When selling custom products, choosing the right print-on-demand service is crucial for an e-commerce company’s long-term success. Print-on-demand (POD) enterprises are operations that offer a comprehensive e-commerce fulfillment package. This includes product sourcing and storage, product printing and packaging material procurement, as well as the shipment of orders directly to customers.
In other words, POD companies and platforms are a variation of drop-shipping, where products are printed immediately upon receiving an order, often without any minimum order requirements. However, not all POD services are the same, and finding the best partner — whether paid or free — to work with requires extensive research.
As each service has its own distinct catalog of products, shipping considerations, and unique features, it’s crucial to carefully weigh your list of options and choose the one that helps you design, sell, and ship your custom products with ease.
To aid in your search, here’s a list of six of the best free and paid print-on-demand companies.
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Printful
Founded in Latvia, Printful has become one of the fastest-growing POD services since it expanded operations to a global scale. With facilities in both the UK and Canada, their rapid growth has propelled them to the forefront as the leading powerhouse in print-on-demand fulfillment.
Whether submitting orders manually or using one of their automatic integration features, Printful handles the printing, packaging, and shipping aspects. With a diverse selection of over 220 unique products, this platform offers a comprehensive array of printing choices, including direct-to-garment, cut-and-sew, sublimation, and embroidery.
Additionally, Printful offers the flexibility to personalize products further by adding custom tags, incorporating stickers, and including inserts within the product packaging.
In terms of cost, Printful’s services are typically more expensive when compared to other POD services. The platform guarantees high-quality products and more integrations than any other service — just not exactly at a bargain price.
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Gelato
Boasting a network of over 100 print partners spanning 30 countries and facilitating product deliveries to over 200 countries and territories, Gelato is a global POD company that seamlessly integrates with major online sales platforms.
If you’re not looking to exclusively sell apparel, this platform provides an extensive library of additional products, such as wall art and stationery. Plus, the company is known for its impressive production speeds, committing to fulfill and deliver most orders within a 72-hour timeframe.
It’s worth noting that Gelato explicitly states that they are a “software company” that “do not own any printers.” Instead, they act as the middleman between you, the business owner, and the print fulfillment facilities.
Additionally, Gelato controls and optimizes the selection of the print provider to fulfill your order, aligning it with the specific destination to which the order needs to be delivered and offering better control over how items are produced through an advanced routing algorithm. Gelato’s services are cheaper than Printful, thanks to its lower shipping costs.
The service also frequently offers several discounts.
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Printify
Arguably Printful’s biggest competitor, Printify works with extensive printing partners across the world to produce and deliver your custom goods. This allows you to select the best suppliers in your country for quick, reliable, and cost-effective shipping.
Whether you’re customizing apparel, embroidery, or homeware, Printify allows businesses to choose from more than 300 products. The platform currently partners with over 60 printing facilities all over the world, including America, Europe, Canada, and Australia, making it one of the biggest PODs.
Like Printful, this company operates as the “backend” for your store, managing the actual printing, packaging, and shipping processes of your orders. However, they differ in that you must manually select a specific print facility when creating your products. This means that each time you create an order for your chosen product, it will be sent to that specific printing facility.
When it comes to price tags, Printify provides much lower costs, while also allowing you to sign up for their Premium and Enterprise plans that offer significant discounts for companies with a high turnover rate.
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SPOD
One of the fastest POD services in the business, SPOD boasts a two-day turnaround time, shipping within just 48 hours of order completion and starting at $3.57 for domestic shipping, with an estimated arrival time of three to eight business days. So if you’re new to the print business and you’re looking for speedy fulfillment and simplified shipping, this might be the choice for you.
Similar to most POD platforms, SPOD provides various printing options, including digital direct, laser transfer, special flex, and sublimation. But one of their most unique features is a product customization tool, which allows customers to individualize their purchases with their personal images, your own designs, or a selection of over 50,000 free designs provided by SPOD.
While this POD company might not offer quite an extensive variety of products to customize, it does have some of the most competitive prices and fastest shipping times of any POD platform.
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Redubble
Australian standalone marketplace Redubble is currently one of the fastest-growing POD services. With the ability to sell your art on more than 70 different products in various product categories, Redubble gives businesses access to an ever-growing international customer base.
Known for its massive organic reach, this platform is great for independent artists without a large following who are looking to get their unique designs in front of people.
Due to its artist-centric branding, Redubble offers a variety of branding controls, such as profile images, header images, and links to your social media. Designers can select from print-on-demand companies all over the world to produce and ship their products and also choose from flexible artist margins where customers are often willing to pay higher prices.
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TPop
To finish off our list, European company TPop is one of the top international POD services that focuses mainly on accessories and apparel, allowing users to customize and sell more than 35 various items. With products printed in France, users can receive their orders anywhere from three to 10 days, depending on whether they’re domestic or international.
TPop specializes in direct-to-garment for cotton apparel and sublimation dye for polyester and accessories. Also, when customers receive your order, everything from the packing slips to the packaging will display your brand.
This print-on-demand company is also committed to preserving the environment with zero-plastic packaging policy and 100%-recycled paper packing slips, making it a great choice for users looking to maintain eco-friendly operations. The company even goes a step further in the sustainability department, ensuring its suppliers are as ethical as possible.
At first glance, most print-on-demand companies might appear quite similar, particularly when you’re only focused on launching an online t-shirt business. However, the process of selecting a POD partner should be made with careful consideration of their unique features, product range, and ability to align with your growth goals. Then, once you’ve outlined your requirements, you can determine the best POD partner for your brand.