Printful vs Printify – Is It Just Price Vs Quality?
Printful and Printify both great print on demand companies but they offer print on demand services in a very different ways.
Printful is a bit more expensive than Printify, but they have a global reach due to having fulfillment centers across the world.
Printify has cheaper base price and has more products in its catalog.
I’ve sold many products using both these suppliers through my Etsy store and standalone websites and one of these suppliers does my head in. Read on to find out which one.
Who are Printful?
Printful is one of the largest companies in the print on demand industry and fulfills three times more orders than Printify. They print all products in-house and have fulfillment centers located around the world. It’s historically been known for its high product quality.
- Founded in 2013 by Davis Siksnans and Lauris Liberts
- Their mission: To help our customers grow brands that make a lasting impression
- More than 1,700 people are employed in their teams across North America and Europe.
- £1.03bn sold by customers through Printful
- Over 1 million items are fulfilled each month
Who are Printify?
Printify is another one of the largest and print on demand suppliers used by many sellers across many different selling platforms.
- Founded in 2015 by James Berdigans and Artis Kehris
- Their mission: To help merchants make more money with less effort
- Used by over 2 million sellers
- 10,000+ products produced daily
- 100+ Print locations
The Big Different Printify Vs Printful
Printify and Printful both offer POD services but do so in a Very different way.
Printify acts as a middleman, connecting you with a network or print companies. Printify doesn’t do any printing itself, it’s all outsourced.
Printful does all its printing in-house, it owns and controls the end-to-end process.
But what does this mean in practice?
- Consistent Printful Print Quality – Printful has full control of the printing process whereas Printify’s suppliers
- Printify Confusing Choice – When using Printify you need to choose the supplier you want to use from their network. Whilst there are ratings based on people’s experiences, the quality, pricing, and shipping all differ from one to another.
- Printify Disjointed Customer Service – Have an issue with an order on Printify? Printify has to speak with the print company you used to resolve the issue. Printful does not as they run it all themselves.
Printful Vs Printify – Their Integrations
To make the most of using a POD provider you need to integrate them with an eCommerce platform or online marketplace. Doing so enables products to be created on the POD provider’s site and pushed to your eCommerce store for you to sell. Once an order is received it automatically syncs with the POD company’s platform and the order is produced.
Both Printful (21) and Printify (8) integrate with eCommerce platforms and marketplaces to enable orders to flow automatically from your eCommerce platform of choice through to the print provider, with order updates flowing the other way.
Printful Integrations
Printful provides the ability to place a manual order, provides access to an API, and integrates with the following 21 platforms
Want to start a store for free? Check out Launch Cart & Printful
Printify Integrations
Printify provides the ability to place a manual order, provides access to an API, and integrates with the following 8 eCommerce platforms:
Want to start a free store with Printify? Why not try Launch Cart?
Winner – Printful integrate with far more ecommerce platforms than Printify
Printful Vs Printify – Product Catalogs
Printify has a larger product catalog with over 900 products compared to around 342 products offered by Printful.
But those numbers are deceiving as some of the items in Printifys catalog are the same (or very similar) product offered by different suppliers in the Printify network.
Both catalogs include POD staples like t-shirts, sweatshirts, and hoodies but also posters, mugs, and phone cases as well as bags, shoes, and bikinis.
Even though Printful’s catalog is significantly smaller, both catalogs have more than enough products to populate even the largest online store.
The key to knowing which provider is right for you is to check that your chosen print on demand provider stocks the products you want to sell in your POD store.
Winner – Printify due to a larger catalog
Printful Vs Printify – Production Time
As both Printful and Printify offer a range of different print on demand products with differing production times it is not possible nor useful to provide a view of which of the print providers is quicker to print and ship your item.
Printful states that 97.66% of their orders shipped within 5 business days. With more than 50% of their orders shipped within 3 business days or fewer.
Printify states that almost all orders are shipped within a slightly longer duration of 2-7 business days from the order submission date.
Shipping domestically produced items from both providers will take approximately 2-5 days. It is important to remember that some of Printify’s products are printed in China, so those will take longer to be delivered.
If you want to sell your products internationally, Printful is the better option as they have fulfillment centers all around the world. This way, they can produce items closer to where the customer lives, which in turn lowers both shipping costs and delivery time.
If you use Printify you are likely to find that the Supplier you’ve chosen for US orders will charge you massive shipping fees to ship an order to the UK, so the order has to be routed to another supplier in the Printify Network.
Winner – Printful – Global reach with printing done in-house.
Printful Vs Printify – Shipping Costs
Printify and Printful have similar shipping times. On average, it takes about 3-5 days for an order to be shipped out. Shipping costs vary depending on which item you are ordering and where the product will be shipped to.
Comparing a product that they both sell, the Gildan 18000 sweatshirt shipping to a US customer the shipping for both print providers is $7.99 shipping with Printful
Printify shipping time varies significantly for example if you wanted to ship the same item to a UK customer you would need to reroute your order to one of Printifys EU or UK print providers to get shipping costs closer (but still higher) to that offered by Printful
Winner – Printful – Seamless consistent global shipping.
Printful Vs Printify – Decoration Types
DTG (direct to garment) printing is the most common type used by most sellers. Both Printify and Printful offer this.
Both also offer all over print (AOP) products although some of Printify’s AOP come from china.
Only Printful offers Embroidery though. Embroidery has a higher perceived value so you can sell your products for more and make more profit. Printful also offers a new unlimited color embroidery enabling even more options for sellers.
Winner – Printful due to Embroidery Offering
Printful Vs Printify – Which One Enables Better Profit Margins?
There are several things to consider when thinking about which one has better profit margins – product cost, shipping cost, and the price you can sell the product for.
In general, Printful is a little more expensive from a product perspective but often offers cheaper shipping.
That is not the end of the story though as both print providers offer discounts.
Printify offers a monthly subscription service called Printify Premium that lowers the basic product cost (not your retail price) by 20%, so for example of a sweatshirt would cost $14.44 if you pay the $29.99 subscription each month (or $24.99 if paid annually).
If you spend $150 per month on products then Printify Premium is worth it.
Printful released their Printful Growth membership last year which gives sellers up to 20% discount on DTG products and up to 30% on other categories.
It costs $24.99 a month (£19.99) and gives a number of benefits over and above just the savings on products.
The other big difference is that if you sell over $12,000 in a year, then you get Printful Growth for free.
Printful Vs Printify – Which Has the Better Print Quality?
Printify outsources its printing to third-party printers, whereas Printful has in-house printing facilities.
This means that Printify has less control over the order fulfillment process and print quality since it relies on other companies to produce the products.
The print quality can vary from supplier to supplier which can result in some trial and error to find the print partner that works best for you.
Printful produces its prints in-house, so it has more control over the print quality. This doesn’t mean there will never be an issue, but quality control is less of an issue with Printful as printing is in their direct control.
Printful Vs Printify – Customer support
As an eCommerce business, you want to make sure your customers are happy and that their needs are being met. That’s why customer support is so important.
When it comes to Printify vs Printful, both companies offer great customer support. However, as Printful does all their printing in-house they do not need to talk to a third party to get an update on an order or investigate an issue. Therefore Printful customer service can often be quicker to resolution than Printify’s.
Both companies have a chat option on their website, a detailed knowledge base, and active Facebook groups that they run and have staff who are assigned to manage the group and answer questions and issues that may arise.
Printify & Order Routing
As already stated, Prinitfy is a network of print providers. When you create a product on their platform, you have to choose which print on demand business you want to use for that product.
The chosen fulfillment company is responsible for printing and shipping the item.
Whilst some of the print providers in the Printify network are bigger than others, none are the size of Printful and dont hold the same level of stock. You can see the which are best printify print providers as they rate them out of ten.
When an item is out of stock of the item you have an order for Printify can route the order to another print on demand company.
In theory, this is great as it opens up the whole network, however not all print providers are equal and therefore you lose more control over costs and product quality.
My Experience with Printful & Printify
Printful
Being UK-based and wanting to sell predominantly to my local market, I started my POD journey with Printful. Whilst they are more expensive, they are great for a beginner as their platform and support are great.
Printful’s mockup generator offers far more options than just your flat lays, which is great when you’re starting out and not sure what to do or how to add more mockups to your store.
Because they are one of the biggest companies out there I found lots of blog articles and Youtube videos as well Facebook groups with knowledgeable people to help me on my way.
During the pandemic, Printful really struggled and I moved a lot of my products away from Printful, but that is a thing of the past and they are back delivering high-quality products on time.
Since I started using them they added a UK fulfillment center meaning they can meet my needs (and my customer’s needs) quicker and with a lower delivery charge.
Unfortunately, I found that Printful did not stock some of the color sweatshirts (greens and browns) that one of my profitable niches required so I use other suppliers for those products.
I really like Printful but they struggle to compete on costs and I tend to use them as my backup supplier for standard products, but use them as my main supplier for some of the cooler items like their AOP clothes.
Printify
Printify is pushed hard by a lot of Gurus & coaches out there and so they were one of the first print providers I used. I love the range of products and they stocked the colors I needed.
However, I didn’t (and still don’t) like the fact you have to choose a print partner within Printify. This reduces the appeal for me. If I wanted to use a smaller print provider, I would use them directly.
Whilst Printify has introduced order routing that routes your order to an alternative partner in their network, I didn’t like this approach as it took away my control of who was printing my items.
From an international order perspective, I found Printify’s UK options very limited so I do not use them very much at all now.
Other Considerations
Currency
Printify only operates in USD so you are likely to get impacted by exchange rates and foreign transaction fees if you do not live in the US and or trade in USD.
Printful on the other hand allows you to operate in USD, Euros British Pounds, and JPY, AUD, CAD, CHF, DKK, NZD, SEK, NOK, SGD, PLN, MXN, BRL, HKD, KRW which could cut out some cost for you.
Not a game changer at the start but as you start selling at volume a 2% foreign transaction fee can quickly add up and dilute your margins.
Branding
If you are looking to grow a brand, then both companies offer branding options.
- Product Branding – e.g. inside and outside labels
- Package Branding – Packing slips and pack-ins
Printful offers greater options here as shown in the comparison table below. And not all Printify suppliers offer all the branding options listed .
Personalization
As popular as ever, product personalization is an eCommerce trend that major retailers and luxury brands alike have incorporated into their businesses.
Personalization increases the perceived value of a product and therefore can enable you to sell your products for a higher price and increase your margins.
Luckily Printful offers personalization / customization capabilities, for Etsy,
Check out the video on how to set up personalization with
Printful Vs Printify – Conclusion
It can be hard to decide which to use and even harder to choose the right POD supplier for your online store.
Both Printful and Printify are great choices for your online store but you need to consider which is best for you. Printify may be better for some people whereas Printful may be better for others. To ensure you pick which one is best for you make sure you consider the following before picking between Printful or Printify:
- The location of your customers – Only US? Printify may be better, sell globally then I’d go for Printful
- The products the POD supplier sells -Do they both sell the items you want to sell? Check that they offer the colors you are looking for.
- Who they integrate with – This is unlikely to be a blocker as they both integrate with many online store providers, but Printful integrates with a lot more.
- The prices of their products – Generally Printify is cheaper, but price isnt always the key deciding factor
- How easy it is to use their platform/software. – Both their platforms are easy to use, but the inclusion of a choice of suppliers within Printify adds a level of unnecessary complexity some with better print quality than others.
I will always choose Printful over Printify as its set and forget and dont need to worry about which supplier to use or whether they have stock or if my order will be rerouted to a supplier who is not as good as others.
Whichever you choose, or even if you choose to use both in your eCommerce business the print on demand model is a great way to start a business as a side hustle, to bring in additional income, or just as a hobby.
Looking for a Printify or Printful Alternative? Check out Gelato.
What is Print on Demand?
Print on demand (POD) is a printing technology and business process in which a print provider creates and stores digital files of a customer’s designs and artwork, and prints them on a product only after the end customer orders a product.
Another way of looking at it is a form of dropshipping that enables you to sell custom merchandise to customers directly without having to do the printing and shipping yourself.
This differs from the traditional printing process, in which products are printed upfront and stored regardless of whether there is an order.
POD has revolutionized eCommerce, making it possible for influencers, entrepreneurs, and designers to sell their merch without incurring the high costs of traditional printing methods.
POD is often used in conjunction with eCommerce platforms and drop shipping, as it allows businesses to sell custom-printed products without having to invest in inventory or maintain bricks and mortar shops.
There are many print on demand companies to choose from, each with its strengths and weaknesses. Printful and Printify are two of the biggest players in the market which is why we are comparing them in this article.
How do Print on Demand Companies Work?
Print on demand companies like Printful and Printify provide a platform then enables the seller to upload a design file, select a product, set the price and publish it to an eCommerce store hosted on
Once the item sells, the print on demand provider handles the printing and shipping for you.
You can think of both Printful and Printify as order fulfillment companies that do the heavy lifting on your behalf so you can focus on the designing and marketing of your products.
What To Consider When Choosing A Print On Demand Supplier
1. Geography: Consider where your target market is and whether the print on demand supplier ships to that location. For example, if you mainly sell to the UK, choose a UK or European supplier to ensure faster and cheaper shipping.
2. Product Catalog: Some print on demand suppliers specialize in certain products, so make sure they offer the specific items you want to sell. For example, if you want to sell canvases, choose a supplier that provides them.
3. Size and Color Variants: If you plan to sell clothing, ensure that the chosen supplier offers the sizes and colors you need. Some suppliers have limitations in this regard, so check their product options before deciding.
4. Profit Margins: Evaluate the potential profit margins you can achieve with the supplier’s products. Certain products may offer higher margins compared to others. Consider this factor when selecting the items you want to offer.
5. Integration with Sales Platforms: Determine which platforms you will be selling on and make sure the print on demand company you choose integrates with them. Check compatibility with popular platforms like
6. Pricing and Shipping Costs: Analyze the costs associated with printing, fulfillment, and shipping. High shipping costs may require you to set higher prices for your products, potentially affecting competitiveness. Take a close look at these factors to ensure profitability.
7. Additional Charges: Be aware of any hidden charges that the print on demand supplier may have, such as design digitization fees for embroidery. Understand all the costs involved in using their services to avoid surprises down the line.
8. Subscription and Volume Discounts: Some suppliers offer premium or enterprise plans that require a subscription. They may also have volume-based discounts based on your monthly sales. Evaluate these options to determine if they align with your business needs and sales volumes.
9. Ease of Use: Choose a print on demand supplier with an easy-to-use platform, especially if you are not experienced with design software. Look for platforms that do not require exact file sizes and allow for easy creation of product designs.
By considering these key factors, you can choose the right print on demand supplier that aligns with your target market, product requirements, pricing, and user experience preferences.
FAQ Printify Vs Printful
Is Printify the same as Printful?
No, they are two different companies that take different approaches to deliver print on demand services to online store owners. Printful does its printing and fulfillment in-house (i.e. they own the factories). Printify is a network of print partners and doesn’t do any of the printing themselves.
The impact of this can be seen in the varying print quality provided by Printify’s print partners.
How much does Printful cost per month?
You can use Printful for free. You pay for the items to be printed and shipped once you receive an order. Printful has introduced a premium plan that provides additional functionality, better mockups etc, but you do not have you sign up.
What is better than Printful?
If you are solely selling Printify stocked products to US customers, then Printify may be a better choice than Printful as it is the cheaper print provider enabling you to make higher margins on your online store.
Which is best print on demand?
If we took Trust Pilot as the source for the answer to which is the best print on demand provider, Printful Vs Printify, with 4.4 Printify would just shade it over Printfuls 4.3. However, it’s worth noting that Printify had only 356 reviews compared to Prinfuls 1603.
