Our Pix-Star vs Nixplay photo frame guide takes you through everything you need to know and look for. You’ll learn how each of these frames performs in the real world, how their best features compare, and if they’re worth the money at the end of it all.
Both Pix-Star and Nixplay digital frames are among the most popular on the market. They have similar base prices, with Nixplay’s frames being a little more expensive.
By the time we’re done here, you’ll know which frame better suits your home and family. We cover important features to look for in a digital frame and how these frames deliver on them. You’ll also learn how they work for elderly users, families, and the modern home!
Let’s get started!
Pix-Star vs Nixplay Photo Frame – Where Should You Start?
Before we jump into our Nixplay vs Pix-Star photo frame comparison, we need to understand how each of these frames functions and performs in the real world. Here we’ll dive into their overall purpose and intended use.
Remember that not all digital frames are created equal. There are nuances worth paying attention to that can completely change how you use and interact with a digital frame.
With this in mind, let’s take a general look at the Pix-Star digital photo frame!
Understanding the Pix-Star photo frame
The Pix-Star digital photo frame is arguably the most popular frame on the market for elderly users and families. They’re one of the few premium photo frames designed to cater to the individual user and the family, without ostracizing grandparents and anyone that’s not tech-savvy.
Pix-Star’s frames are available as either a 10-inch digital frame or a larger 15-inch digital frame. Both have near-identical feature sets and use a 4:3 aspect ratio. We love this aspect ratio as it perfectly matches the aspect ratio that most modern smartphones capture pictures in. This leads to more immersive slideshows, and fewer images needing editing before sending them to the frame.
Pix-Star’s frames are known for their robust feature sets and ease of use. Top features like remote configuration support and photo imports from social media let you automate much of the photo-sharing process. We’ll look into these features in more depth later in the guide.
With Pix-Star’s frames, you can manage and control several frames at the same time – from a single user account. This is ideal for large families and elderly users, and pairs excellently with Pix-Star’s extensive plug-and-play USB/SD card support and free-for-life cloud storage.
At their price point, Pix-Star frames are arguably the best value for money frames on today’s market. They don’t charge any extra fees or hidden costs. All features come fully unlocked and ready to use. Pix-Star frames are made for the modern home and family, to help you stay effortlessly connected through intuitive photo-sharing and immersive slideshows!
Understanding the Nixplay photo frame
The Nixplay photo frame is also a popular premium frame. They’re relatively well priced for the features they offer and have a good quality display. Nixplay sells a couple of different digital frame models with different screen sizes and display resolutions.
Unfortunately, they mostly use 16:9 aspect ratios, which isn’t great for photo playback. Most photos need editing and cropping before sending them to the frame – or you’ll have to deal with black boxes around each photo.
The main issue with Nixplay is their subscription-based model. There’s an optional subscription package called “Nixplay Plus”. It’s required to unlock/expand features like cloud storage, access to the mobile app, playing video and audio, creating folders and playlists, etc.
If you chose to not subscribe to Nixplay Plus, you can only send photos via email. There’s a limit to how many pictures you can send with the mobile app and you don’t get much cloud storage. It’s also worth noting that there’s no USB/SD card support. This means that there’s no way to load photos to the frame in bulk or when you’re offline.
Nixplay’s frames don’t offer many family-focused features like multi-frame control groups. You can’t control many of the frame’s general and slideshow settings remotely and can’t import photos directly from social media – at least not nearly as robustly as Pix-Star’s frames offer.
Now that we know a little about how these frames work, let’s dive deeper into their features and functions. Let’s go!
Comparing Pix-Star and Nixplay Digital Frames for 2022
The digital frame market is a competitive one. Many of the top frames have similar feature sets and functionality. The best way to compare them is to look at the features and functions that cater best to the modern home and family.
This isn’t to say that the individual-oriented digital frame isn’t important – it certainly is. The case here is that almost every high-end digital frame caters to the individual by default. We should be more interested in the features they offer above and beyond the individual. This is why we dive into how the frame caters to families, elderly users, and even smart homes.
With all this in mind, let’s take a look at how Pix-Star and Nixplay digital frames compare for 2022 and beyond!
Price and value for money
Both Nixplay and Pix-Star digital frames are high-end frames – and they’re priced accordingly. That being said, they’re not as expensive as some premium competing frames like the Aura frame.
Another point worth noting is that Pix-Star sells two frame models; a 10-inch digital frame, and a larger 15-inch digital frame. Pix-Star’s 10-inch frame costs around US$155, and their 15-inch frames cost just under US$200 (on the Pix-Star Shop).
Nixplay’s frames have a similar pricing structure for their entry-level 10-inch and 15-inch frames. Now, Nixplay sells several other frames, including an 8-inch frame and a slightly larger 13-inch model. Once you move past the entry-level, Nixplay’s frames get a lot more expensive.
For example, Nixplay’s 2K resolution 9.7-inch frame costs over US$100 more than their 10.1-inch frame with a standard display (US$172 compared to US$280). Pix-Star’s frames cost less and offer more in terms of features and functions.
Unfortunately for Nixplay, when you add in the cost of their monthly subscription over the frame’s effective lifespan, they become arguably the most expensive digital frames on the market. Let’s take a deeper look at their subscription-based model down below.
Monthly subscription fees
A couple of the most popular digital frames including Skylight and Nixplay frames are subscription-based. These frames lock several features behind their subscription paywall; features that most competing frames offer for free.
One of the main complaints against these digital frames with monthly fees is that they fail to offer anything sufficiently unique to justify the extra cost.
For example, Nixplay Plus (Nixplay’s premium subscription package) lets you unlock and expand upon features like cloud storage, video and audio support, online access to the frame and its storage, access to the mobile app and web interface, and more.
If you choose not to purchase the Nixplay Plus subscription, the frame performs more like a mid-range frame with a premium upfront price. You can only send pictures to the frame by email – and even then, only a handful at a time. Access to the mobile app is restricted. There is no remote configuration or control, no photo album imports from social media, and much more.
For comparison, Pix-Star doesn’t charge any extra fees or hidden costs. All of their features are unlocked when you buy the frame. You get free-for-life cloud storage, full access to Pix-Star’s mobile app and web dashboard, remote configuration support, the ability to import photos directly from social media, and much more.
When you consider that these frames have similar upfront costs, it’s hard to justify Nixplay’s subscription. Pix-Star offers all of the same features – but more robustly – along with several features that Nixplay doesn’t offer. In the end, Pix-Star offers much better value for money. On top of this, the last thing you want to do is add yet another subscription-based service to the constantly expanding list for most modern homes.
USB/SD card support
USB/SD card support is a major feature that’s often overlooked. It’s arguably the best way to share photos to the frame in bulk from DSLRs and other external sources. USB/SD cards are ideal and familiar for elderly users as they just need to insert them and start the slideshow.
Pix-Star’s frames are probably the best on the market for USB/SD card support. You can use any USB/SD card size and a wide range of formats and types are supported.
Pix-Star’s plug-and-play feature lets you insert a USB/SD card and play slideshows directly off it – all without having to copy its content to the frame’s internal storage. When combined with the fact that Pix-Star doesn’t restrict the USB/SD card maximum sizes, you get access to potentially unlimited storage space.
Unfortunately, Nixplay doesn’t offer USB/SD card support. This means that you cannot load photos to the frame without Wi-Fi. Bulk photo sharing without buying the Nixplay Plus monthly subscription is impossible. This makes Nixplay’s frames far less ideal for photographers and families that share pictures with grandparents using a USB/SD card.
Offline functionality is a very important feature – despite our interconnected and online world. Pix-Star’s frames are the clear winner here. While Nixplay’s frames do offer internal storage, you often need to connect to Wi-Fi to access local storage and stream photos in slideshows.
Importing photos from social media
This is often referred to as web album support. It’s arguably the most versatile and unique digital frame feature. Pix-Star’s Wi-Fi digital frames offer arguably the best web album support on the market.
Using the web dashboard for each of your Pix-Star frames, you can import photos directly to the frame from a dozen external sources. These sources include social media (Facebook, Instagram, etc.), photo-sharing sites (Flickr, Google Photos, etc.), and online storage platforms (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.).
These web albums can sync to several Pix-Star frames, and you can link to several albums on a single frame. All web albums save to each frame’s internal storage. You can access these files while the frame is offline and only Wi-Fi for syncing and updating web albums.
Pix-Star’s web album feature ties in well with the remote configuration feature, letting you remotely start slideshows, set web albums to update automatically, and more.
Nixplay digital frames cannot import photos directly from any external sources. You would need to manually download each photo to your phone, buy Nixplay Plus, and send them to your frame via the Nixplay mobile app. This involves additional subscription fees and several more steps to get pictures to your phone.
Pix-Star speed and automation make them the far superior choice in this matter. You can even link a folder from your computer to any of your Pix-Star frames. Once linked, you simply need to drag & drop photos to the folder, set the folder to automatically sync newly added photos, and Pix-Star will take care of the rest.
Web albums are incredibly useful for families with several frames or for those that use social media often. Simply link the desired albums to each of the frames in the family. Once linked, set them to automatically update whenever you add new photos. This automates much of photo sharing. Pix-Star’s frames even let you set these incoming synced photos to display in the current slideshows.
Mobile app and web interface
The mobile app and web interface are the most commonly used methods for sharing photos and remotely accessing/controlling your frames. Pix-Star’s mobile app (Pix-Star Snap) is one of the best on the market. There are no additional subscription fees required to unlock access to the mobile app.
One of the main complaints against Nixplay is that their mobile app and web interface are locked behind their subscription paywall. You can use them to send photos to the frame, access online storage, etc.
On the other hand, the Pix-Star Snap mobile app is one of the most capable in this price range. It’s very easy to use and set up, doesn’t require you to create an account, and works on most devices. You can send up to 250 photos to several Pix-Star frames at the same time – from anywhere in the world.
Pix-Star lets you send video and audio clips to any of your frames in just a couple of seconds. Where Nixplay limit video clips to just a couple of seconds, Pix-Star lets you play 2-minute video clips and send voice messages right from your phone.
Pix-Star’s web dashboard is unlocked by registering each of your frames. Once you have access to the frame’s web dashboard, you can manage and control up to 25 Pix-Star frames from one account. Here you can manage their settings, slideshows, and more – but more on that down below.
Nixplay doesn’t have any such features and their mobile app is far more limiting. Most of these features are locked behind the Nixplay Plus subscription paywall. Without this subscription, Nixplay’s frames struggle to compete with competing options like Pix-Star and Dragon Touch.
Remote configuration and control
Remote configuration is a feature that’s not widely offered – even among the most popular digital frames. Pix-Star offers a great remote configuration/control feature and is managed via the web dashboard. They offer a multi-frame control setup that lets you manage up to 25 Pix-Star frames from a single user account from anywhere in the world.
Pix-Star’s remote configuration feature is robust and easy to use. Here you can access your frame’s cloud storage and make changes. You can adjust any of your frame’s settings, start and manage slideshows, import web albums, and much more.
Nixplay offers only a handful of remotely adjustable options via the mobile app. You don’t have much control or access to cloud storage (through a file explorer) either. Sadly, the mobile app’s limited remote configuration feature is locked behind the Nixplay Plus subscription paywall.
Elderly-friendliness
An elderly-friendly digital frame needs to be easy to use, quick to set up, and shouldn’t require a lot of manual input for slideshows, receiving photos, and adjusting settings. Top frames like the Pix-Star make it very easy to involve elderly users, as is seen through features like web album support and remote configuration support.
Pix-Star’s frames are perfect for elderly users as their frames can receive photos, videos, and audio messages from anywhere in the world – without requiring extra monthly fees or hidden costs. You can remotely access the frame to start slideshows, adjust settings, import photos, manage storage, and much more.
There aren’t many digital frames on the market that can compete with Pix-Star’s elderly-friendliness. They’re one of the few premium frames that cater to both the modern user and grandparents at the same time – and this isn’t an easy balance to strike.
While Nixplay’s frames aren’t bad for elderly users, they’re far from the best. You have to pay for the Nixplay Plus subscription package to get access to all the frame’s features. Their touchscreen display can often be confusing, and the 16:9 aspect ratio leaves many photos surrounded by black bars – and elderly users aren’t going to spend hours editing photos before sending them to the frame.
Nixplay vs Pix-Star – The Overall Winner!
We’ve looked at a lot of information in our Pix-Star vs Nixplay digital frame buying guide! We’ve covered everything from how they work, what features matter most for families and modern homes, and which frames offer better value for money.
Pix-Star’s digital frames shine through effortlessly as arguably the most robust features and capable digital frames on the market. While they’re still not perfect, they tick a lot of the right boxes. They’re easy enough to use that elderly users can get involved without a steep learning curve. The fact that they don’t charge any monthly fees is a big plus – especially since they offer all the features (and more) that subscription-based frames like Nixplay and Skylight offer.
None of this is to say that Nixplay’s frames are useless. They’re still good-quality frames with a great display and a decent feature set. If you’re willing to pay for the Nixplay Plus subscription service, Nixplay’s frames aren’t a bad choice. While they’ll still struggle to compete with the likes of the Pix-Star – especially for the modern home & family, they’re still relatively unique when compared to mid-range frames.
In summary, we recommend getting the Pix-Star frame. It’s a versatile digital frame that interconnects everyone in the family! With a robust feature set, free-for-life cloud storage, and a simple interface, Pix-Star delivers excellent real-world performance – and a frame that helps you effortlessly share special moments with the people you care about most!
