Chatbooks (chatbooks.com) has a 3.0 out of 5 rating on OK.one, based on 103 user reviews collected here. It is listed under Media & Publishing and its reputation is mixed. Opinions are polarized: 48% rate it 4 stars or higher while 38% give 1 star; The business has replied to 37% of negative reviews; 35 of them were added in the last 12 months. Last updated 2026-08-10.
I paid for Chatbooks' subscription service for nearly two years, expecting to use my credits when I was ready. Unfortunately, I later discovered that if you don't redeem your credits within their expiration period (around 13 months), you lose them entirely. I ended up paying for a service I couldn't use. I understand companies need policies, but this one feels unfair and isn't customer-friendly. I wouldn't recommend this subscription based on my experience.
I am so irritated by this company’s subscription. I signed up to make cute books of my new baby and now I’m just frustrated and don’t even want to look at these books. They randomly canceled my 12/$12 subscription and deleted 8/12 credits that I paid for even though I reinstated my subscription before it was supposed to take effect. Then they pushed a book to print before I was done editing. I do not recommend getting suckered into using this service they’re such a scam!
Be careful with chatbook, I been attempting to cancel my subscription more than 6 times and they continue to charge me every single month for the subscription even though I have cancelled every single month since January of 2026.
I would never use this business again. In the middle of my subscription they changed the price from $20 a month to $35 a month which is a significant amount! The whole point of a subscription is you agree and pay that price at the time for the year you are in a membership for. Horrible horrible way to treat a customer !
Been a monthly mini customer for 8 years. I have 4 subscriptions for family. I no longer live in the US and asked to set the subscriptions to not renew anymore. Was told that if they canceled my subscriptions I only got 30 days to use all the credits (which is completely not how they are meant to be used). Such BS. Because of this, I would never do business with them again.
I absolutely love having printed memories of my children, which is why I’ve stayed with Chatbooks as long as I have. But honestly, I’m at the point where I’m considering switching to another company. The app is painfully slow and crashes constantly. I’ve updated it, checked my internet, and done all the standard troubleshooting. I’m very tech-savvy and a professional designer, so this isn’t user error. The app simply doesn’t perform well. As a mom of three, I don’t have time to sit around waiting for photos to load or restarting an app that keeps crashing. I’ll finally get a few minutes to work on a book, the app freezes, and then I have to move on with my day. That’s a huge reason I’ve fallen behind on creating books. What makes this even more frustrating is that Chatbooks takes away unused credits. I’ve paid every month, but because the app is so difficult and unreliable to use, I’ve lost multiple credits that I paid for. Being penalized because your app doesn’t work well feels completely unfair. The product itself is great, but the app experience and expiring credits have left me feeling like I’ve paid for something I never received. That’s why I’m giving such a low rating.
The credits expire, making what you pay for useless. It's a convoluted process to extend them. A waste of money. I wish I hadn't lost so much money. I've had the service several years and realized I have lost so much money on expired credits.
I’ve loved using Chatbooks to preserve family memories, but the recent subscription increase from around $30 to $45 feels excessive. A nearly 50% jump is hard to justify, especially for loyal customers who have subscribed to a monthly service and commited to capturing memories with their monthly books. I now feel trapped to continue otherwise the books don’t match. The app itself is great and convenient, which makes this even more disappointing. Price increases are understandable, but this one feels abrupt and out of touch with what many families can realistically afford right now.
Very annoyed you can only pick photos from one month at a time. That was unclear in the advertisement. Links in the app not working properly. Attempted to cancel and have not heard back.
I had 2 years of subscription in a row, but cancelled it dues to increased costs. In the 2nd year, I was behind with creating the books, but it was ok, because you have them as credits and you can create them whenever you want. But when I cancelled my subscription in the 3rd year, they suddenly gave me a limited time to use my credits and that was just a few weeks. I made 4 out of 9 book credits before we had a terrible loss in the family and when I came back a few Weeks later, all my credits were gone. But technically those "credits" were money I paid monthly and they just erased it. I don't comment it further here. It's anyway hard for me to understand why you would give such a short time for using your credits. Be aware! Even gift cards have a ridiculously short time (I think it was 90 days) and you don't get the money back!
Horrible customer service. I was told several different things on a charge for a 6 month subscription after I was given a gift. I was told my card was not charged. That I had 90 days to use the gift. I was told that because I used the gift I couldn't be refunded. I was told I was getting refunded the subscription I was charged. To now see they never gave me the refund after the hassle of 4 days back and forth thru emails and their website. Avoid using them the books aren't worth the headache. Download shutterfly.
We love the small books and the monthly subscription! They are quick and easy to make and my children look at them all the time!!
I paid extra for shipping for a photo book for my daughter's preschool teachers, but didn't receive the book. FedEx tracker show Chatbooks never shipped it. When I contacted customer service at Chatbooks, I was told that perhaps FedEx had "forgotten to scan it" and that there was nothing they could do. They wouldn't even ship me a replacement.
I set up my account, paid the $12.78. Upon realizing you can only make each book with photos you took from that month, I realized it wouldn't be worth it to me. I requested a refund, and was told it would arrive within a window of days. The window passed. I emailed again. Told same thing. Even more time passes. I email AGAIN, and told the same thing. This time they refunded me PARTIALLY: $7.49, owing me $5.29. This has been the HUGEST headache, and I know I can't be the only one. These books are SO NOT WORTH THE HASSLE AND SCAM!!!! I gave this company ample opportunity to refund my money and then they send a partial refund. This is not how to do business. Literally give customers what you owe them the first time!!!!
Very scammy. Make sure to read all the fine print. I purchased a “promotion” for 12 books for 12 months but am also being changed a $10 monthly fee. It’s just annoying that they try to get ppl. Just advertise it how it is….
Proceed with caution.... HIDDEN subscription and expiration dates. I ordered a 12 pack of books 3 years ago. I ordered 2 of the 12 books. The creation process is easy but limited. I never knowingly agreed to a subscription and I was never clearly notified about deadlines to order books. That being said, I still have 10 books, from 3 years ago. I was charged $161.00 for a subscription in 2025 and again charged $161.00 in 2026. The card they have access to has been used in fraudulent activity and I don't have access YET somehow they are able to access my money.
I’ve been ordering through Chatbooks for many years and up until now I enjoyed this little service. I’d upload the camera roll photos from my phone and print them into a tidy booklet. About 2 years ago, I received some sort of communication that I HAD to sign up for a subscription in order to continue using them. Reluctantly I signed up. The subscription was for 4 books a year, charged to my credit card and kept as “credits” until used. All fine and dandy, except I simply do not take that many pictures. My credits were backing up, so I finally canceled my subscription in, I believe, August of 2025. No where did I see that I only had 3 months to use my stored credits, or they would be taken. So to my surprise, today, when I logged into my Chatbooks account to catch up on my latest photo book, I discovered no credits. Peculiar, since I know I had at least a few. I contacted customer service only to be told that since my subscription was no longer active, the best they could offer me was to restore my credits for only 30 days. This is an abysmal business practice and absolute theft. This is real money that they took from me, with zero services rendered. Horrid business practice. I intend to print whatever photos I have and be done with this company forever. Congrats Chatbooks, you lost another customer.
I am a professional photographer and have used Chatbooks for 10 years (since 2016) for my personal family snapshots. I found their app easy to use and the monthly books to be the perfect size. I didn’t like that the monthly books required 1 image per page so I found a free collage app and uploaded the collages as a work around. If you do a “regular” book through Chatbooks they have a built in collage creating option. My gripe comes from when they switched to regular billing (credits) instead of the pay as you print that they started with. It was always confusing as to how many credits I had built up. They would say I had X credits but when I looked at their billing I added it up to be Y. Then the quality became an issue. I didn’t have a problem for 8 years, the books were of good quality printing- meaning they printed very close to what I saw on my screen. But shortly before they moved to the credit system quality started to go down. My books were being printed darker than my screen was showing. It got so bad in January of 2026 that I asked them to reprint two books - we have very light skin tones and the books came back so dark that it looked nothing like the images I sent. I contacted customer service and only got a bot. The bot eventually got me to a human who agreed that the books were printed incorrectly and had the books reprinted for us. (I loathe when companies switch to bots for customer service for issues like this. The bot won’t help you and it takes way too long to get a human involved so that the issue can be resolved.) I received the reprinted books two weeks later and they didn’t look any different from the original books. This time I had an email address so I contacted the human directly- which took a few days to respond- and they reprinted it again. Again, the books came back just as dark. It was not the photos, as the customer service agent agreed that the proof she was seeing was much lighter than what I received. I now had three copies of the same two books that were completely useless to look through. They didn’t do anything other than offer to keep reprinting which I was tired of at this point. If Chatbooks didn’t fix the issue the first time or 2nd time why would it get better the 3rd time? I was very frustrated and disappointed. I have been singing their praises to everyone I know for 10 years and they couldn’t get me these two books printed correctly. I no longer trusted them to print anymore books either. Why waste my time and money if it’s going to keep printing too dark. I had them refund me for the printed books and for the credits that had built up in the 3 months it took for these books to be reprinted. I’m really frustrated and sad with this experience and just wish they would have fixed the issue as I absolutely loved their products up to this point. However I no longer trust them and will not buy from them again.
Chatbooks recently printed a book for me with the incorrect year. I have solid proof, as a screenshot of what was ordered, and I have been unable to re-order the book. They are supposedly giving me a credit, but I can’t figure out how to use that credit. And they absolutely positively will not speak to you on the phone.
The only way I actually get my photos printed! I’ve been using this service since 2021, and it is truly the best balance of price, quality, and ease. Like most people, I used to print loose photos hoping I’d eventually find time to scrapbooks them, but with a family and a busy schedule, that was never going to happen. The Monthbook subscription changed everything. It pulls photos directly from my phone library by date, so the "work" is basically done for me. I love that I can customize layouts, add emojis, and color-code the covers by year. Their live chat is incredible, they usually respond and resolve issues within minutes. Pro Tip: I stick an envelope to the back cover for keepsakes and add a blank page in the app before printing so I can tape in birthday or Christmas cards later! It’s turned a box of "someday" memories into a beautiful, organized library our family actually looks at. I plan to use them forever, thanks Chatbooks for a great experience!
103 reviews matching