Mixtiles Alternatives: An Honest Comparison of Photo Tiles and Wood Photo Blocks (2026)
Last updated September 2026. We make wood photo blocks, so we have an obvious interest here. We have tried to write the comparison we would want to read, including the parts where our product is the wrong answer.
The short version
If you want the cheapest way to get your photos on a wall, buy Mixtiles. At roughly $11 for an 8 inch tile, and under $8 each in a bundle, nothing in this category beats them on price.
If you do not want adhesive on your walls, pick something magnetic. Snaptiles and our own birch blocks both hold on with magnets rather than sticky strips.
If you want an object with some weight to it, made from baltic birch rather than compressed fibreboard, that is the gap we fill. It costs more per piece, and whether that is worth it is a fair question we try to answer honestly below.
Baltic birch blocks that hold to the wall with a magnet and a thumbtack. Rearrange as often as you like. No sticky strips, no holes to patch.
How the three compare
| Mixtiles | Snaptiles | Shiner Photo | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Material | MDF frame, printed face | SBS paperboard, UV laminated | Baltic birch |
| Thickness | About 0.75" | About 1" | 0.75" |
| Sizes | 8x8" up to 27x36" | 8x8" only | 2", 4", 6", 8" |
| Price per piece | ~$11 at 8x8", ~$7.81 in a 16-pack | $12.25 | $9 / $20 / $30 / $40 by size |
| Mounting | Peel-and-stick adhesive strips | Rare-earth magnets plus one adhesive wall bracket | Neodymium magnet in the block, metal thumbtack in the wall |
| Repositioning | About two dozen resticks before the adhesive weakens | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Made | Mass produced | Mass produced | By hand in Palatine, Illinois |
| Photo review | Automated | Automated | Every photo checked by a person before printing |
The Mixtiles and Snaptiles figures come from PhotographyTalk's hands-on comparison, which tested both.
The mounting difference is the real difference
Most people choose between these products on price and then discover the mounting matters more than they expected.
Adhesive tiles stick directly to the wall. On ordinary painted drywall that usually works fine and comes off cleanly. The two situations where people run into trouble are textured walls, where the adhesive has less flat surface to grab, and paint that has gone on within the last few weeks, which has not fully cured and can lift. Adhesive is also a consumable. Mixtiles rate theirs for roughly two dozen restickings, and every removal costs a little grip.
Magnet mounting works differently. With our blocks, a metal thumbtack goes into the wall and the neodymium magnet in the back of the block grabs it. Nothing sticks to your paint. Moving a block means pulling it off and moving one tack, and you are left with a pinhole rather than a patch of adhesive. The magnet does not wear out, so you can rearrange the wall as many times as you like. Snaptiles solve the same problem a different way, with a bracket that takes the adhesive once and then holds the tiles magnetically.
If you rent, or you rearrange things often, or your walls are textured, this is the part of the decision worth thinking about.
What you actually pay
We are not going to pretend we are the cheap option.
An 8 inch Shiner block is $40. An 8x8 Mixtile is about $11, or under $8 each if you buy sixteen. That is roughly three to five times the price per piece, and if covering a wall for the least money is the goal, that difference is decisive and you should go with Mixtiles.
Where the comparison gets closer is that most family walls are not built from 8 inch pieces. Our 4 inch block is $20, the 6 inch is $30 and the 2 inch is $9, and mixing sizes in one wall is normal. A twelve block wall of 4 inch blocks is $240 before discounts and $192 after the automatic 20 percent, which works out to $16 a block. Volume discounts of 10, 20 and 30 percent apply on their own at $120, $240 and $480, and U.S. shipping is free over $49.
Still more than tiles. You are paying for baltic birch instead of fibreboard, for something a small shop made rather than a factory, and for a person looking at your photo before it prints. Some people want that and some people would rather have twice as many pictures on the wall. Both are reasonable.
What you are getting for the difference
Baltic birch rather than fibreboard. MDF and paperboard are fine materials for a printed panel and they keep the price down. Baltic birch is a different thing: cross-laminated birch with no voids, which makes it stronger and more dimensionally stable than fibreboard, with a real birch face and wood grain on the edges. It also will not swell or crumble the way MDF does if it ever gets damp.
A person checks your photo. This is the part we would defend hardest. Every photo that comes through is looked at by Leo before it prints. If a picture is too low resolution, badly lit, or cropped in a way that is going to cut someone's head off, you get an email rather than a disappointing package. No automated pipeline does that.
Size flexibility. Four sizes instead of one, and you can mix them in the same wall. That is the difference between a grid of identical squares and an arrangement that looks composed.
It is not just a wall product. Each block has a magnet and comes with a wooden dowel, so the same piece stands on a shelf or sticks to a fridge.
Baltic birch blocks that hold to the wall with a magnet and a thumbtack. Rearrange as often as you like. No sticky strips, no holes to patch.
When Mixtiles is the right call
We would point you to Mixtiles if price per tile is your main constraint, if you want the very large sizes since they go up to 27x36 and we stop at 8 inches, or if you want one uniform grid of identical squares and do not care what it is made of. They have shipped an enormous number of these and the product does what it says.
One thing worth knowing either way: Mixtiles do not have UV protection, so a wall in direct sun is not their best environment.
When we are the right call
Real birch rather than fibreboard matters to you. You do not want adhesive on your walls. You want to mix sizes rather than repeat one. You are making something emotional, a family wall or a memorial, and you would like a human to look at the photo before it becomes a physical object. Or you want it made in the U.S. by a small shop, which we have been doing in Palatine, Illinois since 2012, across more than 50,000 customers and 9,300+ five-star reviews.
If that sounds right, you can build a wall in our photo wall builder and see the price update as you go, or email your photos to support@shinerphoto.com and we will design one for you and send back a proposal. Both are free and neither requires an account.
Common questions
What is the best alternative to Mixtiles?
It depends on what you care about. If you want the lowest price per tile, Mixtiles is hard to beat and you should buy Mixtiles. If you want to avoid putting adhesive on your walls, a magnet-mounted option like Snaptiles or Shiner Photo is the better choice. If you want a baltic birch block rather than a printed MDF or paperboard panel, Shiner Photo's birch photo blocks are the closest thing in the category, though they cost more per piece.
Do Mixtiles damage your walls?
Usually not on standard painted drywall. Mixtiles use a peel-and-stick adhesive strip that is designed to come off cleanly. The common complaints are on textured walls and on paint that was applied recently, where the adhesive can lift a little paint after a long time on the wall. The adhesive is also rated for roughly two dozen restickings before its grip weakens.
Can you move photo tiles once they are on the wall?
With adhesive tiles like Mixtiles you can reposition them a limited number of times, roughly two dozen, and each removal weakens the adhesive a little. With magnet-mounted blocks the answer is unlimited, because the magnet is doing the holding and it does not wear out. Shiner Photo blocks hold onto a metal thumbtack pushed into the wall, so moving a block means moving one tack and leaving a pinhole.
What are photo tiles actually made of?
It varies more than people expect. Mixtiles are an MDF frame about three quarters of an inch thick with the photo printed on the face. Snaptiles use acid-free SBS paperboard about an inch thick with a soft-touch UV lamination. Shiner Photo blocks are baltic birch, three quarters of an inch thick, with the print mounted on the wood by hand.
How much do photo tiles cost per tile?
At 8 inches square, Mixtiles run about $11 each and drop to around $7.81 each in a 16-tile bundle, Snaptiles are $12.25 each, and a Shiner Photo 8 inch birch block is $40. Shiner also makes 2, 4 and 6 inch blocks at $9, $20 and $30, which is where most family walls land, and volume discounts of 10, 20 and 30 percent apply automatically at $120, $240 and $480.
Are wood photo blocks worth the extra money over photo tiles?
Only if the difference matters to you. You are paying for baltic birch instead of MDF or paperboard, for something made by hand in a small workshop rather than mass produced, and in Shiner's case for a person checking and correcting every photo before it prints. If you mainly want to cover a wall with your photos for the least money, those things are not worth paying for and a cheaper tile is the sensible choice.