Printful or Teelaunch: which is the better print on demand service? Both solutions offer a cost-effective and simple way to start selling custom products. They also support global fulfillment, making them great for scaling brands.

Personally, though, I think Printful is the better option overall. It offers a wider range of products, more sales channels, and more advanced tools to help you grow your business.

If you’re uncertain, this behind-the-scenes comparison guide will help you make the right choice.

The Quick Verdict, Pros and Cons

After thoroughly testing both solutions, I can say Printful is the stronger option overall. Although Teelaunch’s products can be a little cheaper than Printful’s, Printful helps boost your profit margins with a wider selection of products, more sales channel options and powerful tools, like an advanced mockup generator.

Teelaunch Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Low startup and product costs
• Good range of integrations
• Excellent focus on product quality
• Good global fulfillment network
• Easy to use platform
• Some unique products (like LED signs)

Cons:

• Fewer product options than Printful
• No pop-up store option
• Limited design tools

Printful Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Excellent range of high-quality products
• Lots of different sales channel options
• Free pop-up store generator (for US merchants)
• Great reputation for product quality
• Fantastic add-on services and premium plan
• High-quality design tools

Cons:

• Slightly more expensive products
• Customer support can be slow

Teelaunch vs Printful: The Core Features

On the surface, Teelaunch and Printful are similar services. They both provide global fulfillment services, and offer easy-to-use platforms for product design, that integrate with various ecommerce platforms and other sales channels.

However, there are some significant differences between the platforms.

Product Options and Customization

In terms of product options, both Teelaunch and Printful give you a lot of variety. Teelaunch offers some unique products you won’t find on Printful, like LED signs and desk plants for your home office.

However, Printful does offer more options overall, particularly if you want to sell custom apparel – there are hundreds of shirts, sweaters, and other products to choose from.

Printful also offers a range of eco-friendly items, which is great if you want to build a reputation as a sustainable seller.

There are also a few more customization options on Printful, like embroidery, and all-over print. Plus, after working with both platforms, I can definitely say Printful’s design tools are a lot more flexible and intuitive.

Printful gives you a lot of access to different free resources you can use to enhance your designs, like fonts and clipart.

You can even use AI to upscale your images, boosting your chances of creating higher-quality products. Plus, the mockup generator you get with Printful is a lot more impressive in my opinion. Y

ou can easily create lifestyle-style images for product pages, and experiment with showcasing your items from a range of different angles.

I’d still recommend getting samples of your products, from both companies, so you can take genuine photos to showcase on your website, but Printful is the better solution for products, design, and customization overall.

Product Quality and Profitability

I always find product quality to be one of the most complicated things to compare when I’m evaluating print-on-demand services.

The quality of your products can vary based on a range of factors, including the designs you choose, and your printing method.

Both Teelaunch and Printful use strong quality assurance methods to reduce the risk of misprints, and they both source high-quality items for customization.

However, based on the reviews I’ve read from other merchants and customers, Printful is more reliable when it comes to delivering consistent quality. The company has an excellent reputation, and a 99% customer satisfaction rate.

It also offers a wider range of customization options, as mentioned above, which makes it easier to create highly luxurious products (like embroidered items), which can boost your conversion rates.

Alternatively, Teelaunch has earned a few negative reviews over the years for it’s inconsistent print quality. From a profitability perspective, Teelaunch’s base products are a little cheaper – they promise to match the lowest prices you’ll find from other vendors for various items, like t-shirts.

However, it’s worth remembering that inconsistent product quality could mean you fail to earn the loyalty of your target audience, which means fewer sales in the long-term.

Plus, if you upgrade to a premium plan with Printful, the base product prices do drop significantly.

Fulfillment and Sales Channels

Printful definitely stands out once again in this comparison for the range of sales channels you can use. Teelaunch does offer a lot of integration options for solutions like WooCommerce, BigCommerce, TikTok, Etsy, and Shopify.

There’s also a handy API for creating your own automated workflows. However, Printful still offers more options.

There are dozens of channels to choose from for integrations, including marketplaces like Amazon and Ebay, ecommerce platforms like Squarespace, Shopify and Wix, and social media platforms.

Plus, unlike Teelaunch, Printful allows vendors to create a simple online store with their “Quick Stores” feature. This is great if you want to start selling quickly without having to manage, build, and run your own fully featured ecommerce store.

Notably though, Printful only offers this feature to merchants in the US, and only allows you to sell products through the “Quick Store” function to people throughout America. This could be problematic if you want to sell on a global basis.

Ease of Use and Customer Support

Fortunately, if you’re looking for simplicity, both Printful and Teelaunch are very easy to use. It only took me a couple of minutes to set up an account and start designing products with both services.

Since Printful’s platform has a few more features, like a profit calculator, and the pop-up store generator, it can take a little longer to learn how to use everything.

However, Printful does offer a lot of support and guidance, including an onboarding checklist, guides, and videos to help you get started. I think Printful’s backend interface is a little cleaner and more intuitive than the one you get from Teelaunch too. Teelaunch’s system feels a little outdated and clunky in comparison.

Both companies also offer decent customer support. There are plenty of great self-help resources available to beginners on both websites, including FAQs and tutorials. However, Printful’s resources are a little more comprehensive in my opinion.

If you need direct support, Printful also offers both 24/7 chat and email-based service, whereas Teelaunch only allows you to get in touch through a contact form. Notably, I did find that Printful was sometimes a little slower at responding to queries, particularly those sent via email than Teelaunch. However, the live chat function does give you much faster

Printful vs Teelaunch: Plans and Pricing

Finally, let’s take a closer look at pricing. As I mentioned above, Printful’s products can be a little bit more expensive than those offered by Teelaunch. However, it’s worth remembering you’re probably going to get higher-quality products too.

Both companies also allow you to sign up for an account and access all the features you need straight away, such as design tools for customizing products, and integrations with sales channels. However, Printful does give you an option to sign up for a membership too.

Printful allows you to upgrade to a premium (Growth) plan for a fee of $24.99 per month – or you can access this plan for free if you make a certain amount of revenue each year (more than $12k).

This premium plan gives you access to fixed discounts on a range of products, additional branding options, custom packaging and pack-ins, and more.

You can also pay for extra services individually, such as photo and video shoots, or warehousing services for the items you don’t create with Printful directly. I definitely think this premium plan is beneficial for companies looking to increase sales, and boost profit margins.

As you scale your business, a premium plan will significantly reduce the costs of creating products with Printful.

Printful vs Teelaunch: The Verdict

Overall, both Printful and Teelaunch offer fantastic print on demand services. They both give merchants an excellent range of customizable products to choose from, global fulfillment services, and exceptional tools for selling across multiple online channels.

However, Printful stands out as the better option in my opinion for a few reasons. Aside from giving you a wider selection of products to choose from, you also get more sales channels (including the Quick Store builder) and more advanced design and merchandising tools.

Plus, Printful delivers more consistent quality with its products, and gives you the option to upgrade to a valuable premium plan as your business scales, which can significantly improve your profit margins.

If you’re looking for simplicity and low costs, Teelaunch is a good choice, but Printful is the better option for overall growth, functionality, and scaling opportunities.