Modalyst vs Printify: The Ultimate Comparison Guide

Modalyst vs Printify: Which is better?

Well, it depends on what you’re looking for. If you want an amazing print on demand service that allows you to customize hundreds of high-profit products, access AI design tools, and partner with manufacturers all over the world, I’d recommend Printify.

If you want to expand your product portfolio with thousands of pre-built products, through a reliable dropshipping service, Modalyst is the better choice.

Here, I’ll share my insights from experimenting with both platforms, to help you make the right decision for your growing business.

Printify vs Modalyst: Plus Pros and Cons

Modalyst Pros and Cons

Printify Pros and Cons

Modalyst vs Printify: The Core Features

Modalyst and Printify used to have similar features. They both offered print on demand services, while Modalyst also gave retailers access to pre-built products for dropshipping. However, after joining forces with Wix, Modalyst announced it was discontinuing its POD service.

Starting from July 15^th, 2024, creators haven’t been able to create new POD products with Modalyst, and as of September 2024, all POD products will be removed from creator stores.

That means comparing Modalyst and Printify is a bit like comparing apples and oranges, but here’s what I think you need to know, when making your choice.

Product Options and Customization

Let’s start with product options. Technically, Modalyst is going to give you a lot more variety, because you’re purchasing pre-made products from vendors around the world. There are hundreds of thousands of options to choose from, including those made by US-based companies.

Sorting through products is simple, and you can even search for specific items relevant to your target niche. However, as mentioned above, you’ll no longer be able to customize your products with Modalyst by the end of this year.

Printify, on the other hand, has fewer products overall, but its collection is still one of the biggest I’ve seen in the print on demand market. There are over 950 great items to choose from, including customizable beauty products, bags, t-shirts, and more.

Plus, Printify even regularly partners with companies like Adidas, so you can create products with big-name brands too! When it comes to customization options, Printify really stands out. You can choose from a range of printing options, and apply designs to your products in various ways.

I particularly love the company’s generative AI design tools, which allow you to create custom images with nothing more than simple text prompts. Plus, you can check out hundreds of free assets, like clipart, fonts, and shapes.

Product Quality

Product quality is often difficult to gauge with dropshipping and print-on-demand companies, but it’s particularly challenging with brands like Printify and Modalyst. That’s because neither of these companies create their products in-house.

Instead, they connect you to POD vendors, or dropshipping manufacturers, which means the quality of your product can vary based on who you choose to work with.

Modalyst has a decent reputation for good quality products, and you can see ratings from other customers on items before you purchase anything. However, a lot of the products available come from AliExpress and Alibaba, and I (like many others) have been burned by these brands before.

Printify’s product quality can still vary, but the company makes a lot more effort to vet suppliers, to ensure they do deliver constant quality. Plus, like on Modalyst, you can see ratings for each supplier on the site, and even filter through manufacturers based on their reputation.

Printify is probably a better bet if you’re looking for exceptional quality, particularly if you choose from their “premium” or “eco-friendly” collections. Still, I’d recommend ordering samples from any manufacturer you choose to work with, just to be sure.

Fulfillment and Delivery Options

Modalyst and Printify now focus on different business models: dropshipping, and print on demand. However, they still support global order fulfillment.

Printify has one of the largest global print networks in the world, and even allows you to choose suppliers based on their proximity to your customers. Some Printify partners also offer express delivery, but the fees for this could be higher.

One great thing is that you can also transfer products to Printify, and they’ll help you to optimize the fulfillment process. Of course, there is a fee for this too.

Modalyst also supports global fulfillment, and allows you to sort through manufacturers based on their location. There are a handful of options available from US and EU manufacturers (although the majority of products seem to come from Asian countries).

Like Printify’s suppliers, some of Modalyst’s manufacturers offer express delivery for an extra fee. However, it’s worth noting that Modalyst’s shipping fees seem to be a little higher overall. Most items will cost you between $5 and $15 to ship, depending on the location of your customer.

Sales Channels and Integrations

One area where Printify definitely excels over Modalyst, is in the number of sales channels you can explore.

First, Printify integrates directly with marketplaces like Etsy, Ebay, and Walmart, ecommerce platforms like Wix, Squarespace, WooCommerce, and Shopify, and social media channels, like TikTok Shop.

Secondly, it offers access to an open API for custom connections.

On top of that, you can also build your own “pop-up” store with Printify and use it to sell products through your social media link-in-bio, or messaging apps. You won’t get your own custom domain name, or other advanced features, but it’s great for simple selling.

Modalyst integrates with a few dropshipping platforms, like AliExpress and Alibaba, as well as sales channels like Wix, Shopify, and eBay. If you want a lot of options for where to sell, Printify is the better platform overall.

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Ease of Use and Customer Support

Even if you have absolutely no business management experience, you won’t have any trouble using Modalyst or Printify. I was able to set up an account with Modalyst and start adding products to a Shopify store in about 15 minutes.

Printify gave me a similar experience, although I did spend a little longer playing with the generative AI design tools (they’re pretty fun).

Both companies allow you to sign up for free, and connect to sales channels almost instantly. Plus, they both offer pretty impressive customer support resources.

Printify’s website is packed full of guides, tutorials, and videos you can access to address common queries, or troubleshoot problems.

Modalyst offers some great FAQs and guides too. They also both give you “set up” checklists when you first create an account.

If you do need direct customer support, you can purchase design services and expert assistance from Printify for an extra fee, or reach out to the team 24/7 via live chat or email. Modalyst has an AI-powered chatbot for instant support, and handles everything else through email.

Modalyst vs Printify: Plans and Pricing

Printify and Modalyst both allow you to create an account for free. However, if you want to access additional services or benefits, there are some paid plans too.

Printify’s Pricing and Fees

Printify’s free plan is ideal for beginners, offering access to up to 5 stores, unlimited product, and all of Printify’s powerful design tools (including its mockup generator).

You can also create a Printify pop-up store for free. The premium plan, for $24.99 per month gives you support for 10 stores for each account, and an up to 20% discount on all products.

I think this plan is definitely worthwhile for anyone who’s selling a lot of products through Printify, as the savings can quickly add up:

There’s also an Enterprise plan option, with extra discounts and premium customer support for a custom price. I’d probably skip this option unless you’re selling thousands of products a month.

In terms of other fees, Printify’s products are priced quite reasonably, and shipping is usually affordable. However, exact fees will depend on the supplier you choose. You can sort through options based on “lowest price” or “lowest shipping price”, however.

Plus, it’s worth noting that you can purchase other services from Printify for custom fees, like product transfer services, and Studio web development services.

Modalyst Paid Plans

Modalyst’s free plan is pretty restrictive. It only allows you to source up to 25 products for your store. However, you still get access to easy order import tools, real-time product updates, tracking numbers, variant mapping, and automated price markups.

The paid plans start at $35 per month (monthly), or $35 per month (annually), for the Start-up plan, which gives you a 250-product limit. Alternatively, you can upgrade to a Pro plan for $90 per month (monthly), or $67 per month (annually), for unlimited products.

Honestly, I think these prices are pretty expensive, when you consider that you’re also going to need to the base cost of your dropshipped products, and your delivery costs.

Modalyst vs Printify: The Verdict

Choosing between Modalyst and Printify should be pretty straightforward these days. If print on demand is your business model of choice, go for Printify, for access to hundreds of amazing products, fantastic design tools, and support for countless sales channels.

If you want to simply sell products produced by other vendors with a dropshipping model, Modalyst is the better choice in this comparison guide.

However, it’s not by favorite dropshipping platform overall. There are more affordable, and flexible options, like DSers or AutoDS which I’d probably recommend first.