How Much Does It Cost to Digitize Photos?
- 11 hours ago
- 3 min read
Digitizing a photo collection typically costs $900 to $1,500 for a single shoebox or small bin, and scales up from there based on how many items you have, what kind they are, and how much organization you'd like. Professional scanning runs $1.00 per printed photo and $1.50 per slide or negative, with optional organization work billed at $150/hour.
That's the short answer. Here's how those numbers actually break down, so you can estimate your own project before you ever pick up the phone.
What drives the price
Two things determine what a photo digitizing project costs: how many items you have, and how much organization you want done. Scanning is priced per item, so it's predictable the moment you know your item count. Organization — sorting, dating, labeling, and building a searchable archive — is entirely optional, and when you choose it, it's billed at $150/hour, because no two boxes of photos need the same amount of work.
Per-item scanning costs
Every item, regardless of type, includes professional scanning matched to the item — using the equipment that captures the most detail for what it actually needs — along with digital color correction and clean-cropped, rotated images.
Printed photos: $1.00/image
Backs of printed photos: $1.00/image — when there's handwriting or date information on the back of a photo, we can scan and preserve that alongside the front
Slides & negatives: $1.50/image
Special handling items: $3.00/image — anything over 12x12": large portraits, kids' artwork, newspaper clippings, scrapbook pages
3D objects: from $15.00/item — trophies, medals, plaques, baby shoes, multiple angles per item
Home Movies/Videotapes, all formats: two options depending on how granular you want it, both delivered as dated, labeled files.
$35.00/tape for a straight conversion, with dead space trimmed before and after
$70.00/tape to have each individual scene converted into its own video file, so you can quickly search for a specific moment and share clips online
8mm film reels: $21–$168/reel — priced by reel size (3", 5", 7")
Organization: $150/hour — optional, quoted after a free consultation once we know roughly what's in your collection
A worked example
A single shoebox of loose prints (~900 photos). Scanning: 900 photos × $1.00 = $900. Organization is optional — a shoebox like this typically takes about 1–4 hours to sort at $150/hour, adding roughly $150–$600. Together, that's what usually lands a project like this in the $900–$1,500 range.
The honest version: nobody can give you an exact number without knowing what's actually in your boxes and how much sorting you want done, which is exactly what a free consultation is for. But this should get you in the right ballpark before you call.
Organization is optional — here's what it actually buys you
You don't have to organize your collection to have it digitized. Scan-only gets every photo captured at full quality, delivered back to you in digital groups that match the physical groups you've created for us. Our organization process is what turns that into something you can actually browse and search: the more time you allow for it, the more your collection gets sorted into named, dated folders grouped by event instead of left in one undifferentiated batch, and the more precisely each photo's date can be pinned down. In practice, that means your photos show up true to when they were actually taken — not when they were scanned — in any timeline-based photo app, and the folder and file names make it easy to find a specific memory without scrolling through hundreds of images. It's not required, but it's what sets Memory Forward apart from other scanning services and DIY digitizing: the difference between a digital backup and a collection you'll actually use.
Get a real number for your collection
The fastest way to get started is a quick phone call — from there, we'll set up an in-person appointment to see your collection firsthand, estimate your item counts together, and send a written estimate before any work begins.
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