Every app on this list does the same thing on the day: a QR code on the tables, guests scan it, photos arrive without anyone installing anything. They differ in three places that only matter later: what you pay and for how long, how long guests can keep uploading, and where the originals live a year from now.
The short version
| Option | Price | Guests can upload for | Guest needs an account | Originals are stored in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drive File Request | $9 once (Event pass) | 7 days per pass; passes add up | No | Your own Google Drive |
| WedUploader | £30 once (Premium) | No expiry stated | No | Your own Google Drive |
| Wedibox | Free (50 photos), $29, $49 or $79 once | 3, 6 or 12 months by plan | No | Wedibox, kept 1–2 years by plan |
| GuestPix | One-time package, priced by event size | 3 or 12 months by package | No | GuestPix gallery, zip download within 12 months |
| Kululu | Free, Plus or Pro | While the event is active | No | Kululu gallery |
| Google Photos shared album | Free | No limit | Yes, a Google account | Google Photos |
Prices are the list prices on each company's own pricing page on October 14, 2026. WedUploader showed pounds to our visitor from Europe; GuestPix and Kululu do not print their package prices on the page before you start an event, so the table says what the page does.
The question that decides it: whose storage
Most wedding photo apps keep the photos on their own servers and give you a gallery and a download button. That is fine as long as you remember to download. Wedibox keeps the gallery for one year on its Wedding plan and two years on All-In-One; GuestPix offers the zip download within 12 months of the event. After that, the copy you have is whatever you downloaded.
Two options on the list skip the gallery and write every file into a folder in your own Google Drive as it arrives: WedUploader and Drive File Request. Nothing expires, there is no download step, and the files count against your Drive storage rather than a plan's. If you already pay for Google One, that storage is the cheapest place the photos can live. If your Drive is nearly full, a hosted gallery is the easier choice, because 300 guests' phone videos add up quickly.
What guests have to do
None of the paid apps asks guests to install anything or make an account: the QR code opens a web page and the upload button opens the phone's own photo picker. The difference shows up with the free fallback people reach for first. A shared Google Photos album needs every contributor signed in to a Google account, and everyone who joins can browse the whole album and remove their own uploads later. Older relatives on an iPhone without a Google account are exactly the guests who give up at that step.
What guests see after uploading also differs. Hosted apps usually show the live gallery to everyone, which is half the fun at the reception and the reason some couples choose them. An upload-only page shows a guest their own files and nothing else: no feed, no album, and no way to delete what has already arrived.
How long the upload window needs to be
Most guest photos arrive during the reception and the next morning; a smaller wave comes a few days later from people who took photos on a real camera. A window of a week covers both. Months-long windows matter for a destination wedding with several events, or when you want to collect photos again at the first anniversary.
- One-day wedding, photos within the week: a 7-day window is enough. With Drive File Request that is one Event pass bought a day or two before.
- Several events across a weekend, or a honeymoon you want guests to add to: a 3–6 month plan, or a second pass.
- You want the link on the website for a year: a 12-month plan, or a monthly plan you cancel afterwards.
Video
Video is where the cheap options give out. Phone video at 4K runs to hundreds of megabytes a minute, venue wifi is shared by a hundred phones, and an upload that restarts from zero after a dropped connection is an upload that never finishes. Before you pick, check the per-file limit and whether large files resume. Drive File Request takes files up to 5 GB, uploads them in parts, and resumes the transfer into Drive on its own after a dropped connection. Wedibox lists unlimited video on its paid plans; WedUploader and GuestPix do not state a per-file size on their pricing pages.
When each one is the right call
- You want a live slideshow on a projector and a gallery guests can browse: a hosted app such as GuestPix, Wedibox or Kululu.
- You want the originals in your own Google Drive with nothing to download or renew, and guests seeing only an upload page: Drive File Request or WedUploader.
- Your budget is zero and most guests already use Google: a shared Google Photos album, accepting that some guests will not get past the sign-in.
- You are collecting from a smaller group trip or a party rather than a wedding: the same link works; see how to collect photos from a group.