Printful vs Spreadshirt: Which Print on Demand Service Is Right for You?

Exploring the Features of Printful and Spreadshirt

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Printful vs Spreadshirt comes down to where you want to sell. Printful is our pick for your Shopify, Etsy, or WooCommerce store, with 589 products and stronger branding. Choose Spreadshirt for a free hosted Spreadshop or access to marketplace shoppers.

Based on our testing of both platforms’ seller dashboards, product designers, pricing calculators, and shipping options, Spreadshirt is the cheaper way in: you can start without a subscription, and Spreadshop handles payments and customer service for you.

With a POD service, you don’t have to source materials and do the stitching or printing yourself.

Today, we’re going to be looking at two POD solutions: Printful, and Spreadshirt. Both of these handy tools are excellent for getting your designs out into the world, but they each have their own pros and cons to consider. Below, we compare costs, products, selling routes, fulfillment, branding, design tools, and support.

Key Takeaways 🔍

  • Best overall: Printful, for store owners who need a big catalog, global production, and branded orders.
  • Pricing: Spreadshirt, with no monthly fee; Printful Growth costs $24.99/month, becoming free at $12K in yearly sales.
  • Products: Printful, with 589 products versus roughly 250 to 350 at Spreadshirt.
  • Selling channels: Spreadshirt, the only one with a free hosted store plus its own marketplace.
  • Shipping: Printful, with 7 in-house facilities plus partners in Brazil, Japan, and Australia.
  • Branding: Printful, with inside labels from $0.99, outside labels at $2.49, and branded pack-ins.

How Do Printful and Spreadshirt Compare?

When you’re trying to choose between Spreadshirt vs Printful, you’ll need to think about everything from how much access to fulfillment centers near your buyers you’re going to have, to whether your tools integrate with the right ecommerce services, like BigCommerce and Shopify.

Printful Spreadshirt
Best for Store owners Creators
House rating 4.4/5 3.8/5
Monthly fee $0; Growth $24.99, free at $12K yearly sales $0
Products 589 About 250 to 350
Print methods DTG, DTFlex, embroidery, all-over sublimation DTG, DTF, flex, flock, thermosublimation
Production US, Mexico, Canada, UK, Latvia, Spain; partners: Brazil, Japan, Australia US, Czechia, Germany, Poland
Production target Apparel: 2 to 5 business days Most orders: within 48 hours
US shipping, first tee $4.95; $2.20 each additional tee Varies by tier/order value
Integrations 22, including Shopify, Etsy Via Spreadconnect, including Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce
Amazon/eBay Direct Via Order Desk
Free hosted store No Spreadshop
Own marketplace No Yes
Branding $0.99 inside/$2.49 outside labels, pack-ins, packing slips Limited labels, white-label shipping
Support Chat, contact form Weekday phone, email, help center
Recommended for Shopify/Etsy/WooCommerce sellers Creators, first-time sellers
1

Best for Store Owners

Printful

View Pricing Read Review →

$0/month Free plan
Growth $24.99/month, free at $12K yearly sales

  • 589 products with DTG, DTFlex, embroidery and all-over print
  • 22 integrations including Shopify, Etsy, Amazon and eBay
  • Inside labels from $0.99, pack-ins and packing slips
Best Overall
2

Best for Creators

Spreadshirt

View Pricing Read Review →

$0/month on Spreadshop and Spreadconnect
First print area included

  • Free hosted Spreadshop with payments and customer service handled
  • Built-in marketplace for finding customers
  • Most orders printed within 48 hours

How Printful and Spreadshirt Work

Printful and Spreadshirt are both Print on Demand services. This is a form of online order fulfillment where you work with a supplier to make custom prints for your customers.

When a client places an order on your website, your supplier fulfils that request by printing the product and sending it to the end-user.

Print on Demand strategies save your business money on things like buying initial equipment and investing in stock. They’re also an excellent way to streamline the fulfillment process.

How Printful Works

Printful homepage

Printful provides product customization and fulfillment for your store. Source: Printful

Printful is one of the better-known fulfilment companies in the marketplace today, offering an excellent range of products to choose from.

Printful allows you to choose from 589 products to add your designs to, from t-shirts and tank tops, to hoodies and canvas prints.

You can sort through a range of categories, and sell everything from clothing and homeware, to accessories. There’s also a handy mockup generator on the Printful website so you can see what your items are going to look like in advance.

You also get the benefit of knowing that Printful’s team is on hand to print, pack, and ship your order to the customer. The dropshipper (that’s you) is responsible for paying for this service, and the shipping costs.

Essentially, Printful simplifies the entire process of running a creative business, from the point where you begin designing your products, to the moment when you’re ready to start shipping things out to your clients.

Printful and Printify agreed to merge in November 2024. Their parent company FYUL launched in November 2025, but the brands retain separate catalogs, dashboards, and accounts.

How Spreadshirt Works

Spreadshirt homepage

Spreadshirt offers hosted selling and store-connected fulfillment. Source: Spreadshirt

Spreadshirt is very similar in style to Printful. Designed to make it easier for all kinds of companies to create and sell their own merchandise, Spreadshirt allows you to choose from a wide selection of designs and products that you want to sell.

  • Spreadshop: A free hosted store handling payments, printing, shipping, returns, and customer service.
  • Spreadconnect: Formerly SPOD, this fulfills orders for your existing store. The software remains unchanged.
  • Spreadshirt Marketplace: Upload designs for sale to Spreadshirt’s own shoppers.

You create an account with Spreadshirt, then go to the “designs” menu on your account to start creating products.

You can import your own designs, then edit it according to your needs, adding various additional elements according to your needs.

When you list a product on your store, and a customer purchases it, the Spreadshirt team gets to work on making that item and getting it to your end-user.

You’re responsible for building and marketing your store with your own designs, and Spreadshirt handles the fulfilment process, just like Printful.

Once the product is ready to ship out to your client, you’ll pay for the price of making the item, as well as packing and picking the product, and sending it to your target customer.

Is Printful or Spreadshirt Cheaper to Sell With?

Spreadshirt is cheaper to start with because Spreadshop and Spreadconnect have no monthly fee. Printful’s biggest product discounts, up to 33%, require Growth at $24.99/month unless you reach $12K in yearly sales.

The more you spend on your print-on-demand service, the less money you’re going to have left over for things like marketing your Shopify store, or showcasing your brand.

The good news is that both Printful and Spreadshirt are pretty straightforward about their pricing. Both companies tell you what you can expect to pay clearly, so you don’t have to worry about surprise costs.

However, that doesn’t mean that you can run your business for free. The amount you spend will depend on a variety of factors.

How Much Does Printful Cost?

For instance, Printful’s pricing structure will start by asking you to choose the product you want to sell. You’ll pay the base cost of the garment, which differs depending on the type of product you want to sell.

Plan Monthly price What you get
Free $0 Full catalog; 20% off samples
Growth $24.99; free at $12K yearly sales Up to 33% off products; 9% off branding; 25% off samples; free sample embroidery digitization
Enterprise Custom Managed service for high-volume businesses

A Bella+Canvas 3001 with one DTG print starts around $11.92, dropping to about $10.37 each at 25 items. Spreadshirt tends to cost slightly less on basic tees such as the Gildan 5000, while Printful is cheaper on the Bella+Canvas 3001.

Once you get a price for the actual item, you’ll also need to consider the cost of shipping that product to your target customer.

You can offset some of the costs of shipping onto your customer, but you’re going to need to think carefully about your pricing.

Choose Growth when its monthly savings exceed $24.99; Printful’s free plan includes the full catalog.

How Much Does Spreadshirt Cost?

Spreadshirt’s pricing structure is very similar to Printful, although there are some differences. If you’re selling a standard product through your own online store, like you would on Printify, then you don’t have to pay a membership fee.

The amount you spend on each item will include the base product price, the printing costs, the design price, and the shipping price.

If you’re adding your own text and designs, then you don’t need to pay a design fee. With Spreadconnect, your first print area is included, each extra print area costs $5, and you pay the shipping to get your item to wherever it needs to go.

Spreadconnect charges no printing surcharge for DTG and DTF, with a one-time $2.50 per order for flex and flock prints.

Spreadshop instead deducts its base price from your retail price: $43.99 minus $27.99 leaves $16. Typical t-shirt earnings run $8 to $13, with seven performance tiers reducing base prices.

In the Create Tool where you can make your products, you can also find designs from other companies and artists that you can use for a price. Most of these will have a fixed price attached to them, which you pay directly to the designer.

Scores: Printful 3.8/5; Spreadshirt 4.3/5.

The Winner: Spreadshirt

Which Platform Has the Better Products and Print Quality?

Printful beats Spreadshirt on product choice because it offers 589 items versus roughly 250 to 350, with DTG, DTFlex, embroidery, and all-over printing available. Choose Printful for a wider catalog; consider Spreadshirt for flex and flock apparel designs.

No matter what print on demand company you choose to work with, you need to ensure that you’re investing in high quality products for your customers. Whether it’s phone cases or hoodies, your clients want to know they can rely on you for great prints.

Over the years, some companies, like Redbubble and other print on demand tools have had shaky reputations for printing quality.

However, both Printful and Spreadshirt don’t seem to struggle too much here. Although it’s hard to determine which one offers the best print quality, both have their benefits.

Printful’s Catalog and Print Methods

Printful offers versatile printing options, including direct-to-garment, DTFlex, all-over sublimation printing, and embroidery. There’s also plenty of ways to customize your designs to suit your brands and make your business stand out.

There are a bunch of different kinds of product design to choose from, including DTG and durable embroidery.

Product consideration Printful Spreadshirt
Catalog breadth 589 products About 250 to 350
Digital printing DTG and DTFlex DTG and DTF
Other customization Embroidery and all-over sublimation Flex, special flex, flock, thermosublimation
Production footprint In-house facilities plus regional partners US and European production

Printful uses the same quality-testing standards across its facilities and handles production in-house for most regions. Its same-region shipping figure is 86% of orders, although your product and destination determine which facility fulfills the order.

Spreadshirt’s Catalog and Print Methods

Spreadshirt also builds on its ease of use with dozens of ways to customize shirts, leggings and other products.

There’s digital (DTG), DTF, flex, special flex, and flock printing. All of the digital printing options offer high-quality results and reproductions. Thermo sublimation is also available for accessories like mugs and phone cases.

Spreadshirt’s catalog varies by channel. Check your chosen product and print method in Spreadshop or Spreadconnect before building a collection around it.

Either way, you should be able to get decent results with both Printful and Spreadshirt.

Scores: Printful 4.7/5; Spreadshirt 3.9/5.

The Winner: Printful

Should You Sell Through Your Own Store, a Spreadshop, or the Marketplace?

Spreadshirt wins on selling routes because you can use a free Spreadshop, its marketplace, or your own store. Printful fulfills orders through your existing selling channels, although its 22 integrations make it stronger for established store owners.

Selling With Spreadshop and the Marketplace

Free branded shops (Spreadshop) are available from Spreadshirt as standard, so you don’t have to worry about building a brand on a marketplace that’s packed full of competition.

Spreadshop is a free online platform designed to help creators monetize their audiences by selling merchandise to followers and fans.

You don’t need to deal with things like payments and fulfilment processing with Spreadshop, because the company handles everything instead. However, the amount you can earn from Spreadshop depends on the gap between your price and the base price.

  • Channels: YouTube Shopping, Instagram/Facebook, TikTok, and website embeds.
  • Payouts: Monthly on the 15th working day, with a $10 minimum, through PayPal or bank.
  • Crediting: Orders remain in Sales for 14 days before earnings are credited.

Spreadshop is handy because it allows you to track the outcomes of your sales strategies through an easy-to-use statistics dashboard.

This makes tracking sales on the go much simpler and allows you to improve your potential profit margins and prices.

Alternatively, you can choose to list your item on the marketplace, where Spreadshirt can help you out with things like finding consumers, but the kind of commission you get here will change.

You submit your designs to the marketplace and the Spreadshirt company will advertise them for you to a huge audience of potential buyers.

The second option (marketplace) means that Spreadshirt sets the retail price and pays you a fixed commission per item (roughly $3 on a standard tee), but you don’t have to do the marketing yourself.

You can choose to sell on both your own store and the marketplace at the same time. With your own store, your income and profit will depend on how much you spend on the products, and how much you charge.

This is a great way to start selling straight away without having to spend a fortune on building a website. However, it’s worth noting that not all designs will be approved, plus, your profit options are limited because you only earn a fixed commission per sale.

Connecting Your Own Store

Both of these platforms come with built-in APIs so you can connect them with things like Squarespace, Magento, and various other store builders.

Channel Printful Spreadshirt
Shopify Yes Via Spreadconnect
Etsy Yes Via Spreadconnect
WooCommerce Yes Via Spreadconnect
Amazon and eBay Direct Via Order Desk, from $20/month
Hosted store No Spreadshop
Own marketplace No Spreadshirt Marketplace

Printful is stronger for an existing store, with 22 integrations. Spreadconnect also supports TikTok Shop; check your intended channel before choosing.

Scores: Printful 4.2/5; Spreadshirt 4.5/5.

The Winner: Spreadshirt

Which Ships Faster and Reaches More Countries?

Printful wins for international fulfillment because its 7 in-house facilities and partners in Brazil, Japan, and Australia give it broader production coverage. Spreadshirt produces only in the US and Europe, although its 48-hour printing target is competitive.

Printful Shipping and Fulfillment

There are production houses available for Printful in the USA, Mexico, Canada, the UK, Latvia, and Spain, plus partner facilities in Brazil, Japan, and Australia, and the company commits itself to always fulfilling orders as quickly as possible.

Printful estimates that it can take between 2-5 business days for apparel products to be created.

Printful delivery option Estimated transit after fulfillment
US flat rate 3 to 4 business days
Europe flat rate 5 to 20 business days
US and Europe express 1 to 3 business days

Printful also works with some of the most reliable global carriers too, like FedEx, DPD, DHL, and USPS.

Shipping costs to US customers start at $4.95 for a t-shirt, with a $2.20 charge for each additional t-shirt.

Use Printful’s shipping calculator for non-US destinations rather than applying US dollar figures to international orders.

If you want to get your items to customers in fewer business days, Printful offers express shipping that takes 1-3 business days after fulfillment in the US and Europe. You can enter the state or country you want to ship to on the Printful website to get an estimate of how long delivery will take, and how much it’s going to cost.

Spreadshirt Shipping and Fulfillment

Spreadshirt aims to print most orders within 48 hours, versus Printful’s 2 to 5 business days. Production in the US, Czechia, Germany, and Poland means Australian and Asian orders travel farther.

Spreadshirt takes a slightly different approach to shipping costs. There are three different kinds of shipping available, including Standard, Premium, and Express.

The amount you spend will depend on which method you choose, where you’re shipping to, and the value of the goods you’re sending.

Standard and Premium shipping usually get your products to customers within about 7-14 business days, with Premium adding tracking and insurance, while the Express shipping option takes between 3-7 days.

Depending on where you’re shipping to, there may also be customs fees to consider alongside the various costs of packing and shipping your order. The good news is that premium and express delivery does come with a tracking option to help you keep an eye on expensive products.

Spreadshirt’s fast printing favors US and European buyers. Neither platform guarantees these delivery estimates.

Scores: Printful 4.6/5; Spreadshirt 3.5/5.

The Winner: Printful

Which Platform Lets You Build Your Own Brand?

Printful is better for branding because you can add inside labels from $0.99, outside labels for $2.49, pack-ins, and custom packing slips. Spreadshirt offers white-label shipping, but inside labels are limited to a few products.

The more you add to the product, like outside labels, and extra prints, the more you’ll have to spend. For instance, a basic inside label will cost $0.99, and an outside label costs $2.49.

Remember, things like stickers and extra labels to include with your merch will also cost more.

  • Inside labels: From $0.99, giving eligible garments your own brand identification.
  • Outside labels: $2.49, with DTG, embroidery, all-over print, and DTF options on eligible products.
  • Pack-ins and packing slips: Paid branding extras that extend your identity beyond the garment.
  • Growth discount: Members get 9% off product branding, alongside their product discounts.

Spreadconnect offers white-label shipping. However, few apparel products support inside labels, and inserts are unavailable, so white-label shipping does not give you Printful’s full set of branding options.

A Spreadshop also uses Spreadshop’s checkout and customer service. That suits creators selling merchandise under their own name without trying to reproduce every detail of an independent clothing label.

Add your chosen Printful labels and pack-ins before calculating your margin. Choose Spreadshirt when neutral packaging is enough; choose Printful when branded garments and packaging are part of your offer.

Scores: Printful 4.7/5; Spreadshirt 3.0/5.

The Winner: Printful

Which Is Easier to Use for Designing Products?

Printful wins for design tools because its mockup generator helps you preview products and monitor costs as you build. Spreadshirt’s simpler creator and ready-made designs make it an appealing alternative for your first product.

You can access mock-up creators that allow you to see what your designs are going to look like and place pictures on your website. There are also various tools for calculating things like profit and shipping rates.

Designing With Printful

Printful product designer

Printful’s mockup tool previews your design on a product before publication. Source: Printful

One of the most appealing parts of Printful is the fact that it comes with a convenient mockup generator that helps you to see what your designs are going to look like.

You can easily customize your designs using this mockup tool, and even find handy products outside of the apparel area to sell.

As you’re creating your products on Printful’s mockup generator, you should be able to get an insight into how much the product is going to cost to make.

Design cost: Printful premium images cost $1 per image, per placement, per item sold. Include that recurring charge when setting your retail price.

Designing With Spreadshirt

You don’t even need to have your own designs prepared to start using Spreadshirt. You can use t-shirt designs already present on the platform.

Like Printful, Spreadshirt has access to a mockup generator tool so you can ensure that your designs look great no matter which products you decide to sell. There’s the option to explore “Spreadshop” too.

Choose Spreadshirt for ready-made designs; choose Printful to work on product presentation and pricing together.

Scores: Printful 4.5/5; Spreadshirt 4.0/5.

The Winner: Printful

Which Platform Offers Better Customer Support?

Printful wins on support because it combines live chat with a contact form and a 2-hour target for general messages. Spreadshirt’s email target is around 24 hours, but it is the only one you can phone.

Printful Support

On Printful, there’s help center that you can use to assist yourself, with blogs, video tutorials, and FAQs.

If you need more human help, you can use the contact form to connect with Printful or reach out through their instant chat tool.

  • Chat: Starts with Sparky, a chatbot; human handoff depends on agent availability.
  • Contact form: Available around the clock, with a 2-hour general-message target.
  • Phone: No phone support.

For those with a social background, Printful also stays active on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, where you can also connect with members of the community for extra guidance.

Spreadshirt Support

Spreadshirt offers a similar customer help strategy that starts with an FAQ page and plenty of information for solving your own problems. You can also access special tools for calculating printing and shipping costs.

If you need to get in touch with the actual Spreadshirt team, there’s an email address or phone number available (phone lines run on weekdays).

Spreadconnect sellers also get an in-app Contact Us form. Some sellers describe generic help-article replies and slow fixes after an app update changed print areas.

Choose Spreadshirt if speaking by phone is essential; choose Printful for chat and its shorter general-message target.

Scores: Printful 4.2/5; Spreadshirt 3.3/5.

The Winner: Printful

Printful and Spreadshirt Pros and Cons

Both platforms have pros and cons to consider. Although Spreadshirt takes a slightly different approach to other print on demand companies, with features like Spreadshop, the aim is still to deliver excellent experiences to your customers and make order fulfillment easy.

Pros of Printful 👍

  • ✔️ Wide selection of unique products to choose from
  • ✔️ Automated order fulfillment solution included
  • ✔️ Works well with some of the major shopping carts, and eCommerce builders
  • ✔️ Good turnaround and shipping times in most cases
  • ✔️ Fulfilment locations in North America, Europe, and partner countries
  • ✔️ Great product quality with various printing options
  • ✔️ Large customer base across the US and Europe
  • ✔️ Decent customer service options available including self service

Cons of Printful 👎

  • ❌ Can be a little overpriced for some companies
  • ❌ Some customization limits
  • ❌ No phone support: Live chat isn’t always staffed; use the contact form when agents are unavailable.
  • ❌ Growth-gated discounts: Best discounts need Growth, costing $24.99/month under $12K in yearly sales.

Pros of Spreadshirt 👍

  • ✔️ Create your own store experience with SpreadShop
  • ✔️ Choose from a wide selection of product types
  • ✔️ Vast range of printing options, including flex and flock
  • ✔️ Offers its own marketplace for finding customers
  • ✔️ Access to sales stats and reporting information
  • ✔️ Free to use functionality
  • ✔️ Phone and email support
  • ✔️ Fast production target: Most orders printed within 48 hours; allow additional time for delivery.

Cons of Spreadshirt 👎

  • ❌ Not the widest selection of tools available
  • ❌ Not the most integrations compared to other POD tools
  • ❌ Limited branding: few inside labels and no pack-ins
  • ❌ Regional production: Production only in the US and Europe, rather than Printful’s broader network.
  • ❌ Marketplace restrictions: Designs can be rejected, and you earn a fixed commission rather than setting your own retail price.

Printful and Spreadshirt Alternatives

Printful and Spreadshirt are two highly popular choices for print on demand businesses. However, they’re far from your only options.

Printful vs Spreadshirt vs Printify

Printify is a solution that’s very similar to Printful, and almost as popular too. With Printify, you can access 2,000+ product options, great shipping discounts and excellent prices for your designs.

There’s also the freedom to make various changes to your designs so you can ensure that your brand stands out online.

Printify takes care of the entire fulfilment process for you, and you can pick your own supplier, so you don’t have to worry about letting your audience down, as you can search for the best possible companies to work with.

  • Free: $0; 5 stores, 70+ print providers.
  • Premium: $24.99/month billed yearly, or $39 monthly.

Best for: Sellers comparing providers on price.

Printful vs Spreadshirt vs Gelato

Gelato has 140+ production partners across 32 countries, with 87% of orders produced in the buyer’s country.

  • Free: No subscription or commission.
  • Gelato+: About $20/month billed annually; up to 25% off products.

Best for: Sellers with buyers spread worldwide.

Printful vs Spreadshirt vs Fourthwall

Fourthwall offers a hosted creator store and merchant-of-record service, with fulfillment in the US, UK, EU, and Australia.

  • Free: $0/month; flat product fees for catalog merchandise.
  • Pro: $15/month.
  • Card processing: 2.9% plus $0.30.
  • Memberships: 5% fee; digital products also supported.

Read our Fourthwall review.

Best for: YouTubers and streamers wanting a branded store.

Printful vs. Spreadshirt vs. Sellfy

Sellfy homepage

Sellfy combines a hosted storefront with print-on-demand products. Source: Sellfy

Sellfy is a one-stop solution for newbie POD sellers and those wanting a quick and easy way to start selling fast. It’s intuitive to use and enables you to customize and launch your own eCommerce store.

They have 120+ POD products to choose from, from phone cases to hoodies. Sellfy also comes with a decent 3D mock-up generator. It enables you to customize your POD merchandise with custom labeling, embroidery, and different color variations.

In addition to its POD items, you can sell your own physical and digital products via your Sellfy store.

Sellfy ships from 11 fulfillment centers, with standard delivery of 3-6 business days in the US and 2-5 in Europe.

You can’t choose an external fulfillment provider or specify a carrier or fulfillment location.

Nevertheless, it’s an excellent option for those wanting to launch a POD business from one centralized platform with built-in analytics and marketing tools.

For instance, you can create discount codes, upsell products, and launch email campaigns. You can also monitor your efforts from your Sellfy dashboard. Here you can review stats on your revenue, traffic, purchases, and conversions.

  • Starter: $22/month billed annually.
  • Business: $59/month billed annually.
  • Premium: $119/month billed annually.
  • Transaction fees: 0% platform fees; payment processing applies.

Best for: Sellers who also want to sell digital products.

How We Test Print on Demand Services

We test print-on-demand services by opening seller accounts, building products in each designer, pricing orders in each calculator, and setting up a hosted store where one is offered.

  • Pricing and fees: Subscriptions, product prices, print charges, and optional extras.
  • Product range and print methods: Catalog breadth and customization techniques.
  • Selling channels and integrations: Store connections, hosted shops, and marketplace access.
  • Production and shipping: Facility coverage, production estimates, delivery options, and destination-specific costs.
  • Branding: Labels, packaging inserts, packing slips, and white-label limitations.
  • Design tools: Product previews, mockups, and cost visibility before publication.
  • Support: Contact methods, availability, response targets, and self-service resources.

Our overall ratings average the seven round scores: Printful earns 4.4/5 and Spreadshirt 3.8/5.

Prices current as of October 2026.

Printful vs Spreadshirt: Which Should You Choose?

Our pick for your Shopify, Etsy, or WooCommerce store is Printful, rated 4.4/5.

Printful is an excellent choice for companies in search of an easy-to-use tool for print on demand functionality. It gives you extras like branded labels, pack-ins, and 22 store integrations to choose from.

On the other hand, Spreadshirt offers an easy entry way to selling online for companies of all sizes, particularly if you want to sell to an existing audience.

There are tons of different product customization options to choose from, although its branding options are more limited than Printful’s, which makes Spreadshirt slightly less ideal for scalability.

Printful is a good option if you want to ship products around the world, while Spreadshirt provides access to more options for capturing audience attention, thanks to Spreadshop.

Remember, you can examine the functionality of both tools for free and even send yourself a mockup of your design before you make your decision of which provider to stick with.

Choose Spreadshirt, rated 3.8/5, for a free hosted store or marketplace selling.

Try Printful and price your first product with shipping and branding included.

FAQs

Is Spreadshirt the same as SPOD?

SPOD was Spreadshirt’s store-connected fulfillment service and is now called Spreadconnect. The software and integrations remain the same, but the login has moved to Spreadconnect. Spreadshop is a separate product: it provides a free hosted storefront and handles customer service. When comparing SPOD vs Printful, you’re comparing fulfillment services for an existing store, not Spreadshirt’s marketplace or its hosted-shop offering.

Do Printful and Spreadshirt charge a monthly fee?

Neither platform requires a monthly subscription. Printful has a free plan plus optional Growth at $24.99/month, which becomes free once you reach $12K in yearly sales. Spreadshop and Spreadconnect have no monthly platform fee.

You still pay production and delivery costs, either directly through order fulfillment or through Spreadshop’s base-price deduction. An independently hosted store or integration add-on can introduce separate charges.

Is Spreadshirt cheaper than Printful?

Spreadshirt is generally cheaper to start with because its hosted store has no monthly fee and Spreadconnect includes the first print area. Per-item costs depend on the garment: basic tees tend to be slightly cheaper at Spreadshirt, while Printful can be cheaper for the Bella+Canvas 3001, starting around $11.92. Compare shipping and branding too. Our Printful pricing guide explains its costs in more detail.

How much do you earn selling on Spreadshirt?

Spreadshop earnings are your retail price minus the base price, with typical t-shirt earnings around $8 to $13 per sale. The Spreadshirt Marketplace works differently: Spreadshirt sets the retail price and pays a fixed commission, roughly $3 on a standard tee. Spreadshop pays monthly once your balance reaches $10, and orders take 14 days to credit. Your sales channel therefore makes a substantial difference to earnings.

Can you use Printful or Spreadshirt with Etsy and Shopify?

Yes, Printful and Spreadconnect both connect to Etsy and Shopify. Printful also supports direct Amazon and eBay connections, while Spreadconnect reaches those channels through Order Desk, which introduces a separate subscription starting at $20/month. Use Spreadconnect rather than Spreadshop when you want fulfillment for your existing store. See “Should You Sell Through Your Own Store, a Spreadshop, or the Marketplace?” above for the channel comparison.

Did Printful merge with Printify?

Yes, Printful and Printify announced their merger in November 2024, and parent company FYUL launched in November 2025. The brands still operate separate catalogs, dashboards, and accounts, so the merger does not combine your day-to-day selling tools. Printful’s in-house production model and Printify’s provider-selection model remain distinct. Our Printful vs Printify comparison explains which approach better suits your store and product range.

Rebekah Carter

Rebekah Carter is an experienced content creator, news reporter, and blogger specializing in marketing, business development, and technology. Her expertise covers everything from artificial intelligence to email marketing software and extended reality devices. When she’s not writing, Rebekah spends most of her time reading, exploring the great outdoors, and gaming.

Comments 2 Responses

  1. you didn’t mention that Spreashirt offers 30 day exchange or return, that is a massive plus point you have left out of the review!

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