Shopify vs Printify Comparison: Which Platform Is Better For Your Ecommerce?
By Sam Nguyen
In this detailed comparison, we’ll be taking a closer look at “Shopify vs Printify“, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of both to determine which one might be a better fit for your online business. Our well-crafted comparison article aims to answer a set of core questions:
👉 What is each platform’s primary function?
👉 Who should use Shopify and Printify?
👉 What are the pros and cons of each platform?
👉 How do Shopify and Printify differ?
Now, let’s dive in!
- Shopify – Best for businesses seeking a full-featured e-commerce platform with great customization and a wide range of sales features.
- Printify – Ideal for those entering the print-on-demand market, offering a broad range of customizable products, automated fulfillment, and quality assurance.
Shopify vs Printify: The key difference
Shopify and Printify have different approaches when it comes to ecommerce.
Shopify’s primary function is as a comprehensive e-commerce platform. It’s designed to assist users in creating and managing online stores, replete with inventory management features, an integrated shopping cart, and seamless payment gateway integration.
Shopify’s strength lies in its ability to provide a complete solution for running an online store, making it a preferred choice for those building an online retail operation from scratch.
Printify serves as a specialized print-on-demand service. Its primary offering is to allow users to create, sell, and deliver custom-designed products without worrying about inventory. Printify primarily simplifies the product creation process, ensures high-quality printing, and manages worldwide shipping.
Its tailored functionality makes Printify an excellent choice for businesses looking to add custom products to their existing store or artists wishing to sell their designs without handling the logistics.
Who should use Shopify? And who should use Printify?
Who should use Shopify?
Shopify is a comprehensive eCommerce platform that suits a variety of users:
- Established Online Retailers: Shopify provides robust tools and features to help established online retailers scale their operations, manage their inventory, and track their sales efficiently. Its wide array of third-party integrations enhances shop functionalities, making it a suitable choice for those looking to elevate their online stores.
- New eCommerce Entrepreneurs: Shopify’s user-friendly interface and straightforward setup process make it an excellent platform for individuals planning to start an online store. With various cost-effective plans, new entrepreneurs can start small and upgrade as their business grows.
- Dropshippers: Shopify benefits dropshippers with its seamless integration with dropshipping apps, automated order processing, and advanced marketing and analytics tools.
- Brick-and-Mortar Store Owners Looking to Expand Online: Shopify’s comprehensive eCommerce features and point-of-sale (POS) system make it an ideal choice for traditional retailers aiming to bring their operations online. Its user-friendly platform ensures a smooth transition into the digital space.
And who should use Printify?
Printify, on the other hand, is a print-on-demand service that is ideal for the following groups:
- Established Online Retailers and New eCommerce Entrepreneurs: Both new and established online businesses can use Printify to expand their product line without dealing with inventory. The platform offers seamless integration with existing eCommerce platforms like Shopify, making adding a range of customizable products easy.
- Graphic Designers & Artists: Printify is an excellent choice for artists and designers who want to sell products featuring their artwork. The platform provides high-quality printing and various products, allowing creative professionals to focus on design rather than logistics.
- Dropshipping Entrepreneurs: Printify handles everything from printing to shipping, making it an excellent option for entrepreneurs who want to focus on marketing and customer service without worrying about inventory or logistics.
Shopify vs Printify: Pros and Cons
Pros and Cons of Shopify
- Comprehensive eCommerce Solution: Shopify offers complete tools for setting up and running an online store, from product listing to order fulfillment.
- Extensive App Marketplace: Shopify’s extensive app marketplace allows you to add functionalities to your store based on specific needs.
- Seamless Integration: Shopify integrates seamlessly with various print-on-demand services, including Printify, ensuring smooth order processing and fulfillment.
- Robust SEO Tools: Shopify provides advanced SEO tools that can help improve your store’s visibility in search engine results.
- Subscription Fees: Shopify operates on a subscription-based model, which means you need to pay a monthly fee. Although Shopify offers different pricing plans, this recurring cost may not be ideal for businesses on a tight budget or in the early stages of operation.
- Additional Costs: While Shopify’s essential subscription is affordable, the cost can quickly add up with additional themes, apps, and higher-tier plans.
- Transaction Fees: Shopify charges transaction fees unless you use Shopify Payments.
Pros and Cons of Printify
- Wide Range of Products: Printify offers a broad selection of products that you can customize with your designs.
- Quality Control: Printify partners with a network of reliable printing providers, ensuring quality control over the end products.
- Integration with eCommerce Platforms: Printify seamlessly integrates with popular eCommerce platforms, including Shopify, making setting up and managing your print-on-demand business easy.
- Limited Control Over Production: Since Printify works with various printing partners, you don’t have direct control over the production process.
- Dependence on Third-Party Platforms: Printify isn’t a standalone eCommerce platform; you’ll need to integrate it with another platform like Shopify to sell your products.
- Limited Customer Support: Some users have reported that Printify’s customer support can quickly respond to queries and resolve issues
Shopify vs Printify: In-depth Comparison
Pricing
Shopify
Subscription fees
Shopify offers several subscription plans tailored to different business sizes and requirements. The pricing ranges from $39 to $399 per month. The higher tier a plan is, the more advanced and exclusive features it has.
You can start your e-commerce journey with Shopify’s powerful tools, completely free for 3 days! Also, note that for just a single dollar a month in your first quarter, you can unlock limitless opportunities for your business and get to experience seamless online selling.
Transaction fees
In addition to subscription fees, Shopify applies transaction fees that vary based on the chosen subscription plan. The transaction fees can range from 0.5% to 2%, depending on the specific plan you have selected. However, utilizing Shopify Payments, the platform’s integrated payment gateway, can help you avoid these additional charges.
With or without the transaction fees, note that you still have to pay the Shopify credit card rates, ranging from 2.4–2.9% + 30 cents per transaction.
Read more: Shopify Fees (2023): All The Expenses You Need To Know!
Additional fees
Apart from subscription and transaction fees, Shopify offers various optional features and services that may incur additional costs. These include add-ons like: premium themes, third-party apps for enhanced functionality, and payment gateway fees, depending on the chosen payment provider.
However, it’s important to note that these additional expenses are optional and depend on the specific needs of your business.
Related post: Shopify Fee Calculator: How Much Does A Shopify Store Cost?
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Printify
Subscription fees
Printify offers flexible pricing with both free and premium plans.
- The free plan allows access to basic features, which is ideal for new businesses.
- For more extensive operations, the premium plan at $24.99 per month provides additional benefits and lower product costs, significantly boosting profitability. Businesses opting for an annual subscription can avail of a discounted rate of $24.99 monthly.
In addition, Printify also offers an Enterprise package with custom pricing and this is mostly for merchants with 10,000+ orders a day.
But there’s a caveat: Printify caps the maximum amount of sales you can earn for each plan. Once you reach the threshold, you’ll be upgraded to the premium plan.
Transaction fees
Using Printify doesn’t come with any costs – you can set up an account and explore the Mockup Generator free of charge.
Additional fees
The additional costs incurred are for the products and their delivery expenses – these charges apply when ordering product samples or when an order is received from your linked store.
Table comparison in terms of overall pricing
| Shopify | Printify | |
| Subscription fees | $39 to $399 | $0 to $24.99Sales caps for each plan |
| Transaction fees | Varies from 0.5% to 2% based on subscription | $0 |
| Additional fees | Optional add-ons and services may incur costs | Product samples and their delivery expenses |
The Verdict
Printify is the winner in terms of pricing for POD businesses.
Sales Features
Sales Features both Shopify and Printify have
- Product Catalog: Both Shopify and Printify offer a comprehensive product catalog to enable businesses to diversify their offerings. Shopify provides a robust platform for selling virtually anything online, while Printify offers an array of customizable print-on-demand products.
- Integration Capabilities: Seamless integration is a shared strength of Shopify and Printify. Shopify integrates with a plethora of third-party apps to enhance functionality. Printify, on the other hand, integrates smoothly with existing eCommerce platforms, including Shopify, allowing for an easy and efficient setup of print-on-demand services.
- Global Reach: Both platforms offer the ability to reach a global audience. Shopify supports multiple languages, currencies, and global shipping options, facilitating international sales. Printify also has a solid global footprint, with its print-on-demand services available to businesses worldwide.
- Customization Options: Personalization is critical in today’s online retail scenario. Both Shopify and Printify provide businesses with customization options – Shopify through its customizable store themes and Printify through its product personalization features.
- User-Friendly Interface: Both Shopify and Printify are known for their user-friendly interfaces. Shopify’s intuitive dashboard makes it easy for entrepreneurs to manage their online stores. Similarly, Printify’s platform is designed to simplify setting up and managing print-on-demand services.
- Inventory Management: Both Shopify and Printify offers powerful inventory management tools designed to track stock levels, provide low inventory notifications, and effectively manage product variants. This feature is particularly valuable for businesses with diverse product ranges, as it provides comprehensive control over inventory.
Sales Features only Shopify has
- SKU (Stock Keeping Unit): Shopify allows you to assign unique Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) codes to your products, simplifying inventory tracking and management. SKUs are alphanumeric codes that uniquely identify each product variant, streamlining your inventory management processes and facilitating efficient tracking.
- Point of Sale (POS) System: Shopify’s POS system is a remarkable feature that allows brick-and-mortar businesses to synchronize their online and offline sales. Retailers can manage their inventory, sales, and customer data across both channels using a single platform, a functionality not available in Printify.
- Abandoned Cart Recovery: Shopify includes an abandoned cart recovery feature, which sends automatic emails to customers who left products in their cart without completing the purchase. This is a powerful tool to boost conversion rates and is not a feature provided by Printify.
- Advanced SEO Tools: Shopify provides more advanced SEO tools to improve the visibility of online stores in search engine results. While Printify does facilitate SEO for the products you create within the platform, it does not offer a comprehensive suite of SEO tools like Shopify does.
The Verdict
Shopify edges out with additional features tailored towards broader eCommerce needs.
Apps and Integrations
Shopify
Shopify is a renowned eCommerce platform known for its vast selection of apps and integrations. Here are some key highlights:
- App Marketplace: Shopify has an extensive app marketplace that offers a wide range of third-party apps. These apps cover various aspects of your business, including marketing, sales, analytics, customer support, and more. Whether you need to optimize your SEO, automate your email marketing, or streamline your order fulfillment process, you’ll find suitable apps to meet your requirements.
- Integration Capabilities: Shopify integrates seamlessly with numerous external platforms and services. This includes popular tools like Google Analytics, Facebook, Instagram, and email marketing platforms such as Mailchimp. By integrating these services, you can gain valuable insights into customer behavior, leverage social media for marketing campaigns, and automate your email marketing efforts.
Printify
Printify excels when it comes to offering seamless integration with various eCommerce platforms.
- eCommerce Platform Integrations: Printify offers smooth integrations with some of the top eCommerce platforms, including Shopify, WooCommerce, Etsy, eBay, Wix, and PrestaShop. This means you can manage your Printify products directly from your store on these platforms.
- API Integration: For those with more technical knowledge or larger businesses with development teams, Printify provides an API for custom integration. This gives businesses more flexibility and control over using Printify’s services.
- Print Provider Integration: Printify doesn’t print products themselves. Instead, they’ve partnered with a wide range of print providers across the globe. This model gives users a broader product catalog to choose from and the ability to select a provider that fits their needs in terms of quality, cost, and location.
Overall, Shopify’s extensive app marketplace makes it slightly better than Printify as it allows you to enhance various aspects of your business, from marketing to analytics and customer support. The seamless integration with external platforms further enhances your ability to streamline operations and leverage different marketing channels.
The number and capabilities of integration with third-party apps on Printify is still more limited than that of Shopify.
The Verdict
When it comes to apps and integrations, Shopify emerges as the clear winner.
Scalability
Shopify
Shopify is renowned for its scalability. Here’s why:
- The platform offers various subscription plans that cater to businesses of all sizes. As your business grows, you can easily upgrade your plan to access advanced features and accommodate higher traffic volumes.
- Shopify’s infrastructure can handle high order volumes, ensuring your store remains stable and functional even during peak times.
- Shopify’s extensive app ecosystem also plays a significant role in enhancing scalability. With a wide range of third-party apps, you can extend the functionality of your store and scale your operations seamlessly. These apps cover areas such as marketing automation, inventory management, customer support, and more, empowering you to meet the growing demands of your business.
Printify
Printify is an ideal choice for businesses of all sizes, offering a highly scalable solution due to its diverse offerings, print-on-demand model, and integrations.
As businesses grow and order volume increases, Printify’s volume discounts enhance profitability, while its network of worldwide print providers facilitates an easy expansion of its product range.
Moreover, for businesses processing 10,000+ orders daily, Printify provides an Enterprise solution with dedicated support, custom API integrations, and additional premium features. Therefore, whether a business is just starting or already established, Printify grows with it and actively contributes to its growth, making it a compelling choice for scalability.
The Verdict
Shopify is the winner, when comparing the scalability.
Help and Support
Shopify
- Help Center and Documentation: Shopify provides a comprehensive Help Center with extensive documentation, tutorials, and guides. Their resource library covers a wide range of topics, including store setup, design customization, marketing strategies, and more. This self-help approach allows users to find answers to their questions and troubleshoot issues independently.
- 24/7 Support: Shopify offers 24/7 customer support through various channels, including live chat, phone, and email. This ensures that assistance is readily available whenever you need it. The customer support team is knowledgeable and experienced, providing timely and helpful responses to address your concerns or technical difficulties.
Printify
- Help Center: A comprehensive database of articles and guides to assist users with navigating the platform and resolving common issues.
- Contact Form: For personalized assistance on more complex queries, users can submit tickets and expect a response within a few hours.
- Blog and Community Forum: An active community of users shares experiences and insights, and the blog provides updates and eCommerce insights.
The Verdict
Shopify is the winner in the realm of customer support due to its 24/7 assistance via multiple channels, including live chat, phone, and email.
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Security
Shopify
- Secure Hosting: When it comes to secure hosting, Shopify takes the lead by providing a reliable and secure infrastructure for your online store. It implements robust security protocols, including firewalls and encryption, to ensure the protection of your data and prevent unauthorized access.
- Payment Security: In terms of payment security, Shopify guarantees secure transactions by integrating with trusted payment gateways that adhere to industry standards, such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance. This ensures that customer payment information remains secure throughout the checkout process.
- Data Control: Shopify prioritizes data protection and regularly performs backups of your store data to mitigate the risk of data loss. In the unfortunate event of an unforeseen incident, you can rely on these backups to restore your store to its previous state, ensuring the safety and continuity of your business.
Printify
- GDPR Compliance: Printify adheres to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) standards, ensuring the privacy and protection of users’ data within the European Union.
- PCI Compliance: Printify is Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliant, ensuring that all credit card information processed, stored, or transmitted is secure.
- Data Encryption: Printify uses encryption techniques to protect sensitive data, ensuring that it’s only accessible by authorized personnel.
Compared to Printify, Shopify is better as it ensures secure hosting with robust protocols like firewalls and encryption, guarantees secure transactions with trusted payment gateways, and performs regular data backups, offering a well-rounded security package.
The Verdict
Shopify takes a slight lead when comparing security aspects due to its broader security features.
Ease of Use
Shopify
- User-Friendly Interface: Shopify is known for its user-friendly interface, making it easy for users of all levels of technical expertise to navigate and manage their online stores. The platform offers a clean and intuitive dashboard, enabling you to add products, customize your store, and manage orders effortlessly. Its drag-and-drop editor allows for easy customization, even without coding knowledge.
- Store Management Tools: Shopify provides comprehensive store management tools that simplify day-to-day operations. From inventory management to order fulfillment and shipping, the platform offers a seamless experience. The intuitive admin panel lets you track sales, manage customer information, and access analytics, allowing you to make informed business decisions.
Printify
- Simple Setup: With Printify, setting up your print-on-demand business is simple and straightforward. The platform guides you through the process of connecting your eCommerce store, selecting products, and designing and publishing your listings.
- Automated Order Fulfillment: Once a customer places an order in your online store, Printify automatically handles the printing and shipping process, relieving you of the operational burden and allowing you to focus on other aspects of your business.
- User-friendly Interface: Printify’s intuitive and user-friendly interface allows beginners to navigate through the platform and operate their print-on-demand business without technical difficulties.
The Verdict
Shopify seems to win as its comprehensive store management tools and user-friendly interface provide a more seamless experience.
Themes and Designs
Shopify
- Theme Store: Shopify offers a vast Theme Store with a wide selection of professionally designed themes (130+ themes plus thousands of third-party themes). These themes are customizable and can be tailored to match your brand’s identity. Whether you’re looking for a minimalist, modern, or vibrant design, you’ll find options that suit your business needs. The themes are responsive, ensuring a seamless experience for customers across various devices.
- Design Customization: Shopify’s drag-and-drop editor and theme customization options make it easy to personalize your store’s design. You can customize colors, fonts, layouts, and more without any coding knowledge. This flexibility allows you to create a unique and visually appealing storefront that aligns with your brand’s vision.
Printify
Printify doesn’t specifically offer themes or design features as it’s not an eCommerce platform but rather a print-on-demand service. It integrates with eCommerce platforms (like Shopify or WooCommerce), which provide those elements. However, Printify does offer features related to product design, such as:
- Custom Product Design Tool: Allows you to create custom product designs directly on their platform, with an option to preview the design before publishing.
- Mockup Generator: Printify offers a mockup generator for showcasing your designs on products in a realistic and attractive way, which can be directly uploaded to your store.
The Verdict
When comparing the themes and design features, Shopify clearly stands out.
Shopify vs Printify: Table Comparison
| Shopify | Printify | |
| The Verdict | OVERALL WINNER | |
| Pricing | Subscription fees ranging from $5 to $2000 per month. Transaction fees ranging from 0.5% to 2%. Additional fees for optional features and services. | Subscription fees ranging from $0 to $29 with $0 transaction fee. Additional fee are product samples and their delivery expenses. |
| Sales Features | Seamless integration, integration capabilities, Inventory management,SKU, POS system; abandoned cart recovery. | POD services, product catalog, Mockup Generator, integration with eCommerce platforms. |
| Apps and Integrations | Extensive app marketplace, integration capabilities. | eCommerce platform integrations, API integration, print provider integration. |
| Scalability | Robust infrastructure, flexible subscription plans. | Diverse offerings, POD models, and integrations, discounts and additional features. |
| Help and Support | Comprehensive Help Center, 24/7 customer support. | Help Center, contact form, blog and community forum. |
| Security | Secure hosting, payment security, data control. | GDPR compliance, PCI compliance, data encryption. |
| Ease of Use | User-friendly interface, store management tools. | Simple setup, automated order fulfillment, user-friendly interface. |
| Themes and Designs | Vast Theme Store, design customization options. | Custom product design tool, Mockup Generator. |
Shopify vs Printify: FAQs
Shopify vs Printify: Conclusion
In conclusion, Shopify vs Printify, while serving different functions, complement each other – Shopify provides a robust platform for eCommerce entrepreneurs, while Printify offers high-quality print-on-demand services, integrating seamlessly to create a well-rounded online retail solution.
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