In today’s digital age, while we capture countless photos on our smartphones, the desire to hold a tangible print remains strong. Finding the best place to print these cherished memories can be overwhelming. This guide explores various online photo printing services, comparing their print quality, ease of use, and overall experience to help you decide Where To Get A Photo Printed that truly does your images justice.
Mpix, a popular service known for its user-friendly app, unfortunately didn’t impress our expert panel. Despite the convenience of ordering directly from a smartphone, Mpix photos were ranked as least favorite due to significant cropping issues when printing smartphone photos. This forced cropping is a major drawback for those who meticulously compose their shots. Services like EZprints and RitzPix offer smartphone-friendly 4:3 aspect ratio print sizes, while Printique and Nations Photo Lab provide the option to print images uncropped, regardless of aspect ratio mismatches. Mpix currently lacks both of these crucial options.
Bay Photo offers small print sizes optimized for smartphone photos and sturdy packaging. However, their print quality was deemed middling in our tests. Participants in blind comparisons often placed Bay Photo as a reasonable second choice, but rarely a top or bottom pick, indicating a decent but not outstanding performance.
If price is your primary concern, Snapfish is often the cheapest option. However, this low cost comes at a significant quality trade-off. Both 8×10 and 4×6 prints from Snapfish exhibited harsh contrast, resulting in lost detail in shadows and highlights. Portrait photos also suffered from noticeably orange skin tones. Packaging was another area of concern, with smaller prints arriving in flimsy cardboard envelopes lacking padding. Even the 11×14 print, shipped in a tube, was damaged due to the absence of internal padding.
A close-up of the edge of a rolled-up print from Snapfish showing damage from shipping. The print has a visible crease.
Snapfish’s inadequate packaging resulted in damage during shipping. Photo: Amadou Diallo
RitzPix also struggled with packaging and shipping damage. Their 11×14 print arrived in a flat envelope with minimal backing board, which proved insufficient protection. The print was damaged in the corner, a problem easily avoidable with a larger envelope or a box, as used by several competitors. Adding insult to injury, RitzPix charged a hefty $14.95 for shipping, more than double the average.
A close-up of the corner of a damaged photo print from RitzPix against a green background. The corner of the print is visibly bent and creased.
Damaged corner on a RitzPix print due to insufficient packaging. Photo: Amadou Diallo
EZprints, similar to Snapfish, stood out for its subpar print quality. Every print had a hazy, washed-out appearance, lacking sharpness and clarity. Areas of consistent tone appeared mottled, further detracting from the image quality.
Shutterfly, while being the second most expensive service tested, only delivered average print quality. The main issue with Shutterfly was packaging. Small prints were shipped in thin flat envelopes, and 11×14 prints arrived curled in a tube, requiring flattening before display.
A curved photo print from Shutterfly resting on a table, showing the significant curl caused by tube shipping.
Shipping tubes can protect prints but often cause significant curling. Photo: Amadou Diallo
Zazzle offers photo printing, but its user interface is geared towards individual, single-item orders. The print size selection process involves dragging each image onto a print-size template, making it incredibly time-consuming for multiple prints. This cumbersome process makes Zazzle unsuitable for anything beyond very small, individual print jobs.
Two coffee table books flattening a photo print placed between cardboard pieces, illustrating a method to uncurl prints.
Flattening curled prints requires time and weight. Photo: Amadou Diallo
Winkflash suffers from numerous negative customer reviews, highlighting issues with customer service and even loss of access to hosted photos due to ownership changes. Their sole customer support option is a web form, lacking phone or email contact, making Winkflash a service to avoid.
FreePrints offers up to 1,000 free 4×6 prints annually (excluding shipping). However, their website provides minimal information, and ordering appears to be exclusively through a phone app. The lack of transparency and limited online presence raises concerns, echoing the adage, “if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.”
Amazon Prints offers 4×6 prints at a slightly higher price point than budget options like Snapfish. While convenient for Amazon Prime members already using Prime Photos, print quality was only average, with skin tones leaning towards orange. Packaging was again a weak point, with prints arriving in a flimsy flat mailer, resulting in corner damage to one print.
Walmart offers a 4×5.3-inch print size, accommodating smartphone 4:3 aspect ratios without cropping. However, their overall print size selection is less comprehensive compared to top-rated services.
Conclusion:
Choosing where to get a photo printed depends on your priorities. For the highest print quality and uncropped smartphone prints, services like Printique and Nations Photo Lab are worth considering, despite potentially higher prices. If budget is the primary concern and you are willing to compromise on quality and risk potential damage, Snapfish or Amazon Prints are options, albeit with noted drawbacks. Services like Mpix, EZprints, RitzPix, and Shutterfly presented various quality or packaging issues in our testing. Ultimately, carefully consider your needs for print quality, convenience, and budget to make the best choice for your precious photo memories.
