The best yearbook companies for elementary schools
Most “best yearbook company” lists are written for high schools with a yearbook class and a budget. This one is written for an elementary PTA volunteer who has a few evenings a week and a last day of school to beat. We make one of these products, so read the tables and check the claims — we have tried to be straight about where the other six are genuinely better.
The short version
Six dimensions decide this for an elementary school: whether you have to sign something, whether there is a minimum, what software your volunteers have to learn, whether each child gets anything of their own, who actually does the design work, and how much margin the book leaves for the PTA. Everything else is cover finishes.
What you are committing to.
Contracts, minimums, published pricing and fundraising margin — the questions to answer before anyone touches a page.
| Company | Contract or deposit | Minimum order | Pricing published online | Fundraising margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rethink Yearbooks | None | 100 books | Yes, with an instant quote | School sets the family price; most add $2–5 a book |
| Jostens | Agreement signed with a rep; terms vary by school | Set inside your quote | No — quoted by a rep | Set inside your quote |
| Lifetouch | Often written alongside a picture day agreement | Set inside your quote | No — quoted by a rep | Set inside your quote |
| Treering | None | None — prints only what is ordered | Yes | School sets the family price |
| Shutterfly | None | None | Yes | Limited — consumer-style checkout |
| Herff Jones | Agreement signed with a rep; terms vary by school | Set inside your quote | No — quoted by a rep | Set inside your quote |
| School Annual | Terms set in the online order | Set inside your order | Partly — online sign-up, quoted specifics | Set inside your order |
Compiled from publicly available vendor information, current as of August 2026. Rep-sold vendors publish very little, so “set inside your quote” is the honest answer rather than a criticism — ask your rep for the minimum, the term length and the deposit in writing. Vendors change their plans; please verify before you sign.
How the book actually gets made.
Software your volunteers have to learn, what each child gets, who does the design labour, and how long printing takes.
| Company | Design software | Personalization model | Who designs the book | Print + delivery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rethink Yearbooks | Canva — nothing proprietary to learn | myClass + myGrade pages built automatically: every child gets pages of their own, carrying 35–60 candids from their own class and grade | Your team — or First Draft builds the first draft free, then your team edits it in Canva | About 3–4 weeks, with an on-time delivery guarantee |
| Jostens | Proprietary (Yearbook Avenue) | One identical book for the whole school | Your committee, with rep support and a large template library | Varies by plan and press date |
| Lifetouch | Proprietary online tool | One identical book; portraits flow straight in from picture day | Your committee, with rep support | Varies by plan and press date |
| Treering | Browser-based tool, built for volunteers | Two custom pages per student that a parent logs in and fills; extra pages cost more | Your committee | Varies; commonly a few weeks |
| Shutterfly | Consumer-style photo book editor | One identical book for everyone | Your committee, usually one or two people | Varies by product and shipping choice |
| Herff Jones | eDesign, paired with Canva | One identical book for the whole school | Your staff, backed by the deepest adviser training in the category | Varies by plan and press date |
| School Annual | Vendor templates, ordered online | One identical book for the whole school | Your committee | Varies by plan and press date |
“Personalization model” means what a given child gets that no other child gets. A photo count anchors to a child’s class and grade, not to the child: Rethink’s myClass and myGrade pages carry 35–60 candids drawn from that child’s own class and grade. How often any particular child appears in those photos depends on how often they were photographed — which is a job for the people holding the cameras, at every vendor on this list.
What each company is genuinely good at.
A comparison that only attacks is not worth reading. Every vendor here is the right answer for some school.
Jostens
The scale is real. Decades of adviser resources, the widest range of covers and finishing options, and a rep who will physically come to your school when something goes wrong.
Best for: large schools, districts that require a national vendor
Herff Jones
The best yearbook education in the business — curriculum, workshops, and real training for a student staff. If yearbook is a class at your school, that is worth more than a price difference.
Best for: schools teaching yearbook as journalism
Lifetouch
If Lifetouch already shoots your picture day, the portrait handoff is genuinely seamless. No portrait file to chase, no name mismatches to fix, one vendor and one point of contact.
Best for: schools already under a picture day agreement
Treering
Honest published pricing, no minimum at all, and a browser tool a volunteer can actually learn in an afternoon. Prints only what families order, and plants a tree per book.
Best for: small schools that cannot risk unsold copies
Shutterfly
The lowest-commitment option on the list. If you have forty children in a preschool and want a book without a vendor relationship, a familiar consumer editor is exactly the right tool.
Best for: preschools and very small books
School Annual
Printing and templates through an online sign-up rather than a full rep-led process. A middle path for a school that wants the big printer without the sales cycle.
Best for: schools that want Jostens without the meetings
Rethink Yearbooks — and where we do not fit
We are built for one case: an elementary or K–8 school where an unpaid coordinator wants published pricing, no contract, Canva rather than a proprietary editor, and every child getting pages of their own automatically — 35–60 candids from their own class and grade, with no parent logins and no blank pages.
Where we are the wrong answer: if you need fewer than 100 books, our minimum rules us out. If you run a high school journalism program that wants a full professional design suite and adviser curriculum, Herff Jones or Jostens will serve you better. If your district mandates a national vendor, that decision is not really yours to make.
Best for: elementary and K–8 schools run by volunteers
Five questions, in this order.
- 01How many books will you actually sell? Under a hundred, minimums decide this for you. Over two hundred, minimums stop mattering and margin starts to.
- 02Who is going to do the design work, by name? If the answer is “me, somehow,” weight this above everything else on the page. Design hours are the reason coordinators burn out and quit.
- 03Are you already tied to picture day? Bundled agreements are convenient and they are also the thing that quietly stops you shopping. Find out whether yours can be separated.
- 04What does the PTA need the book to raise? Work out the per-book margin first, then see which vendors let you set the family price.
- 05When is your last day of school? Count back the printing time, then count back again for proofing. That is your real deadline, and it is earlier than you think. The coordinator’s guide walks the whole calendar →
Head-to-head detail.
The tables above are the summary. If you are down to a shortlist, these compare one vendor at a time, including the cases where they beat us:
Rethink vs. Jostens →
Rethink vs. Lifetouch →
Rethink vs. Treering →
Signs it is time to switch vendors — and how to do it mid-year →
Still working out what you are buying? How elementary yearbooks work at Rethink, what First Draft is and is not, and our published pricing.
Choosing a yearbook company, answered.
Which yearbook company is best for an elementary school?+
It depends on what is scarce at your school. If time is scarce, pick a vendor that will design your first draft for you and that publishes its pricing. If money is scarce, pick one with no minimum so you print only what families order. If your school already has a picture day agreement, the vendor that shoots your portraits is often the least work. Rethink is built for the first case: elementary and K-8 schools run by a volunteer.
Do yearbook companies require a contract or a deposit?+
Some do. Rep-sold vendors such as Jostens, Herff Jones and Lifetouch generally work from a signed agreement, and picture day is sometimes bundled into it. Online vendors such as Treering, Shutterfly and Rethink do not use binding multi-year contracts or deposits. Read your current agreement before you assume you are locked in for another year.
What is the minimum order for a school yearbook?+
It varies by vendor. Treering and Shutterfly advertise no minimum and print only what is ordered. Rethink has a 100 book minimum, which most elementary schools clear easily, since a typical school orders 150 to 400. Rep-quoted vendors set the minimum inside your quote, so ask for it in writing.
Can we switch yearbook companies mid-year?+
Usually yes, as long as you are not inside a signed term. There is no design file to migrate, because you start again from the photos you have already collected. Check your current agreement first, then confirm your new vendor can still print and deliver before your last day of school.
See what your school’s
book would cost.
A per-book quote and a sample with one child’s real class and grade pages — no contract, no deposit, free first draft.