Printful, Printify and Doba: how each POD route charges

Three routes, three billing models

Printful and Printify are print-on-demand: you upload a design, connect a store, and pay a base cost per item only when an order arrives. There is no inventory and no upfront print bill. Printful runs its own print facilities alongside partner fulfilment; Printify is a network that lets you choose among many print providers and their prices for the same product.

Doba is a different animal: a product sourcing marketplace built for sellers who want US-based suppliers, domestic delivery times and categories far beyond printed apparel. Access to the catalog is sold as a subscription, and you still pay the supplier for the goods and the shipping on each order.

How Printful charges (public pricing, 2026)

Printful is free to use: no monthly fee to create products or connect a store, and you pay for fulfilment when the order comes in. The product price on its pricing page includes the blank item and one print or embroidery placement, so the figure you see is a complete per-unit base cost rather than a blank with extras bolted on.

Its Growth plan is $24.99 a month, becomes free once a store reaches $12,000 a year in sales, and gives up to 33% off product pricing plus discounted branding. The plan only pays for itself above a certain volume — that arithmetic is in the section below. Plans and prices change, so confirm them on the pricing page itself.

How Printify charges (public pricing, 2026)

Printify has a free plan with no monthly fee: you pay the base product and the shipping for each order, and the base product price depends on which print provider you choose for that product and that destination. Because several providers can print the same t-shirt, one design can carry more than one base cost.

Printify Premium is $39 a month or $299 a year and advertises up to 20% off catalog products. The discount applies to the product base cost rather than to shipping, which matters the moment you compare it with another supplier per-unit price. Check the live plan page before you budget for it.

How Doba charges

Doba is subscription-based access to a supplier catalog: a monthly plan opens the catalog and the order tools, and each order is paid separately at the supplier price plus shipping. It does not print anything, so for a printed t-shirt you would still need a printer — what it brings is US stock, shorter domestic transit and categories beyond apparel.

Plan tiers and what they include change over time; treat any figure you read here as indicative and confirm it on the plans page. If your product is a printed tee and nothing else, a sourcing marketplace adds a subscription without solving the printing problem.

The volume where a subscription pays for itself

A monthly fee is a fixed cost, so it turns into a per-unit cost that falls as volume rises: divide the fee by the units you ship, then compare it with the discount the plan unlocks. At 30 shirts a month a $39 plan adds $1.30 to every shirt; at 300 shirts it adds 13 cents. A 20% discount on a $10 base cost saves $2 a unit, which covers that fee above 20 units a month; a 33% discount on the same base saves $3.30, which covers a $24.99 fee above 8 units.

Run those figures with your own base cost and shipping: the t-shirt dropshipping calculator turns them into a margin and a break-even price. Remember that a percentage off the base cost is not the same as a percentage off landed cost — shipping, returns and ad spend sit outside the discount.

When each route fits

The decision usually comes down to how much money is already committed and what the product actually is:

• Testing ten designs with no upfront money: either print-on-demand network, on the free plan, with samples of the two or three designs you like most.
• Lowest base cost at steady volume: compare Printify Premium and Printful Growth against the fee each charges — the larger advertised percentage is not always the cheaper total once shipping is in.
• US stock, fast domestic delivery and general merchandise: a sourcing marketplace such as Doba, provided the subscription is covered by the orders you actually place.
• Blanks bought in bulk and printed locally, or a China-direct agent: the 1688 route, which replaces both the print-on-demand base cost and the subscription with a landed-cost calculation.
• A single-store brand where print quality is the product: whichever provider samples you actually approved, whatever its list price says.

What the price lists do not say

Base cost is not landed cost. Shipping depends on the destination and the provider, returns are your cost, and the same product printed by two providers can differ visibly in colour, placement and packaging. Order one sample from the provider you plan to use before you list a design.

This page compares publicly listed models as of 2026. The names Printful, Printify and Doba are trademarks of their owners; this is an independent comparison with no affiliation, endorsement or sponsorship from any of them, and nothing here is intended to disparage any of them — their pricing differs because their businesses differ. Confirm current prices on the official pricing pages.

Where to go next

Run your own numbers with the t-shirt dropshipping calculator: blank, print, both shipping legs, commission, payment, ads and returns become a profit per shirt, a break-even price and the price a target margin needs.

If your blanks come from China rather than a print-on-demand supplier, start with the 1688 dropshipping guide for agents, MOQs and landed cost, and use the dropshipping cost calculator for the yuan-to-dollar conversion. Selling on Amazon instead: the FBA profit calculator applies the marketplace fee schedule.

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