Today, I’ll be reviewing Printify vs. Printful.
To have a successful print on demand business, you must use the best print on demand companies, with two of the leaders being Printify and Printful…
I’ll compare shipping costs, print quality, providers, pricing, custom branding options, and more to help you determine which is better for your online store.
So… which has the best print on demand services overall?
Which has the best print on demand products for an e-commerce store in 2023?
Let’s find out in this review of Printify vs. Printful!
Printify Review
Before we compare Printify vs. Printful, let’s do a quick review of Printify to see what print on demand services it offers…
Printify is a leading print on demand company for sourcing and selling your ideas as products. Essentially, it’s a POD dropshipping service provider for your eCommerce business that offers many custom-printed products.
Starting in 2015, Printify took the print on demand industry to new horizons with its custom products and increased profit margins for online store owners.
It hosts over 65 third-party print providers of print on demand products. With over 90 printing facilities worldwide, Printify has become one of the top choices for businesses using the print on demand model.
It’s important to note that Printify is more of a network of third-party fulfillment centers rather than a fulfillment company (similar to Gelato).
Over 4 million international merchants trust Printify and sell their products to run their print on demand businesses.
With Printify, you will see great product quality at reasonable prices. They claim to offer the lowest possible prices to help online store owners profit as much as possible.
You can select from their range of 750+ products offered by multiple suppliers. In addition to clothing for men, women, and kids, many other accessories and non-apparel products are available on this website.
With over 55 subcategories, this website has every product you can sell with your print on demand business.
You also get free design tools from Printify, so you can create mock designs with high-quality images to show your customers.
With Printify, you can select a product, design it your way, and sell it on your e-commerce store. Because of this, you have complete control of your selling price and profit margins.
Printify also promises to deliver products on time, even during the peak season (Q4), which means you have a tremendous opportunity to scale your eCommerce business in many parts of the world.
They have partnered with leading global carrier companies to provide expedited shipping services at low shipping costs. Another great thing about Printify is that you can use it for free (no subscription fees).
As it is a dropshipping website, you don’t have to pay any upfront costs to buy the products before selling them. You also don’t have to provide shipping services or fulfillment. Pay for the products and shipping costs, and you’re good to go.
With Printify, tons of integrations are available from all major eCommerce store providers.
But… is it better than Printful? Let’s keep digging…
Printful Review
Before we compare Printify vs. Printful, let’s do another quick review of Printful to see what print on demand services it offers…
Printful is another leading print on demand company that was founded in 2013. It provides custom-printed products with warehousing and fulfillment services to eCommerce businesses worldwide.
Their website promises to turn your print ideas into custom products, so you can start selling them on your online store.
Thousands of businesses have launched their print on demand business using Printful, so it’s clearly a great platform to start your eCommerce store. You can also create your own brand utilizing their custom branding options.
Printful does not have third-party suppliers or print providers. Instead, this print on demand company does everything, including printing, packing, and shipping services. This allows them to offer the lowest shipping costs possible.
Printful also provides expedited fulfillment and shipping services. They have 17 fulfillment centers on five continents, making them the most strategically located print on demand platform globally.
Because they have so many local fulfillment centers, your print on demand business can get affordable shipping costs. You also get more scaling opportunities as they deliver your products more efficiently and cost-effectively.
You can also store your custom products in their warehouses for same-day fulfillment. When you get an order from your customer, this print on demand company can ship directly to your customer’s address.
They have around 450 print products, including clothing for men, women, and children, hats, jewelry, phone covers, and other accessories.
Starting your print on demand business is super easy with Printful because of how many integrations they offer… Simply connect your e-commerce store with Printful and start adding custom products!
Printful also takes sustainability quite seriously, which means you can state your eCommerce business is eco-friendly. Because of this, you have more chances to grab sales from socially responsible customers.
Not an expert designer? No problem, Printful has you covered! Their Design Maker tool is easy to use, so you can be creative even if you’ve never designed custom products.
Let’s continue this comparison of Printify vs. Printful by reviewing pricing.
Printify vs. Printful: Pricing
Pricing is among the most critical factors, especially for e-commerce store beginners. Both of these print on demand services have flexible pricing structures, so let’s check what each will cost you.
Printify Pricing
Printify has a plan for beginners, intermediate, and enterprise sellers. You can use its Free plan if you are starting to try your luck selling their print on demand products.
Here are Printify’s pricing plans:
Printify Free
Unlimited product designs
Free access to Mockup Generator tool
Integrate up to 5 online stores on Shopify, Etsy, eBay, etc.
Free customer support and access to the help center
Import customized orders
Printify Premium
You can get the Premium plan for $29/month if you pay monthly. You get a 14% discount if you want the annual premium plan (only $24.99/month).
The Premium plan is ideal for merchants getting some sales who want to grow their print on demand business.
Here are benefits you get in the Premium plan in addition to the free features:
Integrate 10 eCommerce stores
Get up to 20% off products (discounts vary from product to product)
Printify Enterprise
Pricing for the Enterprise Plan depends on your e-commerce store… You’ll need to contact them to discuss your needs, and the prices will be decided accordingly. You can consider it if you get a lot of daily orders – more than 10,000.
Here are the features you get in the Enterprise plan in addition to the features in the Free and Premium plans:
Integrate unlimited stores
Access to newest features
Custom API integration
One-on-one support from a dedicated manager
Extended customer support for brands with custom branding options
Printful Pricing
Like Printify, Printful also offers free and affordable pricing plans. Here they are:
Printful Free
Customization of all products
Integration with 28 eCommerce platforms
Create with your favorite design templates
Access to Design Maker and Mockup Generator tools
Access to over 16,000 high-quality premium images from Clipart
Printful also offers two different paid plans with a 14-day free trial.
Printful Plus
Printful Plus costs $9/month. In addition to the features in the free plan, you get the following features in the Printful Plus plan:
Customized social media and ad posts
Custom product mockups
Ability to make animated promos
More design editing and merging options with Background Removal Tool
Downloadable and editable files for future use
High-quality images
Additional designing options to make your eCommerce store stand out
Printful Pro
This plan costs $49/month with all its features and benefits. If you want to buy this plan for the whole year, you can get it for $539.
In addition to all the features in the Free and Printful Plus versions, you get the following features with the Printful Pro plan:
Access to all design tools – Design Maker, Custom Mockup Generator, Background Removal, Promo Maker, etc.
Access to Getty Images, Vexels vector graphics, and Customizable designs from Clipart
Access to Keyword Scout tool for Etsy
Carrier-based shipping
Access to over 480 additional premium images from Clipart
Digitized embroidery files
Both print on demand companies have free and affordable pricing plans, but Printful wins here because of their $9/month plan.
Let’s continue this comparison of Printify vs. Printful by reviewing print quality.
Printify vs. Printful: Print Quality
Print quality is another crucial factor in choosing a print on demand service. No matter how awesome your print design is, you’ll lose customers if the quality could be better. Let’s discuss the print quality of both print on demand companies.
Printify Print Quality
Printify’s print quality comes with a promise, with a special “Quality Promise” section on its website. In addition to high-quality standards, they have strict standards for their providers and promise to improve continuously.
Here are the main highlights of their print quality:
Printify’s strict quality control measures check the products in three stages. First, they check the unprinted product, and they also check it before and after printing to ensure that the products meet the required quality standards.
They keep monitoring the product quality of their print providers. Noncompliance may result in the termination of the print provider contract.
They keep comparing their products with what’s available in the market and ensure quality at par with others.
Their robust print provider ranking system ensures that they always deliver quality products.
Printful Print Quality
As Printful prepares all products itself, it has more control over product quality.
Here are the highlights of their quality standards:
They run an automated system to check if the printing is feasible for the product.
Custom products are adequately inspected just before printing.
They check the quality of the finished products just before the shipment.
In addition to the quality of the products, they also take care of the packaging quality.
Every product is fulfilled according to its type, size, and destination.
They spend heavily on continuous improvement to optimize their machinery and processes.
They continuously strive to make the environment sustainable and link their better print quality with their purpose.
They use the latest technology machinery for printing to ensure the best quality.
It’s hard to compare this without ordering samples, but Printful wins again because they are their own print provider and have complete control over quality.
Let’s continue this comparison of Printify vs. Printful by reviewing what print on demand products each offers.
Printify vs. Printful: Product Catalog
Printify and Printful offer a wide range of products, with the most trending and in-demand categories available on both websites. Let’s take a deeper look into the products on both platforms…
Printify Product Catalog
Printify has 750+ custom products from various print providers from all across the globe. You will see products from different print providers in the US, Canada, Europe, China, and Australia. This makes them one of the best print on demand companies in Canada, the best print on demand Australia companies, and one of the best print on demand UK companies.
Here are their main product categories:
Men’s Clothing
T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, long sleeves, tank tops, sportswear, bottoms, swimwear, and shoes
Women’s Clothing
T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, long sleeve print dresses, tank tops, skirts & dresses, sportswear, swimwear, shoes, and bottoms
Kids’ Clothing
T-shirts, long sleeves, sweatshirts, baby clothing, bottoms, and others
Accessories
Face Masks, phone cases, bags, socks, underwear, hats, baby accessories, mouse pads, pets, kitchen accessories, car accessories, tech accessories, travel accessories, stationery accessories, and others
Home & Living
Mugs, bottles & tumblers, canvas, posters, postcards, ornaments, journals & notebooks, magnets & stickers, home decor, bathroom, towels, blankets, pillows & covers, games, rugs & mats, and seasonal decorations
Printful Product Catalog
Printful offers more product categories, so you can easily find your required products. Here are the categories they have for custom products:
Men’s Clothing
All shirts, all hoodies & sweatshirts, jackets & vests, bottoms, all men’s clothing, and swimwear. They have mentioned separate subsections for tank tops, shorts, and sweatshirts.
Women’s Clothing
All shirts, all hoodies & sweatshirts, leggings, dresses, swimwear, and sports bras. You can see the products for shorts, crop tops, and dresses separately.
Kids & Youth Clothing
All shirts, t-shirts, all-over shirts, 3/4 sleeve shirts, long sleeve shirts, jackets, hoodies, hats, baby bibs, leggings, baby bodysuits, and swimwear.
Hats
Beanies, dad hats/baseball caps, snapbacks, trucker hats, 5-panel hats, mesh hats, bucket hats, and visors.
Accessories
Patches, Bags, tote bags, duffle bags, drawstring bags, fanny packs, backpacks, hair accessories, face masks, keychains, footwear, flip flops, shoes, socks, jewelry, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, tech accessories, phone cases, earphone cases, laptop cases, and mouse pads.
Home & Living Products
Puzzles, wall art, posters, framed posters, canvas prints, flags, metal prints, home decor, holiday decor, blankets, candles, bean bag covers, pillows & pillowcases, drinkware & coasters, water bottles, coffee mugs, tumblers, coasters, stationery, postcards, notebooks, stickers, greeting cards, aprons, fabrics, towels, and pet products.
In addition to the products mentioned above, you can also find their bestsellers in the dedicated category. You can also find separate categories for new products, fast delivery, and eco-friendly products.
This one is pretty easy… Printify offers 750 products compared to Printful’s 400 products, so Printify wins here.
Let’s continue this comparison of Printify vs. Printful by reviewing fulfillment and shipping.
Printify vs. Printful: Fulfillment & Shipping
Shipping costs and shipping times are huge components of any e-commerce store, especially for a print on demand business. Let’s see how both platforms support their merchants in fulfillment and shipping facilities.
Printify Fulfillment & Shipping
As Printify works with third-party print providers, the shipping times and rates may differ from one provider to another.
For production time, most items are produced within 2-7 business days from the order date. For shipping times, Printify offers domestic express shipping in 2-3 business days and international express shipping in 3-5 business days. These fast shipping times make Printify one of the best dropshipping suppliers in Europe.
The shipping costs and methods are reasonable, but they vary from order to order… It mainly depends upon the location of the print provider and the destination of the products.
They have a dedicated section on their website that tells you about the shipping rates from each supplier. You can get your orders’ shipment and delivery information from the “Orders” tab on Printify.
Printful Fulfillment & Shipping
Printful proudly calls itself an end-to-end warehousing and fulfillment company for print on demand service.
Production takes around 2-5 business days, and shipping times depend upon the order’s product, origin, and destination.
Some of Printful’s custom products offer shipping times of 3-5 business days, but most are closer to the 5-8 business day range. Because of how many warehouses they have around the world, they are one of the best dropshipping suppliers in Canada and one of the best dropshipping suppliers in the UK.
There are slightly additional shipping costs during the peak season (Q4). Printful’s complete rate list for shipping is mentioned on their website for every product.
Printful also offers a warehousing and same-day fulfillment service. This allows your print on demand business to bypass those long production times so you can deliver your products much faster.
Because of their warehousing and same-day order fulfillment, Printful wins here.
Let’s continue this comparison of Printify vs. Printful by reviewing integrations for your e-commerce store.
Printify vs. Printful: Integrations
A great print on demand service provides seamless integrations with many platforms. That’s the easiest way to automate your e-commerce business processes, like managing orders, inventory, and fulfillment.
Let’s see what options Printify and Printful offer to support your e-commerce store.
Printify Integrations
Printify allows you to integrate your online store in a few clicks. You can automate the entire fulfillment process with their APIs.
Here are the eCommerce platforms that can be integrated with Printify.
Shopify
Etsy
Walmart
eBay
PrestaShop
BigCommerce
Wix
WooCommerce
Squarespace
So, it is pretty clear that they cover all major platforms… Simply connect your online store with Printify and start selling!
Do you sell on a platform that is not listed here? No worries! You can get custom API solutions from Printify.
This makes customizing way easier than you think. You can add more features to your e-commerce store and impress your customers. You can also outperform your competitors using unique and custom store designs.
Printify’s custom API solutions give you a great chance to stand out. You can also see how other merchants are using the custom API solutions from Printify by looking at the examples displayed on their site.
Printful Integrations
Printful provides more robust information on APIs. In addition to providing API integration solutions to 22 platforms, you also get info on integrating your online store with each platform.
For example, you will see information about how easily you can integrate your store, the speed of integration, and if the platform is a 3rd-party marketplace or an open-source platform.
Here are the following integrations available with Printful:
Etsy
WooCommerce
Wix
Squarespace
Webflow
Ecwid
BigCommerce
Prestashop
Square
TikTok Shop
eBay
Big Cartel
Weebly
Magento
Storenvy
Gumroad
ShipStation
Nuvemshop / Tiendanube
Shift4 Shop
Launch Cart
Printful open-source API
You can also get custom API solutions with Printful. Just choose which eCommerce platform to integrate with, and you’ll get help from them.
Again, the great thing about Printful is that it displays necessary information about integrating your store with each eCommerce platform (unlike TeePublic, Redbubble, or other Redbubble alternatives).
This information includes setup time, price range, and if the online platform is open source. You can also see who the platforms are best for and if products can be published on that platform.
Because it offers more integrations and has in-depth details on each platform, Printful wins here.
Let’s continue this comparison of Printify vs. Printful by reviewing customer support.
Printify vs. Printful: Customer Support
Every e-commerce business will eventually require support from their print on demand company to address issues. Both Printify and Printful provide decent customer support to their merchants. Let’s see what differentiates them in terms of customer service…
Printify Customer Support
Printify takes excellent care of its merchants. If your eCommerce store is already selling in large numbers, your business is even more important to them. You can see a simple contact form that allows users to contact their support team.
They have a dedicated help center option where you can get the following support:
Setting up your account on Printify.
Migrating your products from other websites to Printify.
They also help if you have unique product ideas and want Printify to source them.
You get essential data from their support team that is helpful to start your print on demand business with Printify.
If a supplier does not fulfill your order in time, your order is automatically handed over to the next available supplier. So you don’t have to worry about missing a single order fulfillment.
You get the following benefits from their support team, mainly if you sell high volumes.
Special guidance and support to resolve logistics issues.
Assistance in establishing and scaling your brand.
If you need help setting up your Printify account and selling their products, their support team guides you through all the processes.
Personalized support for Enterprise merchants. You can talk to a manager directly and discuss solutions to your problems. They even allocate a dedicated manager to your business who can provide extended support with expert opinions.
You get in-depth training from Printify on how to increase your print on demand eCommerce business. Your team members can also be trained with these programs to achieve more.
The support team shares detailed metrics that are important to gauge your business direction.
They also support you in sharing ideas and selling tactics to increase your business.
Printful Customer Support
You will see a simple contact form on the Printful website that asks about your basic personal and business details. This information is generally enough to get you started at Printful.
Every Printful user gets the following customer support:
Access to the Live Chat feature, where you can discuss any problem with a live customer service agent.
You can also use the chat option from the Printful mobile app.
You can also summarize your problem and send a direct email to support@printful.com.
You can also submit a report on your problem in the Printful dashboard. This option is available on their website and app.
You can discuss your issues using their dedicated Help Center.
You can also hire an expert for one-on-one support. This can be useful if you sell in high volumes and require special assistance.
They have a Printful Academy to guide you on taking your business to new levels.
Printful Newsroom shows you what’s happening around the print on demand industry to keep you on track
This one is a bit more challenging to decide the winner… Both have great support for free users and dedicated help for sellers doing large volumes, so I’ll call this a draw.
Conclusion – Which is the #1 Best Print on Demand Company?
After being in the e-commerce trenches for 6+ years, it’s clear that only the best of the best should be used…
Printify and Printful are excellent print on demand companies to run your eCommerce business, so this isn’t an easy choice…
But after going through this entire comparison, I can confidently say Printful is the #1 best print on demand company.
They have warehouses worldwide, same-day fulfillment, better attention to quality, and multiple branding options.
However, each company has free plans, so you can try both to see which is best for you.
