Feature tables make these three look like the same product with different prices. Structurally they're three different bets, because they answer "who actually prints your stuff?" three different ways — and everything else (cost, consistency, shipping) falls out of that answer.
Printful owns its factories. Same machines, same processes, wherever your order lands. You pay the highest base costs on the list for the most predictable output — the "nobody got fired for choosing it" option, and the right bet when your brand's promise is consistency.
Printify is a marketplace of print shops. You choose the printer per product, which means you choose the price — its base costs are routinely the lowest — and you inherit the variance: two printers, two slightly different whites. The right bet for price-led sellers willing to sample-test printers and lock in the good ones.
Gelato is a routing network. Your order prints at whichever partner is closest to the buyer, across 30+ countries. Mid-table costs, and one structural advantage the other two can't fully copy: a UK buyer's order printed in the UK.
For a UK-based seller with mostly UK/EU buyers, locally printed orders mean faster delivery, no customs edge-cases, lower shipping, and a smaller carbon line if your buyers care. Since Brexit, "printed in the EU for EU buyers, in the UK for UK buyers" quietly removes a whole category of support email — which, if you've read our other tools, you know we consider a product feature. This is Gelato's home fixture, though Printful's EU facilities cover much of it and a carefully chosen UK Printify printer can match it per-product.
All three have free plans, so the real comparison costs nothing but sample money: order the SAME design on your actual product from each, compare print, blank quality, and delivery time to a UK address, and check the base cost of your products (headline t-shirt comparisons mislead — category gaps differ). Most sellers end up with a main provider and a per-product exception or two. The subscription decision comes later, at real volume — the break-even guide has those numbers.
Verified August 2026 from published pricing and provider documentation; providers change constantly — their pages are the authority. Not affiliated with Printful, Printify or Gelato. Not financial advice.