Society6 vs Spreadshirt 2024: The Ultimate Comparison

Overall, I think Spreadshirt is one of the most flexible POD platforms for beginners. It gives you the option to sell through an existing marketplace, create your own store, or even integrate your POD tools with a range of marketplaces and platforms. For me, it’s the clear winner in this comparison.

However, if you’re an artist looking to sell high-quality prints, Society6 is a slightly more “niche-focused” solution. It has an excellent reputation for producing top-quality products, and makes it relatively easy to start earning money online.

If you’re a member of the ever-growing creative economy, you might have considered monetizing your skills with the help of a Print on Demand (POD) platform. As a subset of dropshipping, POD offers entrepreneurs, artists, and creators one of the easiest ways to start selling products online.

With this business model, there are minimal upfront costs, virtually no risks (you only pay for what you sell), and you don’t have to deal with producing and fulfilling orders yourself.

The biggest challenge? Figuring out which platform to use.

Spreadshirt and Society6 are two Print on Demand solutions I’ve seen deliver excellent results to artists and creators in the last few years.

However, while they’re both POD platforms, they target very different audiences. Here’s what you need to know to make the right choice for your business.

Spreadshirt vs Society6: How the Platforms Work

On the surface, Spreadshirt and Society6 seem pretty similar. They both give you an online marketplace you can use to sell products without creating your own ecommerce store.

They also both offer access to a wide range of customizable products (although Spreadshirt seems to have more variety to offer). However, these platforms work in very different ways.

How Society6 Works

Society6 describes itself as an “artist-driven marketplace”, and I can definitely see why. The company focuses specifically on helping independent artists to monetize their creativity.

Compared to Spreadshirt, the experience of using Society6 is pretty basic.

All you need to do is sign up for an account (for free), and upload your original designs to the platform.

Based on the size of your file, Society6 will give you a range of items you can apply your print to (there are 90+ products to choose from).

Once you’ve uploaded your prints, customers can purchase them from the Society6 marketplace, and Society6 handles the rest.

The team prints your products, ships them to customers, and handles all customer communications for you. After that, you receive a “commission” for each sale made.

Usually, these commissions start at around 10%, but you can set your own prices on premium plans.

How Spreadshirt Works

Spreadshirt started off a lot like Society6, giving creators a marketplace they could access to list their products, and connect with potential buyers.

However, these days, there’s more than one way to sell with Spreadshirt. The marketplace is still a great option, attracting more than 80,000 visitors a month.

Once you sign up for an account, you can use the Spreadshirt mockup generator and design tools to create your products, and list them on the site.

Plus, you’ll be able to access promotional campaign tools to showcase your items on Amazon and Ebay.

Alternatively, you can choose to create your own Spreadshirt Shop (For free) with Spreadshop, and earn commissions on every product you sell through your custom storefront.

There’s also the option to use SPOD to connect your Spreadshirt POD tools to a range of other ecommerce platforms and marketplaces, such as WooCommerce, Etsy, and Shopify.

Society6 vs Spreadshirt: The Pros and Cons

I’ve experimented with dozens of print on demand platforms in the last few years, and they all have their own pros and cons to consider.

Spreadshirt and Society6 are no different. Here’s my insight into the main pros and cons of each platform.

Society6 Pros and Cons

Spreadshirt Pros and Cons

Society6 vs Spreadshirt: Pricing and Fees

One of the first things I’m asked about when I review a POD platform, is how much it’s going to cost to use the service.

While both Society6 and Spreadshirt do offer free plans, there are some differences in their pricing structure (and how you get paid).

Society6 Pricing and Fees

The good news for beginners in the POD space, is you don’t have to spend anything to get started with Society6.

There’s a free plan which allows you to sell up to 10 designs on the marketplace, create your own customizable artist shop, and place your designs on virtually any product.

You’ll also be able to ship to customers worldwide, and access around-the-clock support.

However, you can’t set your own prices on this plan, instead you just earn 10% of the net sale price, regardless of what you sell.

If you want a little more freedom, you can upgrade to the Basic plan for $4.99 per month, which allows you to set your own prices, and extends your design limit to 100.

There’s also the “Pro” plan for $12.99, which gives you a design limit of 10.000, as well as access to your own sales analytics dashboard and quarterly trend report emails and webinars.

You’ll also get a 20% discount on the base price of your products when you buy them yourself. I’d definitely recommend considering both paid plans if you’re scaling your art business.

In terms of shipping and product costs, both can vary depending on what you choose to sell, and where your customers are.

However, since you only earn a commission from a sale, rather than paying for base products and shipping and keeping the profits, you shouldn’t have to worry about these fees too much.

You may just want to keep them in mind when setting your own prices.

Spreadshirt’s Pricing and Fees

Just like Society6, Spreadshirt allows companies to start selling products online for free. Whatever sales strategy you choose, whether you’re building a Spreadshop store, or selling through the marketplace, you don’t have to pay any monthly fees. There are also no upfront costs to worry about.

You don’t have to deal with shipping fees or base product costs unless you choose to sell your products through Spod.

This integration allows you to set your own prices for any items you create, and you’ll need to pay for the core cost of the products you create, plus shipping fees.

In this instance, your base product prices and shipping fees will vary depending on a range of factors, including the products you choose, how you want to customize them, and the location of your customers.

If you want to avoid upfront costs altogether, you can use either Spreadshop, or the Spreadshirt marketplace, and simply earn a commission on all of your sales.

This will give you less control over your profit margins, but it does mean you don’t have to worry about budgeting for base item costs and shipping yourself.

Selling through Spod also means you’ll need to consider the costs of any ecommerce platforms you’re using, like Shopify.

Core Features and Functionality

While Society6 and Spreadshirt are two very different platforms, they both offer companies a range of features that can make it easier to start selling custom products online.

Both platforms come with design tools and mockup generators, although I did find Spreadshirt’s tools to be a little basic.

Society6 goes a little further to ensure you get high quality prints, giving you directions on which types of files to upload, and ensuring you can’t just apply your images to any products (if they’re not large enough, for instance).

Both platforms also give you a lot of different products to choose from, though Spreadshirt’s options are a little more diverse.

Society6 focuses mainly on home décor, wall art, apparel, and accessories, though there are some tech and outdoor options available too. Spreadshirt primarily focuses on apparel, but it does give you a lot of printing options you won’t get elsewhere (like flock print).

Society6 vs Spreadshirt: Product Designs and Quality

Testing the quality of the products you can get from POD companies can be challenging. Even if you order a sample product (which you can do on both Spreadshirt and Society6), there are plenty of variables that can affect print quality over time.

Based on my own experiments, and what I’ve read from in reviews from customers, Society6 does have a slightly better reputation for delivering consistent quality.

The company might only give you access to 90 unique products, but it leverages state-of-the-art technology for printing, and implements strict quality assurance measures to ensure success.

I also appreciate the fact that the size of the file you upload to Society6 determines which products you’ll be able to customize and sell.

If an image is too small, Society6 won’t just stretch it to fit a space, which means you’re less likely to end up with poor-quality prints.

Spreadshirt doesn’t necessarily have a bad reputation for product quality, but experiences can vary from one consumer to the next.

Most of the products you receive will look fantastic at first, but the design can begin to fade over time (particularly on regularly washed garments).

However, it’s worth noting that you do get more product options to choose from with Spreadshirt (over 200), and more ways to customize your items.

There are sublimation and embroidery options, screen, flock, flex, and metallic printing, and even glow-in-the-dark printing options.

Spreadshirt vs Society6: integrations

Here’s where the differences between Society6 and Spreadshirt really become obvious. As I mentioned above, Spreadshirt gives you a bunch of ways to sell your products.

You can sell your items directly through the Spreadshirt marketplace, or create a “Spreadshop”, which also integrates with tools like Joomla, Drupal, and WordPress.

Alternatively, if you take the “Spod” route, you’ll be able to sell through a range of ecommerce platforms and marketplace channels.

There are integrations for Squarespace, WooCommerce, Shopify, Etsy, Amazon, Ebay, and more. Even with the marketplace option, you can still access integrations to promote your products on Amazon and Ebay.

Notably, Spreadshirt also offers companies an open API, so you can create certain connections and automations yourself, if you have the right developer knowledge.

As far as I can tell, Society6 offers absolutely no integration options. The only way to sell products with the platform is with an “artist store” on the Society6 marketplace.

You can always link people to your store page on social media and other channels, but there are no direct integrations.

Customer Support and Service

Finally, let’s take a look at the customer support you can expect to receive from both platforms. With Society6, around-the-clock customer support is included on all plans.

You can contact the team via email, or access a chat feature to search for self-help support in Society6’s guides and FAQs.

I couldn’t find any chat or phone options, although you can potentially reach Society6 through social media (though I wouldn’t expect an immediate response).

Spreadshirt is a little more comprehensive with its approach to support. Though the service hours are limited to business hours (varying depending on where you live), you can get in touch through both email and phone.

Plus, the company has a ton of great self-help resources available, such as videos, guides, blogs, FAQs, and tutorials. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a live chat option.

Like Society6, Spreadshirt is also active on various social media channels, and it has its own dedicated forum available, if you want to seek support from other artists and creators.

Society6 vs Spreadshirt: The Final Verdict

Ultimately, while both Society6 and Spreadshirt have their own unique benefits, I think Spreadshirt is the better solution overall.

It gives artists a wider range of products (and customization options) to choose from, as well as multiple ways to sell their items across different channels.

Spreadshirt is exceptionally easy to use, and the customer support definitely has an edge over what you’d get from Society6.

However, Society6 does stand out in a few areas. It’s a great entry-level solution for artists who want to reach an existing audience through a comprehensive marketplace.

The design tools are a little more advanced, and Society6 also has a better reputation for delivering consistent quality.