The Best Online Photo Printing Services for 2024 (2024)

Online photo printing services take your pictures and turn them into printed keepsakes, delivered to you through the mail or picked up at a local store. PCMag has been testing and rating these services for more than a dozen years. We upload photos to each service, edit them, choose prints, and wait for them to arrive or pick them up. We rate the best online photo printers on the quality of the prints, price, how easy their ordering system is to use, and the packaging used for delivery or ease of pickup. As with all PCMag testing and rating, we rely on high editorial integrity and objectivity, as outlined in our mission statement.

The highest-rated services are Nations Photo Lab (best overall), Walgreens Photo (best for speed), and Walmart Photo (best price). You'll notice that Shutterfly is not included. In testing, Shutterfly produced only mediocre print quality while charging twice the price of Snapfish, which delivered similar results. EZPrints, the online photo printer for Target, also failed to make the cut.

Below are all the top photo printing services we tested, followed by some helpful ideas about the factors you should consider when choosing the right service to give your digital keepsakes physical form.

Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks

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Buying Guide: The Best Online Photo Printing Services for 2024

Which Photo Printing Service Has the Best Quality?

Print quality is the most important factor when ordering prints. How accurately do the photos reflect the images you shot? Most of the prints we received during testing, especially at the smaller 4-by-6-inch size, revealed acceptable image quality, but there are noticeable differences in lighting and saturation.

Nations Photo Lab and Mpix deliver the highest quality in terms of color, sharpness, and paper stock. You see different quality in 8-by-10 blowups compared with the small 4-by-6s. You can see the differences in the detail-rich city scene below. (If you're on a PC, you can right-click the image and view it in a new tab for a larger version.)

(Credit: PCMag)

And here's a 4-by-6 portrait comparing the services:

(Credit: PCMag/Justin Pietropaoli)

Paper is another consideration. Many services use Fuji Crystal archive, which is perfectly good, but higher-end services like Nations Photo Lab, Mpix, and Printique use truly professional-quality Kodak Endura paper, which is thicker and rated to last longer.

Where Can You Get Cheap Photo Prints?

You don't have to break the bank to get printed photos. For 17 cents or less per photo, you can have 4-by-6-inch prints from several services here. The lowest prices are from Snapfish (10 cents), Walmart (14 cents), and Amazon Prints (17 cents). Shutterfly and Snapfish have one of the cheapest options of all: If you use their mobile apps, you get 4-by-6-inch prints for free and only pay for shipping (though their shipping charges aren't cheap). Shutterfly caps this offer at 100 photos per month, while Snapfish says the offer is unlimited.

Of the photo printing services we tested, the most expensive mail-order photos cost 36 cents for a 4-by-6 print—that's from Nations Photo Labs and Mpix (plus shipping). You get better paper quality for that higher price. Local one-hour pickup options usually cost more. CVS Photo charges 42 cents apiece for 4-by-6s for local pickup, and Walgreens charges 39 cents for the same, though Walmart Photo charges only 14 cents, the same price as mailed prints.

Even if you want enlargements in popular sizes, such as 5-by-7 and 8-by-10, you don't have to spend a lot. Amazon Prints and Snapfish charge only 69 cents for a 5-by-7 print. Amazon Prints charges just $2.09 for an 8-by-10 print, and most other services charge a still-reasonable $2.99 to $3.99 for that size.

Wall art prints cost more, but prices still aren't exorbitant. All the services named above sell 16-by-20 prints for about $20, and some charge closer to $15.

One thing to keep in mind is that most photo printers offer special discount pricing from time to time, especially around the holidays.

What's the Best Photo Printing Service for Gifts and Greeting Cards?

Why stop at ordinary photo prints when you can put your pictures on mugs, playing cards, and even pillows? The best online photo printing services sell an assortment of objects that you can personalize with photos. All offer greeting cards, calendars, and photo books. Most also sell phone cases, blankets, and coffee mugs.

(Credit: Walmart)

Holiday greeting cards mean so much more when they include a photo or photos of your family, and most of the services here can produce them for you at reasonable rates. You can usually get 5-by-7 flat cards in the range of about 50 cents apiece (from Walmart) to about $3 from a high-end service. A few photo printers sell folded cards for a bit more. Typically, you pay less per card with a larger order volume. Premium options like foil printing, special cutout shapes, and linen card stock can be had at premium prices.

Shutterfly has the largest selection of photo gifts, with flowerpots, blankets, cell phone cases, pillows, shower curtains, and even pet food bowls. Walmart Photo will sell you a necktie with your picture on it or multiple copies of one shot. I'm still waiting for someone to offer photo-embellished rugs and lampshades. Puzzles and magnets are also popular options.

Where Can You Get Large Canvas Prints?

Nations Photo Lab sells canvas prints starting at $73.50 for an 8-by-10 stretched on a 3/4-inch frame; Snapfish canvases start at $39.99 for 8-by-8s; and Printique surprisingly undercuts that at $29.99for an 8-by-8.

But there are other companies that sell large canvas prints that don't sell more traditional photo prints (which is why they aren't eligible to be listed above). Two we like are CanvasChamp and CanvasPop. CanvasPop has 12-by-16 canvas prints wrapped on a 3/4-inch frame for $90. The company also offers retouching and restoration services. CanvasChamp sells prints up to 54-by-54 inches and is more budget-oriented than CanvasPop, with prices starting at just $4.25 for a 5-by-7 or 8-by-8-inch canvas, but the quality doesn't match that of CanvasPop.

A canvas print created by CanvasPop. (Credit: PCMag)

Where Can You Get Mounted Prints?

Most of the photo printing services here offer a choice of hard backings for larger prints, and they'll also frame your picture, which increases the price significantly.

Suitable for wall hanging are prints on styrene standouts, gator board, and metal prints (more on this last type of print below). Mounting options from Nations Photo Lab include black styrene and gator board, which start at $5.15 and $7.52 for a 5-by-7, respectively. Gator board is stronger than standard foam plastic, and it's easy to hang on the wall because it's impregnated with wood fibers. All these types of backing are available from many of the online photo printing services included here.

Mpix offers a CollageWall option that lets you group related shots with a matching background. These start at $79.99 for a 2-by-1-foot array consisting of five photos; that price can go over $1,000 for a 10-by-3-foot wall display with dozens of component photos. Printique sells similar decor.

Framing adds the ultimate wall art touch to your large photos. It also adds cost. A framed 3.5-by-5 from Mpix costs $25.99. For matting, you pay an additional $10. Printique charges $104.79 for framed and matted prints at the 5-by-7 size, while Snapfish starts at $29.99 for that size.

Metal prints are an elegant and more permanent option than paper photos. Your photo is printed directly onto a metallic surface for more vivid colors and contrast. Prices go up considerably, however. For example, Nations Photo Lab charges $18.40 for a 4-by-6-inch metal print and $35.50 for an 8-by-10. Mpix has an option to print to paper using an effect called Metallic Print, so you can get a similar look at a lower price.

Some photo printing services now also offer wood mounting, a warm, homey choice. Walmart has both Rustic and Natural wood options, which start at $26.98 for a 5-by-7. The prints come with mounting holes in the back, and the printing process allows the wood grain to show through your image.

Using Photo Printing Services to Make Photo Books

Almost all the best photo printing services can make professionally printed books with your photos. Photo books are popular for special occasions, such as graduations and milestone anniversaries.

At the low end of the price spectrum, Printique charges $14.99 for a 4-by-4-inch softcover book of up to 20 pages, while Mpix charges $19.99 for a 5-by-5 book. Nations Photo Lab makes lightweight softcover Buzz Books with 40 photos for $19, while its hardcover books start at $45.75 for 5-by-7-inch books with 24 pages. Mpix sells so-called Premium hardcover books with sewn bindings starting at $39.99 for a 20-page 5-by-5-inch book and Classic hardcover books starting at $19.99.

Nations Photo Lab provides clear book designing options. (Credit: Nations Photo Lab/PCMag)

As you can imagine, prices go way up if you select larger book dimensions and more premium materials. For example, a 20-page 12-by-12 book with Deep Matte stock costs $135.99 from Mpix, and each extra page costs an additional $3.20.

Shutterfly has a free service that curates your photos and designs a book for you if you feel you're not up to the task yourself. The site has one of the best design tools, with three options: Make My Book; Custom Path, which lets you personalize every page; and Simple Path, which instantly lays out your photos.

If you're comfortable with photo editing software,Adobe's Lightroom Classicoffers excellent photo book design tools and lets you send your project directly to a professional printer. Lightroom uses the book-only Blurb service. Another photo-book-only option is the well-designed Mixbook service. Google Photos includes an easy photo book creator and lets you order softcovers and hardcovers. A 7-inch square softcover is just $14.99 with 49 cents per extra picture over 20 (that includes the front and back). Google Photos can even auto-create suggested photo books based on your trips and occasions.

Editing, Ordering, and Sharing Photos

When ordering photos online, you want a friendly and navigable website. For example, most photo printing services let you simply check off all the sizes you want on a single-page grid. Others make you select a size for printing before choosing the images you want and then start over again if you want more sizes.

Walmart Photo lets you add multiple print sizes for each photo or for all at once. (Credit: Walmart/PCMag)

Some online photo printers offer basic photo-editing tools so you can brighten or darken an underexposed or overexposed shot, for example. Several services automatically apply color correction. Mpix offers retouching for $8 for one head in a photo and can remove braces or whiten teeth for the same price.

Online Sharing

A few photo printing services let you share your images online. Amazon, Mpix, Printique, and Shutterfly are particularly strong in this area. Shutterfly even lets you create online mini-websites for your photos. Snapfish and Walgreens Photo let you share online galleries that can be viewed as full-window slideshows. Amazon Photos provides unlimited free online storage for Prime subscribers.

Film Processing

This may seem a passé topic, but there's a contingent of photographers who still prefer to shoot on film. I recently needed film processing for one of those disposable underwater cameras that I used while snorkeling. Companies here that still process film include Mpix andsomeCVS and Walgreens locations.

For a film-only service with more options, including black-and-white film, check outThe Darkroom, United Film Lab, or Bushwick Community Darkroom. These organizations can create digital copies of your photos, so you can edit and share them more easily, but getting prints costs extra.

Ordering Print Photos From a Mobile App

The most popular camera these days is one that's always with you—your phone. Smartphones have come a long way in terms of image quality, with some capturing images with 20 megapixels of resolution or higher. With most photos now being taken by phones, it only makes sense for a photo printing service to offer a mobile app to get the images straight from your phone to the print service.

Shutterfly's app gets you free prints for the price of shipping only and adds the ability to order photo gifts, while the Snapfish and Walgreens Photo apps can import photos from social networks, perform some editing, and let you share photos with friends. Nations Photo Labs has a mobile app that lets you order prints not only from the phone but from any of your social accounts.

Comparing the Shipping Packaging of Photo Printing Services

If you're not in a rush to get your photos, ordering them by mail (rather than for local pickup) gives you the widest range of options for print finishes and other details like paper stock. It usually doesn't take an inordinate amount of time to get your prints. The shipping cost for our order of 22 photos ranged from $4 to $10, although the reason for the price difference was stark—packaging. Our orders from Nations Photo Lab and Printique arrived in strong cardboard boxes, which gives the best protection.

Clockwise from top left: Walmart Photo, CVS Photo, Walgreens Photo, Mpix, Printique, Nations Photo Lab, EZPrints, Amazon Prints, Shutterfly, and Snapfish. (Credit: PCMag)

If you want faster delivery, most of the best photo printing services offer second-day and overnight delivery—but that's calculated from the day your photos are printed. So "overnight" doesn't necessarily mean your photos arrive the day after you pay for them, regardless of how much you pay for overnight shipping. Still, it could mean your pictures arrive a few days faster than if you selected standard shipping.

If you want your pictures pronto, Walgreens Photo is the service we recommend using, though CVS Photo and Walmart are also options. Target Photo no longer lets you pick up prints at its store locations; Target now sends you to EZPrints, which we don't recommend due to poor quality.

Get More From Your Photos

Please don't hesitate to share your experiences with photo printing services in the comments below. To learn more about improving your photos, check out our collections ofquick tips to fix bad photos,beyond-basic photography tips, andthe best photo editing software. And if you're set on printing your own pictures, our list of thebest photo printersis a good place to start.