When running a business, streamlining is imperative for maximum efficiency – and print-on-demand companies are no exception.
One such way to achieve this is to harness the power of AI.
So, in this review, I'm providing the low down on the best AI tools for print-on-demand, what to look out for, what they do, and their costs.
Hopefully, by the end of this blog post, you'll be better positioned to pick the best option(s) for you.
Best AI Tools for Print on Demand at a Glance
| Platform | Best for | Review |
|---|---|---|
| Printful’s Image Upscaler | Best for Printful Users | Printful review |
| Printify’s AI Image Generator | Best for Printify Users | Printify Review |
| Jasper | Best for Content Generation | Jasper review |
| DALL-E 2 | Best for Generating Mockups | DALLE-2 Review |
| Shopify Magic | Best for Product Descriptions | Shopify Magic Review |
| Midjourney | Best for AI Updcaling | Midjourney review |
| Canva Magic Media | Best for Simplicity | Canva Magic review |
TL;DR:
For Shopify store owners, it’s a no-brainer to use Shopify Magic; the same goes for if you’re using Printful or Printify; you have nothing to lose by giving their free tools a try! Needless to say, you can still use these in conjunction with any of the other tools listed above.
That said, if I had to pick a winner, it would be Jasper. Jasper seems to provide the most comprehensive offering, including AI-generated high-resolution images, lots of different copywriting styles and formats, end-to-end marketing campaigns, and more.
Should You Use AI for Your Print-on-demand Business?
You may be asking yourself whether using AI for your print-on-demand business is even worth it. Is it just another expense?
If that sounds like you, here are just a few reasons why you might explore AI as an option (or not!):
Generate design ideas: If building businesses and marketing them is your strength but graphic design isn't, you could use AI to help you generate designs, including images and text to put on your POD products.
Copywriting: If you need help injecting creativity into the product info gleaned from your chosen POD platform, AI could help. The same goes for generating website copy and longer-form content like blog posts.
Customer service: Some AI tools can help streamline your customer service by providing automated answers to common questions. This can reduce response times, freeing your agents time to answer more complicated customer queries.
The bottom line: The running theme uniting all the above is that AI saves you time. So, if you're overwhelmed by your business's to-do list, AI could be the solution you're looking for.
However, in the interest of balance, here are just a few disadvantages to using AI:
- Where graphic design and copywriting are concerned, you may feel AI compromises your artistic integrity and creativity.
- High-quality AI tools typically cost money, which might be a strain for fledgling businesses.
- You may need to spend time (in the first instance) learning how to leverage AI tools for your business.
- You don’t always have exclusive rights over the images created using AI. As such, others might be allowed to use, modify, and remix your images.
What to Look for When Choosing an AI Tool for POD
Hopefully, you now have a clearer idea of whether AI is right for your POD business. If it's something you wish to pursue, here’s what to look out for:
- See if your chosen POD platform already offers AI tools you’re interested in
- Be clear about what you want the AI tool to do, e.g., edit images, create art designs, write copy, etc.
- If the tool costs money, factor that into your business's budget.
- Check online review sites like G2, Trustpilot, and Capterra to see how current users rate their experience.
- Does the AI tool provider provide technical support should you need it?
- Is the tool easy to use and manage? Taking advantage of freemium plans/free trials is the best way to decipher this.
What are the Best AI Tools for Print-on-Demand?
Now that we’ve covered the basics let’s dive into the crux of this round-up.
Below, we’ve outlined some of the best AI tools for print-on-demand; let’s take a look:
1. Printful’s Image Upscaler
Printful launched this tool in 2020. It's free and available to all its users, and its primary focus is automatically adjusting designs that aren’t high enough quality for printing.
Key Features
Printful’s Image Upscaler automatically adjusts graphics with low dots per inch (38-74).
It does this by doubling the DPI (dots per inch) when generating print files. This makes the image larger without losing its quality.
Pricing
As mentioned above, this product is free for all Printful users.
Pros 👍
- It’s free
- It’s built into Printful, so if you’re using this POD platform, there’s no need for extra integrations.
- This tool works automatically, so you don’t have to do anything!
Cons 👎
- There’s very little information on the Printful website about this tool.
Who Is It Best For?
Printful’s Image Upscaler is best for Printful users with design files they wish to use on POD products but aren’t high-quality enough to be printed.
2. Printify’s AI Image Generator
Launched in October 2023, this tool is available to all Printify users from their dashboard. You just pick a product you like the look of, click “Start design,” and select “AI image generator.” Now, follow the on-screen instructions. Simple, right?
Key Features
- You can choose an image style, e.g., comic book, anime, digital art, analog film, and lots more.
- There’s a text box where you can type a detailed description of the type of image you want to produce.
- For each picture you wish to generate, the AI image generator provides four versions to choose from
Pricing
It’s free to use once you’ve accepted Printify’s AI Generator’s terms of use.
Pros 👍
- If you’re already a Printify user, you don’t need to sign up for another tool.
- You don’t need any design or coding skills to use it.
- There are 11 image styles to choose from
Cons 👎
- It’s very new – in fact, at the time of writing, it was in Beta, so there’s little information about it.
- You can only generate 15 images a day, so if you need something on a bigger scale, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
Who Is It Best For?
Printify’s AI Image Generator is best for Printify users who don’t have design skills. Or those looking to experiment with new designs but don’t have time to create new art.
3. Jasper
Jasper is an AI platform that uses the phrases and descriptions you input to generate copy and images in various styles.
Key Features
- Jasper produces four AI-generated, high-resolution, non-watermarked, and royalty-free images per the description you give it.
- You can create unlimited images on all pricing plans.
- Access to 50+ templates trained for different writing styles, including SEO-optimized blogs
- Provide Jasper with a marketing campaign brief, and they’ll AI-generate end-to-end marketing campaigns that include all the assets you need (for example, blog posts, landing page copy, press releases, google text ads, etc.)
- Jasper offers nine native integrations, including Google Sheets, Webflow, and Grammarly.
Pricing
Three pricing plans are available- payable either monthly or annually (the latter boasts 20% off).
Prices below are based on monthly billing:
- Creator: $49/month with a 7-day free trial
- Teams: $125/month with a 7-day free trial
- Business: Custom quote from Jasper’s Sales Team
Pros 👍
- You can generate images in seconds.
- The dashboard is intuitive.
- There’s a 20% non-profit discount
- There are plenty of online resources to help you make the most out of Jasper, including self-help docs, podcasts, and the Jasper Community (a Facebook group)
- Jasper has a 4.5 out of five-star Trustpilot rating, with reviewers praising its speed and ease of use
Cons 👎
- The 7-day free trial is only available if you add your bank details.
- Only email support is available on the Creator plan.
- Jasper’s prices might be too expensive if you’re on a shoestring budget.
Who Is It Best For?
Jasper is best for more established businesses that want to generate royalty-free, high-resolution images quickly and easily. It’s also a good option for those interested in using AI for other purposes – for example, creating marketing campaigns, blogs, and other copy.
Further reading 📚
4. DALL-E 2
In 2021, Open-AI and ChatGPT creators launched DALL-E 2.
DALL-E 2 creates photo-realistic images and art from simple text descriptions. It can also retouch and edit photos by filling in or replacing part of a picture with AI-generated imagery.
Key Features
- High-quality image generation from text descriptions
- Outpainting- this allows you to extend an image by inserting visual elements into the picture that boast the same style
- Inpainting- you can add and remove elements that take the image’s shadows, reflections, and textures into consideration.
- Image variation – i.e., creating different versions of a single image
- You have the right to reprint, sell, and merchandise the images created using DALL-E 2
Pricing
DALL-E 2 prices are as follows:
- For 256×256 resolution- $0.016 per image
- For 256×256 resolution- $0.018 per image
- For 256×256 resolution- $0.020 per image
Pros 👍
- From simple text prompts, you can produce and customize images within seconds
- Prices are optimized for lower costs
- You can generate multiple iterations of an image.
Cons 👎
- You can’t produce HD images
- At the time of writing, you couldn’t try it for free.
Who Is It Best For?
DALL-E 2 is best for anyone needing creative inspiration to add to a preexisting project or those requiring images for marketing purposes.
5. Shopify Magic
Shopify Magic is a collection of three AI-enabled tools available across Shopify’s products, and are as follows:
- Automatic text generation
- Sidekick
- App review summaries
Let’s take a closer look at each of these in turn:
Automatic Text Generation Features
- You can select different writing styles, including supportive, persuasive, and playful
- Create product descriptions, email subject lines, email body text, and headlines for your online store.
- Generate blog ideas
- Create instant answers for customers when they contact you via your Shopify Inbox.
- Receive suggestions for which questions to add to your FAQs.
Sidekick Features
Sidekick is an AI-enabled assistant that accesses your store’s data to support you in a range of tasks; for example:
- You can type questions specific to your business, e.g., “I’ve had a dip in sales,” and Sidekick will offer solutions/answers
- Sidekick can perform automated tasks, e.g., adding a new product collection to your home page or changing the design of your store.
App Review Summaries Features
- Shopify Magic generates a summary of reviews left by other merchants on selected apps. This makes it much easier to decipher an app’s pros and cons before deciding whether to download and use the app yourself.
Pricing
Shopify’s Magic tools are free to all Shopify merchants, regardless of their subscription plan. However, the access and availability of specific features may vary depending on your subscription.
Pros 👍
- Automatic text generation speeds up the writing of product descriptions, headlines, and email body text.
- Sidekick has the potential to quickly perform admin-style tasks to free up your time.
- Sidekick can produce the following content types: text blocks, stories, audio, images, videos, and more, from the prompt you provide.
Cons 👎
- At the time of writing, Shopify is only releasing Sidekick to select merchants who apply.
- These tools are relatively new, so few actual user reviews are available
- Some reviews note grammatical errors in the text generated
Who Is It Best For?
Shopify Magic is best for Shopify store owners interested in exploring AI as a means of helping them save time running their POD business.
6. Midjourney
Midjourney is a self-funded team of 11 focusing on character creation from short text descriptions. At the time of writing, Midjourney is still in Beta. Users create images in Discord, a voice, text, and image app used as an online chat and communication space.
Key Features
- The ‘Zoom Out’ tool allows users to expand an image and broaden its scope
- Aptly named, you can use the ‘Make Square’ tool to adjust the aspect ratio of non-square images so that they’re square.
- You can alter images to make them more nuanced and consistent
- The ‘Stylize’ tool enables you to create images using specific colors, compositions, and forms
Pricing
There are four pricing plans available:
- Basic: $8/month paid annually or $10/month
- Standard: $24/paid annually or $30/month
- Pro: $48/month paid annually or $60/month
- Mega: $96/month paid annually or $120/month
Pros 👍
- You can refine images to your desired outcome.
- You can create images mimicking different artistic styles
- The pricing plans are scalable
Cons 👎
- Any images you generate in Discord are public.
- Midjourney is only available via Discord.
- Midjourney has received poor reviews, scoring a measly 1.8 out of 5-star rating on Trustpilot.
- Users complain about poor customer support, issues accessing Midjourney, and inconsistent image quality.
Who Is It Best For?
Midjouney is best for users happy to share their creations with other Discord users. It’s also a good option for those interested in creating images akin to illustrations and ink drawings.
7. Canva Magic Media
Canva Magic Media creates images and videos from the description you provide. This includes choosing your preferred image/video style and size.
Key Features
- You can access Canva’s Magic Media tool from your Canva dashboard.
- Image styles include 3D, vibrant, concept art, gradient, dreamy, anime, watercolor, and many more.
- You can select your preferred aspect ratio: Square, landscape, or portrait.
- You can enhance the images you’ve created using Canva’s editor, including adjusting contrast, brightness, cropping, resizing, flipping images, adding stickers and icons, etc.
Pricing
Canva has three pricing plans that provide access to a range of Canva’s tools, including Magic Media:
- Free: 50 Magic Media text-to-image uses and five text-to-video uses
- Pro: There’s a free 30-day trial; after that, it’s $14.99/month, for which you get 500 Magic Media text-to-image uses, and 50 text-to-video uses a month
- Teams: $29.99/month as above
Pros 👍
- There’s a generous 30-day free trial of its paid plans.
- You benefit from 50 text-to-image and five text-to-video uses for free!
- You can create images within minutes.
- It’s easily accessible via your Canva dashboard.
- There are lots of image styles to choose from
Cons 👎
- The text-to-video tool was very slow when I tried it.
- Some users say the quality of the images created is a bit ‘hit and miss.’
Who Is It Best For?
Canva’s Magic Media tool is an excellent choice for those who want to test new artistic concepts, design ideas, or generate an image they can’t find Canva’s image library for free!
Are You Ready to Try The Best AI Tools for Print-on-Demand?
That brings my best AI tools for print-on-demand round-up to a close! Hopefully, you now have a better idea of which (if any) appeals to you.
As always, I recommend trying these tools first (using any free trials or freemium plans available) and using them with your current workflows.
This is the best way to get a solid idea of how the tool can assist your POD business.
That’s all from me. Are you ready to try out any of these AI tools to boost your POD store? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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