Printful vs Bonfire 2024: The Complete Comparison Guide

Demand for print on demand (POD) companies has skyrocketed in recent times. In reality, by 2032, analysts say the marketplace for POD shall be value around $43.4 billion, and it’s simple to see why.

Print on demand solutions enable creators so as to add customized designs to an enormous vary of merchandise and ship them to clients worldwide, with out coping with manufacturing or success themselves.

It’s one of many best methods to begin promoting distinctive objects on-line. There’s just one main problem: choosing the proper print on demand firm to work with.

I’ve labored with an enormous variety of POD distributors in the previous couple of years, and immediately I’m going to be sharing my comparability insights into two distinctive choices.

Printful: some of the fashionable POD distributors round (and my prime decide), and Bonfire: a model targeted on premium high quality.

Printful vs Bonfire: How the Platforms Work

On the floor, Bonfire and Printful appear fairly comparable. They’re each POD corporations, which suggests they deal with the manufacturing and success of your orders for you. In addition they each give corporations a variety of the way to customise completely different merchandise.

Nonetheless, the way in which these platforms work could be very completely different.

How Printful Works?

Printful is one of my favorite print on demand platforms for a number of causes. It’s simple to make use of, versatile, and inherently scalable.

Whenever you join Printful, you’ll get your personal dashboard, the place you’ll be able to design merchandise, hold observe of information, and monitor analytics.

When you design a product, utilizing Printful’s intuitive mockup generator, you’ll add it to your “product catalog”, which you’ll be able to then import into your retailer via one in all Printful’s many integrations.

You get to decide on the worth of your product, so you’ll be able to cowl transport and manufacturing prices.

When a buyer locations an order in your retailer, the knowledge is distributed again to Printful. The corporate’s workforce then produces your product for you and ships it to your goal buyer.

Notably, the beauty of Printful is you’ll be able to promote via an enormous collection of platforms, from ecommerce shops constructed with instruments like Shopify and Wix, to Marketplaces like Amazon and Esty, and even social media channels. You can too observe every thing inside your Printful dashboard.

How Bonfire Works?

Bonfire, however, doesn’t provide the alternative to promote your personal customized merchandise via a spread of channels.

It doesn’t combine with every other platforms. As a substitute, it provides customers a free-to-use storefront surroundings the place they will promote merchandise to an current viewers.

This clearly limits your scalability, but it surely additionally means you don’t have to fret about creating and working your personal retailer. Whenever you join with Bonfire, you can select to create a storefront on the platform, or begin a “restricted time” marketing campaign.

When you’re all arrange with an account, you’ll be able to design your customized storefront with Bonfire’s built-in instruments.

The design course of is fairly easy, supplying you with entry to numerous themes, and customization choices on your headers, and pictures.

After you will have your retailer, you’ll be able to head to the “My Orders” part of Bonfire to begin creating customized merchandise.

Notably, Bonfire solely has a handful of merchandise to select from, however the design instruments are comparatively intuitive and easy for personalisation.

You’ll be able to add textual content, add pictures, and select from varied free “clipart” pictures too.

After you’ve created your customized merchandise, you’ll be able to checklist them in your storefront (with an outline) and share a hyperlink to your retailer along with your clients.

They’ll then buy merchandise immediately via your “web site,” and Bonfire will deal with the remaining (e.g., manufacturing and transport).

The Execs and Cons of Printful and Bonfire

Each POD platform has its personal execs and cons. Whereas I believe Printful is best than Bonfire for its superior design instruments, distinctive printing choices, and vary of merchandise, it’s value noting that Bonfire does produce very high-quality merchandise.

Plus, it makes it very simple for novices to get began.

Printful Execs and Cons

Bonfire Execs and Cons

Printful vs Bonfire: Core Options

Each Printful and Bonfire have a number of overlapping options. They each supply useful design instruments, with free clipart, fonts, and templates that can assist you begin creating your merchandise.

In addition they supply comparatively quick transport and turnaround instances. Nonetheless, Printful delivers products worldwide, whereas Bonfire’s suppliers are restricted to the US in the mean time.

There are some distinctive options on each Printful and Bonfire value testing, nonetheless.

Listed below are a number of the foremost options that stood out to me throughout my evaluate:

Printful Core Options:

• Superior design instruments with lots of of free belongings and life like mockups
• A number of customization choices, together with all-over-print
• Branding choices akin to customized labels and packaging choices
• Complete warehouse administration options
• Entry to statistics and analytics for gross sales
• Promo maker instruments for promoting
• Integrations with an enormous vary of gross sales channels
• AI-driven instruments for high quality assurance

Bonfire Core Options:

• Intuitive design software with free assets
• Intensive print high quality management measures
• Easy retailer creator for on-line promoting
• Restricted version marketing campaign promoting
• Merch shelf gross sales for prime creators
• Design templates and pricing calculators
• Order monitoring capabilities
• Affiliate marketing online marketing campaign

Printful vs Bonfire: Pricing

Pricing is usually a little tough to grasp while you’re selecting a print on demand vendor. In spite of everything, it’s not simply the core value of merchandise and transport you might need to consider, however subscription prices, and costs for any ecommerce shops you wish to join too.

Printful Pricing and Charges

Printful is relatively straightforward when it comes to pricing. As you create your product with the corporate’s mockup generator, you’ll be capable of see how a lot every merchandise, and customization prices. Plus, you’ll get an perception into transport charges too.

Notably, the extra customizations you add, the dearer your merchandise shall be (a primary inside label prices round $2.49, as an example).

Whereas a few of Printful’s merchandise will be fairly costly, in comparison with rivals like Printify, the transport prices are on-par with most distributors.

As an illustration, transport to US clients begins at spherical $3.99 relying on what you wish to promote. There’s the choice to improve to specific transport (For a better value) in case your clients are in search of pace.

One factor that I believe makes Printful significantly attention-grabbing is that though you can get began without cost, you can even entry extra advantages from the seller with a membership.

Each membership choices can be found without cost to corporations who earn a certain quantity of income in a 12-month interval. It’s good to earn $12k for Printful Development, or $60k for Printful Enterprise.

Nonetheless, you can even purchase a Development membership for $24.99 per 30 days. These memberships include all of the core options of Printful, plus:

• Printful Development: 20% off DTG merchandise, 30% off different merchandise, branding reductions of seven% product switch help, and limitless shops per account.
• Printful Enterprise: 22% off DTG merchandise, 33% off different merchandise, 9% branding reductions, free embroidered product digitization, bigger entrance prints for choose merchandise, and precedence help.

Corporations may pay for extra companies from Printful, akin to warehousing, help with product images, and extra. All of those companies are delivered on a “per-quote” foundation, so that you’ll want to succeed in out to Printful for a value.

Bonfire’s Pricing and Charges

Bonfire isn’t fairly as clear with its charges as Printful. Whereas there’s no value for organising an account, you do have to pay for the bottom value of your merchandise, and any transport charges.

Oddly sufficient, you received’t see the “value” of your product with Bonfire till you really add it to your retailer.

You’ll see the bottom value, a instructed promoting value, and your potential revenue listed for you while you go to the “Earnings” web page of your dashboard.

Notably, Bonfire doesn’t appear to incorporate any transport charges right here. Nonetheless, the corporate’s assist middle suggests worldwide transport begins at around $11.99 for the primary product, and will increase by $4 for each extra product out of your retailer.

On the plus facet, with Bonfire, you received’t have to fret in regards to the prices of organising your personal ecommerce web site, as you’ll be able to create your storefront without cost.

Printful vs Bonfire: Integrations

As I discussed above, one of many largest variations between Printful and Bonfire is how one can really promote your merchandise via the 2 platforms.

Bonfire provides you an impartial storefront you need to use to promote your merchandise by way of social media, messenger, and so forth.

There’s additionally an choice to promote with “Merch Shelf” on YouTube, however that’s as far you’ll be able to go along with your “omnichannel” gross sales technique. Printful, however, is much more versatile.

It has is personal API, so you’ll be able to create your personal customized connectors and automatic workflows.

Plus, there are easy integrations obtainable for:

• Ecommerce platforms: Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix, Sq. On-line, Squarespace, Webflow, BigCommerce, Ecwid, Weebly, Adobe Commerce, BigCartel, StoreEnvy, and Prestashop
• Marketplaces: Gumroad, Ebay, Etsy, Walmart, Amazon,
• Social media: TikTok Store,
• Different instruments: Shift4Shop, Launch Cart, Shipstation, and so forth

Principally, there’s no restrict to what number of gross sales channels you’ll be able to entry with Printful, which is why I like to recommend it as a extra scalable and versatile answer for enterprise house owners.

Printful vs Bonfire: Product Designs and High quality

Few issues matter extra when choosing the proper POD answer than product and print high quality. Finally, no matter you select to promote, the standard of your merchandise will decide whether or not you make a constant revenue, and earn buyer loyalty.

The excellent news is each Printful and Bonfire have a superb fame for high quality. Printful boasts a 99% satisfaction fee for its merchandise, due to its intuitive method to high quality assurance.

The corporate makes use of AI tools to ensure that prints look perfect on every product. Plus, their AI instruments may even upscale the photographs you add to the platform robotically.

What’s extra, Printful offers a huge range of customization options to choose from, so that you may give your merchandise a extra luxurious really feel. As an illustration, there’s embroidery, DTG, all-over print and extra.

Whereas Bonfire doesn’t have as many printing choices, it does take a powerful method to high quality assurance. The corporate provides sturdy templates to assist scale back the danger that your print received’t prove as anticipated.

Plus, the workforce all the time double-checks the standard of prints earlier than sending them to clients. Like Printful, Bonfire has earned an awesome fame for not simply its print high quality, however its dedication to sourcing high-quality and sustainable supplies.

Printful vs Bonfire: Buyer Assist

Lastly, let’s check out buyer help. First, I’m all the time impressed by Printful’s complete self-help assets.

The corporate produces an enormous variety of blogs, guides, FAQs, movies, webinars, and different assets that can assist you reply any questions you might need about POD and rising your enterprise.

When you want extra direct assist, you’ll be able to attain out by way of a contact type or e-mail.

Superior, or “precedence” help is reserved for folks on the Printful Enterprise membership plan, so that you’ll have to be incomes round $60,000 a yr or extra to get it.

Bonfire additionally has a superb assist middle, although its guides, and content material aren’t almost as complete as what you’ll get from Printful.

On the plus facet, you’ll be able to attain out to the workforce via chat, e-mail, or telephone. Meaning you will have much more choices right here than you’ll on Printful.

Plus, Bonfire has an awesome fame for responding quickly to queries with customized help for all of its customers.

Printful vs Bonfire: The Verdict

Finally, Printful is my go-to alternative on this comparability. It provides you a a lot wider vary of merchandise to select from, extra customization choices, and a number of superior options.

Plus, it ensures you’ll be able to promote your items throughout a variety of platforms and channels.

Compared, Bonfire is much more primary, with fewer product choices, minimal customization, and a comparatively easy storefront creator.

Nonetheless, it does excel at creating high-quality merchandise, and delivering glorious customer support.

This might make Bonfire a good selection for novices who wish to hold their prices (and retailer administration points) low, with out compromising on high quality.