Printful vs Printify 2024: Which Platform Should You Use?

Printify vs Printful: Which option is really the best for today’s POD entrepreneurs?

As experts in the world of dropshipping, wholesale, and print on demand business development, we have plenty of experience using both of these solutions.

In fact, Printful and Printify are two of the top options we recommend to ecommerce vendors in the POD landscape.

They’re also two of the most popular platforms worldwide, serving thousands of new and established business owners. The question is, how do you choose between the two?

We’ve taken a closer look at each platform, exploring everything from core features, to pricing, product quality, and ease of use, to help you make the right choice. Let’s dive in.

Printful vs Printify: The Quick Verdict

Pressed for time? Here’s what you need to know. Both Printful and Printify are highly reputable print on demand companies, offering a wide range of high-quality products to global businesses.

However, each solution is specifically tuned to the needs of certain companies.

When to Choose Printful

We recommend working with Printful as your POD provider if you:

• Want to work with one manufacturer for consistent product quality.
• Need access to a variety of integrations with different sales channels.
• Are looking for fast fulfillment in areas like the USA and Europe.
• Want specialized printing options, such as all-over print and embroidery.
• Don’t mind paying a little extra for luxury products.
• Want fantastic AI design tools.

When not to Choose Printful

We’d advise against Printful if you:

• Have a very low budget for base products.
• Want to access multiple suppliers through a single directory.

When to Choose Printify

Alternatively, we’d recommend using Printify if you:

• Want a wide range of suppliers and local manufacturers to choose from.
• Value a flexible and scalable pricing model.
• Want slightly cheaper products than those on Printful.
• Love innovative AI-driven design tools.
• Don’t need extensive omnichannel integrations.

When not to Choose Printify

Look beyond Printify for your POD solution if you:

• Need extensive branding services.
• Don’t want to deal with fluctuating product quality.
• Want more integrations with different sales channels.

Printful & Printify Detailed Comparison

	Printful	Printify
Overview	Owns and operates its own printing tools and fulfillment centers in regions worldwide.	Acts as a middleman, connecting ecommerce companies to third-party print providers around the world.
Pricing plans	Free options with paid membership options.	Free plan with premium plans starting at $29 per month.
Production options	DTG, Embroidery, Sublimation, All-over print, cut and sew.	DTG, Embroidery, Sublimation, All-over print, cut and sew.
Average fulfillment time and shipping times.	1-3 business data for fulfillment, and 2-7 days for shipping.	2-5 business days for fulfillment, and 4-12 business days for shipping.
Customer support	Live chat, email, and self-service.	Live chat, email, and self-service.
Branding options	Inside labels, outside labels, embroidered logo and sleeve printing. Plus white-label packaging, packing slips and pack-ins.	Neck labels, and branding inserts for packaging.
Design tools	Product mockup generator, embroidery mockup generator, and free design resources.	Product mockup generator, embroidery mockup generator, and free design resources.
Integrations	Integrations with numerous major sales channels, including Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix, Amazon, and Ebay. Plus API access.	Integrations with fewer major ecommerce platforms and marketplaces. API access is also available.
Product options and quality	Excellent product quality and more than 350+ options.	Over 850+ options, with decent product quality.
Extra services	Warehousing services, branding support and other specialist assistance	None.

What is Print on Demand: A Quick Explainer

Before we dive into our in-depth Printify vs Printful comparison, let’s explain “print on demand”.

Print on demand is an ecommerce business model, similar to dropshipping. Rather than producing products, managing inventory and shipping orders yourself, you work with a POD partner.

The partner offers a range of white labelled products companies can customize with their own patterns, logos, and designs. The merchant promotes the products they want to sell on their store (using design tools to create mockups, or ordering samples for photos).

When a customer purchases a product, information is sent back to the POD supplier, who creates the custom product, (using the chosen production method), packages, and ships it to the buyer.

Similar to dropshipping, this model ensures vendors don’t actually have to hold or manage any inventory themselves, or pay up-front fees until a product is sold to the customer.

This makes it a great low-risk option for companies who want to minimize their upfront operational and business running costs. Notably, however, as you’ll see in our comparison below, there are different ways to work with print on demand providers, and run a POD business.

Read more:

• Printify vs Gelato
• Printful vs Gelato
• Printify vs Teelaunch

How Does Printful Work? The Basics

Printful is a comprehensive POD vendor launched in 2013. The company owns and operates its own printing and fulfillment centers, with production houses in Europe, Mexico, the USA, and various other parts of the world. It offers a straightforward solution for print on demand.

To get started, you’ll sign up for an account, connect your ecommerce store (or marketplace/social media account) and Printful.

Once connected, you can use Printful’s design tools to add patterns and unique elements to a variety of white label products. There are hundreds of options to choose from, including t-shirts and apparel, home décor, canvas prints, and more.

With the design tools, you can create mockups to add directly to your store, and even source ideas for your products, with access to a wide range of graphics and free assets.

The integration with your store means whenever a customer places an order, you can automatically send their purchase information, address, and other details back to Printful.

They handle manufacturing the product, using one of their fulfillment centers, package the order according to your requirements, and ship it to your customers. You pay for the cost of delivery, and the base cost of your product after the order is processed, retaining the “markup” profits.

How Does Printify Work?

So, how does Printify work? In a lot of ways, it’s very similar to Printful. You’ll still sign up for an account to get started, and connect Printify to the ecommerce tools you already use.

However, there are fewer integration options and sales channels to choose from.

Notably, however, Printify does have a “pop-up” shop offering, which allows you to create a basic store (if you don’t already have one) and sell your items online.

You also still get design tools and a mockup generator, to help streamline and simplify the design process. Printify has some of the best design tools on the market, ideal for ensuring you get the best results from every product.

Plus, there are hundreds of different unique products to explore, from hoodies and mugs, to leggings, and throws.

The biggest difference between Printify and Printful, is that Printful handles all of the fulfillment work using their own resources.

Printify, connects you to a range of fulfillment suppliers, located in regions all around the globe. You can choose which supplier or manufacturer you want to work with, based on factors like delivery time, product options, and reputation.

While this gives you more control over hand-picking the best suppliers for your company, it also means the quality of each item offered by Printify can sometimes vary. That’s why we always recommend ordering samples before you commit to working with one of Printify’s vendors.

Printify vs Printful: The Pricing Options

When it comes to comparing the pricing for both Printify and Printful, it’s worth noting there are numerous factors to consider. You’ll need to look closely at not just the base price for the items you want to sell, but also any monthly subscription costs, extra service fees, and shipping costs.

Printful’s Pricing Plans

Printful may be a little more expensive overall than Printify, for a few reasons. Although you don’t have to spend anything to use Printful’s platform, you do need to pay for the base cost of your products, which can be quite expensive.

On the plus side, the “free plan” on Printful does come with everything you need to launch a thriving business, including access to all of the design tools, and a wide range of integrations.

Alongside the free plan, Printful also offers two “membership” options. These are available to companies that earn a certain amount of income in a 12-month period. However, the “Growth” plan is also available to purchase on a monthly basis.

Each membership plan comes with specific benefits, for instance:

• The Growth plan: Free for users with 12k of sales in a 12-month period, or $24.99 per month: Up to 20% off DTG products, 30% off other categories, branding discounts of 7%, personalized product transfer assistance, and unlimited stores per account.
• Printful Business: Only for companies with more than $60k in sales over 12 months: Up to 22% off DTG products, 33% off other categories, 9% off product branding, 25% off sample orders, free digitization for embroidered products, large front prints for selected products, and priority support from Printful’s team.

You can also purchase additional services from Printful, such as warehousing support, branded photography, videography services, and more.

Printify’s Pricing Plans

Printify’s products can be a little cheaper than Printful’s overall. Plus, like Printful, the company offers a generous free plan, which supports up to 5 stores per account, and unlimited product designs.

If you want to access more features and benefits, there are two paid plans available on Printify.

The first is the “Premium” plan for $29 per month which supports up to 10 stores per account, and unlimited product designs. It also comes with an up to 20% discount on all products. The second option is the “Enterprise” plan, with custom pricing.

This includes access to unlimited stores for each account, unlimited product designs, and additional discounts on a variety of Printify products. You can also access customized integrations, making the Enterprise plan ideal for companies with specific requirements.

Printify vs Printful: Overall features

Although Printify and Printful take slightly different approaches to print on demand, there are a lot of areas where they’re quite similar, particularly when it comes to overall features and functionality.

Both tools are extremely user-friendly, and packed with all the features you need to start your print on demand business, from design and mockup generators to integrations with sales platforms.

Let’s break down some of the core features of both Printify and Printful.

Printful Core Features:

• Vast product catalog: Printful offers a huge range of customizable products to choose from, including eco-friendly and premium items, home and living solutions, branded products, collections, men, and women’s clothing and more.
• Design tools: Printful’s design tools make it easy to create custom patterns and designs for a range of products. There are mockup generation tools, AI-powered solutions to help ensure your designs are perfectly placed, and even free assets you can access.
• Production services: Printful offers a range of production options, including DTG and DTF printing, all-over print, custom embroidery, and more. It also handles the printing process in-house, so you know you’re going to end up with consistent results.
• Integrations: Printful supports integrations with a wide range of marketplace and ecommerce platforms, including Shopify, Wix, Ebay, Amazon, Etsy and more. Plus it can integrate with a variety of social media channels, for omnichannel sales.
• Resources: For beginners, Printful offers access to a variety of resources, including a comprehensive blog, guides, a help center, and an “Academy” full of educational tools. It can also offer design services, and warehousing options to growing companies.

Printify Core Features

• Huge product and vendor catalog: As well as offering access to hundreds of different products in various categories, Printify also connects companies to a wide range of vendors and manufacturers, with fulfillment centers all over the world.
• Design tools: Like Printful, Printify offers fantastic design tools, and mockup generators, to help you create the best possible products. Their intelligent design tools also come with access to free graphical assets and resources.
• Pop-up stores: While Printify doesn’t offer as many integration options for different sales channels as Printful, it does have its own pop-up store generator. This is an excellent option for smaller companies who don’t want to use a complete ecommerce platform.
• Integrations: Printify has its own dedicated API solution, as well as integration options with a range of platforms and channels, like Ebay and Etsy, Wix, Shopify, Squarespace, and many more. It supports end-to-end automation for a range of use cases.
• Resources: For beginners in the POD landscape, Printify offers guides and tutorials, similar to Printful. It also supports companies with a range of “Expert services” via the “Experts Program” which connects companies to leading service providers.

Bestselling Products on Printify and Printful

Both Printful and Printify offer excellent variety when it comes to the range of products you can sell.

Though Printify offers more print-on-demand products overall, it’s worth remembering there may be fewer local vendors offering the solutions you want, depending on where you are in the world.

The good news is you can sort through products based on the location of your chosen vendor, however. Additionally, based on our own research, and the reviews we’ve read, Printful is a little more effective at offering excellent print quality consistently.

Let’s take a look at some of the “best-selling” products you can access from both vendors.

Printful Bestselling Products

The Printful print-on-demand service offers products in a huge range of categories, including home and living, accessories, and apparel. If you’re looking for trending products with high profit margins, we recommend checking out the “Bestsellers” tab.

Here, Printful showcases the most popular products of the moment, based on factors like the number of customer orders they’ve received. Other top-selling products from Printful include:

• Wall art (prints, posters, and canvases)
• Throws, blankets, and pillows
• Drinkware (reusable bottles and cups)
• Apparel accessories (hats and patches)
• Premium t-shirts and eco-friendly shirts
• Hoodies and sweatshirts
• Greeting cards, notebooks and stickers
• Sportswear and shoes

Printify Bestselling Products

Like Printful, Printify offers products from a range of different categories. Since the POD company works with a range of different printing facilities around the world, it can offer a slightly wider range of items to choose from.

If you’re looking for trending products, once again, you can click on the “catalog” section of Printful, and the “bestsellers” tab.

Once again, keep in mind that not every fulfillment company will offer the same products, or the same level of quality. Shipping rates and other fees can vary too.

So we recommend looking for a production partner in your region. Printify works with companies across the US, Canada, Spain, Australia, and more. Some of the bestselling Printify products include:

• T-shirts and unisex cotton tees
• Backpacks and tote bags
• Crewneck sweatshirts and hooded sweatshirts
• Polyester pillows and pillow covers
• Phone cases and tech accessories
• Sublimation socks
• Posters and notebooks
• Premium pin buttons
• Die-cut stickers

Printify vs Printful: Integration Options

As we mentioned at the beginning of this comparison, there are different ways to run a print on demand company.

If you’re starting with a low budget, you can sell products on marketplace-style websites, like Spring (formerly Teespring) and Redbubble.

However both Printful and Printify are designed to connect with an existing online store or marketplace, like Amazon. They don’t have their own “marketplaces” for creator listings, but this does mean you get more control over managing and building your own brand.

Printful and Printify both have their own dedicated APIs, but Printful has a longer list of pre-built integrations. With Printful, you can connect your POD solution with:

• BigCommerce
• Etsy
• Shopify
• WooCommerce
• Wix
• Squarespace
• Square Online
• Walmart
• Webflow
• Ecwid
• Prestashop
• Amazon
• Ebay
• Big Cartel
• Weebly
• Adobe Commerce
• Storenvy

…and dozens more. You can also sell through social media platforms.

Printify connects with two marketplaces (Etsy and Ebay), and a handful of ecommerce channels, such as Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix, and Prestashop. It also offers beginners the opportunity to create a “pop-up store”, and list products online for free.

Notably, however, this simple store option is pretty basic, and doesn’t offer a lot of scalability as your business starts to grow.

Printify vs Printful: Order Fulfillment and Shipping Costs

As mentioned above, while you can use both Printful and Printify to design products for free, there are other costs you’ll need to consider. For instance, you’ll need to pay for shipping to ensure your products get to your customers as quickly as possible.

One thing we noticed about Printful, is that it can promise to get your products to customers a lot faster than Printify.

With Printful, it takes between 2-7 business days to make most apparel products, and around 2-5 days for non-apparel items like mugs and notebooks.

Once the order is made, the overall shipping time will vary depending on where your customers are. You can expect shipments to take up to 4 days, but there are express delivery options available.

Printful works with logistics companies like DPD, FedEx, USPS, and DHL, and you can calculate the cost of each shipment before you commit to anything.

In general, the shipping costs are relatively consistent with what you’d expect from any POD company. In the USA, for instance, it costs $3.99 to ship your first product, plus $1.25 for any additional product in the parcel.

Printify’s shipping and fulfillment services can be a little harder to predict because they vary depending on the vendor you choose. Most of Printify’s manufacturers also partner with leading logistics brands, but the overall time it takes to deliver products can be longer.

In the USA, for instance, products can take 7-15 business days to ship. Internationally, customers might be left waiting for up to 30 days.

Printify vs Printful: Customer Support

Excellent customer support is something we advise every online business to consider carefully when choosing a print on demand provider. The best print on demand companies should make it easy to set up and run your business, with step-by-step support and consistent guidance.

Printful and Printify both have an excellent selection of resources to offer retailers, to help them get up and running with their POD business. There are some great blog options, guides, FAQs, and tutorials and even online videos from both vendors.

Both companies also allow users to reach out directly through chat and email, although phone support is limited, depending on a number of factors (such as your plan and where you are in the world).

While we think the support available from both brands is pretty good based on our experiences (they each responded to our queries within a couple of days), Printful doesn’t offer 24/7 support. Printify, on the other hand, promises to get back to you straight away.

Printify vs Printful: AI Features

One interesting thing that helps to distinguish both Printful and Printify from other competitors in the POD space, is their commitment to introducing innovative new tools and services for their customers.

In recent years, both companies have stepped into the “AI” landscape, leveraging intelligent tools to support modern business owners.

Printful has the “smart image tool” which uses artificial intelligence to upscale the images you upload onto your products.

This means if you have a pattern or image you want to include on a product, but it doesn’t have the best resolution, the AI will upgrade the image for you.

This tool can double image DPI for certain designs, and analyze whether extra pixels need to be added.

Printify goes a little further with its AI tools. First, it uses an artificial intelligence quality control system, which leverages image recognition to scan a product image and evaluate it’s quality prior to printing.

In 2023, the company also introduced a generative AI image generator, which uses text prompts (like ChatGPT) to create unique designs on your behalf.

This is an extremely useful tool for beginners in the POD world who are struggling to come up with interesting designs.

Since the AI can generate completely unique images with every prompt, you’re unlikely to end up with something similar to anything else on the market.

The Best Printful and Printify Alternatives

Ultimately, we rank Printful and Printify as two of the best print on demand solutions available.

However, there are some great alternatives out there if you’re not entirely satisfied with either option. Some of our favorite solutions include:

Printful vs Printify vs Gelato

Similar to Printify and Printful, Gelato is a POD company with production and fulfillment centers located all over the globe.

It integrates with your existing ecommerce platform or marketplace, such as Etsy, Shopify, and WooCommerce. However, there are fewer one-click integrations on Gelato than you’ll get from either Printify or Printful.

What sets Gelato apart is its trustworthiness. The company delivers some of the best quality we’ve seen in the POD market with every product. Plus, it uses sustainably sourced materials for most of its items, so its great if you’re looking for an eco-friendly production partner.

Printful vs Printify vs Sellfy

Like Gelato, Sellfy has a number of things in common with Printful and Printify. You can use it to create custom products and ship them worldwide, through a range of third-party logistics partners. Sellfy has a fantastic mockup generator, that can create 3D images for a host of products.

However, there aren’t as many different types of products you can access with Sellfy, so it might not be ideal for those who want a broad product catalog.

What’s really unique about Sellfy is that it allows you to create your own complete ecommerce store, with a built-in website builder. The platform even comes with analytical and marketing tools.

Printful vs Printify vs Spring

If you’re looking for a slightly simpler way to dive into the print on demand market, Spring (formerly Teespring) could be an excellent option.

Unlike Printify and Printful, with Spring, you don’t connect your POD platform to an existing website or marketplace. Instead, you sell products through the “Spring” marketplace, alongside dozens of other items.

This means you get instant access to a global audience, without the cost and time involved in building your own online store.

However, it also means you’ll be competing against a lot of other vendors for the attention of the same audience, which can make it difficult to generate high profits.

Printify vs Printful: The Final Verdict

Both Printify and Printful are excellent tools for print on demand selling, each with their own distinct benefits to consider. Printify has a wider selection of products to choose from, as well as more intuitive AI and design tools.

However, the product quality can vary depending on your manufacturer, and shipping/ fulfillment times can be a lot longer.

Printful integrates with a wider range of sales channels, and offers consistent product quality. It also has some great “membership” options for scaling businesses. However, the products can be more expensive, and customer service is sometimes a little slower.

Despite this, we’d still rate Printful as our top choice overall, simply because it offers more opportunities to access high profit margins.

FAQ

Which is better Printful or Printify?

We think Printful is slightly better than Printify based on its fast fulfillment times, excellent product quality, and integrations with a wide range of sales channels. However, Printify is still an excellent pick, particularly if you’re looking for a wide range of products and AI tools.

Does Printful work with Shopify?

Yes, Printful works with a wide range of ecommerce platforms, including Shopify. In fact, we often recommend using the two tools together. It can also connect with a range of third-party marketplaces like Amazon, as well as social media channels.

Is Printify cheaper than Printful?

That all depends on the products you choose, whether you opt for a Printify paid membership, and the shipping costs offered by your specific manufacturer. However, Printify’s base product costs can be a little cheaper than the cost of similar products from Printful.

Can you use both Printful and Printify?

Yes, there’s nothing to stop you from working with a variety of different print on demand platforms at the same time. However, we recommend ensuring both options do integrate with the ecommerce platform you’re using, so it’s easier to track and manage various orders.

Can you actually make money with Printify?

Absolutely, but just like with any print on demand platform or ecommerce venture, you’ll need to ensure you have the right strategy. You’ll need to ensure you have a strong marketing plan in place, and that you’re committed to creating high-quality products.

Which is the best platform for print-on-demand?

It all depends on your specific needs. Printful is excellent for product quality and fast shipping, Printify is fantastic for product range. If you want global reach, Gelato is a great choice. Alternatively, if you want to sell without building your ecommerce store, consider Spring or Redbubble.

How much profit should I make on Printify?

With Printify, you have the freedom to set the profit margin for your own products. The company recommends your profit margin should be around 40%. However, the exact profit you make will vary depending on a range of factors.

How much profit should I make on Printful?

Similar to Printify, Printful recommends setting a profit margin somewhere between 30-40% to ensure your business can grow. However, you may find it’s harder to set high profit margins with Printful, because the base cost of the products can be a little higher.