10 Best Printful Alternatives

The Print on demand (POD) market is booming. More graphic artists are getting more creative, and more people appreciate these creative expressions.

Hence, the printing market – where POD is a submarket – is poised to hit $821 billion worldwide by the end of 2022.

POD is unique in that you have no limits to what you can print and order on these sites. You can print shirts, mugs, posters, and a host of other items on POD sites.

More so, print on demand websites provides excellent opportunities for both consumers and sellers. Designers or artists can easily make money from their art on these sites by uploading and selling them.

These print on demand sites make it possible to create your merch and sell them without waiting for Amazon to accept you. The process is almost stress-free since you only have to worry about the marketing and selling part of your business.

Printful

Printful is one of the better-known print-on-demand platforms. The platform has been around since 2013 and has managed to quickly become one of the ‘top dogs’ in the industry.

Printful integrates with over ten eCommerce platforms like Amazon, Etsy, eBay, Shopify, and more.

You can create custom designs and add over 200 different products. Printful goes a step further to offer warehousing and fulfillment services, which is an alternative to Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA).

This platform has awesome features, including branding options and a user-friendly interface. The designs are great and easy to use too. Everything is done in-house, which allows them to control the entire process and reduce setbacks.

However, not everyone might be inclined to use Printful – for one reason or the other. So, we’ve decided to come up with a list of equally good alternatives.

The Best Printful Alternatives

We’ll explore each of these alternatives, their unique offerings, and other key elements. So you can make an intelligent decision on what would fit your needs.

• Printify
• Zazzle
• Society6
• Redbubble
• Teelaunch
• Teespring
• Print Aura
• Scalable Press
• Gooten
• Teefury

Let’s get to it.

1. Printify

The best alternative for print on demand is Printify. Printful might be a top dog in some aspects of POD, but Printify shines too.

Specifically, Printify has lower prices, excellent customer service, and relatively faster shipping times. The platform is especially easy for new customers starting a POD business.

Printify has a massive collection of products in its catalog. And each category has different products under it. For example, their T-shirts include various types, styles, and fabrics.

How Printify Works

Printify lets you create your products and sync with online stores like eBay, PrestaShop, BigCommerce, Wix, Etsy, Shopify, or WooCommerce. Then prepare the orders and ship directly to your customers.

Unlike Printful, the platform lets you choose your printing provider from the large variety of printers they provide. It handles your order fulfillment, in the meantime, allowing you to focus on growing your brand.

Printify is quite simple to use. If you don’t have any earlier experience with PODs, you’ll still find the platform easy to navigate. The first step to take involves signing up for the service. The process is entirely free.

Once that’s out of the way, select a name for your store. Add your info, and you’re good to go. Your next step should be browsing the collection of products that are available for customization. You get to pick anything from hoodies, shirts, phone cases, mugs, to laptop cases.

After picking the products you like, choose a print provider. Shopify has tons of print providers available on their site. All you need to do is select the one that adequately suits your needs.

As soon as you select the product and print provider that you prefer, all that’s left to do is get creative. Begin designing your product by adding images, artworks, logos, and other creative features.

Take the time to create what you feel your customers would love. And if you’re happy with the result, send a sample first to yourself. If you like the way the print and fabric turn out, then it’s time to start producing in mass.

You don’t have to bother about the fulfillment as Printify takes care of it at very competitive rates. It even offers domestic shipping of two to three days.

Pricing

They have the free plan, premium plan at $29 per month, and an Enterprise plan which accommodates custom pricing.

Printify offers three equally flexible plans to choose from, and you can start with the free version if you’re not ready to commit yet.

The free version supports five stores and unlimited products. The premium costs $29 per month for monthly subscription and $24.99 per month for annual subscription. Also, it supports ten stores, custom order import, and 20 percent discounts off products. The Enterprise version supports unlimited stores and products and a whole lot more.

Advantages of using Printify

• Printify supports an extensive printing network around the world
• It features automatic order fulfillment
• There are over 200 products to select from

Limitations

• Printify has limited branding options (only neck labels)
• The integrations are limited (supports only 7 ecommerce platforms)

Who is Printify best for?

Printify is a recommended Printful alternative for newbies that are just starting a dropshipping business. Not to mention, Printify’s free plan allows users integration with up to five POD online stores. Nevertheless, experienced dropshippers will find the Printify platform easy to use.

2. Zazzle

This platform is another great marketplace to list and sell your products without any hassle. Zazzle offers pretty much the same pricing structure as the other POD sites. The e-retailer provides the best platform for you to create or customize products to sell or gift family and friends.

Dubbed as the “The Make Engine,” Zazzle employs state-of-the-art hardware and software for automating the creation process of products for its customers.

How Zazzle Works

Zazzle offers a wide selection of products out there. The site also has a lot of organic visitors. The high traffic helps you build your brand without investing much in paid marketing.

Zazzle also provides its users with helpful tips and tutorials to improve their products.

When it comes to selling on Zazzle, you can

• Sign up as a designer and slap your designs on various products and sell them
• Upload your products and sell
• Earn referral commissions by selling other people’s products with your affiliate link

The platform is quite simple when it comes to uploading and selling products. The user interface is friendly to both buyers and sellers. To begin the signup process, select an account, i.e., Maker, Designer, or Affiliate.

Next, provide your details. Different tools are provided depending on the particular account you selected.

If you sign up as a Maker and want to sell your products on the platform, it means you’ll have to handle the manufacturing and shipping process yourself.

However, if you choose a designer’s account, then you’d upload your designs on the site and select the products you want to place your designs on. Zazzle will handle the printing, manufacturing, and shipping for you.

And if you wish to be an affiliate, you get to earn commissions from the products you sell on the platform.

Pricing

The platform is free to use so it doesn’t attract a weekly or monthly subscription fee. All that’s needed is to pay for the base prices of products when customers purchase them from you. Zazzle subtracts the base price and lets you keep the remainder.

Advantages of using Zazzle

• Zazzle offers high-quality prints and products
• Highly competitive price points
• They have a wide variety of customizable items
• The platform allows you to set your profits

Limitations

• Zazzle doesn’t integrate with other platforms
• You have minimal control over what you sell, the price, and where you sell it
• There’s no provision of creating your domain or site

Who is Zazzle best for?

Zazzle is best for designers, buyers, and manufacturers. In essence, designers can effortlessly customize design on products that are then sold to buyers on the Zazzle online marketplace. Conversely, product manufacturers can partner with Zazzle to offer their products for POD customization.

3. Society6

Just like with the other POD sites, Society6 offers a wide variety of outlets for artists’ artwork. The products range from bath products, pillows, beddings, clothing, bags, to wall art.

How Society6 Works

All the products are made to order, which reduces wastes and ensures that only high-quality products are made.

Before you can start selling on Society6, you’ll need to create an account and verify it. There’s usually a $1 fee involved. Once that’s out of the way, upload your designs and select the products you wish to sell.

In most cases, the platform determines how much you make from the sale of a particular item. The standard is 10 percent off retail price. Although, there’s an exception for art prints, canvas, and framed art. With these items, you get to set the amount you prefer.

Pricing

Joining the platform is free, but Society6 determines how much you earn from each sale. Most times it is 10 percent off the retail or base price.

Advantages of using Society6

• Society6 makes it easy for people to discover new artists
• It’s a trusted marketplace
• It’s completely free, and you won’t have to worry about order fulfillment

Limitations

• Except for art prints, artists don’t get to set or adjust their prices
• The artists earn a low percentage from sales because Society6 does most of the heavy lifting
• You can’t depend on the platform to generate traffic to your shop even though it already has visitors to its site

Who is Society6 best for?

Society6 is best for independent artists that want to venture into print on demand business.

Interestingly, Society6 allows you to sell diverse customized products most especially geared towards artists such as canvas prints and wall arts.

Nevertheless, this alternative platform to Printful allows you to also buy customized products that are designed by other artists.

4. Redbubble

Like with other print-on-demand platforms. Redbubble allows you to put your art on shirts, posters, notebooks, and a host of other products. Unlike some other sites, Redbubble affords artists the freedom to set the markup for every product they sell. Other e-commerce sites restrict this feature to keep their prices down.

How Redbubble Works

Redbubble offers worldwide fulfillment centers, which means that customers don’t have to worry about customs fees. They have a wide selection of products that you might not find on some other POD sites (like duvet covers).

They pay royalties monthly, specifically on the 7^th – 10^th of every month.

Since Redbubble is a print on demand platform of its own, it doesn’t support other e-commerce sites like Shopify or WooCommerce. You can’t install it on your Shopify store and start selling. However, you can upload your designs on the website and sell directly from there. This process makes it quite easy to manage your entire collection.

All you need to do is sign up for an account, upload your designs and logos, place them on the products you like, and then promote the items.

Pricing

The basic formula for selling on Redbubble is the base price plus the artist’s margin equals the retail price. The base price is the cost of manufacturing and Redbubble’s service fee. The base price multiplied by the markup gives you the artist’s margin.

The default markup is 20 to 25 percent.

Advantages of using Redbubble

• Even though every product on the platform has a base fee, you still get to determine your profit margin and adjust the price accordingly
• Redbubble offers a ton of products (they pretty much have everything listed)

Limitations

• It could be difficult getting discovered among the sea of sellers on the platform
• Some items are priced differently
• If Redbubble has a sale, your products automatically go on sale too

Who is Redbubble best for?

Just like Society6, Redbubble is ideal for both designers and independent artists.

Besides, it eliminates the hassles of manufacturing and fulfilling print orders for customers.

Additionally, non-tech-savvy designers can quickly get started on the platform due to its fast learning curve. In fact, Redbubble provides users with several resources that will ensure that they run their print on demand business effortlessly.

5. Teelaunch

This site serves as an excellent alternative for Printify and Printful since it integrates easily with Shopify. The pricing structure makes it possible for you to set up your store without any investment. Teelaunch’s product prices are quite unbeatable when it comes to some specific products.

How Teelaunch Works

You can easily integrate Teelaunch with Shopify. The interface is relatively easy to navigate. Once anyone orders a product from your online store, Teelaunch accepts the order, prints the products, and ships it. The platform acts as a liaison during the entire process in case any issue arises.

The platform leverages Shopify’s power to create your mockups and products. Then it sets up an automatic order fulfillment within minutes. The app makes everything easy to use.

What you have to do first is to download the app and then start making your customized products. When an order is placed, Teelaunch handles the process, tracking and updating them in your Shopify store.

To build a store on Teelaunch, go to your Shopify dashboard and click Apps in the left pane and install the app. Create an account and enter your contact and details (shipping label, special messages, packaging logos, etc.).

Once that’s out of the way, you can now select your custom printed product and create the design you like. Upload the products and start selling them.

Pricing

The pricing is simple, although the profits vary from one product to the other. Teelaunch doesn’t have monthly subscriptions or hidden fees. You only get to pay a commission at the end of every sale.

Advantages of using Teelaunch

• Teelaunch is affordable to use and friendly to newbies
• The platform has various customizable options
• The profit margins are quite competitive
• There aren’t any hidden costs or subscription fees

Limitations

• The integration options are limited
• You have less control over fulfillment since it’s usually outsourced
• Teelaunch has a longer lead time on shipping

Who is Teelaunch best for?

This POD platform like Printify is ideal for newbies that want to make a living from drop shipping customized products.

Merchants can publish Gooten products on integrated eCommerce platforms like Etsy and Shopify.

6. Teespring

Teespring is an online marketplace that allows you to create and sell products directly on the site and collect profit from each purchase. The platform handles everything from printing, shipping, to customer support. The only thing you’ll worry about is coming up with fabulous designs that can sell.

How Teespring Works

Teespring provides a large marketplace for you to start your brand. The significant visitor base makes it possible for your products to be easily noticed. You don’t need to pay any monthly fee to sell on the platform.

Teespring has high pricing rates, and you can easily make extra profits off your products.

Sign up on Teespring, create a design, select the products you like, and then promote them. Teespring will handle the rest of the process. The designer tools provided on the site are quite easy to navigate. You could either use the artwork already provided on Teespring or upload your designs and use them.

Pricing

Teespring is free to use. The selling price you set determines how much profit you make after the sale.

Advantages of using Teespring

• You earn money by selling custom t-shirts
• You don’t need to worry about monthly fees
• Teespring has a large visitor base

Limitations

• The marketing period tends to be short sometimes
• The customer support isn’t always available

Who is Teespring best for?

Teespring is ideal for social media influencers that want to sell print on demand products.

Besides, Teespring integrates with YouTube, Twitch, Discord, Instagram, Streamlabs and TikTok.

Apart from apparels, Teespring allows you to customize other products like tote bags, phone cases, mugs, stickers, face masks, home decors, etc.

7. Print Aura

This platform is one of the oldest contenders in the Print on Demand market. Print Aura offers the same features as most of the other sites, except it’s a little pricier.

How Print Aura Works

Print Aura allows you to brand your products by adding a custom inside labels or hang tags. You can also send your packaging materials to them to use for your products.

It also offers embroidery on demand, unlike some other POD platforms. The integration with other e-commerce websites (Shopify, OpenCart, Storenvy, etc.) is quite seamless.

Go to the site and create a free account. Log-in and authorize the Print Aura app on your Shopify store. Upload your images or designs and use the mockup tool to see how they look on different products.

Once your products get sold, they’re sent to Print Aura for fulfillment. Your brand logo and name are on the package, so your customer knows who shipped the products.

Pricing

The platform doesn’t require any membership fee. Although, it offers a one-time 10 percent coupon for orders that get to $100.

Advantages of Using Print Aura

• Print Aura doesn’t have a minimum order requirement
• The platform provides a massive variety of products
• The printing is quite affordable
• It accommodates sizeable daily capacity while maintaining high quality

Limitations

• The user interface isn’t as intuitive as some of the recent POD sites

Who is Print Aura best for?

Print Aura is ideal for both experienced dropshippers and newbies to sell customized products.

With Print Aura, merchants can sell custom printed products on platforms like Shopify, Storenvy, Etsy, WooCommerce, and OpenCart. Not to mention, Print Aura provides users with a pricing wizard which allows them to determine their profit margin.

8. Scalable Press

Another old player in the Print on Demand market is Scalable Press. They provide the best pricing for shirts, poster prints, embroidery, and other products with their in-house fulfillment.

How Scalable Press Works

It’s quite easy to set up, and you can use the Scalable Press API for custom integration. Scalable Press offers screen printing and better prices when customers order in bulk.

Setting up an account is free. Visit the registration page and provide your email address, password, information about your brand, and your account would be created immediately.

After creating your account, you can begin shopping and placing orders from the catalog provided on the site.

Pricing

Setting up an account is free. All you need to do is place your orders and make payment.

Advantages of using Scalable Press

• The site offers an effortless integration with other e-commerce platforms
• Scalable Press has a high turnover time
• You can choose from the thousands of products from top brand names
• It offers one of the best pricing in the industry

Limitations

• Low DTG print quality
• Slow shipping time

Who is Scalable Press best for?

Scalable Press is a suitable platform for dropshippers with coding knowledge. This is because it only facilitates API integration; hence, users cannot directly publish their POD products on eCommerce platforms like WooCommerce or Shopify.

9. Gooten

Gooten connects you with large print networks. And as a result, their product lineup is more diverse than that of Printful or Scalable Press. The products range from t-shirts, and coasters, to calendars, and mugs.

How Gooten Works

Gooten offers fixed pricing on its print-on-demand orders. You also get extra print placements (front and back printing on sleeves of t-shirts).

The process is quite simple because all you have to do is sign up and select the products you wish to sell. After that, you place your designs on the items and list them for sale in your store.

There’s no need to provide payment details before signing up.

Pricing

The platform doesn’t charge you while setting up your account or any subscription fee. You only pay for the products that are printed, manufactured, and shipped through the website. Payment options vary based on your choice of platform.

Gooten is free, but if you’re using it with Shopify, you’ll have to pay for the Shopify plan first.

Advantages of using Gooten

• Gooten allows you to sell your products on the platform you prefer or even on your website
• It’s relatively simple to use and has a modern interface
• There are no limits to its capacity
• The network is reliable and efficient

Limitations

• Gooten doesn’t have a specific marketplace
• You get to market your product on your own
• It doesn’t have an affiliate program since it doesn’t sell directly to consumers

Who is Gooten best for?

Gooten is best for experienced dropshippers that want to sell customized products without hassles.

As a Printful alternative, Gooten integrates with BigCommerce, Shopify, WooCommerce, and Etsy. Also, it supports custom integration via the Gooten API.

10. Teefury

The platform started in 2008 by a group of artists who wanted to show their limited-edition shirts to the public. The platform offers a variety of customized t-shirts, hoodies, and a host of other customizable items.

How Teefury Works

Teefury not only sells designs, but it also allows independent artists to submit their work too. A commission is earned for every shirt sold within four hours. Teefury doesn’t retain copyrights to the designs after 24 hours. Once the time is up, all rights return to the artist.

This feature is great since it helps the artists gain popularity without giving up the rights to their designs.

There are two ways of becoming a Teefury artist

• The platform finds your designs online and invites you to participate
• You could click on the “Submit a T-shirt Design” button at the top of the homepage. Fill out the form. Upload your design and submit it.

Pricing

Artists earn commissions for their shirts sold. There’s no need for subscriptions or paid accounts.

Advantages of using Teefury

• Teefury supports independent artists
• Unique clothing catalog and designs
• Offers daily specials

Limitations

• The delivery time of the product tends to be slow sometimes

Who is Teefury best for?

Teefury is ideal for dropshippers that have an affinity for pop culture items.

In fact, Teefury has products that revolve around gaming, horror, movies, anime, pets, tv shows, sci-fi, music, etc.

Final Thoughts

Finding the right printing service to address your needs doesn’t have to be a trial. You can easily use one of these options if you’re new to the print on demand industry and want to get started. Each of the platforms offers great opportunities for your printing needs.

We’ve made the process easier for you by listing out the top ten contenders. All you need to do is weigh each of them and see the one that fits your needs.