google photo book reviews

To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories .

• Backchannel
• Newsletters
• WIRED Insider
• WIRED Consulting

Brian Barrett

Review: Google Photo Books

Last fall, in an unlikely attempt at thoughtfulness, I created a photo book as a birthday present for my wife. It damn near killed me.

The final result turned out beautifully, and I’d do it again. But in the process of creating it, I discovered what anyone who’s done so already knows: Piecing together a collection of photographs using today’s stalwarts—the Shutterflys and Mpixes and Minteds of the world—involves a healthy dose of crazy-making. Uploading all those photos takes time. Sorting them though clunky interfaces takes even more. And by the time you’re finished, you’ve stared so long at your precious memories that you’re already a little bit sick of them.

Google Photo Books , announced this spring, seeks to remedy that fatigue. Just sort through your sky-high digital photo pile using Google’s AI search chops, pick 20 photos you want to feature (or add more for additional cost), order them however you like, slap a name on the front, and it’ll be on your doorstep in two weeks. A 20-page softcover costs you $10 with 35-cents per extra page, while hardcover runs $20, with extras comping in at 65-cents a shot.

Like so few things in life, it works exactly as advertised. I hopped into my Google Photos collection search page, clicked on a photo of my daughter and added a few favorites to my photo book, repeated with my son, then my wife, and within a few minutes I had a 50 or so page collection of highlights from the first half of the year.

I wanted to group my book chronologically, rather than by family member, but switching around the order was simply a matter of dragging and dropping. Call it five more minutes of fiddling. Google only allows one photo per page, so you can’t tweak layouts even if you want to, beyond choosing how much white border to put around each pic (your options are: none, a little, a little more). Add a title to the front. Add another to the spine, if you’ve packed 48 pages in. Click on Cart, go to Checkout, cough up four bucks or so for standard shipping, and you’re done.

Mark Andrews

Kathy Gilsinan

Adrienne So

The whole process really did take a fraction of the time that my previous efforts with other services had. And the result doesn’t feel cheap; the photo book that arrived on my doorstep a week and a half later had better-than-decent paper quality, the images looked like faithful reproductions, and it felt substantial. Google also says that eventually, it will automatically recommend photo books for you, based around specific trips, people, or subjects.

I like Google’s photo book approach for a keepsake—but less so as a gift. The stripping down of features that help the process fly also bleed the end result of personal touches, and higher-end finishes. Squeezing in more photos per page feels tedious at the time, but also helps tell a story. A mostly white hardcover book looks stark next to the warmer materials and colors offered by the entrenched photo services. Too much embellishment makes a photo book look garish, but too little can feel sterile. Besides, some people like garish.

That’s not so much a knock against Google as a caution to people who expect more than it offers here. A Google photo book is fast, affordable, and tidy—all qualities its competitors have struggled to provide. Just know that those benefits double as limitations.

You can create and order a photo book in less time than it takes to start a charcoal grill. The Google Photos AI sits at the head of the class; you can search for anything—grass, giraffes, beer—and get back an instant catalog of subject-specific photos you forgot taking. The price beats pretty much everyone, but the print quality doesn’t suffer for it. Works on desktop, iOS, and Android. You really can’t beat it for a quick memento of a specific moment or event.

You get a little more than you pay for, but remember that you’re not paying much. If you start building your photo book before you’ve selected your photos, the search function doesn’t show up, which is… weird. Start in Search first, and add shots to your photo book by clicking the ‘+’ in the upper-right corner. Beyond the photos you pick, there’s virtually no personalization.

8/10 Great for what it is. Just make sure that lines up with what you want.

Julian Chokkattu

Brenda Stolyar

Aarian Marshall

WIRED COUPONS

Extra 20% off sitewide - Dyson promo code

GoPro Promo Code: 15% off Cameras and Accessories

Get up to extra 45% Off - April Secret sale

10% Off Everything w/ Dell Promo Code

VistaPrint Promo Code: $10 Off $50+

50% off Select Products - Newegg Promo Code

Google Photo Review

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..

Top Ten Reviews Verdict

This service is perfect for anyone who frequently uses their Google Photo account and wants a simple photo book.

This service allows you to make photo books in a hurry.

You don’t get a lot of customization options.

Why you can trust Top Ten Reviews Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test .

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.

Kodak Scanza: Digital film scanner review

Kenro KNSC201: Digital film scanner review

Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-300 review

The Canon PIXMA TS6420a all-in-one printer is the perfect all-rounder for your home office

Point, shoot and print: the Canon IVY CLIQ+2 lets you take photos & print them on the go

The Canon IVY 2 Mini is a pocket-sized printer perfect for creating images on the go

We tested the Canon PIXMA TS3520 - it's a reliable budget printer for students and home offices

Canon SELPHY CP1300 review

The Canon SELPHY Square QX10 is a great printer for your scrapbooking needs

Epson Expression Photo XP-970 review

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.

Rebecca is a writer who has covered everything from photo books to graphic design and small kitchen appliances for Top Ten Reviews. Now a gaming writer for Future Labs, she's also contributed to big publications like TechRadar, Windows Central, Android Central, Reuters Legal Solutions Blog, iMore, and more. She no longer works for TTR.

50% off the Shark AI Ultra Self-Empty Robot Vacuum — get it or regret it

Cultivator vs tiller: what's the best tool for your soil?

Best pod coffee makers 2024: an effortless upgrade to your coffee routine

Most Popular

9 Best Photo Book Maker Websites

Print your favorite photos and don't let them go to waste.

We've been independently researching and testing products for over 120 years. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Learn more about our review process.

Best Overall Photo Book Maker

Shutterfly photo books.

Best Value Custom Photo Book Maker

Walmart photo custom photo books.

Most Aesthetic Photo Book Maker

Artifact uprising photo books.

Best Themed Photo Book Maker

Mixbook photo books.

Best Photo Book Maker for Beginners

Printique photo books.

Best Photo Book Maker for Amazon Prime Members

Amazon prints.

Best Photo Book Maker for Young Kids

Pinhole press photo books.

Best Photo Book Maker for Google Photos Users

Google photo books.

Best Photo Book Maker for Families

Chatbooks custom photo books & albums.

The product analysts and experts in the Good Housekeeping Institute Media & Tech Lab continuously test everything from photo book maker websites to the best wedding photo albums , printers and much more. When making our selections, we reviewed each product for factors like ease of use and intuitiveness of the website and app, if applicable, photo quality, speed of delivery and extra features like templates, cover options and style. These are the best photo book maker websites of 2024, according to our pros.

Shutterfly offers basic photo books at an affordable price. You can choose from a wide selection of themes, like birthday, travel or wedding, or neutral styles , such as modern or rustic. You can also create your own book and choose the book size, cover style and page style, then embellish it with Shutterfly's extensive library of stickers and ribbons to make your book extra special. We appreciate how easily users can edit within their chosen template and the brand's high-quality photo book paper, making Shutterfly a top pick.

You can also opt for one of its 6" x 6" Instant Books , which let you add photos from your phone, tablet or computer in minutes. These mini photo books have only 20 pages, but they're a great place to store goofy candids or Instagram posts you never want to forget. The possibilities are essentially limitless, though the vast array of options could be overwhelming for those getting started.

If you don't want the pressure of deciding on a layout, the brand offers a convenient Make My Book option, in which Shutterfly's professional designers curate your photos and design the book for free. Plus, you'll still have the opportunity to put finishing touches on it before it gets printed. Whether you opt for 50 or 800 photos (the maximum), you'll receive an email notification within 24 hours that your book is complete.

Crunched for time? Design your photo book online and pick up select styles at a Walmart store near you in as little as one hour. Photo books picked up in one hour can have 15 single-sided pages and a linen cover, while same-day pickups (ready in a few hours) can have up to 20 double-sided pages and the option of a hardcover.

On top of the speedy turnaround, Walmart has a great selection of styles : You can choose everything from the photo size and layout to the type of cover, including hardcover glossy or matte, linen, leather and lay-flat glossy or matte. If you need help narrowing down the choices, there's also the option to shop by occasion, whether you're looking for a one-year anniversary or 15th-year anniversary gift .

Despite the fast shipping and variety, our expert tester, Rachel Rothman , former chief technologist and executive technical director at the Good Housekeeping Institute, did note that the quality is not as high as the options offered by other photo book makers on this list — but that may be expected considering the bargain price tag. Regardless, these photo books still make a superb present that can cost under $10 without compromising on sentimentality.

No matter the occasion, you can't go wrong with one of Artifact Uprising's high-quality photo books. There are numerous design options, including preset books to celebrate the birth of a new baby or commemorating a marriage. You can choose from lay-flat albums, books with photo strips and even softcover Instagram Friendly Books for the influencer in your life. The company even has an iPhone app that lets you create a photo book right from your smartphone. However, Rothman found the app to be glitchy at times and noted there's room for improvement with the software. Still, the books come out on top for elegance and simplicity .

One online reviewer wrote, "The fabric cover is beautiful. The photos are amazing quality and look amazing even though the photos were taken on film and therefore are a bit grainy." And the overall 4.6-star rating (out of 5) backs up that review. Quality and elevated designs come with a higher price tag, but there are options for $20 or less if you're shopping on a budget.

If you have a special project and a little more money to spend, Artifact Uprising offers Design Services , which allow you to work one-on-one with an expert to bring your special moments to life. Just note that the design fee is rather steep at $119 and requires an additional $100 album deposit.

When Mixbook says it has "custom photo books for every occasion," it really means it. There are 374 different themed templates to choose from, including everything f rom travel and sports to weddings and recipes. But that doesn't mean you have to give up creative control. You can still customize the look to your liking, from fun backgrounds to stickers to text using the Editor tool. Plus, there are plenty of paper varieties, from semigloss to ultra-thick matte.

Rothman appreciated the nice balance between good photo editing and price, but she did experience issues with the lay-flat option, in which the photos bled into the crease. You can also use the iPhone app to organize your photos with a tool that the brand calls "Automagic": Simply choose the images you want and select a theme. The goal of Automagic is to help arrange your camera roll so your photos are in order when it comes time to add them to your photo book.

If you're not sure where to start, our pros love Printique because it's super easy to use. You can select one of the many predesigned layouts or create an entire photo book from scratch. Choose among portrait, landscape and square orientations, as well as hardcover and softcover options. You can even store your memories in a genuine leather or vegan leather book or pick from five different fabric colors. Although you can't choose the color for a hard- or softcover photo book, you can still customize the shape, size and paper type.

Looking for something more advanced? There'sa tool for professional photographers to design and create their own photo books. But if you want to keep things simple, consider starting with one of Printique's 4" x 4" Mini Softcover photo books , which have a maximum of 40 pages and come in three sizes.

Is Amazon Photos already your preferred destination for uploading photos? Then creating a photo book through its interface is an easy solution. Similar to other photo book makers, you can create by occasion and size, or choose its 8" x 8" Premium Photo Book for a versatile option that has a laminated cover and lay-flat binding. There's also an option with standard binding at a lower cost, and all Amazon Prime members get free shipping . (Everyone else is eligible for free shipping with a minimum order of $15.)

In addition to photo books, you can shop large prints, calendars, cards and metal tabletops. There are fewer size and style options than most services when it comes to photo books, but the other photo product choices make up for the lack of available styles. After all, sometimes it's easier and quicker to have fewer options to choose from if you need to pull something together by a certain date, like a last-minute gift for your boyfriend .

RELATED: 37 Best Personalized Gifts You Can Find on Amazon

With Pinhole Press, you can choose from various photo book styles ranging from board pages to softcovers to accordion-style setups. Upload your photos and let the system do the work, or manually place the photos into the layout yourself. Rothman says her kids love the Custom Board Books , which have themes such as " Count With Me ," " Healthy Habits " and " I Can Be Anything ." These photo books aren't just visually stimulating, but they can also educate and entertain kids for years to come .

"I got my daughter the ' My First Photo Book ' as a toddler and made it all about her — like pictures with family, doing things she likes, her favorite toys, at the playground and beach, etc. — and she still is obsessed with it," says Lexie Sachs , executive director of strategy and operations at the Good Housekeeping Institute.

Rothman also notes the custom Photo Puzzle is a fun option for kids, and the Itty Bitty Books are easy to tote around in a work bag for on-hand entertainment. There's less variety in some categories, including Itty Bitty and hardcover books, but with so many additional photo categories other companies lack, there are still plenty of great options for kids.

RELATED: 12 Best Personalized Books for Kids

If you store your snaps in Google Photos, then Google's very own photo book maker might be the most convenient option for you. Even though there are no fancy designs, the process is seamless. Choose from two options: a 7" x 7" softcover photo book or a 9" x 9" hardcover photo book. You can include between 20 and 140 pages, and you have the option to add a spine title if you hit more than 48 pages for a softcover or any number of pages for a hardcover.

Another hallmark of Google Photos is that you can make one photo book and order multiple copies to give to family members and friends who are also pictured in the photos. Since they come at an affordable price point, you could give everyone on your gift list a copy, whether you decide to create a collection of candid photos for your closest friends or a tangible memento of a fun family trip. Though there may not be as many designs and styles to choose from, that can make the customization process less daunting.

RELATED: 50 Trendy and Most Popular Gifts of 2023

Chatbooks Custom Photo Books & Albums

"Set and forget it," Rothman says about the ease of using Chatbooks, which markets itself as "ridiculously easy." You can upload images from Instagram, Flickr, Dropbox, Facebook or your computer and edit them on your desktop or via the app . The service's Custom Photo Books & Albums option is great for families looking to personalize a family vacation , as you can choose colors, layouts, cover styles, collages, captions and more. Peruse its vast collection of more than 300 unique book covers, or shop the premium lay-flat and special occasion photo books.

You can also have fun with the Instagram and Facebook series — a 6" x 6" or 8" x 8" book with 60 pages — that lets you store your favorite social media posts in a tangible place to look back on for years to come.

Unique to Chatbooks is its subscription service, which allows you to receive a softcover, hardcover or mini photo book each month. If you and your family love taking photographs of walks in the park, weekend road trips or vacations, this service is ideal for getting your photos in your hands ASAP. One thing to note about the subscription option is that there are only two sizes available (5" x 7" and the monthly mini).

How we choose the best photo book makers

At the Good Housekeeping Institute , our pros in the Media & Tech Lab have been testing photo book makers for more than a decade . For this article, we referenced a robust test of photo book makers completed in 2009, examined updates to apps and ordered new products to test in 2023.

When choosing the best photo book makers, our Lab experts consider ease of use, performance and appearance . That means our pros take an in-depth look at a wide range of features, such as how easy it is to navigate the interface and add photos and text to the book; upload and delivery time; the number of styles, covers and templates offered; and the photo, paper and binding quality.

What to look for when shopping for the best custom photo book maker

Keep the following features in mind when choosing the right photo book maker website for your needs:

✔️ Size: Whether you're looking for a small photo book for kids or a much larger album to house snapshots from a long family vacation, there are regular, large and miniature photo book sizes available. It's best to think about how many photos you want to include and where you plan to store the album (i.e., will the book be too tall for your bookshelf or just right on top of your coffee table?).

✔️ Shape: Most photo books are rectangular or square in shape, but some companies also offer photo puzzles, calendars and tabletops to choose from too. The shape is really about aesthetic preference and the orientation you prefer for your photos.

✔️ Page count: Are you compiling 20 photos from your daughter's first-birthday party? Or are you putting together an anniversary album of pictures of you and your partner throughout the years? The number of pages determines the number of photos you can include in an album, so you have enough space to include everything.

✔️ Paper quality: This is probably a no-brainer, as the quality of material your photos are printed on is as important as the quality of the photos themselves. Although companies with higher-quality paper, like Artifact Uprising , may have a higher price tag, the extra money goes toward paper that won't lead to photos bleeding into the crease. But there are still services that are affordable and offer good-quality products, like our best value pick, Walmart Photo .

✔️ Binding quality: Some companies, like Google Photos , will add a binding to your photo album. This feature is especially important when considering the durability and longevity of your photo album. Whether it's a softcover, hardcover or lay-flat book, make sure the binding can withstand accidental drops and the wear and tear of passing the family album around at holiday parties.

✔️ Templates: If your photo album will have a certain theme or be centered around a specific occasion — or it's your first time using a photo book maker — choosing a service that has a variety of templates to choose from will let your creativity flow and also help you warm up to the design process.

✔️ Editing capabilities: When looking at beginner-level or more advanced designer tools, consider how robust or simple they are to use. Having lots of control over the interface is fun, but if you're looking for a more straightforward experience, opt for a service that does the majority of the decision-making for you or offers designer help, like Shutterfly .

What is the easiest way to make a custom photo book?

" It really depends upon the service and your preference ," Rothman says. Although some online custom photo book makers also have an app, it can have limited functionality, be buggy or not as easy to use as the desktop equivalent. "Often, an app makes it super simple to upload pictures from your phone (a major plus!) but doesn't allow as much flexibility for product assortment or editing once you've selected." That said, designing a photo book on your smartphone or tablet versus a desktop may come down to how many edits you intend to make .

"If you plan to do a lot of editing, the non-app version on a larger screen would likely be your best choice. If you want to quickly make a book with limited changes, an app on your mobile device may be the way to go," Rothman explains.

Why trust Good Housekeeping?

Elizabeth Berry is the updates editor at the Good Housekeeping Institute , where she ensures product reviews reflect accurate information. Prior to this role, she was an editorial assistant at Woman's Day , where she covered everything from gift guides to recipes.

To update this article, Elizabeth collaborated with former Good Housekeeping Institute Chief Technologist & Executive Technical Director Rachel Rothman to gather testing notes regarding current picks. Rachel, who has tested several of the best photo book makers on this list, has more than 15 years of experience evaluating thousands of products, including toys and cars for Good Housekeeping’s annual Best Toy Awards and Best New Family Cars programs.

Amina Lake Abdelrahman is a product review writer and editor who worked as an editorial assistant at the Good Housekeeping Institute from 2018 to 2020, writing original content based on GH Institute Lab experts' product testing and analysis.

Amina is a product review writer and editor who worked as an editorial assistant in the Good Housekeeping Institute from 2018 to 2020, writing original content based on GH Lab experts' product testing and analysis. Amina graduated from Montclair State University with a B.A. in communication studies and journalism.

Elizabeth Berry (she/her) is the Updates Editor at the Good Housekeeping Institute where she optimizes lifestyle content across verticals. Prior to this role, she was an Editorial Assistant for Woman’s Day where she covered everything from gift guides to recipes. She also has experience fact checking commerce articles and holds a B.A. in English and Italian Studies from Connecticut College.

@media(max-width: 64rem){.css-o9j0dn:before{margin-bottom:0.5rem;margin-right:0.625rem;color:#ffffff;width:1.25rem;bottom:-0.2rem;height:1.25rem;content:'_';display:inline-block;position:relative;line-height:1;background-repeat:no-repeat;}.loaded .css-o9j0dn:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/goodhousekeeping/static/images/Clover.5c7a1a0.svg);}}@media(min-width: 48rem){.loaded .css-o9j0dn:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/goodhousekeeping/static/images/Clover.5c7a1a0.svg);}} Product Reviews

Hanes Beefy T-Shirt Review

Best Dinnerware Sets

The 15 Best Meal Delivery Services of 2024

The Best Car Cleaning Kits

The Best Supplements for Menopause

The 7 Best Pellet Grills

Best Garage Door Openers

The Best Laundry Detergent Sheets

3 Best Portable Chargers

The 6 Best Smart Grills 2024

The Best Sleeper Sofas

Home » Blog » Google Photo Books Review: From Concept to Creation

Google Photo Books Review: From Concept to Creation

Every new year, folks like you turn their fave photos from last year into a tangible keepsake like a photo book. It’s a great way to reflect on the past while diving into the future.

Lots of our clients want photo books right after the holidays, and a growing number of online services are catching on. We hear it all the time from aspiring bookers: ‘I don’t know where to start!’ Decent photos are just a screen-tap away these days, but the best photo books need you to pick your favorites and a theme.

If you already use the Google Photos app or have a Gmail address, Google Photos might have already done most of the work for you. It already sorts your photos by date and location, analyzes and recognizes people (and pets!) and makes automatic photo creations to share on social media and with family. Google recently started analyzing users’ photos and suggesting ready-made books that you can order directly from them.

Here’s our Google Photo Books review for an expert take on the service.

How to Access Your Google Photos Account

Not sure if you’re maximizing your Google Photos account – or if you even have one? Here’s how to set it up if you haven’t already:

• Create a Google account. Click here to learn how!
• Desktop users: Go to photos.google.com and sign in
• Mobile users: Install and open the Photos app
• Media that’s already in Google Photos should appear
• Desktop users can drag and drop photos directly in the browser window
• Mobile users can use the Free Up Space feature to manually upload new photos, but once it’s on your phone the photos will sync automatically in regular intervals as a Google Photos backup.
• You’re ready to use Google Photos

Google Photo Books 101

Google Photo Books’ biggest selling point is convenience . It aims to handle the tedious work of photo selection so you don’t have to. One of our designers used her own account for a closer look at the basic click-and-print photo book concept.

Google Suggestions

Google uses artificial intelligence to suggest photo books with good-quality images and a cohesive theme. The app groups your photos by year, album, location, and even faces into drafts that have set titles and themes. There’s a Best of 2018 option for a quick and easy memento that sums up the past year.

Much like those ready-made Facebook slideshows, these suggestions are convenient but not always intuitive. We strongly suggest that you preview them before you order a book . Otherwise, a random food photo or awkward selfie might find its way into the mix.

Here are a couple of nuances Google didn’t pick up on in our designer’s sample book:

• “Google can’t know the difference between work and family and I take a lot of photos on my personal phone for various professional reasons so even though I love my co-workers – they didn’t belong in my family book!”
• “Some of the photos selected were BAD. There were a couple of months I didn’t take as many photos and Google filled the gap with what they could – but I replaced them. I removed a couple of screenshots as well.”
• “To me, a year-in-review photobook is about family, friends and my cats, and there were a ton of food photos I took for my Instagram that got wrapped into the selection that I removed. I take so many food photos, I’m surprised Google did not suggest a separate book just for those!”

Edit and Design in Google Photos

Editing photos.

Want better contrast or a more focused crop? While you can’t edit directly in the photo book interface, it works seamlessly with Google Photos’ other tools . You have two options for editing:

• You can always edit in Google Photos before adding any new items to your photo book.
• If you’re happy with a photo Google selected, but wish it was black and white, you can go find the original photo and make your edits. The photo in your book will update automatically!

Arrangement

Once you’ve picked and polished your photos, it’s time to arrange them on each page. Lucky for you, the hardest part of laying out a yearly book is already done for you – they’re in chronological order!

The default setting is one photo per page, but you can also choose from full-page spreads or partial-page layouts.

Hover over the photo you’d like to change. You’ll get three options:

• A full page square
• A large square with a border
• A vertical image in the middle

If you want to utilize the full page square with a photo that isn’t already square – it will get cropped!

The desktop version even lets you make collages with up to four photos of varying sizes. We wish the mobile app did the same.

Hover over the photo on the page in question and select the illustrated collage. Your main photo dashboard will open for you to select up to three more photos for that page. The best part? It’ll take you right to the group of photos the original came from!

Limits on Design

Design options in Google Photo Books are pretty scarce, but you can’t beat the convenience of how quickly it comes together. If you’re a fan of minimal layouts and simple text, you won’t struggle with the limited design options.

Here’s a list of what we found:

• You can add captions to the inside pages but can’t change the font, size or position at the bottom of the page. So you can’t caption each photo on a collage page.
• You get to title the front cover and spine, but can’t customize the title’s font or size at this time.
• You also can’t add extra graphics or other visuals besides the photos. One hack might be to save various design elements, like text boxes or clip art, as digital images to post in a collage alongside actual photos . Even then, you won’t have much control over the sizing and placement of these items.
• The background color is white, and that’s your only option!
• No easy drag-and-drop features for changing your photos’ order or layout. It is what it is!

Choosing Your Own Photos for Your Book

Not ready to roll the dice with Google suggestions, or Google got it completely wrong? We get it. In fact, most of our own design clients play an active role in the photo selection process . And we know that Google doesn’t get the photo selection perfect.

To make your own photo book draft from scratch, you’ll be giving up some of the convenience that makes this service so unique. But you know better than anyone else which of your memories should make the cut.

You can launch your own Best of 2018 photo book, or pick another theme altogether. Find photos from events that best sum up your life last year, such as:

• Family portraits

You can easily search for something like Christmas or Cats and Google Photos will use its advanced software to find the photos that seem related to your search.

Make sure there’s an even mix of your family, friends, or other criteria based on your theme. Nobody wants to feel left out! They also don’t want to see a 2018 Summer Vacation book that’s mostly photos of your hotel room.

A Google Photo Book will only print 100 pages, so be mindful of how many photos you select. 500 is too many! Try to keep it to an even 100 or less.

Quantity vs. Quality

Google Photos does put some restrictions on the count and quality of pictures in your custom photo books. Right now, you can fit between 20-100 photos in a single book. If you picked a hyper-specific theme like Dog Wearing Sweaters , but only find 15 photos that work, go with a broader idea that covers more content.

On the flipside, try making multiple books with more specific themes if a broad topic like Family 2018 covers hundreds of photos. Or check out our in-depth post on photo selection to pick the best 100 from a huge archive.

You might also see warnings for low-resolution photos that might look grainy or blurry when printed. You can ignore these alerts, but you might not be happy with the final product.

Luckily, most modern smartphones shoot high-quality photos. The real quality risk comes down to human error. Watch out for shots that are blurry, too dark, or show people making weird faces.

How to Do Photo Selection in Google Photos

Choosing your own photos is easy! Find the timeline on the right-hand side of your Google Photos dashboard. Scroll down to January 2018, and select the photos you’d like to use by checking the box in the upper left corner of the photo.

When you have up to 100 photos selected, click the plus sign near the top right and choose Photobook .

The app will import all of your picks into a photo book draft.

Purchase and Printing

Part of a photo book’s appeal is that it offers hands-on enjoyment. You can hold it, flip through the pages, and place it on your coffee table for guests to browse. Right now, though, Google’s options for printing and materials are fairly limited.

• Size: 7-by-7 inches
• Price: $9.99 to start
• Includes: 20 pages
• Add-ons: $0.35 per additional page
• Size: 9-by-9 inches
• Price: $19.99 to start
• Add-ons: $0.65 per additional page

Beyond cover density, there aren’t any options for materials or finishes. Yet the Google Photo Books desktop module boasts “premium, responsibly-sourced paper,” which seems to be semi-glossy based on product photos and reviews.

Other Photobook Options

Apple … sort of.

Die-hard fans might already know this, but can no longer buy Apple photo books straight from the source. The tech giant discontinued its Photo Print Products service in late 2018.

The good news? Apple users can still find a Mac-friendly photo books app. Some third-party vendors like Mpix and Shutterfly offer macOS Photos app extensions that help turn your iPhone pics into photo books.

Professional Photo Printers

They might not be as quick and easy as Google, but lots of printing pros offer photo books with more options for design, materials, sizes, and finishes.

Bigger vendors like Blurb also offer powerful, user-friendly design tools. You’ll have more creative control, though it’ll take more time and effort to get things just right.

You can still use our Google Photos selection tips to make a beautiful photo album book through another service.

Professional Book Design

Let’s face it – most people don’t have the time or design background to create gorgeous photo books. Professional book designers have the technical skills, fancy software, and practical experience to help turn your photo book vision into a work of art.

Maybe Google’s books seem too basic, but you’re not a visual media whiz. You might enjoy an expert design service . Though it will cost more than the DIY route, you can take a big-picture approach while your designer does the heavy lifting and follows your feedback. It doesn’t get much cooler than that!

Save the Past with a Custom Photo Book

So, is a Google Photo Book worth it? The short answer: maybe!

The tradeoff between control and convenience is a common thread throughout this review. We recommend Google Photos service if you want fast, cheap and easy photo books – just double-check those automated suggestions before you order 10 copies.

For a breathtaking family heirloom that highlights your crew’s strengths and silly quirks, we suggest you look beyond Google Photo Books. We’ll review more custom book design platforms soon, so stay tuned.

Related posts:

• Are photo scanning mobile apps good enough? A Google PhotoScan Review
• Google’s New Photo Storage
• A Professional Photo Organizer Weighs in on Google Photos
• Turn Your Vintage Albums & Scrapbooks into Photo Books

About Jens Peterson

Jens is a Marketing Associate at EverPresent. When he's not helping us save family memories, you'll most likely find him cooking spicy food or listening to heavy metal.

One mom tried 5 digital photo book services: Here's how they compared

Remember photo albums -- books with clear plastic pockets that held your favorite photos to keep track of memories and memorialize a year of your life?

We don’t do that much anymore. When was the last time you even printed a picture?

But the joy of thumbing through a memory book of photos is still a thing, so services have sprung up online to turn your digital photos into bound books. While some have been around for decades, other newcomers have also come along. Prices and formats vary wildly, so how should you choose the right service for your images?

(MORE: 7 ways to turn your job now into a career you'll still love later)

Editor’s picks.

This woman earned a 5-figure pay raise and you can, too

• Apr 10, 2019

This all-female team of aviation technicians is taking the industry to new heights

• Apr 11, 2019

Women don't invest as much as men. Here's how to start with $100

• Apr 04, 2019

"Good Morning America" asked mom Sheila Madrigal from Morgan Hill, California, to order photo books from 5 different services: Snapfish, Shutterfly, Mixbook, Amazon and Costco. She used the same 60 photos in all five books and tried to get the size and layouts of the books as similar as possible. The photos were taken with both her iPhone and DSLR camera.

After the books were created, ordered and arrived at Madrigal's house, we took them to Sam Hoffman of San Francisco’s Lightsource, a fine art print lab. While they don’t make print books at Lightsource, Hoffman evaluated the quality of the books.

Best Image Quality: Costco & Shutterfly

The primary factors Sam evaluated were contrast, warm skin tones, shadow detail, and saturation.

One of Madrigal’s photos showed her family in a field of yellow flowers, her husband Israel is tossing their daughter in the air. Both the Shutterfly and Costco books impressed him with how they handled the image.

In the Costco and Shutterfly books, the field had a rich golden color and skin tones were warm.

“I see the darkness of the blues. The separation of darkness and lighter colors,” said Hoffman.

He used that photo to judge two bottom performers in the image quality category, Snapfish and Amazon.

“There is a greyness in the flesh tones [Snapfish] and this one is the least vibrant of them all [Amazon],” he said.

Best Binding: Shutterfly

According to Hoffman, all the books used semi-matte paper, but the production from each company varied. In some books there was no cover page while others had sophisticated stamped paper in the cover and back page positions. Another difference was the binding. Some had a simple stitched binding that was visible between the pages, while others had stitched and glued binding that looked more sophisticated. Shutterfly’s book had a luxe cover page made of stamped paper, stitched and glued binding, as well as a back cover that was in a different color and design.

Ease of Creation: Snapfish

We let Sheila, who created the books, weigh in on this category. She said the Snapfish tool took her 20 minutes from start to finish to create the book. Uploads were fast, layout was simple and the user interface was intuitive. She ranked Mixbook, Shutterfly and Amazon slightly below Snapfish, but still easy to use.

She gave the Costco the lowest ranking in this category, complaining that the upload of her images took twice as long as some other sites. She said that when she used the Costco tool, it arbitrarily populated her book with the pictures she uploaded, but she had a specific order in mind and had to go back through the tool removing all the pictures then adding them back into the layout where she wanted them.

There was one more problem from the Costco book: it cut her baby's picture in half!

The online tool showed a picture of her three kids fitting on the page but when the printed book was inspected, the baby was only half visible. Sam explained that the image was placed too far into the center of the page, an area printers call the “gutter,” and the baby’s face was obscured. Sheila said it did not look like that in the online tool. Costco declined ABC News' request for comment.

(MORE: Want to move in with your partner? Ask each other these 5 questions first)

Least expensive: amazon.

The most expensive book was from Mixbook at $47.63. Shutterfly came in at $40.72 , Costco and Snapfish were a penny apart at $32.68 and $32.67, and Amazon had the least expensive book at $27.24.

One thing to consider with pricing is that many of these services offer outrageous deals on photobooks with special seasonal codes, sometimes 50 to 60% off.

Here’s a pro tip: keep a file of your favorite photos on your desktop, copy them in there as you take them each month, and when you see a killer deal come up, you’ll be able to create the book and nab a great keepsake at a fraction of the price.

Overall top pick: Shutterfly

Ranking ease of creation, image quality, price and the overall feel of the book’s production, Hoffman liked Shutterfly the best.

Our mom Sheila also liked Shutterfly the best, and resolved to make a memory book every year from now on.

Up Next in Living—

10-year-old rescue cat becomes a model for Target

36-year-old rows alone from Hawaii to Australia

April's full Pink Moon: When and where to see it and what it means for your zodiac sign

Woman speaks out after dust devil lifts inflatable jumper 100 feet

Shop editors picks, sponsored content by taboola.

• Here are the best custom photo book services
• Most user-friendly
• Best for professionals
• Fastest turnaround
• Highest quality

The 5 best custom photo book services to help you preserve your memories

When you buy through our links, Business Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

We've grown accustomed to having nearly every photo we've ever taken at our fingertips and while smartphone and cloud storage is great, there's something wonderful and cozy about reliving memories over a beautiful photo album. 

But nostalgia isn't the only benefit of photo books— you can compile photos taken from multiple sources, tell a story, or create a memorable gift. Custom photo books let us layout our favorite pictures to our exact liking. With themed styles, countless cover choices, and customizable designs, we can capture our memories in a beautiful, bound book. 

We've chosen five of our favorite custom photo book services you can use to make your own album. They offer a range of products with different levels of customization and quality so you can choose the right service for you whether your priority is printing speed, user-friendliness, quality, design options, or price.

Our picks for the 5 best custom photo book services

Best value: Shutterfly Shutterfly is a major photo service platform where you can get prints, design holiday cards, create home decor, and make photo books. It offers dozens of pre-made themed styles as well as the option to completely customize your book. 

Most user-friendly: Mixbook You can start with one of Mixbook's trendy themes or a blank book, choose a landscape, square, or portrait layout, and start adding pictures to its many layout options. 

Best for professionals: Blurb Blurb is designed for amateur and professional photographers, so it works with Adobe InDesign, Lightroom, and Photoshop for the highest quality prints and highest design control. 

Fastest turnaround: Walgreens Walgreens offers a basic, beginner-friendly, and quick custom photo book service. The editor is simple and very easy to use with an overall "fun" feel.

Highest quality: Printique Printique is a great high-quality photo book option for non-professionals, offering leather and fabric covers and only using professional photo and inkjet paper to ensure your photos are printed at their best.

Best value: Shutterfly

Shutterfly is a major photo service platform where you can get prints, design holiday cards, create home decor, and make photo books. It offers dozens of pre-made themed styles as well as the option to completely customize your book. 

Once you choose a size, type of cover, and page type, Shutterfly offers you to "Make it Fast" or "Make it Manually"— either using its shortcuts or a fully customizable layout. 

Shutterfly also offers a "Make My Book" free designer service that's still customizable but removes most of the leg work. You can choose your style and photos, include any special requests, and edit or accept the final product that's guaranteed in three business days or less. 

Browse Shutterfly's photo books here .

Most user-friendly: Mixbook

Mixbook has been rated as many people's favorite custom photo book service because its design system is extremely intuitive and user-friendly. 

You can start with one of their trendy themes or a blank book, choose a landscape, square, or portrait layout, and start adding pictures to its many layout options. 

Mixbook has a huge collection of stickers, designs, and fonts but it also lets you upload your own stickers or backgrounds to make it even more personal. Plus, you can invite others to collaborate on your photo book so they can upload and add their own photos or pages.

Browse Mixbook's photo books here .

Best for professionals: Blurb

Blurb is designed for amateur and professional photographers, so it works with Adobe InDesign, Lightroom, and Photoshop for the highest quality prints and highest design control. 

It also offers its own downloadable design tool which allows for full creative control but isn't very beginner-friendly if you're looking for a "drag and drop" template.

Blurb is great for professional-looking photo books or high-quality gifts. And if you're looking to self-publish your photography: it'll even help you list your book on Amazon and bulk order your product.

Browse Blurb's photo books here .

Fastest turnaround: Walgreens

Walgreens offers a basic, beginner-friendly, and quick custom photo book service. The editor is simple and very easy to use with an overall "fun" feel.

Walgreen's photo books are almost fully customizable and the tools in its editor are neatly organized, which is great for not overwhelming the designer but can arguably make it a little hard to find exactly what you're looking for. 

Though the same-day pick-up is extremely convenient, it does mean quality can be lacking (though it may not be obvious). For example, the fast "flat lay" books aren't bound as a true flatlay but are constructed to give a flat appearance. The photos themselves may also print imperfectly and the quality of your book can heavily depend on your Walgreens location and the experience of the photo team.

Browse Walgreens' photo books here .

Highest quality: Printique

Printique is a great high-quality photo book option for non-professionals, offering leather and fabric covers and only using professional photo and inkjet paper to ensure your photos are printed at their best.

You can choose linen, metallic, or pebble-textured pages in addition to its glossy, matte, and best-selling Luster options. The only things less customizable are the photo layouts themselves: Printique requires the photographs to take center stage rather than stickers, words, or themed designs. 

Though all of Printique's options are already high quality, you can upgrade to a Premium album which is built, bound, and printed a little differently so it has a luxurious feel through every page. Premium albums are customized similarly but have different design options available such as a metal album cover and are created with longevity in mind.

Browse all of Printique's photo books here .

You can purchase logo and accolade licensing to this story here . Disclosure: Written and researched by the Insider Reviews team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our partners. We may receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at [email protected] .

• Main content

The best photo books in 2024: Mixbook, Shutterfly, Printique, Snapfish and more tested

What service should you use to make the best photo books and photo albums? We reviewed and compared five of the most popular services to find out

The quick list

Best overall, best image quality, other services we tested, how we test photo book services, when is the best time to buy a photo book.

• How to choose

1. Best overall 2. Best image quality 3. Best value 4. Other services we tested 5. How we test 6. Photo book test scores 7. The best time to buy a photo book 8. How to choose

Whatever the occasion, a personalized photo book always makes a great gift. But where do you begin if you want to turn your photos of a summer trip to Spain or a surprise birthday weekend in the mountains into a beautiful present?

We’ve been testing the best photo book services for more than five years by doing what you would do: creating a photo book. In the process, we looked at which service was the easiest to use, which offered the most options for things like clip art and binding, which had the best image quality, and which offered the best value. 

This year, we tested Mixbook, Printique, Shutterfly, Snapfish, and Vistaprint. We've also included shipping information where available, as photo books take time to make — and will cost more the longer you wait to order. 

And be sure to check out our picks for the best photo calendars , and best photo cards , and discover 9 tips to make the best holiday cards .

Great features, excellent image quality, the easiest-to-use software, and even online chat support make this our top pick overall.

Read more below .

If image quality is your number-one criteria when choosing the best photo book service, go with Printique, which also has powerful design software.

Read more below.  

While not the flashiest of services, Vistaprint had good-enough quality and affordable prices to make this a solid value pick among photo books.

Read more below.

The best photo book services

Why you can trust Tom's Guide Our writers and editors spend hours analyzing and reviewing products, services, and apps to help find what's best for you. Find out more about how we test, analyze, and rate.

Our expert review:

Specifications

Reasons to buy, reasons to avoid.

Mixbook was the best service overall for making photo books of the five we tested. Its combination of ease of use, top-notch image quality and good value should make it appealing to a broad range of users. Newbies will love Mixbook’s fun and easy-to-use software while more advanced users will appreciate the wide range of customization options to help you get creative. And the image quality of our 20-page, hardcover book came in a close second to Printique.

If you’re intimidated about designing a photo book, Mixbook takes out the stress with clear and fun-to-use software that helps make the process a breeze. At the same time, there are hundreds upon hundreds of ways to customize your book, including 644 design templates alone, if you want to take a deeper dive. Mixbook had among the best-looking and most user-friendly project editing software of the services we reviewed, matched only by Snapfish . The interface offers a myriad of options but isn’t cluttered and optimizes the space by providing a roomy preview of your project.

In terms of image quality, our finished book from Mixbook tied Printique for the best cover while coming in second place for its interior pages. For the photo books we created during testing, we used an image of a waterfall we shot at Yellowstone National Park. The photo was captured at sunset and Mixbook did a great job of reproducing detail in both the brighter light at the top of the waterfall and the shadow areas in the valley below. On the inside pages, Mixbook's default Everyday Semi-Gloss finish produced solid, pleasing contrast. Both light and dark skintones in our portraits were rendered true-to-life.

Other things we liked about Mixbook are its well-designed mobile app that lets you manage your projects on the site or create products from the photos on your phone. And finally, Mixbook’s handy 24/7 chat support is built right into the design interface, so it’s always available if you get stuck while making a book.

If you order a photo book from Mixbook, be sure to check out its shipping information and deadlines .

Read our full Mixbook review . 

2. Printique

If image quality is your main concern for photo books, Printique is the service for you. While some competing companies have caught up in other ways, Printique still makes the best-looking books around. Their overall stature, however, has slipped a bit, dropping them to second place behind Mixbook after being ranked first for books in years past. What’s changed? Printique’s software feels dated now and is a challenge to use, which could turn off less experienced users. Printique’s photo books are also significantly more expensive than the competition.

For serious photographers (including pros), though, the trade-offs may be worth it. The most distinctive thing about Printique’s books are their very thick, rigid pages, which are similar to what you’d find in a professional wedding photo album. Similarly, even the entry-level books come with a layflat binding that prevents a furrow in the seam between pages, making this design perfect for images that span spreads. The pages display really well with excellent color, skin tone, contrast and sharpness/detail. We also liked the results of a few black-and-white photos we included in our book, which looked dramatic without losing detail.

While Printique’s software offers the most control of the services we tested, we feel it’s better suited to the advanced user than newbies. Seasoned designers will appreciate the variety of rulers, gridlines, submenus, and toolbars offered in Printique’s feature-rich interface, but beginners might be intimidated. 

Another barrier for entry is price. Printique doesn’t really have an “entry-level” book that’s comparable to the other services since it only offers the premium layflat binding option with lavish, thick pages, which cost more. This level of quality doesn’t come cheap.

When ordering a photo book, be sure to check out Printique's shipping information and deadlines , so you know how long to expect before it arrives.

Read our full Printique review .

3. Vistaprint

If you think Vistaprint is only adept at making business cards and other marketing materials, think again. The company has expanded in recent years to include a wide range of personal print-on-demand services including photo books. While it’s difficult to find the book-making option on Vistaprint’s vast website, once you do, we think you’ll be pleased with the process and the results, as we were. Plus, the prices can’t be beat, making it the best value of all the services for books.

For testing purposes, we made hardcover books with all the services in approximately the 11 x 8.5-inch, landscape format since we felt that size would appeal to most users. At $30, Vistaprint’s book was the cheapest of the five companies; $5 less than Shutterfly, which was the second cheapest, and a whopping $45 less than Printique, which was the most expensive. As an added bonus, Vistaprint’s entry-level books come standard at 24 pages, while all the competition’s books start at 20 pages.

Given the affordable price, we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of our photo books from Vistaprint. Our wraparound matte cover shot of a waterfall had rich detail even in the highlight and shadow areas, showing good dynamic range. The white endpapers for the front and rear inside covers have a classy look and feel as does the well stitched binding. The image quality of the interior pages was inconsistent though, with some of our landscape and cityscape images looking vibrant and crisp, while portraits were flat and overexposed at times.

Vistaprint’s software isn’t snazzy, but it gets the job done. It may look basic and a bit dated but unlike Printique’s complicated and outmoded interface, Vistaprint’s rudimentary software provides a relatively stress-free experience for making photo books. Just don’t expect anything fancy or a vast assortment of editing tools and you won’t be disappointed.  

Read our full Vistaprint review .

4. Shutterfly

Shutterfly is an easy to use and reliable service that does a lot of things right. In particular, the paper quality was great overall, and it did a decent job with its photo printing. Mixbook remains the best photo book service overall for its higher quality and better software, but if you want a relatively stress-free experience in creating solid if not spectacular books from a seasoned brand, Shutterfly is the one for you. 

We thought Shutterfly’s software offered a good compromise between providing full control over a project and not overloading you with too much information. If you get stuck while making a product, just click the question mark icon in the lower left to bring up the help overlay. The only downside is we found the software somewhat slow to use; in particular, there was a noticeable lag of a few seconds before images displayed in a layout.

Despite its robust and intuitive software, the resulting photo books were a mixed bag. While the page quality was the best of all the photo books we reviewed, the color was just ok, with some pale skin tones in portraits getting washed out while darker skin appeared oversaturated with a loss of detail.

The default glossy hardcover was quite eye-catching though, and the color of our waterfall shot looked natural with ample detail. But the shiny cover surface is prone to glare. Inside, the pages have a good weight and the smooth matte finish produced minimal reflection. Some brighter images, however, appeared slightly washed out in print. We also weren’t so keen on the binding, which felt flimsy, and cut off the edges of the images in the center crease. So, while Shutterfly did a good job overall, there are enough misses to fall short of the top tier of Printique and Mixbook.

Before ordering, be sure to check out Shutterfly's shipping guidelines .

Read our full Shutterfly review .

5. Snapfish

With how easy and user-friendly Snapfish’s software was to use, we really wanted to like this service more than we did. The process of creating photo books, calendars, and cards with Snapfish was so pleasant, we expected the finished products to be equally satisfying. Unfortunately, its photo book came in last among the services we tested.

The bright glossy hardcover of our book didn’t look bad from a distance, but when inspected closer it lacked detail in the flowing waterfall shot. Not awful but not great either. The print quality of the inside pages is where Snapfish really stumbles. The floppy pages in our standard 8 x 11-inch book were the thinnest of all we created from the various companies. On the other hand, while the stitched perfect binding of the book looked cheap, the crease between pages cut off only a small portion of the images. Comparatively, most of the other books in our testing obscured noticeable portions of photos in the binding.     

We wish all of the photo printing brands would emulate Snapfish’s snazzy software. It’s not only simple to use and logically laid out, it turns the process of creating a photo book into a pleasure rather than like pulling teeth. When creating a book, you can scroll through an authentic looking visual representation of the entire book to see all of the pages more easily. Snapfish’s book builder also had the fastest load times of the various companies we tested, with virtually no lag when dragging and dropping images or scrolling through layouts. 

In the end, Snapfish is something of a conundrum. While we would recommend it for anyone who might be intimidated by the process of creating products, those with more discerning image quality taste for books should look elsewhere.

Read our full Snapfish review .

For testing purposes, we created similar custom-designed books from the five services in our evaluation, Mixbook, Printique, Shutterfly, Snapfish and Vistaprint, which we deemed to be the top companies on the market. We made 20 to 24-page hardcover books with all the services in approximately the 11 x 8.5-inch, landscape format since we felt that size would appeal to most users. The only major difference in the five books was the one created with Printique, which only offers a premium layflat binding and professional-quality, thick pages, even as an entry-level option. 

While creating our books, we picked layouts and designs that were similar across the five services as well. For photos, I used my own portraits, landscapes, and cityscapes, which were shot in both studio and natural light. For portraits, the subjects encompassed a variety of skin tones. The three main factors the services were judged on were software, image quality, and value. For the book-making software, we considered both the levels of customization offered and the ease-of-use. 

For image quality, we compared photos across the selection of books, as well as against the original digital images displayed on a MacBook Air retina display. Criteria for judging included cover quality, paper quality, color, skin tones, contrast, and sharpness/detail. For value, we took into account both the price of the photo books and the level of quality of the finished product. So, for instance, a good quality book that cost a low price would get a higher value score than a poor quality book at a similar price. The same value scale was used for more expensive books in our testing.

This year, we evaluated Mixbook, Shutterfly, Printique, Vistaprint, and Snapfish. However, in years past, we've also tested a number of other services, none of whom made it into our top tier. If you'd like to read those older reviews, they're listed below. Just bear in mind that the quality of some of these services may have changed since we last reviewed them.

  Motif review | Artifact Uprising review | Amazon Prints review | Mpix review | Picaboo review | Blurb Bookify review | CVS Photo review | Walmart Photos review | Mimeo review

Procrastination is a natural human instinct, but it will cost you when it comes to photo books. In particular, if the book is a gift for the holidays or if you just want it quickly for yourself, you’re going to be paying more for rush delivery services, which can increase the cost greatly. And in our experience, fast delivery is the one thing that is seldom discounted by book companies. 

So, try to order you books as early as possible. Not only does it save you time, it gives you the chance to look over the book and order a reprint in case there are any errors. Another reason to order as early as possible is that many of the best photo book services offer big discounts throughout the year — up to 50% off in some cases, or with other extras thrown in. 

How to choose the best photo book service for you

Image quality The most important factor for most people is that their book should look good. But what does this mean exactly? In simple terms, it means the quality of the photos should be great — skin tones should be accurate, lighting should be correct, and details should be crisp. In the best photo books, you should have good contrast, deep blacks, and an overall evenness in color gradation. 

Book construction A photo book should also be built well. You shouldn't see pages coming free from the binding, the paper itself should have a substantial weight and feel, and images and text should be aligned properly.

Book-creation software If a company has poor software, you’re likely to either not be able to create the photo book you want or grow frustrated with the process and give up. While ease-of-use is a key factor, customization is also important too and our favorite brands offered a good combination of both with their software. You should be able to fully edit the book templates, easily find background art and more, and make fine adjustments to your photos, too.

Cost Price is also an important factor. With the exception of the most and least expensive options, you won't find too much variation between photo book printing services. However, some services offer options like better paper, different-size books, and things like lay-flat binding, which means you can open the book flat on a table, and not worry about breaking the spine.

More from Tom's Guide

• Best photo storage and sharing sites
• Best digital photo frames
• Best photo editing apps

Sign up to get the BEST of Tom’s Guide direct to your inbox.

Upgrade your life with a daily dose of the biggest tech news, lifestyle hacks and our curated analysis. Be the first to know about cutting-edge gadgets and the hottest deals.

Dan Havlik has worked in the photo industry for over decades and is currently editor-in chief of Wild Eye ( www.wildeyemagazine.com ), a new magazine devoted to the celebration of nature, wildlife, and underwater photography. He was previously the editor-in-chief of Outdoor Photographer and Shutterbug magazines. He has been an editor and writer for a variety of other publications and websites including Photo District News (PDN), Rangefinder, Wired, Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Consumer Reports, Maxim, Men’s Journal, Imaging Resource, and LAPTOP. Dan is also an avid runner with three marathons under his belt and has written fitness reviews, including guides to the best running shoes and GPS watches, for Business Insider.

Insta360 X4 review — the ultimate 360 camera

Fujifilm Instax mini 99 review

‘Wednesday’ season 2 just added a big star to the cast — and more characters are coming back in the hit Netflix series

Most Popular

• 2 Novaform sale: save up to $120 on Costco's most popular boxed mattress
• 3 Huge Dick’s Sporting Goods sale taking up to 50% off — 9 deals on Hoka, Adidas, Nike and more
• 4 TikTok ban gets real in US as bill passes Senate — and Biden just signed it
• 5 Android 15 tipped for 'Even Dimmer' mode to make your phone less annoying at bedtime

• Requires Internet connection and Google Account.
• Feature is only available to photos shot in "Portrait Mode" or equivalent.
• Printing not available in all countries.
• Requires separate purchase of a compatible display.

Advertisement

• Skip to main content
• Skip to primary sidebar

Comments currently disabled due to technical issues with Disqus

Chrome Unboxed - The Latest Chrome OS News

A Space for All Things Chrome, Google, and More!

• Upcoming Devices
• Google Home

Twitter · Instagram · YouTube Facebook · Email · About

Privacy Policy

Latest Giveaway: Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Go! Enter To Win Here!

Your Google Photos library is about to get far less cluttered

April 23, 2024 By Robby Payne Leave a Comment

Get ready for a cleaner, more organized Google Photos experience very soon. Recent finds from AssembleDebug (via PiunikaWeb) point to a major update that should help every single Google Photos user who feels a tad bit overwhelmed by their image library’s continual collecting of not only treasured memories, but one-time use items like memes, screenshots and GIFs.

New code strings in the Google Photos app indicate a setting titled “Hide Clutter” will soon arrive to help us all get rid of these sorts of files in our uploaded photos. While it doesn’t look like they will be auto-deleted, they’ll be conveniently hidden off to themselves, letting you focus on the photos that actually matter. Those memes and screenshots will still be in a designated album if you need them or simply rounded up for mass deletion should you choose.

advertisement

While I love – LOVE – the auto-backup feature of Google Photos, my library is an absolute mess of good photos, test photos, random golf swing videos (you train best when you see what you are actually doing), screen grabs, memes and more. I personally cannot wait for this new “Hide Clutter” option to arrive and help me at least comb out the stuff I know doesn’t belong.

Combine this with the recently added “Photo Stacks” feature for grouping similar photos together, and it might turn out that my Google Photos library has hope of getting organized despite my lack of attention to it. With Google Photos easily being one of Google’s best products, it’s encouraging to see them add features that aren’t just silly patches, but truly useful changes. Crossing my fingers that this arrives sooner than later.

Newsletter Signup

• Each New Post
• Daily Digest
• Weekly Digest
• Promos & Giveaways

This is a test

About Robby Payne

As the founder of Chrome Unboxed, Robby has been reviewing Chromebooks for over a decade. His passion for ChromeOS and the devices it runs on drives his relentless pursuit to find the best Chromebooks, best services, and best tips for those looking to adopt ChromeOS and those who've already made the switch.

Reader Interactions

Leave a reply cancel reply.

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Advertisement

Supported by

Taylor Swift’s ‘Poets’ Arrives With a Promotional Blitz (and a Second LP)

The pop superstar’s latest album was preceded by a satellite radio channel, a word game, a return to TikTok and an actual library. For her fans, more is always welcome.

• Share full article

By Ben Sisario

Taylor Swift was already the most ubiquitous pop star in the galaxy, her presence dominating the music charts, the concert calendar, the Super Bowl, the Grammys.

Then it came time for her to promote a new album.

In the days leading up to the release of “The Tortured Poets Department” on Friday, Swift became all but inescapable, online and seemingly everywhere else. Her lyrics were the basis for an Apple Music word game . A Spotify-sponsored, Swift-branded “ library installation ,” in muted pink and gray, popped up in a shopping complex in Los Angeles. In Chicago, a QR code painted on a brick wall directed fans to another Easter egg on YouTube. Videos on Swift’s social media accounts, showing antique typewriters and globes with pins, were dissected for clues about her music. SiriusXM added a Swift radio station; of course it’s called Channel 13 (Taylor’s Version).

About the only thing Swift didn’t do was an interview with a journalist.

At this stage in Swift’s career, an album release is more than just a moment to sell music; it’s all but a given that “The Tortured Poets Department” will open with gigantic sales numbers, many of them for “ghost white,” “phantom clear” and other collector-ready vinyl variants . More than that, the album’s arrival is a test of the celebrity-industrial complex overall, with tech platforms and media outlets racing to capture whatever piece of the fan frenzy they can get.

Threads, the newish social media platform from Meta, primed Swifties for their idol’s arrival there, and offered fans who shared Swift’s first Threads post a custom badge. Swift stunned the music industry last week by breaking ranks with her record label, Universal, and returning her music to TikTok, which Universal and other industry groups have said pays far too little in royalties. Overnight, TikTok unveiled “The Ultimate Taylor Swift In-App Experience,” offering fans digital goodies like a “Tortured Poets-inspired animation” on their feed.

Before the album’s release on Friday, Swift revealed that a music video — for “Fortnight,” the first single, featuring Post Malone — would arrive on Friday at 8 p.m. Eastern time. At 2 a.m., she had another surprise: 15 more songs. “I’d written so much tortured poetry in the past 2 years and wanted to share it all with you,” she wrote in a social media post , bringing “The Anthology” edition of the album to 31 tracks.

“The Tortured Poets Department,” which Swift, 34, announced in a Grammy acceptance speech in February — she had the Instagram post ready to go — lands as Swift’s profile continues to rise to ever-higher levels of cultural saturation.

Her Eras Tour , begun last year, has been a global phenomenon, crashing Ticketmaster and lifting local economies ; by some estimates, it might bring in as much as $2 billion in ticket sales — by far a new record — before it ends later this year. Swift’s romance with the Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has been breathlessly tracked from its first flirtations last summer to their smooch on the Super Bowl field in February. The mere thought that Swift might endorse a presidential candidate this year sent conspiracy-minded politicos reeling .

“The Tortured Poets Department” — don’t even ask about the missing apostrophe — arrived accompanied by a poem written by Stevie Nicks that begins, “He was in love with her/Or at least she thought so.” That establishes what many fans correctly anticipated as the album’s theme of heartbreak and relationship rot, Swift’s signature topic. “I love you/It’s ruining my life,” she sings on “Fortnight.”

Fans were especially primed for the fifth track, “So Long, London,” given that (1) Swift has said she often sequences her most vulnerable and emotionally intense songs fifth on an LP, and (2) the title suggested it may be about Joe Alwyn, the English actor who was Swift’s boyfriend for about six years, reportedly until early 2023 . Indeed, “So Long” is an epic breakup tune, with lines like “You left me at the house by the heath” and “I’m pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free.” Tracks from the album leaked on Wednesday, and fans have also interpreted some songs as being about Matty Healy , the frontman of the band the 1975, whom Swift was briefly linked to last year.

The album’s title song starts with a classic Swift detail of a memento from a lost love: “You left your typewriter at my apartment/Straight from the tortured poets department.” It also name-drops Dylan Thomas, Patti Smith and, somewhat surprisingly given that company, Charlie Puth, the singer-songwriter who crooned the hook on Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again,” a No. 1 hit in 2015. (Swift has praised Wiz Khalifa and that song in the past.)

Other big moments include “Florida!!!,” featuring Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine, in which Swift declares — after seven big percussive bangs — that the state “is one hell of a drug.” Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, the producers and songwriters who have been Swift’s primary collaborators in recent years, both worked on “Tortured Poets,” bringing their signature mix of moody, pulsating electronic tracks and delicate acoustic moments, like a bare piano on “Loml” (as in “love of my life”).

As the ninth LP Swift has released in five years, “Tortured Poets” is the latest entry in a remarkable creative streak. That includes five new studio albums and four rerecordings of her old music — each of which sailed to No. 1. When Swift played SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles in August, she spoke from the stage about her recording spurt, saying that the forced break from touring during the Covid-19 pandemic had spurred her to connect with fans by releasing more music.

“And so I decided, in order to keep that connection going,” she said , “if I couldn’t play live shows with you, I was going to make and release as many albums as humanly possible.”

That was two albums ago.

Ben Sisario covers the music industry. He has been writing for The Times since 1998. More about Ben Sisario

Inside the World of Taylor Swift

A Triumph at the Grammys: Taylor Swift made history  by winning her fourth album of the year at the 2024 edition of the awards, an event that saw women take many of the top awards .

‘The T ortured Poets Department’: Poets reacted to Swift’s new album name , weighing in on the pertinent question: What do the tortured poets think ?  

In the Public Eye: The budding romance between Swift and the football player Travis Kelce created a monocultural vortex that reached its apex  at the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. Ahead of kickoff, we revisited some key moments in their relationship .

Politics (Taylor’s Version): After months of anticipation, Swift made her first foray into the 2024 election for Super Tuesday with a bipartisan message on Instagram . The singer, who some believe has enough influence  to affect the result of the election , has yet to endorse a presidential candidate.

Conspiracy Theories: In recent months, conspiracy theories about Swift and her relationship with Kelce have proliferated , largely driven by supporters of former President Donald Trump . The pop star's fans are shaking them off .