Finding the best place to print your photos online can be overwhelming with so many services available. From smartphone snaps to professional shots, everyone wants their pictures to look their best when printed. This article reviews several popular online photo printing services, comparing their print quality, packaging, and overall experience to help you decide where you can print pictures with confidence.
Mpix, a well-known service with a user-friendly app, allows direct photo uploads from smartphones. However, in our tests, Mpix received the lowest ratings from our panelists due to its restrictive cropping of smartphone photos. This forced cropping can be a significant drawback if you pay close attention to image composition. Services like EZprints and RitzPix offer smartphone-friendly 4:3 aspect ratio print sizes, while Printique and Nations Photo Lab provide uncropped printing options regardless of aspect ratio. Unfortunately, Mpix currently lacks both of these features.
Bay Photo offers small print sizes suitable for smartphone photos and robust packaging. Despite these positives, their print quality was rated as average in our evaluations. Participants in blind tests often ranked Bay Photo as a satisfactory second choice, but rarely as their top or bottom pick.
Snapfish stands out as one of the most affordable services, but this comes at the cost of print quality. Both 8×10 and 4×6 prints exhibited harsh contrast, resulting in loss of detail in shadows and highlights. Portrait photos also showed an undesirable orangish skin tone. Packaging was also a concern; smaller prints were shipped in thin cardboard envelopes without padding, offering minimal protection. Larger 11×14 prints, while shipped in tubes, lacked internal padding, leading to damage during transit, as seen below.
Damaged photo print from Snapfish due to inadequate packaging, highlighting issues with online photo printing services.
RitzPix also had issues with packaging. Their 11×14 print arrived damaged due to being shipped in a flat envelope with thin backing boards. The envelope’s tight fit for the 11×14 photo resulted in corner damage when crushed during shipping. This damage could have been prevented with a larger envelope or a box, like those used by other services. The inadequate packaging was particularly disappointing given RitzPix’s high shipping fee of $14.95, more than double the average. The damage is shown in the image below.
Corner damage on a RitzPix photo print caused by insufficient packaging during shipping, a common problem when printing pictures online.
EZprints, similar to Snapfish, delivered prints of subpar quality. Every print had a washed-out, hazy appearance and lacked sharpness. Tonal areas also appeared somewhat mottled.
Shutterfly, despite being the second most expensive service tested, offered only average print quality. The main issue was packaging. Small prints arrived in a thin envelope, and 11×14 prints were shipped in tubes, causing curling that required flattening before display. While a shipping tube provides protection, it often results in curled prints, as pictured below.
Curled photo print from Shutterfly due to tube packaging, showing a potential inconvenience when ordering photo prints online.
Zazzle offers photo printing but is better suited for individual, customized orders due to its interface and limited paper choices. Ordering multiple prints is cumbersome, as each image must be individually dragged onto a print-size template on its own order page, making it inefficient for larger batches.
Winkflash has received numerous negative reviews, citing issues like customers losing access to hosted photos due to ownership changes and poor customer service. Customer support is limited to a web form, with no phone or email options available, making Winkflash a less reliable choice.
FreePrints allows users to print up to 1,000 4×6 prints annually for free (excluding shipping costs). However, information about the company and its services is limited to a single-page website, and orders must be placed through a phone app. The lack of online information raises concerns about transparency and reliability.
Amazon Prints offers 4×6 prints at a competitive price, and Amazon Prime members who use Prime Photos can order prints directly. The ordering process is straightforward, and print quality is in the mid-range – acceptable but not exceptional, with a tendency for orangish skin tones. Photos arrived within six business days. However, packaging was underwhelming, consisting of a flat mailer with thin cardboard, leading to corner damage on some prints.
Walmart provides a 4×5.3-inch print size, which accommodates smartphone 4:3 aspect ratio images without cropping. However, their overall selection of print sizes is less comprehensive compared to top-rated services.
In conclusion, when considering where to print pictures online, it’s important to balance price with quality and packaging. While some services offer lower prices, they may compromise on print quality or protection during shipping. Services that prioritize quality and proper packaging might be a better choice for preserving your cherished photos. For flattening curled prints from tube packaging, the safest method is to place them between cardboard sheets under weight for 24-48 hours, as shown below.
