As an avid scrapbooker and photo printing enthusiast, I‘ve tried just about every popular service over the past decade making memory books for weddings, birthdays, vacations and more. Recently I decided to give Mixbook a shot based on strong word-of-mouth praise. And I must say, I‘m thoroughly impressed!
Keep reading for my complete hands-on review detailing whether Mixbook delivers on quality and value compared to brands like Shutterfly and Snapfish. I‘ll also share specific examples of books I created along with Mixbook‘s vast creative options to help you determine if it‘s the right fit for your next project.
Quick Intro: What Is Mixbook?
For anyone unfamiliar, Mixbook is an online design and printing service founded back in 2006 by a couple college students who wanted an easy way to make scrapbooks. Today, over 55 million custom photo creations have been made using their tools including:
- Photo books
- Cards
- Calendars
- Canvas prints
- And much more
The company seems to have carved out a niche focusing specifically on letting anyone easily build completely customized photo books thanks to their proprietary design software.
You simply upload your own pictures then utilize Mixbook‘s themes, graphics, embellishments and editing tools to create a professionally-printed book. They offer standard soft and hard cover bindings as well as premium lay flat for seamless two-page photo spreads.
What Sold Me Initially
As a frequent memory book creator, I‘m quite particular about customizability and print quality. Right away browsing Mixbook‘s offering, the number of templates, fonts, graphics and layouts seemed endless compared to other brands I‘ve used like Shutterfly.
I also appreciated that Mixbook seems to use responsible sourcing for its papers – they are accredited by the Rainforest Alliance. And I‘m always a sucker for good deals, so their reasonable prices and regular promos caught my attention.
Overall, Mixbook made a great first impression. I decided to find out if they lived up to my high expectations by testing them out on several real photo book projects.
Putting Mixbook To The Test Across Multiple Books
To fully evaluate Mixbook‘s capabilities, I created four photo books spanning a variety of themes, layouts and configurations:
- 8×8 Softcover Wedding Memory Book – 20 pages square with a fabric wrap cover
- 8.5×11 Hardcover Family Vacation Album – 50 pages in landscape orientation using pearl photo paper
- 12×12 Birthday Memory Book – 30 page square lay flat premium paper
- 8×11 "Year In Review" Hard Cover Book – 20 pages portrait orientation with semi-gloss pages
My goal was to rigorously test the quality, customization options, and print reproduction across different book settings. Here is an overview of my hands-on experience:
Customizing The Designs
I loved having free reign to fully tailor designs on every book. Some advantages I noticed were:
- Intuitive Editing – Simple drag-and-drop for images, text boxes and clip art. Resizing, cropping and color tweaking was very user-friendly
- Robust Graphics – An incredible selection of backgrounds, frames, embellishments and stickers. Very modern, trendy aesthetic with most included free.
- Creative Layouts – Dozens of templates for every occasion or theme. Or you can build completely custom layouts from scratch.
- Themes – Professionally designed collections of colors, fonts, graphics tailored to events like birthdays, weddings, vacations etc.
I never felt limited in ability to customize pages and spreads to my taste. Mixbook‘s tools enable anyone to make Pinterest-worthy pages with minimal effort and artistic skill.
Example: My 8×8 Wedding Memory Book
For this book commemorating my cousin‘s nuptials, I wanted an elegant but playful design that embodied the bubbly party vibe. Starting with Mixbook‘s Wedding Champagne theme, I added blush pink backgrounds with rose gold glitter text and accents.
The bridesmaid dress page used a mosaic tile template with heart frame borders. And I created clever arrangements of ceremony photos using stickers like rings and floral wreaths.
Overall in just a few evenings tinkering with backgrounds, fonts and graphics I achieved a professional, cohesive and very personal design that reflected the spirit of the event and couple perfectly.
Example wedding book pages with custom background, graphics and photo arrangement
Printing & Binding Results
All my finished books exceeded expectations for print reproduction. Colors were vibrant, images crystal clear and paper thick and bright white.
For my birthday memory book using premium lay flat binding, it opened perfectly smooth without any warping in the gutter of two-page spreads. On my landscape and portrait books, images still went nearly edge so edge with minimal visible spine curve.
Honestly I scrutinized closely and struggled to find flaws. Tiny scuffs on book edges from handling were the only signs of wear after repeated reviewing and packing in suitcases.
Pro Tip: Always order an extra copy as a backup in case any damage occurs to your one-of-a-kind creation!
How Mixbook Compares To The Competition
Curious how Mixbook stacked up against the category leaders, I compared critical factors side-by-side:
| Mixbook | Shutterfly | Snapfish | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upload Experience | Bulk upload; integrates with cloud storage | Also easy uploader; imports from social media /cloud accounts | Very limited; must manually add one photo at a time |
| Themes & Templates | 100+ beautiful themes and templates for every occasion | Good variety though not as many options | Lacking; themes not very sophisticated |
| Customization | Complete creative freedom with backgrounds, layouts, text etc. | Provides flexibility but not total control | Pre-set layouts and backgrounds only |
| Editing Capability | Advanced tools like blemish removal, color correction etc. | Fairly limited adjustment options | Very basic editing functionality |
| Embellishments | Modern themed graphics, stickers, textures, frames | Decent selection of embellishments | Just basic themed stickers |
| Print Quality | Excellent photo reproduction; vivid accurate colors | Mostly good print quality though some color shifting | Visible quality issues like banding and muted tones |
| Paper Quality | Premium 100lb matte or lustre paper | Decent but thinner than Mixbook | Very lightweight paper prone to wrinkles |
| Pricing | Very reasonable starting under $20 | $25-40 for most common book sizes | Low entry prices but quality lacking |
For customizable design, robust editing tools and premium printing capability, Mixbook outperformed Shutterfly and especially Snapfish by noticeable margins.
Based on my analysis, Mixbook simply provides exceptional creative freedom to transform photos into treasured memory keepsakes paired with fantastic printing quality – a winning combination in my book!
Pricing is quite affordable too considering the stellar results, premium paper, creative options and embellishment library. Sales run regularly as well dropping prices 20% or more sitewide.
Evaluating Value Across Mixbook‘s Product Line
Beyond standard photo books, Mixbook provides exceptional quality, customization and value across a spectrum of personalized photo gifts including:
Cards – Offering same premium paper as books, you can fully customize graphics, text and layouts for stationery, holiday cards, wedding invitations and more.
Calendars – Several template options available letting you embellish each month with favorite photos and themes. Printed on thick premium paper.
Canvas Prints – Assert fine art style by transforming images into gallery wraps, metal prints or wood wall art. Many sizes and framing options.
Additional Photo Gifts – Options like ornaments, bags, home decor and more to display cherished moments.
I‘m impressed by how Mixbook leverages the same user-friendly design tools and high quality printing for beautiful results across a range of keepsake types at very wallet-friendly pricing.
Mixbook Cost Breakdown: Books, Shipping & Discounts
Mixbook pricing varies based primarily on cover style, size, page count and paper finish:
- Softcover Books – From about $16 for smaller sizes up to $25 for premium paper
- Hardcover Books – Around $35 on the low end ranging up to $75+ for XL landscape / portrait and lay flat
- Additional Pages – Adds $1-3 per extra page depending on size / paper
- More luxe options like leather cover, pearl finish etc. increase cost
I found their pricing very fair overall considering the stellar print quality and custom results. While some sites advertise books starting under $10, that is for (in my opinion) very low quality output barely worth framing.
Mixbook routinely offers 20-50% off sitewide so signing up for email deals lets you score photo books and gifts at exceptional values.
Standard shipping is about $8 for 5-7 day delivery. Or pay $12 extra for expedited 2-3 day shipping.
Mixbook Review Pros & Cons Summary
Here is a complete rundown of the biggest perks and potential limitations using Mixbook that I uncovered through my testing:
Mixbook Pros
- Endless customization capability
- Modern themed templates and graphics
- Easy drag-and-drop design interface
- Vibrant, true-to-life photo printing
- Responsibly sourced premium paper
- Durable high quality binding options
- Very wallet-friendly cost
- Fast production and shipping times
- Stellar customer service team
Mixbook Cons
- Could offer a few more advanced editing tools
- Boxing scuffs book/photo edges during shipping (order backup!)
- Must order 10 pages minimum so small projects add up
Considering the tremendous quality, customization range and value they provide, I truly could not come up with many downsides to Mixbook that gave me pause. Their pros dramatically outweigh any minor limitations I noticed in my experience.
The Verdict: Is Mixbook Worth Trying?
For anyone seeking to produce custom photo books, memory albums, keepsakes and more, Mixbook earns my highest recommendation for offering the ideal blend of quality, flexibility and affordability.
Compared head-to-head with brands like Shutterfly, Snapfish and others, Mixbook gave me superior printing capability and infinitely more control to design a book precisely matching my vision.
Thanks to seemingly endless templates, fonts, graphics and embellishments, you can easily create Pinterest-perfect pages regardless of artistic talent (or lack thereof in my case!) Then Mixbook reproduces your unique designs on bright, vivid premium paper that really makes memories pop.
For these reasons and more, I am confident proclaiming Mixbook as my trusted partner for all future photo printing needs. Their products deliver sensational quality rivaling competitors double the price.
Overall if you want to transform lackluster snapshots into a showstopping memory book or family history album, Mixbook provide all the tools necessary for stunning results you’ll cherish forever. I cannot recommend them highly enough!
Have you created any Mixbook designs? Feel free to share your experiences or ask additional questions in the comments below! I‘m happy to offer any insight or tips from my decade as an avid scrapbooker and photo book fanatic.
