LumaBooth vs Simple Booth HALO
Simple Booth HALO is the best-known iPad photo booth app, and it is genuinely good at what it does. LumaBooth is built for operators who run booths for a living, across Windows, Mac, iPad and Android.
Prices and features checked September 4, 2026The Short Version
LumaBooth
- Prints straight from an iPad or Mac over one USB cable
- Two devices on every plan
- Four platforms, with Apple and Android on one subscription
- Flat $0.10 per AI portrait, no credit maths
- International texting on the base plan
- Canon, Nikon and Sony stills with no model list to check
Simple Booth
- iPad only, four tiers from Core to Select
- Weekly plans for one-off events
- Credit system for AI generations
- Strong fit for permanent installs and enterprise marketing programs
Pricing
| LumaBooth | Simple Booth | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry | $18 per month annual, covering iPad, iPhone, Mac and Android on one subscription. $17 per month annual for Windows | Core: $49 per month or $490 per year |
| Mid | Same plan, every feature | Plus: $99 per month or $990 per year |
| Upper | Same plan, every feature | Pro: $149 per month or $1,490 per year. Select: $249 per month or $2,490 per year. Enterprise is custom priced |
| Weekly | Not offered | From $24 per week on Core, $49 on Plus |
| Devices included | 2 | 1 |
| Additional device | Same per-device rate | $36 per month on Core, $74 on Plus, $111 on Pro, $186 on Select. Annual add-on licenses run $360 to $1,860 |
| Free trial | Unlimited, watermarked | 7 days, capped at 15 photos per day |
Scroll the table sideways to see both columns.
One LumaBooth subscription covers iPad, iPhone, Mac and Android together, and your two devices can be any mix of them, so the booth and the sharing station your guests queue at are one bill. Windows is billed separately.
Simple Booth gates features by tier. Custom branding, AI Effect Studio, custom props and analytics start at Plus. Data capture, custom SMS and email, API access and phone support start at Pro. Age gating, moderation and PII management start at Select. LumaBooth includes everything on one plan.
Printing, and the Box You Can Leave Home
| Direct USB printing | LumaBooth | Simple Booth |
|---|---|---|
| Prints with no computer in the path | Yes, from an iPad or a Mac | No. Requires a WCM, an AirCast Pro or a wired Mac mini |
| Printers supported | 16 models, four brands. DNP DS620, DS620A, DS-RX1, DS-RX1HS, DS820, DS820A, DS820DX, QW410, DS40, DS80. Citizen CX-02, CX-02W, CZ-01. HiTi P525L, P520L. SwiftFoto KSF-10R | Via print server |
| HiTi | Yes, P525L and P520L | Via print server, not directly |
| Largest print size | 8x12, read from the loaded ribbon | Layout dependent |
| Panoramic prints | 6x14, 6x20, 8x22 and 8x32, printed in one continuous pass | Not offered |
| Works from a Mac | Yes | Mac mini as a print server only |
| Media remaining | Remaining count shown in Print setup | Not listed |
Simple Booth's print path always runs through a server. A WCM Plus is about $200 on top of your subscription, and it is one more box that needs power, a network and a reboot when the venue Wi-Fi goes sideways.
LumaBooth removes it. Plug a DNP, Citizen or HiTi printer into an Apple silicon iPad (M1 or later, iPadOS 16 or later) or a Mac (macOS 12 or later) and print. Nothing to install, nothing on the network.
The size picker goes further than parity. Load a 6x8 ribbon in a DS620 and print 6x6 squares, 5x7s, 4x6 pairs or a 6x20 jumbo strip off the same roll. Load 8x12 in a DS820 and run an 8x32 panorama in one continuous pass.
One detail that gets overlooked: HiTi. Snappic and Touchpix both print direct over USB now, and neither drives a HiTi, nor does anyone else on these pages. If you run a P525L or a P520L, LumaBooth is the only option here that talks to it at all.
Platforms and Cameras
| LumaBooth | Simple Booth | |
|---|---|---|
| iPad | Yes | Yes |
| iPhone | Yes | No |
| Mac | Yes | Mac mini as a print server only |
| Windows | Yes | No |
| Android | Yes | No |
| Canon | Yes | Yes |
| Sony, stills | Yes | Yes |
| Sony, video and boomerang | Not on iPad, iPhone or Mac. Supported on LumaBooth for Windows | Yes, on higher-end bodies. See below |
| Nikon | Yes, tethered | Not listed. Their camera documentation covers Canon and Sony only |
| GoPro | Yes, on Windows | No |
| 360 booth | Yes | Not listed |
| Mirror booth | Yes, on Windows | Not listed |
Sony video: yes on Windows, no on iPad, and their iPad claim is worth testing
LumaBooth for Windows records video on Sony, on any tethered body, with no stills-versus-video list to check. If Sony video is what your business runs on, that is the version that does it, and Simple Booth is iPad only so it cannot offer the same thing at any price.
On iPad the picture is different and we will be straight about our side of it. LumaBooth does not record video or boomerangs from a Sony on iPad, iPhone or Mac.
Simple Booth's camera documentation splits Sony models into stills only and stills plus video. The bodies most operators buy sit in the stills-only list: ZV-E10, ZV-E10 II, a6100, a6400, a6600, a7 III, a7R III A, a7R IV, a7C, a9 II, ZV-1 and ZV-1 II. The stills-plus-video list is newer glass: a7 IV, a7 V, a7C II, a7CR, a6700, a7S III, FX3, FX30, FX2, ZV-E1, a1 and a9 III.
Two vendors, two different stories
Simple Booth's documentation says video works on those higher-end Sony bodies. Snappic's help center says the opposite about the platform in general: that it supports "capturing photos with Sony cameras" only, because "Sony doesn't support video recording with iOS devices at this time."
Both cannot be right, and Simple Booth's documentation does not explain what its video support actually does, whether the app records over the tether or the camera acts as a webcam. We have not tested it, so we will not tell you it works or that it does not. If Sony video from an iPad decides your purchase, ask them to demonstrate it on your exact body first. That is fair advice whoever you end up buying from.
For stills we support Sony alongside Canon and Nikon with no tier split and no model list to check.
AI, and What It Costs per Guest
| LumaBooth | Simple Booth | |
|---|---|---|
| AI background replacement | Yes, runs on the device with no green screen and no internet | Included in HALO, credits required in Virtual Booth |
| AI portrait pricing | $0.10 per portrait, flat | $0.10 per credit, at 1 to 3 credits per generation depending on the model |
| Free to start | 20 transformations | 25 trial credits, 50 to 250 sign-up credits by tier |
| Presets | 170+ | Included |
| Custom prompts | Included on every plan | AI Effect Studio, from Plus |
| Per-guest personalization | Yes, guest answers built into the artwork | AI Guest Input Forms, from Pro |
| Free prompt testing | Yes | Yes |
| Platforms | Windows, iPad, iPhone, Mac | iPad, plus Virtual Booth |
A 200-guest wedding, one AI portrait each
On LumaBooth that is $20, on any plan. On Simple Booth the same event runs $20 to $60 depending on the model you pick, and custom prompts need Plus at $99 per month.
Simple Booth's AI is well built and its prompt tooling is good. The differences are the flat rate, and the fact that custom prompts and guest personalization are not tier-gated on LumaBooth.
One more thing worth knowing if you work remote venues. LumaBooth's AI background replacement runs on the device, so guests land on a custom backdrop with no green screen and no internet.
Sharing, Galleries and Business Tools
The $131 difference nobody mentions
LumaBooth includes unlimited US and Canada texts and international texting on the base plan at $18. On Simple Booth, international SMS starts at Pro, which is $149 per month. If any of your guests carry a non-North American number, that is the same capability at a very different price.
LumaBooth shares by email, SMS, AirDrop, QR, WhatsApp and Instagram on every plan, online or offline. Every event gets a branded online gallery. Simple Booth galleries include privacy controls, with gallery ads and analytics from Plus. See our pricing page for the current international allowance.
| LumaBooth | Simple Booth | |
|---|---|---|
| Surveys and lead capture | Included | Data capture forms, from Pro |
| Analytics | Per-event analytics on fotoShare Business at $39.99 a month, which also adds your logo, a custom subdomain and a GA tracker. Survey and lead data export on every plan | From Plus |
| Guest payments at the booth | Cashless payments on Windows, 5% per charge, 41 countries | Not offered |
| API and integrations | Not offered | API and Mailchimp, from Pro |
| Compliance: age gate, moderation, PII purge | Disclaimers included | From Select |
| Remote control | Booth CoPilot, included | Remote preset launch, included |
| Online dashboard | Included. Set up booths, edit settings and manage events from any browser, synced to every device on your account | Web dashboard |
| Templates included | 820+ designs, and each one is a full matched set: ten print layouts from 2x6 strips to 4x6 landscape and square, a custom welcome screen, plus portrait and square overlays for GIFs and video. Over 8,000 files, free, with a full layout designer | No free template count published |
| Operator community | 81,400 members across the two official Facebook groups | 1,522 members in the Simple Booth Community |
If you sell to enterprise marketing teams that require security questionnaires and PII purging, Simple Booth Select is purpose-built for that and LumaBooth is not.
Who Should Choose Which
Choose LumaBooth if you
- Print at most events and want the WCM out of your kit
- Sell panoramas, 5x7s or squares off one ribbon
- Use Nikon cameras today
- Run more than one device
- Want Windows, Mac or Android alongside iPad, with Apple and Android on one subscription
- Want flat AI pricing and custom prompts without a tier upgrade
- Text guests with international numbers without paying for a $149 tier
Choose Simple Booth if you
- Run a permanent selfie station and want weekly or monthly flexibility
- Want hardware and software from one vendor
- Need enterprise compliance tools like age gating and PII purging
- Want an API to pipe data into your own CRM
- Shoot Sony on an iPad and need video from it, once they have demonstrated it on your body
Switching from Simple Booth, Honestly
The price is never what stops people. Losing a weekend to rebuilding templates is.
What carries over untouched:
- Your iPad
- Your HALO hardware
- Your printer
- Your Canon or Sony body
- Your stand and lighting
What you actually have to redo: your print layouts. There is no import path between photo booth apps, not between any two of them, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something. Your designs have to be rebuilt in our layout designer.
- Start on the free trial. It is unlimited and only watermarks photos, so you can rebuild and rehearse a full event without paying anything or cancelling your Simple Booth plan.
- Rebuild your two or three most-used layouts first. Most operators run a handful of designs over and over. Do those, not the whole library. Or start from one of our 820 designs, each of which already ships with ten print layouts, a matching welcome screen and overlays.
- Run one real event on both. Keep your existing setup as the backup for a single booking. Nobody should switch software cold on a wedding.
- Ask in the group. 81,400 operators are in our two Facebook communities, and a good number of them have made exactly this move. Post a photo of your existing layout and someone will tell you how they rebuilt it.
- Or let us do it. Send our team your existing templates and we will help you get them across. That is a real offer, not a support-page platitude.
Common Questions
Is LumaBooth cheaper than Simple Booth?
LumaBooth is $17 to $18 per month billed annually with two devices. Simple Booth Core is $49 per month or $490 per year with one device, and Plus is $99 per month. A second device adds $36 to $186 per month by tier.
Does Simple Booth need a print server?
Yes. Simple Booth prints through a WCM, an AirCast Pro or a wired Mac mini. LumaBooth prints straight to DNP, Citizen and HiTi printers over USB from an Apple silicon iPad or a Mac.
Do I need separate LumaBooth subscriptions for iPad and Android?
No. One subscription covers iPad, iPhone, Mac and Android, and your two included devices can be any mix. Windows is billed separately. Simple Booth runs on iPad only, and each concurrent device needs its own license.
Which is better for Sony video?
LumaBooth for Windows, without question. On iPad it is less clear: Simple Booth documents video support on higher-end Sony bodies such as the a7 IV, a6700 and FX3, while Snappic states that Sony does not allow video recording on iOS at all. LumaBooth blocks video and boomerangs on every Sony on iPad, iPhone and Mac. We have not tested Simple Booth's, so ask them to demonstrate it on your camera before buying.
Does Simple Booth support Nikon?
Their camera documentation lists Canon and Sony only, with no Nikon section. LumaBooth supports Canon, Nikon and Sony tethered today.
Does Simple Booth text international numbers?
On Pro and Select only, which start at $149 per month. LumaBooth includes unlimited US and Canada texts and international texting on the base plan.
Which is cheaper for AI?
LumaBooth is $0.10 per portrait. Simple Booth is $0.10 per credit at 1 to 3 credits per generation, so $0.10 to $0.30 per image depending on the model you pick.
Can I switch from Simple Booth to LumaBooth?
Yes. Your iPad and HALO hardware work with LumaBooth. Rebuild your layouts in the designer and our team will help with the move.
The Group Chat Alone Is 81,400 Operators
Software is the part you can compare on a table. This is the part you feel at 11pm when the printer stops.
To be clear about that number: 81,400 is how many operators are in our two official Facebook groups. It is not our user count, which is a good deal larger. It is simply the part you can go and count for yourself, which is why we use it.
Ask a question in the Windows group at 2am and someone in Manila answers before someone in Chicago wakes up. That is not a support policy, it is tens of thousands of operators who have already run the event you are about to run. Our own team is US-based with people spread across the time zones, so a Saturday night in any country is a working day for somebody.
The long history matters for the same reason. We shipped the first version in 2012 and we have not stopped. Every release is written up in plain language at dslrbooth.com/releases, so you can read exactly what changed before you install it, going back years. Pick any photo booth app and read its release history next to ours. That comparison tells you more about the next five years than any feature table.
Try It at Your Next Event
Download LumaBooth and run a full event before you pay anything. The trial is unlimited, it just watermarks your photos.
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Simple Booth pricing, tiers, camera documentation and AI credit costs verified September 4, 2026 from simplebooth.com and its published support documentation. Simple Booth Community membership taken the same day from its public Facebook group page. Both products change often. Current LumaBooth pricing always lives on our pricing page. Spotted something out of date? Tell us at support at lumasoft dot co and we will correct it.