Shoebox vs Chatbooks
Chatbooks sells photo books by subscription, from $10 a book — a book that fills itself, 30 to 60 pages at a time. Shoebox mails ten loose 4×6 prints a month for $14. They are different objects, and the right answer depends on which one you want in the house.
Side by side
| What | Shoebox | Chatbooks |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $14 a month, shipping included — $1.40 a print, whatever kind of month you had. | $10 a 5×5 Monthly Mini. Monthbooks: $15 for a 5×7 or 6×6 softcover, $24 for those in hardcover or an 8×8 softcover, $34 for an 8×8 hardcover.5 |
| What arrives | Ten loose 4×6 prints, flat in an envelope, every month. | A Monthbook, 30 to 60 pages, soft or hardcover — or a Monthly Mini, a 60-page 5×5 softcover with rounded corners, made for children.1,2 |
| What a picture costs | $1.40 a print, shipping in it. | Our arithmetic on their price: a $15 softcover Monthbook runs 30 to 60 pages, so a page costs 25¢ to 50¢.1,5 |
| Ten prints, all in | $14, mailed. | Not what the subscription sells, but they will print ten 5×5 or 5×7 prints for $12, shipping free — cheaper than us, in sizes we do not offer.5 |
| A year of it | $168: twelve months at $14, shipping in it. | Our arithmetic on their price: $60 for a four-book year of softcover Monthbooks, $90 for six, $180 for twelve — less 10% paid up front, or two books free by their pricing page. Their two pages do not agree.5,3 |
| Shipping | Included, within the United States and Canada. | Free standard post on everything they sell. Their help centre names the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand; it cannot be upgraded, and Minis ship without tracking.1,2,4,5 |
| Minimum order | Ten prints a month, fixed. | A book takes at least 30 pages and at most 60.1 |
| Sizes | 4×6 prints, one size, nothing else. | Monthbooks in 5×7, 6×6 or 8×8, soft or hardcover. Monthly Minis in 5×5, softcover only. They sell prints, cards and gift books besides.1,5 |
| Paper | Photo paper from a professional lab, lustre finish. | Printed and bound book pages.1 |
| Who chooses | You do. We shortlist about a hundred and you pick the ten. | You add photos from your camera roll, Google Photos, SmugMug, Flickr or HeyFam. Autoship sends a full book to print on its own and gives you 7 days to edit it first.1,3 |
| Turnaround | Locks on the 10th; prints arrive within about a week. | Up to 5 working days to print and bind, then 6 to 8 working days in the post.4 |
| A month you do nothing | Nothing prints and the membership still bills. Cancel in Settings if you want the charges to stop. | A full book prints and ships on its own. That is the point of it.3 |
| Commitment | $14 a month until you cancel. | 4, 6 or 12 books a year, your pick. Paying up front saves 10%; their pricing page puts the same offer as two books free. Cancel in the app before the cycle bills; book credits expire after 13 months.3,5 |
| Where photos go | Sorted by a model on our own server. No photo goes to an AI company; print copies are deleted once the lab confirms it has them. | Uploaded to their service. Read their privacy terms before you decide. |
Checked 29 July 2026. Their column comes from their own pages. 1. Chatbooks help centre: how Monthbooks work (help.chatbooks.com). 2. Chatbooks help centre: what Monthly Minis are (help.chatbooks.com). 3. Chatbooks help centre: how subscription billing works (help.chatbooks.com). 4. Chatbooks help centre: how Minis and Monthbooks ship (help.chatbooks.com). 5. Chatbooks pricing, United States (chatbooks.com).
What Chatbooks is
A photo book subscription. You add each month's photos from your camera roll, Google Photos, SmugMug, Flickr or HeyFam; a full book goes to print on its own, and you get a week to edit it first. They sell two subscriptions — Monthbooks and the smaller Monthly Minis — and prints, cards and gift books besides.
Their pricing page turns away anything automated, so someone here opened it in a browser and read it. Every figure above is off that page or their help centre, on the date below. They move prices; check before you buy.
Where Chatbooks is better
- Far more pictures for the money. Our sum on their price: a $15 softcover Monthbook runs 30 to 60 pages, so a page costs 25¢ to 50¢. A print here is $1.40. If pictures per dollar is your measure, they win it outright.
- Ten loose prints, cheaper. They will print ten 5×5 or 5×7 prints for $12, shipping free, against $14 here — bigger prints, less money, if you are willing to order them yourself.
- A book survives a house move. Loose prints end up in a drawer unless you do something with them. A book goes on a shelf and gets opened.
- It records the whole month. If you want everything kept rather than edited down, a book is the right shape and we are the wrong one.
- A longer track record and a wider range. They have been printing for years and sell far more than one product.
Where Shoebox is different
- Loose prints do things books cannot. A 4×6 goes on a fridge, in a frame, in a wallet, or in a letter to your mother. A book stays a book.
- Ten, chosen. A book that fills itself is a record. Ten prints are a decision — and making that decision is what turns a camera roll into something you look at.
Which to pick
Pick Chatbooks if you want the month kept rather than edited, if you like a shelf that grows, or if pictures per dollar is the number you care about.
Pick Shoebox if you want a handful of good pictures out where people can see them, and if the reason there are none on the wall is that nobody ever gets around to it.
Plenty of houses would be happy with both. They do not do the same job.
Start this month
Ten prints a month, chosen by you, out of the thousands of photos on your phone.
$14 a month, shipping included, within the United States and Canada. Cancel any month.
Prices here were read from the companies' own sites on 29 July 2026. They change their prices and their products, so check theirs before you decide. Every name belongs to its owner and we are not connected to any of them. If we have got something wrong, write to hello@shoeboxprints.com and we will fix it.