Comparisons
Compare properly, then choose.
Almost everyone shares the photos of an event with the tools they already have: a group chat, a shared cloud album, a transfer link. That is a reasonable instinct, and for a dinner with eight people it is enough.
These comparisons look at each tool for what it does well, for where it gives way once fifty guests are involved, and for what a shared album changes. Verifiable criteria, dated sources, and a section on every page that says when the other tool is still the right answer.
Four questions before you choose
Two families of tools compete for this job. The general-purpose ones you already have (Google Photos, WhatsApp, WeTransfer): nothing to buy, nothing to learn, and not one of them was designed for a hundred people uploading to the same place on the same night. The dedicated event albums, Medley among them: the same gesture, a QR code, but very wide gaps in what the price actually contains. Four questions tell them apart.
What your guests have to do
This is what decides how many photos you end up with. Installing an app or creating an account is a minute asked of someone holding a drink in one hand: the least comfortable with a phone, often the oldest people in the room, give up halfway through. Scanning and uploading is the only gesture that survives a party.
Where the photos live, and for how long
The country a service hosts in decides which legal regime applies to the faces of the people you love; the retention window decides what will be left of the album. Plenty of services announce a short one and then sell the extension: read what the advertised price includes, not what is possible as an add-on. Why hosting matters.
What the price actually contains
On a market built in tiers, the headline price is almost never the one you pay. Downloading the whole album, projecting a slideshow during the evening, moderating what appears on screen, removing a watermark: each of those tends to sit one tier up. Write down what you need on the day, then look for the plan that already contains it.
What gets lost, and what gets kept
A photo compressed on its way out cannot be repaired afterwards, and compressing is exactly what a messaging app is built to do; some services also cap videos at a few seconds. Then look at what is collected besides files: a chat thread holds on to nothing that was said, and words are often what you reread ten years later. Hence the guest book, written, spoken or filmed.
The comparisons
The three tools people reach for first, each looked at for an event rather than for the job it was built to do. Every page names its sources and dates them, and every page says where the other service wins.
A Google Photos alternative
Uploading to a shared Google Photos album takes a Google account. Not here.
An alternative to the WhatsApp group
WhatsApp compresses photos and videos and drowns your memories in the thread. There is better.
A WeTransfer alternative
Links that expire and one-way sends: WeTransfer was not built for an event.
A Wedbox alternative
Compare before you choose: how long it is kept, where the data lives, how the price works.
A GuestPix alternative
GuestPix reviewed, its prices and its limits: why one price in euros, hosted in the EU, all in, changes the maths.
A Kululu alternative
Capped quality on the free tier, options that pile up: compare before you choose. Medley is one price, everything included.
A WedShoots alternative
WedShoots reviewed, how it works and where it stops: what an album with no app, one price and EU hosting changes.
A Wedibox alternative
Wedibox says nothing about where it hosts, and its two years of retention are a paid option. Compare before you choose.
An Invinee alternative
Two European services hosted in the EU: the GDPR does not separate them. What does is what the price contains.
A Wedsy alternative
The same price, but one year of retention and videos cut at 30 seconds. Compare line by line.
Why only three comparisons?
Because these are the three we can check. Dedicated event album apps exist, several of them are good, and their plans, ceilings and retention windows change every few months: a grid checked once ages in silence on a page nobody reopens, and comparative claims we cannot source are claims we do not make. Google Photos, WhatsApp and WeTransfer publish their own help pages, they behave the same way in every country, and they are what your guests would have used anyway. What Medley itself costs and keeps is on the pricing page, in plain figures.
Looking for the method instead?
Comparing tools does not tell you how to go about it. The guide to the best wedding photo app turns these criteria into a decision, and the practical guides cover the rest: the QR code, the sign on the tables, the projection during the evening, and what to send back once everyone has gone home. If you would rather see the thing than read about it, the manual walks through an event from beginning to end.
Or just try it.
Creating an album takes two minutes, which is usually faster than comparing.
Create an album