Cheapest film
The cheapest instant film, ranked
Every instant film ranked by cost per shot, with the five ways to actually pay less.
Top pick: Fujifilm instax mini 12
Check priceWhat every instant photo actually costs
The camera is the deposit. The film is the purchase. Every figure on this page was checked against a live retail listing in October 2026 and shows its source.
Instant film costs between 85 cents and $2.75 per shot. instax mini is cheapest at about 85 cents, instax WIDE about $1.10, instax SQUARE about $1.15, Polaroid Go about $1.37, and Polaroid's full-size i-Type about $2.37. Printer media is cheaper still, from about 39 cents.
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Our top pick right now
Fujifilm instax mini 12
If running cost is the deciding factor and you want a camera rather than a printer, this is the cheapest film in the category on the simplest camera that takes it.
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This is the section the rest of the site is built on. Nobody else in this category leads with the running cost, and it is the number that decides whether an instant camera gets used for years or gets used twice.
The arithmetic is simple and we show it every time: pack price divided by the number of exposures in the pack. What makes it useful is that the pack prices are real — fetched from live retail listings on a stated date, with the link next to the number, rather than copied from another site's three-year-old figure.
The spread is bigger than most buyers expect. The cheapest instant film is about 85 cents a shot; the most expensive is about $2.75. At a hundred photographs a year, that difference is $190 — considerably more than the price gap between the cameras that shoot them.
Start here
Where to buy
Where to buy instant film
Which films are easy to find, which are not, and why availability is often worth more than price.
Top pick: Fujifilm instax mini 12
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comparison
Every instant film and print format, compared on cost
All fourteen films and printer media in one sorted table, every figure sourced and dated.
Top pick: Canon SELPHY CP1500
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How much does instax film cost?
All three instax formats, with pack prices, per-shot costs, sources, and the counter-intuitive result that SQUARE costs more than WIDE.
Top pick: Fujifilm instax mini 12
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guide
How much does Polaroid film cost?
Every Polaroid film with its per-shot cost, the multipack savings, and the eight-exposures-a-pack fact that surprises people.
Top pick: Polaroid Go Generation 3
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guide
What ZINK paper costs per print
The verified ZINK figure, how the technology works, and why it is not the cheapest despite the cheap hardware.
Top pick: Canon IVY 2 Mini
Check priceHow to choose
Work out how many photos a year, honestly
Most people overestimate. A camera that comes out at birthdays and one holiday is maybe 40 shots a year. One that lives in a bag and goes to everything is 150 or more. Pick the number first, because it changes which format makes sense: at 40 shots a year the film cost barely matters, and at 200 it dominates everything else.
Buy film in the biggest pack you will use
Multipacks are a real but modest saving. Polaroid's own five-pack of i-Type works out at about $2.12 a shot against $2.37 for a single pack — roughly 11% off. That is worth having and it does not change the ranking: Polaroid stays the most expensive film here at any pack size. Do not buy more than will be shot within a year or two, because instant film is perishable.
Consider printing instead of shooting
The cheapest way to put a photograph in somebody's hand is to print one that already exists. A Canon SELPHY 4 x 6 print is about 39 cents, a Kodak 4PASS print about 42 cents. That is less than half the cheapest instant film and under a fifth of Polaroid's. If what you actually want is prints rather than the moment of ejection, a printer is the honest answer.
Or shoot digital and print selectively
The instax mini Evo is the compromise: it shoots to a screen, so you only spend film on photographs worth keeping. On a camera where every pull of the trigger costs 85 cents, choosing not to print is the biggest saving available.
What it costs to run
The camera is the deposit; the film is the purchase. Every figure below was checked against a live retail listing and links to the listing it came from.
| Format | Print size | Pack | Pack price | Cost per shot | Checked at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canon SELPHY 4 x 6 (KP-108IN) | 4 x 6 in | 108 | $41.99 | $0.39 | Pro Photo Supply |
| Kodak 4PASS 2.1 x 3.4 | 2.1 x 3.4 in | 60 | $24.99 | $0.42 | Kodak Photo Printer store |
| ZINK 2 x 3 | 2 x 3 in | 20 | $11.99 | $0.60 | ProCam |
| instax mini | 2.4 x 1.8 in (62 x 46 mm) | 20 | $16.99 | $0.85 | Pro Photo Supply |
| instax WIDE | 3.9 x 2.4 in (99 x 62 mm) | 20 | $21.99 | $1.10 | Pro Photo Supply |
| instax SQUARE | 2.4 x 2.4 in (62 x 62 mm image on 86 x 72 mm film) | 20 | $22.99 | $1.15 | Pro Photo Supply |
| Polaroid Go | 2.6 x 2.1 in (66.6 x 53.9 mm) | 16 | $21.99 | $1.37 | Polaroid |
| Polaroid i-Type | 4.2 x 3.5 in (107 x 88 mm) | 8 | $18.99 | $2.37 | Polaroid |
| Polaroid 600 | 4.2 x 3.5 in (107 x 88 mm) | 8 | $20.99 | $2.62 | Polaroid |
| Polaroid SX-70 | 4.2 x 3.5 in (107 x 88 mm) | 8 | $21.99 | $2.75 | Polaroid |
Film & Running Costs: questions people ask
How much does instax film cost?
A 20-exposure twin pack of instax mini film was $16.99 at Pro Photo Supply when we checked on 13 October 2026, which is about 85 cents a shot. instax WIDE was $21.99 for 20 ($1.10 a shot) and instax SQUARE $22.99 for 20 ($1.15 a shot).
How much does Polaroid film cost?
An 8-photo pack of Polaroid color i-Type film was $18.99 on polaroid.com on 13 October 2026, which works out at about $2.37 per photo. Polaroid 600 was $20.99 for 8 ($2.62 each), SX-70 $21.99 for 8 ($2.75 each) and Polaroid Go $21.99 for 16 ($1.37 each).
Why is Polaroid film so expensive?
Three reasons. The print is much larger — 4.2 x 3.5 inches against 2.4 x 1.8 for an instax mini — so there is more chemistry in every sheet. Packs contain only 8 exposures rather than 20. And Polaroid manufactures at a far smaller scale than Fujifilm after rebuilding the original production line from scratch.
What is the cheapest instant film?
Among camera films, instax mini at about 85 cents a shot. If you include printer media, Canon SELPHY 4 x 6 prints are cheapest overall at about 39 cents each, with Kodak 4PASS between 40 and 42 cents depending on size.
Does instant film expire?
Yes. Every pack carries an expiry date, usually a year or two out, and results drift before and after it — colors shift and contrast changes. Store it cool and flat, buy only what will be shot within a year, and do not stockpile multipacks for a camera that comes out twice a year.