewed or printed at larger sizes, but this can be detrimental to image quality.

When scanning 35mm film you can scan at the native 4320x2880px or interpolate it up to 5728x3824px. Impressively, the smaller film formats only dropped slightly in resolution, with 110 scanning natively at 3808x2856px or 4320x3240px with the interpolation. 126KPK scanned at 3232x3232 natively or 4080x4080 with interpolation activated and Super 8 scanned at 4320x2880px or 5488x3664px with the interpolation.

There’s also the option to scan 8mm negatives at 3808x2856px natively or 4320x3240px with interpolation. It was impressive to see the tiny film formats like Super 8 and 8mm still produce large usable file sizes even before any interpolation.

There isn't a film scanner on the market capable of turning a bad photo into a good one, so to get good results with any scanner you need film that is in sharp focus and correctly exposed to begin with. It's also worth taking into consideration the time you may need to spend editing or removing dust and scratches that film tends to accumulate over time.

Dust had a habit of accumulating on the backlight of the Scanza because there are no dust guards to stop the ingress of debris, this means you'll need to clean it more frequently or spend more time at your computer editing out these little blemishes.

Although called a ‘scanner’, the Scanza, much like many of its competitors actually uses a small camera and lens to take a photo of your film with a backlight behind it, unlike a true scanner which uses different technology to scan a photo or document from one side to the other, gradually building up the image.

We were impressed with the Scanza’s scanning speed which took about 1.5 sec on average for a 35mm slide at its highest native resolution of 4320x2880. With interpolation enabled the scanning times were also respectable, with these taking around 2 secs to produce the upscaled 5728x3824 version that can be viewed and printed larger.

What did however slow down proceedings was the interface that was a little clunky, with just six buttons to operate the Scanza. The six different plastic adapters and trays that you need to take a bit of time setting up and finding the right combination that will work with the film or slides you wish to scan.

The interface has been kept fairly simple with Power, Capture and Home buttons, as well as three unassigned buttons that are multifunctional and relate to functions shown on the display.

The interface has been divided up into three main sections; Gallery for viewing, rotating or deleting scans as well as starting a slideshow.

Then there’s the Capture mode where you can see the live feed from the camera so you can carefully place your film into the exact position, you can also set the Brightness and RGB adjustments here too.

Lastly, there’s the Settings menu where you’ll set the Film Type, Resolution LCD Brightness and also go into USB Upload mode so you can access the inserted memory card from a computer using the USB cable.

The tolerances for the film adapters were good and did a nice job of keeping film reels flat. We did on occasion find it a little bit too tight to push our 35mm film through and at times had to pull the whole adapter out to manually set the film, which was slower than just being able to slide it along a slide at a time while it was still in the adapter. Some users even left feedback suggesting to cut a corner off the film so that it would feed in to the adapter more easily.

110 film went through fine with good tolerances but sometimes our film reels were a little too short to pass all the way through. This wasn't a problem we’d experienced with other film scanners like the Kenro KNSC201 which has a slightly shorter adapter tray making it easier to get hold of your piece of film and pull it through. Whether you experience this issue will largely depend on how your film reel has been cut up. If you still have one long uncut reel then you won't experience this problem, though ours had been chopped into chunks of four photos so these weren't particularly long and didn't pass all the way through for use to grab the other end on the other side.

The screen is a decent size at 3.5”, making it a little larger than the 2.31” display on the recently reviewed Kenro KNSC201 but smaller than Kodak’s Slide N Scan which features a mammoth 5” display.

One trump card the Scanza does have though is the ability to tilt the display forwards a little. This makes it a little easier to use when looking directly down at it or from an angle such as when you’d be sat down with it placed on a desk. The viewing angle of the display isn't particularly good, so the tiltability definitely helps you see the most accurate picture from different angles.

The Scanza's screen was a little dark and the colors didn’t seem totally accurate. There was a notable difference from the colors on-screen to when we were editing them back at our computer, so we found it best to leave the color adjustments until we were at the editing stage on a computer so we knew exactly what we were working with.

The backlight got dusty very easily so needed to be cleaned regularly. Fortunately, Kodak does supply a cleaning brush in the box. However, this wasn’t an issue we ran into when review the Scanza’s bigger brother, the Slide N Scan, as it featured spring-loaded flaps which close when an adapter isn’t inserted to help keep dust out. This was a feature sorely missed on the Scanza which freely lets in dust and regularly needed cleaning to prevent dust spots appearing in the finished scans.

Enhancement options have been kept simple with Brightness, Red, Green and Blue manual adjustments available. This is quite a slow process to dial these settings in and unfortunately there’s no auto enhancement options to speed things up. We found the best bet to use the Brightness control to make sure your scans were the correct exposure, and then fine-tune the colors back at your computer. 

Kodak Scanza: User reviews

The Kodak Scanza has amassed over 9,000 ratings on Amazon with an impressive average score of 4.2 out of 5 stars. Here’s what some Scanza customers had to say about their purchase.

One five star review left by a customer on Amazon said, "Having used one of the rival scanning units and getting poor results I decided to up the ante and try this Kodak branded model. From having now used it for over two months and scanned around 4000 images, I have found this scanner to be versatile and producing good quality results, from media dating back to the early 1960s (B&W negatives).

"OK, it's twice the price of some of the better rivals but for the price paid, you get a great deal of versatility. Easy to use great connectivity, multiple formats, 35mm, 126, 110, 8mm & Super 8 - slides and negatives (no slides in 8/Super 8). Inbuilt menu options, gallery function, cast to TV ( via AV cable), direct export to PC (via USB cable) and more. There have been some bad reviews but don't be put off, this piece of kit works fine.

"Finally, one tip: don't be in a hurry to pass your media through. This scanner actually takes 1/15 sec and then saves. Moving the media through before the Saved message appears onscreen, can lead to blurred results - even if your original image was sharp! Best to let the scanner complete its job properly.”

While another left top marks for their purchase saying, “Helped me preserve my family memories from negatives that date back to the 1950s. Works best with 35mm negatives but the mounts for the smaller negatives are tricky to use (I had to snip the corner off the negative strips so that they would slide through the mounts more easily). Colour adjustment is quite basic but adequate as you can fine tune using a photo editor like Photoshop.”

Would I buy the Kodak Scanza?

After spending some time with the Kodak Scanza, and digitizing everything from 35mm negatives, to slides and 110 color negatives, we found the image quality to be decent and will likely be of good enough quality for what most casual users are looking to get out of a digital scanner.

Colors on the screen looked a little off, but were easily corrected in software like Photoshop CC. We found it was best to do most of the heavy lifting back at the computer as brightness and RGB options on the Scanza were limited. Dust spots from your film and also from the Scanza's dust-prone backlight will also need to be removed in post-production.

Though a little on the expensive side for what it offers, Kodak's Scanza would be a good one to consider if you have small batches of film or slides to scan. 

If however, you have large quantities of old slides or reels of film negatives then it would be worth spending the extra on Kodak’s Slide N Scan which costs $179.99, but we think it's the better value proposition and gives a much more enjoyable scanning experience, especially if you have a lot of film to get through. 

The best slide scanners on the market have the ability to breathe new life into your old boxes of film negatives and slides that would otherwise be sat gathering dust. 

In this review we take a look at the Kenro KNSC201 which is a neat compact device capable of scanning 50mm slides, 35mm, 110, 126KPK, both color or monochrome and can also scan the tiny Super 8 format using its various included film slide adapters.

With your old film and slides converted into digital files they’ll have a new lease of life as you can share your images with friends and family, put together new family photo albums or even plug the device into a TV to show everyone your shots on the big screen.

So it's clear you'll need a film scanner of some kind to digitize your beloved old photos, but at $150/£120 the Kenro KNSC201 asks a high price. In this review we dug out some old film and slides to put it through its paces and find out if it deserves your hard-earned cash...

Kenro KNSC201: Features

The Kenro KNSC201 is pleasantly small and lightweight, tipping the scales at 8.8oz and with dimensions of 87x86.5x102.5mm it doesn’t take up much desk space and easily fits in a drawer after use.

For its asking price of $150/£120 you do get a 1/2.3” CMOS sensor with a resolution of 16MP (4920x3280px), which can be interpolated up to 24MP (6000x4000px). Interpolation is the process of artificially creating extra pixels in software so that images and scans can be blown up and viewed or printed at a larger scale.

The native 16MP resolution makes it one of the higher resolution scanners on the market. We recently reviewed Kodak's Slide N Scan which costs $179.99/£194, but can only scan 35mm at 13MP, which is 19% less resolution at the highest fidelity.

It boasts a 2.31" TFT LCD which is what you'll be using to navigate the menus, change settings and also view the live scanning image, so you can line it up perfectly before initiating the scan. The LCD was a bit small and also dark, so it was at times difficult to see your scans clearly which was a bit of a shame. It's also not a touchscreen so all actions need to be made using the physical buttons.

The scanner is powered by a USB Mini, and comes with both the cable and plug adapter. It can also be powered by plugging the USB cable into your computer, you can then also use the transfer mode to move and scans stored on the internal memory or SD/SDHC card over to your computer.

It's also compatible with a wide range of film color and negative film types, including slides, 35mm, 110, 126KPK and even the tiny Super 8 format, and has different plastic adapter trays for each. Two of the adapters have plastic hinges which felt like a little bit of a weak spot, but if you look after them well it shouldn't be an issue.

We didn't find any play in the film adapter trays which held the film snugly and helped ensure the film was flat to reduce any soft spots in the film being out of focus due to bending.

We did however find that because the adapters held the film very tightly, it was at times difficult to push through, so we'd have to take the whole tray out, open it up and then carefully nudge the film over without damaging it, so this did slow it down considerably.

Kenro KNSC201: Build Quality

The Kenro KNSC201's button layout has been kept simple with just five physical buttons on the top for power, OK, a Scan button that also doubles up as a Menu button, as well as Left and Right navigation buttons that also double up as Mirror and Flip buttons respectively. 

We found it frustrating that the film type and resolution could only be accessed from the main menu and not while you're at the live preview stage.

When you press the Scan button, you also then have to follow it up with a press of the OK button which made it a bit tedious and more time consuming than needed to be. We could see this being a real pain if you’ve got hundreds of images to scan, as in an ideal world you just want to press a single button once to start scanning and then move onto the next.

Pressing the Menu button also means you need to then navigate to the Home icon. It would have been better to separate the Scan and Menu functions into two dedicated buttons. Also we sometimes pressed the Scan/Menu button to start scanning, followed up intuitively by pressing it again to confirm, however you actually need to press the OK button instead.

Pressing the Scan/Menu button a second time like we intuitively did kicks you back to the Home screen. So this particular button layout took a bit of getting used to before we got into a flow.

On the back of the KNSC201 you’ll find the USB Mini port that powers the scanner (a USB wall adapter is included in the box). Also on the back is an SD card slot which can take an SD or SDHC card of up to 32GB (SDXC cards aren’t supported). 

While no memory card is included in the box, it does boast 128MB of internal memory, which is a nice inclusion. You can then transfer photos from the internal memory onto your computer using the provided USB cable and transfer mode.

Our 16MP resolution 35mm scans averaged about 5MB in size, so that would be about 25 images before the internal memory is full. However, if you're scanning smaller film formats that take up less space you’d be able to fill it with even more images.

Using a memory card is the preferred way to go as you can store much more, and a 16GB or 32GB SDHC card is likely to be more than large enough for most casual users.

There’s a TV output on the back in the form of a 3.5mm jack that goes to male composite. While some older TVs will indeed have a composite port, or scart socket you can use a composite adapter for, many new TVs don’t feature this old technology. We’d have preferred to have seen an HDMI here as this would make it a bit more modern and futureproof.

Kenro KNSC201: Image Quality

The KNSC201 uses a 16MP 1/2.3” CMOS sensor which can record images natively at a maximum of 4920x3280px for 35mm or slides, this can also be interpolated up to 24MP (6000x4000) to produce scans that you can view and print larger.

The KNSC201 is also capable of scanning 110, 126KPK and Super 8 film formats. When scanning these smaller film formats a digital crop is applied, so the resolution drops down. When scanning 126KPK you only have the option to scan at 18MP (4248x4248) and with Super8 the resolution is locked into 8MP (3472x2320).

When scanning 110 film you can turn the upscaling off, so you have the option to scan at 16MP (4920x3280) or at the upscaled 24MP (6000x4000).

While many film scanners use a 1/2.3” CMOS sensor just like the KNSC201, the resolution here is a little above average at 16MP, this means the smaller film formats are a little larger when cropped down so you have more resolution to play with.

In our experience with film scanners we’ve noticed that some film tray holders fail to keep the film totally flat which can cause soft spots to appear where the parts of the film are closer to the lens that others, resulting in an out of focus area. We were impressed with the film holders for the KNSC201 as they did a great job keeping the film flat so image sharpness remained strong and clear.

Image quality was good, with film and slides looking sharp and vibrant. It obviously can’t fix a poor out of focus image or an incorrectly exposed one, but providing the original shot was in focus and correctly exposed the KNSC201 did a good job.

Kenro KNSC201: Performance

The Kenro KNSC201 took on average about 3-4 seconds to scan a standard 35mm piece of film or slide, for context we recently reviewed Kodak’s Slide N Scan which could do the same piece of film in about half that time, so the Kenro did feel a little slow by comparison.

Its button layout was also a little on the unintuitive side which slowed things down too, though with a bit of getting used I’m sure you’d get into a rhythm. 

Its compact size does mean that the display is quite small at only 2.31”, it’s also not touchscreen so relies on using the buttons to navigate. The display also has quite a narrow viewing angle so when you’re not completely straight on to it colours and contrast can look odd.

When the KNSC201 is placed on a desk at eye level you’re inevitably looking down at it so this is a little frustrating as you need to tilt the scanner back a little to get the best viewing angle and see the clearest picture on the display.

Then there’s the speed of manually resetting your film and slides each time which also slows things down. With the slides it’s not too much of a problem as you can just keep pushing them through the adapter and scan each one when it comes into view. 

However, when scanning film, and in particular 110, we found the tolerances in the adapter to be a little too tight for the film which meant it wasn’t possible to push our film through, so you’d have to remove the whole adapter after each scan and carefully bump it along to the next frame, making sure not to get fingerprints all over the film.

Kenro KNSC201: User reviews

Reviews online were a mixed bag with the Kenro KNSC201 garnering an average score of 3.5 stars on Amazon from 16 reviews.

One Amazon 3 star review said the following,
“This scanner is nice to use and produces sharp high resolution images. The film holders are well designed and load your negatives nice and flat for scanning. However they seem to have skimped on the light panel. There is an unevenness in the illumination which results in fogging at the bottom of the image in darker shots. At first I thought my camera might have had a light leak but the problem was consistent across a number of different cameras and the fogging area stays put even when you move the negative or load it upside down. If you don't mind a bit of fiddling in the photo software this scanner is OK.”

While two five star customers said “An excellent product and very pleased with the purchase.” with another writing “Brought as a present and couldn't be happier”.

Should you buy the Kenro KNSC201?

The Kenro KNSC201 is a well-built and durable scanner for film and slides that doesn’t take up much desk space and neatly packs away into a drawer when not in use. It also pips most scanners in its class for resolution with that hi-res 16MP 1/2.3” CMOS sensor that can also interpolate scans up to 24MP. It’s also compatible with a wide range of film, coming boxed with adapters for slides, 35mm, 110, 126KPK, Super 8 which is a nice inclusion. Image quality was good, producing sharp and colorful images.

Our negative points were the scan speeds were a bit slow and the interface also wasn’t that intuitive and took a bit of getting used to. The small display also has a narrow viewing angle so you need to be directly face-on to it to see the most accurate picture. The TV output is also an old style composite cable and we’d have preferred to seen a newer HDMI output here instead. 

The Kenro KNSC201 put in a valiant performance, producing overall decent scans, though it lacks some desirable features which makes it feel a little expensive against what it offers.

The new Canon IVY CLIQ+2, also called Zoemini S2 in the UK, is a digital compact camera with a printer built-in to create instant 2x3” physical images. It’s a modern take on vintage instant film cameras like a Polaroid or Fujifilm Instax, and we think it's one of the best photo printers out there. 

Film is known for being pricey, about $0.70 for a single Fujifilm Instax 2.1x3.4” (1.8x2.4” actual image size), or a steep $2 per classic Polaroid Color 600 print. The IVY CLIQ+2 however uses heat-based printing rather than film so its prints are notably cheaper at about $0.44 per 2x3” print, so if you’re considering an instant camera this could be one to consider.

It combines an 8Mp digital camera with a built-in printer, all housed in a single compact unit. You also have the added benefit of storing your digital JPEG files on a MicroSD card so you can back photos up, share them or print duplicates - an advantage you don’t get with the classic instant film cameras. As with retro Polaroid and Fujifilm Instax photos, the CLIQ+2’s prints make great keepsakes for friends and family, the back can also be peeled off every print turning them into fun stickers so you can decorate items like phones, laptops, fridges or easily add them to a scrapbook.

The CLIQ+2 utilises ZINK (Zero Ink) technology which uses heat to create its prints so you don’t have to worry about replacing ink cartridges, clogged printhead nozzles or even worry about film expiration dates, though because the paper is heat sensitive you will need to make sure it’s stored between 32ºF and 77ºF and also keep the paper out of direct sun. Each piece of ZINK paper integrates all of the dye crystals needed to produce a full color print. This is then brought to life when the CLIQ+2 heats the paper up in a specific way to activate the color crystals and produce your instantly dry 3x2” print which is all said and done in less than one minute.

In the US, the IVY CLIQ+2 is available in Matte Black, Pink, Turquoise and Charcoal. In this review we put it through its paces to find out if you should buy one…

Canon IVY CLIQ+2: Features

Canon’s IVY CLIQ+2 is the very definition of a compact point-and-shoot camera, and it's small  enough to easily fit inside of a jacket pocket. Controls and options have been kept simple with much of the legwork being done by the camera’s automatic ISO that ranges between 100 and 1600 as well as autofocus with no manual focus option.

You have three lighting options, landscape with no flash, portraits with a flash or portraits using the ring light. The flash has a range of 0.5m to 1m, while the ring light has a range of 0.3-0.6m, so you need to be holding the camera at an arm’s length to get the benefit of either lighting. You also have a button to change between color or black and white, and another button to print with or without a simple white border (more border options are available through the app).

On the bottom of the camera you’ll find the Micro USB charging port, a slot for a MicroSD card (not included) and a reset button. On top you’ll find the power button, an LED indicator light that shows the printer status, and also a shutter button. During testing we found the shutter button a little too easy to press - on a few occasions we accidentally triggered it while grabbing the CLIQ+2 to pick it up which led to an image of the floor being printed and once you’ve taken a shot there is no way to cancel the print - a confirmation or cancel button would have been a godsend and helped cutdown on wasting the pricey paper as well as saving time as you have to wait a minute before you can take your next shot.

To take its photos the CLIQ+2 features an 8Mp sensor and can produce prints at a maximum size of 2x3” borderless with a resolution of 314x600 dpi. It’s a fun size comparable to Fujifilm Instax, though admittedly we’d have liked prints to be a little larger, and more imoportantly a little thicker too as the thin photo prints did have a tendency to curl up over time, it’s not so much of an issue if you peel them off to use them as stickers where they’ll be kept flat, but if you don’t want to use them as stickers they tend to curl up a little.

The CLIQ+2 has an ISO range spanning from 100-1600 which is selected automatically for you and has a 2.6mm wide-angle lens (25.66mm 35mm full-frame equivalent) and a bright f/2.2 aperture. The wide aperture doesn’t deliver the same shallow depth-of-field effects you’d see on a full-frame camera at f/2.2 as the CLIQ+2 uses a much smaller sensor, though it still lets in lots of light for fast exposure times.

Canon IVY CLIQ+2: Setup and usability

The CLIQ+2 uses a Micro USB cable to charge and takes about two hours to be fully powered, A Micro USB to USB-A cable is included but no there’s no wall plug adapter, not too much of an issue as pretty much everyone has at least one in their home. It’s slightly annoying that yout can’t print from the CLIQ+2 while plugged in, though from a full charge it will be able to produce about 25 prints.

There’s a port for a MicroSD card (also compatible with MicroSDHC and MicroSDXC up to 256GB), though one isn’t provided so you’ll need to supply your own. While you don’t have to use a memory card, you can just take images and instantly create 3x2” prints, you definitely get the best experience by using one. It’s great to be able to backup your shots to the memory card so you can keep and share JPEG files, or to print multiple copies for friends and family members using the Canon Mini Print app. Using the app you can also take pictures with your phone’s camera, or print out images saved on your smart device, opening up more creative possibilities.

The ZINK paper comes in packs of 10 and you can either use the standard 2x3” prints or pre-cut circular stickers which have two 1.3” stickers per sheet. These have a ‘Smart Sheet’ included which has a barcode on it and processes this first to optimise the printing. You also have border and effects options within the app as well as brightness, contrast and color adjustments.

The Canon Mini Print app for iOS and Android was a joy to use. It’s very easy to connect a smartphone to the CLIQ+2 via Bluetooth 5.0. The app was great for creating multiple duplicates of prints for several people - handy for group shots where everyone would like a copy. While the CLIQ+2 has no LCD screen, instead using a fairly vague viewfinder or 2” mirror on the front of the camera to compose selfies, you can connect your smartphone to see exactly what the camera sees, for more accurate compositions and controlling the CLIQ+2 remotely.

Also in the app you can set a 3, 5 or 10 sec self timer, you can also toggle the auto power off between 3, 5 and 10 mins, check the battery life as well as see print queue and print history. It’s possible to create collages or choose a colorful border. For pictures already on your smartphone you can tweak core settings such as brightness, contrast, saturation and color balance as well as add borders, text, stickers, filters, rotate or draw over images.

With prints being able to be made in under a minute, the CLIQ+2 is comparable to a Polaroid or Fujifilm Instax camera. However, while the retro instant film cameras print the photo instantly and then take a while to develop, with the CLIQ+2 it’s held up printing for about a minute so you can’t continue taking photos, it’s not really a drawback but a point of difference worth taking note of.

If you run out of paper you can continue to take pictures and save them to the MicroSD card and then print them out at a later date when you’ve stocked up on ZINK paper.

We were very impressed by the built-in 700mAh lithium polymer battery which lasted on average for 25 prints from a full charge which was more than enough to have fun with at a party and print multiple copies of group pictures for all of your friends over the course of an evening. It takes about two hours to achieve a full charge from 0%.

Canon IVY CLIQ+2: Print quality

At 50 seconds per print, it takes a little while to create your print but it’s not unreasonable. It’s also relatively quiet when printing. The only time we ran into issues with the print speed was when a photo was taken accidentally as you then have to wait a minute before being able to try again - a cancel or confirm button on the camera would have really helped here.

With instant film cameras you can continue to take pictures while you wait for the previous one to be developed, whereas your CLIQ+2 is effectively out of commission for the duration of the printing process which is a minor drawback of the system.

The CLIQ+2 implements ZINK (Zero-Ink) technology, which uses heat to create its prints on special photo paper containing dye crystals. This means you don’t have to worry about ink cartridges running low and also means its prints come out instantly dry, smudge-free and are also water and tear-resistant.

The image quality isn’t the best we’ve ever seen, but it was perfectly fit for purpose and while the colors weren’t completely accurate this did help it mimic the retro charm of the old instant film cameras. The CLIQ+2 absolutely nails the lo-fi vintage look and creates fun keepsakes, and we found it to be perfectly fit for purpose.

One downside we found with the CLIQ+2 was that prints tended to curl up slightly over time, so we put some heavy books on them to flatten them out again. That said, the ZINK papers have sticky peel backs so this wouldn’t be an issue if you peeled the image off and stuck it onto say a laptop or fridge, or kept it flat underneath a clear phone case.

Canon IVY CLIQ+2: Price and warranty

In the US, the Canon IVY CLIQ+2 retails for $99.99, though we found it on sale for as little as $69.99 which is very good value and brings it into the sweet spot for Christmas gifts and birthday presents. 

We found a pack of 20 2x3” ZINK for $12 which works out at about $0.60 per print, or a pack of 100 for $45 which works out better value at $0.45 per print. As such, there are some substantial savings to be had compared to $0.70 for a single Fujifilm Instax Mini 2.1x3.4” print (1.8x2.4” actual image size), or $2 per classic Polaroid Color 600 print. 

The CLIQ+2 is comparable to Polaroid and Fujifulm Instax instant film cameras and while you don’t get the ‘true’ retro experience, using film chemicals and processing to create unmistakable vintage colors and hazy tones, the CLIQ+2 is a novel product that brings great fun to parties and family gatherings particularly with children that love to take pictures and selfies, creating keepsakes they can take away, put in a scrapbook and cherish forever.

In the US, you get a 1-year warranty as standard, while in the UK you get a 2-year guarantee.

Canon IVY CLIQ+2: User reviews

User reviews were largely positive for the Canon IVY CLIQ+2, though some users gave low scores due to connection issues, which wasn’t a problem we came across during testing, in fact we found the app really easy to use and get connected to our iPhone 13 Mini.

Some customers weren’t happy with the picture quality, though we felt image quality was reasonable and comparable to the hazy retro quality you’d see with instant film, plus you can always take a picture on your phone if it has a better camera and print that off through the app instead.

Another issue users complained about was that there’s no way of cancelling or confirming a print before it starts printing it out. This was also a problem we came across and we agreed that this was an issue we’d like to see Canon remedy to help cut down on paper waste.

Should you buy the Canon IVY CLIQ+2?

We thoroughly enjoyed our time with the Canon IVY CLIQ+2. It would be a great birthday or Christmas present for children and adults alike and is reasonably priced too. The cost per print works out much notably cheaper than its film-based competitors and every print also has the option to be turned into a sticker which adds to the fun. We would like to see Canon make some subtle enhancements, such as a cancel button to stop unwanted images from printing which is wasteful and also can be a costly mistake at about $0.50 per print.

We were particularly impressed with the battery life which lasts for about 25 prints and the lo-fi image quality which nails the look of vintage retro instant films cameras. The Canon Mini Print app was also a joy to use, provided loads of extra border and effects options as well as allowing you to print images stored on your smartphone. We’ve seen the IVY CLIQ+2 on sale for $69.99, at which price it’s a steal! 

If you’re looking for a fun centrepiece to capture memories and create keepsakes at parties and family gatherings then look no further than Canon’s brilliant alternative to traditional instant film cameras!

Even though more and more of us are consuming and making video content, it can still seem as though video making and editing is something done by industry professionals. Video editing software can be daunting, with a steep learning curve. 

Let’s face it, not many of us have the time and money to invest in pricey editing programs. You needn’t be fraught with indecision, though. There are a number of software packages available that allow you to produce well-made and pro-looking content.

Wondershare has done a good job in cornering the market for the majority of content creators who need easy-to-use and accessible tools. With the launch of the latest version of its video editing software package Filmora 11, it’s a good time to show off just how accessible it is, and how creating good video content can be as easy as you’d hope. 

With all this in mind, let's take a look at the top 10 tips on how you can use Wondershare Filmora 11 to create great video.

01. Master your audio

You might have captured the best visual footage in the world and you don’t want to be let down by the quality of your audio, be it dialogue or a soundtrack. Filmora makes it easy for you to master with these features.

• Auto synchronization: Automatically aligns audio and video captured by different cameras. Record sound separately without worrying how you’ll marry the two together when editing.
• Auto ducking: Easily allows you to fade music at key points so dialogue comes to focus.
• Auto beat sync: Beat detection that gives you the tools to synchronize your video with music (for Windows only).

02. Color continuity 

Create one consistent look throughout your video. Color changes with every shot, depending on where you shoot, under what lighting, and whether you are using different cameras. A stand-out feature of Filmora 11 is the color match tool. Consistency in color is an important attribute to any good-looking video. Viewers may not notice your editing technique here, but without it a video can look jarring, inconsistent, and unprofessional. Matching your video’s color is as simple as clicking a button.

03. Speed adjustment 

It could be argued that viewers have shorter spans of attention these days, no doubt due to TikTok and other platforms. Short and snappy will likely be best for most content.

The length of your individual clips and finished piece aside, what Filmora 11 offers you is a chance to add some cinematic flair with speed ramping. Minutely and easily adjust your clips by either speeding up or slowing right down to the millisecond. This feature works great for martial arts clips or even cooking sequences.

04. Green screening

Reimagine your world by replacing the background of your footage. Once the domain of film studios only, green screen technology is now available for you to use  at home with Filmora 11. Referred to as ‘keying’, this technique aids the removal of certain elements of your video by recognizing a specific color. 

It’s essentially where you take two different shots and combine them into one. Superimposing your characters onto any background is a lot of fun and simple to achieve.

05. Masking

Perfect for stunning graphics and transitions, this tool enables you to isolate and frame aspects of your footage, as well as create eye-catching logos, opening credits, and frames within frames. Masking adds a professional sheen to your video, keeps your viewers’ attention, and increases engagement. 

06. Using FX plugins 

Undoubtedly the highlight feature of Filmora 11, these plugins will add some real vavoom to your content. Boris FX and NewBlueFX are pro visual effects plugin manufacturers offering the latest and greatest visual effects software. The vast range of slick effects is rather impressive. Impact is a few clicks away.

Everything from integrating art looks, blur filters, image restoration, stylizations, particles and lights, among many others are available. 

07. Using free assets

Hundreds of free templates are available to you through Filmora 11. If you are ever stuck for inspiration or need a quick start then simply choose from the vast array of offers. Having pre-made templates is no cop-out. It gives you a head start that chimes with the professional ambitions of most.

Same goes for stock media. Whether you’re in a creative rut or not, access to millions of stock media files is going to help. The in-app royalty-free stock media means you have instant access to sites like Giphy, Pixaby, and Unsplash. With all this at your fingertips and a host of video tutorials to get you going, you won’t be stuck for content. 

08. Instant Modes

Perfect for when you need something fast for a looming deadline, or just have fun generating beautiful and instantly made video content. Add media, select instant mode, and let Filmora 11 do the work for you. No editing required. The Filmora AI algorithm will find the highlights of your footage and build the video around that.

09. Back-up your work

Thank goodness for the wonder of Wondershare Drive. You may have spent a great deal of time, or perhaps hardly any at all, on creating a video you’re pleased as punch with. But, if you don’t back it all up then you’ll only have to start over. 

Wondershare Drive provides you with probably the most practical of features. Upload and share project documents, project templates, and exported videos. Having it all in one dedicated place is just easier. Plus, depending on the size of your videos, you won’t be taking up unnecessary space on your hard drive or paying for storage in the iCloud. 

10. Take advantage of the free trial

Download Filmora free here to start creating straight away. Wondershare Filmora is pretty good at providing simple-to-understand video tutorials, and once you see how easy and effective it is in enabling you to create your best content, you’ll wonder why you’ve never heard of it ‘till now. 

Downloading Filmora 11 for free should give you the perfect insight into how Wondershare provides easy-to-use tools that don’t get in the way of your creativity. 

The best photo cards are more popular than ever with greater options and so many card types to pick from. This is because these offer that personalized touch which makes a card that much more meaningful for those lucky enough to receive one. But what to look out for when picking a service?

If it's just cards you're looking for then there are lots of options. If you want more, like photo prints, the best photo books, cushions, signs and so on, then some services that offer that too. This guide will just focus on the card services themselves. You may also want to check out the best greeting card software. 

The best photo cards services listed here are great for most occasions, from birthdays and bat mitzvahs to Christmas and new jobs or homes. There are pre-made designs for you to slot pictures into or options that let you get more creative. 

Best photo cards services

You can also use these services for business events, donation drives, retail sales, charity galas, pamphlets, conferences and plenty more. Just be sure you know the quality.

The end result is based on the paper and ink used – and the combination of the two. This guide will lay out all you need to know, especially on quality, so you can get the level of result that you expect.

Read on to find out everything you need to know about the best photo cards services.

1. Mixbook: Best photo cards overall

If you're looking for the right middle ground between affordability and quality then Mixbook is the site we suggest. The cards we ordered were high quality and completed to an impressive standard and the site gives loads of design options and templates to choose from. Mixbook offers a wide range of styles and themes, meaning you can find cards for birthdays, baby showers, graduation and a wide range of holidays. Mixbook also lets you order one card as a minimum which is great if you're looking to design a specific card for someone special. 

Mixbook also regularly offers discount codes and promotions on its cards, and they often appear directly on the site, so they're great for saving money - especially if you order ahead for birthdays and events throughout the year. We do feel that there could be more envelope options, and there are cheaper sites out there, but as an all-rounder Mixbook is perfect for almost every occasion.

• Read our Mixbook Photo Cards review

2. Zazzle: Best variety of photo cards 

Zazzle is not your standard photo card service. The company offers plenty of customizable photo gifts from professional designers and companies, and many of the designs are submitted by users. This means there are countless designs to consider, with all manner of holidays covered.

With great discounts on bulk orders and regular promotions on top of this, we think this is a great choice of photo card provider. You can't customize your envelope, however, which is a limitation when compared to other more premium sites which include this option, sometimes with no added price.

Zazzle didn't rank highest for quality but we still found the cards pleasant and were happy with the finished product overall. Considering the affordability and options for customization, we think this is a service for the best photo card sites. 

• Read our Zazzle Photo Cards review

3. Minted: Best value photo cards 

Minted offers stunning card designs, but there's a catch. You'll have to order 25 cards or more if you want to order with this photo card site. If you're looking to buy in bulk, Minted has a huge range of designs for every holiday imaginable, and you can even pay a Minted artist to design a bespoke card just for you. 

These cards weren't the cheapest, but if you're looking for a card with all the bells and whistles included in the price this is a great site for you. Stylish envelope design and countless layout options included for free as a part of your order means this site offers deceptively good value for money if you're looking to impress.

• Read our Minted Photo Cards review

4. Artifact Uprising: Best quality photo cards

For some occasions, only the highest quality printing will do. That's where Artifact Uprising comes in. This is a smaller business, but one that prides itself on creating high quality photo cards, and other photo-based products. This comes with advantages and disadvantages. The plus points are that your cards look and feel excellent, and you're getting tasteful designs, nicely presented. Envelopes, inserts, photo books, and any extras - they all look great, and you know exactly where your money has gone.

The negatives here are that you'll pay a little more for your prints, which can add up if you're ordering a whole bunch - like for wedding invites - and the shipping does take a little longer than many others. Support options are friendly here, but not as 24/7 as the major providers. But you are supporting a smaller American business, if that's important to you (it should be).

We like Artifact Uprising, and for extra special occasions, it's worth spending a little more. The site is easy to use, the products great, and the choice of options decent, if not exhaustive. 

• Read our Artifact Uprising review

5. Meijer: More affordable photo cards

If you're familiar with Meijer, the midwestern superstore, this photo service will be familiar to you. Like many other photo card services, this one thrives on wedding announcements, save the date cards and Christmas cards. That's because a lot of Meijer Photo cards come with a minimum order of 12, making them more suited for larger orders.

There isn't the largest range of options for templates and paper type at Meijer but what they do they do well. Our cards and envelopes were high quality and the photo editor gave us lots of options to make our card special, meaning it was less essential to have a large range of templates for inspiration. 

This was the cheapest site we tested and shipping was affordable too, making this a great option for those looking to spend a little less and still send something special. 

• Read our Meijer Photo Cards review

6. Simply to Impress: Another good quality site

Simply to Impress does exactly what its name suggests: impresses with its selection of beautiful designs and final products. You can choose from six paper options: matte, satin, pearl shimmer, cardstock, double thick cardstock and foil stamping. Simply to Impress isn’t the least expensive photo card service, but it’s not overpriced when you consider the high quality printing the company delivers.

Simply to Impress stores your addresses, and you can pay extra to have the service mail your photo cards for you. This is an especially nice feature if you need your cards mailed quickly or you’re too busy to send them yourself. You can choose from multiple envelope colors and various inner linings. The customization options aren't as impressive as Zazzle, but with a great selection of cards to pick from this won't be an option if you pick a design you love.

• Read our Simply to Impress Photo Cards review

7. Shutterfly: Best for individual photo cards

Shutterfly is expensive, but a good option if you're ordering individual cards. There's frequent discounts across the range, with up to 50% off everything, to make up for the steep pre-discount prices, but you won't be impressed by discounts for bulk orders. 

Printing is high quality and there's free address printing on envelopes, meaning you get more included for the initial price you pay than some other sites. There's also a great selection of stylish envelope designs and the option to have Shutterfly mail your card for you. Overall, a good option if they cover the holiday you're looking for. 

• Read our Shutterfly Photo Cards review

8. Snapfish: Best satisfaction guaranteed photo cards

We weren't blown away by the pricing with Snapfish, which increased when we got to checkout. This means you don't know how much your card will cost when you start making it, and it ended up being one of the more expensive sites we reviewed. However, there's an impressive holiday selection and the option to print in-store for convenience. 

Printing was good, but not amazing quality. If you're not happy though, Snapfish does have a 100-percent satisfaction guarantee which offers a full refund or card replacement if you are dissatisfied with your order. 

• Read our Snapfish Photo Cards review

9. Paper Source: Best for designer photo cards

Paper Source offers some lovely designs for their photo cards, but there's limited holiday coverage and paper options. We thought the cardstock was durable and high-quality, but the printing itself wasn't the best we've seen. 

This is an option designed for bulk orders, with many designs having a minimum order of 20 cards. They can print addresses for you on a wide range of envelopes, but be prepared to pay more for this service. 

• Read our Paper Source photo cards review

Best photo cards services: FAQs

How much do photo cards cost? 

Photo card services' prices vary widely. Buy a single card and you won't spend over a dollar, but larger, higher-quality cards are closer to $3. But since you're going to likely be paying delivery charges, it can mean prices drop when you buy in bulk – and many services also offer bulk buy discounts.

If delivery charges are going to be an issue then you do have the option, in some cases, to go into physical stores to print them off and collect them. This can also have the added benefit of offering a far faster turnaround time, ideal if you're in a rush.

How we found the best photo cards

In our testing, we ordered photo cards from a range of top-rated companies, evaluated the attractiveness of the designs and considered the number of holiday and occasion templates. We ordered two sets of Christmas cards from each company – one printed on the best-quality paper offered and one printed on the least expensive paper. (We ordered only one card from the services that offer just one paper type.) When our orders arrived, we noted whether the cards and envelopes arrived in good condition. All of the services delivered the cards pretty quickly, but we made note of the fastest services.

Design details were very important in our testing. Sites that feature a good range of shapes and paper textures for photo cards received higher scores. Some companies quite literally think outside the box with ornament-shaped cards, glitter or foil embellishments, and scalloped or other kinds of borders. We also took into account the options to edit card templates and add personal touches, as well as how accessible this felt for each site.

To compare the prices of each service we created a photo card, choosing the least expensive paper on each site. We selected a card with the specifications of a 5x7 dimension, folded card with three photos on the cover. Then, we saw how expensive this would be for bulk orders of various quantities and single orders (where possible). We also considered whether or not the total price included shipping and tax. 

Once the cards arrived, we had a team of people with graphic design and photography experience examine and compare the cards. For each card, we used the same photo from the same source, and the designers considered how nicely the company reproduced the color and clarity of the photos. 

Paper quality was a factor as well. All of the high-quality paper samples were printed on nice paper, but some were noticeably thicker. All of the low-quality paper samples were printed on flimsier stock, but some stood out for being sturdier or making the photo look crisper and closer to the original.

Are photo cards easy to make? 

The ease of use of the photo card designing service is a big part of its appeal. You can have the best quality end result but if it takes you hours to learn and use the software then you may not want to. 

Nowadays most top services offer very easy-to-use software that involves dragging and dropping within a browser window or an app. These generally take you through the process and let you do very little, dropping in pictures and words, to make it quick and easy with the most professional finish. 

It's the best services that offer more in-depth personalization for you to play with – without overcomplicating things – which really stand out.

How to digitize your photos 

Have you got physically printed photos that you want to include in your personalized photo card? The good news is you don't need to cut it to size and tape it to a card, now you can keep that photo in perfect condition and still use it in your card, by digitizing it. 

This simply means using a scanner, or in some cases, a smartphone camera, to scan the image onto a machine. You can then upload it to the card service for use.

For best at-home results use a scanner on something like an all-in-one printer. Alternatively, you can use a dedicated photo scanning service for the best quality end result.

What to look our for when ordering photo cards

The best photo card service is a personal thing that means taking a few factors into consideration. To start with, what's it for? How much are you willing to spend? And what quality is needed? Then you'll want to think about customization.

Customization 
It's great to have the option to knock out a card in a few minutes, adding a pic and some words. But some people like to take a bit more time to make it even more personal than filling in a template. So software is a big part of your decision when picking the best photo card service.

Then there is paper quality. If you stick to a neutral paper you're likely to suit most occasions. But for business needs or really special events, like weddings, then glossy paper can give a better finish.

Card size is another factor with shorter cards fine for personal needs. But should you want something more informal, like an invitation, then going for a longer card length can help to give that feel.

The best photo books can be the visual equivalent of a mixtape - curated with love and care, they are capable of evoking feelings and bringing back memories. And unlike a battered C90 in the tape deck of your car, they are only enhanced by the fact we all carry a smartphone in our pocket these days.

As a thoughtful gift for a loved one or family member, a photo book is hard to beat. Spend some time collecting images from special occasions, and you can guarantee a long-lasting, treasured reminder of happy days. They’re a versatile gift, endlessly adaptable to weddings, vacations, celebrations and more besides.

Any of the services we’ve collected here can create such a book for you, so we’ve tried and tested the best photo books, scoring them in terms of how good their print quality is, what the layout options for the pages were, and how quickly they could be printed and delivered. The image quality delivered by the finished article was the most important criterion, followed shortly by how versatile the book was. 

Mixbook comes in at the top of our rankings, but we didn’t find a digital photo book that was actually bad - they are all highly rated and your choice comes down to the one that best fits your needs.

Books aren’t the only digital printing options we’ve looked into. We have guides to the best photo cards, for when you want to send a special message with only one image attached, as well as the best greeting card software, for you to create your own.

1. Mixbook: Best photo book overall

Mixbook scored solidly across all of our testing categories. The photo books we received were of a high standard, with sharp pictures, accurate colours and quality paper. More importantly, the company has also got a really watertight guarantee, which allows you to return your product for a full refund if it doesn’t come up to scratch in any way.

Another reason we really like Mixbook is that it makes the whole process of creating a photo book feel fun. When we were reviewing services, we found that it takes roughly three hours to create and finish an album. But thanks to Mixbook’s brilliant array of designs, and its ability to easily pull pictures from multiple social media streams and computer drives, the whole activity felt like a breeze.

In addition to the thousands of backgrounds and stickers available, Mixbook also regularly releases new designs and has a genuinely engaging blog that’s populated with interesting tips. There are some Martha Stewart designs on there at the moment, along with posts detailing the best way to go about making a family recipe book. Of course, you can also start designing your book from an entirely blank canvas, too. 

When it comes to printing, Mixbook gives you eight book sizes and five cover materials to choose from. Handily, the site will give you a warning if your photos are too small and at risk of looking pixelated. You’ll also get a discount if you order a large number of photobooks and you can even rush shipping for an extra fee. 

• Read our Mixbook Photo Books review

2. Shutterfly: Best value photo books

This is a great budget option, with plenty of regular sales appearing on site and a base price that’s very reasonable, too. The compact 6 x 6 photo book option can cost as little as $19.98 and lets you print images across 20 pages. We found that the company delivered high quality goods. When we used the service to print our own book, it had great crisp images and excellent color reproduction. 

Like Mixbook, Shutterfly allows you to pull in images from your social media feeds, and you can also rush shipping if you need it printed in a hurry. However, do be aware that the refund isn’t quite as watertight as the one offered by Mixbook. Shutterfly will only refund you if the product is faulty - if you make a mistake, you’ll have to take the financial hit. 

The site doesn’t offer quite as many customization options as our top-rated photo book printing service, either. Although it has recently overhauled its book building experience, offering customers the chance to whizz through the process in a smaller amount of time. 

• Read our ShutterFly Photo Books review

3. Artifact Uprising: Best for high quality prints and gifts

This definitely isn’t the cheapest option, but in our tests it scored the highest in terms of quality. Also of note is that this is the only service we tested that has a focus on sustainability, giving you the option to pick recycled paper for your prints.

You can produce some really beautiful hardcover books on this site, including vacation mementos and baby albums. A lot of the books come with the option of adding linen covers, which is a nice touch, and while it doesn’t have the widest selection of designs, the ones it does offer are really sleek, modern creations.

It also offers a bespoke service, where someone curates images and designs your layout for you. This can cost in excess of $100, though, so it’s not a service that everyone will want to use. If you’re looking for a cheaper option, Artifact Uprising also offers a softcover book starting from $15. But for this price, you could also get a more customizable product from somewhere like Shutterfly.

In general, we’d recommend Artifact Uprising for when you really want to go all out on an expensive, high quality product, as this is where the company excels.

4. Printique: Ideal for special occasions

This company is well known for its high standards. When we tested it out, it was miles ahead in terms of printing quality, yielding the best photo clarity and color accuracy of all the services we tested. However, that luxury comes at a cost – a 20 page, hardcover book will cost you $49.99 at minimum.

That’s why we recommend this option for when you really want to commemorate a special event. It’s perfect for wedding pictures, for example. You can choose between several different types of paper, including glossy, luster and deep matte varieties. So while $49.99 might sound like a lot, you really are getting the best quality out there. And like a lot of the other services in this guide, there are regular discounts available to bring down that price. 

There are thousands of design and layout choices to pick from, and it’s easy to pull in photos from places like Facebook, Google Photos, Flickr, Instagram, Dropbox and Amazon. It has a slightly complicated design process compared to other platforms, so it may take you a little longer to build something you're satisfied with (although if you’re committed to making the best photo book you can, we recommend you put aside a couple of hours for each project regardless.)

Printique offers 15 photo book sizes, whether landscape, portrait, square or horizontal-spine. It’s worth noting, though, that the book sizes are slightly unusual: for example, it sells an 8 x 12, 8 x 10 and 12 x 15 instead of the typical 8.5 x 11 or 11 x 14 options. 

5. Meijer Photo: Great for customer service

Meijer Photo is a US institution, and it is generally well loved by its satisfied customers. If you're buying a photo book from here you have the comfort of knowing that this is an established and trusted provider, and you can even visit a brick and mortar store if you want to collect quickly, or you have a problem with your order. While we didn't see any kind of money back guarantee with Meijer, we're fairly sure that most issues can be resolved quickly and easily in store.

Meijer has good print quality too, and its range of photo books - while limited - are good quality. You'll pay a low price for all photo products from here too, and if it wasn't for the frequent promotions run by sites like Mixbook and Shutterfly, this would rank as our cheapest provider overall.

The site is easy enough to use, but what Meijer really lacks is a wide variety of options when it comes to photo books. This is a pretty vanilla printing business, so lacks the range and features of more specialized providers. If you want to shop here because you know and trust Meijer, you'll get a good photo book, but there are better options out there.

6. Photobook: Best for versatility

If you want to get really creative with your photo book, then you'll need some software with a great range of tools. Photobook impresses in this area, the Malaysia-founded website providing an extensive palette with which you can design your masterpiece. Whether you're looking to expand, crop, rotate or put frames around your images, Photobook enables you to do it with ease. And if you do get stuck during the process, there are a bunch of 'how to' videos, along with a live chat service, to help you.

Our experts found that the images came out a little dark or grainy at times, but on the whole were satisfactory. Should you be disappointed with your final product, Photobook offers a 100% quality guarantee that enables customers to get a full refund if they're not entirely happy.

The other thing to say about Photobook is that it offers a huge range of other picture-based products, from calendars to kitchen aprons. There are also a number of branded items from your favorite high-street stores, which can be personalized with the name of your loved one for a gift that they're sure to cherish.

7. Snapfish: Best for extra photo gifts

Snapfish and Shutterfly have now technically been merged, but the companies remain distinct in terms of the services they offer. Snapfish is certainly still one of the largest photo printing services in the world - but this comes with advantages and disadvantages.

On the positive side of things, the company offers some great prices if you’re looking to bulk buy printed gifts. In addition to photo books, it also offers custom mugs, keyrings, pillows and face masks. Discounts regularly appear on site, so you can get some genuinely good offers here, especially if you need products printed for corporate events.

However, in our tests, the quality of the printing wasn’t quite as good as some of the company’s main competitors (like Mixbook.) Moreover, the experience of creating the photo book wasn’t as enjoyable. The site is a nightmare to navigate, with various pop-ups appearing on screen as you try to reach the checkout, pushing extra features and products. The designs aren’t as inspiring as competitors, either, as they’re all very basic. 

It’s a good option if you have simple needs, and want to prioritise saving money, but other services provide better quality.

8. Amazon Prints: A cheap service

Amazon Prints is a good option if you're looking to create a stylish and affordable photo book, as long as you’re not looking for the level of customisation offered by the services above. Our test photo book had a high print quality and was well built – despite it being the cheapest in our guide.

You can manually choose your backgrounds, stickers and the placement of your photos. The interface gives you the freedom to create your own layouts, and lets you crop and zoom into photos as you please. It also warns you if your photos are too low-res and will print blurry, which is helpful. The process, however, is very complicated and you may struggle to use it.

If you need to make a photo book in a hurry, you can choose from among the 13 pre-designed photo books and use the autofill feature. This photo book service also enables you to share images with other Amazon users to create collaborative photo projects.

It’s good to know that any purchases over $15 automatically receive free standard shipping. This can cost between $5 and $13 with other photo book services, so it’s a significant saving. Amazon Prints also offers a strong money-back guarantee. 

9. Walmart Photo Books: Very fast creation

If you need a photo book in a hurry, Walmart Photo is probably the best option for you. While the print quality isn’t as good as the other services, it's possible to create a book online or in-store and pick it up just an hour later. 

Walmart Photo is also one of the cheapest photo book services online. But, as you’d expect, the lower cost means lower quality and fewer options. You don’t get as much control or creative freedom as the other photo book creators in this guide, and the design tool is harder to use. For example, we couldn’t fit the cover image to the design window and so some of the people were cropped out and the photo became distorted. Nevertheless, if you need a photo book now, Walmart Photo is your best bet.

How much does a photo book cost?

The price of photobooks varies by service, as you might expect. But to get a good idea prices for a 20-page 8.5 x 11-inch book usually start at around the $30 mark and hit $46 at the top end.

The other factor to take into consideration with price is shipping, which is usually charged as extra. This can be as much as $10 so it's worth shopping around on this factor too. On top of that there can be tax added too, with as much as $8 added in our testing. All this varies by the number you order, how close you live to the printer and the state you live in.

Is it worth using a photo book printing service?

Despite all the costs mentioned, this is a service that pays for itself when you see the end result. No matter how good your home printer and arts-and-crafts skills might be, you'll struggle to match the quality of the end results that these professional services offer. 

So even if you have the best graphic design software and high quality printers available to you, a photo book printing service is easier and can offer better results.

How long does it take to design a photo book?

How long you want to spend perfecting your photo book is up to you but generally speaking most top end options have easy to use software. As such you can whip up a winning photo book in as little as 30 minutes. These can pull in photos from social media or your device, making that otherwise tough part, simple.

It's best to take your time over your photo book though, spending a few hours to get it just right. This means a better end result. Of course if you need to digitize photos too, add that time on.

What are express photo books? 

If you're in a real hurry to get your photo book, perhaps as a gift, then express photo books may be helpful. These are same-day photo printing services which allow you to pick up your photo book from a physical store. Some places where you can take advantage of this are Walmart Photo, CVS Photo or Walgreens Photo. Each of these offers an impressive one-hour pick-up time.

By comparison most other online services are going to take a few days, or even a week, to have your book printed and delivered to you. While these can mean you save money over express services, it does mean you need to plan ahead.

What are bespoke photo books?

If all this sounds like too much effort, there are bespoke photo book services that take even more of the work out of it for you. Services like Artifact Uprising offer professional designers who will do the legwork for you, for an additional fee of course.

All you need to do is get them the photos, tell them the sizes you want for the end result and have them go to work. You can then review and adjust before deciding on the final outcome.

How do photo book subscriptions work?

If that automation idea sounds good to you then a subscription service could be ideal. Photo subscriptions from the likes of Chatbooks, mean you'll be sent a photo book each month based on the photos from your smartphone, Instagram, Facebook and Google Photos.

Charged at $10 per softcover, or $15 for hardcovers, these books are shipped for free and are created for every 60 new photos. 

Photo book options

When you are buying a photo book, there are many things to consider outside of the cover design. It can be tempting to pick the prettiest cover, but measurements of size, layout options, and paper quality matter too. 

If you are new to buying a photo book, here are some important things to keep in mind before adding one to your cart. 

Size, shape and orientation

Most photo books are available in the 8.5 x 11-inch size, ideal for landscape photos. This is great for you if you have tons of average-sized horizontal photos. You can also get bigger, 14 x 11-inch photo books for larger-than-average snaps. 

While this works great for landscape photography, it may not be the best option for you if you are a fan of portrait photos. Selfie lovers should opt for vertical-oriented photo books that perfectly accommodate tall and narrow photos. 

Paper Quality

Paper quality might seem like an afterthought for photo books, but the right paper quality can actually change the whole look of your photo book. The most popular paper qualities include a glossy, matte, or luster finish, all of which look great depending on the theme of your photos. 

If you have vibrant photos with vivid colors, it’s best to opt for glossy paper, while a matte finish is ideal for a neutral or serious vibe. A luster finish is a good option if you want something bright but not super glossy. 

If you are looking for premium quality, opt for Lay Flat, which a fine paper made of extra thick cardstock for firmness and shape retention. This is best if you want your photos to lay flat in the book (instead of the curved shape most photo books offer). 

Cover and binding

 Now comes the best part: choosing the cover. This is one of the first things people consider when buying an album. 

Along with a great design, the “feel” of a photo album can also add to the nostalgic experience. Most popular cover options include leather and velvet as they offer a premium look for special photos. 

When choosing a cover, also look at the binding. Is it strong and durable to sustain regular use? Or is it pretty but delicate, making it suitable for rare use?

Layout

A good layout can make or break your photo book. The layout defines how your photos are arranged in the book. Here are some great questions to ask yourself to find the right layout:

Are all photos horizontal or is it a mix of landscape and portrait orientation? Is there space for taking notes and marketing dates? Can you change the layout or is it fixed?

Use photo books for online photo album storage

Lots of photo book services are happy for you to use their server space to store your photos. That means you can upload all your pictures as you take them for online backup with unlimited space. Not only does this mean your photos are secure but it's also easier than ever to create photo books, photo cards, canvas prints, photo paper prints, iPhone cases, gift mugs and more.

Some services, like Amazon Photo with Amazon Prints, will even recognise faces allowing you to create people specific albums more automatically. These also let you organize photos but to do this really well it's worth looking at good quality photo organizing software. 

Digitizing photos for your album

If you’ve been in the photography scene for a while, chances are you have analog photos you’d like to feature in a photo book. But to do so, you need to digitize them. 

The easiest way to do this is with a scanner, often found on an all-in-one printer. However, if you don’t have a scanner, time or the inclination to digitize your photos yourself, we recommend using a photo scanning service.

If you have old slides you’d like to include in your photo books, you'll also need to convert them to digital media. As stated previously, you can always use a photo scanning service. But if you want to save some money and do the conversions yourself, we recommend investing in a slide to digital image converter. Keep in mind that this process, while not difficult, does take an investment of time if you have a lot of slides to get through, and it isn’t the most exciting work.

The best photobooks are a wonderful way to preserve your memories, enabling you to display your pictures in an attractive physical format that can be cherished forever. There are a number of companies that allow you to design your own volume using online tools, before having it printed professionally and sent direct to your doorstep, and in this review we'll be focusing on one such company – the aptly named Photobook.      

Photobook was founded in 2005 by Mark Koay, a Malaysian website builder who noticed that “people were taking a lot of photos with their digital cameras but not printing them.” Since then, the company has blossomed into one of the world's biggest photo-printing services, with branches in the US, Canada, Australia and the UK. 

Despite its name, Photobook actually offers a wide range of photo-based products, letting you convert your beloved pictures into everything from key rings to calendars, shot glasses to stationery. These can then be used as charming gifts for friends and family – or you might just want to keep them for yourself...

Want to send a personalized birthday, wedding or anniversary greeting? Then check out our guide to the best photo cards online. If you're just looking to file away your precious pictures in a safe place, read our pick of the best photo organizing software. 

• See all options on Photobook

Photobook review: Range of products

In terms of product choice, Photobook is right up there with the best of them – there are around 1,000 different options. The company has helped its customers by dividing these into categories – Photobooks, Wall & Home Décor, Stationery & Cards, Calendars, Prints, Gifts, Wedding, Baby & Kids, Corporate Gifts, Personalize Me and Promotions – but even within each of those, there's a bewildering list to choose from. We don't mean bewildering in a negative way, as it's all very nicely laid out. But let's say you want to send someone a personalized photo gift for their new home; whereas some companies might limit you to a printed mug or apron, Photobook offers carving boards, bath towels, wooden spoons (!) and a whole lot more. 

In case you're wondering, Personalize Me is a really cool feature that enables you to order customized items from your favorite shopping brands. This tends not to be a photo-based service, but if you want to have someone's name emblazoned across a Cath Kidston bag, a Moleskin diary or a Thomas the Tank Engine train carriage, you'll be able to do so.        

If you're looking specifically for a photobook, then you'll be pleased to know that this category is to the left of the menu bar, making it easy to find. Recognizing that different people will have different requirements when it comes to creating a book, Photobook offers a wide range of customization options, each of which is illustrated with a picture to help you understand what you'll be getting. You can choose the dimensions of the book, whether you'd like a hard, soft, 'deluxe' or 'debossed' cover, how you want it binded, and the quality and color of the paper. If you really want to display your fabulous photos at their best, you can opt to have them printed in high definition and/or have the book flush-mounted (meaning the pages will lie flat when you open it).     

Of course, it might be that you have no idea how you want your photobook to look and need some inspiration. If that's the case, you can browse hundreds of professionally designed templates that cover just about every celebration or milestone, from round-the-world adventures to graduation ceremonies.  

Photobook review: Ease of use

Not only is it incredibly easy to design a photobook using this platform, it's also a lot of fun. Once you've chosen your dimensions, etc, you can make a start on your project. You'll be given the option to upload photos from your hard drive, Facebook page or Google Photos account, which will appear in a gallery on the left-hand side of the screen. You can then drag and drop them into your book, which is displayed in the opposite window. If you  chose one of the pre-designed templates, your pages will already have picture boxes in which to drop your photos. You're not obliged to stick to these, though, and if you want to change anything, it's simple to add, delete, move, resize or rotate boxes to suit your taste. You can also drag and drop clip art, masks, frames and even entire layouts from the free library that Photobook provides, to give your project an extra level of personalization. 

Want to caption your photos? Photobook enables you to insert text boxes anywhere on your page, and, like the picture boxes, these can be manipulated in various different ways. Unlike some photobook creators we've used, there's a huge range of fonts to work with, and you can also change the color of your words to match the mood.    

Along the bottom of your screen, you'll see thumbnails of your pages, which you can scroll through to quickly locate a particular page or photo. Here, you can also add new pages or change the order of your existing ones. Bear in mind that each additional page will cost money, so while it's tempting to add more and more in order to squeeze all your lovely pictures in, be aware that it could leave you with a hefty bill.

To help you with your project, Photobook has scattered 'how to' videos throughout its website, and there's also a live chat window in case you need on-the-spot advice. Still don't fancy doing the work yourself? You could always 'cheat' by using Photobook's 'smart creation magic' tool, which will automatically arrange your photos into a book (you'll need a minimum of 60), so that all you have to do is pay for it and wait for it to be delivered. 

One thing we did find with the Photobook website was that it could be a bit laggy in terms of loading pages. It wasn't a major issue, but it did start to become irritating after a while.  

Photobook review: Quality

Of course, one of the most important things when it comes to photo-based products is the quality of the finished result. Stating that “fond memories deserve the best,” Photobook has introduced a '100% quality guarantee', whereby customers can return their product within 30 days if they're not entirely satisfied, and have a replacement sent out. The process is a little long-winded, requiring the customer to take photos and write a description to explain why they're dissatisfied, but that's perhaps understandable. 

Our testers were very impressed with the quality of paper used in Photobook's pictorial volumes – and the binding was excellent, too. However, they did find the photo reproduction to be a little dark at times, while a few pictures came out looking grainy. They certainly weren't all bad, though, and some looked really eye-catching. It's also worth mentioning that other customers have left glowing reviews, with one describing the images as “sharp and vivid in colors” and another gushing that they were “very pleased with the print quality.” If you decide that your photobook doesn't meet your standards, remember that you always have that 100% quality guarantee to fall back on.  

Photobook review: Price

At first glance, Photobook's pricing seems quite expensive. To give you an example, a 40-page, 14” x 10” photobook printed on 190gsm paper, with an imagewrap hard cover and premium layflat binding, will cost you $94.99. However, the company regularly runs special offers that bring the price right down. At the time of writing, customers were able to get 55% off their photobook order, meaning the above price was reduced to $42.75.

How does that compare with other photo-printing sites? It's hard to say exactly, as no two companies offer exactly the same specifications. To give you a rough idea, though, a 40-page, 13” x 11” photobook from Blurb, printed on 190gsm paper, with an imagewrap hard cover and standard binding, will cost you $106.19 ($69 after you take off the company's current 35% discount). And a 20-page, 14” x 11” tome from Mixbook, printed on semi-gloss paper and with a matte hard cover, will cost you $94.99 ($57 when you apply the firm's existing 40% discount). So, Photobook's pricing is certainly competitive. 

As for delivery, this is free if your order meets a qualifying amount – otherwise you'll need to pay shipping costs. While Photobook operates a guaranteed seven-day shipping policy, if you're making a book for a special occasion, we recommend that you don't leave it until the last minute, as the creative process can take longer than you might think. 

It is also possible to buy something called a Photobook Pass, which gives you access to year-round discounts, as well as other benefits. Subscriptions range from $29 a year for the Lite pass, to $99 a year for the All-Access pass.

Should I buy a product from Photobook?

There's a lot to like about Photobook. With a vast range of products on offer, you're not restricted to plastering your pictures across the usual mugs, keyrings and calendars. As its name suggests, the company's primary focus is on creating photobooks – or letting you create your own. We found that the tools provided for this purpose are up there with the best photo-printing websites, not only giving you a wide range of customization options, but also making it easy for you to design something you can be proud of. What's more, Photobook's pricing and delivery times are competitive in today's market. Our testers did find that some photos came out a little dark and/or grainy, but for the most part the results were satisfactory – and besides, the company offers a 100% quality guarantee that enables you to get another book printed if you're not entirely happy. 

Photo books are popular gift options, as they can be used to mark special occasions, commemorate past events and record family history. A carefully curated collection of pictures, printed in a well-bound book that’s made from high quality materials, can be a lasting tribute to a loved one and a handsome item to display on your bookcase.

While we already have a thorough guide to the best photo books available in 2021, we’re aware that some people may feel overwhelmed by the process of selecting, editing and curating these books. For this reason, we spoke to Barrett Brynestad, Artifact Uprising Creative Director, to get his advice on how to make the perfect photo book. 

He's got some great advice that runs all the way through from taking and editing the photos, right through to how to choose the right materials for your book, how to get it shipped, and any finishing flourishes that'll make it truly special. So, here are his top ten tips on how to create your photo book.

1. Be super selective

Often, the problem when you're creating a photo album is knowing what to include, and what you should leave out. With modern cameras and phones allowing us to take as many pictures as our memory cards allow, you'll likely have way more pictures than you can actually fit into the book.

"There are often so many photos you want to include, but it can be helpful to avoid redundancy and be extra-selective with which ones you keep," suggests Brynestad. "When selecting your photos, choose the images that spark emotion, invite the viewer in, or transport them to that moment in time. Often, these are not the posed or overly thought-out photos, but the candid, caught-in-the-moment images where you can hear someone’s laugh or feel the sunlight."

2. Pick high res images

In terms of resolution, we recommend that 300dpi (dots per inch) is the ideal resolution, and Brynestad agrees. Some of the best smartphones can deliver this kind of resolution, but you'll definitely get it shooting in RAW with a DSLR or mirrorless camera.

You can check the resolution of most image files by right clicking on it, then scrolling down to properties and clicking on the 'details' tab. If you're using older images, which you've scanned yourself, then it's especially important that you clean them up using some editing software and make sure they're at a high enough resolution for a photo book.

3. Discard dark pics

There are some photos you should definitely exclude when you're going through. "Printed photos generally appear darker than they might on your device or your computer screen," says Brynestad, so you want to avoid anything that is too dark when you see it on a phone or computer screen.

You can try to improve the look of these images using an editor, but that may result in them looking oversaturated. Our recommendation is that you put them in the 'no' pile, unless they're integral to the photo book.

4. Fine tune images using an editor

We recommend using some of the best photo editing software to get your pictures into shape before you put them into your photo book. Brynestad offers some advice here. "Adjusting the brightness, contrast and saturation and ensuring the photo is cropped to emphasize the scene are some of our go-to steps," he explains.

While we'd never truly recommend altering too much of the image, you can now replace the sky in your photos using Photoshop, so if you had poor weather for your wedding, for example, and it resulted in disappointing pictures... there is a fix for that.

5. But don’t over edit old photos

It may be tempting to edit old photos where the color has bled or a faded look has settled over the top. However, Brynestad actually recommends that you fight against this instinct: 

"With old photos, sometimes the color is too long gone, or a sepia tone has taken over an entire negative — don’t strive for perfection here, embrace the light leaks, scratches and dust, these colors and textures are part of the story and help bring the times and places to life in a way that’s impossible to recreate."

6. Get the crop right

A lot of photo book sites offer some basic form of software, where you can upload pics and lay them out. You'll often come across unusual shapes here, so it can be useful to crop images before you upload them to make them fit more easily. 

Crops can also be used to centre images or remove unwanted objects. If you're feeling adventurous, there are tools in Adobe Photoshop CC that will allow you to remove objects (people) entirely, automatically adding in a background as you do. It's really clever stuff.

7. Consider adding captions

Whether or not you add text is up to you. Most photo book printers will offer the opportunity to do it, but some don't. Captions can add context and details, so if you're creating a book for a specific event, and you want to remember the little things, we'd recommend some text.

Brynestad concurs: "Using text in your photo book - whether that’s a quick snippet to describe dates, names and locations or a longer dedication page - can really supplement your photos, helping to tell your story, preserve specific details, and personalize a photo book. On the flip side, we’ve also seen some really beautiful albums created with no text at all."

After all, a picture can tell a thousand words, so don't feel like you need to annotate every single image. What we would recommend is keeping things consistent through the album.

8. Remember: Context is key 

Picking between color themes and styles can be difficult, but Brynestad has some good advice on how to make a decision here. 

"When deciding what type of book you want to create, ask yourself how the album will be used - do you want an archival album that will be passed down from generation to generation, do you want something that can be displayed in your home and that will match your décor, or do you want something that’s a little more casual that can hold many photos and that you can create multiple copies of to gift."

9. Pick high quality materials

While we have our preferences for materials, we are no experts when it comes to what's best for creating photo books. So we passed this one over to Brynestad in its entirety. Here's what he had to say:

"Heirloom albums like our Layflat Album and Signature Layflat Album are handcrafted using time-honored binding techniques with premium linen and leather covers - these are meant to be looked at often, displayed and handed down. Or, our Hardcover Photo Book or Softcover Photo Book can hold hundreds of pages of photos - great if you’re someone with a ton of photos and budget-friendly if you’re looking at creating multiple copies of one project."

10. Opt for the best possible packing materials

While there's little you can do about shipping from the actual book printer, there are things you can control when you're gifting a photo book to another person. Where possible, simply have it shipped direct to them, and pay extra for faster shipping, if you're able. The less time a photo book spends going through the postal system, the better.

If you are sending it across the country yourself, make sure you use quality packaging materials, including bubble wrap and packaging chips. Don't risk the chance of your gift getting dented or crushed for the sake of a slightly higher shipping cost. We'd recommend using a courier too, as they often have better tracking tools than the regular postal system.

If you have photos and video building up on your hard drive and want to edit them and turn them into something truly unique to you, or your business, the best place to start is with some reliable, fast and fun photo and video editing software. And when it comes to all of that, Movavi is one of the most trusted brands around. 

Movavi’s hugely popular video editor is one of the best around, and the company's other tools cover a wide range of multimedia needs, from screen recording to video editing, and from slideshow making to editing PDFs. There’s something here for everyone, and best of all, Movavi’s apps won’t break the bank. It’s the ideal work-from-home software suite for creatives, and here are seven ways Movavi can help you edit, create and customize your photo and video projects with ease...

These are the everyday tasks you can achieve with Movavi:

1. Edit videos like a pro

If you’re more of a fan of the moving image, then Movavi Video Suite gives you everything you need to edit your home movies into something you can be proud of.

Video Studio is timeline-based, just like the professional apps used to create movie blockbusters. You can add titles and create intros, and use chroma-key effects to cut yourself out from the background when vlogging. There are transitions and special effects too, enabling you to create any type of video your imagination can conceive.

2. Open any video file

Famed for its ability to open almost any type of video file, Movavi Video Studio will be able to cope with whatever you’ve been shooting on, be it your phone, a digital video camera, or digitized tapes from long ago. 

Movavi Video Studio is an all-in-one video toolbox that’s fully able to handle screen recording and file conversion, as well as the video editing process.

3. Create slideshows

Once you’ve finished editing your photos, there’s no better way to show them off to your friends and family than with a slideshow. Far removed from the dusty projector screens and dull narration of yesteryear, modern slideshows are little videos bursting with on-screen information, backed by music, and replete with all the transitions and effects you’d expect from a home movie. They’re perfect for sharing on social media.

Movavi’s Slideshow Video Maker helps you do all of this and best of all, it’s simple to use. In fact, you can have almost no input at all if you want a slideshow produced from your photos as quickly as possible. Just pick Slideshow Wizard from the menu, then sit back and watch as the software does all the work. Prefer to take total control of your slideshow? No problem! You can do that too by running it in manual mode. 

4. Add effects and filters

The app isn’t fussy about what you add to your slideshow - you can add folders of images, video files and music. Everything you’ve shot to document a holiday, for example, can be mixed together using pre-designed templates, or you can take control of every detail and create a far more bespoke product unique to you.

There are more than 165 visual effects and filters built into the software, plus many more transitions and titles. And sharing your creation couldn’t be easier - you can upload it to YouTube, Vimeo or Google Drive directly from the app. Seriously, it doesn’t get any easier than this.

5. Record your screen

If you’re working on personal or corporate projects from home, the chances are at some point you’ll need to demonstrate how to do something, and one of the best ways of doing this is by recording your screen. Movavi has you covered here, with its Screen Recorder software able to capture what’s on your screen with one click.

You set the parameters - which part of your screen will be captured, will you capture audio as well as video (useful for adding narration about what you’re doing) then you just hit the record button. When you’re finished, the file is on your hard drive ready to be loaded into the video editing app of your choice to be tidied up (there are even simple editing tools in the Screen Recorder app) before being integrated into your project.

The software is deeper than that, however. It can record directly from your webcam, so you can edit a video narration track together with your screen recording. Or you can show your mouse movements and keyboard keypresses. You can draw on the video to bring the viewer’s attention to important parts. You can even schedule a recording and set a time limit for it.

Additionally, in the same way much of Movavi’s software works together as an integrated suite, you can buy Screen Recorder in a bundle with Movavi’s video editing app, and supercharge your video creations.

6. Photo editing

One of the most popular tasks on a home PC is made much easier by Movavi. Its Picverse image editing app is designed for all skill levels, and is AI-powered so that its smart tools give you amazing results photo editing in no time at all.

If it’s the colors and contrast of an image you want to boost, try AI Auto Enhance, which quickly serves up a brighter, more saturated image that looks great every time. Then there’s Quick Image Background Removal, which lets you cut out a figure from its background, before pasting it into a new environment without fiddling around making a meticulous selection first. Handy, huh?

7. Colorize old photos

Do you have a stack of scanned old photos lying around, gathering dust? If so, Perverse can help you restore them too - the AI Restore feature helps hide creases, scratches and stains.

In addition to all that, it can also help to reduce image noise on photos. It can also colorize your monochrome prints, bringing treasured old memories back to life in the most vibrant way.

View the entire Movavi range here, and discover how it can help you.

We really like Mixbook Photo Cards. While they're not the cheapest, nor the absolute best quality, we think they get a good balance between the two. When you receive one, you feel like you've gotten value from it, and that's the most important feeling you can get from any of the best photo card services. Mixbook also has a good range of options to cover various holidays and special occasions, and the website is easy to use, which means it's simple to create your unique photo card.

When it comes to online services, Mixbook isn’t an expensive service, but it isn’t the cheapest, either. For a set of 15 cards, the price is roughly $2.49 per card, which is about average. However, the quality of the finished product is better than most of the other budget services, so you're getting mid-range cards at a cheap price. Mixbook offers discounts for large quantities, so you can save when ordering more cards, and the service often runs discount promotions which can save you up to 50%. If you click through from our link, for example, there is a discount applied.

We sampled 5x7, folded cards with three photos on each of our tests, and we found that we could order 15 for $48 - this is excluding the great discount we got at the time of testing. If you’re looking for something cheaper, consider Meijer Photo. Mixbook offered us 100 of our cards for $172, one of the cheapest options we've seen. However, the $30 in shipping and fees which were added at checkout made this less of a good deal.

Mixbook Photo Cards: Quality and services 

Mixbook offers six types of paper, from pearl finish to cotton texture. We ordered a satin card and a luxe board card. Our experts found that both cards printed with excellent coloring, but the luxe card came out a little grainy. They weren't as high quality as Simply to Impress, but both cards were double-sided, making them appear fancier. The satin card was thicker than the regular photo paper, which makes it a step up from other services. The luxe board was very thick and felt good to the touch. The Mixbook logo is printed in the left corner on both cards’ backsides. Our panel of testers loved the texture and thickness of the envelopes. Some competitors offer embossing and laser cutting to give another dimension to cards. 

Some sites offer glitter options, which are absent here. Although we couldn’t see any on Mixbook we did love the foil option which comes in gold, rose gold or silver. Mixbook's cards are two-dimensional but very attractive, so you won't miss the texture options or ornament-shaped cards that other services offer. In fact, our panel of reviewers gave Mixbook one of the highest scores for design. The templates are gorgeous and suitable for many occasions. Plus, the graphics come in a range of styles, so you'll likely find one to complement your photos. This service allows you to make photo cards, photo books and personalized calendars, along with a handful of other photo gifts, and all of the keepsake designs are high-quality. If you want to know more about these gifts, we have a separate review of Mixbook Photo Books.

Mixbook Photo Cards review: Product options and creation 

Mixbook lets you import photos from both online storage and social media, and the photo editor automatically checks the photo quality for you. There is also an extensive selection of holiday photo cards and templates. You can choose from dozens of party invites, birth announcements, graduation announcements, wedding invites and more. You can also start out with a blank template and create a card that is entirely your own. In addition, this picture card service offers response card templates. In the Mixbook tool you can add text, stickers, images and a huge variety of background options, giving you countless ways to customize your cards. There are also six trim options and even the chance to get your card as a magnet, perfect for loved ones to stick on the fridge. 

It would be nice to have a few more options for envelopes, however, especially since some competitors offer different colors and coordinating envelope liners for a unified look. But because people usually tear the envelope and throw it away, it may not be a huge problem to have the plain white one that comes with a Mixbook card, and there is the option to get an envelope with the name and address pre-printed. One nice thing about this service is the one-card minimum; you don’t have to order ten or 25 cards at a time. However, if you’re making a bulk order, be aware that Mixbook does not provide free paper proofs. Instead, you can purchase one card as a proof and then buy your design in bulk later. This policy may be an issue if you're on a tight budget or schedule, since it takes some extra time and adds a second shipping charge.

Mixbook Photo Cards review: Customer service and user reviews

In case you have trouble while designing or ordering your photo cards, Mixbook offers support resources to help you along the way. You can reach a representative through email or live chat, and there are extensive FAQs on the website that provide additional assistance for any complications that may arise. Additionally, if you are not completely satisfied with your order, the company offers a refund through its satisfaction guarantee - something which only Mixbook and Snapfish offer. 

In terms of how users rate Mixbook, the site currently has an impressive score of 4.8 via Trustpilot. Most praise the quality of the products, and how easy the site is to use. Mixbook has a lot of repeat customers, and they are mostly happy with both the cards and books they get. The main criticisms leveled at Mixbook are around rare issues with the print quality, but these are infrequent and don't indicate an overall problem with the site. There are a handful of one-star reviews, but these are almost exclusively from people who misunderstood what Mixbook offers.

Should you order from Mixbook Photo Cards?

Mixbook combines great printing with competitive pricing, and a pleasingly easy to use website. With a wide range of styles and themes you are sure to find templates for holiday cards, birthday cards, baby shower invitations, graduation invitations or other occasions. Not only does Mixbook impress us, but it has an excellent set of user reviews across several sites, so you know the service is excellent. A few more options for envelopes would have been an added advantage, and the shipping costs do add a little more to your bill than with some other providers. However, when you balance out all Mixbook's excellent features, it definitely earns its place at the top of our list of photo card services. 

Amazon has once again proved its one-stop-shop monopoly by offering a photo book service - Amazon Prints! Prints is a picture printing site that will give you a range of options, including cheap photo albums. Available with free delivery via Prime, Amazon allows you to create a simple book from a personal Amazon Drive account that comes with your Prime membership. Upload your own documents for safe online storage and use any time you like. If you are a little restricted in your edit skills, and you’re just looking for a basic photo book experience, then Amazon Prints could be for you... although we probably wouldn't recommend it unless price is your only concern.

Amazon Prints: Pricing 

Amazon Prints offers some of the cheapest books of any service we tested. A hardcover 8 x 8-inch book only costs $17.99 with 20 pages included. Amazon doesn’t charge shipping on orders that cost $15 or more, so you won’t have to pay a shipping fee if you choose standard shipping. This service does charge tax but that should only amount to a few dollars or less. When purchasing additional pages, you must order two at a time. It’s $1.00 for every two pages, which is half the price of most other services. Amazon does not offer bulk discounts at this time. If cheap really is important to you, then this even undercuts Shutterfly.

Amazon Prints: Books and services

Amazon prints currently covers photo books, personal prints, table embellishments, and even wall art. They are offering a wide range of printing services, and if you can figure out how to use the confusing interface, then you could have an easy option for cheap and fast print services.

It offers five options – the smallest number of items on offer from any of the photo book retailers we reviewed. If you want choice, we suggest our top pick, Mixbook. The 8x8 inch options are available in hard or softcover, with the remaining sizes being 5x7 softcover, 8x11, and 12x12. It really isn't a great range of options.

The online interface Amazon Prints employs is one of the most confusing to use. When you enter the buy page and select your desired photo book you’re automatically taken to your Amazon drive, to upload pictures – once this is done it’s difficult to find out how to place these into a photo book editor. Having read through five different Amazon Print help pages we were still none the wiser as to how to actually make the book. The instructions Amazon currently provides to navigate the design stage don’t match options on the pages themselves, and the editor is near impossible to actually find.

This program uses Amazon Photos to store your images. Amazon Drive and Amazon Photos both allow you to upload and sort your pictures into albums, which you can then (apparently) take forward into making your photo book. The experience of using these cloud bases systems was overall pretty easy, they were restricted to manual uploads only and don’t connect to social media accounts - something that most other retailers have managed to achieve. If you’re looking to sort through your pictures on the go then Amazon photo’s is available in app form for both Android and IOS, which will automatically upload your phone's picture album.  

Amazon Prints: Support and user reviews

Amazon Prints is included in a Prime subscription, and so if you do manage to create your photo product then you’ll get it cheaply and quickly. Amazon support, as always, is a maze of FAQ’s and circular pages that transfer you back to step by step guides which, as mentioned above, don’t always match what’s going on. Amazon support does try its best to cover every base, and you’ll usually find an article that attempts to answer any questions. 

Amazon Prints has one of the weakest customer reviews, overall, it being called “confusing”, with one user expressing disappointment that “Amazon’s usual clarity is completely lacking – it would take a lot for me to go back”. In general Amazon has missed the mark with their photo books, and customers are feeling the sting. 

Should you use Amazon Prints?

Amazon Prints is a strange option to look into. With several other companies available that have clearer communication and make it easy to upload pictures and edit your book, Amazon shouldn’t be a first choice. The affordability of Amazon is always a selling point, and for general shopping it still remains a strong contender in online retail, but for picture printing and photo items it doesn’t quite stretch. You get the quality that you pay for, and Amazon is no different. 

In a not-so-shocking turn of events Walmart is one of the fastest and most affordable photo services out there. Order online, grab your cart, take a stroll down aisle four, and grab your groceries because by the time you’re done you’re going to have a photo book to take home with you. Walmart gives a huge range of design options, perfect for any special occasion and with one-hour, and same day pick-up, it’s great for those special occasions that you might have forgotten about. 

It's tough to top Walmart, and although the print quality isn't quite as high as many of its competitors, you can't beat the convenience, and you'll struggle to better the low prices. That's why it earns a spot on our list of the best photo books.

Walmart Photo: Pricing

Walmart Photo offers one of the cheapest photo books on the market. You can order an 8 x 8 hardcover book for $21.96. Walmart Photo does not charge for standard shipping, but you might spend a couple dollars on tax. The price for additional pages depends on the size of book you order. For an 8 x 8 book, you’d be looking at an additional $1.32 for each extra page spread. That's pretty much in line with what we’ve seen with other providers.

Should you be looking at something a little smaller than a 4x4 mini book could cost as little as $10, while a premium 12x12 book (that’s three times the size) will cost around $60. There are a range of sizing and price options in between, and you’ll be sure to find something to suit your needs. In true Walmart style there are always the coveted Rollback prices to keep you interested, with sales ongoing.

While it's very cheap, we think something like Shutterfly offers better value, because for a few dollars more you get a far better final product.

Walmart Photo: Quality & Services

The book we made with Walmart Photo wasn’t the best. When placing photos in the online editor, we couldn’t make the cover image fit within the window. This resulted in the image appearing too zoomed in and extremely pixelated. Some members of the family didn’t even make it on the cover.

Many of the images inside the book are pixelated as well. In a blind scoring panel, our testers gave this sample the lowest print quality score of all the books we ordered. The binding and cover were relatively sturdy, though the pages felt very thin when compared to some competitors' books. There is no flyleaf. The one good thing about Walmart Photo, aside from the same day pickup, is that it doesn’t print its logo anywhere on or inside the book.

Walmart Photo: Book options 

Walmart Photo offers many different book sizes and cover options. There are eight sizes – 4x4, 4x6, 5x7, 8x6, 8x8, 8x11, 11x14, and 12x12 inches – as well as mini photo books and flip books. Each book size has different cover options, so the size you order determines what kind of cover options are available. There are ten different covers: Hard Cover Glossy, Hard Cover Matte, Soft Cover, Linen Cover, Leather Cover, Paper Cover, Layflat Glossy, Layflat Matte, Premium Layflat, Mini Premium Layflat. Though, again, the availability of each of these depends on your book size.

Walmart has done a good job of creating a range of templates and styles to suit your needs. Due to the quick turnaround of its print and pick up deal, it doesn’t allow for as much customization as other sites. After you’ve picked your template, you’ll be taken to an easy to navigate picture upload page. Most of the controls are labeled when you first enter, and it resembles other sites of the same type pretty closely.

Even though the templates make it quick and easy to create a photo gift, they limit your creative design ability. Layouts, templates, pictures and text aren’t adjustable. You can’t even add embellishments to the photos, which makes it hard to get creative with your project. Try our top pick - Mixbook - if you want to have better choice.

The photo upload box is an easy drag and drop interface to keep things simple. However, whatever resolution you upload pictures in will be the resolution that they’re printed. If you use low-quality images, they will be blurry in the printed version. Make sure all your pictures are as high quality as you can wrangle otherwise your album simply won’t look its best.

Select sizes and cover options are available for same day pickup. If you’re in a real time crunch, you can even order one-hour pickup. While Walmart Photo provides one of the quickest ways to print a custom photo book, if you don’t want to print it immediately at a store, you also can have it printed and shipped to your home. If you choose this route, the standard production time averages around two to three days. If you’re willing to pay more, you can choose from overnight, two-day and standard shipping methods, so you can get your book quickly or economically. Some of these services have been affected by Covid, with the same day pick up being cut for the time being, though 24 hour delivery from your local store is still available.

Walmart Photo: Support and user reviews

Walmart’s support options are limited. There is no telephone number on the site; however, there is a live chat option. The site also lists a technical support email and features a FAQs section with common problems and solutions.

Walmart has had pretty poor reviews from users. Common issues that people face has been with the fact that there isn’t a great deal of customer service available when each individual store has to deal with their own photo orders “I went to pick [the photo book] up, but the clerk could not find it”, with one customer going so far as to say that they are “never going to use photo center again”. Overall Walmart has the lowest customer rating of any photo book provider with just 1.5/5 stars on TrustPilot. Ouch.

Should you use Walmart Photo?

Walmart Photo is one of the few services that allows you to create a custom photo book online or in the store and have it printed within the hour. This is especially useful if you find yourself shopping at Walmart often. The online design interface doesn't give you a lot of creative flexibility and the design options are limited. While it was still decent, the print quality of this photo book was the worst of any we ordered, and the paper quality was pretty flimsy, but the binding was sturdy. If you don’t need your gift in a hurry, we highly recommend using a top-tier service like Artifact Uprising for far superior printing results.

Have you ever taken your latest partner home to meet your parents, and suddenly the photo albums are out and everyone but you is laughing over that picture of you in the bath? Well, Shutterfly is the photo book website that allows you to take every photo where you look your best and compile them into one embarrassment free collection of your best shots. Maybe give that as a gift to your parents this year, and suggest they get rid of the embarrassing old one. A wide range of templates, for any occasion, gives you the creative freedom to make a great photo book without breaking the bank. Here is why Shutterfly is the top value pick among our best photo book selections. 

Shutterfly: Pricing

Shutterfly is below average when it comes to pricing. An 8 x 8 hardcover photo book with 20 pages costs $29.98 ($19.98 for softcover). This service does charge for standard shipping and tax so expect the price to go up a bit more, however Shutterfly still boasts some of the cheapest photo book services out there. It does $1.69 per page to add to a standard 25-page product, and this is one of the more expensive charges we’ve seen, however with constant codes and discounts the basic price is always lower than you’d expect. Mixbook offers comparable prices, and the discount codes are fairly frequent there too.

Shutterfly: Quality & Services

The book we got back from Shutterfly was very nice, especially in terms of photo reproduction, though there were a few flaws. The cover printed beautifully, true to color and without any graininess or blurriness. Some of the page images turned out a bit blurry, however. The page thickness was impressive, and this book tended to stay open on its own. The high-quality flyleaves added a layer of protection and a more finished look. The cover was also very sturdy and should age well.

Shutterfly offers 48 templates, with six page sizes, two cover options, and three layflat possibilities. The templates include a designer collection that features beautiful designs from Sarah Hawkins, as well as Potts Design, and Floats Paperie. Maybe you want something more fun for the family, well then, the Disney Family Adventures template is a perfect choice.

Shutterfly offers a simple four step process for you to get the perfect photo album put together. You start by choosing your templates, maybe simply white, or bold and bright? Whatever your preference you’ll find loads to choose from. Next you move on to the Storyboard page, where you can drag and drop you pictures for Shutterfly to automatically sort, they’ll choose the perfect layout that matches the number of photos you’ve uploaded. Now you’ve got all your pages together it’s off to the edit stage. This is probably the most fun part of making any photo book.

You can easily change the theme and background of your project or add text boxes, images, embellishments and extra pages. You can even edit the photos with features that can reduce red eye, rotate an image, and change or enhance the colors in a picture. The photo editor also identifies low-resolution images, giving you the chance to either resize or remove the picture.

Your project is stored online while you work on it, so you can save, share or add photos to your photo book at any time. You can also share your photo book at any point by adding it to your Shutterfly share site, or by just emailing it to friends and family.

Your last creation stage lets you check and rearrange every page. From the front cover, to the back, and everything in between, you have complete control over which photo goes where.

Shutterfly: Book options

Shutterfly offers several different sizing and cover options for its books, although there aren't as many here as at Printique. Six sizes are available: 8 x 8, 8 x 11, 11 x 8, 10 x 10, 12 x 12 and 11 x 14 inches. These are among the most common sizing options for photo books. Shutterfly also provides hard and softcovers to it’s photobooks, either made of a durable gloss laminate, or an easy-to-flip cardstock, respectively.

The latest addition to the Shutterfly catalogue is the 6 x 6 instant books. A quick and easy way to create a mini photo book, just as customizable as its larger counterparts, but cheaper. At $19.98 for a 20 page book this option gives you the option to upload from computer, mobile device, and social media. Perfectly accessible from the Shutterfly app, available on Android and IOS, you can design your own instant book on the go.

The interface is organized and everything is clearly labeled. If you don’t know what a button does, hovering over it with your mouse reveals an explanation. You can upload photos directly to the  editor from your computer, Facebook, Instagram and several other sources. The one thing that could improve the interface would be an automatic shuffle feature that would help you decide the best arrangements for photos on a page; as it is, you have to move each photo individually to experiment with a new arrangement.

When you are ready to order your book, the site provides a preview that displays the book in high resolution so you know what it will look like when it prints. If you find any errors, you can easily return to editing mode and fix the book. Shutterfly automatically prints their logo inside the book on the last page. You can pay between $6 and $9 to remove it if you don’t want any branding.

Shutterfly: Support and user reviews

Shutterfly provides support for all of its services. You'll find a telephone number, email address and live chat feature to contact technical support for any problems that come up while making your photo book. However, the operating hours for the phone are limited, so if you need to contact support in off hours, email and live chat are the best options. The company also provides a searchable FAQs database, so you can explore topics and find answers to your questions. Additionally, there is a user forum where you can exchange ideas and solutions.

There are several different shipping methods, but be aware that with processing time, the expedited shipping option still takes almost a week. If you want the most economic option, allow for two weeks of processing and shipping to ensure you get your order in time.

Shutterfly averages a rating of 3/5 on TrustPilot, with most customers raising concerns over slow shipping times with one return user calling his experience “quite disheartening”, and “painful”. However, 67% of reviews fell into the five-star category “Customer Service helped me to create a photobook that came out beautiful. I would highly recommend if technology is not your thing.”

Should you use Shutterfly?

As one of the pioneers in the photo books landscape, Shutterfly still holds a strong presence in the industry because the service combines usability and quality. The online photo editor is appealing to both experts and beginners with its range of features and its easy-to-use interface, and Shutterfly has a wide variety of features to help you create good quality books for any occasion. Regular discount codes make it a very inexpensive option too, and it's only pipped by Mixbook as our top service because of a slightly lower print quality.

Does your coffee table look a little bare? Perhaps there’s a gap on your bookshelf that you’re desperate to fill? Or, just maybe, your phone’s precious memory is being throttled by thousands of pictures that you just can’t get rid of? Sounds like it’s time to get yourself a photo book from Printique, the company that we think makes some of the best photo books for specific occasions. Fully customizable, fast shipping, and good customer service, we’ll explore everything you need to know about Printique in our review. 

Printique: Pricing

The hardcover Printique 8 x 8 photo book costs $49.99, a price point that’s higher than most of the other providers, however what you pay you get back in quality. Standard shipping costs align pretty closely with its competitors though, adding around $10 to the total. As with the standard for photo books Printique starts with 20 pages per book, with the option to add pages. Pages can only be added two at a time, the cost for which is $2.00, and while it seems expensive this is a decent price when compared to other services, who charge similar rates for a single additional page. In terms of value, Shutterfly is cheaper, but something like Artifact Uprising is a little more expensive, so this sits in the middle of the range.

Printique: Quality & Services

For our sample book, Printique used thick lustre pages with a photo-like finish, so all of the photos look like they could be originals. The cover is noticeably thicker and sturdier than most competitors’ books and the pages lay flat rather than sticking up at the crease. The lay-flat feature is usually an expensive extra with other companies, but that was just part of the normal book with Printique. The quality was good enough that we assumed the price would also be much higher, but it wasn't. There were more expensive photo books in our comparison that did not have the same quality. This service does not offer 8.5 x 11 sizes so we ordered the next closest size: 8 x 10.

Printique's online service was not perfect, though. The selection of backgrounds and pre-designed books is good but not great, though the ones we found are attractive. The lack of a flyleaf is a slight drawback, but the thickness of the pages and the cover will ensure that the book is protected for ages. You can add a flyleaf but it costs extra.

Printique: Book options

Printique offers 14 book sizes, more than any other service we tested. Even with all of those choices it still lacks a few of the most common sizes, like 11 x 14 and 8.5 x 11, but there are sizes close to that so you should be able to find a size that fits your vision.

Cover type selection is decent with this site, though there are sites with more. Printique offers a great range of cover materials that other providers cannot match. Leather, cardstock, fabric, metal, and hardcovers are all available for you to ensure the best cover for your photo collection. And now with the mini softcover option you can create a handy, smaller, photo book at just 4 X 4, starting from as little as $9.99.

Softcover options have become the affordable and chic option for when you want to save a little on your project. Starting from $19.99, Printique uses 100% recycled uncoated paper, to give you one of the most sustainable options available on the market. Its softcover choices allow you to create something affordable and eco-friendly.

Printique offers a lot of choice in terms of paper with eight paper types to choose from, you can get the gloss look, matte finish, or even a textured picture for that professional feel.

You start the book creation process by choosing the theme of your project. You can then upload photos from your computer, social media or photo sharing sites like Flickr and Amazon Photo. The software places the photos automatically, or you can place each picture manually. If you don’t want to use one of the many pre-designed layouts, you can create a book from a blank slate with your own templates and layouts. The software allows you to choose your own photo placement and embellishments as well as edit your photos using its design tools.

The edit interface looks daunting at a first glance, and definitely takes some getting used to. Printique wants to cater to photographers as much as amateur snap artists, and so the layout is similar to popular photo editing softwares. It's far less feature-rich, though, so won't be used by professionals. If you aren’t tech savvy, then it won’t be the easiest photo book site to navigate. That being said, the edit options are numerous, and comprehensive.

With the ability to save, and return, or share and allow others to help out, Printique makes it easy to involve as many people as you’d like (which is helpful if you struggle).

Printique: Support and user reviews

Printique averages three days for processing and printing your photo book. It offers overnight, two-day and international shipping so that you can get your photo gift as soon as possible.

There are a few different resources for technical support, including video tutorials, FAQs and user forums. You can also call customer support or send an email if you have questions after looking over that information. Unfortunately, Printique is yet to add a live chat function, a popular way of interacting with customer support, this leaves you with the slower options for issue resolution.

With an impressive rating of 4.6/5 rating on TrustPilot, Printique is one of our top-rated photo book providers. Nearly 90% of users have given a five star rating, and the reviews reflect an impressive dedication to quality: “I couldn't be happier--beautiful paper and photo quality”, and customer service “Absolutely fabulous customer service - helpful and professional”.

Should you use Printique?

Printique occupies a middle-ground between some of the other photo printers we tested, and doesn't excel at any one thing. However, it has good shipping options, decent pricing, and a good variety of sizes and templates for its books. The quality of product is decent too, although certainly not the best.

On the negative side, the creation tools on the site are a little more difficult to use than most of its competitors, and while there are many different book sizes, some of the most common options are absent here.

If you shop with Printique you'll get a quality product at a good price, but you'll find different aspects of the whole experience more satisfying via other providers like Mixbook - our top overall pick.

Mixbook is our top pick of all the photo book sites in 2021. Most companies will tell you that they’re perfect for any occasion but with Mixbook there really is an option for (almost) every event. With 24 categories for all your photo booking needs there’s bound to be a template that suits your needs – ranging from simple designs, to Martha Stewart's own exclusive range. The process couldn’t be easier with the ability to import photos from a range of devices, as well as a chat function on hand should you need help. If you're looking for a personalized photo gift, Mixbook likely has what you're looking for.

And while it doesn't come with the convenience of overnight photo printing like providers with physical stores, it has great delivery options, and a good range of print sizes.

Mixbook: Pricing

 A 25-page 8.5 x 8.5 hardcover books sell for $36.95 on Mixbook’s website. This service also charges for standard shipping and tax so you can expect an added $12.99, or thereabouts. We found this price plus tax and shipping is pretty average for photo books. You’ll find cheaper options elsewhere, but you’ll also find more expensive ones as well. If you want your book to be longer than 25 pages, it costs $1.39 for every additional page. This is a good price for adding pages, although it isn’t the cheapest we found. If you're looking to save money, try a service like Shutterfly.

Mixbook: Quality & Services

The project we made with Mixbook arrived faster than many of the others we ordered. Our testers found the cover thick and sturdy, poised to protect the photos inside for years to come. The cover image displayed accurate coloring and printed nice and clear. Our experts also found the inner photo reproduction nearly perfect, though they did spot some graininess. Mixbook’s books feature a flyleaf that further protects the pages and gives the project an elegant feel. The only site with better printing is Artifact Uprising.

What makes Mixbook one of the top photo gift sites is its wide selection of features. The online photo book editor offers attractive, fully assembled layouts from which you can choose. The templates are easy to navigate from desktop or from your phone, with a fully adaptive display for swipe and touch commands.

You can choose from hundreds of templates too. Many of them are themed, so you can create a book to commemorate a birth, adoption, vacation, pet, or even old family recipes. There are also generic templates you can use as backgrounds if you don’t want your photo book to have a specific theme. The site lets you quickly look for backgrounds and get underway with customizing as soon as you choose.

Mixbook gives an added cross device option, where you can search and upload pictures directly from your computer, connect to your social media accounts, and upload from your mobile device via a QR code, all without switching gadgets. With the added photo manipulation tools, you can add effects to the pictures using the dropdown menu. For example, you can change the shadow, hue, blur, distance, angle or opacity of an image cutting out the need for specialized photo editing software.

This is one of the only online photo services to allow collaboration on projects. If you want several people to contribute to one project, you can simply add them as contributors. All contributors have access to add photos, decorate pages and edit the project without needing your password. You also can share your projects on Facebook or publish them on a blog or website.

Mixbook guarantees high quality in all of its products, and offers a money-back guarantee on its custom books. Mixbook uploads your photos in their original resolution and warns you if the quality is not good enough for print. You can either replace the photos or shrink them so that every page is filled with vivid images. The processing time before shipping averages around one to three days, so it's important to plan if you need your book by a certain date.

Mixbook: Book options and creation

Mixbook has one of the biggest selections of sizes, offering eight different sizing options for custom photo books, ranging from a small 8 x 6-inch pocket book to the most common 11 x 8.5, to a large coffee table book measuring 11 x 14 inches. There are four different square book sizes – 6 x 6, 8.5 x 8.5, 10 x 10 and 12 x 12.

The publisher provides ten different cover options, including genuine leather, matte and glossy hardcover, and softcover. You can also use a photo to make a dust jacket. The cover options are varied and specific, just another aspect of the customization that Mixbook is proud of.

There are four paper options to choose from. The default semi-gloss paper is good quality, thick enough to resist creasing and tearing. If you'd like something nicer and more formal, you can also choose between pearl finish and premium matte and lustre lay-flat pages.

Mixbook has one of the most user-friendly interfaces of all the sites. It is easy to navigate whether you are computer savvy or not. When you start the service, a guided tour shows you how to use Mixbook by highlighting the important features and tools you need to know about. While you use the editor tools, you are shown where to drag photos and insert text on each of the pages. There is also a help button embedded on each page so that you can seek help at any time during the creation process or get more information about a specific feature. The buttons are labeled clearly so even the most inexperienced designer can make a polished product.

Mixbook: Support and user reviews

The company’s website also offers technical support. There is a live chat feature and an email address to contact support representatives, as well as a FAQs section. Mixbook does not provide a telephone number for support over the phone. We highly recommend using the live chat feature as Mixbook is quick to respond and the customer reps are very helpful. Unlike other retail chains, you cannot pick up your Mixbook projects from a physical store. If you’re needing your project in a hurry, we recommend Walmart Photo for same day pickup. You’ll be sacrificing quality for speed, so if you can plan ahead, we definitely recommend going with Mixbook.

Your book will likely get to you pretty quickly but submit your order in early and allow for extra time during holiday seasons when book services are busiest. Our book was delivered less than a week after making the order, a standard delivery time can take between 4 and 7 business days, so plan ahead. However, we were extremely happy with how fast our book was produced and shipped with Mixbook matching the shipping time of its online competitors.

84% of Mixbook reviewers on TrustPilot have given the site five stars. The compliments are constant and range from “the ability to personalize/edit is user friendly”, to the fast and friendly customer service “Reps are always polite, helpful, responsive”. Mixbook has been summed up by one user “I cannot say enough good things about this company!” With glowing recommendations like that Mixbook is certainly worth trying. 

Should you use Mixbook?

Mixbook's on-site book editor is simple enough that anyone can use it, but has enough features to appeal to advanced photo book designers as well. Likewise, the books are well built and will protect the images inside for years to come. The range of templates, and customization options, is impressive too. While the shipping time can be a thorn in your side, the quality is worth the wait. Overall, Mixbook does most things better than its competitors, and while it isn't the cheapest or the highest quality in terms of printing, it's the best all-round experience.

Artifact Uprising sits at the premium end of modern photo book and photo card websites. A sleek and elegant series of designs give you the options to make something truly impressive, and the quality of products is well above what you get from many other rival sites. The trade-off here is that you do pay a little more, which is to be expected, and you do have to wait a little longer for shipping. Check out our list of best photo books to get the complete picture (pun intended) of what’s out there, or read on to find out more about this high quality photo gift site. 

Artifact Uprising: Pricing

Artifact Uprising’s best selling hardcover photo book starts at $69 – this is a pretty low cost considering the premium offerings that the site gives, however if you’re into something much more affordable then take a look at their softcover photo book that sits at a very pleasant $15. This bargain option comes with 30 pages, which is the most page per value we’ve found, even outdoing our favorite provider, Mixbook.

The most expensive photo book on the site clocks in at $289 and is the pinnacle of premium photo books. The Signature Layflat Photo Album comes in Artifact Uprising’s largest sizes, with more customization options than any standard product from the company. Perfect if you're looking for wedding albums.

With an additional page price ranging from $0.50 - $7 (dependent on page size) its one of the pricier options, but that’s a common theme for Artifact Uprising. If you want high quality, then it has to be paid for.

Artifact Uprising: Quality & Services

Not only does Artifact Uprising offer the highest quality photo books that we’ve tested, but they're also one of the most responsible outlets too. The company is dedicated to reusable materials, and so many of their products are made with reclaimed, recycled, or responsibly sourced materials. The pages of their hardcover and softcover photo books are made with this recycled paper, as well as the production of this paper coming from completely renewable wind energy. If you’re looking for an environmentally friendly photo book, then look no further.

It’s not hard to see that Artifact Uprising puts quality first, every product is made to a high specification, and the company offers a quality guarantee; if you aren’t happy then you can contact them on a person-to-person email to resolve your issue. 

Artifact Uprising: Book Options

Artifact Uprising has one of the broadest options in terms of design, with 24 designs (including the custom option), which cover every major celebration. A unique category offered is the Instagram friendly photo book, at just $15, this photo book connects to your Instagram feed and automatically puts your social media pictures into a photo book, with no need to individually upload each picture.

The smallest photo book option available is a compact softcover mini photo book, coming in at 5.5x5.5 inches. The favorite hardcover photo book comes in a range of standard sizes 6x8 (portrait), 8x6 (landscape), 8.5x8.5, 8.25x11 (P), 11x8.25 (L), and 10x10 inches.

The large photo book option boasts a sheet size of 12x12 and 14x11 inches, several of these books are also available in standard sizing above.

Photo book creation itself can be a really daunting process, as you’re thrown into a whole new interface to edit your own collection of photos, and if you’re not the most tech savvy then you can be left in the dark. Artifact Uprising has got that covered.

For those of us that might be a little overwhelmed by the whole process, Artifact Uprising has created an entire step by step guide on how to use their photo book editor. Easy to find, and clear to navigate, the editor isn’t the trickiest that we’ve experienced from photo book creators anyway, but even if you get dazed by the various edit options there’s a resource on hand.

Once again reaching for the premium service Artifact Uprising offers album design services. Book a designer to make an album for you, starting with a deposit of $100, and their easy four step program will get you a custom photo book in a matter of days. Tell them what style you’d like, send them your pictures, and they’ll do the rest. Once you sign off on the final design it’ll be posted to you right away. No hassle, no fuss. So far Artifact Uprising is the only company we’ve encountered that offers a custom photo book option, however the price can get up to $313.

Artifact Uprising: Shipping & Support

Shipping is a standardized process for Artifact Uprising. Given that each photo book is made from recycled materials there is always stock on hand and, depending on your choice of size and material, your photo book will usually be made between three and five days.

Due to the bespoke way that Artifact Uprising works, shipping can take extra time. It's a family run business, focusing on quality, and so ships from several locations through the US. Unlike larger chain photo book creators (Shutterfly and Walmart Photo), its shipping can be a longer process. Shipping costs start at around $18 for a standard USPS ship, that will take on average 6-8 business days, to an expedited FedEX Rush order at $60 which will get it to you in one day. Shipping times do not include time taken to produce the photo book.

Artifact Uprising: Support and user reviews

The site has several help links for you to use. An itemized FAQ page lets you choose the right category for your enquiry, giving you several pages that should cover all your issues. If you problem isn’t addressed in their FAQ they have an email page where you can submit a contact request, and they’ll get back to you within their working hours.

Currently Artifact Uprising does not have a phone line, or a live chat function, where you can address your grievances in real time. If you’re looking for speed over quality then a chain would give you a more direct customer service experience.

Artifact Uprising has been given high praise from users who say it’s “easy to navigate”, and love the end results, calling their photo books “fantastic products quality, design, creativity”. The experience has received praise as high as the product “This is the best customer service I’ve ever encountered”. Artifact Uprising seems to deliver and product and experience that matches the price point. 

Should you use Artifact Uprising?

Artifact Uprising is a clear, and quality focused company, that really put the standard of its products at the forefront. It might have the most expensive photo books that we’ve looked at, but also has the clearest company ethos and it generates many of the best products. Renewable materials, high quality products, and an easy to use interface, Artifact Uprising is a great choice if you’re wanting to make a great impression with an excellent photo book.

Smart Pix Manager is an older package, and it has fallen well behind more modern photo software apps in recent years. While it was once part of our list of the best photo organizing software, it has since been replaced by better options. It is primarily a manager, but has limited editing options built in, a little like Corel Aftershot 3. However, it's nowhere near as good. It also looks and feels very dated next to the likes of Adobe Lightroom CC, our top pick.

To help with usability, the software has a wizard that walks you through common tasks. For example, the photo organizer helps you gather files and input keywords for each of them. Smart Pix’s tools help you organize photos by keywords and file names so that you can search for them later. This pales in comparison to more modern editors, that sort by other options like camera type, date, location, and even facial recognition.

Smart Pix Manager has standard editing tools. You can rotate, resize and crop your photos. You can also use tools like the red eye removal, auto color enhancement and image sharpening to enhance your photos. While the program has several useful tools, most of them do not give you control over how much of an adjustment the tool will make to your photo, which is extremely poor when you consider that programs like CyberLink PhotoDirector 365 does so much more for roughly the same price. You'd be a fool to buy Smart Pix Manager.

Smart Pix has batch editing. This tool helps save editing time by applying the same editing process to multiple photos at a time. If you want to resize all of your photos, you can adjust the sizing in the batch editor toolbar and it will apply to all the selected photos.

This photo manager does not have the functionality to post your photos onto social media sites directly from the program, which most others do. You can share photos with your friends by emailing your photos, or you can create a slideshow. While the program lacks online sharing options, its printing options are good. There are several templates, and you can even print photos that are up to 10 feet tall if that's your thing.

Smart Pix Manager is not as intuitive as other applications, but it does offer several support options to help you learn how to master the software. The product has tutorials, tips, FAQs, a user forum and email you can use to request more information.

Should you buy Smart Pix Manager?

No, not really. Smart Pix serves as an ok organizer for managing photos, music and videos all in one application. The organizing features help you keep track of your photos, and the support resources help you learn how to use the different functions of the software. Sadly, it's dated and lacks so many of the standard features of other photo organizers, while still costing roughly the same. We just can't recommend this to anyone.

Simply to Impress produces some of the most expensive, but also some of the best photo cards out there. The company provides discounts when you order in large quantities, so you can save money on big events like weddings and showers. In fact, it feels that Simply to Impress was designed with bulk orders in mind, as the minimum number of cards you can order is 15. 

We tested 5x7, folded cards with three photos on each of our tests and we found that we could order 15 for $48.60 excluding taxes and shipping - the most expensive site we saw for a mid-size order. A decent bulk discount got the price of 100 cards down to $229. If you’re looking for something cheaper, consider Mixbook. Shipping with Simply to Impress was roughly $9 and we weren’t charged tax. These charges vary depending on the state you live in, but we found them reasonable when compared to sites such as Snapfish which charged $30 in fees.

Simply to Impress review: Quality and services 

• High quality, even with pearl shimmer
• Option to review proof copies
• Great envelope options

Our experts liked the paper quality of both the classic matte cardstock and the premium pearlescent cardstock cards. Both types of cards were thick and displayed accurate coloring. We were surprised that the pearl shimmer looked so good considering that pearl tends to make images a little off-color and blurry. Simply to Impress made the images super crisp and true to color. The back of the matte card is white with only the Simply to Impress logo, whereas the backside of the pearl card is blue and matches the colors on the front. The Simply to Impress logo is also on the back of the pearlescent card. Both cards came with decently thick envelopes. They weren’t the best envelopes we received, but they didn’t feel cheap, either.

Simply to Impress stands out from the competition, and the company does all it can to ensure your cards are of the highest quality and appear exactly how you wish. After you’ve submitted your order, a design team member reviews your submission to ensure that your photos are clear and crisp and that you have not made any obvious mistakes. You can also order a proof copy to make sure you like the finished product before committing to a big purchase. 

Simply to Impress can also address the envelopes, print your return address on them and mail them for you. Although it costs a little more for these conveniences, including paying for postage, it may be worth it for large orders. Envelopes also come in white and ivory and (for 10 cents extra) gold, silver or rose gold lined. 

In addition, this photo card service offers both digital and paper proofs, which is a great benefit, especially if you plan to order a large quantity. If you’re not satisfied with your proof, a graphic designer will help you get the exact design and look you desire. You can also order envelopes before your cards arrive, giving you plenty of time to address the envelopes and get them ready to send.

You can choose from a variety of paper types, including a photo-style paper with a satin finish, folded premium cardstock and premium cardstock with a glossy, matte or pearlescent finish. There are also a few options for envelopes, such as off-white, silver foil-lined and gold foil-lined envelopes. The foil lining costs a bit more and may not be worth it for every order, but it's a nice option if you want an extra touch.

Simply to Impress review: Product options and creation 

• Easy customization
• Limited search
• Good variety of templates, but not the best

At a minimum, the best photo card services should provide customers with stylish designs. Simply to Impress has fresh and original designs in every category, and you can choose from templates with single- or multiple-picture layouts. We found a range of themes for weddings, birth announcements, party invitations and Christmas cards. There were also a few options for more specific needs like Diwali, Kwanzaa and Rosh Hashanah, although we found that Zazzle had far more options for these holidays. 

A few more search filters would make this service even more convenient. Other photo card printing services help you narrow your search by size and price range in addition to the photo quantity and orientation.

Simply Photo Cards is a feature that gives you the artistic freedom to create your own photo cards. These custom cards begin with a blank template and allow you to add one or several photos. You can use this design feature to create personalized invites, holiday photo cards, thank-you photo cards and more. You can also add text on the front of your cards to give them an even more personalized touch.

We were impressed by how easy it was to customize and create a personalized photo card using this service. After choosing from a large selection of templates, you can personalize the card with the online design tool. In this menu, you can easily upload photos using drag-and-drop capabilities. You can also quickly add text boxes and adjust the font, size, alignment, line spacing, color and other aspects of your text.

There’s four options for card shapes, from rounded to scalloped edges, and Simply to Impress saves your photos so you can make different designs with ease. You can’t edit parts of the card design such as illustrations or background color, which is limiting compared to sites such as Shutterfly which have comprehensive editing options. However, you can still change the text, font and photos. The layout of the inside of the card is fully customizable and you can edit the color and photo options on the back of the card too. Not the most customizable site, but this won’t be an issue if you find the perfect design for you.

Simply to Impress review: Support and customer service 

• Total satisfaction guarantee
• FAQ page and lots of options to talk directly

Simply to Impress offers a total satisfaction guarantee, which is rare. This company’s design team works closely with you until you are completely satisfied with your cards. If you have questions or problems with an order or when designing your card, you can contact a representative via email, telephone or live chat. 

In addition, FAQs, a blog, and shipping-and-pricing information are available on the company's website. Some of the best support options we’ve seen. 

Should you order from Simply to Impress? 

Simply to Impress' website makes it easy to find a variety of designs. The photo cards arrived on thick paper and had very good print quality. It's an expensive service, but you do receive a high quality product for what you pay. Not ideal if you’re looking to make a small order due to the minimum order of 15 cards, but a great service if you’re looking to make a bulk purchase of high-quality cards. 

Minted's site is easy to use, and the photo card samples we ordered were some of the best photo cards of any company in this comparison. Minted is a mid-price photo card service which delivers on value if you’re looking to impress, but they only take orders in fives and there’s a minimum order of 25 cards, meaning you’re better off shopping with Shutterfly if you don’t want to bulk buy. 

We tested 5x7, folded cards with three photos on each of our tests and we found that we 100 for $234 including taxes and shipping. Minted does offer seasonal discounts and coupon codes but these aren’t as impressive as some of the other sites we reviewed such as Mixbook. We were charged for both standard shipping and taxes. The amount this will total depends on the state you live in and your proximity to Minted’s printers. However, shipping with Minted was cheaper for us than with other sites such as Paper Source, meaning there’s no nasty surprises when you get to checkout.

Minted Photo Cards review: Quality and services 

• Good paper and envelope quality
• Expensive-feeling printing
• Good color accuracy

Our in-house experts were impressed by Minted's paper and envelope quality, but the print quality, while providing accurate color, was a little fuzzy. Testers found our sample of the most basic paper offered by Minted to be noticeably good. The standard envelope was thick and sturdy, much better than others in our comparison. It has a feeling of classy stationery more than bargain-level convenience. The already-gorgeous designs are accented with customization options like your choice in backer patterns for flat cards or interiors of folded cards. You can customize further with the option to have your card cut with scalloped edges and other distinct borders. The image quality was really good as was the color accuracy.

We also ordered a set of 25 Triple Thick cards. You might even call these ridiculously-fancy thick. They feel more like wood or foam core and will more likely snap in half than crease. But that’s unlikely since they are such sturdy cards. The color accuracy was good but the images appeared a little blurry compared to the other cards. Minted’s logo is printed on the backside of the card in small letters as is the name of the artist who designed the card.

Minted Photo Cards review: Product options and creation 

• Lots of filters make it easy to find the perfect card
• Designs made by independent artists offer stylish templates
• Limited editing options

This online service makes it easy to find the card that would work best with your photos by offering a range of search filters. You can narrow your template selection to the number of photos you have and whether they are vertical, horizontal or square. You can also upload a photo and see how it would look in many templates with just a couple of clicks.

Minted has some of the most tasteful photo card designs we have seen in our tests. This company hosts designs by independent artists, making room for more variety. This also allows Minted to carry greeting card designs people actually want to buy rather than having dozens of stock designs. Unlike other photo card publishers, this company is more like a collective of independent designers than a big corporation - Simply to Impress puts more of an emphasis on big-name brands. Minted puts the focus on great art, which really shows in its selection of personalized holiday cards. You can even pay a Minted artist to create a custom design for your special event.

The best photo cards are the ones you can make on your own, and Minted allows that in many ways. One way is the wide selection of paper for your photo cards and envelopes. You can line envelopes with different papers that complement your design as well. Although we weren’t massively impressed by the options when editing the front of the card, we found the variety of options for the inside a really lovely touch which is unmatched by other services. You can treat the inside of a folded card as a spread, with options to add timelines or lots photos with captions and original artwork which matches the card design. It does cost extra to edit the back of the card, but with so many options when editing the inside of the card we think you can happily give this a miss and still get a great card. 

Minted also features an alert for poor photo quality, meaning you can be confident that your card will be high-quality. There’s the option to get free digital proofing with the option to edit the card after placing your order, and if you choose the alternative express shipping option you’ll save money on your order and shipping costs. 

We could not find any completely blank designs, but you can find just about everything else on the website – birthday cards, Christmas cards, baby shower invitations, graduation invitations and many more, ready to customize with your own text and photos with Minted's easy interface. What’s more, there’s the option to have a completely custom design made in collaboration with a Minted designer. The offerings for the holidays were especially impressive and cover a truly wide range of special days, including Thanksgiving, New Year's, Kwanzaa and more.

This site lacks a few of the added features we saw with other photo card services. Minted does not mail your cards for you, but it prints your addresses on the envelopes to save time. You can even have recipients' addresses written in a creative font that coordinates with your photo card. 

Minted does offer paper proofs, but you’ll need to specify that you want one when checking out. The smallest number of cards you can order is 25. In addition, you can get a high-quality digital proof, created by a designer, which is almost as telling as a paper proof in regard to what your final card will be.

When it comes to envelopes, Minted offers a large selection of envelope designs and free recipient addressing, which is a nice touch you’d pay for with other sites. However, you will have to pay extra for an envelope which deviates from the standard white option.

Minted Photo Cards review: Customer service 

• Proof-checking as standard
• Live chat, phone and email

Minted got our cards to us decently fast. Delivery times depend on many factors, including how far you live from whichever photo card maker you choose, but we were impressed with our experience with this company. Once you make an order, Minted will email you a digital proof of your card. You must approve this design before the cards will be printed and mailed.

If you ever get confused, you can refer to Minted's strong customer service, which is available via live chat, phone and email. A detailed FAQs page also offers the answer to many questions so you do not have to wait in line for a response.

Should you order Minted Photo Cards?

Minted won’t let you order less than 25 cards, but this company's photo card designs are sophisticated and memorable. You can tell that talented designers are involved in every step of the process with Minted photo cards. It’s probably due to this that the cards are some of the more expensive we reviewed. However, if you’re looking for a card with all the extras, from a gorgeous array of options for a folded design to a stylish addressing on the envelope, these all come included in the price in your card, making this deceptively good value if you want to impress on a bulk order. 

Snapfish offers a wide selection of the best photo cards, with a handful of personalization options and features to make card creation easy. There are many designs for creating photo holiday cards, invitations and announcements. You can even start using a blank card template. It does a whole range of photo gifts, too, and you'll also find Snapfish on our guide to the best photo books.

On the Snapfish website, it’s hard to tell exactly how much a card or book will cost. Our card ended up costing $2.75, even though the card listing said the price would be ‘as low as $1’, which is because the price depends on the specifications of the card you choose. Whilst this is understandable, it does make it harder to know what you’re paying for a card, especially as you don’t see the actual price you’ll pay until you’ve made the card. This is lacking in transparency, meaning you can design a complete card only to see it costs over twice as much as you thought it would.

You can order any amount of cards from 1 to 999. We tested 5x7, folded cards with three photos on each of our tests and we found that we could order 1 for $2.75, 15 for $41 and 100 for $230 including taxes and shipping - making Snapfish a mid-price photo card service. However, Snapfish does have some of the highest delivery fees we saw at $30 and you don't see how much your fees will be until checkout, meaning you could be in for a nasty surprise. 

The majority of card services we looked at have regular discounts and promotions running to cut prices significantly. We didn’t take these temporary savings into account when doing our pricing tests, but Snapfish had one of the best savings we saw. This makes it definitely worth checking out before deciding where to order from, as you never know when you can save over 50% on cards and other prints.

Snapfish Photo Cards review: Quality and services  

• Off-colour printing on some paper types
• Slow delivery
• Good quality matte printing

Snapfish had mixed reviews among our testers. We ordered two cards: one on matte photo paper and the other on premium cardstock. The matte photo card printed true to color, with good image clarity. The testers especially liked the coloring of the graphics; they popped on the page. The cardstock was sturdy, but the photos and graphics came out in a pale-green hue that made the premium card look amateurish, especially when we placed it next to the matte photo card. The print clarity was decent but a little blurred. This card is double-sided and features a continuation of the front design. Note that Snapfish’s name is printed on the backs of the cards, and the company’s logo is imprinted on the middle of the bottom.

The cards were rather slow to arrive in the mail, taking seven business days to arrive. Another small complaint was the plain envelopes, which were rather flimsy and did nothing to enhance the cards. You cannot choose from different envelope colors, and there are no envelope linings. Additionally, this service doesn’t allow you to print recipients’ addresses and doesn’t offer a mailing service. Unfortunately, bulk orders cost more than those from most of the services we reviewed as the incremental discounts for increasing card quantities weren’t quite as dramatic as sites such as Mixbook and Zazzle. 

Snapfish Photo Cards review: Product options and creation

• Impressive selection across a variety of holidays
• Lack of search filter options
• Option to print in-store

Snapfish has a brilliant template selection, offering a wide variety of photo cards for all of the major holidays. Unlike Shutterfly and Mixbook there’s a huge selection for events like Kwanzaa and Rosh Hashanah. This service lacks many of the search filters that other websites offer; you can’t filter by photo orientation, photo quantity, size or price range, meaning you’ll have to do a little more work to find what you want.

Snapfish offers a wide selection of photo cards, with a handful of personalization options and features to make card creation easy. There are many designs for creating photo cards, invitations and announcements. You can even start using a blank card template. There’s 4 trim options and a variety of foil colors, but there are not as many embellishments, like embossing and glitter, as you get with competing photo card services. Paper choices include glossy photo-style paper, matte photo paper and writable cardstock.

The card builder lets you adjust photos, text, colors, layout and font. We weren’t impressed by the options to customize colors and layout as sites such as Zazzle offered us far more creative control, but there were plenty of options for the inside of the card and for a small fee you can add a return address in customizable design to the back of the included envelope. You must do your final review of the product digitally. Although this gives you an idea of how your cards will appear, it does not provide an accurate image of how your photos will translate to print.

Snapfish works with CVS, Walmart Photo and Walgreens Photo to print your works at a brick-and-mortar location. You cannot pick up your order the same day, but it usually takes only about three days for your order to be ready. Some designs are available only through one of the pickup locations, so make sure you have the right store near you if you want to go that route.

Snapfish: Photo books

You’ll pay $29.99 for a 20-page 8 x 8 hard cover photo book from Snapfish. This price is pretty average across the board. Snapfish also charges for standard shipping and tax so the price will go up a bit. Like many other services, if you want to add more pages, you must do so in pairs. It costs $1.99 for two pages, which isn’t a bad price.

The book we got from Snapfish was not the best quality photo book we saw, but it was superior to many others. Our experts stated that a few of the images were grainy and the cover image printed dark. However, they also told us that the page thickness and sturdy cover are nice. And we must say the the default glossy finish gave it a polished look. You won’t find a flyleaf in these books and the Snapfish logo will be printed on the last page. One of the biggest complaints we got from our testers was that the book’s binding threading was very noticeable on the last page. If you want a service that offers better print quality, we recommend Mixbook Photo Book.

Snapfish Photo Cards review: Support and customer service 

• Many customer service options 
• 100% satisfaction guarantee

Outside of card making, Snapfish’s greatest strength is customer service. Its representatives are friendly, knowledgeable and helpful throughout the card-making and ordering processes. Snapfish's 100-percent satisfaction guarantee offers a full refund or card replacement if you are dissatisfied with your order. This online card store also offers several support resources in case you have any questions or concerns while using the service. You can contact a customer service representative via email, telephone or live chat. 

Should you order from Snapfish?

Snapfish offered some of the best template selections in our testing but lacked pricing transparency. The cards we ordered through the company’s website had great design and alright quality. Whilst Snapfish had some search filters such as card type, photo orientation and color, it didn’t have a price filter meaning you don’t know if you’re getting the cheapest card possible. Still, you can rest assured that Snapfish provides quality cards and outstanding customer service. 

If you're here for the photo books or other gifts... there are loads of options to choose from. Print quality is good, although again, pricing is a bit of an issue. If you're planning to get a range of photo products, you'll likely be able to get everything you need here.

If you know Meijer Photo, the midwestern superstore chain, this photo service will be familiar to you. Like many of the best photo card providers, this one thrives on wedding announcements, save the date cards and Christmas cards. Depending on the card you may have to order in packs of twelve, which was the case with the card we tested, although for more personal cards such as one for a Valentine or someone’s Birthday you can opt to order one.  

In our price testing, we looked at 5x7, folded cards with three photos and no added extras on each of our tests for consistency. When ordering a pack of 12, the total came out to $22.44, making the cost just $1.87 per card - one of the cheapest services we’ve reviewed. A pack of 96 cards cost $163.44, with shipping for this hefty order coming to only $9.50. The cheapest site we tested by a long way, and what’s more, prices include taxes. Delivery options feature 7-10 day shipping, 2-3 day shipping for slightly more and, if you’re in a hurry, you can even order overnight shipping. Just remember that Meijer will still need time to process your order before shipping it out.

We also considered Meijer for our best photo books list, and while it's better for prints, you can get some decent albums from here too.

Meijer Photo review: Quality and services 

• No logo
• Good quality envelopes
• Limited cardstock

The design we chose only allowed us to print on 115 lb premium cardstock. The premium cardstock is pretty thick and less likely to get bent before reaching its destination. The print color turned out beautifully, keeping true to the photos we submitted. Since the card was printed on cardstock the images were a little grainy, but nothing more than what’s expected. Our testers noted that the fine text in the middle of the card was hard to read and didn’t print very well. There is nothing on the backside of the card. Unlike services such as Simply to Impress and Mixbook, you also won’t find a Meijer logo anywhere to distract from your photos.

The envelopes we received with our cards were much better than average. The paper has a nice texture to it and it’s thicker than most of the other envelopes we received. Like all of the other services, this one warns you during the creation process if your photo isn’t high enough resolution to print. There were no foil finish options, no address books and no envelope color options. You’ll have to mail these cards out yourself once you receive them.

Meijer Photo review: Product options and creation 

• Good search options
• Less stylish templates 
• Easy-to-use editor

When looking for a card, we were able to search by price, theme, holiday, occasion, the number of photos you want to use and the trim type and size, which made it easy to find the kind of card we were looking for. The variety of holiday cards on offer was lacking in comparison to other sites. There were no cards for Kwanzaa, Chinese New Year or Rosh Hashanah, but the bases of Valentine’s Day and Birthday cards are covered. It’s worth noting that, with fully customizable text, you can always edit a template for a different holiday to suit your specific needs. The selection of templates lacked the stylish touches we saw on sites such as Zazzle and Paper Source, but for a budget option we still liked the large variety and ability to customize the cards on offer. 

The photo editor makes it easy to insert your photos and move them around, and notifies you if the quality is poor to ensure your cards are professional-looking. There’s the option to change the layout, theme and background and add text boxes with a variety of fonts and colors. You can also add clipart and a variety of frames to make your photos stand out. Overall we think these editing options get the balance right, giving you the chance to add a personal touch to your card without being overwhelming. 

Meijer Photo review: Help and support 

• Available instore
• Live help option

Meijer Photo is a great option for anyone living near a brick and mortar store, which means if you live nearby you can go in-store and speak to a customer assistant face-to-face. The website has a ‘live help’ option 8am-10pm and there’s a phone number and email address you can also contact. 

Should you order from Meijer Photo?

Meijer photo is a great budget option if you’re willing to compromise on style. We like the options for customization and affordable shipping fees. The cards we ordered weren’t the highest quality, but you get good value for the price you pay for a Meijer photo card. A great no-frills option for those looking for affordable photo cards, with the added bonus of being able to print their cards in-store. 

Paper Source is pretty expensive since it uses designer brands for its best photo cards designs. If you’re looking to make a fancy card, this could be the right service since they offer envelope customization options not offered by most other companies. However, for the average photo card, this company is just too expensive.

Paper Source outsources designs and card themes from designer brands like Kate Spade New York, Paperless Post, Kelly Wearstler and Rifle Paper Co. Since there are a lot of big names to order from, the cost of these cards can be rather pricey. As a matter of fact, you’ll have to spend more than $35 cards to get any cards. Like Minted, the minimum number of cards you can order from this company is 20. These 20-card packs sell for $2.35 per card, which is much more than the average service. What’s more, it’s the only site we’ve reviewed which charges for envelopes - $0.50 per envelope. For a more affordable service, consider Mixbook.

It was hard for us to compare pricing to other sites as Paper Source had no options for the type of card we based our comparisons on. We tested 5x7, folded cards with three photos on each of our tests, but the search and filter option on the Paper Source site made it hard for us to find any folded custom photo cards. Instead, we based our pricing test on a flat lay card, which usually costs significantly less than a folded card due to the fact there’s no inside to customize. We found that we could order 20 flat lay cards for $47 excluding taxes and shipping, which is steep for a card of this type. A bulk order got the price of 100 cards down to $140, which is expensive when considering that 100 flat cards with these same features cost only $99 at Mixbook.

Paper Source Photo Cards review: Quality and services

• Limited paper choice
• Below-average quality photo printing
• Durable cardstock

Considering these cards cost so much, we found it odd that the company only has one paper choice: 130 lb cardstock. There are foil finish options, however, if you’d like to spice your cards up a bit. Admittedly, this card is one of the most durable that we ordered. It will take more force to bend or fold it in the mail. Cardstock doesn’t print as crisp as photo paper does, so it wasn’t surprising to find that the images came out a bit grainy. Our testers also noted that the darker spots of the images lost some definition. However, the overall hue and saturation of the images turned out really good.

A bigger problem pointed out by our testers are the super thin white lines separating some of our images. This might have something to do with how the images were placed on the card during the creation process or it might be a design flaw. Either way, the fact that it’s possible to print them like this is an issue.

This card printed double sided with photos on the back as well as the front. This specific design even allowed us to add a small message. The text, though small, printed clearly and looks very nice. The design we chose comes from Paperless Post, a company that specializes in sending ecards instead of physical cards. They partnered up with Paper Source so you can have physical copies made. A potential downside to this is that Paperless Post’s name and logo as well as Paper Source’s website are printed on the bottom backside of the card. Their combined logos take up about a square inch of space and might be a distraction from your photos and message.

Paper Source Photo Cards review: Product options and creation 

• Standard customization options 
• Good envelope options
• Limited holiday coverage

Paper Source has the standard options to change font, text color and add your own photo. The back of the flat card had the chance to write a personalized message and add a variety of templates for more photos and background colors. Not nearly as customizable as sites such as Zazzle, but the main bases are covered. 

The interface, like most of the others, did tell us if our images weren’t high enough resolution to print right. While Paper Source is more expensive than other services, it also offers mailing options that others don’t. You can choose between eight different envelope colors including green, red, white, grey, brown and gold. For an extra fancy touch, there are 12 inner linings to choose from ranging from gold and silver to graphite and dark blue, so you’ll be sure to match your card.

This service can even have your address printed on the backside of the envelope. This is especially useful for wedding invitations, save the dates and graduation cards. If you pay extra, Paper Source will even print recipients addresses. However, they will not mail your cards for you.

The holiday coverage is ok but you won’t find cards for holidays such as Diwali or Kwanzaa. The designs they do offer are beautiful and give you plenty of variety to choose from. This service does not offer same day pickup, but they do offer express shipping. The rush service costs around $10 on top of other fees and prices. Shipping will change depending on where you live and what time of year it is.  

Paper Source Photo Cards review: Help and support 

• Phone and email options
• FAQ page

You can email and call Paper Source, and they're pretty active on social media so it might be worth trying them there too. There's also an FAQ page on their website with lots of information. Not the best support options we found, but nothing to complain about either.

Should you order Paper Source Photo Cards?

Paper Source gives you access to plenty of beautiful designer photo cards, however it is one of the most expensive photo card services we tested with poor printing quality for the price we paid. But unless you’re really wanting to make something with a special design, you can easily get good quality photo cards elsewhere for much cheaper.

Blurb offers unique designs and features with its online photo book maker. Unlike the other best photo book services, Blurb gives you free rein over the design of your book. You can upload a PDF with an InDesign plugin, or upload Word and Google Docs to get started. You can also use the Blurb Bookify interface to make custom designs and layouts. The size and cover options are limited, though, and we found this online photo book maker harder to use than most others.

Blurb’s 8 x 8 hardcover photo books cost $30.39 before factoring in shipping and tax. That makes this the 5th most expensive service we tested. The price for additional pages depends on the size and cover type of your book. The most it can cost is $1.50 per page. Blurb does charge shipping and tax so the total price for one book will likely go up an additional $10 or so.

All of the books we made for testing had hard covers, but the book we made with Blurb got high marks for its extra-sturdy cover. We ordered only the default, standard pages from each service. Our expert testers said that Blurb's pages were noticeably thicker and nicer than some other samples we got. Some of the photo reproduction seemed a little off, though, with a pinkish hue and some graininess. It also bothered our panel that the pages didn't lie very flat.

Many of our testers noted that the image layout didn’t show the photos off to their best advantage. That’s because Blurb doesn’t offer a lot of multiple image layouts and the ones they have aren’t very good. This service’s best layouts only allow you to add one image per page. If you want a service that offers better collage-centered photo layouts, consider Walgreens Photo.

Blurb focuses more on creating professional books for publication. So unless you are a professional photographer or want to sell your books, this isn’t a great service to use. If you use the online photo book editor, you can change the background color and layouts of the pages. The autofill feature places all of your photos for you.

Blurb offers atypical sizing options. For instance, the portrait book is 10 x 8 inches instead of the standard 11 x 8.5 inches. On the other hand, the cover options are standard and limited. There are no lay-flat, leather or fabric cover options. Instead, you can choose from a soft cover, a hard cover with a dust jacket or an image wrapped around a cover.

While cover options are limited, you can choose from five types of high-quality paper for your photo books: standard, premium matte, premium luster, uncoated and pearl-finish photo paper. Standard books have semi-matte pages that don't show fingerprints, a protective front and back page, and a sturdy cover. The quality of the images is sharp and vivid if you used high-resolution photos, but if you use lower-quality photos for your book, it is noticeable in the final product.

The average time to process and ship your book is four to five days. When you need your book fast, Blurb offers overnight shipping. The company's website features a FAQs page as well as email and live chat options in case you have problems while using the service.

Blurb is not the best photo book site for an average user, but the level of customization available will appeal to photographers and other pro users. While the books do not come in standard sizes and offer few cover options, the binding and paper are high quality. However, some of the images in our book didn’t print true to color.

CVS Photo is a great option if you need to order a budget photo book in a hurry. If a location is near you, you can order a book for same day pickup. However, the image quality of the cover and pages isn’t the best we’ve seen and the company doesn’t offer as many personalization options as others.

CVS does charge tax in addition to shipping, however, the total overall cost for our book even with these charges was cheaper than most other services. Before taxes and shipping, an 8 x 8 20-page sells for $19.99. Additional pages are bought in pairs for $1.99, which is pretty common for the industry.

Our photo book turned out decently, but wasn’t anything amazing. The cover image was a little blurry and darker than the original photo. Testers stated that some of the images didn’t display contrast very well. The highlights came out bleached and the dark sections had little definition. There was also a decent amount of graininess in the images. The binding is good except for visible threading on the back page. You’ll quickly notice the flimsiness of the pages as they feel like they could crease or rip easily.

I was impressed with the templates and graphics offered by CVS. They were stylish and would look good on just about any project. You’ll find 283 backgrounds to choose from, which gives you plenty of styling options. I also counted 75 pre-designed photo books that already have backgrounds and graphics placed throughout the book. All you have to do is add your images and the book is ready to print.

There are seven book sizes to choose from including the most popular: 8.5 x 11, 11 x 14 and 8 x 8. CVS Photo offers hardbound covers, softbound covers, lay-flat covers and window covers. This service does not offer dust covers, fabric covers or leather covers so if that’s something you want, you’ll need to look elsewhere. We recommend Shutterfly as it has more cover options.

I found that I had a lot of creative freedom when using this service. I could freely transform any of the layouts I chose to make my photos any size I wanted. The editing process was smooth and easy to use. It included an autofill feature and the ability to share albums with others so you can quickly add images to your books or get additional images from friends and family. You can also import photos from Facebook, Instagram, Flickr and Google Photos.

CVS wasn’t the fastest service when it came to processing and shipping our book, but our order did arrive within a respectable wait period. You can upgrade to express shipping if you want your book to arrive faster, just keep in mind that CVS has a three to five day processing period before shipping. If you need your book faster than that, you can choose express shipping or have your book made to pick up in store. For questions with your book, contact a CVS employee via email or look at the FAQs page.

CVS Photo is a great option for anyone who wants a book made quickly and/or inexpensively. We found the print quality below average and the pages were thin, but the binding was sturdy and reliable. I personally found the selection of background designs to be fashionable and modern. You can make a book for any occasion using this service.

This photo book service lacks some selection in terms of design elements, and the interface is not the most intuitive. The book we made turned out decent, but it definitely has a few print quality issues. The truly-hard hardcover, thick pages and textured flyleaf give this book a professional look and feel that will protect your memories in style.

While we ordered the same style and size of book from every company, this company's book was noticeably pricey when compared to others. An 8 x 8-inch hardcover book costs $46.99 before tax and shipping. The standard shipping cost and tax combined will likely put you over another $10 since these books ship from Malaysia. You can add pages individually. They cost $0.75 per page, which isn’t bad considering you don’t have to add the pages in pairs.

This was obviously the most off-color cover we received. Testers noted the cover image, while crisp and clear, came out very dark. Inside, the photos also printed a little dark and graininess is discernible in some of the photos. A huge saving grace for this services is how nice and thick the pages and cover are. A flyleaf also adds to the professional and sturdy feel of the book.

In terms of design elements, this site's offerings are somewhat limited. The best photo book sites offer thousands of backgrounds for making your pages. This site only had 102 to choose from. As a comparison, Mixbook offers over 5,000 backgrounds. However, PhotoBook America has one of the largest selections of full-book layouts. Of the 120 offered there are some very attractive options for a variety of occasions. That way you don't have to cobble together a layout from scratch – just choose one you like and add your own photos.

Photobook America does not make the layout process as easy as it could be. For one thing, there are no alignment lines to help you know if your images are lining up along the same axis. There is an autofill feature, though, and you can upload photos from your Facebook account. Other photo book sites let you upload photos from a wider variety of social media sites, though.

This site is somewhat limited in terms of delivery options as well. It does not offer overnight delivery, international shipping or an in-store pickup option. Despite being shipped from Malaysia, our book arrived really quickly though it travelled the farthest distance. You might not miss those other delivery methods.

Photobook America is not the best option since the online photo book maker isn’t the easiest to use and it’s more expensive the most of the other services we tested. While the binding and paper quality are phenomenal, the cover photo and inner images came out dark and a bit grainy. Still this company offers a wide selection of book sizes and has fast delivery time.

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.

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.

Picaboo’s user-friendly photo book publisher is filled with design tools and templates that are good for the beginner and the professional alike. There are over 60 different themed templates, and by simply dragging and dropping, you can place a unique template on every page of your photo book. Although the book editor is simple to use, the resulting photo books are not of the highest quality.

This service is more expensive than average with an 8 x 8 20-page hardcover costing $36.24 before shipping. Picaboo does not charge tax but you can still expect the standard shipping to be around $10. You must buy additional pages in pairs using this service. The cost of $1.99 for two pages is pretty standard across the industry.

Picaboo didn’t give us as much control over the photo book cover as we would have liked. The cover image nearly clipped off some members of the family. However, our testers liked the color and image clarity. The textured flyleaf protecting your pages gives your book a classier look. The inner pages neither impressed our experts, nor fell below their expectations. They are thicker than the pages you’ll get from Walmart Photo and Walgreens Photo, but not as thick as nicer quality services.

The print quality within our book was subpar. One tester noted that the bright sections of photos printed white instead of having a gradient. The binding thread is also noticeable throughout the book, which distracts from the images. Picaboo prints its logo on a semi-transparent page in the back of the book, which also draws attention away from your photos. If you’re interested, Shutterfly offers better image quality and it gives you the option of removing its logo from the book for a small fee.

Picaboo’s basic photo editing tools help you polish your images or match them to the backgrounds. You can adjust the brightness, contrast saturation or opacity of any image, as well as add filters to make the photo black and white or sepia.

While there are plenty of themed templates, you can make a book from scratch and design your own templates and pages. If you select a template, Picaboo does the rest of the work with its autofill feature, automatically placing photos on the pages. However, you can’t make adjustments to the page elements on predesigned templates. If you want to switch book sizes or styles, the editor maintains the interior of the photo book, making it easy to switch from one book to another.

The service alerts you to low-resolution images before you print so that you can resize or remove them from your photo book. As such, your pictures should be high quality; however, we still saw some blurry images in the book we made.

The custom photo books come in five different standard sizes, both landscape and square dimensions. The company offers four different types of covers: softcover, matte and glossy hardcover, flush-mount and various leather colors.

Picaboo offers technical support for its services. You can contact a representative through email or live chat. It also offers a FAQs section that provides solutions to common problems.

Picaboo is a user-friendly photo book maker. Unfortunately, the final result we saw was of mediocre quality. This makes Picaboo a good choice if you want to make a simple or fun photo book for a vacation rather than a keepsake for a significant life event.

This photo book service is costly compared to many of the other options on the market. The interface isn’t the most intuitive and there aren’t a lot of cover or size options to choose from. However, the final product is something that you can be proud of.

Meijer Photo is the most expensive photo book service we tested. This service doesn’t offer 8 x 8 photo books, so we looked into buying a 10 x 10 photo book. It costs roughly $50 before tax and shipping for a book with 20 pages. In comparison, the high-quality 8 x 8 lustre paper photo book we got from AdoramaPix only cost $41.99 before tax and shipping. Only in that case, the high price is warranted for the product you receive. If you’re wanting to add more pages to your Meijer Photo book, it only costs you $0.39 per page, which is much cheaper than many other services. But considering how expensive the book is to begin with, this isn’t much of a money saver.

The cover image printed a little dark but looked good overall. Testers said they liked the look and the feel of the matte hardcover binding, which had a smooth texture to it. This book comes with a cardstock-like flyleaf to protect the pages. Our testers liked the feel of the pages as they were thicker than most of the other books’. The image quality on the pages was very nice, both true to color and with only a little graininess showing up on some of the images.

While the service didn’t offer nearly as many background options as Mixbook or Shutterfly, it offered a modest 183 to choose from - more than enough to give your book variety and character. I counted 80 predesigned books on the site simply waiting for you to add your photos to the graphics and pre-chosen backgrounds.

You’ll only find three cover options and three book sizes on this service: 8.5 x 11, 10 x 10 and 12 x 12. The cover options are hardbound, softbound and window cover. You won’t find any leather, lay-flat or fabric cover options. For more cover options, check out Snapfish.

While the site’s editing interface looks similar to other services, the editing controls were more frustrating. Instead of being able to drag and drop your desired layouts or backgrounds wherever you wanted them, you had to first select the page you wanted to change and then the options would appear. The photo layout tab is excessively organized and forces you to click through multiple pages before getting the choices you want. The software does give you more freedom than some others in that it allows you to free transform layout windows to fit a specific square shape onto any page. You can also use the autofill button if you simply want the program to place your photos for you.

Meijer Photo stores your photos online so you can access them at any time to order prints or other photo projects. You can import images from Facebook, Instagram or Flickr. I didn’t see any ways to share your albums with others, so if you want to make a photo book with someone’s input, you’d have to have them sitting next to you during the creation process. Not an ideal process.

This service does offer express shipping options so you can get your projects sent to you in a hurry. Unfortunately, this service does not provide international shipping. You can also order your photo books and projects for in-store pickup at your local brick and mortar Meijer store. Should you need help with your photo book, you can contact a customer rep using live chat or email. You’ll also find a FAQs page on the company’s website that gives plenty of insights to the process.

Meijer Photos’ final product is very nice and would look good on any coffee table or bookshelf. However, this isn’t the easiest photo book service to use, nor is it the cheapest. The creation process is a bit complicated compared to other services with better pricing. Book sizes and cover options are limited to only three options so you’ll need to be happy with what the company offers. When it comes down to it, there are plenty of better-priced options out there that will give you an equally nice looking photo book.

Cardstore allows you to create photo cards with an attractive template, or you can start with a blank card and make one all your own. This photo card service is very easy to use and offers a few standout features, including a delivery service and an online address book. It misses the mark on some search features, but it still provides plenty of tools to ensure that your cards turn out exactly how you want them.

With a price limit of $35 we were only able to add 10 cards to our shopping cart. In average, these cards run about $2.49 each, which is really expensive. Shipping and tax charges will vary based on your state and proximity to a Cardstore printer.

Since Cardstore only offers one paper type, we only ordered one card: a flat, matte cardstock. Our experts weren’t very impressed with the color quality as the reds came out much darker and dusky than the design appeared on the computer. The photos printed rather pixelated and the colors were a little too pale.

The fine text on the card printed clear enough. The plaid design continued on the backside of the card and is only interrupted by the Cardstore logo at the bottom center. Our testers also noticed that the card is decently thick and has a smooth texture to it. The envelope was nothing special but doesn’t feel cheap, either. If you’re looking for a card service that promises better print quality check out Minted.

The delivery options are particularly impressive. If you choose, Cardstore can mail all of your cards for you. You enter the addresses of the recipients in an address book available on your Cardstore account, and the company will take care of mailing the cards to each intended recipient. This mailing service is expensive, especially compared to what Shutterfly offers. But you can schedule cards to go out up to a year in advance. This means you can design the cards you want and let Cardstore do the rest, for up to a year.

Envelopes are included in the order, so you don’t have to worry about extra costs. Also, if you order a large quantity of cards, you will receive a discount per card. You also have the option of getting just one card, a rare convenience. However, you can’t pre-order envelopes, which would make it possible to address them by the time the cards arrive.

Cardstore has a large selection of cards with appealing designs. However, there aren’t many ways to filter through all these cards. In our experience, it was more difficult to find what we wanted using the Cardstore interface than it was with most competing services.

This custom photo card service has plenty of traditional looks and contemporary styles for all types of occasions, such as birth announcements, party invites and holiday photo cards. This service has an especially wide selection of holiday templates. However, we did not find any designs for response cards or wedding announcements.

There are several ways to personalize your photo card. The company imports your favorite photos from a wide range of sources, including Instagram, Dropbox, Flickr, Facebook and your hard drive. If you are using a template, you are shown exactly where the photos go with a gray box. You can also zoom in or out of your photos, rotate them, and adjust the color to black and white or sepia. As you design your card, if a photo you want to use is too small to print out nicely, you will see a warning icon letting you know.

You can fill out the cards with your own text greeting and digital signature, and you choose the color, orientation, size and font of your signature and text to match the rest of the photo card. The list of font choices is impressive, but the list of font colors is relatively short. This may not matter to many users, but we prefer a wider selection. The Cardstore text editor has a spell-check built in.

Cardstore has excellent support – via email, telephone and live chat – if you have any questions about designing or ordering your holiday photo cards online. There are also detailed FAQs on the company’s website. Additionally, if you are not completely happy with the quality of your card, Cardstore offers a satisfaction guarantee. However, if you make any spelling, punctuation or other mistakes during the creation process, these cards are not covered under the guarantee.

This site is not the easiest to use and lacks a few features, such as detailed search filters. Cardstore didn’t wow our experts with its color quality and the pricing is high. But for the convenience of having someone else mail your cards for you, it could be worth the price if you find designs you love. This service includes a respectable selection of design templates to choose from and several personalization tools to ensure that your cards are truly your own.

Postable is a good photo card service with plenty of template options for all the major holidays and events of all kinds. Many of the designs on the website are simple but nicely conceived and formatted, without a lot of the busy or dated elements that we saw on some sites. While there is only one paper option for cards, it is a good one, and you can go the postcard route if you want to save money. We ordered a card that tested well among our panelists. However, the lack of options in some areas, and the super high price of the cards makes it a less-than-desirable choice.

This was by far one of the most expensive services we tested. For $35 you will only be able to get about 8 cards. This price includes shipping. We weren’t charged tax on our order but this might change depending on the state you live in. There is no minimum limit on the number of cards you can order, just type in the number you need and Postable will send them to you.

We tested this service by creating a card online and having it shipped to us to be assessed by a panel of testers who each have experience in design. It took the card five business days to arrive in the mail, which is about average when compared with other photo card services. The test card had a simple design that emphasized the photo collage by spreading it out across the card with a simple Christmas wish in the center.

The testers liked the thickness and heft of the cardstock paper. However, our testers noted that the bright and dark areas of the photos printed off color, with the highlights appearing overly saturated. To add to the bad look of the cards, the images came out relatively blurry. Overall, this card had one of the worst print jobs in our testing. You will find Postable’s logo in the bottom center of the backside of the card along with a small QR code in the right corner.

One thing we really liked about this service is that you can choose between three different envelope colors without paying additional money: Brown, vanilla and white. The envelopes were slightly higher quality than average and had a nice texture to them.

Postable has an attractive, functional website that is relatively easy to navigate. From the main page, you can do a search for Christmas photo cards and it will take you directly to its selection of templates. You can also click on the card prompt on the main page and scroll through the various template categories. However, there are no filters for photo orientation or size to narrow your search to landscape or portrait designs. You also can’t preview photos in a variety of templates at the same time.

For cards, there is only one paper option: a sturdy recycled cardstock. This will work well enough for most people, but it doesn’t allow you to opt for cheaper materials like photo paper. You do save on the price of each card when you buy in bulk, but it’s not the cheapest service we reviewed. You can choose to create a postcard for your holiday greeting, invitation or announcement, which is half the price of a card. You can choose from a variety of designs on the back of the card, but the front of the postcard only has space for an address.

You can order cards individually to confirm if you like the design before ordering more. Individual cards cost more per card than buying in bulk, and you have to pay for individual postage, so most people won’t want to do this in excess, but it’s nice to have the option, for instance, to compare the layout of two different cards to decide which one you like better.

Customer support options, if you have questions or need help, are limited to telephone, email and an FAQs section on the website. Many services offer a conditional money-back guarantee if you aren’t satisfied with your cards, but this service is not one of them. If you’d feel more comfortable using a service that does offer this promise, consider Mixbook.

Postable thrives on simplicity, both in its photo card designs and its options. There is only one option for paper: a high quality recycled cardstock that it isn’t exactly cheap. If you want to save money, you can create a similar design on a postcard for half the price. This is one of the most expensive services we tested, which makes it a bad choice for anyone looking for an affordable option. Our testers noticed that thee sample card we ordered was off color and printed blurry.

Amazon Prints helps you save money on photo cards by being the least expensive service on the market. You won’t have as many envelope or card options as other services and finding the winter holiday selection is tricky. However, the free shipping and low cost cards can definitely make up for the limitations.

Whenever you spend $15 dollars or more on an order, shipping is free. The smallest number of cards you can purchase is 25 and even with the least expensive paper choice, you will always get free shipping. You can also pay $13.99 for express shipping if you need to receive your order quickly. Just keep in mind that your order still needs to get processed for a couple days before it can ship. There is no large quantity discount, but considering how cheap the order is to begin with, this doesn’t change things much. This service did charge tax for our order. As a note, the tax cost will change depending on the state you live in.

This service only gave us one card option: 120 lb cardstock. It is much sturdier than many of the other cards we purchased and isn’t likely to get bent or creased in the mail. Our testers noted that the envelope was nothing special but was nicer than some of the others we received. As far as print quality goes, the images came out a little grainy, which isn’t unusual for cardstock but the coloring was accurate and pleasant-looking. The small text on the bottom of the card printed clearly, as well. The card we selected is double sided and features a gold and white striped design that compliments the gold lettering on the front. Amazon Prints’ logo doesn’t appear anywhere so it won’t distract from your creation.

The biggest problem I had with Amazon Prints was locating the winter holiday cards. If you attempt to open the photo card section the only winter photo cards you’ll find are Christmas tree ornaments. Additionally, clicking on the holiday section only shows Easter and Spring cards. If you attempt to type Christmas into the search bar you’ll come up empty handed.

To get to the library of Christmas cards from the Amazon Prints home page, click on “Design Your Own” under the “Cards” section on the left. When the next page opens, click on the Amazon Prints logo in the top middle of the screen and then select “Designs for any occasion”. It’s a bit of a hassle that has something to do with a backend linking error and we hope Amazon will correct this soon. While this is annoying and played a role in making Amazon Prints rank lower in our evaluation, the nice designs and cheap cost of the cards still makes this a good service to use.

When we finally found the Winter Holiday cards, we discovered a nice selection of designs and graphics to choose from. Upon selecting a design, I found the interface easy to use and navigate. Amazon Prints warned me when my images were too low resolution to print well and made the creation process easy. You cannot choose to have different colored envelopes or envelope linings. You also won’t be able to print recipient’s addresses on the cards or have Amazon mail them for you.

Unless Amazon Prints’ other holiday cards are hiding in a similar fashion to the winter holiday ones, we didn’t find that it covered as many holidays as other services. We did find a host of Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving and New Years cards. As far as special occasions go there were plenty of wedding, save the date, birth announcement, graduation and birthday cards to choose from. Fortunately, these cards were easy enough to find from the start.

You cannot order these photo cards for same day pickup as this service is not tied to a physical store. If you need your cards in a hurry and want them cheap, consider purchasing from Walmart Photo. To narrow your search when looking through Amazon Prints’ library of cards you can add a photo quantity filter, and photo orientation filter, which in this case doubles as a size filter. It did take a little longer than most of the other services - 7 business days - for our order to arrive, so account for that when planning your delivery.

Amazon Prints offers the cheapest photo cards of any service we tested. Since the company provides free shipping for orders over $15 you will never have to pay shipping when ordering a pack of cards. The image quality wasn’t the best but it definitely wasn’t terrible either. Our cards had decent coloring, but since the only paper options is cardstock the images don’t appear as crisp as other services’ cards.

Nations Photo Lab is a good option if you want to purchase decent photo cards on a budget. The paper quality isn't the fanciest, but the print quality is good. This service doesn't cover as many holidays or occasions as some of the other services we tested, but the designs it does have are modern and aesthetically pleasing. Be aware, though, that the company doesn’t provide extra services such as addressing envelopes or mailing cards for you. 

For $35, you can get 25 of Nations Photo Lab’s least expensive cards, which makes this service one of the least expensive in our comparison. The minimum number of cards you can order in a pack is 25, and the maximum is 100. The company charged us for shipping but not tax. The price of shipping depends on how close you are to a Nations Photo Lab printer.

We ordered a pack of 25 semi-gloss cards and a pack of 25 pearl cards. Our testers noted that both types of cards were printed on relatively flimsy paper, but the print quality was fairly good. The design we chose was double-sided and allowed us to include a small message and additional images on the back. Overall, our testers really liked the cards from this service.

We found the website easy to navigate, and the interface makes it simple to create cards. Nations Photo Lab doesn't offer designs for every holiday; there are only cards for New Year's, Christmas and Valentine’s Day. However, the options the service does have are pleasant and worth purchasing. If you’re looking for a service that covers more holidays, consider Snapfish or Zazzle.

You can search for Nations' designs by the number of photos you want, the popularity of the design or the name of the design. These search options can help you find the cards you want, but we wish there were more ways to narrow your search.

Nations offers six paper options: semi-gloss, premium matte, linen, felt, bamboo and pearl. However, each card design has specific paper options assigned to it. For example, foil cards are available only in matte. This service lacks some items, like customizable postage stamps and lined envelopes. Additionally, you must be willing to mail your cards yourself because Nations doesn't offer this option; nor does it print addresses on your envelopes. You can order paper proofs from Nations Photo Lab before purchasing an entire pack of cards.

Aside from the sample photo card, the minimum number of cards you can order is 25. Our cards arrived five days after we placed our order, which is average.

Nations Photo Lab is one of the only printing services that don't offer a money-back guarantee, so you'll want to make sure your card is exactly how you want it before making a purchase. This service offers a range of help features, including a FAQs page and phone, chat and email support. Our experiences with Nations’ customer service proved it to be quick, friendly and helpful.

Nations Photo Lab doesn’t offer as many options as some other photo card companies, but the photo cards we ordered printed nicely, and we had six paper types to choose from. Because there is no mailing service, however, Nations Photo Lab is best suited for people who want attractive photo cards at a reasonable price.

Shutterfly bought Tiny Prints in 2011, so you can access this sister service from Shutterfly’s website. Tiny Prints is a photo card service that lets you create and customize stylish greetings for any occasion. We were impressed by how modern, creative and professional many of the design templates were. However, this is not a good service for anyone on a budget; it’s one of the most expensive photo card services we reviewed.

For $35, including tax and shipping, we could purchase 10 photo cards printed on the least expensive paper – half as many cards as we were able to get from the lowest-priced services. For a pack of 15 cards, the price per card was about $2.34 – more expensive than most other companies. You can order a single card as a proof, but after that, the quantities can be purchased only in multiples of five.

We ordered a card printed on signature cardstock and another printed on pearl-shimmer cardstock. The regular cardstock cards printed beautifully; they were less grainy than most other cardstock cards and had great color accuracy. Unlike with most other services, Tiny Prints’ pearl-shimmer cards didn’t alter the coloring or the clarity of the images. The shimmer added a fancy touch to our Christmas cards and really brought out the reds. Both cards’ backsides featured a snowflake pattern on a red background, with Tiny Prints’ logo printed very small in the bottom middle. Of all the companies that print their logos on the cards, this one was the least obtrusive.

The pearl cardstock was slightly thinner than the signature cardstock, but both felt substantial enough to match the fashionable designs. The envelopes were a little nicer than average but not the best we’ve received. We ordered the basic white envelopes, but Tiny Prints offers a variety of envelope colors, as well as designer envelopes featuring themes and designs outside the normal selection of options. These envelopes would work especially well for wedding or fancy party invitations.

Tiny Prints' template designs and paper quality, as well as the photo reproduction, were amazing. The templates had lots of personality to match the occasion, especially compared with other photo card printing services. We found photo cards with intricate text, shapes and embellishments next to stylish plain cards. Your selection depends on your personality and the purpose of the card.

This service can send you envelopes ahead of the cards so you can address them and be ready to put them in the envelopes, seal them and send them. Or, if you're crunched for time, you can have Tiny Prints address, seal and mail your cards for you once you establish an address list as part of your account. It costs more, but the mailing option is very nice, especially during busy holiday times. 

Tiny Prints also offers a wide selection of envelopes and liners for added class and character. This service even has a nice selection of trims for each of its cards. For a small added fee, you can add scalloped edges and other details to make your design memorable. There are also many template options with foil accents to give them some modern flair.

The Tiny Prints website provides an impressive selection of quality templates for holiday photo cards. Some other photo card sites have more designs, but none matches the consistent quality of Tiny Prints. There are cards for Christmas, Hanukkah, Diwali, Halloween, Rosh Hashanah, Easter, Chinese New Year and many other holidays, and the templates are modern and attractive. 

The non-holiday selection is also impressive. There are cards that can be personalized with a photo for new-address announcements, thank-you cards, graduation cards, birthday invitations and many more. You can access your photos from most social networking and photography sites. You can upload photos from your own hard drive, or pull them in from Shutterfly, Google Photos, Facebook and Instagram. In addition, you can apply different colors, trims or styles. Tiny Prints even makes suggestions for colors and fonts that fit with the overall style of the card.

It’s fun and easy to create your card. You drag and drop your photos where you want them and substitute your own text for the template text. You enter in the information for your card, and Tiny Prints places it on the digital version of your photo card. However, if you want to customize your photo card, the site can be frustrating to use. Going outside the templates is harder on this site than it is with other services that let you easily delete text boxes and other features.

If you want to stick closely to the already-attractive templates, however, you'll have no problems using Tiny Prints.

Tiny Prints' customer support is excellent. You can reach representatives via many channels, including phone, email and online chat. The company also guarantees your satisfaction; if you don’t like your photo cards (unless it’s due to your own typos), Tiny Prints reprints them at its own expense.

Perhaps the best evidence of Tiny Prints’ commitment to exquisite design is the company blog, which offers advice on hosting great events. There are even collections curated by big names in style.

Tiny Prints offers a wide selection of gorgeous designs, and the printed cards are impressive. However, the pricing is pretty high. If you’re willing to pay for the convenience of having your cards addressed and mailed for you, this is a great service to use. It’s an especially good option for formal events, given the many envelope customization options. Tiny Prints is easy to use, and you will likely be thrilled with the results. But if you’re on a budget, this isn’t the photo card service for you.

Casual users and newcomers to digital photography will get the most out of this simple software when managing their images. Unlike more intimidating photo manager software, which can be cluttered with tools and options you may never use, MediaShow 6 has a spacious interface with large, simple text fields. It doesn't offer as many photo management tools as other software, but it gives you enough methods to make organizing possible.

A feature I really like is MediaShow's calendar view, which helps you visualize your photo collection chronologically on a digital calendar. If your images have timestamps, they will fall onto the correct dates automatically, but you can also manually place your photos on the calendar. This is especially handy for birthdays, weddings and recording vacations. MediaShow lets you complete most actions simply by dragging and dropping, which made our testing experience frustration-free.

The automatic face tagging feature finds faces in your collection but leaves the actual tagging up to you. Depending on how many faces you have in your collection, this may take some time. Once you tag a face, MediaShow remembers and recognizes the person, so it should get easier after you've used it a few times. I found this feature wasn't always on point and sometimes misidentified people, especially blurry faces or images with indirect angles. But it typically provided the correct person's name next to the image.

This software is basic but has interesting features like 3D compatibility. MediaShow had to sacrifice some standard tools to make room for 3D features. There are no flagging, color-coding or star rating features. Images are sortable, but there's no way to designate between them within the album. The program also lacks RAW file compatibility and non-destructive editing. But if you use a basic smartphone or point-and-shoot camera, this shouldn't be a problem.

You can convert your 2D stills and videos to eye-popping 3D. These images look their best with a 3D-compatible camera, but this tool works with regular JPGs or PNGs. You won't be able to edit photos or video in 3D, so it's best to use MediaShow's editing tools before converting. The video editing is far from professional grade, but I could use tools like noise and shake reduction to improve video quality in my testing. This software has the standard filters like sepia to set the mood.

To show off your creations, you can burn videos and images to DVD and Blu-ray discs. MediaShow also exports images to standard channels like email, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube so you can show off your photos or slideshow creations. I like that you can sync photos to and from Facebook and DropBox so new photos appear in MediaShow for editing and cataloging. Unlike PhotoDirector, this program does not come with free cloud storage space, so if you want it, you will need to find your own online storage.

MediaShow 6 keeps photo management, organization and editing sweet and simple while still providing plenty of cool features to enhance your photos. MediaShow is for beginners, but it has outstanding features like the 3D converter, video editing and advanced face tagging to help you organize and edit your projects the way you want.

Editor’s Note: This product has been removed from our side-by-side comparison because it is no longer available. You can still read our original review below, but Top Ten Reviews is no longer updating this product’s information.

Phase One's Media Pro SE is ideal for professional photographers who have big databases of photos but it isn't a good pick for the average user. Navigating through this software was easy since it has a wide-open interface and easy drag-and-drop features, but I would have been happier if it offered more editing tools and didn't cost more than double than the other programs I tested.

Media Pro SE works differently than many of the other programs in our comparison since it uses professional cataloguing strategies instead of browsing to organize photos. In order to organize or edit your photos, you must create a catalogue first. This can be a difficult thing for some people to adjust to, especially if you’re more familiar with typical browser-style organization. Catalogue-based organization works really well when you have a large collection of photos, but it isn't necessary for the average photographer.

This software uses albums divided into subcategories to sort images. The auto-sort feature is one of the photo organizer tools, and it uses metadata annotations to sort photos. Some of the categories it sorted our pictures into were camera settings, date created, and even longitude and latitude. Whether or not Media Pro has access to this information depends on your camera. The program can also auto sort images based on file properties outside the metadata like file name or size. After auto sorting, reorganizing a collection only requires you to drag and drop photos into subcategories.

It can take a long time to rename a batch of photos individually. This is where I found Media Pro SE's batch-renaming feature to be very useful. This tool lets you select a group of photos and rename all of them at once. To keep your library organized, try renaming batches with a chronological tag like listing the month and year. From there, you can add new batch names to subsections or photos with similar features.

You can sort and move files by dragging and dropping. Album themes, such as birthday parties or vacations, are a good starting point for custom organization because you can divide these large collections into chronological subcategories. While there are a lot of ways to customize your organization, I was disappointed to find that I couldn't add metadata in batches.

Any RAW files that you import from your camera can be converted to TIFF, BMP, JPEG or PNG. In addition to file conversion, this program allowed us to add watermarks or choose the color depth of our photos.

This photo management software lacks sharing features that similar programs have. You can't send any photos or collections to social media, photo sharing sites or YouTube directly from the software. However, you can open and export your images to other programs like Adobe programs for editing. You can also burn discs and create slideshows to share with others.

Like the sharing features in Media Pro, I found its editing tools quite basic. The program covers editing essentials like cropping, rotation, and color and light adjustment but they run on QuickTime, which seems strange considering that program hasn't been supported by Apple since 2016. Media Pro's lack of advanced editing tools isn’t a deal breaker, especially if you're new to photo editing or only want to make small adjustments to your photos. But if editing is important to you, this isn't a good program to choose. If you'd prefer a photo management program that offers plenty of editing tools, you might be interested in PaintShop Pro.

Our testing helped us determine that Media Pro's strength lies in organizing and filing rather than editing images. You can sort and catalog your photos in a way that makes sense to you. This program has all the standard sorting features and extra features like batch renaming, RAW file conversion and detailed slideshow options. What this photo manager lacks in editing and sharing features, it makes up for in organization capabilities. However, in the end, I felt that this program's extremely high price isn't warranted, especially when you can get similarly good programs for half the cost.

StudioLine Photo Classic 4 is a user-friendly photo manager that also helps you edit and share your photos. With a selection of both standard and professional editing tools, you can transform your images the way you like them. I found this software very easy to use. Between the tabs and dropdown lists, I quickly navigated the photo manager and found the organizing and editing tools I needed. Most of the editing tools can be found in the Image Tools feature and Edit tab, while organizing tools are found under the Organize and Keywords tabs.

I tagged and then searched for photos by keywords, star ratings, dates and locations. I was especially impressed by the location method, since this program uses GPS coordinates to pinpoint and display exactly where on a map the picture was taken. The program also let me create custom categories for images that didn't fit in the software’s premade ones. While the software doesn't offer color labels or face tagging, I was able to add flags and attach keywords to make photos more searchable. If you want a program that offers a wider variety of organizing methods, you might be interested in Photo Manager Deluxe.

On the right side of the interface, you can access your pictures’ metadata. Most of this information cannot be changed within the program, but you can adjust the dates associated with your photos. I found this interface very organized and easy to navigate, which can make your organizing and editing sessions more efficient.

This photo management software also serves as a photo editor with a wide selection of tools. You can adjust the color of a photo, add a filter or perform more advanced edits like blurring specific parts of your image. In addition, the program can help you make these changes. Several of the tools have a Hint toolbar that appears to guide you through the editing process.

After you organize and edit your photos, you can export them to other programs or sites. The software supports eight common image file types. It also allows you to post directly from the application to social media sites or send them in an email. If you want to share your photos offline, you can burn CDs and DVDs or create calendars and cards featuring your photos.

StudioLine has strong support options both in the application and on its website. With helpful hints and access to the user manual inside the program, you can learn how to use the software quickly. If you need additional help, the website has user forums, workshops, tutorials and a FAQs page for you to use. You can also contact the company for technical support, using phone or email.

StudioLine Photo Classic is an effective photo organizer and editor. With a diverse set of tools, you can organize your photos and edit them with ease. Even with its advanced capabilities, the software maintains its usability with a clean interface and many support options.

Editor’s Note: This product has been removed from our side-by-side comparison because it has been replaced by another product. You can still read our original review below, but Top Ten Reviews is no longer updating this product’s information.

Xara Designer Pro 7 is photo manager software for advanced editing needs. The additional tools might make learning to use this software more challenging, but can be useful if you want more flexibility. This application doesn't allow you to send your photos directly to social networking sites like most other products we reviewed do.

Xara Designer Pro 7 is primarily image-editing software. Therefore, it doesn't have as many photo-editing tools as other products we reviewed have. You'll still find features such as cloning, red eye removal and brightness, sharpness, hue and saturation adjustment. These tools are easy to use, but we wish there were more photo editing tools available.

When you open up a file, you can rate the pictures in it from one to five. You can sort your photos in your file according to their ranking. Unfortunately, you can't search for photos by keyword, tag, color or flag. If you have a large photo library or need a complex filing system, this simple rating system may not meet your digital photo management software needs.

If you are creating a website with your own photos on it, you can upload your photos to your website. You can also preview the website from the Xara software interface. Unfortunately, this photo manager software isn't capable of sending pictures directly to Facebook, Flickr or YouTube.

You can see thumbnail images of your photos in Xara. You can also see a larger version of the image in the preview screen to the side of the file. This photo manager software is non-destructive, which means that it preserves your original photos. Xara Designer Pro also backs up your files.

We didn't find any metadata information for the photos we imported into this photo manager software. You can change file names for your imported photos, but to do this, you'll need to work in the files themselves instead of through the metadata. We didn't find a metadata tab with information about the camera settings.

This photo manager software shows your adjustments as soon as you make them. Additionally, you work directly on a photo to make changes instead of trying to see the alterations on a small preview screen. The majority of the tools in this application are for advanced image editing you might do as a professional. While you may find these additional tools helpful, if you only plan to perform basic edits to your photos, you might not ever use these advanced tools.

Xara shows tips and a Getting Started section when you open the software. You can find tutorials, the manual, FAQs and user forums on Xara's website. If you need tech support, you can find an email address for Xara on the website as well.

Xara Designer Pro has basic photo-editing and organizing features; however, its strong point is its advanced editing tools for professionals. While this software will help you greatly improve the quality of your photos, it may be more complicated than you need. Additionally, Xara Designer Pro 7 doesn't allow you to send photos directly to sites such as Flickr and Facebook.