Walmart offers one of the best online photo printing services out there for prices, quality, convenience, and sheer variety. But creating the photobook was such a headache. Still, it's the place to get fantastic prices on some of the best photo cards (having no minimum size order for photo cards is a nice touch) and best photo gifts, even if all you use is an iPhone. The overall quality of the order I placed was quite nice. The selection of photo products and the prices cannot be beat, especially because shipping is free on orders over $35 and cheap on orders less than that. Plus you have the option to pick up some items on the same day.
Price: VariesBottom line: Walmart's photo printing services are well-priced, but creating a photo book is frustrating.
The Good
- Nice quality prints
- Bargain prices
- Sufficient packaging to avoid damage
- Huge variety of photo prints and products
- No minimum quantity card order
The Bad
- Creating a photo book is frustrating
- Poster shipped in a tube so it arrives with rolled edges
A lot of bang for your buck
Walmart Photo Printing review: Features
While Walmart's website is extensive, it isn't hard to navigate the photo printing portion of it. At least, until you get to the photo book creation platform. I ordered four 4x6 prints, an 8x10 print, a 20x30 print, two wallet prints, one card (there's no minimum order), and a photo book. Interestingly, Walmart has a minimum wallet photo order of two, instead of the usual four. All of the professional engagement photos you see in my order were taken by JMS Imagery.
Putting together my whole order was easy, except for the photo book. While there are tons of photo book options, it was hard to edit the book's pages. You can't change the number of photos on each page nor can you put text on the book's cover (or if you can, it's difficult to figure out.) It was all very frustrating. When the photobook arrived, the quality was fine, but they weren't kidding when they call it a Paper Cover book. It's literally made out of paper. I mean, it's a nice cardstock paper that looks and feels nice, but it seems like a delicate choice for something meant to be handled repeatedly. Walmart certainly has plenty of other photo book options up to and including leather-bound premium lay-flat options, but I was going for the least expensive one.
The prints look great, all of them came out exactly how I'd expect, including the black and white photos. The 20x30 print did come in a tube, which is pretty typical. I don't love that packaging choice because it means the edges are rolled up. I know the edges will settle down eventually but overnight with books on the corners didn't do it.
Being able to order a single photo card for a low price was a pleasant surprise.
I was pleased to see that there was no minimum size order for cards like most places have. Generally, the photo printing services that don't require a minimum card order are quite expensive when you order a single card, but Walmart's single card was just $1. The card is printed on photo paper, which means the back just looks like the back of a photo print. So you cannot print anything on the back like you can at places that use cardstock for their cards. My single card came with two plain white paper envelopes, I guess in case I mess one up.
Walmart's prices are some of the cheapest I've found overall, plus there are always promo codes and deals going on. I had no big issues with the quality; the prints all look great and the photo book was fine for what it was. The variety of products you can order at Walmart is staggering. Many of the items, including passport photos, can be ordered and picked up at your local Walmart the same day, thus saving shipping fees. Walmart is also one of the few photo printing services that offers free shipping for orders over $35. But even if you don't make that threshold, the shipping is still cheaper than most places.
| Category | Feature |
|---|---|
| Print size range | From wallet to 20x30 |
| Photo books | Yes |
| Variety of photo products available | Enormous |
| Free shipping | With orders over $35 |
| Cloud storage | Yes |
| Subscription | No |
| Shipping time | 13 days |
| Auto-crop | Yes, but easy to change |
| Photo corrections | Yes, red-eye, cropping, and brightness |
| Option to pick up locally | Yes, some items |
| Upload photos from other websites | Yes: Facebook, Instagram, Google Photos, Flickr, and Dropbox |
| All items arrived undamaged | Yes |
| Photo quality | Great |
| iOS app | Not for photos |
Price
Walmart Photo Printing review: What I like
Walmart's prices do make it worthwhile to order prints and cards there. The quality is certainly fine, shipping is cheap or free, and free pickup is an option for some items.
Having no photo card minimum is an unusual feature, especially at Walmart prices. If you just want to make a single card, or just a few, this is your best option. Just keep in mind that it is photo paper, not card stock, so you cannot print on the back as well.
Terrible book platform
Walmart Photo Printing review: What I don't like
I would not recommend making photo books at Walmart. While the quality is fine, it's not worth the hassle of putting the book together on such an inflexible platform.
Price makes up for some issues
Walmart Photo Printing review: Bottom line
If you're not looking to make a photo book, I would recommend Walmart for just about all of your other printing needs. Overall quality is great. Their prices are on par or less than most other places. Plus, there are always promo codes and deals going on. While the shipping isn't super fast, it is free on orders over $35 and cheap for smaller orders, which is unusual. You can also pick up some items in-store the same day you order them.
The fact that you can order just one photo card at a low price is quite unusual. Keep in mind that cards are printed on photo paper, so you cannot print on the back of the card. The photo book platform is too frustrating to recommend using, but if you want to go for it anyway, the quality of the book is just fine.
