Printify vs Printful for Band Merch (Which Is Better?)

• Understand how Printify and Printful work
• Decide which is best for your merch needs
• Get our opinion on who is the best platform! 
• Also, check out our post on the best platforms for creating music merch!

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There are some great options for creating merchandise that is designed to be quick and easy to use, meaning if you’re not a graphic designer or have any experience in creating merch, you can set up a store and print on demand without any hassle.

Two platforms doing this are Printify and Printful. Today we’re weighing up which is a better option for creating and selling your band merch.

How Does Printify and Printful Work?

Printify and Printful are similar platforms that allow you to build a merch store by customizing your own designs and choosing from a selection of products that you can then promote and sell to your fans.

A big advantage of using them is that you don’t need to bulk order a bunch of t-shirts and stickers to be then sent to you in the mail for you to sell yourself then, package up and then post again to the buyer.

In some respects, Printify and Printful act as a middleman between you and the buyer and will create the merch order when it comes through and dispatch it directly.

Both are solid options for all your merchandise needs, but you may wonder which platform is superior! Worry not, as we’re breaking down the differences between the two and seeing which is better.

Ease Of Use

Ease of use is probably the first thing you’d consider when signing up for either of these platforms. After all, they are supposed to take the headache out of setting up a merch store! When you sign up for both, you’ll get several options that will help guide you through the process.

Printful quickly and easily sets you up with a product template, meaning you can start designing straight away, and will offer you choices of clothing, lifestyle, collections, and various other types of merchandise.

Printify operates similarly and will showcase the products you can work with once you set up an account. It’s helpful that both platforms also give you an idea of the cost to calculate the markup you want to sell the products with.

Both offer sample products that can be ordered quickly and with a discount on top of regular pricing so that you can see your products in real life and, if you want to, create your own photos for marketing and store listings.

The one thing to keep in mind is that some element of design experience is needed if you are going to set up a store (or if not, a friend or family member who can create designs for you). But once you have your design, it’s pretty self-explanatory how to upload to both sites.

Winner: It’s a draw. Both are easy to use!

Integration

If you set up an online store, you’ll want it to be as accessible as possible. So whilst you may want to sell via your own website or social media, making your merch available on as many platforms certainly pays off.

Both sites offer integration into third-party selling sites such as Etsy and eBay.

Breaking down the full list of platforms on each looks like this:

Printify

• Shopify
• Etsy
• WooCommerce
• Squarespace 
• BigCommerce
• PrestaShop
• Wix Stores
• eBay
• Printify API

Printful

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

If we judge this purely based on the number of channels each platform integrates with, then clearly, Printful is the winner here.

However, if we also break it down, then we need to consider that you probably won’t be taking advantage of all of these channels as it would be a lot to manage.

The big advantage Printful has here is Amazon and TikTok Shop integration. Amazon is one of the big ‘go to’ stores, but TikTok is also a solid choice for bands and artists promoting themselves across social media.

Winner: Printful

Range Of Merchandise

T-shirts are the obvious choice for any musician wanting to promote their material, whether that’s a straight-up logo on the front or a list of tour dates promoting an album release. Bands are diversifying, however, and it’s not unusual to see crazier merch ideas from lighters to slippers to sauces and even (in the case of Kiss) coffins!

Both platforms have more than enough merchandise products for you to create a mixed bag of products in your store, although Printify has around 800 products, with Printful coming in with around 350.

Quantity doesn’t always beat the quality, however, so let’s take a look at some of the more unique pieces available on each platform:

Printify

• Phone Cases
• Dog Bowls
• Leashes
• Oven Gloves
• Wireless Chargers
• Apple Watch Bands
• Bumper Stickers
• Car Seat Covers
• Suitcases

Printful

• Candles
• Water Bottles
• Mugs
• Puzzles
• Shoes
• Mouse Pads
• Baby Bibs
• Towels
• Pet Apparel

If we look at this purely from a numbers point of view again, then we’d have to go with Printify as the clear winner. Looking across the board, however, some products on Printful aren’t available on Printify. So this could swing you one way or another, depending on your merch ideas.

That said, browsing through Printify’s catalog, I would say that their range of products would cover most, if not all, of what you want for your store, whether it’s clothing or more niche products.

Winner: Printify

Quality

Quality is something that is challenging to quantify without ordering every single item from every single store and let’s face it, that would be a long and probably boring read!

Both receive mostly favorable reviews from both store owners regarding their product quality. Printful highlights some of these directly on their website, which is great to see and gives extra reassurance before taking the plunge and signing up.

If we’re talking about quality, it’s worth mentioning again that both platforms can offer sample products to be sent to you before you begin selling yourself.

This one is difficult to pick a winner on, with many variables. But judging by reviews, we’re going to call it even.

Winner: It’s a draw!

Price

Price will be one of the biggest factors in terms of subscribing and the cost of the products you want to sell. A higher cost to you ultimately means a higher cost to your fans.

Subscription Fees

Both platforms offer free and paid options when you subscribe. This can be great for anyone just starting out and wanting to test the water, but also suitable should you want to scale your merch store.

Upgrading gives you access to other benefits that aren’t available with a free plan, so it’s worth familiarising yourself with them to figure out if it’s something you’d want to take advantage of.

Printify

Printify’s free plan is pretty good all in all. You’ll be able to create up to 5 stores with unlimited product designs, but if you did want to upgrade, you’d be looking at $24.99, which gives you access to other benefits such as discounts on all products.

Regarding individual pricing, you’re looking at around $7-8 for a t-shirt, which isn’t too bad when most band t-shirts cost around $15-20. This means you won’t be scraping for cents on each purchase and can make a fairly good profit per item.

Hoodies range from $25 up to $53, however, so the markup may only be small regarding hoodie sales.

Printful

Printful operates on a similar structure. Their free plan offers many benefits, from 20,000 clipart images and downloadable mockups and print files.

If you do want access to extra features, this does come in cheaper than Printify at $9.99 per month to subscribe to their Plus service. Doing so gets you many extras, including a background remover and social media promo maker.

Their Pro account is slightly more at $45 per month, so you may have reservations about this one, but there are some convenient extras, such as the Etsy keyword scouting tool. A t-shirt will set you back around $7 up to around $17, but you’ll find hoodies a fair bit cheaper than Printify at around $20 up to around $40.

It’s worth noting with both platforms that you’ll get a discount on their subscription fees if paid annually. Overall in this category, it’s close, but for band merch and keeping costs low, Printful is the winner. 

Winner: Printful

Verdict

There isn’t one clear winner when it comes to Printify vs Printful. Where one platform has advantages, the other may be in another area altogether. That said, for its pricing structure and tools, I’d have to declare Printful the winner of this battle!

However, it is close. If you’re considering setting up a store for your band merch, check both out, as you might find one more suitable than the other (particularly if there’s a specific item of merch you’re looking for).

Both have pros and cons, but either way, you’ll find it quick and easy to get your store up and running.

Is Selling Beats Online Actually Profitable? Check out our article here!