Which one of Printify and Printful ranks higher?
Being a judge is never an easy job.
Now and then, people ask us to provide a thorough summary and advice on how to start a T-shirt company on the most refined platform.
In the e-commerce sector, the print-on-demand business model looks to be suffering. According to statistics, the bespoke T-shirt printing market is predicted to reach $10 billion by 2025.
It’s also no secret that many new items are entering the market that fit the POD model, perhaps even thousands.
Print-on-demand is undoubtedly the best business model for newcomers wishing to launch an online store because of its minimal overhead costs, high markup potential, and low entrance barrier.
Custom printing products like drawstring bags, sweatshirts, or cushion covers are now quicker and easier than before. The two most extensive print-on-demand services at this time are Printify and Printful.
The comparison will finally focus on the advantages and disadvantages of each print-on-demand technology.
To brief you.
This guide thoroughly analyzes how each platform compares to others on the market. We’ll focus on these beneficial elements to provide you with a quick overview of the main segments:
- Ease of Use
- Pricing
- Order fulfillment
- Customer support
- Print quality
- Integrations
That essentially summarizes what we’re about to discuss for each platform. We’ll give credit where credit is due while highlighting all the drawbacks of Printful and Printify.
Ultimately, you’ll learn which POD solution is best for your upcoming ecommerce firm.
But first, let’s define print-on-demand so we can give more detailed information about these services.
What is Print on Demand?
As the name implies, print-on-demand is an online fulfilment method where a supplier and a seller collaborate to produce custom-printed goods as needed.
The supplier mainly provides print-on-demand services and customizes white-label products under the seller’s brand or a customer’s pre-made print design. The supplier has a warehouse and an online platform that interfaces with the drop shippers’ online selling channel.
These products come in hats, t-shirts, totes, leggings, hoodies, cushions, and drapes. This list is endless.
The concept enables you to avoid holding any inventory or making any upfront payments until a product is sold to a consumer, just like drop shipping. Its minimal overhead and low barrier to entry make it the most excellent option for testing business ideas.
Print-on-demand is a choice to help you monetize your material if you’ve developed a following, whether naturally or through promotions.
You don’t have to worry about the fulfilment process. Therefore, it makes it simpler to establish an income stream.
So let’s contrast the two services to determine which is more effective for beginners.
How Printful works
Printful runs production facilities in the USA, Mexico, and Europe. To timely complete consumer orders, the business has a broad geographic reach.
You must register with Printful and link your store to get started. Why is it necessary for your store to be integrated with this POD service?
This is the tip.
Print on demand can be considered a dropshipping method just like any other. Thus that’s accurate. Once you’ve finished all the integrations, you’ll need to use the mockup generator to start working on your unique items.
You might wish to inquire as to what precisely a mockup generator is.
Technically speaking, the mockup generator is akin to a design tool enabling you to produce unique prints for your listed products. The given templates will allow you to create stunning images with excellent resolution.
You can access any of Printful’s categories and choose any of its POD products to add to your online store. There are more than 200 goods available.
High-selling categories on Printful include:
- Clothing: Tank tops, shorts, leggings, hoodies, sweatshirts, polo shirts, long-sleeve shirts, and leggings.
- Including phone cases, bracelets, necklaces, and stickers.
- Bags: drawstring bags, backpacks, fanny packs, tote bags, and laptop cases.
- Home & Living: Bean bags, Beach towels, Posters, Canvas Prints, Blankets, Pillows, Coffee Mugs
- Sportswear, streetwear, workwear, and beachwear collections.
You could offer an entire library of products on your dropshipping website. Due to its extensive selection of possibilities for personalized branding, Printful gives users various options.
Printful lets you import all the product designs to your store after creating your mockups. The following action is to market your goods to your target market while you wait for the order automation feature to kick in.
All customer orders from your store are printed, packaged, and sent by Printful. Once an order is filled, the drop shipper is responsible for covering the fulfillment charges.
This relieves you of the burdensome task of manually creating a print design and delivering orders to your clients.
To determine your profit margins, you must first create a pricing formula. In other words, whenever a buyer places an order for a print-on-demand product, two parallel transactions take place. As a result, it’s much simpler to have competitive retail prices for your listed products.
The product is bought, and the fulfillment costs are paid in the subsequent transaction that Printful charges.
The end of that.
So easy. Right?
Here is a further overview of Printful’s general performance:
How Printify works
The order automation process is made as simple as possible with Printify.
Printify uses a mockup generator, just like its leading rival, to make generating print designs easier. It offers simple drag-and-drop tools that are very beginner-friendly.
With Printify, you can choose from a wide range of colours to produce a high-quality 3D representation of your product. A wide range of products is available for use as well.
The POD service collaborates with print designers and companies that employ cutting-edge technologies to enhance the general quality of their products.
These experts in print-on-demand are organized by bestselling, location, and pricing on Printify. So choosing the best print company to complete your orders is a crucial component of any POD dropshipping business.
The vast product selection it offers is comparable to that of its competitor. Your print designs can be altered to appear on various items, including leggings, canvas prints, mugs, sweatshirts, and T-shirts.
It is convenient for your company and the clients when you choose hand-select your provider. Working with the best print supplier allows you to reserve your brand’s authority as a dropshipping company.
Sample requests are an option available to you. This enables you to assess the quality and print design of the products with your own two hands. If you like what you see, you may list the range of available products in your shop.
And as was to be expected, Printify handles every aspect of fulfillment. The print-on-demand service pledges not to fall short of any order management priorities to escape the deficit zone.
Ensure the quality control is in order and that you can trace each shipment before making a sale.
The marketing approach is the only thing left up to you. It appears that Printify operates similarly to its rival in terms of business model.
A little summary of Printify’s features is provided below:
Winner: Tie for first place. Printful and Printify are equally convenient for new users in terms of usability.
Printify vs Printful: Pricing
When choosing the best option, pricing always represents a significant shift. As the middleman, you must consider the financial viability of a POD channel.
By doing so, you can gain momentum while maximizing the profit margin.
You’ll be pleased—or, if you prefer, complacent—to learn that both businesses are open about their pricing. There are no unstated costs. On this fact, you can rely. A new user does not have to pay to sign up on their platform.
Both print-on-demand options can recognize their clients’ pressing requirements.
They, therefore, don’t have a membership fee or a subscription price.
Printful’s pricing plans
Printful offers affordable prices for all your demands if you wish to sell things with your branding. Any POD product you intend to sell can have interior labels requested to be attached.
The size of the garment, the composition of the garment, and the tag or emblem of the manufacturer are typically found on the inside label.
You can customize the label to showcase your business using print-on-demand.
Each label costs $2.49 from Printful. Most business owners utilize this tried-and-true marketing tactic to increase brand awareness in the marketplace.
You could wish to establish a spending limit for Inside labels to create genuine client loyalty. The technical side of it is not too complicated. Select a label template, then alter it to reflect your brand.
Printful also provides the following additional services to drop shippers:
- Outside label – $2.49 per label
- Long sleeve print- $ 5.95 per sleeve
- Short sleeve print- $ 2.49 per sleeve
- Embroidered logo- $2.95 per additional placement
You can use Printful to develop a design that includes your brand and prints it without charge on the packing slips. Most retailers use this choice to enhance client connections, offer discounts, and launch a new product in a crowded market.
You must pay $0.75 per purchase for pack-ins such as flyers, business cards, or stickers. You have the option to spend this modest fee on advertising your goods.
Each change has a cost, as you can see above.
How much profit do I still have?
All drop shippers who use print-on-demand have that safety problem. On the plus side, Printful offers you price tactics that have been successfully tested.
A profit calculator is available to assist you in determining the suggestions for the most helpful profit margin. It displays the expected net profit per unit of sales.
While there are no restrictions on price, Printful suggests a minimum profit margin of 30%. Users receive volume discounts from Printful after they hit a certain monthly sales threshold.
Printify’s pricing plans
- Printify offers three different methods. The drop shipper has access to the following prominent elements on each package:
- A sophisticated mockup maker
- Integration with shopping cart programs like Shopify, eBay, Etsy, and WooCommerce, among others.
- 24/7 live assistance
- Manual order creation.
- Free offer
A merchant who is just starting their dropshipping business might consider using this strategy, according to Printify. There are no restrictions on how many product designs you can add to your online store.
You can integrate with up to 5 POD dropshipping stores using this free account. Nothing else in this strategy can be relied upon. Cheap seldom comes easily, as you are well aware.
Premium plan
If you wish to scale up a bit further, this is the bundle to invest in. Given that it can accommodate 10, it is perfect for businesses with several stores. The monthly cost for Printify’s premium plan is $29 per month.
Since the drop shipper receives a discount of up to 20% on all orders, this package is the most popular.
Another benefit is that choosing this option lets you sell personalized goods in-store. The free plan doesn’t offer that.
Enterprise plan
You must select the most expensive package to complete more than 10,000 orders daily. The merchant receives a unique API interface that allows you to sync your account with as many retailers as you like.
It has a devoted customer care team to assist the seller in overcoming any obstacles. Every corporate plan user is instantly informed of any new features added by Printify to the platform.
Result: Printify. Its price is significantly less. However, the pricing is not made explicit. Printiful’s services have been categorized appropriately (in-labels, packing slips).
Printify vs Printful: Integrations
To assist the merchant in integrating with major ecommerce platforms, both platforms include built-in APIs.
Shopify and WooCommerce selling channels are compatible with Printful and Printify integrations. In contrast to its rival, Printful has a more extensive list of integrations. It syncs with other media like:
- Squarespace
- BigCommerce
- Weebly
- Ecwid
- PrestaShop
- Big Cartel
- Gumroad
- Magneto
- 3rdcart
- Launch Cart.
- Wix
The two markets that Printify’s premium plan connects to are Etsy and eBay. For other product listing platforms, such as Amazon, Storenvy, Inktale, Wish, and Bonanza, Printful advances the cause.
Printful suggests Shopify, Etsy, Ecwid, and BigCommerce as quick to set up e-commerce platforms for selling print-on-demand products. The plugin is available in the aforementioned stores, and its API automates the order fulfillment procedure.
It makes sense to hire a developer to assist with launching your POD store if you intend to use an enterprise-oriented channel like Magneto.
Winner: Printful.
Printify vs Printful: Fulfillment and Shipping costs
Your company risks experiencing sluggish sales if shipping takes a lengthy time. Printful provides a thorough explanation of the fulfillment procedure.
The procedure starts as soon as an order is placed. According to Printful, the production time for garment products can range from 2 to 7 business days, while it takes 2 to 5 business days to produce non-apparel items.
Depending on where the product needs to be transported, shipping costs vary.
Printful estimates that it might take roughly 4 business days on average. By collaborating with international carrier firms, Printful achieves its annual goal of over 3 million orders.
The shipping options include FedEx, DHL, USPS.com, and DPD. The business offers a comprehensive manual that explains how to calculate shipping costs.
The shipping cost for printed items, including T-shirts, long sleeve shirts, crop tops, and tank tops, is as follows:
First product
- USA: $3.99
- Europe: $4.39
- Canada: $6.49
- New Zealand and Australia: $6.99
- Globally: $5.99
Additional merchandise
- USA: $1.25
- Europe: $1.09
- Canada: $1.25
- Australia/ New Zealand: $1.25
- Global: $1.25
You can add shipping to the retail price or let the customer add it themselves at the checkout. Depending on where your customer is located geographically, customs costs might also be charged.
Additionally, Printify uses reputable carriers to complete orders. The company has also worked with regional fulfilment businesses to support drop shippers that sell goods from various parts of the world. However, some of these alternatives have slightly higher prices.
Because Printify has fewer fulfillment facilities than other platforms, shipping solutions take longer to deliver foreign orders. These are the shipping times, broken down:
- Location
- USA: 7-15 business days
- Canada: 10- 15 business days
- International: 10-30 days
When it comes to how long it would take to construct a product, Printify is quite vague. On the other hand, Printful updates the shipping costs in real time while you are checking out.
For retailers using the Advanced Shopify plan, Printify provides a quicker solution to balance the good with the bad.
Printful triumphs. It has a specific page where the entire shipping and fulfillment process is fully disclosed. Printify does not cater to international orders.
Printify vs Printful: Customer support
Printful uses a well-honed arsenal of strategies to interact with clients more intelligently. The company gives all new customers a complimentary onboarding session.
Its blog section is generally helpful and offers insightful advice on managing a profitable print-on-demand company. You can call them, begin a chat, or send them an email.
A support center with information on pertinent subjects like integrations, troubleshooting, products, payments, and mockup designs may be found on Printify.
They also maintain a profitable blog to share marketing advice, design news, and success tales. However, the fact that Printful offers 24-hour live assistance sets it apart from the competition.
Internet users have a variety of opinions about Printful’s customer service. Some praise the print-on-demand service’s responsive interface, while others refute complaints that its customer assistance responds slowly to users’ urgent queries.
Winner: Tie. Both have equal wins and noticeable flaws.
Printify vs Printful: Overall features
Who takes the initiative? Let’s investigate.
The ordered structure of Printful categorizes each of its services. One unique feature that other print-on-demand businesses seldom offers is the Printful ecommerce photography service.
Printful has the high-resolution photos you need to develop your brand’s persona. The business gives savings on large orders, as we noted before in this comparison guide.
Printful offers a 20 percent discount for goods that need to be photographed and fulfilled, which seems like a fantastic deal. You won’t have to wait long to have photos for your products because they already have a supply of ready-made samples.
In addition, Printful guarantees same-day delivery of orders placed before noon using its automated order processing system. The pricing calculator, which assists customers in establishing competitive retail prices, is the best feature.
In contrast, Printify boasts a vast product selection. In contrast, when it comes to design services, things get messy. With graphic design possibilities for branding, advertising, and accessories, Printful leads the way.
On their web page, the business showcases some of their creative work and skilled staff of in-house graphic designers.
Winner: Printful.
Printify vs Printful: Product designs and quality
This was a challenging factor to evaluate. So, I decided to conduct some online research and compile some customer evaluations.
Printful has developed a particular interest in looking for market-leading product designs. On the other hand, Printify appears to be a traditional channel with time-tested print-on-demand goods like t-shirts and hoodies.
There is nothing wrong with that at all. But the truth is that offering a wide range of cutting-edge goods is very helpful.
According to internet comments, Printful appears to be a little more convincing when it comes to curating products and increasing customers’ trust in a company.
According to the limited customer feedback I was able to compile, Printful is a superior choice.
The majority of criticisms focus on Printify’s print quality. Some of their clothing products, it is alleged, fade and crack quickly. The fact that Printify operates as a middleman may be what motivates this to occur.
Printful has significantly invested in printing equipment, storage facilities, and graphic designers. They don’t print literary works. As opposed to their close competitor, they obtain this service through third-party businesses.
Maintaining the quality of the items is significantly more straightforward with this type of infrastructure.
Winner: Printful.
Printful vs Printify vs Print Aura
In comparison to Printify and Printful, Print Aura is far less efficient. It diverges from the majority of the expectations of print-on-demand vendors.
Considering the compelling necessity to work with a user-friendly and responsive POD service, the website’s static appearance is a little odd. That would severely impair the entire order fulfillment process without an intelligent platform.
On Print Aura, regular delivery for T-shirt orders only takes 3-5 business days to reach the US. Print Aura has a slim edge over the other two providers when comparing the mailing speed.
This key performance indicator has received good treatment from Printful and Printify. Unfortunately, its mockup tool is not the ideal combination for custom printing. Even worse, the page for the design tool isn’t designed to load quickly.
To a novice who requires a simple punchline for selling basic print designs, I’d suggest Print Aura. Its scaling ability is a little lacking, and its print designs aren’t as fancy as those on Printful.
Your dislike for this print-on-demand service may also extend to its mockup maker. The operation of Print Aura’s mockup tool is minimally mentioned on their landing page.
While it works, novice users could have difficulty navigating any technical curves.
Selling your brand might seem like an achievable goal, but you might miss out on the additional level of workflow accuracy that Printful and Printify both provide.
Printify offers the opportunity to upgrade to a more sophisticated plan, unlike the other two POD providers. However, Printful is the only service in this group with a broad production network. A drop shipper is allowed to select their preferred print designer. Both Printify and Print Aura have restrictions on this liberty.
Printful vs Printify vs Teelaunch
At least one factor unites these three alternatives. All of them offer open customer help.
However, Teelaunch has one “out of the way” fact. It is solely intended to function for Shopify users. Since it is not as well-known as the two print-on-demand market leaders, Teelaunch has a minor share of the market.
Despite this, Teelaunch offers distinctive goods that are challenging to find on other sites. In addition to branded power banks, shower curtains, UV-printed bracelets, children’s beanies, monogrammed gloves, journal hardcovers, jewelry boxes, dog bowls, and other goods, you can also offer rare print items.
Regarding brand designs and product quality, I’d rank Printful as the most effective option of three print-on-demand services. Teelaunch, a newcomer to the dropshipping business model, has much to learn.
They would need to make more significant investments in fulfillment facilities to get where Printful is now. Printful ships orders more quickly than Teelaunch since they have more warehouses throughout the US.
Teelaunch would be competitive with its rivals if it tried to reduce its lead time. But to do this, Teelaunch would need an inside team to handle all their fulfillment priorities.
Currently, they outsource this process, which limits the POD company’s ability to maintain tighter control over the quality of the final product and speedy turnaround.
If we compare the simplicity of use of the three services side by side, they all appear to have simple user interfaces for beginners. They all have solid reputations when it comes to user-friendliness.
Without sacrificing the quality of their print designs, Teelaunch offers the drop shipper a more competitive markup potential in terms of cost.
What to like about Printful
- There are a large number of distinctive products available on Printful.
- Possesses a fully automatic order fulfillment system
- Integrates with leading marketplaces and shopping cart channels
- The turnaround time is quick.
- Locations with centralized fulfillment. Drop shippers can sell their print products internationally and quickly fill orders because they handle their in-house printing. North Carolina, Mexico, Latvia, Los Angeles, and Printful have warehouses. They intend to open a new base in Spain.
- Its usability is excellent.
- The high caliber of the goods
- Over in the US and Europe, Printful has a sizable customer base.
What not to like about Printful
Although Printful’s products are far superior to its rivals in terms of quality, they are significantly more expensive. If you want to know how much your customers are willing to pay for custom-branded goods, you might want to conduct market research.
What to like about Printify
- You have a choice of printing companies.
- A scalable price structures
- There are almost 200 goods available.
- Products cost a little less.
What not to like about Printify
- There are only a few integrations.
- There are very few branding services available.
- Its print quality varies at times.
Final Results of Printful vs. Printify
The growing trendline for print-on-demand products in the drop-shipping paradigm is encouraging.
This comparison will be helpful for business owners who want to launch utilizing a top-tier print-on-demand service in addition to learning how to start a print-on-demand company.
Although each has its selling points, product quality ultimately drives repeat business for a company.
All the information in this tutorial clearly shows that Printful has a significant advantage over Printify.
In the game of print-on-demand, Printful is a maestro. The business was founded in 2013, whereas its closest competitor is two years younger.
Factually speaking, Printful has a faster shipping system and better print quality, making it a fantastic option for dropshippers.
Customers are primarily concerned with quality. Therefore, you must maintain consistency with each print order. And Printful is the best option for print quality.
As a result, each platform has benefits and drawbacks. You should test both POD services to determine which is best for your dropshipping objectives.
To accomplish that quickly, you should potentially browse the web and conduct a market analysis, order samples, or, even better, test these two options independently.
The integration of both POD providers into your dropshipping store is, after all, cost-free. By doing so, you’ll better understand which service is most likely to encourage recurring business for your online store.
Printful is an unrivaled approach if all you desire is quality and customer pleasure.
Printful wins out in the end.
