Tinybeans vs FamilyAlbum: Which Is Better in 2026?
Short answer
This is the comparison everyone runs, and it resolves quickly: FamilyAlbum is free with unlimited storage and eleven free prints a month for every member, and Tinybeans is $74.99 a year — though its famous 300+ milestone checklist is on the free plan, so what the money buys is upload quota, storage and the removal of ads. Unless you are an active poster who will hit twenty uploads a month, FamilyAlbum wins on value and it is not close. What both share is that nothing is composed. Tinybeans emails followers a recap of whatever you posted, with ads on the free plan; FamilyAlbum sends a notification per upload and a short 1s Movie every three months. Neither lays a week out and sends it. That is what Trove does: one curated edition a week — the best photos, laid out, with a short written summary — emailed to anyone with an inbox, free with no cap on photos, children or recipients, and the same month printed and posted for $4.99 a month if a relative has no screen.
This is the single most common comparison in the category. We make a third app, Trove, and it sits in the table so you can see where it differs — but it competes with neither of these on their own terms, so the verdict between the two is the straight version.
At a glance
| Trove | FamilyAlbum | Tinybeans | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What arrives, and how often | One curated edition, emailed every Sunday | A notification per upload, plus a 1s Movie every 3 months | A recap email on every day you post — or daily, or weekly |
| What the recipient needs | An email address | An account — app, or the browser version an Admin invites them to | Nothing: an account is created for them on invite |
| Laid out, with a written summary | |||
| Free plan | Everything, free — unlimited photos, children and recipients | Unlimited photos, video and storage; 11 free prints a month for every member | 20 uploads a month, 5 GB, ads in the update emails |
| Printed edition posted | Paper Edition, posted monthly, $4.99/mo | ||
| Free video limit | 3 minutes per clip | 2 minutes per video | 2 minutes; 5 on Tinybeans+ |
| Paid | None for the app — print only, from $4.99/mo | Family $5.99/mo or $59/yr; Family Pro $10.99/mo or $109/yr; One $2.99/mo | $7.99/mo or $74.99/yr (Legacy $39.99/yr) |
| Milestone tracker | Milestone moments, not a checklist | Milestones in Personal Pages (Premium Family) | 300+ milestones, on the free plan |
| Journal prompts | Monthly journal entries on Premium Family, no prompts | ||
| Free prints | 11/month for every member, free plan included ($3.99 shipping) | ||
| Search | Semantic, by child and date | Comment text only, Premium Family Pro | |
| Ads | Removed on Premium | On the free plan, including in relatives' emails |
Price is the headline difference
FamilyAlbum's free plan is genuinely unlimited — photos, videos and storage, permanently, not as a trial — and it throws in eleven free prints a month for every member of the album, on the free plan too. Tinybeans raised its subscription 87% in May 2023, from $39.99 to $74.99 a year.
That is the whole comparison for a lot of families: one is free and unlimited, the other is $74.99. There is also a cheaper Tinybeans+ Legacy tier at $39.99 a year, which clears the ads and raises storage to 200 GB but keeps the upload cap.
What the $74.99 actually buys
Not the checklist. This is the part most comparisons get wrong, ours included until now: Tinybeans' 300+ developmental milestones from newborn through age six, with context about what to expect and when, and its journal prompts, are all on the free plan. Every feature is. What the subscription lifts is the quota — 20 uploads a month and 5 GB on free — and the ads, which appear around your family's journal and in the update emails your relatives receive. It also adds five-minute video, a second account and bulk export.
So the honest framing is: if you post a lot, you will hit twenty uploads inside a fortnight and the $74.99 stops being optional. If you post occasionally and do not mind the ads, the checklist costs you nothing.
FamilyAlbum's answer to the same feature is Personal Pages: per-child pages built automatically by facial recognition, holding milestones and monthly journal entries that only Album Admins can write. They sit behind Premium Family at $5.99 a month. There are no prompts. It is a narrower version of the same idea at a lower price, and on the free plan it is not there at all.
What each one actually sends
Neither of these is the silent shoebox the guides describe, and an earlier version of this post said they were. Tinybeans emails: invite a follower and it creates their account and sends them a recap on every day you post, or daily or weekly, with flashbacks and weekly summaries included — the owner cannot turn it off. FamilyAlbum notifies: a push when photos go up, an email with a link for browser-version invitees, and a compiled 1s Movie every three months, or monthly on Premium.
What neither does is compose. Tinybeans forwards a list of what you uploaded, with ads around it unless you pay. FamilyAlbum says something is new and leaves the photographs where they are. There is no week chosen, laid out and written up, addressed to a person who is not in the system.
That is the gap Trove was built for: one curated edition a week, emailed to relatives who install nothing and sign into nothing, with no ads on any plan. It is free, so it is easy to run alongside whichever of these you pick. For a relative with no screen, Trove also posts the Paper Edition — a printed edition of the month, $4.99 a month including one mailing address, US only for now.
Check the video limit before committing
FamilyAlbum's free plan caps each video at two minutes, and resizes every upload so what you download later is not your original. Tinybeans caps free video at two minutes too. Worth knowing before you migrate a library across.
The short version
- Before you pick eithernote what neither sends. Both reach the inbox or the lock screen, but with a recap or an alert — nobody composes the week and posts it. Trove does that, free, with nothing for relatives to install.
- Pick FamilyAlbum ifyou want unlimited free storage and eleven free prints a month for everyone. Best value in the category.
- Pick Tinybeans ifthe 300+ checklist and journal prompts are the point — and start on its free plan, because they are on it.
Is FamilyAlbum better than Tinybeans?+
For most families, yes — on value. FamilyAlbum offers unlimited photos, videos and storage free, plus eleven free prints a month for every member, where Tinybeans caps its free plan at 20 uploads a month and shows ads. Tinybeans is better if you want its 300+ milestone checklist and journal prompts, which FamilyAlbum answers only with Personal Pages behind a $5.99-a-month subscription.
Is the Tinybeans milestone tracker behind the paywall?+
No — it is on the free plan, and so are the journal prompts, followers, comments and the update emails. The $74.99 a year buys unlimited uploads, 200 GB, no ads, five-minute video, a second account and bulk export. A lot of write-ups, including ours before September 2026, said the checklist was what you were paying for.
Is FamilyAlbum really free, or is it a trial?+
It is genuinely free and permanent, not a trial. The free plan has unlimited photo and video uploads with unlimited storage, and eleven free prints a month for every album member ($3.99 shipping). The main free-tier restrictions are a two-minute cap per video and that uploads are resized. Premium Family at $5.99/month or $59/year raises the video cap to ten minutes and adds Personal Pages and other extras rather than unlocking basic use.
Why did Tinybeans raise its price?+
Tinybeans shifted from an advertising-supported model to a subscription one, raising prices 87% in May 2023 to $74.99 a year. The company's filings tie it to collapsing ad revenue; the CEO who inherited the decision later called it "a bit horrifying" but kept it, and most subscribers stayed.
Do grandparents need an app for either of these?+
No, for either — but both need an account. Tinybeans creates one for the relative automatically when you invite them, and emails updates whether or not they ever sign in; the journal is also on the web. FamilyAlbum requires an account, but an Album Admin can invite relatives to a browser version rather than the app. If the account step itself is the sticking point in your family, an emailed edition avoids it entirely.
Whichever you pick, the weekly edition is free. See how Trove works →
Pricing 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.
