In today’s digital age, while we capture countless memories on our smartphones, the desire to hold a physical photograph remains strong. Numerous online printing services promise to transform your digital images into beautiful prints, but the quality and service can vary significantly. Navigating through these options to find the Best Printing Services can be overwhelming. This review dives deep into several popular online photo printing services, comparing their print quality, pricing, packaging, and overall user experience to help you make an informed decision and choose the ideal service for your precious memories.
Key Considerations When Choosing Online Printing Services
Selecting the right online printing service goes beyond just price. Several factors contribute to a satisfying experience and ensure your photos are printed to your expectations. Here are crucial aspects to consider when searching for the best printing services:
Print Quality: The most important factor is the quality of the prints themselves. Look for services that offer vibrant colors, sharp details, and accurate skin tones. A service excelling in print quality will ensure your memories are preserved beautifully.
Paper and Finish Options: Different papers and finishes can drastically alter the look and feel of your prints. The best printing services offer a variety of paper types (glossy, matte, luster, etc.) and finishes to suit your preferences and the type of photo being printed.
Color Accuracy: Accurate color reproduction is vital, especially for portraits and landscape photos. Services that maintain color fidelity ensure your prints faithfully represent the original image.
Smartphone Compatibility and Cropping: With most photos now taken on smartphones with a 4:3 aspect ratio, compatibility and cropping options are essential. Some services force cropping to fit standard print sizes, which can ruin carefully composed shots. The best printing services offer options for uncropped printing or smartphone-friendly print sizes.
Packaging and Shipping: Even the highest quality prints can be ruined by poor packaging. Reliable services use sturdy packaging to protect your prints from damage during shipping. Reasonable shipping costs and timely delivery are also important considerations.
User Experience and Ordering Process: An easy-to-navigate website or app, a straightforward ordering process, and clear communication are hallmarks of excellent service. The best printing services provide a seamless and user-friendly experience from start to finish.
Customer Support: Responsive and helpful customer support is crucial if you encounter any issues. Easy access to support via multiple channels (phone, email, chat) indicates a company that values its customers.
Reviewing Popular Online Printing Services
To identify the best printing services, we examined several well-known providers, putting their print quality, service, and value to the test. Here’s a breakdown of our findings:
Mpix: While Mpix enjoys considerable popularity and boasts a user-friendly app for ordering directly from smartphones, our evaluation revealed some significant drawbacks. Panelists consistently ranked Mpix photos as their least favorite due to forced cropping when printing smartphone photos. This inflexibility is a major issue for users who pay close attention to image composition. Services like EZprints and RitzPix offer smartphone-friendly sizes, while Printique and Nations Photo Lab allow uncropped prints regardless of aspect ratio, options currently absent at Mpix.
Snapfish: Known for its budget-friendly prices, Snapfish unfortunately sacrifices quality in several areas. Prints exhibited harsh contrast, leading to loss of detail in shadows and highlights. Portrait photos displayed noticeable orange skin tones. Packaging also proved inadequate, with smaller prints shipped in flimsy envelopes lacking sufficient padding, resulting in damage during transit.
A close-up of the edge of a rolled-up print from Snapfish that was damaged during transport.
Snapfish’s subpar packaging led to damaged prints, highlighting the importance of protection during shipping for online printing services.
RitzPix: RitzPix also struggled with packaging, despite charging a premium shipping fee. An 11×14 print arrived damaged due to being shipped in an undersized flat envelope with minimal backing. This damage was easily preventable with better packaging, especially considering the high shipping cost.
A close-up of the corner of a photo print from RitzPix that has been damaged, in front of a green background.
Damaged corner on a RitzPix print due to insufficient packaging during transit, illustrating potential risks with online photo delivery.
EZprints: EZprints shared Snapfish’s issue of subpar print quality. Prints from EZprints consistently appeared hazy and washed-out, lacking sharpness and clarity. Tonal areas also exhibited a mottled appearance, further detracting from the overall print quality.
Shutterfly: Shutterfly, while being one of the more expensive services tested, delivered only average print quality. The primary complaint centered on packaging. Smaller prints were shipped in thin envelopes, and larger 11×14 prints arrived curled from being shipped in tubes, requiring flattening before display.
A large photo print that was shipped in a shipping tube and now has a very defined curvature, resting on a table.
Curled photo print from Shutterfly, a common issue with tube packaging necessitating flattening upon arrival from online print services.
Bay Photo: Bay Photo offers smaller print sizes optimized for smartphone photos and utilizes sturdy packaging. However, print quality was assessed as middling in blind tests, rarely being chosen as a top pick by participants. It was generally seen as a reasonable but not exceptional second choice.
Amazon Prints: Amazon Prints offers competitive pricing on 4×6 prints and seamless integration for Amazon Prime members using Prime Photos. Print quality was deemed average, with skin tones leaning towards orange. Packaging in a flat mailer with thin cardboard resulted in corner damage to one print, echoing packaging concerns seen with other services.
Walmart: Walmart provides a 4×5.3-inch print option, accommodating smartphone 4:3 aspect ratios without cropping. However, their overall print size selection is less comprehensive compared to top-tier services.
Zazzle: Zazzle, while offering photo printing, is geared towards single-item orders with a cumbersome user interface for multiple prints. The ordering process, involving dragging each image individually onto a print-size template, is inefficient and tedious for larger orders.
Two large coffee table books, placed on top of a couple pieces of cardboard that are being used to flatten an unseen photo print.
Flattening curled prints with weights, a recommended practice for prints shipped in tubes from online photo processing companies.
Winkflash: Winkflash faces significant negative customer reviews citing issues with customer service and even loss of access to hosted photos due to ownership changes. Limited customer support options, with only a web form available, further contribute to concerns about reliability and customer satisfaction, making it a less desirable option among printing services.
FreePrints: FreePrints’ offer of up to 1,000 free 4×6 prints annually (excluding shipping) seems enticing. However, the limited information available on their single-page website and the necessity of using a phone app for all operations raise questions about transparency and long-term sustainability. The adage “if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is” applies here, suggesting caution.
Choosing the Best Printing Service for Your Needs
Finding the best printing services ultimately depends on your individual priorities. If print quality and uncropped smartphone prints are paramount, services offering those features should be prioritized, even if they come at a slightly higher price. If budget is the primary concern, be aware that lower-cost options may compromise on print quality and packaging. Carefully consider the factors outlined, weigh the pros and cons of each service based on our review, and choose a printing service that aligns with your specific needs and expectations to ensure your photos are printed beautifully and safely delivered.
