Printful is one of the world’s top print on demand platforms, offering companies access to hundreds of customizable products, AI-powered design tools, and exceptional fulfillment services.
It’s actually one of the first solutions I recommend to any company embracing the “POD” business model, thanks to it’s commitment to exceptional quality, and customer service, and its ability to integrate with a huge selection of sales channels.
But there’s one question I hear a lot from new vendors:
“Why is Printful so expensive compared to other print on demand companies?”
Sure, you can create an account with Printful for free, but the cost of base products, printing options, branding extras, and shipping can be insanely high.
So, why is Printful so pricey?
Understanding Printful’s Pricing Structure
To understand the overall cost of using Printful for print on demand, we need to break down its pricing structure. Let’s start with the “plans”.
Printful Plans and Memberships
Like most POD companies Printful does offer a free plan. You can sign up for an account without paying anything and link the solution straight to your existing sales channels.
The free plan includes access to:
- Automatic order fulfillment (through integrations)
- Global fulfillment services
- The design maker and mockup generator
- White-label packaging slips
- Resources (like marketing guides and self-help tools)
- All of Printful’s customizable products
- 24/7 customer support
The only way you’d need to pay for a Printful account, is if you wanted to access the Printful “Growth” Membership plan (without earning the right amount of revenue per year). This membership is free if you’re earning more than $12k in annual revenue.
However, you can also choose to pay $24.99 per month for the benefits, which include up to 20% off DTG products, 30% off other products, 7% off branding services, free digitization for sample orders, and personalized product transfer support.
The other membership plan, “Printful Business”, is only available of you’re earning $60k a year or more in annual revenue. This gives you extra benefits like up to 25% off sample orders, 22% off DTG products, 9% off branding, and 33% off other product categories.
The Other Costs of Using Printful
So, why is Printful so expensive if you can use it for free? The simple answer is that there are other fees to consider, starting with Printful’s high product costs.
Compared to most POD companies, Printful charges very high “base product costs” for its items. I’ll cover some reasons for this in a minute, but here’s an example, first. Say you wanted to create a unisex t-shirt with Printful, you’d spend around $11.50 on a standard shirt with DTG printing:
If you want embroidery, that upgrades the price to $12.89, or $16.39 if you want unlimited colors. Then there’s extra fees to pay if you want larger sizes too (although this is standard for most POD companies). If you’re choosing embroidery, there’s also a separate fee of $6.50 for digitization.
For a multi-colored embroidered shirt, you’d pay around $22.89, which means you also need to charge customers a hefty price to make a decent profit. If you want to boost your chances of sales by offering free shipping, there’s also the fulfillment costs to consider.
Prices can start at around $4.69 for your first item when shipping in the US, and you’ll pay an extra fee for each additional product. You can see how all of those costs can quickly add up.
Not to mention, you’ll probably have other business operating costs to think about too, for things like marketing, or running your ecommerce platform.
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Why is Printful So Expensive? The Factors
So, why is Printful so expensive? There are three core factors that I think contribute most to the company’s higher prices.
Product Quality
Like most things in life, with print on demand, you get what you pay for, and Printful prioritizes delivering exceptional quality. The company sources the highest-quality materials (including eco-friendly and premium options), and uses state-of-the-art production technologies.
This means that you end up with much more luxurious products than you’ll get from most alternative companies, but you’ll also pay more for the base costs of your products. The good news is that Printful’s approach to quality seems to pay off. The company has an exceptionally low return rate, and great reviews on channels like TrustPilot.
Advanced Printing Techniques
If you just want to use basic “Direct to Garment” printing to create your custom products with Printful, you won’t pay that much more than you would with other companies like Printify. Where the prices really start to ramp up is when you use more advanced printing methods, like DTF printing, all-over-printing, and custom embroidery.
Embroidery is particularly expensive, because you’ll need to pay extra to use more than 7 basic colors, and you’ll have to pay $6.50 to digitize every file you upload. Free digitization is only available to people on Printful’s membership plans.
Custom Branding Options
On top of the product quality and printing options, the decision to add extra branding options to your Printful merch can also increase your costs. You can customize packaging slips for free, but you’ll need to pay if want access to:
- Custom packaging
- Packaging inserts
- Side and back embroidery for hats
- Inside and outside label printing
- Custom branding inserts
You can contact the company for insights into how much you’ll spend on each branding upgrade, but as an example, custom labels start at $2.49 each.
Comparing Printful to Its Competitors
Compared to other Print on Demand companies, Printful is pretty pricey.
For instance, you can create a similar unisex t-shirt with Printify for about $9.94, although there may not be an option for embroidery. The least expensive T-shirt on Printify will cost around $3.40 to make, compared to $6.95 for Printful’s cheapest option.
It’s also worth noting that Printify’s pricing for products, shipping, and customizations can vary depending on the manufacturer you choose to work with. Although you can sort your options from “lowest price” to highest. Product pricing and shipping costs are pretty similar on Gelato too.
If you opt for a print on demand marketplace like Spring (TeeSpring), you can spend as little as $10 on a shirt, and you don’t have to worry about shipping costs, as they’re passed to your customer.
Of course, there are downsides to choosing a cheaper vendor too. Printful might cost more, but it also promises higher quality products, better design tools, more integrations, and even a wider range of products to choose from than many competitors.
Plus, Printful gives you more ways to customize your products, to help you stand out from the competition (such as embroidery).
MORE: Printful vs Printify – The Ultimate Comparison
Is Printful Too Expensive?
Ultimately, higher production, printing, and fulfillment costs on Printful are going to have an impact on your profit margins. If you purchase a Bella + Canvas unisex t-shirt for $12.95, with DTG printing, you’ll need to sell it at $22.95 for a decent $10 profit.
You can always pass the delivery price over to your customers to maximize your profits, but this could be a hard sell if you’re already charging high prices for your products.
However, there are ways to potentially boost your profits, such as:
- Focus on promoting high-quality: Show your customers that you’re committed to creating luxury garments, and target more affluent buyers with your marketing campaigns. Working with influencers can be a good way to draw attention to product quality.
- Use cheaper production methods: Avoid embroidery and other unique printing methods until you’ve already built a strong brand and consumer base. Stick with DTG printing, and consider skipping custom branding if you can.
- Buy in bulk: Printful does offer discounts on bulk purchases, so you can potentially reduce costs by purchasing a lot of popular items at once, and shipping them to customers yourself.
- Get a membership: As soon as you’re eligible, a Printful membership is definitely worthwhile to access some extra discounts. You might even consider paying for the $24.99 per month Growth option if you’re a high-volume seller.
- Take advantage of promotions: Printful does occasionally offer discounts on some of its products, so pay attention to what’s on sale, and potentially stock up when necessary.
Plus, keep in mind that even if Printful is expensive, companies have been able to make a profit with the platform in the past. Take a look at this collection of success stories, shared by real customers who have built thriving brands with Printful.
Is Printful Worthwhile?
So, why is Printful so expensive, and is it worth the extra cost? Ultimately, Printful is expensive because it gives you access to higher-quality products and materials, better branding options, and more advanced printing methods than most alternatives.
Yes, the initial costs of creating your products (and shipping them to customers) can be high, but investing in Printful can pay off too. If you can develop a reputation with your customers as a leader in high-quality products, then you can still earn a decent profit.
All you really need is the right approach to pricing and promotion.
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