Famileo Alternatives: Cheaper Ways to Send Family Photos in 2026
Short answer
Trove's Paper Edition is the cheapest printed alternative: a folded self-mailer posted on the 1st of each month, laid out automatically from photos already in your Trove, $4.99 a month including one mailing address and $4 a month for each extra address, US only for now. The same app emails one curated edition a week — the week laid out, with a short written summary — free, to as many relatives as you like, with no app and no account at their end. Famileo costs what it costs because printing and posting things costs money: $9.99 a month in the US for a monthly gazette, up to $18.99 for two a month, with no free tier for a home recipient. What it has that nothing here matches is reach and format — it posts to any country in the world with postage included, and the gazette carries 20, 28 or 36 messages an issue from up to sixty relatives. The other printed services are narrower than they look: Hug Letters is $14.99 a month but mails to one recipient only, and Letters to Grandma is $29.99 a month with two printed copies included. If paper was never really the requirement, test that first — send your relative a normal email with three photos in it, and see whether they reply.
Famileo does something genuinely valuable: it reaches relatives who have no device at all, by printing family photos into a newspaper and posting it — to any country in the world, at the same price, with postage included. The gazette format is its own thing too: 20, 28 or 36 messages an issue depending on the plan, from as many as sixty contributing relatives, with upcoming birthdays printed on the back cover. If that is what you want, nothing here replicates it.
At $9.99 to $18.99 a month in the US with no free tier for a home recipient, and a whole separate subscription for each additional address, it is not cheap. There are now cheaper ways to put photographs in the post, and free ways to send them if paper was never really the point.
First: who actually needs paper?
This is worth five minutes, and it is no longer a question of whether to spend at all — print starts at $4.99 a month now. It is a question of which list each relative belongs on. Many relatives described as "not good with technology" do use email comfortably; it is often the one piece of software they have been using for twenty years.
A quick test
Send them a normal email with three photos in it. If they open it and reply, a free emailed edition reaches them at no cost and you can spend the print budget on the relatives who have no screen at all.
The alternatives
| Format | Cost | Where it posts | Best for | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trove Paper Edition | Printed self-mailer by post, monthly | $4.99/mo, one address; $4/mo each after | US only for now | A relative with no screen |
| Trove weekly edition | Emailed, laid out, with a written summary | Free, unlimited recipients | Anywhere | Anyone who opens email |
| Famileo (current) | Printed newspaper, monthly or twice monthly | US $9.99–$18.99/mo; a second address is a second subscription | Every country, postage included | Messages from the whole family |
| Hug Letters | Printed newspaper, every 4 weeks, plus a free digital edition in its app | $14.99/mo or $139/yr — one recipient only | US addresses only | One relative, whole family contributing by app |
| Letters to Grandma | Printed, built from texts, plus digital by text and a family website | $29.99/mo, two printed copies included ($9.99 digital-only) | US | Families who just text |
| Keepr Circle | Private album app, share links | Free 5 GB, from $4.99/mo | Anywhere | Relatives who will open a link |
| Skylight Frame | Digital frame | $159.99–$299.99 each, plus $39/yr for Plus | Wherever you ship it | One specific relative |
| Chatbooks | Printed books, monthly to quarterly | Minis $10, Monthbooks $15–$34; free shipping | Copies to any address | A monthly book; copies can be mailed to relatives |
If you need print: the Paper Edition, Hug Letters or Letters to Grandma
Trove's Paper Edition is the cheapest of these. It is a folded self-mailer, so it arrives folded with no envelope and a photograph already showing on the outside — nothing to open, nothing to log into. Trove lays it out from photos already in your Trove: a cover photo and up to five more, the captions, and a short written summary of the month. It posts on the 1st, covering the month that just ended.
$4.99 a month including one mailing address, then $4 a month for each additional address. Paid by card in the app through Stripe, cancellable any time. US only for now. The recipient needs no app, no account, no screen and no wifi — just a postal address. Full comparison with Famileo.
Hug Letters posts a printed newspaper every four weeks, built from up to thirty photos the whole family contributes through its app, with free shipping — $14.99 a month or $139 a year. The thing to know before you compare it on price: it mails to one designated recipient only, so a second grandparent means a second subscription. It also has a free digital edition readable in the app, and it posts to US addresses only.
Letters to Grandma is built from text messages, so contributors need no app at all. It is $29.99 a month and includes two printed copies, which makes it better value than the headline suggests if you are posting to two households; extra copies are sold separately. Every plan also delivers digitally, by text and on a private family website, and there is a digital-only tier at $9.99 a month.
And if what you actually want is a book rather than a subscription, Trove prints those too as one-offs — 8.3-inch softcover photo book at $29.99, 8.3-inch hardcover photo book at $39.99, 11.7-inch hardcover photo book at $54.99, shipping included. Chatbooks is the cheaper option there, from $10 a book, and copies can be mailed to a relative's address every month.
If print was optional: an emailed newsletter
The same app emails one curated edition every Sunday — the best photos of the week, laid out, with a short written summary — to everyone on your list. Free, with unlimited recipients and no app or account on their end. The app itself is free as well: unlimited photos, children and contributors, with no paid tier to upgrade to.
Against Famileo the practical differences are cost (free versus $9.99 a month), speed (weekly versus monthly, or twice monthly on the $18.99 tier), and scale (unlimited email recipients versus a separate subscription for each printed address). Famileo has no digital edition at all, so this is not a choice between two versions of the same thing. Where you do want paper, that is what the Paper Edition is for, and the two lists are separate: email is free and unlimited, mailing addresses are $4.99 a month for the first and $4 a month each after.
If it is one relative: a digital frame
A Skylight frame displays photos automatically with almost no effort from the recipient — someone joins it to wifi once, and after that there is nothing to open. It costs $159.99 to $299.99 per person, plus $39 a year for Plus if you want video, captions or remote viewing, and the frame itself only reaches the room it sits in, so each relative needs their own. One send can feed several frames at once. Trove vs Skylight Frame.
The short version
- Relative has no deviceTrove's Paper Edition, $4.99/mo with one address included. Or Famileo, Hug Letters or Letters to Grandma if you want a gazette full of messages.
- Relative uses emailA free weekly edition. Laid out, with a written summary, unlimited recipients, $0.
- The address is outside the USFamileo — it posts to every country at the same price, postage included. The Paper Edition is US only for now.
- You want the gazette formatStay with Famileo — 20 to 36 messages an issue from up to 60 relatives is the thing it does that nobody else does.
- Two households, one subscriptionLetters to Grandma includes two printed copies for $29.99/mo. Hug Letters mails to one address only.
- One specific relativeA digital frame such as Skylight.
- Best of bothFree weekly edition for everyone with a device, one printed address for the person who needs paper.
Is there a free alternative to Famileo?+
For digital delivery, yes — Trove emails one curated edition a week, free, with unlimited recipients and no app required on their end. Print is never free, because printing and postage have genuine costs, but Trove's Paper Edition posts a printed self-mailer for $4.99 a month including one mailing address. One exception worth knowing: if your relative lives in a partner care home, Famileo itself is free — the home pays.
What is the cheapest way to post family photos to a grandparent?+
Trove's Paper Edition at $4.99 a month, which includes one mailing address and needs nothing from the recipient but a postal address. Additional addresses are $4 a month each and are only available on top of a subscription. US only for now — outside the US, Famileo at $9.99 a month is the cheapest option that will post.
How much does Famileo cost?+
In the US: $9.99 a month for a monthly gazette of up to 20 messages, $11.99 for 28, $13.99 for 36, and $18.99 for two gazettes a month. UK tiers run £5.99 to £10.99 a month. Postage to any country is included. There is no free tier for a home recipient, though the app and joining are free, and partner care homes cover the cost for residents' families. Nothing weekly is sold any more, despite what some guides — and some of Famileo's own FAQ copy — still say.
Can I send both a printed edition and a digital newsletter?+
Yes, and it is usually the sensible arrangement: the free emailed edition for every relative with a device, and a printed subscription for the one who genuinely needs paper, rather than paying print costs for the whole family. In Trove the two run side by side — email recipients are unlimited and free, printed addresses are $4.99 a month for the first and $4 a month for each one after. Famileo cannot do this, because it has no digital edition.
Free by email, $4.99 in the post
Trove emails one curated edition of the week to unlimited relatives every Sunday, free. The Paper Edition posts your family's month for $4.99, one mailing address included.
Try Trove — FreePricing and features were checked on September 21, 2026. Competitors change their plans — if you spot something out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
