Printify vs Spreadshirt 2024: The Complete Comparison Guide

I consider Spreadshirt to be one of the easiest options for beginners in the POD landscape who want to start selling online, without having to worry about launching their own store.

It competes with other marketplaces like Redbubble, giving you a pre-made environment for reaching thousands of buyers.

However, Printify is my preferred option overall, thanks to its scalability, access to integrations with leading platforms, and advanced features.

Printify gives companies more product options, better design tools, and ultimately more ways to increase revenue.

Printify vs Spreadshirt: It’s a tough decision to make, particularly as both platforms offer exceptional ease of use, a wide range of customizable products, and an opportunity to launch your new business for free.

The simplicity of the print on demand business model is driving phenomenal growth in the sector at present. By 2032, the industry is expected to reach an incredible value of $64.3 billion. That means there are now dozens of platforms available to help you launch your store.

During my time experimenting in this industry, I’ve noticed some solutions still get more attention than others. Printify and Spreadshirt are two of the most popular options out there, but they appeal to very different groups of sellers.

Here’s everything you need to know to make the right choice for your brand.

Printify vs Spreadshirt: How the Platforms Work

The first thing I should point out in this comparison, is that while both Spreadshirt and Printify are platforms for print on demand selling, they work in pretty different ways.

Both companies allow you to outsource the production and fulfillment of custom products. But how you sell products (and make money) is different on each platform.

How Printify Works

There are two ways to sell through Printify. First, you can integrate Printify with a range of popular ecommerce platforms, such as Squarespace and Shopify.

This gives you the freedom to add your products to an existing store, and automate order processing.

Alternatively, you can use a Printify “pop-up” store, to sell products through a custom link, ensuring you don’t have to worry about managing a full ecommerce site.

With both strategies, you’ll gain access to Printify’s incredible design tools, mockup generator, and other features.

One thing that differentiates Printify from other POD platforms, like Printful, is that instead of producing your products in-house, Printify connects you to a global network of manufacturers.

I actually like this approach in some ways, as it means you can find a local vendor (Reducing shipping times), and reduce risk by accessing multiple suppliers in the same environment.

How Spreadshirt Works

Similar to Printify, Spreadshirt gives you multiple ways to sell your products. You can sign up for an account in seconds, start creating products with a mockup generator, and customize your items however you choose.

Once you’ve created your products, you can sell them in 3 ways:

• Spreadshop: Create your own Spreadshirt shop (for free), and earn commissions on every product you sell (you won’t earn the full amount of the sale, however).
• Spreadshirt marketplace: Sell your items through an existing marketplace with access to more than 80,000 visitors, and access “campaigns” for Amazon and Ebay.
• SPOD: Build a custom apparel store with SPOD, and sell on various ecommerce shop systems and marketplaces, like WooCommerce, Etsy, and Shopify.

All options will give you access to Spreadshirt’s design tools, and their services for managing stock, printing, handling, delivery, and transactions.

Printify vs Spreadshirt: The Pros and Cons

After spending some time using both the Printify and Spreadshirt platforms, I found both platforms have some great “benefits”, as well as some potential downsides to consider.

Spreadshirt Pros and Cons

Printify vs Spreadshirt: Pricing and Fees

One of the first things I evaluate whenever I’m reviewing a print on demand or dropshipping platform, are the fees you’re going to need to pay.

The good news is that both Printify and Spreadshirt will allow you to start using their platform for free. However, there are still costs to consider.

Printify’s Pricing and Fees

With Printify, you can expect to access relatively low prices for most products (compared to other vendors like Printful).

However, as mentioned above, the exact price you pay for everything from core products to customizations and shipping will vary depending on the manufacturer you choose.

Printify does allow you to sort through partners based on their pricing, and reputation. Plus, you can get an immediate insight into how long the fulfillment process takes for each product.

For instance, in the USA, products can take 7-15 days to be delivered, but if you choose a local vendor, you can potentially deliver orders a lot faster.

Outside of product and shipping costs, Printify also offers companies the option to subscribe to paid plans.

The free plan on Printify is extremely generous, supporting up to 5 stores per account, and unlimited product designs. However, the “Premium” plan, for $29 per month gives you up to 10 stores, as well as a 20% discount on all products.

There’s also an Enterprise plan, with unlimited stores, and additional discounts on a variety of products.

I’d definitely recommend considering one of these plans if you’re looking to scale your store, or you’re selling a lot of products across different sites.

Spreadshirt’s Pricing and Fees

One of the reasons I recommend Spreadshirt as a good POD solution for beginners, is there are absolutely no fees for getting started.

Whichever “sales strategy” you choose, you’ll be able to get started for free. However, there may be other fees to consider, depending on your strategy.

For instance, if you’re using the Spod app to sell through marketplaces and ecommerce platforms, you’ll need to pay for the base cost of your product, plus shipping.

These fees will vary depending on the speed of the delivery, the weight of the package, and the location you’re shipping to.

For instance, if you’re shipping in the UK, you’ll pay £2.99 for any package worth up to £10 for standard shipping.

Additionally, if you’re using SPOD to sell through your own ecommerce platform, you’ll need to pay the monthly cost for the platform you’re using.

If you choose to sell through Spreadshop, or the Spreadshirt marketplace, you don’t pay any upfront fees, but you will only earn a “commission” from your sale. This can make it more challenging to build on your profit margins.

You can also choose to buy designs from artists on Spreadshirt if you don’t have patterns to implement into your products yourself.

Core Features and Functionality

Both Spreadshirt and Printify offer a range of useful features that can make running and growing your store a lot simpler.

I’ve already mentioned the different selling options both companies have, but there are some other distinctive functionalities worth mentioning too.

With both Spreadshirt and Printify, you get access to a comprehensive product catalog. Although Printify offers more than 900 products to choose from, Spreadshirt only offers a little over 100. Additionally, both tools offer access to design tools and mockup generators.

However, I found Printify’s design tools to be a lot more advanced. While there are some great features on Spreadshirt’s platform (such as the option to purchase designs from other artists), Printify goes above and beyond to help you create amazing products.

There’s a generative AI image generator on Printify, which can create unique designs on your behalf using text prompts. You also get access to a host of graphic assets and resources for free.

Standout Features of Printify

• AI design and quality assurance tools
• Valuable pop-up store generator
• Access to hundreds of free resources
• Experts program for extra support
• Massive product and vendor catalog
• Vendor ratings (to help you make the right choice)

Standout Features of Spreadshirt

• Promotional campaigns for Amazon and Ebay
• Flat printing rates regardless of your design or product
• Convenient mockup generator
• Spreadshop platform for selling online
• Integration with SPOD for online selling
• Analytics and reports for sales (via Spreadshop)

Printify vs Spreadshirt: Product Designs and Quality

Testing product quality is one of the toughest parts of conducting a POD platform review. While you can order samples with both Printify and Spreadshirt, it’s worth noting that the quality of your designs can vary over time.

This is particularly true with Printify, as the quality of your products will depend on the manufacturer you choose to work with.

The good news is that Printify does have an exceptional “quality promise”. They constantly monitor and evaluate their suppliers to ensure they live up to customer expectations.

They also offer a wide range of printing options, such as direct-to-film, direct-to-garment, and all-over printing.

Plus, Printify offers sustainable products, designed with eco-friendly materials, so you can tap into a growing market of eco-conscious customers.

Spreadshirt also has its own quality control strategies, but some customers have found that the print or design on their products can begin to fade over time.

On the plus side, you do get a lot of different ways to customize your products with Spreadshirt – more than you’ll find on most alternative platforms.

You can access embroidery and sublimation, and experiment with screen, flock, flex, metallic, and glow-in-the-dark prints.

Spreadshirt vs Printify: Integrations

Integrations are always a big factor when it comes to choosing the right print on demand platform. Both Printify and Spreadshirt offer built-in APIs, so you can forge your own connections between different tools you might be using.

With Spreadshirt, if you choose to sell through “Spreadshop”, you can integrate with Joomla, WordPress, Drupal, and more.

Alternatively, you can choose to sell through SPOD, and sell through Shopify, WooCommerce, Squarespace, Etsy, Amazon and beyond. Even the marketplace has integrations for promotions on Amazon and Ebay.

Printify is also extremely impressive from an integration point of view. It connects with Etsy, Walmart, and Ebay automatically, and offers streamlined integrations for a range of ecommerce platforms.

You can sell through WooCommerce, Shopify, Wix, Prestashop, and more.

Plus, as I mentioned above, you can avoid creating your own ecommerce store completely by selling through your own Printify pop-up store.

Customer Support and Service

Now we come to the customer support offered by both platforms.

I found that both Printify and Spreadshirt offer a wide range of ways for customers to get in touch if they have any issues.

You can reach out through phone or email, depending on where you are in the world with both companies.

There’s also the option for live chat conversations. However, while Spreadshirt’s service hours are limited, Printify offers 24/7 assistance.

Both companies also offer an excellent selection of resources for self-help, such as blogs, guides, FAQs, tutorials, and videos.

However, I did find Printify’s resources to be a lot more comprehensive (and easy to follow) than those offered by Spreadshirt.

Printify vs Spreadshirt: The Verdict

In my opinion, both Printify and Spreadshirt are excellent tools for print on demand vendors. However, the right option for you will depend on a few factors.

I’d recommend Printify overall for companies who want access to a wider range of products and vendors, as well as better design tools, and more integrations with various ecommerce platforms and marketplaces.

Printify is definitely the more “scalable” platform for organizations in search of rapid growth, and it’s features are more advanced than what you’ll get from Spreadshirt.

However, if you’re looking for a simple and low-cost way to get started with print on demand, Spreadshirt is still a good option.

It gives you a wide range of ways to sell products, and even allows you to access an existing marketplace, full of customers.