If you’re looking for a Print on Demand service, two names will often come up: Printful and Printify. So, how are they different, and which one is better?
Printful offers better quality print on demand services. It uses better printing technology and does everything in-house. It also has more integrations and international order fulfillment centers.
On the other hand, Printify offers reliable services but has cheaper paid subscriptions.
This article looks at some of the similarities and differences between Printify and Printful. Read on to find out which one offers better POD services.
What we cover
What Is Printify
Printify is a Print on Demand (POD) service that allows users to make designs and have them printed on a hoodie, t-shirt, mug, or other objects. Unlike conventional garment and printing shops, Printify doesn’t print in bulk.
Therefore, you can request one printed t-shirt and have it shipped to your location. This is ideal for small businesses that are not ready to print in bulk or individuals who want a custom design printed on an item.
Printify can print a wide range of products, including t-shirts, hoodies, shoes, jewelry, accessories, and even home decor options.
What Is Printful?
Printful is a POD service that integrates with your online store to deliver printed products to your customers. It also gives you a way to brand your products.
Printful has a full design platform where you can create designs for printing on clothing and other products. It also allows you to generate quick designs or import designs that you or someone else has created.
After that, Printful integrates with eCommerce platforms like BigCommerce or Shopify giving you a way to push your branded products.
Printful also dose everythng in-house. Therefore it provides all the printing and warehousing services itself.
Similarities Between Printify and Printful
Apart from their names, Printify and Printful have many other similarities. Below are some of the major ones.
They’re Both Print on Demand Services
Printify and Printify allow you to print as many (or few) products as you want when you want them. You can print a single product or order a thousand.
This is especially useful for businesses or individuals (like content creators) who sell branded merchandise. Since demand is unpredictable, you might brand thousands of products and then warehouse them for ages.
Similarly, you might print a few units without anticipating demand then have nothing to sell when the demand increases.
Using Printful and Printify ensures you get the exact number of branded products you need, saving you money and the frustration of having nothing to sell.
Both Services Print a Wide Variety of Products
Traditional garment and printing services specialize in specific products. However, Pritful and Printify allow you to print on anything from t-shirts to socks and utensils.
Offer a Free Plan
Printify and Printful offer a free package for users. Therefore, you can sign up and start using the services immediately without paying upfront.
This is important because they only start earning when you order a product with them. Therefore, you can create an account and let it sit until you need it without worrying about subscription fees.
That said, they both offer premium subscription services that give you advanced features and benefits.
Differences Between Printify and Printful
On the flip side, Printful and Printfy also have many similarities. Below are some of the most common ones.
Print Quality Comparison
When you are selling branded items, they must be high quality else your customers will be disappointed, hurting the chances of future business with them.
Printful uses DTG (Direct to Garment) technology to print designs on products. That said, DTG paints can be more expensive. Since the company controls the whole process, it’s more efficient, and they have quality control.
Most customer reviews reveal that they received high-quality products from Printful.
On the other hand, Printify outsources its services to other printing service providers. Although Printify only works with the best in the industry, some customers have complained about their branded products fading, even after following the product care instructions.
That said, Printify gives you the option to ask for a sample before committing to a large order. This way, you’ll assess the quality of the materials and paint before buying in bulk.
Design Generator
The design generator is as close as it gets between Printify and Printful. Both platforms have a product markup generator, text tool, and embroidery markup generator.
Printful only wins because it has a product personalization tool and a clipart tool, which are absent in Printify.
Ease of Use
Printify and Printful are easy to learn and use and don’t require special skills. Since they’re both free, you can sign up and start using them immediately.
Creating designs on Printful is fast and easy, taking only a few minutes. The site’s visual layout feels modern and clean, making it easy to navigate. There’s also a handy search bar at the top in case you can’t locate what you need.
Printify also offers a good navigation experience with its intuitive user interface. However, since there are so many producers and printers, you have to scroll through many of them before making a conclusive decision.
Integrations
An integration connects programs to your online store, increasing its automation and functionality. If a POD service can’t integrate with your store, you’ll have a hard time selling their products.
Below are the eCommerce and marketplace integration for both platforms.
Printify Integrations
Printful Integrations
- Etsy
- eBay
- BigCommerce
- Prestashop
- WooCommerce
- Wix
- Squarespace
- Ecwid
- Webflow
- Amazon
- Square
- Big Cartel
- Weebly
- Ship Station
- Printful API
- And more
Clearly, printful has more integrations than Printify. However, both services offer enough integrations for most users’ needs.
Branding Options
You can brand many Printful products with your custom design. This is a great way to increase brand awareness and stand out from the competition.
The company also offers white-label packaging, which means your products won’t be shipped with Printful logos on the packaging. You can also opt to have your branding on the packaging This is a great option if you want your customers to only see your branding.
Additionally, you can pay to have pack-ins with your orders. This is another brilliant way to include marketing materials in your products.
Printify also allows you to create custom designs for your products and offers white-label packaging. If you buy the product through your own supplier and ship it to Printify, you can also have custom packaging.
However, Printify does not give you the option to send pack-ins with your products.
Order Fulfilment and Shipping
Order fulfillment and shipping is much easier with Printful because everything is done in-house. With Printify, you have to rely on third-party suppliers, who might be unreliable sometimes.
For instance, when it comes to US orders, coordinates the fulfilment service between its California and North Carolina centers. International vendors then use the Spain, Latvia and Mexico fulfilment centers.
Everything goes through the same printing, packaging, and dispatch process. This makes it more predictable than Printful.
Areas of Coverage
Printful has international fulfillment centers in Latvia, Mexico and Spain. It also has partner facilities in Japan, Brazil and Australia. Therefore, you can ship your products almost anywhere.
On the other hand, Printify doesn’t have dedicated international shipping fulfillment centers. However, it uses partners to ship anywhere in the world except North Korea, Russia, Ukraine and Guadeloupe.
Customer Support
Printful offers 24/7 support on live chat and email. It also has call support for the US, Latvia, UK, Australia and Canada.
When your live chat conversation ends, it’s sent to your email for your record. You can also respond to the archived email should you have further questions.
The site also has an extensive help center that covers everything you need to know. There’s also tons of content on the Youtube channel.
Printify also has a 24/7 live chat and email support. You can start real-time conversations by clicking the chat bubble and choosing a topic that matches your question.
Pricing Plans
Printful and Printify have different pricing plans. Let’s look at them below.
Printful Pricing
Printful has three main plans:
- Free plan: Offers everything you need to have your products printed, packaged and shipped. It allows you to integrate it with your store and choose from over 300 products to print. You can also use the text tool, design marker tool, pattern tool and cliparts.
- Printful plus plan: This costs $9 per month and gives you access to special design and marketing features to create unique visuals for your store and social media ads for promotion. You also get the custom mockups, promo maker and background removal.
- Pritnful pro plan: This exclusive plan costs $49 per month and unlocks all printful tools and features. You also get access to industry-leading carriers like FedEx, USPS, DHL and DPD.
Printify Pricing
Printify also offer three plans:
- Free plan: Gives you unlimited product design and integration with 5 stores per account.
- Premium plan: Costs $24.99 per month, billed annually. It gives you access to 10 stores per account, unlimited product designs and a 20% discount on all products.
- Enterprise pan: suitable for merchants with over 10,000 orders everyday. It gives you access to unlimited stores, unlimited product designs and a 20% discount on all products. You have to contact the sales team for a custom package.
Profit Margins
Since the aim of using these services is to make money, it’s important to consider their profit margins.
Margins may vary depending on where you’re shipping your products and the manufacturer you’re using.
However, since Pritnful does everything in-house, its cost of production tends to be lower, leaving a bigger profit margin to split with you.
Pros and Cons Summary
| Printful | Printify | ||
| Pros | Cons | Pros | Cons |
| Free plan | Expensive paid plans | Free plan | Global shipping might be slow |
| Many product options | Few features on the free plan | Affordable paid plans | Lower profit margins |
| Higher profit margins | Wide product catalog | Products might not always be high quality | |
| Better order fulfillment and shipping | 24/7 customer support on email and live chat | ||
| Reliable customer support | Numerous printing partners across the country | ||
| Dedicated international fulfill centers | Global shipping | ||
| High quality products and printing technology | More features on free plan |
Which Is Better Printify or Printful?
Printful offers better services than Printify. It uses an advanced printing technology, has a reliable order fulfillment and shipping history and higher profit margins.
However, its monthly plans are more expensive than Printify and its free plan has few features. This makes Printify more suitable for small businesses.
FAQs
Still have more questions? Here is an FAQ section to try and answer them.
Can I Connect Printful and Printify to Shopify and Etsy?
Yes, Printful has many integrations, including Shopify and Etsy. Printify also integrates with Shopify and Etsy.
Can You Use Printful and Printify Together?
Yes. You can use Printful and Printify at the same time. However, it’s important to note which listings are in which platform to avoid confusion.
Who Pays for Shipping on Printify and Printful?
On both Printful and Printify, customers pay for the shipping fee. The fee is separate from the product price and varies depending on the shipping location.
Can You Make Money off Printify and Printful?
With enough customers on your store, you can make money off Printify and Printful. Both platforms are automated and won’t need much of your input.
Do Printful and Printify Ship Internationally?
Printful has dedicated fulfillment centers in Lativa, Mexico and Spain. It also has many international partners that allow it to ship globally. Printify also ships globally but only uses international partners.
Do Printify and Printful Work With Amazon?
Printful integrates directly with Amazon, allowing you to sell the POD products on the site. However, Printify doesn’t offer direct integration with Amazon.
