Wedding Photo Sharing Comparisons

We set up a photo sharing site for our wedding pictures, like a lot of other tech-savvy couples these days. Our guests can upload the pictures they took on our wedding day, and see photos from other guests. Plus, since our photographer allows it, we can upload those pictures too. Depending on the site, guests can order prints directly from the site. Best of all, we get more pictures of our beautiful wedding! That's what I call a win, win, win situation.

I did a quick comparison of a bunch of the photo printing/sharing sites out there based on what was important to us (see the results below). I chose Flickr because it was the best for sharing high-resolution digital pictures (so that I can use the pictures for our wedding album later on), but still offered prints via mail or in-store pickup. Before the wedding, I designed a simple card letting our guests know where to go to share their pictures. With the Flickr Pro account and copies of the card, this project only cost me about $50!


www.flickr.com

Can view photos anonymously via URL	Yes
Can download pictures in original resolution	Only with Pro account
Can order and mail prints	Via Snapfish
Can order prints and pickup in store	Via Snapfish: Walmart, Walgreens, Meijer, DuaneReade
Price per print (4x6 not including shipping)	9¢
Free membership limitations	100MB limit on uploads per month, 10MB per photo, Views limited to 200 most recent images, Only smaller re-sized images are accessible (the original size is kept for when you upgrade to a Pro account, but you can't see it). See the full comparison here.
Upgrade price	Pro account: $24.95 per year
Upgrade features	Unlimited photos and uploads, 20MB limit per photo

www.snapfish.com

Can view photos anonymously via URL	Per album or per photo only (cannot share all albums from one link)
Can download pictures in original resolution	Costs 25¢ for first download, 5¢ for additional downloads
Can order and mail prints	Yes
Can order prints and pickup in store	At Walmart, Walgreens, Meijer, DuaneReade
Price per print (4x6 not including shipping)	9¢
Free membership limitations	Images over 9MB may be resized. Annual miniumum purchase requirement to keep photo storage: One print purchase per year (see Terms of Use)

www.shutterfly.com

Can view photos anonymously via URL	Yes, create a "Share Site" and choose albums to share on the site
Can download pictures in original resolution	No, can only download "print-quality" photos or order Archive DVD with original resolution
Can order and mail prints	Yes
Can order prints and pickup in store	At Target
Price per print (4x6 not including shipping)	15¢
Free membership limitations	No limits on uploads, storage size, or photo size. No annual purchase requirement.

photo.walgreens.com

Can view photos anonymously via URL	No
Can download pictures in original resolution	No, can only download 1612x1024px photos
Can order and mail prints	Yes
Can order prints and pickup in store	At Walgreens
Price per print (4x6 not including shipping)	19¢ for store pickup, 12¢ for mail order
Free membership limitations	Hi-res versions are only stored 90 days. Annual minimum purchase requirement is one print per year to keep photo storage. (see Terms of Use)

www.kodakgallery.com

Can view photos anonymously via URL	Yes, including projects like photo books
Can download pictures in original resolution	Yes
Can order and mail prints	Yes
Can order prints and pickup in store	CVS and Target
Price per print (4x6 not including shipping)	15¢ for "premium" quality, 30¢ for "pro" quality
Free membership limitations	Storage is only free for 90 days. Minimum annual purchase requirement to keep photo storage: $4.99 for less 2GB of pictures, $19.99 for over 2GB. See the Terms of Service.

www.walmart.com/photo-center
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Can view photos anonymously via URL	No, all viewers must login with an account
Can download pictures in original resolution	Only keeps original resolution file for 90 days, then reduces it to a "print quality" size
Can order and mail prints	Yes
Can order prints and pickup in store	At Walmart
Price per print (4x6 not including shipping)	9¢ for mailed orders, 15¢ for in-store pickup
Free membership limitations	Minimum annual purchase requirement is one print per year to keep photo storage. See Terms of Use.

picasaweb.google.com

Can view photos anonymously via URL	Yes
Can download pictures in original resolution	Yes
Can order and mail prints	Via several online print companies, including Walgreens, Snapfish, and Shutterfly
Can order prints and pickup in store	Yes, options vary by the print company you choose
Price per print (4x6 not including shipping)	Varies by the print company you choose
Free membership limitations	Up to 1 GB storage
Upgrade price	Can purchase additional storage annually. First tier is 20 GB for $5/year (see full pricing).

www.photobucket.com

Can view photos anonymously via URL	Yes
Can download pictures in original resolution	Only with Pro account
Can order and mail prints	Via Kodak
Can order prints and pickup in store	At Target
Price per print (4x6 not including shipping)	15¢
Free membership limitations	500 MB storage, 1 MB image size (see full comparison here)
Upgrade price	Pro account: $24.95 per year
Upgrade features	Unlimited photos and uploads, but image dimensions are capped to 4000x3000

www.dropshots.com

Can view photos anonymously via URL	Yes
Can download pictures in original resolution	No
Can order and mail prints	Via Qoop
Can order prints and pickup in store	No
Price per print (4x6 not including shipping)	19¢
Free membership limitations	Up to 500 photos, images are resized to 800x800px (see full comparison here)
Upgrade price	Premium account: $4.95 per month
Upgrade features	Unlimited photos and uploads, but images are resized to 1500x1500px