Digital photos can be printer on photo papers like the old film photos. Digital photos do not need to be printed though and many users enjoy them on their built in digital camera screen or on their computer screen without ever printing a single photo.

The cost of online photo printing varies. It comprises of two components the cost of actually printing the digital photos on paper and the cost of shipping those photos to the user. The online photo printing market is very competitive. There are brand name players in the market but also new unknown printers popping up like mushrooms every so often. The decision where to print digital photos is thus not easy.

One way to decide is simply by cost. Shop around or use a comparison web site to check which photo printing service provides the cheapest digital prints. Different photo printing services are cheaper for different paper size and quantities so always make sure that you are comparing cost for the exact same printing job and for the exact same shipping method and address.

The other way to decide is based on a combination of quality and cost. This is however not that easy to do. One way is to use a shopping comparison web site to compare prices and to read reviews about what users think of each photo printing service. Another way however is to simply try yourself using the photo printing web sites free prints option.

Many photo printing services found out that users are cautious to use their service without getting a taste of its quality. Quality is a combination of the actual photo printing quality the processing and shipping speed and the customer service provided. In order for users to get a taste of these qualities many photo printing service offer free prints which are basically a try before you buy system.

Some photo printing services offer completely free prints including basic shipping while others online provide free prints while asking the user for a minimum shipping payment.

Photo printing services limit free prints to one user and also limit the amount of prints available for free and the paper size. Most photo printing services only offer free prints for 4 inches by 6 inches prints and for anywhere between twenty to sixty prints. A single user is usually defined as a single household based on the shipping address provided.

Some users abuse the free prints method which was intended for users that intend to buy if they like the quality of the free prints that they got. Those users simply use the free prints without any intention to ever buy more. Those users also use a method where they keep moving from one online photo service to another getting the maximum free prints at each service. With new photo printing services launched often users can keep hopping ordering free prints accumulating hundreds and even thousands of such free goodies.