Vistaprint vs Printful: Which Printing Partner is Best in 2024

Vistaprint vs Printful: which printing provider should you partner with when creating custom, branded products?

With years of experience reviewing and using tools in the print on demand landscape, we’ve had plenty of opportunities to experiment with both platforms.

Today, we’re taking a closer look at what companies can accomplish with the support of both vendors, exploring everything from ease of use to pricing, and print quality.

Read on for everything you need to know to make the right choice for your business, whether you’re looking to create branded merch, business cards, or unique custom products.

The Quick Verdict

Both Vistaprint and Printful are reliable printing partners, with easy-to-use platforms.

Vistaprint is an excellent option for companies looking to create business cards, and custom stationery products, such as calendars and stickers.

Printful is a more versatile solution over all, offering a wide range of quality products for print-on-demand business owners to choose from.

The Pros and Cons

	Printful	Vistaprint
Pros	✔️ Hundreds of products in various categories ✔️ Excellent print qualityIntegrations with dozens of ecommerce platforms and tools ✔️ Advanced design tools ✔️ Global network of fulfillment partners	❌ Excellent print qualityExcellent card designing tools and paper selections ❌ Wide range of promotional products ❌ QR Code generator
Cons	✔️ Some products can be quite expensive ✔️ Premium shipping is costly ✔️ Requires users to have an online presence	❌ Fewer product options ❌ Limited templates ❌ Lots of upsell attempts

Printful vs Vistaprint: An Introduction

Printful and Vistaprint are both printing companies who work with entrepreneurs and business leaders to produce custom products.

However, each platform has a slightly different focus.

Vistaprint is best-known for creating high-quality business cards, and other professional products in the stationery and home décor niche.

You can use Vistaprint to create t-shirts, blankets, advent calendars, and mugs, but there are fewer options to choose from than you’d get on Printful.

Printful, on the other hand, is a comprehensive print-on-demand platform, offering business-owners access to a host of customizable products they can sell through marketplaces, social media, and their own ecommerce websites.

Printful has hundreds of products to choose from, in categories ranging from clothing and apparel, to home décor, and accessories.

With Printful and Vistaprint, you’ll sell your products through your existing online storefront.

The platform integrates with social media tools, platforms like Wix and Shopify, and marketplaces such as Amazon, Etsy, and Ebay.

Vistaprint has fewer integrations available, as its used more by companies creating assets for employees and partners than POD retailers.

However, Vistaprint does have its own website builder (powered by Wix), as well as a range of useful tools for online sellers, like a logo designer, and tools for creating social media assets, animations, brand kits, and marketing images.

The Features of Printful and Vistaprint

Although they focus on different types of customers, Printful and Vistaprint do have some overlapping features. They both offer access to great design tools, which allow users to mockup images of their branded products for their websites and marketing strategies.

Both tools also offer access to a free logo maker for beginners, so if you’re just getting started with your new brand, you can generate an eye-catching visual identity.

However, the other features of the platform are quite different.

With Printful, you get:

• Access to hundreds of customizable products in a variety of categories
• Integrations with dozens of platforms and marketplaces
• Warehousing options for storing your POD and dropshipping products
• Various branding options, such as custom packaging and branded packaging inserts
• Customization techniques like DTG and DTF printing and embroidery
• A design maker with templates and mockup options
• Bonus tools like an Etsy calculator and ecommerce marketing tools
• Value-added services like video development and brand design

With Vistaprint, you get:

• Dozens of customizable products (t-shirts, calendars, and more)
• A design maker and mockup generator
• Logo design and social media template tools
• Access to a website builder powered by Wix
• Branded asset creation tools (image editor, brand kits, cloud storage, etc)
• Quality printing tools and materials

Products and Design Quality

Probably the biggest difference between Vistaprint and Printful is in the number and variety of products you can create with both tools. While both tools promise excellent design quality, and take steps to ensure consistency, you’ll have more options with Printful.

Products available from the Vistaprint print shop include:

• Calendars
• Cards
• Business cards
• Flyers and print advertising
• Banners, posters, and signs
• Invitations and stationery
• Stickers, labels, and packaging
• Clothing and bags
• Promotional products

You can also design websites, your own logo, and social media and marketing assets, using the “Vista Create” platform. All of these products are made with the latest printing technology, and there are various high-quality materials to choose from.

With Printful, you can create:

• Eco-friendly clothing
• T-shirts, polo shirts, and tank tops
• Long-sleeve shirts, ¾ sleeve, and embroidered shirts
• Sweatpants and joggers
• Leggings and pants
• Shorts
• Underwear and swimwear
• Hoodies and sweatshirts
• Hats (Beanies, snapbacks, visors, bucket hats, etc)
• Bags (tote, duffle, fanny packs, backpacks etc)
• Pins and patches
• Hair accessories
• Footwear (Shoes and socks)
• Tech accessories (laptop cases, phone cases, mousepads, etc)
• Wall art and canvas prints
• Blankets and pillows
• Stationery
• Drinkware and coasters
• Pet products
• Beauty products
• Home Décor (candles and magnets)

…and a lot more. Like Vistaprint, Printful uses state-of-the-art printing tools and technologies, and offers a range of materials to choose from, including eco-friendly options for garments.

Ease of Use: Which Platform is Simpler?

We found both Printful and Vistaprint to be incredibly straightforward and convenient solutions for businesses.

You can sign up for an account with both user-friendly tools in a couple of minutes, and start producing designs without paying anything.

The design tools on Printful are extremely intuitive, allowing print-on-demand companies to visualize what their custom products will look like, and alter a range of factors, from text to images.

You can even access free templates and graphics to help enhance your designs.

Plus, the print-on-demand service makes it easy to start selling your custom products on your preferred storefront, with dozens of integrations with leading tools, and a Printful API.

Placing orders is simple and straightforward, and you can even track order numbers. Plus, Printful even offers services to make your life easier, like support with shooting videos for your store.

Similarly, Vistaprint offers fantastic design tools, particularly for users of the “Vista create” platform.

This platform is available for free (or on a free plan), and comes with hundreds of thousands of free design templates, as well as over 1 million photos, videos, and vectors.

The platform allows users to customize the fonts, colors, and images on their branded products in seconds, and even store all of their assets in the same unified cloud environment. Plus, there are tools for scheduling and posting social media content.

Vistaprint even allows users to build their own website with the same user-friendly features you’d get from Wix, and collaborate with team members through community accounts.

Printful vs Vistaprint: Pricing and Fees

One great thing about both Printful and Vistaprint, is you don’t have to pay anything to start using their design tools.

You can create custom products on Printful without paying a subscription fee, and you only pay for the base cost of creating your products and shipping them to customers.

However, there are extra fees to consider, such as costs for extra services like brand design and development, warehousing, and video production. Plus, the cost of your products and shipping fees can vary depending on the items you choose to sell, your packaging choices, and customization options. Printful also offers two “membership” options.

• Printful Growth: $24.99 per month (or free to users that reach $12k in profits in 12 months): Free 14-day trial, 20% off DTG products, 30% off other categories, product transfer assistance, branding discounts of up to 7%, unlimited stores per account.
• Printful Business: Available only to sellers with $60k in sales per year: up to 22% off DTG products, and 33% off other products. 25% off sample orders, and up to 9% off branding services. Free digitization for embroidered products, large font print options, priority support, and the features of Printful Growth.

You can also create designs with Vistaprint for free, paying only for the cost of your chosen items, customizations, and shipping.

There’s also a free plan for the “Vista Create” package, which includes 100k+ design templates, more than 1 million photos, vectors, and videos, and a single brand kit.

You also get free fonts, music, backgrounds, and animations, social media scheduling tools, and 10GB of storage.

Alternatively, you can pay for Vista Create Pro ($13 per month), which includes all the features of the Starter pack, plus thousands of premium templates, background removing tools, and over 70 million photos, videos, and vectors.

The Pro account also includes team accounts, infinite brand kits, unlimited storage, resizing tools, version histories, a sticker maker, and HD downloads.

The Customer Support for Both Platforms

While both Vistaprint and Printful are straightforward solutions, there’s always a chance you might need some extras support.

You might want to follow up on the shipping times for your products, or learn more about how sublimation and all-over printing works.

Fortunately, there are plenty of resources to help you on both sites. Vistaprint has a dedicated order tracker, and a help center where you can find articles about setting up your online store, creating marketing materials, and order fulfillment.

You can also reach out to the team via email, live chat, or phone. There’s a handy notification to show you when people are available to answer your questions in real-time.

Printful also offers phone, live chat, and email support, as well as a ton of self-help resources. There are FAQs for Printful products, videos, guides, and blogs. Plus, you can reach out for expert assistance from graphic design experts, and technical teams.

We went a step further and contacted Printful support on through email, live chat, and the Printful app, and you can read our in depth report here.

TL;DR:

Alternatives to Printful and Vistaprint

If you don’t think Printful or Vistaprint is right for you, there are plenty of other printing partners to consider, from Zazzle, to Moo, and beyond.

Some offer support for one-off and bulk orders, while others can offer rapid delivery throughout the UK, US, Canada, and other regions.

Our favorite alternatives include:

1. Printify

Similar to Printful, Printify offers a huge selection of print-on-demand products for businesses to choose from. It has great design tools, integrates with a range of platforms, and works with a global partner network. However, since products are produced through partners, there’s a risk that product quality might vary.

2. LuluXpress

If you’re focusing on creating stationery and paper-based products, LuluXpress is a great choice. The company specializes in custom book printing, so you can self-publish your own novels. There’s also a variety of book formats to choose from, and integrations are available for various sales platforms.

3. Gelato

Leading worldwide print-on-demand company Gelato is one of the most trustworthy print partners on the market. It offers production in more than 32 countries, to help ensure products reach customers as quickly as possible. Plus, it’s focused on eco-friendly production, so you can achieve your sustainability goals.

Printful vs Vistaprint: The Verdict

If you’re looking for a web to print platform that will help you to create custom white-label products, both Printful and Vistaprint are great choices.

They both offer great design tools, high-quality items, and fantastic automation features to streamline your workflow.

However, Printful is the more versatile option overall if you’re running a print-on-demand company, while Vistaprint is better for creating branded products for internal teams, employees, and events.

The right option for you all depends on your business goals.