Costco Members Get 51% Off on Photos From Shutterfly. Is It Worth It?

People are constantly taking digital photos with their phones -- but that doesn't mean printed photos have gone away. Sometimes having great digital photos of loved ones and happy memories makes you want physical mementos even more. Costco can help you print photos at low cost.

Although Costco no longer offers an in-house photo printing service at the Costco warehouses, Costco members can get a special 51% discount on photo printing with Shutterfly, a Costco partner. If you want to turn your photos into keepsakes like photo books, posters, calendars, wall art, and more, Shutterfly can help.

Unfortunately, Shutterfly isn't generally regarded as the best photo printer. Let's look at a few possible benefits and drawbacks of Costco members' special discount at Shutterfly.

Shutterfly Costco discount: 51% off photo printing

Costco members can get 51% off regularly-priced Shutterfly orders and free economy shipping on orders of $49 or more. It's easy to sign up for the Costco discount: you just have to add your Costco membership number to your Shutterfly account.

Shutterfly has more than 600 curated products that you can create from your own photos, or shop special artist-designed products, including professionally designed photo books. Shutterfly gives you the power to get your photos off of your phone and onto the walls of your home and into your everyday life in creative ways.

Possible downsides of Shutterfly for Costco members

Costco's partnership with Shutterfly is another example of the ways that Costco tries to provide special deals and extra value for its members. Whether it's Costco Travel to get special deals on cruises and vacation packages, Costco Pharmacy that gives people access to lower-cost prescription drugs, or Costco's partnership with Sesame that gives members special discounts on telemedicine visits, Costco membership benefits go beyond the warehouse.

But unfortunately, Costco's partnership with Shutterfly is not getting rave reviews. Costco members on Reddit have complained about receiving poor quality photo prints from Shutterfly, and some said that they miss the old in-house Costco Photo center.

The New York Times Wirecutter review did not rank Shutterfly as one of the best online photo printers; in fact it said that Shutterfly was "the second most expensive in our tests, and the print quality was average at best."

Should Costco members look elsewhere for photo printing? Here are a few alternatives to Shutterfly.

Best photo printers with no Costco discount

The Wirecutter review found that these online photo printers offer the best print quality. You won't get a 51% Costco discount from these companies, but clearer, crisper, more-colorful photo prints might be worth it.

Nations Photo Lab

Wirecutter rated this printing site highly for "delivering good-looking prints in secure packaging" and says that it has an easy-to-use interface for uploading digital photos from mobile devices or computers. Learn more at nationsphotolab.com

Printique

Printique also ranked highly in the Wirecutter review of best photo printers. Wirecutter said that Printique's "print quality and pricing is on a par" with Nations Photo Lab. Learn more at printique.com

One more option for Costco photo printing

If you need to print a large volume of photos and you want a higher level of control over your print quality, you might want to buy a high-quality photo printer at Costco. Costco offers significant savings on printers, and the generous Costco return policy and Costco Concierge tech support can help you if you encounter any challenges with printing or achieving the level of photo quality that you want.

Bottom line

Costco's 51% discount partnership with Shutterfly has received mixed reviews from photo printing aficionados. If you want to get high-quality photo prints to make mementos, artwork, or just get hard copies of your favorite family memories, you might want to try a different photo printing service. Sometimes the best quality photos are worth pulling out your credit card.