When you are ready to start a print-on-demand business, you may find yourself thinking through Printify vs Printful comparison. Though it is easy to find some interesting Printify reviews and Printful reviews online, the big question has always been – what are the differences?
As some of the best print-on-demand companies in the market, these competing brands have almost everything you need to start today. However, they are rarely the same in some aspects.
Those differential aspects are the things we’ll be exploring in this post. Through this comparative post, you’ll gain a better understanding of what’s best for your specific needs.
Besides creating a standard print-on-demand store, looking into how these print companies integrate with other eCommerce platforms shouldn’t be ignored.
How Print On Demand Business Model Works
It is a business model where merchants design custom products and use an external supplier to print and ship each item sold through an online store.
Without generating sales, merchants don’t keep any inventory.
The products usually sold through the print on demand include t-shirts, hoodies, tank tops, face caps, towels, bags, mugs, and many more. Based on this model, you are the one to control both your prices and product designs.
Print-on-demand companies make use of advanced shipping and analytics technology to make this business model possible. And that’s what Printful, Printify, and a host of other POD platforms do.
Printify vs Printful: Product Selection And Pricing
What I found is that these two competing platforms have a wide selection of print-on-demand products.
From clothing to home living and accessories, different types of products abound on these platforms. Printful offers its merchants around 304 products to sell while Printify is a bit below that number.
Even though the product categories are similar, the number of selectable products on Printful is more diverse than Printify.
Under the accessories category, Printful has a wider availability of products like duffle bags, laptop bags, backpacks, tote bags, and fanny packs. You’ll also find other products like pillows, throw pillows, stickers, posters, wall art, and fabrics.
What you select will be dependent on your preferred product.
In terms of pricing, Printify will allow you to get started with the free plan. But that plan is somehow limited.
Within that free account, you can only run about five stores. If you want more advanced features and a 20% discount on all products, you may have to go for the premium plan priced at $29 per month. There is also a custom pricing option that will give you more features at a higher price.
Contrary to this, Printful is all about the fixed price of each product. Whatever amount you add to that fixed price minus your sales cost will be your profit. There are no monthly fees on the platform.
Printify vs Printful: Order Fulfillment And Shipping Rates
How will your orders be fulfilled?
That’s the next question to think about after you have decided on the product to sell. Getting then sold products to your customers is usually dependent on two factors. First is the production. The second part is about shipping the product. Looking at these core functions, Printify and Printful are slightly different.
The core difference here is that Printify uses third-party suppliers called print providers, while Printful owns the entire in-house production of your print-on-demand products.
On the Printify platform, you can become a print service provider. But the same is not obtainable from Printful. In terms of specific countries, these companies have similar fulfillment centers across the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, and Spain.
However, the use of third-party print providers means Printify has a wider network of fulfillment centers across Europe.
When starting a print-on-demand business, the exact locations you want to sell your products deserve careful thought. More than anything else, your chosen location and the fulfillment centers will always affect the shipping time and rates.
Practically, fulfillment center proximity to your target customers will give you an edge regarding faster shipping times, lower rates, and sometimes free shipping.
Through the Printify website, you can find out the shipping rates and duration by clicking on the logos of each print service provider. But then, the shipping duration is mostly 5 – 15 days for most of the fulfillment locations the company uses. Contrary to that, the Printful shipping duration for most of its fulfillment centers is usually within 2 – 7 days. Again, it’s all dependent on the location you choose.
For Printful, you need to find out the live shipping rates for each location at the point of setting your product prices.
Printify vs Printful Comparison: Platform Integrations
While these print-on-demand platforms can help you create products and sell without holding an inventory, you need an online storefront for customers to buy your products.
For this, you have to consider how each one of them integrates with your eCommerce platform of choice. Interestingly, you’ll always have lots of eCommerce platforms and online marketplaces to consider.
Regarding eCommerce platform integrations, Printify will only give the option to sell on Shopify, WooCommerce, Etsy, and Wix. And that’s just about it.
Printful eCommerce Platform Integration
- Shopify
- WooCommerce
- BigCommerce
- Prestashop
- Squarespace
- Magento
- Wix
- Weebly
- Ecwid
Besides, you’ll find a host of other shipping and shopping cart technology integrations available on the Printful platform. Perhaps, these options will be more valuable to advanced eCommerce business owners.
Regarding these auxiliary integrations, you’ll find Webflow, Big Cartel, 3DCart, Launch Cart, Gumroad, Shipstation, and Square on the Printful platform.
As a new person starting a print-on-demand business, here is what I want you to note. You don’t have to launch or focus on all these platforms at once.
Printify vs Printful API Access
Assuming you are relatively new to this, API stands for application programmable interface. Through this web protocol, you can build custom solutions or automated processes to run your eCommerce business.
Besides, if you are a developer building independent eCommerce applications, gaining API access can help you integrate and make your application accessible on other people’s platforms.
In the case of running a print-on-demand business, you can use the APIs on both Printful and Printify to automate some of your business processes. For example, you can automate the fulfillment of your print-on-demand orders without spending a minute on manual work.
However, Printify takes things a bit further by allowing other eCommerce platform owners to integrate their products and solutions through the API. That’s just the only difference between Printful and Printify in this case.
Printful vs Printify Comparison: Payments
The thing to decide about payment is this. How will your customers make payments for the products they want to buy from you?
Most times, this isn’t a barrier because all of the eCommerce storefronts or online marketplaces where you’ll be selling your products already have existing payment systems.
However, you still have to decide on payment options based on how the chosen print-on-demand platform works.
In terms of payment methods, Printful will offer your customers options like Paypal, MasterCard, Visa, AmericanExpress, Maestro, Discover, JCB, and UnionPay.
Considering payment currency, Printify will give your customers USD and EUR options only. Printful, on the other hand, will give your customers a wide range of payment options. Your print-on-demand store can accept payments in USD, GBP, EUR, JPY, CHF, CAD, AUD, DKK, NZD, SEK, NOK, SGD, PLN, MXN, BRL, HKD, and PLN.
The benefit of having a wider payment option is this. Your online store will have the opportunity to expand into other geographic markets without going through some setup hassles.
Printify vs Printful Comparison: Warehousing
Warehousing for print on demand business model is another strategy that some merchants leverage to offer same-day shipping to their customers. Moreover, taking this route reduces shipping rates while increasing your profit margin at the same time.
But what I have found is that this is a playground for advanced and experienced print-on-demand business owners doing sizable volume per day or month.
Interestingly, warehousing for print on demand business model is one of the core differences between Printful and Printify. In specific terms, Printify doesn’t offer this option to its users at the time of this writing.
With this option, you can send products to the Printful warehouse and have them shipped to your nearby customers without any involvement on your end.
However, you should in mind that the warehousing services provided here attract some fees. To use this service, expect to pay some variant fees for things like product storage, packaging, pack-in picking, and processing.
Before using this service, you have to know your numbers inside and outside.
Benefits of warehousing for print on demand include the following.
- Free sign up and zero account maintenance fees
- Expansive warehousing locations
- Same-day order fulfillment
- Affordable and transparent pricing
- Automatic order fulfillment
Some of the locations you can use for warehousing include the USA, Canada, and Spain. Within these countries, you’ll also find specific states and cities where Printful warehouses are located.
Once again, you have to consider your target customer proximity and then calculate the numbers.
To help beginners and experienced merchants alike, some of the best print-on-demand business platforms offer other related services. And that’s one of the areas where Printful leads slightly ahead of Printify. Although Printify provides things like a mockup generator, what you find on this other competitor is much more robust.
You can get some other services like the following from Printful.
Design Services – You can get an expert to help you design your products, packaging, and branding materials. How it works is that you have to submit a request with a clear description of what you want. On the specific page created for this service, there is a form you have to fill.
Ecommerce Photography Services – As the company printing your products, Printful is positioned to produce clean photos of your actual products. With these services, you can create high-quality images of your products without seeing or touching them.
Product Video Production – You’ve always heard that an image is worth a thousand words. On a different ground, video influences emotions, as well as purchase decisions more than static images. Without looking for expensive video experts, you can use the same company that makes your print-on-demand products to produce high-quality videos for branding and marketing.
Frequently Asked Print On Demand Business Questions
Can I make living with print on demand?
The answer is an absolute yes. You are only limited by your imagination. When you begin to explore further, you’ll be amazed at some of the simple ideas that other people use to make money and even employ other experts to work for their print-on-demand business.
Are Printify and Printful the same thing?
These are separate print-on-demand companies. In this post, you’ll find a full detailed Printify vs Printful comparison. Take some time to read this post, and you’ll find some of the core differences between Prinftul and Printify. With a careful look into the comparative differences, it will become easier for you to choose the most suitable platform regarding your current needs or goals.
Who pays for shipping on Printify?
The shipping fees are usually added to the price of each product listed in your online store. In other words, it is the customer that pays the print-on-demand shipping fees.
Does Printful use PayPal?
Paypal is one of the best online payment methods used on Printful. Depending on what you want to do, you can use PayPal to pay for Printful services and accept payments from your customers.
Besides, the eCommerce platform you are using to build your print-on-demand store will also have some other payment methods.
Is it free to sell on Printful?
It is 100% free to start using Printful to build a print-on-demand business. You only pay for the production of products already sold to your customers through an online store. Meanwhile, you want to use other services from the company, as warehousing and storage, you have to pay some fees.
Final thoughts
As part of the best print-on-demand business platforms, Printful and Printify offer many tools for beginners. Between them, you’ll find a good number of similarities.
However, the essence of this post is a comparison of the two platforms. Looking at the features compared in this post, you’ll now have what it takes to make a better decision based on your personal preferences or current situation.
For example, utmost consideration should be given to the location of your target customers and their proximity to the fulfillment centers used by each platform.
Finally, you really need to work out your numbers properly before you can start and run a profitable print-on-demand business.
