Updated 12 April 2022
I’m relatively new here in Switzerland (this time anyway…I was here before but that’s another story). Soon after I arrived I started to look for places that would print my family photo books. Having spent the last few years in the US, I came to rely on the wonderful services of Shutterfly. I’ve made many photo books with them. I am very familiar with their design platform and they have an amazing product offering at great prices. But I’m not prepared to pay for the shipping to Europe. I did once and it cost me almost as much as the photo book itself – ouch!
So now that we are holed up by COVID-19, we all have a bit more time on our hands. My thoughts turned again to my photo books – a project which I’m always several years behind with! I did a little research about the suppliers out there right now. And when 3 different people asked me for recommendations of where to get one made in Switzerland I decided to write a blog post and share what I found.
A new selection of online vendors
Many of the companies I used previously (in the early noughties) have disappeared, such as Apple’s iPhoto which stopped producing photo books in late 2018. Some companies acquired others (iFolor bought Fotolabo Club SA) and new Swiss suppliers arrived on the scene, as well as other European ones who were willing to ship to Switzerland. Supermarkets teamed up with photo book suppliers (Migros and Interdiscount) and other companies started offering their services through mobile phone apps. I looked at around 20 online vendors across Europe but for the purposes of this review I’m only comparing Swiss-based suppliers of photo books.
Before I get to my list of photo book suppliers, I want to make it clear that I do not use any of the vendors listed below for my professional photo books. For my clients’ photo books I use a high-end lab in Italy that I have used for many years (sadly closed for the time-being). I am happy to pay for the top-notch quality and service for my clients’ photo books but I am less demanding for my own personal photo books. They don’t need to be layflat, have thick paper, special finishes, custom covers, embossing etc. They are simply a photographic summary of my family’s journey through life together.
The effect of COVID-19 on photo book suppliers
At the time of writing some of the companies below are still operating. In addition, many are offering heavy discounts or free shipping – some until Easter. Hopefully the suppliers are actually benefitting from the population being house-bound.
My Review of Swiss Suppliers of Photo Books
My review of photo book suppliers is in alphabetical order. For the sake of time I did not make an ‘apples-for-apples’ comparison of photo books, so I did not compare prices and sizes etc. Instead I asked:
- can I order through my browser or do I have to download some software?
- can I order from my phone?
- what language the website is in?
- is there a wide choice of product?
- how environmentally-conscious is the supplier?
I also looked around in the local forums and Facebook groups for people’s general comments and feedback. Once you’ve narrowed down your choice of supplier, you’ll easily be able to compare prices if that’s what is important to you.
Lastly, I looked at the Trustpilot rating for shoppers. However, while this can be a useful guide when assessing a supplier, in some cases the rating cannot be truly indicative of a company’s service. Either there aren’t many reviews (iFolor.ch & Smartphoto.ch only have a couple) or there are none at all (BookFactory). Pixum on the other hand has thousands of reviews. So, read on for the summary of photo book suppliers in Switzerland…
Website: Bookfactory
Trustpilot Rating: N/A
The Bookfactory website is in French, German and English, which is a huge plus for me. They offer a great choice of layouts and highly customisable options, such as embossing. No quality rating by Trustpilot. However, BookFactory is highly recommended by this blogger at Swissfamilytravel who also did a lot of research about photo books in Switzerland. You can order online or download Bookfactory’s own design software. They also have an app for your phone.
Bookfactory supports the myclimate Foundation. When you order you are asked if you want Bookfactory to produce your order climate-neutrally. This means that the CO2 content of your order is converted into a small amount of money and added to the order total. The CO2 compensation goes directly to myclimate and the climate protection project in the Jura.
Website: iFolor
Trustpilot Rating: 4 out of 5
iFolor is an old Swiss company that has grown across Europe. It has a website in 4 languages including English, and it is certified CO2 Neutral. It offers a wide range of great quality products. You don’t need to download their software to order but if you do, your photo books are saved permanently. If you design online, you have 14 days to work on your photo book and place your order. They also have an app for the phone. Easy to use and quick delivery.
Website: Interdiscount
Trustpilot Rating 4.5 out of 5
Interdiscount outsources it photo book printing service to CEWE Fotobuch, which has the above rating. To order you need to download the CEWE design software; there is also an app for your phone. The website is in French and German. Orders can be combined with store offers. Products are delivered to you by mail. I have ordered regular prints through Interdiscount before and was impressed with the quality – although they weren’t the cheapest around.
Website: Journi
Trustpilot Rating N/A
Very easy to order – a lot of people use Journi’s phone app. Apparently they have 1 million happy customers! You can also design from your computer – website is in English and German. One person on a local Facebook group said delivery is quick. The company prides itself on having a low impact on the environment: they have teamed up with Plant-for-the-Planet. A tree is planted for every order made on Journi. With the amount of photo books that I want to make they would end up planting a forest!
Website: Migros
Trustpilot Rating 4.5 out of 5
Like Interdiscount, this supplier uses CEWE Fotobuch for its photo books. See comments for Interdiscount above.
Website: myphotobook.ch
Trustpilot Rating: 1.7
Part of a bigger European-wide printing company, myphotobook.ch offers a large selection of photo book sizes and finishes. You can create a photo book online without downloading their software – you have 16 days to complete your order. The website is in French and German. It’s not clear if this supplier is based in Switzerland or France. In any case the myphotobook.fr is not well rated on Trustpilot; myphotobook.co.uk rated 1.9 but myphotobook.de gets 4 out of 5.
Website: Photobox.ch
Trustpilot Rating 2.7 out of 5
This Swiss-based company is part of the global Photobox company. It offers a large range of products and regularly offers steep discounts. The website is in German only although Google Translate can help with this. It appears that you can design your photo book online without downloading software. You also have an indefinite amount of time to work on your project – assuming you have saved your work – something that Photobox stresses repeatedly.
While the rating for the Swiss company is not great there were only a handful of reviews made. If you don’t mind paying for shipping or you are sending the photo book to someone in the UK or France, it may be worth considering Photobox.co.uk (rating of 4.7) and Photobox.fr (4.4).
Website: Pikperfect
Trustpilot Rating 4.9 out of 5
PikPerfect is a family-run business founded by a husband and wife team, Maike and Rushad Vevaina. Based out of Zurich, PikPerfect specializes in the design and print of photo books and wedding albums for Switzerland as well as customers around the world. Their website and services are offered in English and German. Photo books and albums are Pikperfect’s speciality, and they offer a wide range of products.
What makes Pikperfect unique is that it offers a Design Service for its clients, so it is a great choice for people who don’t have the time (or patience!) to create their photo books themselves. It’s the first time that I have used a design service to make my books, so I was intrigued about the process and decided to give it a try. I was very impressed with the result: watch the video below for a detailed review.
From Pikperfect’s ‘About Us’ web page: “We don’t aim to be the cheapest photo book provider: we strive to create the perfect album for you, each time! We do the hard work to ensure every album is designed to be exactly as you envisioned it to be, and then professionally handcraft it with the care and attention your most precious memories deserve.”
Pikperfect has a sister company called Piktology, for those who want to design their own photo books.
Website: Pixum
Trustpilot Rating 4.7 out of 5
Another Europe-wide company. Rated 4.9 by over 60,000 of their customers. A good range of very high-quality products that have won multiple awards. Three ways to place an order a) online b) download Pixum’s Photo World Software c) their app for phones. Website is in German, French and Italian.
Pixum has been FSC certified since 2013 and they attach great importance to sustainability. Only certified environmentally friendly materials are used in Pixum’s photo books, from responsibly-managed forests.
Website: Saal Digital
Trustpilot Rating 3.7 out of 5
High quality products – professional quality at a more personal price. I like the high-end look of the finishing, covers and boxes for Saal Digital’s photo books. They are rated 4.8 by their own customers and I agree. I’ve ordered regular photo prints from Saal Digital before and thought the colours were very accurate – one of the first signs of good quality. However, at the moment their website is only in German. When I’ve ordered in the past I had to jump between the French and Swiss sites to make sure I understood what I was ordering! I guess you could rely on Google translating for you.
Website: Smartphoto.ch
Trustpilot Rating 2.9 out of 5
Pros: Smartphoto is one of the largest suppliers of online photo products. This supplier offers a range of photo book options for all budgets. Lots of sizes, shapes and layouts of design. I particularly like the ‘Year in Review’ template. Seems that you can only order online – there is no software to download or navigate.
Cons: The website is in French and German. I found no reference to being environmentally-neutral. The Trustpilot rating of 2.9 is from just 2 reviews. Smartphoto.co.uk and Smartphoto.fr both have excellent ratings (4.4) which tells me that maybe the 2 reviews for the CH supplier just needed to vent a bit.
Website: Whitewall
Trustpilot Rating 4.3 out of 5
Good quality products. Apparently when Apple stopped offering printing services in late 2018, Whitewall was one of the few companies it recommended. Their website is in French and German. To order you can either upload previously designed pdf files or design online in your browser. If using the 2nd option your photo book will be stored for up to 30 days. Products delivered by courier.
My opinion on Swiss photo books?
I recommend Bookfactory, iFolor or Journi if you want to design your own photo books. Having a website in English makes it a lot easier to order. There’s also there’s the feel-good factor – I like the fact that these companies are actively protecting the environment. If you don’t have time to do it yourself, definitely go for PikPerfect: it’s the only option at the moment.
There you have it! I hope you have found this review useful. If there’s anything you’ve spotted that isn’t correct, or if you know of any other suppliers that should be included, please let me know.
Otherwise, feel free to share with others who are also wanting to make their own photo books in Switzerland. As Journi says on it’s website:
10 Responses
Thank you for this useful overview. I used to use BookFactory, and Apple before they closed. I need full layout freedom including the number of photos per page and an ability to insert text boxes (not whole page texts only), any thoughts? Cheers! Kay
Hi Kay!
Glad you found my review useful. I still haven’t designed my book (working on collecting all the images!) but I took another look at the suppliers, specifically for the features you mentioned. I found that with Bookfactory’s software I was able to use their pre-prepared layouts, then adapt them completely to my own. The drop-in feature makes it very quick to design. I was able to remove all images except one and create a panoramic spread. There’s also an option to add text boxes wherever you like on the page, and edit how the text looks.
Journii is more limited for text and page/image layout. I also really liked Pixum – it offers the features that you are looking for and the site is jam-packed with hints, tips and how-to videos. The only issue for me is that the software is in German. I might be able to get by with French, but not German! So I’m sticking with Bookfactory for now 🙂
I’d love to know how you get on!
Thanks so much for this! I’ve been using Once Upon and recently became concerned that they do not use acid free or archival quality paper or ink, but from my research, it seems like this is incredibly rare with photo book companies. I’m gutted to think all the work and money I put into these books will result in yellowed, faded pictures in just a few years. Do you have any Intel on companies that offer archival quality photo books that don’t completely break the bank?
Hi Amber – thank you so much for this article. I used to always use Apple mainly because most of our photos were on an Apple computer and the formatting was so easy. The books themselves were very high quality. We have made one on http://www.papier.com however the photos are not as crisp as Apple. I need to make one this summer and so will try Bookfactory. I will let you know how I get on. Thanks again
Hi Helen, I’m so glad! The choices for printing photo books and photos can be overwhelming and time-consuming so I’m glad this helped. Look forward to hearing how your project turns out! By the way, you may find my more recent blog post useful: it’s on where to print photos in Switzerland. Bye for now.
Hi I finally made a book using Book Factory and the result is really very good . The pages are clean and bright and look very crisp . The photos really stand out . I did find the software a little bit clumsy compared to having done Apple Books for years and there aren’t as many layout choices as with Apple . The only real negative is that once you get to ordering everything is in German Thank you for your research and your recommendation
Hi Amber
Thank you for this great comparison. Would it be possible for you to share the website of the high end lab in Italy (even privately per mail).
I’ve tried some of the offers in Switzerland and would be more than happy to compare prices and quality.
Thank you
Marcelo
Hi Marcelo,
I use Graphi Studio in Italy for most of my products. They produce the most beautiful creations that are really sublime quality. You need to be a pro-photographer with an established business to create an account with them. Bear in mind too that you need to pay customs tax when the products arrive in CH. All the best!
Amber
Dear Amber
Thank you so much for your reply.
Have a great and mindful week
Marcelo
Thank you so very much for this fantastic research, and for sharing the results so generously!
Much appreciated!!!!
Kelly.