Growing an audience
Running the business
Both cover merch & print on demand. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| Lulu | Merchize | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | From $79 |
| Pricing model | Free | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Usage-based | Not stated |
| Free trial | Not stated | 7 days |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | Not stated |
| Runs on | Web | Web |
| Covers | Self-Publishing, Merch & Print on Demand | Merch & Print on Demand, Digital Products & Storefronts |
| Works with | Nothing in particular | Nothing in particular |
| Founded | Not listed | Not listed |
| Reader rating | No reviews yet | No reviews yet |
| Live deals | None right now | None right now |
Print and sell a book with no minimum order
Lulu prints one copy at a time and will drop-ship it under your own branding, so a creator can sell a workbook from their own site without holding stock or handing Amazon the customer. An API connects it to Shopify or a custom checkout. Print costs come out of your margin, and a colour interior turns a cheap book into an expensive one.
Our note
Choose Lulu over Amazon KDP when you want to sell direct and keep the buyer's email address, and KDP when you want to be found by people already shopping for books. Plenty of creators do both with the same file.
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Print on demand with a storefront attached
Merchize prints and ships the order, and will also host the shop it was bought from. Those are sold separately: fulfilment costs nothing beyond the product, and the storefront is the part with a monthly fee. That split suits somebody who already sells somewhere and only needs the printing, and somebody who wants both without wiring two services together.
Our note
Take the free fulfilment plan and keep selling where you already sell, unless you specifically want Merchize hosting the shop. Printful and Printify have larger catalogs; Merchize is the one that will also be your storefront.
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Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.