Shopify vs. Printify: Which is Best for Your Online Store?
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If you’re searching for Shopify vs Printify, chances are you’re getting into the print-on-demand space and want to know which option is right for you from the start. In this article, NextSky will break down and compare each element based on real data, information that most other articles leave out.
Shopify vs Printify: At a glance
What is Shopify
Shopify is a comprehensive e-commerce platform catering to businesses of all sizes, offering advanced inventory management, multi-channel selling capabilities, a vast app store, robust analytics, and 24/7 customer support. It provides tools for building and scaling online stores with customizable options.
What is Printify?
Printify, in contrast, specializes in print-on-demand services, integrating with various e-commerce platforms, such as Shopify. It simplifies the process of selling custom-printed products, eliminating upfront inventory costs and handling order fulfillment and shipping logistics with 24/7 merchant support.
Shopify excels in comprehensive online store management, while Printify focuses on streamlined print-on-demand solutions.
Read more: Shopify vs Etsy: Which Is Better for Your Business for Merchant?
1. Best Pricing
Printify
Printify currently offers three pricing plans:
- Free ($0/month): Full access to core features, including product catalogue, suppliers, design tools, and Pop-Up Store. The free plan allows users to create up to 5 Pop-Up Stores or sell on up to 5 platforms.
- Premium ($29/month or $24.99/month when billed annually): Up to 20% product discount, ability to create 10 stores or connect to 10 sales platforms. Premium users also get Printify Connect — a support service where the Printify team handles customer email inquiries on your behalf.
- Enterprise (custom pricing): Designed for large-scale print-on-demand businesses, with unlimited stores and a dedicated account manager. This plan also allows negotiation of custom product discounts based on your business volume.
Shopify
Shopify offers five monthly plans:
- Starter ($5/month): A user-friendly interface to quickly set up a store and easily sell through social channels like WhatsApp, Messenger, or embed products on any website using the convenient Buy Button.
- Basic ($25/month or $19/month when billed annually): Includes essential tools to run a store, but with scale limitations — only one staff account and inventory management at up to two warehouse locations.
- Grow ($65/month or $49/month annually): Significant expansion in storage and fulfillment points, maximum goods safety with $200 USD shipping insurance included, plus advanced store management tools.
- Advanced ($399/month or $299/month annually): Multi-currency support, flexible country-specific pricing rules, up to 15 staff accounts, and inventory tracking across 10 different locations.
- Shopify Plus ($2,300/month): For large enterprises — manage up to 10 stores, enhanced security, dedicated API access, and a dedicated account manager.
Additionally, Shopify offers a 3-day free trial. Currently, there is a promotion offering users the opportunity to try any plan for just $1 per month for the first three months, providing a full-featured experience at a minimal cost.
2. Ease of Use - Shopify
Printify
Printify has an intuitive interface with a left-side menu for main settings and a right-side area for customization. The product catalogue features smart filtering, and the Product Creator integrates AI to speed up design. However, choosing the right supplier from their extensive global network can be time-consuming.
Shopify
Shopify is equally intuitive, featuring a left-side menu for core features and a right-side editing area for managing products, pricing, shipping, and collections. Although the theme editor applies changes across all pages of the same type and images must maintain consistent aspect ratios, the platform is easy to learn and efficiently manage.
Verdict: Printify excels in product design, but it takes time to select suppliers. Shopify is highly intuitive and flexible in management, but it's essential to pay attention to theme editing and image consistency.
3. Building an online store – A Tie
Shopify
Shopify stands out with powerful store-building tools that give you complete control over the customer’s online experience. Key highlights:
- Diverse themes: Over 900 professional, mobile-responsive themes suitable for various industries.
- Drag-and-drop interface: Easily customize your layout, add images, change colours, and arrange page elements with a simple drag-and-drop interface.
- International sales: Multi-currency and multi-language support to reach global customers.
- Flexible payments: Built-in Shopify Payments or choose from over 100 third-party payment gateways.
- Integrated POS: Manage in-person sales at physical stores, pop-ups, or events, track inventory, create discounts, and manage staff.
- Scalability & optimization: Use apps from the Shopify App Store or hire professional developers to create a unique, high-converting store.
Read more: How Does Shopify Pay You? A Complete Guide to Shopify Payouts
Printify
Printify offers Pop-up store, a fast solution to showcase products on a Printify-hosted website. It’s easy to use and allows quick product uploads. However, notable limitations include:
- Limited customization: Change logo, social media links, and select from 5 background colours.
- No advanced editing: Cannot change fonts, embed videos, write blogs, or create static pages.
- Domain: You cannot use a custom domain, only URLs in the format mystore.printify.me are supported.
Verdict: If you want a fully customized, professional, and scalable store, Shopify is the clear winner. Printify’s Pop-Up Store is suitable for beginners who want to start quickly, but it becomes restrictive when you need more features and complete control.
4. Apps & integrations: A Tie
Shopify
Shopify boasts a massive app library with over 8,000 apps, helping you optimize SEO, collect product reviews, discount campaigns, and much more. With nearly 500 print-on-demand (POD) apps, integration is seamless, allowing you to expand your catalogue and boost performance. Connecting these apps is extremely simple and flexible, giving you complete freedom to customize your store.
Printify
Printify focuses on integrating with popular e-commerce platforms, including Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, eBay, BigCommerce, PrestaShop, Squarespace, and Wix Stores. Additionally, Printify’s API meets the needs of advanced users and businesses, enabling automation and extended connectivity.
Verdict: Printify offers strong integration options with various platforms, but when paired with Shopify, you unlock Shopify’s vast app ecosystem and rich feature set, significantly enhancing your store’s functionality and elevating the overall Printify product experience.
5. The best product sourcing platform - A Tie
Printify
Printify offers access to over 1,000 POD (print-on-demand) products from 80 global suppliers, spanning a diverse range of categories, including clothing, accessories, home decor, and beauty products. Each supplier has its own pricing and options, making it easy to compare and choose the most cost-effective products. For example, the same T-shirt can range in price from $10.98 to $14.96, offering clear opportunities for cost savings.
Shopify
On Shopify, you can connect to over 700 dropshipping apps or more than 640 POD partners such as Printful, Gelato, or Printify. Products are automatically packaged and shipped, making it easy and professional to manage orders. Additionally, Shopify Collective enables you to sell products from reputable brands, offering 20–40% profit margins (currently available only in the US).
Verdict: Printify offers over 1,000 POD products, making it easy to compare prices and make informed choices. In contrast, Shopify is more flexible, with 700+ dropshipping apps and 640+ POD partners, supporting automated order management and professional international store expansion.
6. Shipping & Fulfillment: Shopify
Shopify
Shopify gives you complete control over the fulfillment process. You can handle it yourself, use a 3PL provider, or integrate dropshipping and print-on-demand. The platform supports:
- Real-time shipping rate calculation
- Generating shipping labels and tracking orders
- Customizing shipping zones, rules, packaging, and branding experience
- Integration with USPS, UPS, DHL, and Canada Post for discounted rates
Printify
Printify fully automates everything after a customer places an order — the order is sent directly to the printing provider for production, packaging, and shipping. Each product shows shipping costs, estimated delivery times, and available destinations. While you don’t directly control shipping, it’s highly convenient, has low operating costs, and is ideal for print-on-demand sellers.
Verdict: Shopify is best suited for those who want complete control over shipping and branding, while Printify is ideal for individuals who prefer complete automation and lower operating costs.
Read more: How to Fulfill Orders on Shopify: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners
7. Mobile Apps: A Tie
Shopify
The Shopify app is a comprehensive mobile store management hub (available on iOS and Android). You can:
- Manage products, inventory, and orders
- View real-time analytics and data
- Communicate with customers and process refunds
- Create discount codes and manage marketing campaigns
Printify
The Printify app focuses on the print-on-demand workflow, allowing you to:
- View and update all orders
- Track production and shipping progress
- Receive real-time notifications about order status
Verdict: Shopify excels in comprehensive store management, while Printify is optimized for tracking and handling POD orders.
8. Best marketing tools – Shopify
1. Email marketing
- Shopify: Shopify Email lets you create and manage campaigns directly within the dashboard, from newsletters to abandoned cart recovery, helping nurture customers and boost sales.
- Printify: Printify does not have built-in email marketing tools. You’ll need to utilize external platforms, such as Shopify or Mailchimp, for managing newsletters and campaigns.
2. Social media integration
- Shopify: Shopify enables you to run campaigns directly from the platform, including Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, Snapchat Ads, and Google Smart Shopping integration, which syncs products, runs ads, and tracks results.
- Printify: Printify integrates with social platforms like Facebook and Instagram, making it easy to promote products and reach a wider audience without a complex technical setup.
3. SEO
- Shopify: Shopify offers SEO-friendly themes, clean product URLs, meta tags, and alt text, as well as analytics and reporting tools to optimize SEO performance and enhance online visibility.
- Printify: Printify allows you to customize titles, descriptions, and product tags for improved search engine visibility. When integrated with Shopify, SEO performance improves thanks to traffic from established e-commerce platforms.
4. Promotions and discounts
- Shopify: Shopify enables discount codes, automatic discounts, event-based promotions, and abandoned cart recovery — all proven to increase potential revenue and attract customers.
- Printify: Printify does not have built-in discount tools; you must combine it with other platforms to implement discount codes or promotional programs.
Verdict: Shopify dominates with comprehensive, all-in-one marketing capabilities, while Printify is a more straightforward solution suited for those who prioritize automation and POD selling without focusing heavily on complex marketing strategies.
9. Dropshipping - A Tie
Printify
Printify offers a seamless dropshipping experience, specializing in print-on-demand products. When a customer places an order, Printify coordinates with its global network of print providers to produce and ship the item directly to the customer, eliminating the need for you to worry about inventory, warehousing, or logistics.
Shopify
Shopify fully supports dropshipping through its vast ecosystem of third-party suppliers and apps (such as Oberlo, Spocket, DSers, etc.). You can import products directly into your store, complete with descriptions and images, without ever needing to hold inventory. Order fulfillment is largely automated, making dropshipping operations simple and highly scalable.
Verdict: If your focus is on print-on-demand dropshipping, Printify is the more convenient and specialized choice. If you want dropshipping with a wide variety of products and greater long-term scalability, Shopify is the stronger platform.
Read more: What is Dropshipping? Everything You Need to Know
10. Customer Support - Shopify
Printify
Printify focuses on fast and accessible support. Users can receive help via email or live chat, and a comprehensive knowledge base is available, featuring guides and self-help articles. The platform works well for those who prefer quick, straightforward solutions without needing extensive hand-holding.
Shopify
Shopify stands out with proper 24/7 support available through email, live chat, and phone so that you can get assistance anytime, day or night. Additionally, Shopify’s large and active community forums provide a valuable space to exchange experiences, troubleshoot issues, and learn from thousands of other entrepreneurs — often leading to faster and more practical solutions.
Verdict: When it comes to technical and customer support, Shopify clearly takes the lead thanks to its comprehensive 24/7 availability across multiple channels and its rich, helpful user community.
11. Scalability and future growth
Printify
Printify focuses on print-on-demand scalability, enabling businesses to expand their product catalogs without incurring inventory risks. It integrates smoothly with platforms like WooCommerce and Etsy, leveraging a global network of print providers to facilitate fast, flexible, and low-risk product expansion.
Shopify
Shopify is highly scalable, supporting businesses from small startups to large enterprises. It enables seamless multi-channel selling across platforms like Amazon and eBay, and its enterprise-level solution, Shopify Plus, helps brands handle high volumes and expand into multiple markets with ease.
12. Security
Printify
Printify provides basic security protections and relies partly on the security infrastructure of partner platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce. However, it lacks the detailed, platform-level security measures and compliance standards that Shopify offers.
Shopify
Shopify delivers strong, comprehensive security features, including SSL encryption, PCI DSS compliance, built-in fraud analysis, secure hosting, and two-factor authentication. It also actively monitors third-party apps to ensure data safety across the platform.
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