Starter
$44.99USD / event
- Up to 100 guests
- 2,000 photo and video uploads
- 25 GB storage
- Up to 250 MB per file
- 3 months upload and download access
Comparison
PartyLab vs Shutterfly
Shutterfly is a photo printing and album service. PartyLab is a purpose-built event gallery where every guest can upload with a single QR scan — no Shutterfly account required.
Feature by feature
| Feature | PartyLab | Shutterfly |
|---|---|---|
| Guests need to create an account | No | Yes |
| Guests need to download an app | No | Yes |
| One link / QR for all guests | Yes | No |
| Photos collected centrally for the host | Yes | No |
| Private event gallery | Yes | No |
| Live shared gallery during the event | Yes | No |
| Built-in party slideshow for TVs | Yes | No |
| Digital guestbook captions | Yes | No |
| Photo reactions & likes | Yes | No |
| Original photo quality preserved | Yes | Yes |
| ZIP download of all photos | Yes | No |
| One-time pricing — no subscription | Yes | No |
The Shutterfly problem at events
🔐
Guests must create a Shutterfly account to upload
Shutterfly requires every contributor to register with an email and password before they can add photos to a shared album. At a wedding, birthday, or corporate event with 80+ guests, only a fraction will bother signing up. The rest keep their photos on their phones. PartyLab works with a single QR scan — no account, no password, no friction.
🖨️
Built for photo books, not live event sharing
Shutterfly’s core product is curated photo prints and books. Shared Stories albums exist, but there is no live gallery view, no party slideshow, and no QR code for guests. The tool is designed to collect your best photos for a print order — not to stream 200 candid shots from 50 phones in real time during a reception.
💸
Ongoing costs beyond the event
PartyLab offers Starter at $44.99 USD, Plus at $89.99 USD, Max at $179.99 USD per event. Each package is a one-time payment. There is no free upload tier or recurring event subscription. Starter: up to 100 guests, 2,000 uploads, and 25 GB storage. Plus: up to 500 guests, 10,000 uploads, and 100 GB storage. Max: no guest cap, 50,000 uploads, and 1 TB storage. Starter includes 3 months of upload and download access. Plus includes 1 year of upload and download access. Max includes 1 year of upload and download access. Download your files before access ends; downloaded copies are yours to keep.
Hosts who made the switch
★★★★★
“We tried Shutterfly for my parents’ anniversary party but half the guests couldn’t figure out the account setup. PartyLab’s QR code was up in 5 minutes and we collected photos from every table.”
Sara L.
Event host
★★★★★
“Shutterfly is great once you want to make a photo book — but for collecting photos on the night? PartyLab is in a completely different league. Guests don’t need an account and I see photos appearing in real time.”
Marcus T.
Corporate event planner
★★★★★
“The live slideshow on our reception TV was a hit. Everyone uploaded just to see themselves on the big screen. That’s something Shutterfly doesn’t even try to do.”
Emily R.
Wedding organizer
One-time packages for your event
Create an event draft, then choose Starter, Plus, or Max before sharing with guests. Guest uploads require a paid package.
Plus
$89.99USD / event
- Up to 500 guests
- 10,000 photo and video uploads
- 100 GB storage
- Up to 500 MB per file
- 1 year upload and download access
Max
$179.99USD / event
- No guest cap
- 50,000 photo and video uploads
- 1 TB storage
- Up to 1 GB per file
- 1 year upload and download access
Every paid event package includes photo and video uploads, a QR code and event link, a live gallery, a live slideshow, photo captions, reactions, original-quality ZIP export, and guest email CSV export.
Common questions
Can’t I use Shutterfly Shared Stories to collect event photos?+
Shutterfly Shared Stories allows album sharing, but contributors must sign in with a Shutterfly account before they can upload. For events with mixed-age or non-technical guests, this step creates enough friction that most people won’t bother. PartyLab requires no account — guests scan the QR, pick their photos, and they’re done.
How much does PartyLab cost per event?+
PartyLab offers Starter at $44.99 USD, Plus at $89.99 USD, Max at $179.99 USD per event. Each package is a one-time payment. There is no free upload tier or recurring event subscription. Starter: up to 100 guests, 2,000 uploads, and 25 GB storage. Plus: up to 500 guests, 10,000 uploads, and 100 GB storage. Max: no guest cap, 50,000 uploads, and 1 TB storage. Starter includes 3 months of upload and download access. Plus includes 1 year of upload and download access. Max includes 1 year of upload and download access. Download your files before access ends; downloaded copies are yours to keep.
Does PartyLab preserve photo quality like Shutterfly?+
Yes — PartyLab stores every photo and video at the original upload quality with no compression. You can download all files as a ZIP at any time. If you later want to order prints through Shutterfly, you can use the exported originals.
Can I use both PartyLab and Shutterfly together?+
Absolutely. Many hosts use PartyLab to collect all guest photos during the event, then download the ZIP of originals and use the best shots to create a Shutterfly photo book as a keepsake afterwards. The two tools complement each other perfectly.
Every guest’s photos. One shared gallery.
Create an event draft, then choose Starter, Plus, or Max before sharing with guests. Guest uploads require a paid package.
Create your eventPackages from $44.99 USD · Purchase before guest uploads · One payment per event