Best Digital Printing

Snapfish wins overall

Almost all digital photo printing websites offer the same basic options: online storage, editing tools, printing services, photo gifts and photo sharing. Photo sharing is an especially helpful feature, as users can upload photos and invite friends and family to view them online. This saves you from e-mailing large batches of image files. Anyone can then order just the prints they want, as well as photo gifts like mugs, coasters, magnets or entire photo albums.

We find the most consistently good reviews for Snapfish (*Est. 9 cents per print), with recommendations from eight review sites including PCMag.com, BusinessWeek and Which? magazine, a British consumer publication. Owned by Hewlett-Packard (HP) since 2005, Snapfish has a "110 percent guarantee." If you're not happy with your photos, Snapfish will give you a refund or let you reorder for free, and it also gives you a 10 percent credit on a future order. In several reviews, Snapfish also receives great scores for fast turnaround. Additionally, Snapfish offers free unlimited storage, editing software and photo sharing, as well as a pickup option at Walgreens, Meijer, Wal-Mart and other stores. When using the pickup option, you'll pay store-specific, not Snapfish, prices. Prints are available from Snapfish in matte or glossy finish in eight sizes: wallet, 4-by-6-inch, 5-by-7-inch, 8-by-10-inch, 11-by-14-inch, 12-by-18-inch, 16-by-20-inch and 20-by-30-inch.

Reviewers consistently praise Snapfish's features, especially its extensive array of photo-management options and detailed help section. Editing tools, such as a cropping tool, red-eye removal, rotation and auto-contrast, help you fix and enhance your photos. Reviewers also praise the variety of photo gifts and novelty items offered, including photo-adorned boxer shorts (*Est. $20), neckties (*Est. $30) and tote bags (*Est. $25). More mundane photo mugs, photo magnets and calendars are also available.

In a 2006 review, Ben Long of MacWorld notes that Snapfish "stood out from the pack" and rates it best overall. Which? magazine, a British publication, pits London retail photo processors against online photo printers, drawing similar conclusions. The editors name Snapfish a "best buy" and say it had the fastest average image upload time of the eight online digital photo printing services they tested. Snapfish is second in turnaround time only to U.K.-based Bonusprint (*Est. 11 cents per print), but editors are impressed by the superior quality of the photos and better prices.

Shutterfly scores for its photo gifts

Reviews for Shutterfly (*Est. 15 cents per print) vary among experts and consumers, but the site remains one of the most popular, even though its per-print charges are higher than Snapfish's. In a relatively recent review in Information Week, writer Don Reisinger finds the overall print quality in the middle of the pack, but for customers looking for "all the bells and whistles," he says, "Shutterfly is the place to be." In fact, Reisinger finds himself overwhelmed by all the options.

In an older review conducted by Ulrich Boser for Slate.com, Shutterfly comes out on top. Boser tests six online digital printing services by ordering a printed album from each. He is impressed by Shutterfly's image quality, stating that the photos are "almost National Geographic quality: bright, clear, and crisp." Shutterfly's per-print prices are also among the highest in the industry, although a prepaid plan drops prices as low as 10 cents per print. Shutterfly allows users to pick up photos at Target, rather than waiting for home delivery, although Target store prices apply to prints picked up in-store. Shutterfly also offers large-format prints (11-by-14-inch, 16-by-20-inch and 20-by-30-inch), which are available only in matte finish.

Shutterfly receives many positive comments from reviewers and users for superior customer service, including telephone support that's available seven days a week. In their 2007 review, The Wall Street Journal calls Shutterfly "the simplest site" to use. Most reviews on Epinions.com are highly positive, although one user remarks that it takes a lot of time to upload images and transfer them to a project, such as a calendar or photo album. Reviewers on PhotographyReview.com are more negative, noting trouble with the online system, such as albums disappearing and poor customer service. Users appreciate Shutterfly's free and unlimited online storage. Easy-to-use editing software includes cropping and centering tools, red-eye removal and automatic color and sharpness enhancers.

TopTenReviews.com says in their review that Shutterfly offers "the best photo gifts on the Internet." Experts also praise Shutterfly for their photo cards and hardbound photo books. Shutterfly offers hundreds of gift choices, with unusual options like playing cards, puzzles and CentreStage books. The latter option enables you to incorporate your child's picture into a variety of available storybooks, including those featuring popular characters like SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer and members of Sesame Street. In addition, there are over 500 free photo borders to choose from. Shutterfly is also the only photo site we found that allows users to add captions on the front and comments on the back of printed photos. Shutterfly Share, designed specifically for free photo sharing, allows users to create free personalized and secure web pages to share photos with friends and family, who can then order prints or other projects from the shared images.

Wal-Mart has the most convenient delivery options

While reviewers say that Snapfish is the best all-around digital photo printing service and Shutterfly offers the most options, experts say the most convenient service is the Wal-Mart Photo Center (*Est. 9 cents and up per print). Accessible through Walmart.com, this popular service allows you to pick up prints at any Wal-Mart location. Nearly all consumers and experts mention the low prices and convenience of the three delivery options, including two in-store pick-up choices, a one-hour option and a mail-to-store service that eliminates all shipping and handling charges and provides photos in three to five days. One reviewer on OlegKikin.com notes that when she needed to get pictures to her sister, located four hours away, she was able to send them to her sister's local Wal-Mart store for pickup.

Reviewers like Wal-Mart's online interface, with several commenting on the easy upload process and user-friendly features. In the most recent review we found, Information Week's Don Reisinger says Wal-Mart's service offers the kind of flexibility that "puts it at the top of the list." Easy-to-use features include editing tools, free unlimited storage of photos and photo sharing. Users and experts alike are also pleased with the photo gift options, which include Picture Me books (*Est. $17), 10-page storybooks customized with a child's photo. Print quality for Wal-Mart, however, scores mixed reviews. Don Reisinger says that Wal-Mart's photo quality is comparable to the best he tested, but some older reviews complain about mediocre photo quality. For example, Ben Long, in a 2005 review for Macworld, says Wal-Mart offers fast delivery, but poor photo quality. This may indicate a positive shift in quality at Wal-Mart Photo Center over the past few years.

Other digital photo printing services are mentioned by some reviewers as good choices. Burt Helm, writing in a 2005 review at Business Week, likes dotPhoto.com (*Est. 9 cents per print). He says that if your top priority is sharing photos with family and friends, dotPhoto has the best photo-sharing features. He says its photo quality is also very good -- a close second to Snapfish's impressive prints. Tony Hoffman is also pleased with the quality of prints from dotPhoto in his 2006 review for PCMag.com, stating that dotPhoto "did well in capturing natural color, brightness, and contrast." In addition, he notes that gift items are also available through dotPhoto.

Geared towards professional photographers, Mpix (*Est. 29 cents per print) is a favorably rated digital printing service. In his 2005 review for Macworld, Ben Long rates Mpix as a close second to Snapfish in image quality. Mpix is the highest-rated digital photo printing service on OlegKikin.com, a professional photographer's site that allows users to post reviews for 125 different digital printing services. More than 10 users review Mpix, giving it an average rating of 4.36 stars, out of a possible five. Most reviewers say they are pleased with customer service and the prints are of excellent quality. There are a few complaints about turnaround time, however, and the cost per print is the highest we found. In a 2006 review for PCMag.com, Tony Hoffman reports that out of the 13 services he tested, he rarely selected an Mpix image as one of the top few and complains that the "high price seems unjustified for the average consumer not interested in Mpix's high-end processing options."

AdoramaPix.com (*Est. 19 cents per print) offers a larger variety of papers than others, including lustre, matte, glossy, silk and metallic surfaces on Kodak Royal and Endura papers, and Ilford black-and-white paper. The professional papers cost more: 19 cents to 29 cents per 4-by-6-inch photo, but one unique feature at Adorama is that every image is personally reviewed by a technician. One downside is that AdoramaPix charges a flat-rate $4.95 shipping charge for orders, which is not economical for small orders. If you live in New York City, you can avoid that charge by picking up your prints at the Adorama store in Manhattan, making it a viable alternative to Wal-Mart, which has no locations there.

SmugMug (*Est. 19 cents per print) earns recognition from two of our review sources, including Epinions.com, where it gets a rating of 4.5 stars out of a possible five, based on 19 user reviews. SmugMug is a family-owned and operated business that launched in 2002. The biggest difference between SmugMug and other online digital printing services is that SmugMug charges a fee (*Est. $40 to $150 per year) for unlimited photo storage. In return, their site is not populated by ads, and they offer privacy controls such as password-protected galleries and the ability to block downloads of your images. A review on ReadWriteWeb.com that focuses on the social photo-sharing aspects of different services says that although SmugMug has an annual fee, you get what you pay for with a quality selection of theme templates, ease of use and a rich set of features.

Two other services offer some of the lowest prices per print: Winkflash (*Est. 8 cents per print) and York Photo (*Est. 8 cents per print), although we found little professional coverage of these online digital photo printing services. York Photo is ranked second in a comparison review at TopTenReviews.com, which says York Photo was a tight contender with Snapfish for the top spot. Editors at TopTenReviews.com say York Photo lacks the ability to send prints to a local processor or upload photos taken with a mobile phone, two services offered by the top-rated Snapfish. Winkflash earns the fifth-place spot in the same review. The editors say Winkflash offers the cheapest shipping costs with competitive print prices, but the ordering process is a bit confusing and the site lacks some features offered by competitors. At Photo.net, Winkflash is criticized for its usability issues and incorrect orders.

Finally, Kodak Gallery (*Est. 9 cents per print) does fairly well in reviews, but it is not really a standout in any area. Kodak Gallery's in-store pickup option is mentioned as a positive feature, with same-day pickup at selected Target and CVS locations, although store prices (not Kodak's) apply to these prints. Most reviews are only mixed, however, among both consumers and experts. A 2009 review at Photo-Print-Reviews.com notes that Kodak's quality and prices leave "room for improvement." A 2007 review in The Wall Street Journal calls Kodak's editing features "a bit clumsy." Ulrich Boser, in a 2006 review of printed photo books for Slate.com, says Kodak is "worth your money but a little bland." On the other hand, an article at Information Week notes that the quality of Kodak's photos puts it "towards the front of the pack."

There are literally dozens of services that offer digital photo printing. OlegKikin.com lists 125 different online digital photo printing services. Only a few of these services are discussed in truly comparative reviews, but information is available from individual vendor websites.