SPOD vs. Printful

It depends. While SPOD advertises shorter production times, that doesn’t necessarily translate to faster deliveries when shipping products internationally. In fact, the locked-in market choices can lead to much longer shipping times when store owners branch out to international selling.

Most of the time from order to delivery is usually spent in transit. SPOD’s printing speed will only make a difference for you if all your target customers are located near a SPOD facility in the market that you initially locked in.

If you picked SPOD’s US fulfillment and get an order from Germany, your customer will either have to wait 2–4 weeks or pay 3 times more to get the item in a week at best. This is all despite SPOD having its own facility in Germany.

Printful automatically routes international orders to the nearest Printful facility, meaning that the same order to Germany will be fulfilled and delivered in just 2–6 business days and cost less than SPOD’s cheapest international shipping option. Not having to choose just one market means you and your customers can save on shipping costs while also reducing shipping time.

If you’re concerned about delivery times, you must consider where your customers are and whether saving a day or two in production time is significant enough to determine your choice of print-on-demand platform.

No, at least not consistently. SPOD print-on-demand product range and the pricing of specific products actually differs from market to market.

Before starting your business, you must choose where your orders will be fulfilled, locking in which SPOD facilities will be printing your products. If you want the lower pricing available in Europe, you can choose that market and still sell to customers in the US, but that’ll balloon shipping costs and times.

While the impact of product prices on profit margins is very important, that shouldn’t be the deciding factor when choosing between print providers. Consider how and where you can make the most sales and what tools or features are important to you to stand out from the competition.

It depends on what tools you need to succeed and who your customers are.

Do you already have an audience and designs ready to go? Do you have a store set up on a platform that Printful doesn’t connect to? Do you only plan on selling in one market? If so, SPOD may be a good fit.

Do you want access to online marketplaces like Etsy or Amazon? Do you want built-in design software? Do you plan on selling products globally now or in the future? In that case, Printful offers the right toolkit for your business needs.

Lastly, remember that starting from scratch without an audience is much harder with standalone stores, and you’ll have to manually drive traffic through ads or social media content. If you’re a beginner without advanced design software or an established brand, Printful is definitely your best bet.

Yes, the SPOD print-on-demand catalog includes around 200 products, while the Printful product catalog has 374 products.

Additionally, Printful offers more product categories than SPOD. While both companies fulfill items like wall art and t-shirts, Printful also has an extensive Home & living collection, including pillows, candles, towels, yoga mats, etc.

The SPOD print-on-demand product catalog also doesn’t include blankets, footwear, hair accessories, patches, or pins. Even for some of the company’s most popular customizable products (t-shirts, hoodies, wall art, etc.), it has fewer products than Printful does.

Yes and no. There are currently 24 direct Printful integrations to choose from, while SPOD only integrates with 4 ecommerce platforms and no online marketplaces.

At the same time, SPOD works with Order Desk, which is a company that allows print-on-demand store owners to streamline their orders and connect with 275+ ecommerce services.

While the potential number of additional selling platforms is high, having that extra step in your order fulfillment flow means additional investment and hassle. The cheapest Order Desk plan only includes 3 integrations and will cost you an extra $25 monthly.

If you want a simpler flow where your orders are fulfilled automatically at no added cost, Printful is the right choice for you. But if you already have a store set up on a platform that Printful doesn’t connect to, you may have an easier time using SPOD.

Yes, Printful has more options for product branding (such as outside apparel labels) and packaging customization (like the packing slips used for shipping). SPOD and Printful both have key features like DTG apparel prints, but Printful’s customization options are both more varied and more advanced than the ones SPOD offers.

Printful’s branded packaging options are both more varied and more accessible than SPOD’s. All Printful products come in white-label packaging by default, but you can create and arrange for branded packaging materials or pack-ins as a paid option. If that’s too much of a commitment, you can put a custom message on your packing slips, and add branding to your order tracking page, both free of charge.

SPOD only provides branded labels for a handful of products and has no branded packaging options. In fact, while you get order tracking information as a SPOD seller, your customers can’t track their orders, which can be especially important when shipping products internationally or using expedited shipping to get items delivered in time.

Yes, you can use Printful for free—no signup or subscription fees. From there, customize products and sell them without any hidden costs.

Want added benefits like product discounts and personalized product transfer assistance from your current print-on-demand service provider? Try out Printful’s membership for 14 days FOR FREE.

Absolutely! By teaming up with Printful, you get high-quality products printed with one partner, by one team, under one roof.