What's the best company for printing photobooks?

[bif]

I want to do a book of some of my paintings. I've used Shutterfly before and had pretty good results. Is there a better one out there? I think I also used something called Mixbooks, or something like that.

[Blue Dawn]

1. I have had good results with the

"FreePrints Photobooks" app. I have purchased both hardcover and softcover books from them in different sizes. I load the photos directly from my iPhone, and I like that I can choose from a variety of colors and patterns for each page's backgrounds, as well as choose different borders, photo shapes, and text fonts. I also choose each page's layouts. I have made books for my children, my relatives, and myself, and I have always been extremely happy with the results.

I have used Shutterfly, too......not for Photobooks but for thank-you cards, etc. Shutterfly is great.

I wish I knew about other good Photobooks sites. Maybe others have some ideas. Good luck!

[Rocknation]

2. I kicked Shutterfly to the curb for their wanting to be paid extra

Last edited Thu Sep 4, 2025, 02:02 PM - Edit history (15)

to NOT include a photobook page containing THEIR logo that COULDN'T be printed on.

But when I complained to Blurb about not being able to preview how their mandatory back cover graphic would look, they solved the problem with an adjustment to their user software (and their inside front and back covers are printable at no extra cost). I've been doing photobooks through them (and their budget-friendlier subsidiary MagCloud) happily ever after.









Rocknation

[Rocknation]

6. 2025 UPDATE: MagCloud/Blurb have saved my donkey yet again!

Last edited Thu Sep 4, 2025, 01:31 PM - Edit history (2)

Spent the entire day trying upload the latest edition of my photobook to MagCloud -- especially nerve-wracking since I'd just received a deposit and the deadline was in danger of being missed. I hadn't done anything out of the ordinary that I could think of...EXCEPT switch from using Photoshop to Affinity Photo!

I informed MagCloud customer service accordingly, and made a "fresh" copy of the upload file (when in doubt, reboot). They emailed me that I should give it one more try, and it actually took a couple of seconds to for it to sink in that it had worked LOL


Rocknation

[keninsf]

3. Blurb

I've used Blurb and Apple. at the time I thought Apple had better print quality but Blurb was much more affordable and had a greater variety of sizes. They have a lot of online tools (or you can download templates for indesign and lightroom). And Yes, I think you have to pay extra to not have the blub logo. But you also can self publish thru them.

[excringency]

4. Nations Photo Lab

https://www.nationsphotolab.com/

We’ve used these folks for quite a few projects.

[bif]

5. I went with Shutterfly

It turns out, after a flat rate price, they offered unlimited extra pages. So I added a ton of pages. I put it in my cart and waited for a couple minutes. Sure enough, I got a text asking me if I needed more incentive to place my order. When I said yes, they offered me free shipping!