The Best Online Framing Services | Reviews by Wirecutter

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Online framing services offer an easy way to frame art. The results look nicer than off-the-rack frames and generally cost less than the work of custom shops. Air Filters Aluminum Frame

The Best Online Framing Services | Reviews by Wirecutter

After researching 13 services and testing five, we think Framebridge delivers the most consistently attractive and well-made frames for art and photos.

Framebridge is easier to use and offers more-customizable products than any other framer we tested. It will frame most types of art (not just photos), and it’s the only service we tried that offers free design help.

Artifact Uprising’s frame was better than any other we ordered, but the service frames only digital photos, not art, and doesn’t offer much customization. Its ordering system also wasn’t as intuitive as others we tested.

Framebridge is the best full-service online framing option we tried. Unlike others, it offers framing for both original art and digital photos, for a flat fee. The ordering process was the simplest one we used, and the quality (for the most part) was top-notch, with well-built frames that were attractive and easy to hang. When we received a chipped frame, Framebridge customer service was quick to respond, and promptly solved our problem at no extra cost.

If your primary interest is printing and framing photos, Artifact Uprising was the best alternative to Framebridge we tried. Its frames were well built, with thoughtful details such as hidden corner seams and a sleek, professional-looking finish. The clarity of the photo print itself looked excellent, too. But we found Artifact Uprising’s site so confusing that we accidentally ordered the wrong size, and its delivery was slower than that of other services we tried. Its customer service was relatively responsive, returning a phone call within a few hours (email took the company longer to get to).

Using an online framing service falls in between buying a ready-made frame and going to a custom shop. It’s convenient, and it usually offers several customization options and some personalized assistance. Online services are usually less expensive than a local frame shop, too. Most of the services we tested charge between $70 and $90 to frame an 8-by-10-inch piece—a price that’s similar to what a local framing shop might charge for a very basic frame, but less than what it would cost to frame something with a custom mat, frame style, or glazing (glass or acrylic applied to protect the art).

But online framing can’t replace the top-notch quality and care that you receive in person at a shop. The majority of the frames we received in our tests looked professional and felt sturdy, but the materials weren’t as high quality as those of a custom frame, and none of the online services we tried offered glass glazing, only acrylic plexiglass. Acrylic is lighter and harder to break than glass but also easier to scratch (something we noticed often in our tests). Online services also usually offer less customization—fewer frame styles and mat colors—so if you have a specific look in mind, you’ll probably prefer to go local.

We mainly focused on full-service companies that printed and framed photos (you can submit photos in JPEG format) as well as framed art, and we mostly avoided those that ship empty frames for self-assembly. We did, however, try one self-framing service to see how it measured up.

We used the following criteria to determine the best overall service:

We tested three services that framed both art and photos, and two that framed only digital photos. In all, we ordered five framed photos, as well as three framed art prints from Poketo. We selected approximately the same option each time: a slim black gallery frame with a white mat. Each service had different customization options, including mat size, plexiglass upgrades (UV blocking or antiglare), backing type, and hanging style (sawtooth or wire); no company we tested offered real glass as an option. By keeping our orders as simple as possible, making no adjustments to the recommended options, we were able to see how tasteful the default styles looked.

Every service delivered a well-wrapped frame, and they all produced decent digital prints, but the framing standards varied widely. To check frame quality, we looked to see whether anything was chipped, whether the corner seams were especially visible, and whether the plexiglass was scratched. Finally, we examined the back to see whether the mounting hardware was placed correctly; in one case, our photo came mounted upside down in the frame.

Framebridge is the easiest service we used, and it offers well-made frames available in more styles than you can get from any other service we tried, as well as attentive customer service. Its prices are reasonable compared with those of other framing services and custom shops, and it’s one of only a few companies that offer framing for both photos and original art. We found some minor damage on one of our Framebridge frames, but its customer service was quick to correct the problem.

Although its quality was a close second to that of Artifact Uprising (our runner-up), we found that the ease of ordering and the great customer service Framebridge offered more than made up for the minor differences in quality.

The process of using Framebridge was much easier than on other services we tried, and this simplicity led to better results. Whereas many of the framing services we tested made it difficult to visualize the final product, Framebridge’s online interface was the easiest to navigate. Framebridge offers enough—but not too many—choices. You select the mat color and style, plus the frame itself, and the company picks the mat size based on the scale of your piece. A competing service, Level Frames, offered more customization options but was too confusing to use, as it allowed for very granular selections such as the exact shade of white for the mat. We found Framebridge’s simpler approach much better: You select the general color (white, cream, black, and the like), and it matches a shade to your art. If you want guidance in picking a frame or mat, note that Framebridge is the only company in our test group that provides a free design service: Submit an image of your art, and one of its designers will create four framing options for you to choose from. (Sometimes another set of eyes can help enhance your piece in unexpected ways.) Our printed photo arrived less than a week after our order, while the art print arrived about two weeks after we sent the order in, timing that was comparable to what we saw from the other services we tried.

Framebridge delivered two beautifully framed, sturdy pieces that were ready to hang. By contrast, many frames from other services felt flimsy and unfinished, and the one from Frameology was missing hanging hardware. Only Artifact Uprising, our runner-up, made a better frame. The back of the Framebridge frame had a well-glued protective paper dust cover with a solid-foam core that made it feel substantial. The frames we received from Simply Framed also had paper dust covers, but they were poorly glued and felt fragile. Although a dust cover isn’t critical to the integrity of a frame, we think poor workmanship in the finishing steps is a sign of a lower-quality service altogether. Our Framebridge items were well finished, with two felt pads attached in the bottom corners to prevent wall scratches, as well as wire hangers. The results from Frameology and Level Frames lacked felt pads, while the Simply Framed result came with a less-useful sawtooth hanger, which can make leveling a frame difficult.

Framebridge offers flat-rate pricing that includes printing, mats, and shipping, and it costs about the same as other services we tested. An extra-small piece (up to 5 by 7 inches) costs $65, small (up to 9 by 12) costs $85, and medium (up to 18 by 20) costs $100. The service will frame art up to 32 by 40 inches, one of the widest ranges of sizes available from the services we tried (Simply Framed goes up to 40 by 60). Depending on where you live, Framebridge’s prices might be comparable to those of custom framers.

We received our Framebridge order with a small chip on one of the frames even though it was well packaged and padded with bubble wrap. Chips could happen with any framing service, and when we reached out to Framebridge via its online chat system, the representative quickly resolved the issue—we returned the broken frame, and the company reframed the art for free (the new one took about a week to arrive). Framebridge’s customer support was easier to contact than that of other sites such as Artifact Uprising.

Artifact Uprising made the highest-quality frame in our test group, but the service doesn’t frame original art, and its ordering system was confusing for us to navigate. Artifact Uprising also took almost twice as long to deliver our frame than any other service. But if you’re framing something that needs to look flawless and you’re willing to work your way through its difficult ordering system, the finished product may be worth the effort.

We found an eye for detail in Artifact Uprising’s framing and printing that no one else matched. Although Framebridge came close in quality, several small details made the Artifact Uprising frame stand out. First, it was the only one that didn’t have any uneven corner seams; every other frame we received had at least one corner where the frame didn’t fit together properly. Second, Artifact Uprising’s frame was carefully backed, with a well-glued dust cover, a taut hanging wire, and four felt pads (on the bottom corners and covering the hanging brackets) to protect the wall; Framebridge’s frame was comparable but had only two protective felt pads. Finally, the photo print itself was clearer than others, and its colors were vibrant but accurate to the original.

However, Artifact Uprising’s online system was so confusing, we inadvertently ordered a print that was too small, and the service offered very little customization. The only mat color available is white, and the company picks the size based on the dimensions of your piece. It also offers fewer frame styles than other services do—just four finishes of its basic gallery frame, and three metal frames—and they cost around $15 more than those of Framebridge, depending on what you order. (Artifact Uprising was also slightly more expensive than what a local custom framer quoted us for a very basic frame.) When we realized we had ordered the wrong-size print, Artifact Uprising customer support did offer to correct the order, though it took the representatives a few hours to return our phone call and a few days to get back to us via email. Whereas most services sent us our framed prints within a week, Artifact Uprising took nine business days (almost two weeks) to deliver our frame. We think the high-quality work is worth the wait if you value a well-framed print. But if you’re in a rush, Framebridge’s quality comes close, and that service offers faster results.

Simply Framed is Frambridge’s main competitor—it too frames original art and prints and frames digital photos—but its website was the most difficult to navigate of any we tested. We found discrepancies between the size displayed in our cart and the preview image, and this issue did not correct itself despite our many tweaks. Although Simply Framed managed to send us the size we wanted plus an attractive mat, its frame was lower quality than the one from Framebridge. The dust cover was sloppily glued and sagged inward instead of remaining taut across the back of the frame.

Level Frames sent us our printed photo mounted upside down. Although we understand that our soothing ocean shot is somewhat ambiguous in its orientation, misframing a photo we sent digitally (not to mention oriented the right way) was sloppy. If you want to frame art, Level Frames will send an empty frame and a mat, but the frame this service sent us had a scratch on the plexiglass. Anyway, if we had wanted to do it ourselves, we could have picked up an empty frame at any store.

We thought we were ordering an 8-by-10-inch print from Frameology, but we ended up with a 5-by-7 piece. The sizing problem was due to the same issue we had with Artifact Uprising: unclear site navigation and ordering. The frame also felt cheap, and even though we had ordered a wall frame, it arrived with an easel back. Although the print looked objectively fine, it was frustrating that Frameology didn’t offer a basic level of customization like mat style or size.

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