Printify vs Printful: Best Print on Demand Sites?

For many people selling print on demand, there is a question about which is better, thus the comparison: Printful vs Printify. There are so many print-on-demand companies out there that it’s hard to decide which company to partner with. Depending on the type of products you want to offer, they each have their pros and cons.

I thought it would be a good idea to examine two companies that I personally use, Printful with my Shopify store and my Etsy shop uses a Printify integration. My opinions aside, I’ll be taking a look at both of these individually in six categories: pricing, selection of products, shipping, supplier options, and integration. There are a lot of criteria that can be examined, but for sellers, these are probably the factors that will influence your decision to sell with each or not.

If you plan to use these companies to start your own online business, you’ll want to see how they each measure up in every category. Let’s dive in.

Printify vs Printful: Pricing

When you sell print-on-demand products you purchase each product you sell at a base price. When you list the items for sale you increase the resale price, taking into consideration your cost for the item and the amount the print-on-demand company will charge you to ship the item to your customer. This markup is entirely up to you and will vary based on the profit margin you’d like to receive on each sale.

Ideally, print-on-demand companies will offer the products you sell on the low end because that will allow you to obtain a higher profit margin. Another factor to consider is the cost to use both platforms. When you examine both, Printful vs Printify, they both have free plans that allow you to sell as many products as you like. Printify in general offers products at a lower price point, but let’s take a look at some of the most popular items sold by both companies.

Please keep in mind that these are the “starting from” prices. Both companies charge more for larger sizes, typically from 2x and larger, and Printify’s base price also depends on which supplier is selected. Also, both companies offer the opportunity to reduce the base price.

• Printful offers a discount based on the number of sales you made the previous month.
• Printify offers a 20% discount for any sellers who opt to pay for the premium plan at $29.00 per month.
• Prinftul Offers Flat Rate Pricing

 Setting Your Print on Demand Prices

When you compare Printfity vs Printful, Printful’s base prices tend to be higher than Printify’s. There are a lot of individual products that you can and should compare, but here are a few. These base prices do not include shipping costs, so you have to add this price to the amount the company will charge for shipping before setting your retail prices. Setting your prices too low can result in a loss to you.

Both Printful and Printify allow you to preview your profit based on your retail price before you set it. Just remember to factor in the shipping costs.

Selection of Print on Demand Products

Both Printify and Prinftul offer a wide range of products in the categories of clothing, accessories, and home and living. The items that I noticed were not offered by both were:

Print on Demand Pet Items:

Printify offers dog beds, bowls, and bandanas, but Printful does not offer any items for pets.

Print on Demand Jewelry:

Printify offers a dog tag necklace but Printful offers necklaces, bracelets, and one pair of earrings.

Print on Demand Shoes:

Printful offers flip-flops but Printify offers flip-flops, high heel shoes, sneakers, and boots.

Print on Demand Keychains:

Printful offers keychains but Printify does not.

Print on Demand Christmas Tree Ornaments:

Printify offers snowflake ornaments but Printful does not.

Journals and Wall Calendars:

Printify offers stationery including notebooks, greeting cards, and postcards.

Print-on-demand companies are always adding new items, so it’s beneficial to check frequently to see which items are available to add to your store.

Printify vs Printful: Print on Demand Shipping

Both companies handle the fulfillment and shipping for you, so there’s no need to worry about this. The thing that I like about Printful is that you are able to see very clearly what the shipping cost is for each product by looking at one chart. 

Because Printify uses multiple suppliers, it is necessary to check each supplier’s shipping rates. It would be helpful for Printify to provide a list showing the shipping rates for each supplier in one place.

Because different Printify suppliers have different rates, it’s not possible to do an overall, side-by-side comparison here.

Print on Demand Suppliers and Shipping

Printify uses 42 suppliers shipping primarily from China, the United States, Europe, and Canada. Sellers can select which supplier to use based on the cost of shipping, their rating, the estimated shipping time, and their location.

Printful does not give sellers the ability to select from different suppliers. Instead, different products are fulfilled and shipped from warehouses in California and North Carolina in the U.S., Latvia, Toronto, Mexico, Spain, Japan, and Australia.

Printify vs Printful: Integrations

Both Printful and Printify integrate with a number of platforms, allowing you to offer products using the print-on-demand model on many different websites. Integration with other platforms is also relatively easy, and both websites have resources to offer guidance with it.

Once you integrate Printful or Printify with another platform, like Shopify, for example, a customer can make a purchase on your website and their order will be fulfilled and shipped seamlessly.

If you choose to do so you can allow the fulfillment process to begin automatically, as soon as the order is placed. I choose not to do this so I can make last-minute changes to orders if necessary.
Printify currently integrates with Shopify with, Etsy, eBay, PrestaShop, BigCommerce, Wix, WooCommerce, and with Printify API.

Printful currently integrates with Shopify with, Etsy, Webly, Amazon, eBay, PrestaShop, BigCommerce, Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, Ecwid, Magento, Storenvy, Bonanza, 3dcart, Launch Cart, Gumroad, Shipstation, Big Cartel, Wish, WooCommerce, and with Printful API.

Both websites make it easy to create simple designs. Printify offers free designs in several design pack categories, and Printful makes it easy to create basic designs with a design maker feature.

Printify vs Printful: Mockups

Both websites have mockup generators that allow you to list your products, so they appear to be worn by a model, as opposed to just a floating design on your website. I prefer to use Placeit.net mock-ups because they offer more variety, but as a free option, it’s a great feature that they both offer. Both Printify and Printful are great print-on-demand companies. 

You can also create mockups yourself using Canva. They have mockup photos readily available in the photo section. If you are a beginner, try the Canva Tutorial for basic tips. 

Printful and Printify each have their pros and cons and depending on your needs, they can both be good options. Look at your integration needs, your product selection, the shipping costs, and shipping times to see which option is right for you.

I actually use both, Printful for my Shopify store which sells clothing and accessories, and Printify for an Etsy shop. I appreciate Printify’s lower base price and their incentives to reduce them even lower. Printful offers a product that Printify does not offer, so I stay with them for my Shopify store. I suggest you check them both out!

Are you thinking about selling print-on-demand products? If so, tell us in the comment section what you plan to sell.