Abby B. Unsure how to compare Printify and Printful pricing? Want to know how much you can make with these print on demand companies? These are 5 things to consider.
Running an online dropshipping business can be tricky when things aren’t all too obvious and upfront. Understanding the costs and rewards you can get along the way makes a lot of difference to your business’s everyday decision-making. So if these things seem all too confusing for you, I’ve made things simpler for even beginners to grasp in this single article.
In this post, I’ll be sharing the top 5 things you should consider when comparing Printful vs Printify pricing and provide an overview of how much you can effectively make per sale with these two platforms. Read on!
*This post may contain affiliate links. This means I may earn a small commission (at no cost to you) if you sign up for a program or make a purchase using my link!
What Percentage Does Printful Take?
Printful does not take a percentage of sales as sellers are free to set selling prices. For every order, sellers will have to pay for the product’s base cost and shipping charges to customer’s address. How much a seller is able to profit depends on the prices they set which is not controlled by Printful.
Is Printify Cheaper Than Printful?
Printify is cheaper than Printful for the base cost of most products. However, there are other things to consider such as shipping charges, subscription plans, monthly discounts and bulk discounts. With Printify Premium, sellers can get up to extra 20% off which makes Printify significantly cheaper than Printful.
Printify vs Printful Pricing: 5 Things To Compare
1. Product base cost
When comparing prices on both Printify and Printful, the first thing that comes to mind is the product base cost. It is the most important factor in calculating profit margins.
Here is the difference in pricing between Printify and Printful for best-selling products on the platforms.
| Product | Printify’s price (USD) | Printful’s price (USD) |
| Unisex Crewneck Sweatshirt | 14.75 | 17.75 |
| Unisex Short Sleeve Tee | 9.49 | 11.75 |
| Women’s Racerback Tank | 9.87 | 15.75 |
| Unisex Heavy Blend Hoodie | 17.85 | 20.95 |
| Clear Phone Cases (iPhone 13) | 11.76 | 9.95 |
| Sublimation Socks | 6.54 | 9.50 |
| AOP Tote Bag | 9.54 | 16.75 |
| Spiral Notebook | 6.54 | 11.95 |
| Kiss-Cut Stickers | 1.18 | 2.25 |
| Matte Vertical Poster | 4.66 | 6.25 |
| 18×18 AOP Square Pillow | 11.34 | 15.75 |
From the table above, we can conclude that Printify’s base prices are relatively lower than Printful. The comparison above is made based on almost alike products – so bear in mind, they’re not exactly the same! You’ll have to consider other factors like material, quality and location where it is made.
Assuming you charge the same selling price for both, these are the profits you’re able to make – gross excluding other fees and charges.
| Product | Selling price (USD average based on Etsy) | Printify’s profit (USD) | Printful’s profit (USD) |
| Unisex Crewneck Sweatshirt | 30.00 | 15.25 | 12.25 |
| Unisex Short Sleeve Tee | 17.00 | 7.51 | 5.25 |
| Women’s Racerback Tank | 22.00 | 12.13 | 6.25 |
| Unisex Heavy Blend Hoodie | 35.00 | 17.15 | 15.05 |
| Clear Phone Cases (iPhone 13) | 16.00 | 4.24 | 6.05 |
| Sublimation Socks | 10.00 | 3.46 | 0.50 |
| AOP Tote Bag | 19.00 | 9.46 | 2.25 |
| Spiral Notebook | 14.00 | 7.46 | 2.05 |
| Kiss-Cut Stickers | 3.00 | 1.82 | 0.75 |
| Matte Vertical Poster | 9.00 | 4.34 | 2.75 |
| 18″x18″ AOP Square Pillow | 18.00 | 6.66 | 2.25 |
For most of the products above, profits are significantly higher when selling with Printify compared to Printful. Difference in profits can be huge – almost 7 times!
2. Shipping charges
Although print on demand platforms do not recommend including shipping charges in product price and charging them separately, it is still an important factor for customers when purchasing.
For each ecommerce platform you integrate with, you should be able to set shipping fees separately from the main product selling price.
Difference in shipping fees
These are the differences in shipping charges by Printify and Printful for a few best-selling products when shipped to the USA.
| Products | Printify (USD) | Printful (USD) |
| T-shirts | 4.00 | 3.99 |
| Tote bags | 3.99 | 3.99 |
| Phone cases | 4.50 | 3.99 |
| Stickers | 3.99 | 3.99 |
| Mugs (11oz) | 6.19 | 6.49 |
| Matte Poster (Small) | 6.29 | 4.99 |
| Throw blanket (50″x60″) | 13.69 | 7.99 |
It’s fair to say that Printify’s shipping charges depend on your chosen supplier. Each supplier produces different products so it’s quite difficult to have all your products sourced from one location. They may be located in countries out of the USA making some shipping charges more expensive than others. Printful’s shipping charges are more standardized as printing is done in house.
Check updated shipping charges for Printify here and Printful here
Additional shipping fees for add-on products
You would also want to consider additional shipping charges for every additional product purchased in the same order. This may affect your customer’s order volume and your average order value.
A costly shipping charge for an additional item may discourage purchase resulting in buyers to check out with just one product. In my personal experience, they will consider buying the additional item separately or may not come back at all.
Not good for business!
| Item | Printify 2nd item fee (USD to USA) | Printful 2nd item fee (USD to USA) |
| T-shirts | 2.00 | 2.00 |
| Tote bags | 1.99 | 2.00 |
| Phone cases | 1.50 | 0.75 |
| Stickers | 0.09 | 0.05 |
| Mugs (11oz) | 3.09 | 3.50 |
| Matte Poster (Small) | 0.99 | 0.40 |
| Throw blanket (50″x60″) | 2.89 | 2.50 |
3. Paid subscription plans
There are a few ways to save and achieve lower product prices with every order you make. One way in the print on demand industry is to subscribe to a paid monthly plan. Some white label print on demand companies that offer subscription plans are Printify, Printful, AOP+ and Inkthreadable.
You’ll be able to make more money with less effort! Here’s a comparison of paid plans available on Printify and Printful – check out if they save you money.
Printify’s subscription plans
- Printify Premium
- Costs $29/month with the monthly subscription, or $299.88/year with the annual subscription (savings of $48.12)
- Allows for 10 stores per account instead of just 1 with the free account
- Enjoy up to 20% discount on all products
- Printify Enterprise
- Tailored solution for merchants with 10,000+ orders a day
- Price unspecified, will have to contact for more info
- Allows for unlimited stores per account
- Enjoy up to 20% discount on all products
Prices of best selling products and savings with Printify Premium subscription:
Printify Premium is a great option for growing businesses as they get to save more with a higher number of orders. When starting out, newbies may find it difficult to recover the $29 monthly fee but they should be able to with just a few sales per month – this depends on type of product sold and selling price.
Printful’s subscription plans
- Printful Plus
- Costs $9/month with no extra discounts for annual subscription
- Offers a 14-day free trial for you to try premium for you to give all the premium design tools
- Tools include creating custom product mockups, removing image backgrounds and creating marketing promos
- Printful Pro
- Costs $49/month with the monthly subscription, or $539/year with the annual subscription (savings of $49)
- Includes all perks of the Printful Plus subscription
- Don’t have to pay for embroidery design digitization which usually costs $6.50 for every new embroidery design added (not per product sold)
- Free access to Getty Images and Vexels vector graphics for use of Premium Images in your designs – usually costs $1 for every product sold that uses these graphics
- You get to choose your own shipping carrier when orders are shipped within the USA, Europe, and Canada
Comparing Printify and Printful subscription plans
While Printify makes it obvious that you’ll be saving up to 20% on every order you get with the Premium or Enterprise subscription, Printful’s plans do not offer similar monetary savings.
It will make it harder for beginners and small businesses to consider Printful’s subscription plans unless they make use of the additional features. If I am starting out myself and looking to make extra savings to earn more (this is the number one concern for beginners), I am more inclined to subscribe to Printify Premium compared to Printful’s plans.
Printful’s plans are much more catered for growing businesses who are looking to upgrade their products with branding and be more efficient with time saving tools.
4. Monthly discount rewards
Although Printify wins with the Premium subscription plan, I must say that Printful works better at rewarding sellers for achieving higher sales milestones.
Printful has a monthly discount reward scheme where sellers can enjoy a minimum of 5% off and up to 9% off product base cost, depending on sales achieved in the previous month. The discounts are applied for orders placed in the next month using the calculation below.
It may be justified to say that sellers are able to enjoy a higher discount rate by getting the Printify Premium subscription, instead of working hard month-to-month to unlock Printful’s monthly discounts.
5. Bulk ordering discounts
Both Printify and Printful offer discounts on bulk orders made by sellers for their own purchase or a customer’s purchase.
Some benefits of bulk ordering print on demand products include:
- Able to sell at a physical retail store as an addition to your online store
- Influencers and content creators can keep a small quantity of ready merchandise for promotions and selling to their fans
- Small businesses able to offer merchandise designing & printing services to corporate and non-profit organizations
- Cater to social and family events requiring standard outfits, gifts, etc.
Printify’s bulk discounts
- Only offers savings of up to 30% on shipping charges
- Discounts applied to bulk orders of more than 60 units
- Able to mix and match products to achieve 60 units
- Since Printify works with a collection of partners, the 60 items must be from a single printing partner (not able to mix)
- Must contact Printify to get the discount
- View sample calculation here
There isn’t much details and less transparency on how the bulk order discounts work on Printify. But you can view the sample calculation in the link above. Sample includes purchase of 60 Unisex Jersey Short Sleeve Tee (Bella+Canvas 3001) to the USA where sellers can save $62.60 on shipping.
The total savings you’re able to make is $62.60 (9.27%) – only pay $612.30 instead of $674.90 (full-priced).
- Product base cost: – (0%)
- Shipping cost: $62.60 (-%) (up to 30%)
Printful’s bulk discounts
- Discounts are applied to both product and shipping charges
- Discounts on product vary with number of product purchased
- Each product has a different minimum order quantity
- Each product has varying discount tiers and percentage of discount applicable
- The Unisex Staple T-Shirt has MOQ of 15 units to enjoy 4% off up to 500 units for 22% off
- The Classic Dad Cap has MOQ of 10 units to enjoy 5% off up to 500 units for 23% off
- Discount automatically applied at checkout
- View sample calculation here
Assuming, you make a bulk purchase of 50 Unisex Staple T-Shirt (Bella + Canvas 3001) to the USA. You’re able to enjoy 9% off product base cost and get 60% off shipping.
The total savings you’re able to make is $119.75 (16%) – only pay $629.74 instead of $749.49 (full-priced).
- Product base cost: $58.50 (9%)
- Shipping cost: $61.25 (60%)
Difference between Printify and Printful bulk order discounts
Sellers can enjoy more savings with bulk orders on Printful compared to Printify. Printify does not offer any discounts on product base cost and caps discounts for shipping charges at 30%.
Printful’s bulk discounts start at lower quantities which is great for sellers looking to try their own products. It also makes it worthwhile for small businesses to order in larger volumes and build their presence in different distribution channels.
Still, we can see the unisex t-shirt is cheaper on Printify compared to Printful. The average cost per shirt (incl. shipping) is $12.59 on Printful (50 MOQ) but it’s only $10.21 on Printify (60 MOQ).
The only upperhand Printify has is they allow for a mixture of products within the 60 items. So a business will need to sell varying items to enjoy the benefit!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is better than Printful?
Printify is better than Printful when it comes to sourcing cheaper priced products. Products are much cheaper on Printify compared to Printful and you can enjoy more savings by subscribing to Printify Premium plan. This makes it better than Printful as new businesses can easily start printing on demand.
Is Printful profitable for sellers?
Printful is profitable for growing businesses compared to newer ones. Prices are higher than average but products are great quality and there’s a handful of branding services businesses can explore. Sellers can enjoy savings with bulk ordering and achieve better efficiency with the Plus and Pro plans.
Who are Printful competitors?
Some of Printful’s competitors include Printify, Gelato, Gooten and Prodigi. Printful has a wide variety of print on demand products compared to other competitors in the market and offers global shipping. This makes it a great white label company to go with if a seller wants to use a single supplier only.
Bottom Line
Decided on which fulfillment to go with? The key is to start with one and find out if you actually like it. For the above reasons, I recommend using Printify if you’re a complete newbie to print on demand.
These are 5 things to consider when comparing Printify and Printful pricing:
- Product base cost
- Shipping charges
- Paid subscription plans
- Monthly discounts
- Bulk discounts
Ready to start? Check out my best print on demand product guides! Suitable for both Printify and Printful.
- Tote bags for print on demand
- Tumblers for print on demand
- Phone cases for print on demand
- Posters for print on demand
- Leggings for print on demand
- Jewelry for print on demand
- Candles for print on demand
- Doormats for print on demand
- Hoodies for print on demand
- Pet products for print on demand
- Socks for print on demand
- Pajamas for print on demand
- Blankets for print on demand
- Baby clothes for print on demand
- Wrapping paper for print on demand
- Puzzles for print on demand
- Stickers for print on demand
- Athletic wear for print on demand
- Hats for print on demand
- Journals for print on demand
- Greeting cards for print on demand
- Mugs for print on demand
Photo by Olya Kobruseva
