Redbubble vs Printful: How each platform works
What is Printful?
Printful is a print-on-demand company that produces and ships custom products for your online store, with no equipment, inventory, or warehouse needed. You set your own retail price and keep the difference after production and shipping costs are deducted. Unlike Redbubble, Printful takes no portion of your earnings.
Is Redbubble Print on Demand, or a marketplace?
Redbubble is both. It’s a standalone marketplace selling artists’ designs on print-on-demand products. It doesn’t connect to your own store, so your sales depend on its marketplace traffic, and the audience and customer list belongs to Redbubble, not you.
Redbubble sets the base price, then takes 50% of your monthly earnings on the Standard tier or 20% on the Premium tier, capped at $150 per month. Markups above 20% trigger an extra 50% fee on those earnings, so higher prices earn you less per extra dollar.
Redbubble doesn’t print anything itself. It assigns each order to a third-party printer based on the product and shipping address, so Redbubble items in one order can arrive separately.
Printful vs Redbubble: Who prints, and who owns the customer?
Printful prints most orders in its own facilities, while Redbubble outsources printing and keeps the customer relationship. In-house quality control means every Printful item passes the same 3-step check, and you can add branding, such as custom packing slips. Buyers become part of your own customer base, so you can follow up for repeat purchases. On Redbubble, you can’t add your own branding, and buyers stay on its marketplace.
Its digital printing methods support Printful’s sustainability efforts. Research shows they can use 90-95% less water than traditional garment printing methods. The Catalog also includes products made with recycled materials, such as all-over-print jerseys.
Data collected in October 2026.
Printful vs Redbubble for artists: What you keep per sale
Printful lets artists control pricing and keep their full markup, while Redbubble’s account fees take a share of every month’s earnings.
Set your own prices and keep the markup
On Printful, you set your own retail price and keep everything above the product and shipping cost as profit. A black t-shirt at $8.50 costs $13.45 with standard US shipping, so a $25 retail price leaves you $11.55 before sales channel fees.
Redbubble’s profit on the same sale is about $2.50 for a Standard-tier artist after account fees.
Predictable shipping costs
Printful charges flat shipping rates by product and destination, so you know the cost before you set a price. On a two-shirt US order, the second shirt ships for $2.20 instead of $4.95, a $2.75 saving. Printful also offers express shipping options for faster delivery. See Printful shipping rates for every product and region.
Redbubble’s shipping cost is calculated at checkout, and orders with items printed at different facilities incur higher shipping costs.
Fewer reprints, and free ones when needed
Only 0.24% of Printful orders are reshipped because problems are caught during production, protecting the customer experience. If a customer still receives a damaged, defective, or misprinted item, they are eligible for a free reprint or refund within 30 days of delivery, with no return required.
Redbubble also replaces faulty items, but it chooses the printer for each order, so you can’t vet who makes your products.
Switch from Redbubble to Printful
Gain full control over your pricing and brand
By moving to Printful, you get:
- In-house production for consistent product quality.
- Fulfillment centers in the US, EU, UK, Canada, Mexico, Asia, and Australia.
- Higher profit margins with no account fees or seller tiers.
- Brand control with inside labels and white-label packaging.
Your Redbubble shop can stay open while you switch. Connect your Etsy shop, own website, or another store, upload designs you already sell in the Design Maker, and publish at your own prices. Explore all the available integrations to find the right sales platform for you.
Printful in numbers
599
products to customize
1M+
items fulfilled each month
22
integration partners
149M
items trusted to deliver
Frequently asked questions
No, not for sellers building a long-term POD business. Printful lets you set your own prices, keep your full markup, and sell under your own brand, with most orders printed in its own facilities. Redbubble works for artists who want zero setup and no store, but Standard-tier artists pay 50% of their monthly earnings, plus 50% of any markup above 20%. See how Printful compares with other services in the full print-on-demand comparison.
Yes. In a direct pricing comparison, Printful wins on product cost: its cheapest black t-shirt costs sellers $8.50, or $7.23 with Printful Growth, and you set the retail price. On Redbubble, the cheapest black t-shirt sells for $17.18, including the seller’s markup, and account fees then take a share of that markup.
Yes, but a Standard-tier artist keeps $2.50 from a $26 t-shirt sale – under 10% of the retail price. Redbubble’s own example uses a $20 base price with a 30% markup, which gives a $6 margin. The excess markup fee takes $1, and the 50% platform fee takes $2.50. The same sale through your own online store with Printful leaves $12.55, about 48%, before sales channel fees.
Redbubble can still be profitable in 2026. Pro-tier artists pay no account fees, and fees for other tiers are capped at $150 a month.
Yes, but not as a subscription. Redbubble charges account fees to Standard and Premium accounts in the months they make sales. The platform fee takes 50% of monthly earnings on Redbubble Standard and 20% on Premium, while Pro accounts pay none. A separate excess markup fee takes 50% of earnings from markup above 20%, and total account fees are capped at $150 a month.
Printful’s free plan has no monthly fees. You pay for products and shipping only when an order comes in. The optional Printful Growth plan costs $24.99 per month or is free once you reach $12K in yearly sales, and it lowers product prices.
Printful is better for artists who can bring their own traffic, while Redbubble is more beginner-friendly for artists starting with no followers. With Printful, you can sell your art on 599 products, including wall art, art prints, and phone cases, and send fans to your own storefront. On Redbubble, your designs get easy access to its shoppers, but you’re just another seller in its search results. Designs approved through its Fan Art Program can only be sold there.
Yes. Printful offers 599 products, while Redbubble’s catalog has 70+. Printful’s product range also includes embroidered apparel, which Redbubble doesn’t offer, along with home decor, drinkware, and pet products.
You can with Printful, but not with Redbubble. Printful connects to Etsy, Amazon, TikTok Shop, and Shopify among its 22 integration partners, then fulfills each order automatically. Redbubble products are sold only on Redbubble’s own marketplace. Setting up a store on a third-party sales channel takes more work than uploading to Redbubble. Once it’s connected, though, Printful handles production and shipping for every order.
Yes. Printful offers white-label packaging, custom packing slips, inside and outside labels, and a custom order tracking page. Pack-ins (packaging inserts) and custom packaging are available at an extra cost. Redbubble offers no label or packaging branding for sellers.
Sign up for Printful for free, connect your store, upload the design files you already sell on Redbubble, and publish them at your own prices. You don’t need to close your Redbubble shop, because Redbubble lets artists sell their personal designs elsewhere. The exception is designs approved through its Fan Art Program, which must stay on Redbubble. Order samples first to check how your art prints on Printful products.
Use Printful’s tools for your own online store
