Yearbooks are a terrific way to encourage school community and pride that lasts for years to come. Choosing a good company to print your yearbooks is key, since you’re entrusting them with a whole year’s worth of memories. Here are some of the top yearbook companies out there right now, offering a variety of options and price points.
When you need help with your entire yearbook, from themes and photos to editing and design, not to mention printing and sales, try Entourage. Their online Book Builder program makes it easy for anyone to design a yearbook students will love, no previous experience required. They offer five levels of support (phone, email, videos, webinars, and LiveChat), so you can get help when you need it. No bandwidth to design your own? Entourage’s Special Project Assistance team can do it for you!
This is one of those yearbook companies that offers a wide variety of products: class rings, caps and gowns, school-branded apparel, and, yes, yearbooks. The company itself is more than 100 years old and has been trusted by schools for a long time. Their eDesign program is integrated with Canva and Google Drive, making it easy to drag-and-drop your way to cool layouts and engaging covers. Crowdsource all the best photos with eShare, and use their Sales Assist program to make marketing a snap. They’ve got lots of resources, including virtual workshop sessions to help yearbook advisors along the way.
Here’s another yearbook company that’s been around for decades, with more than 125 years of experience in products like letter jackets, class rings, school photos, and yearbooks. Jostens offers a variety of programs to help you design your book, whether you want simple and basic tools or advanced editing and graphic design capabilities. They can also help market your book and manage sales. They even offer lesson plans for ELA and journalism teachers to use with students.
We especially love their Yearbook+ program: Each student can upload 10 photos of their school year, which are digitally tied to each student’s printed picture in the yearbook—you get more content without having to add pages to the yearbook!
If you’re also in the market for a new school-picture company, check out Lifetouch. They’ll coordinate picture day, then help you create yearbooks with their easy-to-learn website. Lifetouch offers lots of training materials to help you learn to make the most of their programs, and they can even custom-design a cover for your school. Take a look at their yearbook themes and 2023 Yearbook Ideas guide to see what they offer. Lifetouch is a good choice for schools that want something simple that doesn’t require a lot of extra time and effort.
This company (a part of Jostens) specializes in basic books for smaller groups, like camps or homeschools. It can also be ideal for elementary schools. They offer soft-binding paperback covers to make yearbooks more affordable for everyone. Or take advantage of their fundraising programs to help cover costs. Memory Book has five different design programs to choose from, or you can contract with them to do all the hard work for you. When you need a low-price, high-quality option, this is the place to start.
Here’s another great option for elementary schools, or even teachers who want to commemorate their class’s year in a photo book. Their photo-book-editing program is basic but easy and fun to use, with lots of colorful and creative themes and options. Mixbook offers a variety of binding options, so you’ll find affordable choices for every situation. Check out our review of Mixbook here.
Need yearbooks fast? Picaboo has a 15-day turnaround time! You can have orders bulk-shipped to your school or directly delivered to students at home. Picaboo offers both hard- and soft-cover bindings, making yearbooks affordable for everyone. Use their Creator Studio design software to put your book together, or simply design your yearbook on your own and send a PDF to Picaboo for printing. You can even choose to offer digital yearbook copies. As with most yearbook companies, families can place their orders online, so you don’t need to worry about dealing with collecting money or tracking sales.
This is currently one of the hottest yearbook companies, with fast delivery (14 days or less) and guaranteed best prices. Use their design software to work collaboratively, assigning different sections to different users. They offer thousands of design elements and promise that staff and students will find the program easy to learn and use. All books are priced per page, so you only pay for what you need (and options start at less than $6 per book!). The Parent Storefront makes selling a breeze too.
Shutterfly is well known for photo products, but did you know they do yearbooks as well? While they don’t offer a huge array of themes and options, they do make the design process very quick and easy. This is a nice choice for preschools and elementary schools who want a budget-friendly option for families but don’t require a lot of bells and whistles.
Some traditional yearbook companies make schools sign contracts and commit to minimum orders in advance, but Treering offers more flexibility. Though they’ve only been around 11 years, this company is building a real following due to their professionally designed themes and layouts and high-quality books. You can even offer personalized yearbooks, so families can add two custom pages to their student’s own copy! Another cool option: Kids can sign each other’s books digitally, so no worries about issuing yearbooks after the school year ends.
Sometimes you’re just looking for a company that can print a yearbook you’ve already designed. That’s when a place like UBuildABook can be a great pick. They do offer some free basic design software, as well as a couple of programs you can use for a fee. But where this company really shines is its affordable pricing. You can get a 200-page hardcover book printed for only $27 each (when you order at least 500 books). That’s a real bargain compared to some other yearbook companies, and softcover books are even more affordable.
Want something truly unique? Yearbook Life can add 3D pages to your layout and will even include free 3D glasses with each copy! If that’s not for you, this is still a company worth checking out. They have multiple free design programs to choose from, and have a fast turnaround time on printing. When you’re short on time and manpower, use their design service; just submit photos and choose a theme, and they’ll do the rest. Use their Marketing Assistance Program to streamline sales, and you’ll cut down even more on time and effort.
More Yearbook Resources
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What’s your go-to yearbook company for top-notch, affordable results? Come share your thoughts in the WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook.
Plus, 31 Fun and Unique Ways To Recognize Your Students.
