Head to head, paid tier against paid tier
Kin Album app vs Tinybeans+ (2026)
Tinybeans is a journal with a strict free tier, so the honest comparison is its paid plan, Tinybeans+, against Kin Album, which has no free tier. Tinybeans+ removes the ads and the caps; it doesn't say what happens to photo quality, and it carries the most extensive tracking label of any app here. Kin Album is made by the company that runs this site.
In short: Kin Album wins on originals kept, no ads at any tier, and a company that cannot open the photos. Tinybeans+ wins on price ($74.99 a year), on Android, and on the journal format itself, and it doesn't state the photo resolution it keeps. Kin Album is made by the company that runs this site.
| Criterion | Kin Album* | Tinybeans |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99/mo for everyone; no free tier[1] | Free (20 uploads/mo, 5 GB, ads); Tinybeans+ $7.99/mo or $74.99/yr[2][3] |
| Do relatives have to pay? | No[1] | No — followers view free[2][4] |
| Storage limit | No limit published; 400 MB per video[1] | 5 GB free; 200 GB on Tinybeans+[5][6] |
| Photos kept at full quality? | Yes — originals[7][8] | Not stated[9] |
| Video limits | 400 MB per video (~6 min at iPhone default)[1][7] | 5 min on Tinybeans+; free limit not stated[2][9] |
| Ads? | No[1] | Yes, on the free plan[10][4] |
| AI or face recognition run on your photos? | No — can't; photos encrypted before upload[1][8] | Not stated[11] |
| Can the company open your photos? | No — end to end; company holds no key[8] | Yes — no end-to-end claim[11] |
| Can family look without installing an app? | Yes — any browser, or by email[1] | Yes — website login[4] |
| Do viewers need an account? | Partly Members sign in; email recipients don't[1] | Yes — followers log in[12] |
| Can family add their own photos? | Partly — a second parent as admin[1] | Partly — owner posts; 'Full Access' followers[12] |
| Can you leave with everything? | Yes — originals, on the phone[7][1] | Partly — bulk export needs Tinybeans+[13][12] |
| Platforms | iPhone app (not in the App Store yet when checked) + any browser; no Android app[1] | iOS, Android, web[14][13] |
| App Store label: data used to track you | Label not yet published when checked[1] | Yes Location, contacts, content, identifiers, usage[14] |
| How it makes money | Subscription only[1] | Ads, subscriptions, photo books[10][15] |
* Kin Album is made by Cobblestone, LLC, which runs this site. Compared on the same criteria as every other app here; no app pays us anything.
Where they differ
What paying buys. Tinybeans+ lifts the 20-upload monthly cap, raises storage from 5 GB to 200 GB, allows 5-minute videos, removes ads for you and your followers (Tinybeans’ own articles stay in the Home feed), and unlocks bulk export. Kin Album has no caps to lift and no ads to remove; it publishes no storage limit and no cap other than 400 MB per video.
Photo quality. Kin Album stores the original and exports it. Tinybeans doesn’t state its photo resolution on the pages we checked, paid or free — the one row where “not stated” is the whole answer, and worth asking Tinybeans before its journal becomes the only copy.
Who can open the photos. Tinybeans makes no end-to-end claim; “private” means only invited followers can view. Kin Album says its servers store “ciphertext and wrapped keys” and cannot decrypt the pictures, with captions, comments, names and an optional email preview image as the disclosed exceptions.
Price. Tinybeans+ is $74.99 a year; Kin Album is about $120 a year at $9.99 a month, with no trial. Tinybeans+ can also be shared with one follower, who gets the full features.
Relatives. Tinybeans followers view in the app or on the website, with their own login. Kin Album members sign in and view in any browser; an email recipient gets the photos with no account at all. On contributing, neither is generous: the Tinybeans journal owner posts and “Full Access” followers gain rights such as export, with posting rights not spelled out; on Kin Album only a second admin posts.
Export. Tinybeans+ exports by date range, sent by email as download links a month at a time; free users whose memories were archived at the 5 GB limit can export at no cost. Kin Album exports any time from the phone as a zip of the originals, with no fee and no waiting period.
Platforms and the tracking label. Tinybeans runs on iOS, Android and the web; Kin Album is iPhone plus any browser, with no Android app. Tinybeans’ App Store label lists five kinds of data used to track you — location, contact info, user content, identifiers, usage — and paying doesn’t change the label. Kin Album’s label had not been published when we checked.
What Tinybeans has that Kin Album doesn’t. The journal format: dated entries, and photo books ordered from inside the app. Kin Album is an album, not a journal.
Who should pick which
On this site’s criteria Kin Album wins this one, on the rows that carry the most weight: originals kept, no ads at any tier, and a company that cannot open the photos, against a journal that doesn’t state its photo resolution and carries the longest tracking label on the site. Tinybeans+ wins on price, on Android, and on the journal itself — dated entries and photo books — which is the reason to choose it. Kin Album is made by the company that runs this site; each row above links to its source.
Sources
- Kin Album — kinalbum.com home page, checked 2026-09-13
Kin Album is a private family photo album for the people you invite and no one else. Every photo is encrypted on your phone before it uploads, so even Kin Album can't look … $9.99 a month · one subscription covers everyone you invite … Relatives never pay, and there are no storage tiers — nothing to be downgraded out of. No free tier, no trial … Videos up to 400 MB each, about six minutes at the iPhone default … The album opens in any browser. Or add her as an email recipient and the photos arrive in her inbox, with no account at all … Kin Album shows no ads, runs no AI on your photos, and cannot open them … You are not the only one who can post — make someone else an admin and their photos land in the same album … Albums are created in the iPhone app — invited family joins right here, no app needed. The app isn't in the App Store yet.
- Tinybeans — Help: How much is a Tinybeans+ subscription?, checked 2026-09-12
Tinybeans+ is available for $74.99/year or $7.99/month … Unlimited upload of photos and videos (up to 5 minutes in length each) · An ad free experience (including for followers) · 200GB of storage · Shared subscription – grant full subscription features to a follower of your journal! · The ability to export your memories.
- Tinybeans — Help: Can I use Tinybeans for free?, checked 2026-09-12
Free subscribers are able to upload up to 20 memories (photos or videos) per month – up to a total of 5GB – with an ad-supported experience.
- Tinybeans — Help: How do I remove ads from my Tinybeans?, checked 2026-09-12
Our Tinybeans+ subscription removes ads for you and your followers when viewing your journal in the app or website … You will still see our in-house articles in the Home feed.
- Tinybeans — Help: What happens when I reach the 5GB storage limit on the free plan?, checked 2026-09-12
You'll still have access to everything you've uploaded, but you won't be able to add new photos or videos unless you upgrade. Your most recent memories will remain visible, and older ones will be safely archived.
- Tinybeans — Help: Do you have a storage limit?, checked 2026-09-12
Tinybeans allows for 5GB of storage for free journals without a paid subscription … Our Tinybeans+ subscription unlocks expanded storage of 200GB.
- Kin Album — Kin Album — Help, checked 2026-09-13
Settings → Export, any time, no fee and no waiting period. Your iPhone decrypts your album and builds a zip of the original files right on the device … What happens if I stop paying? Posting stops. Nothing is deleted, and everyone can still look, comment and export — so you can take it all with you whenever you like … The share sheet is photos-only for now; videos post from inside the app.
- Kin Album — Kin Album — Security (updated 10 Aug 2026), checked 2026-09-12
Photos and videos are encrypted on your iPhone before they are uploaded … Our servers store ciphertext and wrapped keys. We cannot decrypt your pictures … A few narrow things are readable server-side so the product can work, and we say so plainly: captions, comments, and names are stored readably; if you opt a relative into email photo updates, a small preview image is prepared for that email outside the encryption.
- Tinybeans — Help: What's included in the Tinybeans+ subscription?, checked 2026-09-12
Unlimited monthly uploads · 200GB storage for your journal (50,000+ photos/videos) · High-quality videos up to 5 minutes · Ad-free experience on your journal.
- Tinybeans — Help: What's the difference between free Tinybeans and Tinybeans+?, checked 2026-09-12
Free Tinybeans allows you to upload a maximum of 20 photos and videos per month and includes ads around your family's journal. Additionally, free Tinybeans journals are subject to 5GB storage limit.
- Tinybeans — Tinybeans: Introducing Tinybeans+ (27 Aug 2023), checked 2026-09-12
Tinybeans+ subscribers won't be seeing any ads. No ads in albums, in-app, and no emails … 200GB of storage … Only the family and friends you invite … have access to viewing them.
- Tinybeans — Help: Who can export memories from a Tinybeans journal?, checked 2026-09-12
A journal's contents can only be exported by the journal owner and followers they have granted Full Access … Free users who have passed the free storage limit and had their memories archived can export at no cost via the More tab of the app.
- Tinybeans — Help: How can I export (or download) all of my memories?, checked 2026-09-12
As a Tinybeans+ subscriber, you can request a mass export of your journal's photos and videos at any time via the website … The export will come to your email as links to download a month at a time.
- Tinybeans — App Store listing: Tinybeans Private Family Album — App Privacy, checked 2026-09-12
Data Used to Track You: Location, Contact Info, User Content, Identifiers, Usage Data. Data Linked to You — Third-Party Advertising: Location, Identifiers, Usage Data, Other Data … In-App Purchases: Tinybeans Plus Subscription $7.99 · $74.99.
- Tinybeans — tinybeans.com home page, checked 2026-09-12
Capture and privately share sweet snapshots and videos of your littles with our family photo-sharing app … Print a Photo Book · Gift a Tinybeans+ subscription.
Questions people ask
What does Tinybeans+ include?
$7.99 a month or $74.99 a year: unlimited uploads, 200 GB of storage, videos up to 5 minutes, no ads for you or your followers, bulk export, and a shared subscription for one follower. The free plan is 20 uploads a month and 5 GB, with ads.
Does Tinybeans keep the original photo?
Tinybeans doesn’t state photo resolution on the help pages we checked; Tinybeans+ is described as offering ‘high-quality videos up to 5 minutes’. Kin Album says it stores the encrypted original and exports ‘the original files’.
Which tracks more?
Tinybeans’ App Store label lists Location, Contact Info, User Content, Identifiers and Usage Data as data that may be used to track you across other companies’ apps and websites — the longest such list among the fourteen apps compared here. Kin Album’s label had not been published when we checked; its site states no ads and nothing tracking you.