Paper Lake vs Imagitime

At a glance

Imagitime and Paper Lake are the two closest competitors in the Australian personalised children's book space. Both are local. Both use your child's photo. Both cost around $90 delivered. The difference is in how the story gets made.

What Imagitime does well

The photo likeness is genuinely impressive. Customers regularly describe it as “spot-on” and “uncanny resemblance.” The child looks like themselves in the book. Not a cartoon version, not a stylised interpretation. Themselves.

They print locally in Australia. That means fast delivery (5 to 7 business days), no customs surprises, and no international shipping costs. For a gift that needs to arrive on time, that reliability matters.

150,000 customers and 1,000+ Google reviews is a serious track record. This is not a startup experimenting. Imagitime has been doing this long enough to build real trust. Parents can order with confidence that the product will arrive and look good.

What Paper Lake does differently

The story is the difference. Imagitime has 10 pre-written stories. You pick one and your child gets placed into it. Paper Lake writes a new story from scratch based on what you tell us. You choose the art style, the theme, and the moral.

If you want a story about your child learning to swim, overcoming a fear of the dark, or making friends at a new school, Paper Lake can write that. Imagitime cannot. Their catalogue is fixed.

Imagitime: your child's face on a template illustration

Paper Lake: every illustration drawn from scratch

Mia

The illustration approach is different too. Imagitime goes for photo-realism. Paper Lake lets you choose a style. Pixar-style 3D, soft watercolour, classic Disney, Studio Ghibli, or something custom. That choice carries through every page. Both use a single photo of the child, but the output looks and feels quite different.

Paper Lake also prints locally in Australia. Delivery is 7 to 10 business days. No customs, no international fees.

Where Imagitime falls short

Template stories are the main limitation. Ten titles is a small catalogue. If none of them fit what you had in mind, there is no way to customise. You cannot request a specific theme, a particular moral, or a story about something your child is going through. The story is fixed.

Some customer reviews mention consistency issues with the illustrations. One reviewer described seeing “three heads on a page.” These seem to be edge cases rather than common problems, but they are worth knowing about.

There is no art style choice. The photo-realistic look is the only option. If you prefer watercolour, cartoon, or any other style, Imagitime does not offer that. The photo-to-character technology is impressive, but it is one look for every book.

Where Paper Lake falls short

Paper Lake is newer than Imagitime and still building its reputation. Early reviews are positive, but they don't have 150,000 customers yet. For parents who value social proof and an established brand, that is worth considering.

The price is higher because every book is created from scratch. You are paying for a one-of-a-kind story and illustrations, not a template with your child placed into it. A Paper Lake hardcover comes in at $89 AUD compared to Imagitime's ~$90 delivered. The gift edition at $119 is firmly in premium territory. For some families, that difference matters regardless of the customisation on offer.

Who should choose Imagitime

Imagitime is the right choice in several clear situations.

• When one of their 10 story templates fits what you had in mind
• Parents who want photo-realistic illustrations where the child looks exactly like themselves
• People who value a proven track record with thousands of reviews
• When seeing the child's actual face in the book matters most

Who should choose Paper Lake

Paper Lake is built for a different moment. It is for the gift-giver who wants to hand over something that could not possibly have been made for anyone else. The kind of book where the child says “that's me”, not because their name is on the cover, but because the story feels like it was written about their life.

If your child is dealing with something specific, like starting school, a new sibling, or overcoming a fear, Paper Lake can write that story. Template-based books cannot, because templates have to work for everyone.

• When you want a custom story, not one from a template catalogue
• When you want to choose an art style (Pixar, Watercolour, Disney, Ghibli, custom)
• When the child is going through something specific that needs a tailored story
• When you want a book that could not exist for any other child
• Australian families who want local printing without international shipping costs

The bottom line

Both use photos. Both print in Australia. Both cost around $90. The difference is in the story.

Imagitime offers template stories with photo-realistic illustrations. Ten titles to choose from, strong photo likeness, and a track record of 150,000 happy customers. If one of their stories fits, they are a solid choice.

Paper Lake writes every story from scratch. You choose the theme, the art style, and the moral. No templates. No fixed catalogue. The illustrations are drawn from your child's photo in the style you pick. It costs a bit more, but you are paying for a book that could not exist for any other child.

For most parents comparing these two, the question comes down to this: does one of Imagitime's 10 templates work for your child? If yes, Imagitime is a reliable option. If you want something more personal, a story about your child's world in an art style you choose, Paper Lake is the only Australian option that does that.