Amazon vs Google Photobooks

Amazon vs Google Photobooks Review

Making photobooks have become easier, but I found it difficult deciding who to print from.

When I finally decided to print a "nice" photobook for myself and another one as a gift for my Dad, I was not sure where to begin. My very first photobook was a tiny book from Walmart printed in 2016, and though it was decent, it was a cheap little keepsake for myself. I wanted my next books to also be affordable, easy to use, and still give me quality prints.

After looking through several reviews, I noticed that there were few about Google Photos and almost none on Amazon Photo's photobooks. Google and Amazon, two brands I already like! Since so many reviews out there did not answer my basic questions, I am writing this to help you if you're deciding between these two options and looking to steer away from themed templates.

This post is not about Education, but towards the end I will include some comments about classroom use.

Price 

Amazon ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars
My book was an 8"x11" hardcover with 22 pages, $23.49 before tax. I did not use a themed template.
Choices:
  • 5"x7" softcover starts at $8.99, 20 pages included 2 additional pages $1.00
  • 8"x8" hardcover starts at $17.99, 20 pages included 2 additional pages $1.00
  • 8"x11" hardcover starts at $21.99, 20 pages included 2 additional pages $1.50
  • 12"x12" hardcover starts at $39.99, 20 pages included 2 additional pages $1.70
  • 12"x12" premium layflat hardcover starts at $59.99, 20 pages included 2 additional pages $2.00
  • Shipping: FREE with Amazon Prime

Google ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars
My book was a 9"x9" hardcover with 47 pages, $37.98 before tax and shipping. No templates offered.
Choices:
  • 7-inch square softcover, 20 pages $0.35/additional page
  • 9-inch square hardcover, 20 pages $0.65/additional page
  • Shipping: $7.99
Overall
Both are affordable and competitively priced. Page costs depend on book dimensions.Amazon charges more per page, but comes with free shipping. Google costs less per page, but charges shipping. 

Customization

Amazon ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars
Amazon has a huge variety of layouts and frames that you can place on each page. You can also insert individual photos into specific frames then move or resize them within. It allows you to insert words and customize the font. When you delete photos from a collage, you have the option to shuffle your images so that it will re-arrange all the photos to fill the page.

Google ⭐⭐/5 stars
Google's formatting was very minimalistic and even restrictive. This is meant to take all the thinking out of creating a photobook. If you've ever created one, the hardest part is thinking about how to arrange all the photos. Only one image is allowed per page, and you get three basic choices on how to format the image. You can move the image around in the frame to re-center it, though Google's AI already does a great job choosing the focal point. This is nice for someone who's looking to print single images in portfolio-like books.

To work around the one-image-per-page rule, I had to go back to my Google photos and create collages which I then inserted as single images into my book. Google collages are also uncustomizable, and it will arrange the images for you, which can be frustrating when you want your collage to focus on certain images over others.

Overall
Amazon is great for both single and multiple-image layouts, but Google is meant for single and large image layouts only.

Ease of Use

Amazon ⭐/5 stars
The usability of the online photo application was terrible. It appears that all photos must be uploaded into the project at once before you can customize it. If you upload some photos into the project, then decide to upload more photos, this will cause a big problem. What happens is that most of the images are unavailable to work with, missing from your photobook if you arranged them earlier, and you must log out and return to the project after a few hours. Creating this photobook was very frustrating, and contacting customer service did not help.

Google ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars
Images are automatically arranged and searched for based on the Google Photos timeline. Inserting new images was very easy, and going back and forth to choose and insert pictures was efficient. Google would direct me to points in my large photo timeline where it thinks I will select images. Very smart. Inserting, moving, and deleting images and pages was simple.

Overall
Amazon needs more work on usability to correct the delay when photos are added to a photobook project. Google Photos was simple to use.

Quality

Amazon ⭐⭐⭐/5 stars
The cover is smooth and glossy, true to the colors on my computer screen, and durable. The images inside, however, were roughly or slightly better than the quality of my Walmart photobook, and the colors were a little heavy on red. I was a little disappointed when I opened it up and could instantly tell that the dots-per-inch or dpi appeared low. I could see all the white spaces in between the color prints when I looked at it closely. Why did the cover printed so nicely, but the images inside printed so-so? My cover images were full photo splashes that printed nicely, so I wonder if the quality changes when the photos were resized inside the frames?

Google ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars
I was super pleased with the quality of the images! The cover for this was also nicely printed. First, the colors were rich and practically mirrored the iMac screen from where I customized the photobook. Second, when I look closely at the photos in this book, tiny dots are difficult to detect and the colors paint the pages naturally. Even pages with images that I altered into collages printed nicely on the pages. There is a clear difference in the dpi between the Amazon and the Google photobooks.

Overall
Most of the photos in both the Amazon and Google photobooks were taken using the same digital Canon camera and settings, and taken around the same time +/-1 year, but Google's printing quality noticeably surpassed Amazon's.

In Summary

Amazon Photos 3.5/5 stars
Choose Amazon if you're:
  • printing less than 20 pages
  • prefer to customize images on each page
  • printing regular images from a smartphone
  • a fan of Snapfish photos (this brand appeared when my photobook was loading)

Google Photos 4.25/5 stars
Choose Google if you're:
  • printing a lot more than 20 pages
  • want quality pictures for special occasions or for professional display
  • printing high resolution images
Google Photobook front cover

Google Photobook binding

Google Photobook photos

I like both of my photobooks, but the Google one is the winner for me. It took a lot less time to create a book through Google than on Amazon. I printed the photobook as a gift for my Dad, and I'm glad I went with this option. My parents kept commenting on how beautiful the print was.

Suggestions for classroom use:

Classroom yearbook
Classroom publishing using photos or scans of student work
Student portfolio
Student storytelling or presentation project
End-of-year or retirement album for a teacher




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