Rent or buy a photo booth? The sums for rental operators, photographers and companies.

Renting a photo booth in Germany typically costs €300 to €800 per event; an owned Photobooth Ready from the manufacturer fexon in Greiz costs €3,040 for the basic system and around €5,500 with camera, flash and printer (as of October 2026). Arithmetically, buying has paid for itself after about seven to eleven uses. Whether renting or buying is the right decision depends on three questions: how often will you use the booth, who will operate it, and do you want to earn money with it?

When is renting a photo booth worthwhile?

Renting is the right choice for:

• One-off occasions such as a wedding, a milestone birthday or a company party that will not be repeated.
• Fewer than five uses a year, because then the sum of rental fees stays below the purchase price.
• No interest in the technology: the rental company delivers, sets up, changes print media and collects the booth again.

Rental usually includes delivery, set-up, attendance, layout and a certain number of prints. These are exactly the services you have to provide or organise yourself when you buy.

When is buying worthwhile?

Buying your own photo booth pays off for:

• Event service providers and photographers who regularly offer photo booths as an additional service, see Photo booths for wedding photographers.
• Hotels, restaurants and event venues with a permanent installation or regular events, see Photo booths for hotels and venues.
• Companies with several trade fairs, staff events and marketing campaigns a year.
• Founders of a rental business who want to generate income with the booth, see the guide Starting a photo booth rental business.

Worked example: from how many uses does an owned booth pay off?

Example calculation with assumptions, not an offer:

At an assumed rental price of €500 per event, that corresponds to around 14 rentals. For companies that only use the system themselves the question is answered: from about 14 uses the owned booth is cheaper, without the case from about eleven. Add running costs of around 17 cents per photo for print media.

For rental operators the sums look different: if you rent the booth out at €500 per event and reach 25 bookings a year, you generate €12,500 in turnover; after print media (about 300 photos per event, around €50) and travel costs, more than €10,000 remain in the example before tax, staff and insurance. The purchase is therefore written off in the first year. The full calculation with prices of all systems is in the guide How much does a photo booth cost?.

Which side costs are often forgotten when buying?

• Print media: €129 to €149 per media kit with 600 to 800 prints; depending on the event, one kit lasts two to three functions.
• Transport: a case protects the booth in the car; at 130 × 50 × 50 cm and 22 kg the Ready fits into a small car.
• Time: set-up in under ten minutes by one person, plus travel and layout creation in dslrBooth.
• Software updates: the licence is permanent, updates are included in the first year; optional after that.
• Insurance: equipment insurance is sensible for rental operators but not included in the price.

Why buy from the manufacturer?

Buying directly from fexon gives you aluminium housings from our own production in Greiz, spare parts and upgrades from a single source, digital branding templates and a help centre with answers from more than ten years of photo booth operation. Our own rental fleet under the fexobox brand uses the same systems in continuous service. The photo booth comparison shows which model suits which purpose.

Is there a middle way?

Yes, in two forms. First, the housing without electronics: the Photobooth Selphy costs €2,190 as a housing, the Natty €2,590; you can source tablet, camera and printer yourself or fit existing equipment. Second, instalments: according to its own information, PayPal offers terms of 3 to 24 months for order values from €99 to €10,000 (subject to credit check, as of October 2026). The purchase is thus spread over the first events.

Three cases from practice

The wedding planner: she arranges twelve weddings a year and has so far booked a photo booth for €550 each time, i.e. €6,600 a year. With her own Photobooth Ready for €5,480 (with camera, flash and printer) she saves most of this sum from the second year on and can offer the booth as her own package.

The sports club: two parties a year, in between the booth sits in storage. Here renting at €400 per party remains the better choice, because €800 a year only reaches the purchase price after seven years, and the technology would be outdated by then.

The hotel with a function room: 20 weddings and 15 corporate parties a year. With a Photobooth Mirror for €6,300 as a permanent part of the room’s equipment, an add-on package is created that brings in several hundred euros per event, see Photo booths for hotels and venues.

What happens to the booth after three years?

An aluminium photo booth does not lose its value like a smartphone. The housing can be rewrapped, computer and camera can be replaced, and we supply spare parts for all models. Rental operators who move to a new system usually sell their used booth on to newcomers. This resale option is completely absent with rental and should be part of the calculation.

So do not calculate with the purchase price alone, but with the loss in value over the planned period of use: over three years and with a resale value of one third of the purchase price, an equipped Photobooth Ready costs around €1,200 a year before the first event is driven. That figure is the real benchmark against renting.

Conclusion

For occasional private events, renting is the practical solution. As soon as you work commercially, have more than five to ten events a year or want to rent out yourself, an owned photo booth is the better economic decision. For personal advice on your use case, contact us via the enquiry form.