Printful Review 2024: Features, Pros & Cons

• Printful is a North Carolina-based printing company that was founded in 2013.
• It is one of the most user-friendly print-on-demand service providers in the market.
• On top of its core print-on-demand service, it also offers a variety of features to help new online retailers build a brand with tools such as a logo maker, white-label printing and custom packaging options.
• Printful ranks as one of the best print-on-demand providers in the market by the experts at Forbes Advisor.

Pros

There are a number of reasons to choose Printful, and with that, it’s not surprising that it’s regarded as one of the best print-on-demand services. To start, it connects to a large number of content management systems, platforms and marketplaces, giving users more choice in terms of where they can sell. It offers far more packaging customization options than many of its competitors, helping businesses more effectively build their brand. It also offers warehouse services and embroidery on some products, and it’s one of the most intuitive platforms on the market.

Cons

Of course, there are a couple of downsides of Printful. It doesn’t have the biggest product catalog with just 230-plus products—a fraction of its leading competitor Printify with 850-plus products. It also does not offer phone support, and its profit margins are generally a bit smaller than some of its leading competitors, such as Printify. Granted, it does generally have higher product quality so it may be a case of getting what you pay for.

Printful is a print-on-demand service that enables users to easily build a business selling custom printed merchandise—without an upfront investment, stock or overhead. How Printful works is that users create an account, upload their custom designs, choose products to sell their designs on and link products to their website or chosen sales channels, such as Etsy, Amazon or eBay. When a customer purchases an item, Printful automatically fulfills the order and ships it directly to the customer so that a business never handles the product or deals with packaging and shipping.

As a full-service print-on-demand service, Printful offers a variety of key features for those looking to start a print-on-demand business. It includes a variety of connections, a catalog with over 230 items and an easy-to-use product editor where users upload their custom designs and place them on products. It uniquely offers more customizable product packaging than the competition and, of course, it includes direct shipping so that sellers never have to handle or ship products to customers.

Integrations and Sales Channels

While most print-on-demand services enable users to easily connect to major content management systems and online marketplaces, such as Shopify, WooCommerce, Amazon and Etsy, Printful offers a much larger connection library than most. This makes it a particularly good choice for businesses looking to add custom-printed dropshipping products to their existing website as it connects to nearly all major platforms.

Here are Printful’s website and marketplace integrations:

• Shopify
• Etsy
• WooCommerce
• Wix
• Squarespace
• Square
• Webflow
• Ecwid
• BigCommerce
• PrestaShop
• Amazon
• eBay
• Big Cartel
• Weebly
• Adobe Commerce
• Storenvy
• Gumroad
• Nuvemshop
• ShipStation
• Shift4Shop
• Launch Cart
• Printful API

Here are Printful’s available social sales channels:

• TikTok
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Spotify
• YouTube
• Pinterest

Product Catalog

Printful has a catalog of over 230 products. While this is not the largest product catalog on the market, it is still sizable, offering a wide range of items, such as clothing, footwear, tech accessories, wall art, tableware, candles, holiday decor, pet products and more. That said, most users will find that its selection is ample and it’s worth noting that what it lacks by way of selection, it excels in terms of product quality.

Packaging and Shipping

One area where Printful really shines is its vast array of customized packaging options that help uphold a business’s brand. For example, users can create white-label products with a custom in-shirt label so that instead of the shirt’s label saying, Hanes or American Apparel, it says your own brand or logo. Other options include a custom packing slip with your own brand and logo, customized order tracking and there are also custom packaging options available as well. With your custom packaging options created, Printful will then ship orders directly to your customers upon purchase.

Printful stands out from the competition for its vast connection possibilities, giving businesses more choice in terms of which content management they use to build their print-on-demand website as well as which online marketplaces they sell their products. Additionally, Printful is very beginner-friendly and it is also known for superior product quality compared to its competitors. This is an important aspect of choosing a print-on-demand service as it heavily impacts your customers’ satisfaction.

	Free	Printful Growth
Pricing	$0	$24.99 per month or free if you reach $12,000 in sales in 12 months
Free Trial	Not applicable	14 days
Number of Stores	Unlimited	Unlimited
Maximum Product Designs	Unlimited	Unlimited
Access to Full Product Catalog	Yes	Yes, with 20% to 30% off
Integrations	28-plus	28-plus
Packaging	Custom packing slips	Custom packaging available
Custom Pack-Ins	No	Yes
Warehouse Serves for Non-Printful Items	No	Yes (additional fee)
Support	24/7 via live chat and a contact form	24/7 via live chat and a contact form

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Free

Printful offers a very robust free version that includes full access to its product catalog and product editor with unlimited products and unlimited stores. While it does not offer as many custom packaging options for added branding as the Printful Growth plan, it does offer customized packing slips so that your products arrive with your brand as the sender as opposed to Printful. It’s a good choice for most businesses that are just starting out with print-on-demand.

Printful Growth

The Printful Growth plan costs $24.99 per month or it’s free if you reach $12,000 in sales within the past 12 months. It includes everything from the free plan, but with the addition of extra custom packaging options as well as 20% to 30% off product cost, giving businesses a higher profit margin. Additionally, it uniquely includes the warehouse service option where users can store non-Printful items for an additional fee. This is ideal for businesses that dropship products that Printful does not offer.

Setting up an account is simple. To start, you’ll need to click the button “Sign Up” in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. From there, you will be prompted to provide your basic contact information and answer a few simple questions about your business and what you are looking to sell on Printful. Upon completing the registration process, users will be redirected to their new user dashboard where they can create a product, connect Printful to their website or sales channel of choice, upload products and set up billing.

In our experience using Printful, it was very easy to connect to platforms. We connected Printful to Shopify and Etsy, both of which were very straightforward. Simply select the option to “Connect a store” from the user dashboard, select the platform you want to connect Printify to, and input your login credentials for that platform. From there, you can upload your custom designs to your website or sales channel, effectively syncing Printify and your platforms.

When it comes to ease of use, Printful is highly regarded as one of the most beginner-friendly print-on-demand services. From the initial setup process where it walks users through how to connect Printful to their site or sales channel of choice to creating customized products and managing sales, Printful is very intuitive and includes a great deal of educational resources every step of the way.

For example, to create a product, simply browse its catalog and select an item you’d like to sell. Next, select which type of design you would like: printed or embroidered. Next, upload your design, place it on the item (e.g., front, sleeve, back, label, etc.) and link this product to your connected sales channel (e.g., Shopify, Etsy, Amazon). From our perspective, Printful is very user-friendly, which can be said for its leading competitor, Printify. However, one difference is that while Printful is beginner-friendly, it’s also surprisingly robust.

To help uphold the safety and integrity of your print-on-demand business and all of the data it handles, Printful utilizes built-in security features. However, it also gives users the ability to further enhance their security with two-factor authentication via an app or SMS. It does not, however, offer user roles and permissions, which could be problematic for larger businesses with multiple members managing their designs, sites and orders.

Customer support is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week by live chat and a contact form. While it is disappointing that it does not offer phone support, in our experience, its live chat support is helpful and the wait time is pretty fast. On top of that, it also offers a large help center with a large library of educational information and answers to common questions.

	Printful	Printify	Redbubble	Gelato
Starting Price	Free	Free	Free	Free
Number of Products	230-plus	850-plus	70-plus	100-plus
Maximum Designs	Unlimited	Unlimited	Up to 30 design uploads per day	Unlimited
Website Integrations	Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, Square, Weebly, Webflow, Ecwid, Shift4Shop, Big Cartel, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Adobe Commerce and PrestaShop	Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, BigCommerce, WooCommerce and PrestaShop	None, sell via Redbubble only	Shopify, WooCommerce, Squarespace and Wix
Marketplace Integrations	Etsy, Amazon, TikTok Shop, eBay, Storenvy, Gumroad and more	Etsy, Amazon FBA, Walmart and eBay	None	Etsy
Order Management	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Direct Shipping	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Global Network	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Custom Packaging	No, it offers custom packing slips	No, custom sender address only	No	Yes
Customer Support	24/7 via live chat and contact forms	24/7 via live chat and contact forms	Live chatbot and support via a contact form	24/7 via live chat

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Printful vs. Printify

Printful and Printify are two very similar competitors. Both offer free forever plans with unlimited designs, giving businesses a way to get started without an upfront investment. However, the two differ when it comes to a few things. First, Printful integrates with more content management systems and sales channels. Second, Printify has a much larger product catalog than Printful. Third, Printful offers far more custom packaging options than Printify. That said, businesses that are looking to build a brand will likely find Printful to be the better choice. Whereas, those that want the most options available in terms of items to sell will likely prefer Printify.

Printful vs. Redbubble

Along with Printful, Redbubble enables users to upload and sell their own designs on demand—without overhead or the need to pack and ship orders. However, there is a major difference between the two. While Printful is designed to sync with a user’s website and sales channels of choice (e.g., Etsy, Amazon, eBay), Redbubble is designed for users to create designs that are sold directly through Redbubble. On one hand, this gives businesses more exposure compared to listing products directly on their site. However, it’s also limiting for those who are looking to take advantage of multiple sales channels and build a brand.

Printful vs. Gelato

Gelato is one of the newer print-on-demand providers and it’s quickly becoming fierce competition to existing providers, such as Printful. It similarly offers a free forever plan with unlimited designs, a user-friendly interface and the ability to connect to numerous content management systems and online marketplaces. However, where the two differ most is in terms of product catalog size, integrations and packaging. While Printful has a larger product catalog, giving businesses more items to choose from as well as more integrations, Gelato offers more custom packaging options, giving businesses more control over how their products arrive.

Printful is a good all-around print-on-demand service. It’s particularly good for those who are just starting out and plan to sell across a variety of sales channels given its larger-than-industry-average product catalog and vast array of connections. Additionally, it’s also a good choice for businesses that are looking to expand their offerings with additional products or merchandise without having to buy products in bulk or manage inventory.

Overall, we found Printful to be a solid print-on-demand service. It has one of the largest product catalogs in the industry, a large number of integrations and its product designer is very easy to use. It also offers some unique features such as more options in terms of printing areas (e.g., the inside label), some custom packaging options for additional branding opportunities and a helpful mockup generator that can save users time and money.