Shoebox vs Shutterfly
Shutterfly and the big labs print a 4×6 from about 29¢ each — less than we charge, before any sale. If price per print is what you are weighing, stop here and use them.
Side by side
| What | Shoebox | Shutterfly and the big labs |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $14 a month, shipping included — $1.40 a print, whatever kind of month you had. | 4×6 prints from about 29¢ each before shipping, and less again in a sale.1 |
| Ten prints, all in | $14, mailed. | Our arithmetic on their price: about $2.90 of prints, plus whatever the postage costs.1 |
| A year of it | $168: twelve months at $14, shipping in it. | Our arithmetic on their price: about $34.80 of prints in twelve orders of ten, plus twelve lots of postage.1 |
| Shipping | Included, within the United States and Canada. | Paid per order, unless an offer covers it. |
| Minimum order | Ten prints a month, fixed. | None. Order one print or five hundred. |
| Sizes | 4×6 prints, one size, nothing else. | 4×6 up to wall art, plus books, cards, calendars and gifts.1 |
| Paper | Photo paper from a professional lab, lustre finish. | Glossy, matte or cardstock.1 |
| Turnaround | Locks on the 10th; prints arrive within about a week. | Same-day pickup at participating CVS and Walgreens stores. Posted orders take longer.1 |
| Who chooses | You do, from a shortlist of about a hundred, in two minutes. | You do, from the whole camera roll, whenever you sit down to it. |
| Commitment | $14 a month until you cancel. | None. Pay per order, or never order again. |
| A month you do nothing | Nothing prints and the membership still bills. Cancel in Settings if you want the charges to stop. | Nothing arrives, and nothing is charged. |
| 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. Shutterfly’s photo print guide (shutterfly.com).
What they are
Full photo shops. Prints in every size and finish, plus books, cards, canvases, calendars and mugs. You upload when you feel like it and pay per item, usually with a sale running.
Where the big labs are better
- Price per print. Ours works out at $1.40 a print with shipping in it. Their list price is a small fraction of that before postage, and less again on sale — both numbers are in the table above.
- Choice. Sizes past 4×6, matte or glossy, borders, framing, enlargements, gifts. We print one size and nothing else.
- No commitment. Order twice a year, or once, or never. Nothing bills in a month you skip.
- Bulk. Printing a wedding, a holiday or five years of backlog is their job and not ours.
- Speed when you need it. Shutterfly hands 4×6 prints to a CVS or Walgreens counter the same day. We work on a monthly rhythm and lock on the 10th.
Where Shoebox is different
- We remove the decision to order. That is the product. A lab is a shop you have to remember; we are a date in the month.
- We cut thousands of photos down to a hundred. Scrolling is the reason a lab tab gets closed. You pick ten from a shortlist instead.
The honest arithmetic
Ten 4×6 prints at Shutterfly's list price come to about $2.90 of prints, plus whatever the postage costs. Ten prints from us cost $14. You are not paying us for paper — you are paying for the email on the 1st, the shortlist, and the fact that it happens without you.
If you have ordered prints in the last year, that is a bad trade and we would rather you kept the money. If the last time was three phones ago, it is the only version that has ever worked.
Which to pick
Pick a lab if you enjoy choosing prints, print in batches, want a size other than 4×6, or are buying for an occasion.
Pick Shoebox if you have meant to order prints for years and have not. The other alternatives are worth a look too.
Start this month
A day the prints get ordered, whether or not you remember it.
$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.