Blog / Beginner's handbook / 12 Best Vistaprint Alternatives for Your Store [2024]
Blog / Beginner's handbook / 12 Best Vistaprint Alternatives for Your Store [2024]
Vistaprint is an online printing company mainly focused on creating custom merch, marketing materials, and other personalized items for your business or personal use.
Although Vistaprint is an excellent service with a lot of experience (they’ve been around since 1995!), given that you’ve landed on this blog, chances are you’re looking to try something else. Or maybe you’re simply exploring your options as you start your print-on-demand journey.
In either case, you’ll want to learn about the various online printing services available, so you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we compare 12 other popular custom print product services.
Let’s look at the best Vistaprint alternatives you can try for your online store.
Explore and compare these fulfillment services—here, you’ll find brief descriptions of all 12 companies and how they differ from those included in this list.
Whether you’re looking for personalized items for personal or business needs, Printful is one of the best alternatives to Vistaprint you’ll find anywhere.
Printful is an on-demand printing and fulfillment company that offers a wide variety of products and fulfillment techniques, from the industry staple direct-to-garment technique to the crowd favorite embroidery, as well as all-over printing, direct-to-film printing, and more. You’ll find everything you need in the product catalog, from trendy apparel to fun accessories and home decor items.
A major selling point for Printful is that its custom-printed products are made in-house or in select trusted partner facilities. This gives Printful total control over the production process and ensures top quality at all times.
If you’re looking to launch your store, one of the best things about Printful is that it integrates seamlessly with over 20 ecommerce platforms, which makes the order fulfillment process as smooth as possible.
Connect your online store with Printful and start selling—when an order comes in, Printful prints and ships it to your customer under your brand (Printful is a white-label company, which means its branding doesn’t appear anywhere). The fully automated process means you get more time to focus on your store, designs, marketing, customer care, and other activities without worrying about handling orders.
Printify is another print-on-demand service that offers a wide range of custom products for you to choose from. Unlike Printful, however, Printify doesn’t print the products themselves. Instead, the platform functions as a middleman between you and many print providers worldwide.
While this lets Printify provide various printing options and an extensive product range, having many print providers can result in different quality standards, shipping speeds, and other factors. You’ll need to do a lot of research to find the best products and check that the print quality is up to your standards.
Connecting Printify to your store functions similarly to Printful—choose your ecommerce platform, connect your store to Printify, and start selling. When orders roll in, they’re fulfilled and shipped under your brand.
Source: Gelato
Like Printify, Gelato is not a fulfillment company but a platform connecting you with printing services worldwide. It offers a variety of customizable products, starting with apparel and accessories and ending with art prints and even photo books.
However, unlike with Printify, when you place an order with Gelato, it automatically sends the order to your nearest printing service for fulfillment. With many fulfillment centers across the world, the idea of this approach is to ensure a quick turnaround for your orders.
If you’re looking to sell products on your own online store, Gelato offers integrations with several ecommerce platforms, but the selection is not as wide as with Printful or Printify. However, it does include the most popular platforms like Shopify, Etsy, and WooCommerce.
Source: Zazzle
Zazzle is a custom printing service different from the ones mentioned before. Zazzle is primarily a marketplace where anyone can shop for unique designs created and uploaded by Zazzle users. You can join this marketplace as a seller, adding your designs to Zazzle’s products and making them available for purchase. You select your profit margin for each design, and Zazzle handles everything from there, including customer service.
Zazzle mainly focuses on gifts and promotional products, including stationery, party supplies, apparel, and even some electronics. Note that Zazzle lets buyers edit each design if they want to make adjustments themselves. This can include simply personalizing the name in the design or even adding or removing some elements.
Source: Custom Ink
If you’re looking for products for your marketing campaigns or other cases when bulk orders make the most sense, one of the Vistaprint alternatives to consider is Custom Ink. It’s an online printing service that sells all types of high-quality products, from custom t-shirts and hoodies to more unusual items like uniforms, knives, and even ice scrapers.
However, note that Custom Ink isn’t a print-on-demand company like Printful. To sell Custom Ink’s products, you’ll need to order and then ship them to your customers. Another point to consider is that many of Custom Ink’s products have order minimums, which can be a hurdle for small businesses just starting out.
But if you have the budget and don’t mind fulfilling orders yourself, Custom Ink offers many interesting products you won’t find with other suppliers.
Source: Spring
Another Vistaprint competitor is Spring (formerly known as Teespring). It’s an online printing company that focuses on creators and graphic designers, providing them with a platform to create and sell their unique designs.
Spring’s primary focus is on sellers, and to start using this online printing service, you’ll have to create a free account—otherwise, you won’t even be able to see the products they offer. But the sign-up is quick, and once you have your account, you can check out Spring’s product selection. While it’s not as extensive as some other suppliers’, you’ll still find plenty of trending products at competitive prices.
One of the main competitive edges Spring offers is its selection of integrations. Instead of Shopify, Woo, and other ecommerce platforms, Spring helps you start selling your products on various social media platforms, tagging your products on YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, and elsewhere.
You can also create your store on Spring’s platform. This approach makes Spring particularly handy for social media influencers and artists who want to promote their unique merch to their followers.
Source: SPOD
SPOD is another Vistaprint alternative you can try if you want to avoid inventory management and entrust the entire printing process to a professional. SPOD works the same way as Printful, Printify, and other similar service providers. You pick your products, add or create your designs, and order them or start selling.
SPOD’s product selection is not quite as wide as other Vistaprint competitors, but they have you covered when it comes to all the regular wardrobe staples and accessories. And that’s not necessarily a drawback. Sometimes, a smaller selection of products can help you avoid choice overload, where you simply can’t pick what to go for when so many options are available.
SPOD offers several integrations, including Shopify and WooCommerce. Still, it doesn’t directly integrate with marketplaces like Etsy and Amazon (you’ll need to connect to a third-party order management system for that).
Source: Teelaunch
Like SPOD, Teelaunch is another Vistaprint alternative that doesn’t have the widest product selection, but what it may lack in quantity, it sure makes up in the selection of unique products. Here, alongside the regular tees and totes, you’ll find products like desk plants and leather beverage holders. If you’re looking for fun promotional products for affordable prices that your customers will remember, Teelaunch might be a great choice for you.
The only downside to Teelaunch is that while browsing around and choosing your provider, Teelaunche’s website isn’t the quickest or the most user-friendly. It’s also a bit harder to understand how Teelaunch works without signing up for an account. However, they offer integrations with ecommerce platforms like Shopify, so if you’re looking to open your own online store, you should be able to connect it with Teelaunch.
Source: JetPrint
If you’re on the lookout for a print provider with more affordable prices while still maintaining high-quality printing, JetPrint might be the option for you. It functions the same as Printful and other custom printing services, letting you create and print designs on a variety of products. JetPrint has an extensive selection of custom-printed shoes, one of this platform’s unique selling points.
For sellers, JetPrint offers a limited number of integrations with ecommerce platforms: Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, and Wix. So, if your store is built on a different platform, JetPrint won’t be the best choice for you because you’ll need to place manual orders.
Source: CustomCat Instagram
CustomCat is another worthy competitor of Vistaprint. It offers hundreds of custom-printed products in 3 main categories: apparel, housewares, and accessories. CustomCat focuses particularly on the first category, covering all the wardrobe staples. CustomCat’s promise is lower pricing than with other print-on-demand companies; however, you’ll need to ensure that the print quality is up to your standards.
One drawback of CustomCat is that, unlike many of its competitors, it doesn’t have any design tools or customizable templates for you to use if you’re starting from scratch design-wise. If you want to use this service, keep in mind that you’ll need your unique designs ready to upload to place an order. However, one advantage of CustomCat is that its production is in-house—CustomCat doesn’t outsource production to third-party manufacturers.
Source: Apliiq
If you’re looking for something more unusual in terms of customization options, Apliiq might be here to help you. While this online printing service offers classics such as digital printing, embroidery, and other techniques, you’ll also find unique options like woven labels or hood lining. Now, it should be noted that these options come with a heftier price tag than regular printing methods. But, depending on your budget and brand, the splurge on something more exclusive might be worth it.
If you’re a seller, note that Apliiq doesn’t offer as many integration options as some other platforms—currently, it has only Shopify and WooCommerce integrations. If you use another platform, you’ll have to rely on manual orders to use Apliiq.
Source: AOP+
Like many other services included in this list, AOP+ covers everything from regular t-shirts and sweatshirts to accessories like phone cases and mugs.
AOP+ is a UK-based print provider that prints and ships orders from London. If you’re working on time-sensitive projects, international shipping will take longer. Also, AOP+ currently has only 3 store integrations available (Shopify, Etsy, and BigCommerce), which might be an obstacle if you use another platform.
With so many options, you might wonder which one you should go for—especially if this is your first time looking for a service like Vistaprint.
To make your choice, create a list of the most important criteria for you and compare the different services from these aspects. For example, if you want to order your company’s merch for a big conference, you won’t care what ecommerce platforms the print provider integrates with. On the other hand, if you want to start selling your designs on your store, information about these integrations will be invaluable.
Here are some factors to take into account when comparing print-on-demand companies:
Product range and fulfillment techniques. If you’re aiming for staples like t-shirts, leggings, or hats, you’ll have many companies to choose from. But if you have a more specific product in mind for your designs, you might need to do some digging around.
Pricing. Although you don’t need any upfront investment if you go for a print-on-demand production partner, their pricing is still relevant because it determines your profit margins. Find the sweet spot that works for you in terms of price and quality.
Quality. You can order samples, or if you don’t have the budget for many tests, look at customer reviews for each product you’re considering for your store.
Fulfillment locations and shipping. Some online printing services, like Printful, have facilities worldwide to help orders reach customers as quickly as possible. Check the shipping options for different products to manage customer expectations.
Integrations. If you already have your store ready, make sure your ecommerce platform integrates with your chosen printing company. The available integrations can also inspire you to expand your business. If you have your own online store, an easy integration with a marketplace like Etsy might open up new sales opportunities.
Design tools. If you’re not a graphic designer, you might need help creating or adjusting your designs for printing or embroidery. Many of the listed platforms, including Printful, offer helpful tools to make the design process smoother. You can use Printful’s free Design Maker or Custom Ink’s Design Lab to create beautiful designs without touching Photoshop once.
Customer service. If you have any questions about a particular service, don’t hesitate to reach out to their customer support for help. You want to provide excellent customer service to your buyers, and you’ll want to get the same from your partners.
Additional services. Take a look at what else each company offers besides product printing. For example, Printful offers additional branding options like inside and outside labels, pack-ins, custom packaging, and packing slip customization. Some might offer a warehousing service or photography and graphic design service.
However, the best way to test a print provider’s service quality is always a practical one—by buying a test product for yourself. You’ll get to evaluate the product and the entire ordering experience.
As you can see, the list of top Vistaprint alternatives is not short (and there’s even more you could add). So, finding the right production partner might take some time.
Don’t be afraid of the trial and error process. If you see that one option is not entirely up to your standards or doesn’t take care of your printing needs, give someone else a try. And don’t be afraid to mix and match. Although a versatile production partner that’s a one-stop shop solution is the ultimate dream, you can take the best of each fulfillment company and build your custom offering.
With so many options, there’s no time to waste—start your research today!
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Liva Spandega
Content Writer
Liva is a Content Writer at Printful. She enjoys making lists about everything and anything, starting with ecommerce tips and marketing advice and ending with the cuddliest cats and best movies.
Liva is a Content Writer at Printful. She enjoys making lists about everything and anything, starting with ecommerce tips and marketing advice and ending with the cuddliest cats and best movies.
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12 min read Jul 9, 2024
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