No doubt, you will find some cloud-based storage options online. However, all of them only allow you to store your files including images. You can then generate a link to the images and share the same with your friends and family members.
However, these sites do not let you print your photographs, create invitations and greeting cards based on your pictures, or customize photo books, create photo canvas prints, and customize mugs. Imagine customizing a mug with your anniversary photo and sending it as a gift to your friends and relatives. What about creating customized greeting and invitation cards and sending the same to your loved ones.
You need the help of special websites for this purpose(s). Although there are a few of them over there, we shall focus on Snapfish and FreePrints. You shall learn about the features, the pros, and the cons, the pricing, etc. in this Snapfish vs FreePrints comparison.
Easily Upload or Add Your Photos from Anywhere
These sites allow you to add your photographs from almost anywhere.
On the one hand, Snapfish allows you to upload your images from your computer, Facebook, Google Photos, Flickr, Google Drive, and Instagram as well as adding photos from your iPhones, iPads, and Android devices. On the other hand, FreePrints permits you to upload images from Flickr, Amazon, Google Drive, Dropbox, Google Photos, Instagram, and Facebook.
For simplicity, I shall review both the websites separately. This will better allow you to compare Snapfish and FreePrints thoroughly. Both these sites have apps for the Android and iOS systems, so you can click photographs with your smartphone, personalize them, and then upload them to those sites.
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Is FreePrints Really Free?
I would like to point out one thing before proceeding with the review. Unlike its name, FreePrints is not completely free, but it is competitively priced when you factor in shipping charges, extremely convenient, and easy to use. It is worth looking for anyone who likes to convert digital snapshots into physical prints.
Both these companies ship their products internationally.
FreePrints Review
If you are looking for free prints of your photograph, this is the site to visit. It offers you up to 85 free prints per month.
Free Prints.com What's the Catch?
So, what is the catch with FreePrints?
The catch is that all the photographs should be different with the print size being 4×6. This totals to a whopping 1,000 free prints every year. However, you have to pay for getting prints in other sizes or for additional 4×6 prints of the same photo.
The company offers other sizes such as 5×5, 5×7, 8×10, 12×18, 16×20, 20×30, and wallet. You have to pay an additional sum for shipping and handling. The minimum charges are $1.99 and the maximum is $9.99, irrespective of the number of prints you order. Here is some good news for those using the site for the first time. The company offers 10 free 4×6 prints along with free shipping to them.
How Does FreePrints Work?
Freeprints is a photo printing app that makes it easy to print photos from your smartphone. With Freeprints, you can order high-quality prints of your favorite photos without ever having to leave your home. Simply upload the photos you want to print, choose your desired quantities and sizes, and place your order. Your prints will arrive in the mail shortly thereafter.
Related: The Best Photo Organizing Software
The Calculation
If you order the maximum number of 4×6 free prints per month, you have to pay a shipping fee of $9.99 which equates to four Cents per photograph.
The app contains an easy-to-use photo editor that allows you to change the lighting, and crop your photographs. Apart from the freeprints.com reviews, I have used other photo print apps before and have found FreePrints to be quite friendly.
The Offers
If free photograph printing is the company's forte, they offer other things for free when you use their app. For example, you can get a free softcover photo book, consisting of 20 pages per month. You can also get a free 8×8 photo tile per month. You do not have to pay any shipping or other charges for these things. Apart from these, the company offers you a free personalized gift every month.
If you want to send personalized greeting cards from your smartphone, check out the special offer from FreePrints. They have a massive collection of 500+ designer cards for almost all occasions. Elect the card you want, customize it with your photograph, and send it to your colleagues, friends, or family members. You only have to pay a negligible $2 postage charge for delivery in the United States and $3 for delivery in any other country.
The size of the card is 5×7 and is printed on a durable 110# stock card with a beautiful gloss laminate.
Despite some good free prints reviews, I was disappointed by the fact that this company no longer allows you to upload photographs from your computer. In the past, they had a tie-up with another company that provided you with this option.
How Does the Company Earn Money?
People reading this FreePrints vs Snapfish review might be wondering how the former earns money, considering the huge number of free photographs they deliver per month. The catch is that each of their photographs contains an ad on its backside. The company earns revenue by charging advertisers for printing their ads on the rear side of the photographs.
Additionally, they have a tie-up with the postal company that ships their photographers, allowing them to pay fewer delivery charges than what they are taking from you. The commission might be low, but considering the sheer number of deliveries they make each day, they end up with a tidy profit.
The company has a large client base who order larger size photographs. This allows FreePrints to earn money as well, as they only have to spend a minuscule of the amount they charge for larger-sized prints. You might be wondering whether there is a catch with FreePrints. The good news is that there are none.
Is Free Prints Legit?
FreePrints is a popular service that allows users to print photos for free. The company has been in business for several years and has a good reputation. The website is easy to use and provides quality prints. Overall, FreePrints is a legitimate company that offers a great service for printing photos.
Does FreePrints Store Your Photographs?
Once you upload your photos on their server, it remains there, allowing you to select and print them, and getting them delivered. According to the terms of use, the company stores your photographs to ensure that you can use them for other orders in the future. However, this should not be a matter of concern, as only you will have access to them.
You can be sure that you will be getting excellent quality photographs as the company prints them exclusively on Fujifilm or Kodak paper. You will receive the prints in a couple of days.
We shall now review the other photo printing site in this Snapfish or FreePrints review to help you decide which is better.
Snapfish Review
I recently wanted to send a coffee mug to my friend printed with their anniversary photo. Unfortunately, I could not find any such option in FreePrints. I came across Snapfish, a web-based photo sharing and printing service, which offers online photo printing services for digital photo prints and a wide range of personalized photo gifts.
I was bewildered when I first visited their site, as there are so many options to choose from such as prints, canvas prints, home décor, photo gifts, photo books, calendars — all available for different occasions such as graduation, weddings, birthdays, and much more.
Easily Search for What You Need
However, their website has a search engine, which you can use to search for products and designs. This is a plus point, as first-time users may face problems navigating through the different menu options the site offers.
One of the biggest advantages that this site has over FreePrints is the option of uploading pictures from your laptop, notepad, or computer.
You need to register an account with the site before you can start using their services. This is as simple as filling up their online form with your first and last name, your email address, and a password. Make sure to note down the password and keep it in a safe place as you will need it to log in to the site.
Since the site was offering printing photographs on different types and sizes of photo mugs, I decided to sign up and create an account.
By the way, Snapfish is currently offering whopping discounts on their services. For example, they, sometimes, offer as much as a 75% discount on photo books, 76% off on canvas prints, and much more. I strongly recommend that you visit their site to find out the entire discount compilation.
Unfortunately, Snapfish does not offer any of its products for free when you upload a picture from your computer. You have to pay a minimum of 9 Cents for their smallest photo (4×5.3) and more if you plan to order bigger-sized prints.
The cost of square prints starts from 20 Cents, while you have to pay $9.99 and more for large prints.
Be prepared for a surprise as you can also order specialty prints (such as collage prints and wallets) whose price starts at 28 Cents. If you desire, you can also have your photos framed for an extra price.
Free Monthly Prints Offer
However, you can use their free monthly prints offer for customers who install the Snapfish app (available for both Android and iOS platforms) and upload photos via it. It allows you to get up to 100 free 4×6 prints a month.
Great Deals
I strongly suggest first-time visitors visit the “deals” section as this is where the goodies are. You will find coupon codes that allow you to get discounts on your purchases. For example, you can save some amount on all print orders using a special code found in this section.
High-quality Color Reproduction
I decided to check the quality of their prints before ordering the coffee mug for my friend. I also ordered a “photo book” from them after uploading my favorite photographs. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the images as they offered pretty accurate color reproduction and were a good value for money.
I have purchased photo books from other sites, but this turned out to be one of the better ones. This is 10% of the free prints that FreePrints offers to its customers.
Blurry Photographs
Do not blame the site if the images you receive are blurry. If their server detects that the image you are uploading is not large enough to meet the Snapfish standard, you will see a warning on your screen that the resolution of the photo is too low for the size of the photo space you are adding, and the printed photo may appear pixelated or blurry. Therefore, check for this warning whenever uploading photographs.
Offers Galore
Snapfish is not just an image printing site. It offers much more than that. You can get photo panels, acrylic blocks, glass prints, metal photo panels, and much more for your tabletop. They offer a wide range of canvas prints to meet any requirement.
Apart from different sizes of canvas prints, they also offer collage canvas, canvas sets, split canvas, as well as the option to make your canvas. You can start a new canvas or open and edit a saved one.
If you are interested in photo books, you can opt for different sizes as well as the type of books. Snapfish currently offers photo books in hardcover, lay-flat hardcover, premium hardcover, linen hardcover, leather hardcover, and softcover. When opting for photo prints, you have the option of selecting from a glossy or matte finish.
You can order their products via mail or pick up your order from some other stores. However, you have to pay a higher price for this option. With Snapfish, you can print your photos on many items, including iPhone cases, playing card decks, puzzles, home décor (including blankets and pillows), calendars, cards, and books. You also have the option of canvas prints.
Considering the massive and diverse offerings by Snapfish, I consider it better than FreePrints.
Advertise Your Business
What could be better than offering a calendar to your clients that contain photographs of your products and services? Ordering a photo calendar from Snapfish is a piece of cake. You can select by size or type. There are many types to choose from; such as woodblock desk calendar, desk calendar, and wall calendar — all of them available at reasonable prices.
The delivery charges are extremely reasonable and depend on the product size and the delivery method.
Are Snapfish and Shutterfly the Same Company?
Yes, Snapfish is owned by Shutterfly. Apollo Global Management announced that it would acquire both Snapfish and Shutterfly on the 10th of June, 2019. The merging of Snapfish and Shutterfly into a single entity was completed on the 8th of January, 2020. As a result, Snapfish is now a subsidiary of Shutterfly.
While the two companies share many similarities, there are some notable differences between them. For instance, Snapfish offers a wider range of products than Shutterfly, including photo books, cards, and calendars. In addition, Snapfish typically has lower prices than Shutterfly.
Sutterfly also has one of the best free photo book apps. There are some 4×4 & 4×6 Shutterfly free prints available for you on site.
However, both companies offer high-quality products and excellent customer service. As a result of their merger, they are now better equipped to compete with other online photo printing companies. such as Amazon Prints.
Snapfish Compared to FreePrints
My verdict in this Snapfish versus FreePrints review is that the latter is the place to go if you are only interested in getting photo prints at a pocket-friendly price. However, if you want images printed on canvas and other stuff such as mugs, then visit the former.
