Cost is often one of the biggest factors when deciding how to digitize your photo collection. With so many photo scanning services available, pricing can vary widely depending on how your photos are handled and how costs are calculated. In this post, we compare common photo scanning service pricing models with the alternative of renting an auto-feed scanner and scanning your photos at home.
At Envio Rentals, customers typically scan around 3,500 photos during a standard rental, so we’ve used that volume as a practical benchmark throughout this comparison.
Most US photo scanning services fall into one of two pricing approaches: box-based pricing or per-photo pricing. While these models can work for small collections, costs add up quickly as photo counts increase.
Some services charge based on box size rather than per image. One example advertises a large box holding around 300 photos for $515. At that volume, this works out to approximately $1.72 per photo.
Other services charge a flat price for each image scanned. Two current US examples advertise pricing at $0.49 per photo (promotional rate) and $0.48 per photo.
At these prices:
Per-photo pricing scales linearly, meaning costs rise directly with the size of your collection.
Most per-photo services include scans at 300 DPI, which is sufficient for reprinting photos at their original size, with higher resolutions often available for an additional fee.
Renting an auto-feed photo scanner follows a very different pricing model. Instead of paying per photo or per box, you pay a fixed rental fee, starting at $149 and scan as many photos as you like during the rental period.
At a typical scan volume of 3,500 photos, this works out to roughly 4 cents per photo. Unlike scanning services, the cost does not increase as you add more photos.
For a 3,500-photo collection, the comparison looks like this:
For large photo collections, scanner rental offers clear advantages beyond cost:
For anyone digitizing hundreds or thousands of photos, renting an auto-feed scanner is often the most affordable, safest and fastest way to preserve and share your memories.
