Costco Passport Photo vs. Doing It Free Online 2026
Costco no longer offers passport photos — its photo centres closed nationwide in 2021. That leaves two realistic options: pay $7–17 at another retailer, or process the photo for free with idpic.app and print it for a few cents. This guide covers what Costco used to offer, what changed, and how to get a compliant passport photo today without paying for the processing.
Costco discontinued its passport photo service in 2021 when it closed every in-warehouse photo centre. The free alternative is to process your photo with idpic.app at $0 cost and print it at any pharmacy for under a dollar — no membership required.
Does Costco still do passport photos?
No. Costco announced in January 2021 that it would close every in-warehouse photo centre by February 14 of that year, citing the steep decline in printed-photo demand since the rise of camera phones. Passport photos, home-movie transfers, photo restoration, and ink-cartridge refills were all discontinued along with it.
Costco.com kept selling prints, photo books, calendars, and other gifts online for a while afterward, and later moved that online photo business into a partnership with Shutterfly. Shutterfly's catalogue is built around keepsakes and prints, not a government-compliant passport photo product, so there is no way to order a properly sized passport photo through Costco today.
Cost comparison: Costco vs other options
Costco
Photo centre discontinued in 2021 — no longer available at any location
Walmart
Around $7.44 for 2 printed photos
CVS / Walgreens
Around $16.99 for 2 printed photos
USPS / Post Office
Around $15.00 for 2 printed photos
idpic.app + home print
Free processing, then $0.10–1.00 for a 4×6 sheet at any pharmacy
Why idpic.app is the practical replacement
Availability
Works right now, from home — no need to find a warehouse that still offers photo services
Cost
Free to process — you only pay a few cents to print
No membership required
Anyone can use it — no paid warehouse membership needed to get started
Unlimited retakes
Retake as many times as you need at no extra cost until the shot is right
Privacy
Photo processing happens on your device — nothing is uploaded to a third-party server
Digital + print
Get a compliant digital file for online applications and a ready-to-cut print sheet in the same session
What Costco can no longer offer
Discontinued nationwide — Costco closed every in-warehouse photo centre by February 2021
Its online photo service moved to a partnership with Shutterfly, which sells prints and photo books, not compliant passport photos
Requires an active paid membership to use any Costco service
Even before it closed, you still had to drive to a warehouse and wait for the photo to be printed
Take the photo
Stand facing a plain white or light wall with even natural light on your face. Use your phone's rear camera, hold it at eye level, and keep a neutral expression.
- Avoid shadows — face a window rather than a lamp
- Remove glasses and anything covering your face
Upload it to idpic.app
Open idpic.app in your browser, choose your country and document type, and drop in your photo. The tool crops it to the exact size and checks it against official requirements automatically.
- No account, no app install, no upload to a server
Fix anything the checker flags
If the background isn't white enough or your face isn't centred, idpic.app tells you exactly what to adjust. Retake and re-upload as many times as you need — it's still free.
Download the digital file
Save the compliant digital photo for online passport or visa applications. For US passports, this means a JPEG between roughly 54 KB and 10 MB.
Print at home or at a pharmacy
Print the ready-made 4×6 sheet at home on photo paper, or send the file to any pharmacy photo kiosk — Costco's own online prints now route through Shutterfly, so a local pharmacy is usually faster.
When a retail counter is still worth it
If you have no smartphone, no white wall, or you simply want a printed set in hand within minutes and are willing to pay for that convenience, a walk-in counter like Walmart, CVS, or the post office is a reasonable choice. It just isn't Costco anymore — and for most people, processing the photo for free first and printing it wherever is cheapest ends up faster and cheaper either way.
Why Costco Closed Its Photo Centres
Costco's own explanation at the time was straightforward: since the introduction of camera phones and social media, the need for printing photos declined steeply even as the number of photos people took kept growing. Running a dedicated photo lab in every warehouse no longer made sense for a business built around bulk groceries and household goods.
That decision affected far more than passport photos — enlargements, greeting cards, photo blankets, and film processing all moved online or disappeared. For a service people only need occasionally, like a passport photo, the closure meant one less place to check off the list before a trip or a renewal.
The Membership Problem
Even when Costco's photo centre was open, using it meant paying for a Costco Gold Star membership — around $65 a year — just to walk in the door. For a shopper who was already a member that cost nothing extra, but for anyone else it made a simple errand surprisingly expensive.
idpic.app and most pharmacy print counters have no such barrier. You don't need a membership, a subscription, or an account to process and print a compliant passport photo — you just need a phone and a browser.
Digital File vs Printed Copy: What You Actually Need
Many renewal and visa applications are now submitted online and only require a digital photo file, not a physical print. If Costco's photo centre were still open, you'd still have needed a digital copy for those forms — and most in-store services charged extra for that file on top of the prints.
idpic.app gives you both in the same pass: a digital file sized correctly for online applications and a print-ready sheet for anyone who still needs paper copies for a mail-in form or a country-specific requirement. See how to prepare a digital passport photo and how to print your own passport photo at home for the details.
Rumours of Costco Passport Photos Returning
Search results and forum posts occasionally claim that a handful of Costco locations still offer passport photos for a small fee. Costco's own announcement of the 2021 closure applied to every warehouse, and the company has not reopened in-store photo printing since. If you see a claim that your local Costco still offers the service, call ahead before making the trip — but treat it as unlikely rather than the default.
Whatever you find locally, always double-check the finished photo against the requirements for your document — check the official government portal for the exact size, background, and file specifications before you submit it.
Frequently asked questions
Does Costco still take passport photos?
No. Costco closed every in-warehouse photo centre, including its passport photo service, by February 14, 2021, citing declining demand for printed photos. Its remaining online photo ordering now runs through a partnership with Shutterfly, which does not offer a government-compliant passport photo product.
Do I need a Costco membership to print a passport photo there?
Costco's photo centre closure means the question is moot for passport photos specifically — the service no longer exists at any location. Any other Costco or Costco.com order, including general photo printing through its Shutterfly partnership, still requires an active paid membership.
What is the cheapest way to get a passport photo now?
Processing your photo with idpic.app is free, and printing a 4×6 sheet at a pharmacy costs well under $1. If you'd rather buy prints outright, Walmart is generally the cheapest walk-in option in the US at around $7.44 for two photos.
Will a photo I take myself be accepted for a passport?
Yes, as long as it meets the official technical requirements — size, background, lighting, and expression. Passport agencies evaluate the photo itself, not where it was printed. A well-lit phone photo processed with idpic.app meets the same standard as a photo from any retail counter.
Where can I still get passport photos printed in person?
In the US, Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, The UPS Store, and most post offices still offer walk-in passport photo printing. None of them require a paid membership. See the official government portal for your country for the full list of accepted print formats.
Guides
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