Which is better? Printify vs Printful

 Providing quality products to your customers while maximizing profit margins is the name of the game. So, picking the right companies to work with is a top priority because, use the wrong company can lower both quality and profits.

When it comes to print-on-demand Printify and Printful are some of the biggest names out there. Now, you might ask which is better, Printify or Printful? 

Hopefully, at the end of this article you'll be able to answer that question.

Printify vs Printful, What we'll look at.     

The main topics which we'll compare are:

• Flexibility (integrations)
• Ease of use
• Pricing
• Order fulfillment and shipping times
• Quality  

What is Print-on-demand? 

According to Shopify print on demand (POD) is where you work with a supplier and use their white-label products (like phone cases, blankets, t-shirt or hats) with your designs and sell them under your own brand. This happens on a per-order basis. Which means no storing piles of T-shirts and with Printify and Printful they handle the shipping. (Check out our Shopify review)

How does Printify work?

Printify breaks down the process from uploading a design to shipping out an order into 5 basic steps. 

1. Picking 
2. Customizing
3. Sample
4. Publish
5. Fulfillment (they say relax)

When it comes to picking products Printify has over 200 products ranging from hats, t-shirts and even home products. One area I would like to point out is that they work with many different suppliers which can make quality control a little more complicated. Not all suppliers are equal so picking there right one will take a little more diligence on your part. This may increase your expenses because testing comparing each supplier you're interested is a must. 

Customizing with Printify is easy and simple. Upload a design, pick the product you want to sell, choose the colors, sizes and preview it with there mock up generator. I like their mock up generator which makes it easy to upload to your store but its a little generic. If you wan to make your store standout more either take your own pictures or use a third-party mockup generator like Place-it.  

As I stated earlier they offer an option to sample products from different suppliers. This can be a pro or a con. If you want more options this is a pro, if you just want consistency and simplify the start up process its ads more work.  

Printify Integrations

Printify integrates with major ecommerce platforms like Shopify which makes publishing you product easy. After you picked, customized, sampled then you can upload your product automatically .    

Printify integrates with the following platforms:

• Shopify
• WooCommerce
• Etsy
• eBay
• Wix
• PrestaShop
• BigCommerce
• Printify API

The final step is fulfillment. Which from your end is automatic, because of the integration. Once you make a sale Printify goes into action. Printify sends the order to the supplier. The supplier then prints, packages and ships your product to the customer. You're hands off at this point, which cuts down your work load.

How does Printful work?

The steps to Printful are very similar to Printify but the major difference between the to is that Printful prints there own products at their own locations. 

Printful breaks it down into 6 steps:

1. Sign up and connect
2. Create custom products
3. Fill your store
4. Promote and sell your products
5. Watch your orders come in 
6. Print, pack and ship. (fulfillment)

 Printful operates its own warehouse around the world in places like in the USA, Mexico, and Europe. 

Printful integrations

Just like Printify, Printful integrates to your store but its list differs with platforms including the following:

• Squarespace
• BigCommerce
• Weebly
• Ecwid
• PrestaShop
• Big Cartel
• Gumroad
• Magneto
• 3rdcart
• Launch Cart.
• Wix

When it comes to customizing products you simply upload your design, pick the product and color sizes. They also give you an option the sample your product before you upload to your store so you can check the quality. This process is simpler because you are working with one company and not indented suppliers.

They have their own mock up generator but as I suggested with Printify, using a third party mockup generator or take your own pictures to give your store a more unique fill.

Just like Printify if you integrate with Printful the fulfillment is automated and is hassle free on your end.

Printify vs Printful-Pricing

Printify's plans

 Printify has three plans Free, Premium and Enterprise.

Free plan

This is for those merchants that are just starting out. There are no limits to the number of product you can upload to your store. The Free plan does limit the number of store you can have to 5.

Premium plan

With capacity for 10 store this plan is for merchants that are scaling up. Printify charges $29 per month for the premium plan but with a 20% discount on ordered products you'll easily save $29 if you're making sales.

Enterprise plan

This plan is customized on a case by case a basis. If your getting 10,000+ orders per day, then you're in a good place but you'll have to go with the most expensive plan. The sky is the limit when it comes to the number of stores you can integrate with.

Printful pricing

Unlike Printify, Printful does not have pricing plans you sign up and that is it. What they do is offer discounts according to number of sales you make. 

Printful lays out its pricing in a clear way but as you customize your product it makes you feel like you're getting nickeled and dimed. If you want front and back printing it'll cost you more. If you want custom tags, that's going to be an added charge.

Here is what some customize features would cost:

• 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

Results

When it comes to pricing there is no clear winner. It comes down to what would work for your specific business. If you customize everything then Printful will be much more expensive but worth it. If you want just basic print and ship without the extras Printify is the way to go.

Printify vs Printful: Shipping and Fullfilment  

Printful estimates that it can take between 2-7 business days to make apparel products, and 2-5 business days for non-apparel products.

On average, Printful states that it might take around 4 business days. Printful fulfills over 3 million orders each year as they working with global carrier companies. Companies like FedEx, DHL, USPS.com, and DPD.

For T-shirts, long sleeve shirts, crop tops, or tank tops, shipping cost are the following:

First product

• USA: $3.99
• Europe: $4.39
• Canada: $6.49
• Australia/ New Zealand: $6.99
• Worldwide: $5.99

Additional product

• USA: $1.25
• Europe: $1.09
• Canada: $1.25
• Australia/ New Zealand: $1.25
• Worldwide: $1.25

If you offer free shipping then these are the prices you'll have to pay or allow the customer to calculate the shipping at checkout.

Printify rates are more complicated to figure out. They have some rates as low as $5 to more than $18. If you want to see a complete list click here.

Shipping time will be longer as well.

Location

• USA: 7-15 business days
• Canada: 10- 15 business days
• International: 10-30 days

Printful outshines Printify when it comes to fulfillment time and shipping cost.

Printify vs Printful: Product quality.

Printify is the middle man and gets you InTouch with many suppliers. The draw back is that it is harder to maintain quality control when shifting from one supplier to another. So maintaining product quality is more difficult but not impossible. Again ordering samples of your product is a must.

Printiful has a good reputation and has proven to consistently deliver a quality product. The main concern with the quality is how the actual design looks on the white-label product you are choosing. that said ordering samples is still important.

On product Quality I would say Printful wins again.

Summary

Overall, I would say that Printful is better than Printify. Printiful wins when it comes to ease of use, quality, order fulfillment and shipping times and flexibility (integrations).  Pricing was a gray area that depending on your business needs and location Printify could be the better option. 

Though Print on Demand can be profitable Click Here to see my #1 way to make money online.

Subscribe below if you want to receive great offers that could take your business to the next level!