Comparison
Which wedding photo app should you choose in 2026?
By Max Bryselbout · Text updated on 13 October 2026
Start with what you need from a wedding photo sharing service: easy guest access, video, full downloads or a slideshow. Here are the features and offers to compare.
The criteria that actually matter
Read enough threads from couples who have been through it and four criteria come back every time, in this order:
- No friction for guests. Every step you impose (installing an app, creating an account) removes people, and that is the single biggest factor in how much you collect.
- Original quality, included. Uploaded and downloaded without compression, without a surcharge.
- How long it is kept. Some services close the album, or start charging for it, a month or two after the wedding. Read that line before anything else.
- Where the photos end up. A named host, what the terms say the service may do with your content, which law applies: the most ignored criterion, and the hardest to fix afterwards.
The criterion nobody publishes: the network on the day
A hundred and twenty guests on a single mast, in a venue out in the country, is the normal situation at a wedding, not an edge case. It is also the first cause of lost photos, ahead of any question of features: an upload that starts again from zero on every dropout is a guest who gives up after two attempts. None of the services named here documents this.
At Medley, any file above 8 MiB goes up in resumable chunks: if the network cuts out, only the chunk in flight is sent again, never the whole video. It is invisible when everything is fine, and it is the entire difference when it is not. Ask the others the question before you choose.
The table, with the receipts
Information recorded in July 2026 from the public sites and documentation of the services named. “To be checked” means the publisher does not state it plainly: ask before you pay. Offers change, so check again at the moment you choose.
Uploading without an app
- Medley
- Yes (browser, QR code)
- Wedbox
- Yes (browser, QR code)
- WedShoots
- No (iOS/Android app)
- Google Photos
- Yes, in the browser
Account required of guests
- Medley
- No, a first name is enough
- Wedbox
- Not stated
- WedShoots
- Yes, according to user reports
- Google Photos
- Yes (a Google account to upload)
Original quality
- Medley
- Received intact, handed back in the downloaded album
- Wedbox
- Full-quality download advertised
- WedShoots
- To be checked
- Google Photos
- Depends on each guest's own account settings
Guest book (written, voice, video)
- Medley
- Written note, voice message or video, same QR code
- Wedbox
- Not stated on the pages we read
- WedShoots
- Not stated: comments and votes under a photo
- Google Photos
- No feature of the kind
Retention
- Medley
- The album is kept for 2 years on the Event plan; an album still on trial is deleted 30 days after the event date (or after its creation, if the album has no event date or one earlier than its creation), and no later than one year after its creation.
- Wedbox
- 2 months free after the wedding, then paid (about $2.50 a month)
- WedShoots
- To be checked
- Google Photos
- Tied to the Google account and its storage
Hosting stated
- Medley
- EU: OVH, France (named in the legal notice)
- Wedbox
- Not stated on their site
- WedShoots
- Not stated
- Google Photos
- US company (Cloud Act)
Price
- Medley
- Free trial, then 39 € once per event
- Wedbox
- Free, then paid storage extensions
- WedShoots
- Free
- Google Photos
- Free (paid Google storage optional)
| Criterion | Medley | Wedbox | WedShoots | Google Photos |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uploading without an app | Yes (browser, QR code) | Yes (browser, QR code) | No (iOS/Android app) | Yes, in the browser |
| Account required of guests | No, a first name is enough | Not stated | Yes, according to user reports | Yes (a Google account to upload) |
| Original quality | Received intact, handed back in the downloaded album | Full-quality download advertised | To be checked | Depends on each guest's own account settings |
| Guest book (written, voice, video) | Written note, voice message or video, same QR code | Not stated on the pages we read | Not stated: comments and votes under a photo | No feature of the kind |
| Retention | The album is kept for 2 years on the Event plan; an album still on trial is deleted 30 days after the event date (or after its creation, if the album has no event date or one earlier than its creation), and no later than one year after its creation. | 2 months free after the wedding, then paid (about $2.50 a month) | To be checked | Tied to the Google account and its storage |
| Hosting stated | EU: OVH, France (named in the legal notice) | Not stated on their site | Not stated | US company (Cloud Act) |
| Price | Free trial, then 39 € once per event | Free, then paid storage extensions | Free | Free (paid Google storage optional) |
What Medley does well, and what it does not do
Our strong points: uploading behind a QR code with no app and no account, original quality as a matter of course for photos and videos alike, a full download for everyone, reactions and comments on the photos, a live slideshow to project during the evening, a retention period written in plain sight (the Retention row of the table, not a clause buried in the terms), and hosting in the European Union we are happy to name (the detail is on our hosting and GDPR page).
What we do not do: no facial recognition (a deliberate choice, your guests' faces are not analysed), no native app (also a choice, since the browser is what maximises participation), and the product is young, so features exist at established competitors that we do not have yet. If facial recognition is your number one criterion, you will have to look elsewhere, at the services that have made it their speciality.
The other services, and the three lines to ask them for
If hosting inside the European Union is your criterion, we are not alone on that ground and we will not pretend otherwise: several European services state it just as plainly, some of them with much longer retention. The GDPR on its own will not settle your choice between them.
Wedbox, WedShoots, GuestPix, Kululu, Fotify, GuestCam, Guestlense and WedUploader all offer the same base of a QR code plus a browser upload, with tiered pricing on top. Three lines to check with each of them: whether original quality is included or costs extra, how long the album stays reachable without paying, and where the data is hosted. The answers are rarely on the home page, so go and read the FAQ and the terms. One word on Eversnap, still recommended here and there: the service shut down in 2020, so do not build anything on it.
Our verdict, by profile
- You want the maximum number of photos, with no friction for your guests: Medley. That is precisely the brief the product was built to answer.
- You want every guest to receive their own photos automatically (a selfie on arrival): that is not our approach. Look for a facial recognition service, accepting the biometric analysis that comes with it, and check what becomes of the identifying selfie.
- Everyone around you already lives in Google and nobody else will take part: a shared Google Photos album may well be enough, with its limits (an account is needed to upload).
- Small budget and a taste for putting things together: a shared folder plus our free QR sign maker works. Just try the guest experience yourself before the day.