Do you want to start your own T-shirt printing business but don’t want to spend money on screen-printing machines, blank T-shirts, vinyl cutter, or anything that is way too expensive?
Then, you are in the right article.
You just need to pick between Printify vs Printful. But what are these companies and what do they do?
These two well-known companies provide print-on-demand services without you having to spend money on machines. But which one should I go for?
In this article, we will go through the main differences between these two print-on-demand services and which one you should go for.
What Is Printify?
If you have ever done any research on print-on-demand services, you have probably come around Printify.
Printify is an excellent and reliable print-on-demand service. With Printify, you don’t have to spend money on any printing machine. It makes it simple for most people to get into printing without having any prior experience.
It also allows you to work with many different print providers from all over the world who will send your beautifully-designed T-shirts without much effort.
Benefits of Printify
It’s mind-blowing just how easy it is to print on T-shirts nowadays. A few years ago, you would have to spend hundreds of dollars just to get your business off the ground. Now you can do it from anywhere in the world.
No Investment
Paying upfront for a printing investment is a thing of the past. Getting your business off the ground was incredibly hard. And only a few people could successfully hit the jackpot. But now, it is way easier.
Print-on-demand services have changed all of this nonsense for good. Now your customers have an easier time getting your products, with no investment needed upfront.
No Bulks
This is probably the biggest challenge for any entrepreneur. Stocking up on hundreds of inventories with no guaranteed future sales is incredibly stressful for anybody. After all, you are spending lots of money, and you want to see your fair share.
It is a risky business, and it is not surprising, so many people get turned off by that idea. But with Printify, you don’t have to buy items in bulk.
Because of that, your money is no longer tied up. This is incredibly helpful and is a total game-changer.
No More Warehousing
This is probably one of the best things about Printify; you don’t need any warehousing. The system works this way: Your customers simply order any of your products, and then it is sent directly to them from one of the printing services.
You don’t have to manually handle any shipping. The old and tedious days of warehouses are long gone.
Powerful Creating Tool
One of the best ways to stand out from the competition is to have great designs for your products. However, if you have no prior experience making your designs, this might be a little bit hard. Fortunately, Printify gives you the right tools.
The mock-up generator is a powerful tool to bring your ideas to life. It is incredibly easy to use, and it only takes a few minutes before you come up with an excellent idea for your T-shirt.
Control over Your Prices
How much money you make from your business is what keeps you going. Watching it take off the ground and see how much it has grown is incredibly satisfying.
What makes Printify unique is just how much control you have over your prices. Once you are done using the mock-up generator, you are requested to set up the price for your T-shirt. This is done based on the cost of the original raw product.
Disadvantages of Printify
So far, we have only covered all the excellent features you get from using Printify, but there are some significant drawbacks you should keep in mind. So here they are:
Long Processing Times
If you have ever used Printify, you might have experienced prolonged processing times. That can be quite annoying if you are in a hurry and need to get back to as many people as possible.
Now, this heavily depends on what product you are using. Sometimes it does not take much time, sometimes it does. But if you go for Printify, you should expect to experience slow processing times at some point.
No Address Change
One of the biggest issues you might face while using Printify is that you can’t change the address after you put an order through.
If the order is still in quality control, you can change it. But once it is no longer in quality control, you cannot change the address.
This can be a huge issue due to the long processing times. What if a customer has been waiting to get their hands on your product but hasn’t received it yet?
If they ask you to change the address once it is past quality control, there is absolutely nothing you can do to redeem that.
A Bit Messy
It doesn’t happen as often, but at some point, you might come across this issue. Most of your products are not shipped by the same printer.
So, let’s say a customer orders multiple products from different printers, what is going to happen is that their products are going to be shipped at different times.
They will end up having several different processing times. This can get super messy, and you might end up with angry customers asking why you can’t ship at the same time.
You might not always face this issue, but it does happen from time to time.
What Is Printful?
This is by far the most popular print-on-demand service. It is widely used by many people starting up their Shopify store.
In fact, this is probably the company behind that beautiful T-shirt you are wearing. And just like Printify, they take care of the printing and packing
Benefits of Printful
Never has it been this easy to run a business from your home. Before, you had to do this by yourself. It took a lot of time to learn the basics of printing.
You would need to spend money on machines, as well as warehousing. But those days are finally over.
So, here are the benefits you get for using Printful:
No Bulk
Back when these services were not even a thing, you would literally gamble with your money. When you start a business for the first time, you don’t really know whether you are going to make any decent amount of money.
So, the fact that you had to buy items in bulk just to try and get your business up and running was incredibly discouraging for most people.
However, with Printful, you don’t have to worry about such things. The printer only prints the product once it is ordered. So, you won’t end up with T-shirts left behind unnecesarily.
Easy to Design With
One of the best things about Printful is just how customizable it is. For example, one of your customers wants their name on their T-shirt, and he/she can do so with Printful.
This is cool because once in a while, you may have customers that want a more customized experience. And changing it up a bit does not take much time.
Branding Features
If you have ever used any POD service, you might have realized that some companies leave their brand on the packing. This is quite annoying as a shop owner.
Nobody wants to see third party signs on top of your packing. It can also be a little bit confusing for the customer when they see someone else’s brand on your packing.
But with Printful, you don’t have to worry about other brands. You can customize your products as well as your packing with your own label.
So, when customers receive their long-waited T-shirt, there isn’t any other brand name on it but yours.
Super Compatible
One of the best things about Printful is how easy it is to make it work with popular e-commerce platforms such as BigCommerce, Shopify, and many other well-known platforms.
This is great because you might be turned off by the idea of spending hours trying to set it up on your Shopify store. You don’t even need any programming experience to get it running.
Printful provides all the tools needed to set it up in your e-commerce platform without having to look up several tutorials.
So, if you are worried that you will have a hard time setting it up, then rest assured because that will be the least of your problems.
No Warehousing
You don’t need a warehouse, and you don’t need to worry about shipping your products to customers. Everything is taken care of by Printful.
So, it’s not like you will have to manually package your products and ship them to several customers.
Disadvantages of Printful
As good as it looks from the outside, there are some issues that you will face when using Printful, and you should be aware of them. So, here are the most common issues you will encounter:
Starting Price
Some of these products are quite expensive, and you might have a hard time trying to make a decent amount of money off them.
If it’s only two to three shirts, you might not even notice. But as soon as you move on to bigger orders, it’s quite hard to make a profit with such high prices.
Limited Tools
Sure, they have a lot of great tools to make your life easier, but as soon as you start to mess with other different colors, you might feel quite disappointed by how limited it is.
Art placement is also quite limited in some areas. This can be quite inconvenient if a customer wants a customized T-shirt. Printful just doesn’t have the tools to help you fulfill that order.
Difference Between Printful and Printify
Both of these companies have been around for quite some time now. They both have proven to be great options for anybody who wants to start their own print-on-demand business.
But so it raises the question, what are the main differences between these two print-on-demand services? To answer this question, let’s take a look to learn more about these two companies.
Shipping
When you run a business, you should expect customers from all over the world. The internet is slowly becoming more accessible to everyone across the world.
So, the question is, which print-on-demand suits me better if I want to ship internationally?
We’ve noticed that Printify is a far better choice if you want to ship internationally. Printful seems to have a hard time shipping outside the US.
Now that is not to say that Printful is a poor choice, and you should stay away from it. Printful has some advantages when it comes to shipping too.
Shipping within the US with Printful is quite good, and you should not experience any delays as with shipping internationally.
So, if you plan on shipping within the US, you should stick to Printful.
Cost
Taxes and fees end up reducing your profit. So, it’s only natural that you would choose the cheapest service to keep as high profits as possible.
After using both services, we’ve come to realize that Printify is way cheaper than Printful.
In Printful, while the margins are not nearly as good as with Printify, we still believe it is a great option.
Print Quality
Let’s start off with Printify. Printify takes a different approach compared to Printiful when it comes to printing.
Printify works with many different companies. Because of this, you have a lot of room when it comes to choosing a company.
Whether it is price or print-quality, you can choose from many companies.
However, there are obviously some disadvantages to this, such as not being able to tell whether the company you’re working with might deliver a high-quality product.
We’ve had T-shirts looking cracked before. And as you might guess, those T-shirts are not in great shape to be sold to anybody.
Printful, on the other hand, they do all the work by themselves.
There are obviously some benefits to this, such as always having the same print quality and a set price for whatever product you want to get.
But if you don’t like the current quality, you’re stuck to it. However, we’ve ordered several T-shirts from Printiful before, and we’ve never had an issue with them.
The print quality is quite good and is far better than Printify’s print quality.
Editor
Both companies offer an online editor where you can customize your T-shirts as much as you want.
Printify’s editor is quite easy to get used, even if you little to no experience.
To get started, you need to manually upload a photo you want to put on top of your T-shirt and then edit it from there. Pretty straight forward, and you probably won’t need to look up anything online.
Printful also has an editor, which is quite easy to use regardless of how much experience you have.
But when it comes to versatility, we’ve noticed that Printiful has many more tools that Printify does not have.
The editor might not be an issue for you, but if you want to have as many tools as possible to customize your end-product, Printify will get in your way.
So, if you want as much freedom as possible, you should go for Printful.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you have any questions about print-on-demand that we didn’t address throughout this article, this section aims to fix so. So, here are the most frequently asked questions regarding both Printify and Printful:
Is Printful good quality?
Printful is the ideal print-on-demand service for anybody looking to grow a printing business. They take care of pretty much anything you will ever need.
Do I need Shopify to use Printful?
Printful works with many popular e-commerce websites such as Shopify, WooCommerce, Bigcommerce, and many other popular websites
Which is better Printify vs Printful?
While they both are excellent services, they both have their advantages and disadvantages. For example, Printify is way better when shipping outside the United States. On the other hand, Printful is not so good when shipping internationally.
Can I use Printful and Printify?
Yes, you can. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using both providers at the same time. If you feel like it will speed up your workflow, then go for it.
Is Print on Demand still profitable?
Yes, it is still possible. While it is true that there is a lot of competition nowadays, and it might not be as easy as before, print-on-demand is still a profitable business.
Final Words
As you can see, both services are incredibly useful. Depending on what you need, one might fit your needs better. But if you asked us Printify vs Printful, which one is better?
Printify seems to be more friendly when it comes to shipping internationally. Contrarily, Printful seems to have a hard time trying to ship outside the United States.
Nonetheless, Printful has some great features, such as working incredibly well with Shopify. And it is the perfect choice if you want to quickly set it up with your Shopify Store.
