Best WooCommerce Print on Demand Plugins

Tired of drowning in inventory headaches or feeling stuck with unsold stock? With Print on Demand (POD), you can kiss those worries goodbye and focus on what really matters—building a thriving eCommerce empire. POD lets you create and sell custom, white-labeled products that are made only when a customer orders them—no storage, no waste, no stress. 

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll cover everything you need to launch and scale a thriving Print on Demand business with WooCommerce. You’ll discover:

• Smart strategies for setting up and running a successful POD business on WooCommerce.
• The 10 top-rated WooCommerce print on demand plugins and platforms to build and grow your POD store.
• Leading third-party POD companies that integrate seamlessly with WooCommerce.
• And so much more to set you up for success!

Let’s start by answering the most important question:

What is Print on Demand for WooCommerce?

Print on demand (POD) is a business model where products are printed and shipped only after a customer places an order. 

Unlike traditional printing, which requires large production runs before orders roll in, POD allows you to print each item on-demand—after it’s been ordered and paid for. This dramatically reduces the financial risks of unsold inventory while giving you the freedom to offer customized, made-to-order products.

While T-shirts often steal the spotlight in the POD world, the possibilities don’t stop there. From branded hoodies and custom tote bags to phone cases with unique artwork and personalized journals, nearly any printable item can be sold using this model. POD is also a popular choice for general printing services like leaflets and business cards.

As a POD entrepreneur, you can skip the headaches of managing inventory or fronting hefty production costs. You have the flexibility to produce items in-house if you have the equipment, or you can team up with third-party POD providers who handle everything—manufacturing, printing, and even shipping directly to your customers—so you can focus on growing your store.

A Rundown of How WooCommerce Print on Demand Works

Here’s a quick overview of the steps to run a successful WooCommerce print on demand business.

Step 1: Setup Products

As the POD store owner, you create unique designs—whether it’s eye-catching artwork, sleek logos, or bold text—and apply them to product mockups like T-shirts, mugs, or phone cases.

Alternatively, you can upload blank product templates with customizable fields, allowing customers to personalize the design themselves and preview their one-of-a-kind creations before placing an order.

Step 2: Integrate a WooCommerce Print on Demand Plugin

Install a WooCommerce-compatible POD plugin, like WooCommerce Product Options, or sync your WooCommerce store with a third-party POD platform like Printful.

Step 3: Receive Orders

When a customer places an order, you have two options: either manage production and fulfillment yourself or delegate it to a POD service provider. The provider takes care of printing the design on the product and shipping it directly to the customer.

Step 4: You Profit

Your profit comes from the difference between the price you set in WooCommerce and the production and fulfillment costs—or the fees charged by your POD provider.

Approaches to WooCommerce Print on Demand

There are two ways to start a WooCommerce print on demand business:

• WooCommerce print on demand with self-fulfillment.
• WooCommerce print on demand stores in partnership with third-party companies, aka dropshipping.

Let’s look at each method in detail.

WooCommerce Print on Demand with Self-Fulfillment

With this approach, you take full control of the production process—handling everything in-house, from manufacturing and designing to printing, packaging, and shipping. This means you’re entirely responsible for creating the products, managing designs, and fulfilling customer orders from start to finish

For example, let’s say your store sells custom mugs. With self-fulfilled WooCommerce print on demand:

• You purchase a high-quality UV printer, stock blank mugs, and keep packaging supplies on hand.
• A customer places their orders on your WooCommerce store.
• You print the design on the product, package it, and ship it directly to the customer via your chosen courier.

Benefits of Self-Fulfilled WooCommerce Print on Demand Stores

• Complete Control: You oversee every step of the process, from production quality to branding.
• Greater Differentiation: Offering highly personalized or one-of-a-kind designs that third-party POD providers might not support helps your store stand out from competitors.
• Higher Earnings: By cutting out third-party providers, your costs are limited to materials, labor, and shipping, allowing for significantly better profit margins.

Challenges of Self-Fulfilled WooCommerce Print on Demand Stores

• High Upfront Costs: The upfront costs for equipment, supplies, labor, and space for production can be quite substantial.
• Time-Intensive: Managing production, printing, and shipping for each order demands considerable time and resources.
• Scaling Limitations: Scaling the business can become overwhelming, as handling increasing order volumes can strain your operations without additional investment in staff, equipment, or infrastructure.

WooCommerce Print on Demand Stores with Third-Party Companies

Here, you outsource production and fulfillment to a third-party POD service provider (also known as dropshipping). They take care of everything—production, printing, and shipping orders directly to your customers. This allows you to focus on what you do best: designing, marketing, providing stellar customer service, and managing other aspects of your WooCommerce store.

For example, here’s how you can create a WooCommerce store that sells custom wall art in partnership with a third-party print on demand service:

1. Choose a POD Partner: Sign up with a POD company (see our recommended POD companies below).
2. Sync Your Store: Integrate your WooCommerce store with the POD partner’s platform to ensure seamless order management.
3. Upload Your Designs: Create your custom wall art designs and sync them between your WooCommerce store and the POD platform.
4. Let The POD Partner Handle Fulfillment: When a customer orders a framed art print, the POD company automatically receives the order, prints the design, and takes care of packaging and shipping—all under your branding.

Benefits of WooCommerce Print on Demand Stores with Third-Party Companies

• Low Startup Costs: There’s no need for expensive equipment, inventory, or warehouse space.
• Highly Scalable: Easily handle hundreds of orders in a short period without significantly increasing your workload.
• Global Reach: Many POD providers have fulfillment centers worldwide. This reduces shipping times for international customers and makes it easier to reach customers globally.
• Seamless Integration: Most POD platforms offer direct integrations with WooCommerce, allowing for automatic syncing of products and order details, making the process virtually automated.

Challenges of Partnering Your WooCommerce Store with Print on Demand Companies

• Reduced Profit Margins: POD providers charge a premium for their services, which can significantly cut into your earnings.
• Limited Differentiation: Competing against other businesses using the same providers can make it tough to differentiate your offerings and stand out in a crowded marketplace.
• Lack of Control: You have little to no control over key aspects like product quality, shipping times, and other crucial aspects of your customers’ experiences. Delays or issues from your provider can negatively impact your brand.
• Restricted Customization: Depending on the provider, options for branding and design enhancements—like custom packaging or inserts—may be limited.

WooCommerce Print on Demand Vs. Dropshipping

Still debating which approach is right for your POD store? Here’s a quick comparison of self-fulfilled print on demand vs. dropshipping.

Based on the comparison above, here’s our recommendation:

• If you value complete control over your business and have the resources to manage production, fulfilling your own orders is the way to go.
• If you prefer a streamlined, low-risk, hassle-free way to get started, partnering with a third-party POD provider is a smart choice.

The Best WooCommerce Print on Demand Plugins

Here’s a quick glance at the best WooCommerce plugins to create either type of print on demand stores. Read on for a full analysis of their top features and why they deserve a spot on this list.

1. WooCommerce Product Options
2. Zakeke Interactive Product Designer for WooCommerce
3. Lumise Product Designer for WooCommerce WordPress
4. Fancy Product Designer
5. Woocommerce Product Configurator

1. WooCommerce Product Options

Suitable for: Self-fulfilled or dropshipped POD products

WooCommerce Product Options is the best-choice plugin for any print on demand (POD) WooCommerce store. It’s flexible, offers a ton of user-friendly customization options, and is packed with powerful features to help you create a seamless and super-personalized shopping experience.

Plus, it integrates perfectly with WooCommerce and is fully responsive, which ensures the product customization process works flawlessly across all screen sizes.

Here’s a quick overview of how the WooCommerce Product Options print on demand plugin works:

• Add a wide range of options allowing customers to customize products. This includes pre-defined options such as checkboxes, clickable images, or color swatches; and open-ended options like file upload or text fields. 
• When a customer selects an option, such as color, size, or engraving, the product image or other visual elements on the product page update instantly to reflect their choice.
• The built-in live preview feature allows customers to see real-time updates to their products as they customize the product.

WooCommerce Product Options’ Top Features

Unlimited Customization Options

Add unlimited fields – such as text inputs, dropdown menus, checkboxes, radio buttons, and file uploads – to your product detail pages. For a POD store, this means you can easily allow customers to:

• Upload custom designs or photos for printing (e.g. t-shirts, mugs, posters).
• Enter personalized text for engravings, quotes, or monograms.
• Choose from predefined options like sizes, colors, or material finishes.

For self-fulfilled POD products, you can use all the field types available in the plugin. If you’re integrating with a dropshipper, you’ll need to set up the options as product variations and display them as either checkboxes, dropdown lists, radio buttons, color swatches, clickable images, or text buttons. This allows shoppers to personalize the product using WooCommerce Product Options’ user-friendly interface. Once the order is placed, the chosen variations are sent to the dropshipper for printing and fulfillment.

Live Preview

The live preview feature gives customers a visual representation of how their chosen options affect the product and allows customers to see their customizations in real time. When they upload an image, the product image updates instantly to reflect their choices. The result? A more interactive and engaging buying experience.

Dynamic Pricing

It supports pricing adjustments based on selected options. This is essential for stores where certain product customization options cost more. For example, adding a logo might increase the product price by $5, or using a premium material might add $10.

Conditional Logic

With conditional logic, you can show or hide specific product options based on a customer’s previous selections. This keeps product detail pages clean and ensures customers only see relevant options. For example, if a customer selects “Custom Design” for a t-shirt, you can conditionally display a file upload field and hide standard design options.

2. Zakeke Interactive Product Designer

Suitable for: Self-fulfilled POD products

Zakeke is a print on demand WooCommerce plugin with advanced product customization options. It provides a seamless design interface, Augmented Reality (AR), real-time 3D previews, and a host of additional features that make it an excellent solution for offering personalized products.

The Zakeke Interactive Product Designer plugin provides enterprise-grade 3D previews, enabling customers to view their detailed customizations on a realistic model of the product. For instance, if you sell personalized mugs, customers can rotate the mug in 3D to see their custom design from every angle. This feature significantly enhances customers’ confidence when making purchasing decisions.

Augmented Reality (AR) is also supported, which enables customers to visualize their customized products in a real-world setting before purchasing. For example, customers can use their smartphones to see how their custom-designed wall art would look on their living room wall.

Zakeke Interactive Product Designer’s Top Features

• Supports both 3D product previews and Augmented Reality (AR), enhancing customer engagement and reducing errors by letting shoppers see exactly what they’ll get before placing their orders.
• Automatically adjust pricing depending on the number and type of customization options chosen, such as additional graphics or premium print effects.
• Create print-ready files (PDF, PNG, or SVG) for every order to ensure accuracy and streamline order fulfillment processes.
• Includes many built-in multimedia customization options. Customers can easily add text, images, and vector graphics along with advanced features like masking, layering, and pattern fills.

A Quick Note: While Zakeke Interactive Product Designer is an excellent plugin feature-wise, it may be overkill for most print-on-demand stores. Customers may find such advanced features frustrating if they only need to make a few product customizations or upload images to be printed onto products. In addition, unlike other WooCommerce plugins in this category, there are additional transaction fees on the final product price (excluding tax and shipping costs), which can eat into your profits.

3. Lumise Product Designer for WooCommerce WordPress

Suitable for: Self-fulfilled POD products

Lumise is a feature-rich product designer plugin with a heavy focus on user experience. This makes it ideal for stores that offer customizable apparel, accessories, and printed products like mugs or business cards.

The Lumise Product Designer plugin has a built-in template and clipart library with thousands of unique, pre-designed elements to help inspire customers and save them time. This can be handy if a sizable chunk of your target audience isn’t particularly design-savvy.

Lumise Product Designer’s Top Features

• User-friendly drag-and-drop product designer interface allows customers to upload images, add text, and create designs effortlessly.
• Define specific product design areas (e.g., front, back, sleeves of a shirt) to ensure designs stay within print-friendly boundaries.
• The robust template library comes with built-in templates for popular products to help customers start designs quickly.
• Customers can upload various file types (images, SVGs, PDFs) and edit them directly in the design editor interface.

4. Fancy Product Designer

Suitable for: Self-fulfilled POD products

One of the most versatile WooCommerce customization plugins, Fancy Product Designer is well-suited for stores that sell everything from apparel and tech accessories to custom-printed stationery.

It supports layered editing which allows customers to stack, rearrange, and modify multiple elements (text, images, shapes) within their design. For instance, if your WooCommerce store sells posters and other kinds of wall art, a customer designing a poster can layer their uploaded photo beneath decorative text and icons.

Because it is a modular plugin, you can tailor the user interface on your site’s front end to suit your specific business needs. For example, if you don’t offer text or image customizations, it enables you to remove it from the front-end view.

Fancy Product Designer’s Top Features

• Layer-based editing allows customers to stack, reorder, and edit multiple design elements for greater creative control.
• Create predefined layouts to guide customers through design customization, ensuring consistency for complex products.
• Includes advanced tools for customizing text, e.g., curving text and adding effects like filters to images.
• Supports extensive multi-device design, so customers can work on their designs across devices without losing progress.

5. WooCommerce Product Configurator

Suitable for: Self-fulfilled POD products

The WooCommerce Product Configurator plugin focuses on enabling customers to visualize product variations rather than freeform designs. Unlike typical design tools, it focuses on step-by-step product configuration for highly customizable or modular items.

WooCommerce Product Configurator’s real-time product visualization feature shows customers exactly what they’re buying. This makes it a perfect choice for print on demand (POD) businesses that offer complex products with multiple components or variations. Think: furniture with various material and color choices or custom-built items.

WooCommerce Product Configurator’s Top Features

• Layered image previews show customers how each customization option affects the final product. For example, a store that sells custom furniture can display real-time previews of different wood finishes, cushion fabrics, and leg styles as customers configure their orders.
• Built-in conditional logic hides or displays options based on customer choices to ensure a seamless and tailored configuration process.
• Product previews generated are high-resolution and ultra-clear, significantly enhancing customers’ confidence in their choices.
• The customization process guides customers through configuration in a logical, step-by-step manner, helping to avoid overwhelm and improve usability.

Print on Demand Companies that Integrate with WooCommerce

Here’s a quick glance at the best print on demand companies that fully integrate with WooCommerce to enable dropshipping. These platforms’ APIs connect with WooCommerce to seamlessly sync products and orders and manage inventory in real-time.

Read on for a full analysis of each print on demand company’s top features and why they deserve a spot on this list.

1. Printful
2. Printify
3. Acutrack Book Fulfillment
4. SPOD
5. Shirtee

1. Printful

Probably the most popular print on demand service, Printful offers a wide product range of over 400 items and operates in the fashion, lifestyle, and home décor niches. Popular items include hoodies, mugs, and canvas prints.

Printful is ideal for those looking to sell high-quality products with premium branding along with custom touches like embroidered logos and inside labels. Plus, there are no subscription fees — Printful is incredibly beginner-friendly, charging you only for the products you sell.

Printful’s Top Features

• The mockup generator tool creates professional-grade product images for your WooCommerce store. This helps you save time and ensures your product detail pages look polished.
• Add custom labels, packaging inserts, branded packing slips, etc., to create a strong unboxing experience and improve customers’ perception of your brand.
• Fulfillment centers are located worldwide, including in North America, Europe, and Asia, ensuring quicker shipping times for global customers.
• In addition to the print on demand service, Printful also provides on-demand warehousing to store your custom-branded inventory and ship it alongside POD orders.

2. Printify

Printify is another powerful WooCommerce POD partner, connecting you with a network of print providers worldwide, and allowing you to choose from a range of product prices and printer locations. Their product catalog is quite extensive, listing more than 800 customizable items, including niche products like yoga mats, water bottles, custom pet beds, bowls, leashes, wall tapestries, print backpacks, and more.

Printify is targeted toward niche stores or high-volume businesses seeking competitive pricing, and (compared to Printful) is more flexible and cost-efficient. They also provide discounts on bulk orders, which is great if you’re looking to pre-purchase stock for events or local sales.

Printify’s Top Features

• A solid network that comprises dozens of print providers in various regions around the world. This gives you the flexibility of choosing from a variety of pricing, quality, and shipping options for each product.
• The mockup generator tool makes it easy to create high-quality product images for your store.
• If one print provider is out of stock or unavailable, Printify can automatically reroute orders to another provider to prevent delays.
• They offer both free and premium subscription pricing plans. For example, for $29/month, their premium plan provides up to 20% off product prices. This can help keep costs low and improve your profit margins.

3. Acutrack Book Fulfillment

If you’re an author or sell educational materials, Acutrack may just be what you’re looking for. Acutrack is the go-to print on demand provider for WooCommerce stores that sell self-published books, custom journals, or other kinds of print media.

They specialize in printing premium-quality books with options for color printing, high-grade paper, and unique finishing and can handle both small-batch orders and high-volume projects. Beyond books, Acutrack allows you to create custom kits that bundle products like DVDs, merchandise, and course materials into a single package.

Acutrack Book Fulfillment’s Top Features

• Create high-quality prints in various formats: softcover, hardcover, spiral-bound, perfect-bound, etc.
• You can opt for both hybrid print on demand (POD) and inventory-based fulfillment. This allows you to stock titles that are frequently ordered while still leveraging on-demand printing for less popular items.
• Acutrack primarily ships from the US. But they also provide international shipping options to cater to international customers.
• Tailor packaging options — e.g. include personalized inserts, branded packaging, shrink-wrapping, etc. — and design a memorable unboxing experience for your customers.

4. SPOD

SPOD stands for Spreadshirt Print On Demand, and they are known for their heavy emphasis on speed and customization. SPOD’s diverse product catalog includes over 200 products ranging from apparel and drinkware to office supplies and eco-friendly items. They boast a production time of 48 hours or less for 95% of orders, making them one of the fastest POD providers available.

SPOD’s Top Features

• 95% of orders are produced and shipped within 48 hours, which is great for customer satisfaction.
• The built-in custom design tool syncs with WooCommerce, allowing customers to create their own designs directly in your store.
• Eco-friendly products like organic T-shirts and reusable accessories makes them a great fit for brands who target environmentally conscious consumers.
• Localized fulfillment centers operate out of the U.S. and Europe to easily cater to North American and European customers with faster shipping.

5. Shirtee

Shirtee specializes in affordable, custom-made products and is an upcoming favorite for store owners looking for simplicity and competitive prices. In addition to standard print on demand products like T-shirts and mugs, Shirtee offers niche items such as phone cases, pillows, door mats, custom cutting boards, laser-etched drinkware, and more.

They offer straightforward integration and syncs products, inventory, and orders directly with your WooCommerce store.

Shirtee’s Top Features

• It is affordable compared to other POD companies which can help keep your costs low and improve your profit margins.
• A built-in mockup generator tool helps you quickly create professional product mockups to showcase in your WooCommerce store.
• Add branded packaging and include custom inserts for a professional touch.
• Very fast turnaround times. Shirtee specializes in quick production and shipping, particularly for orders within Europe.

Bonus: Plugins to optimize your WooCommerce POD website

Whether you plan to run a self-fulfilled print on demand store or partner with a third-party POD platform, these plugins will help save time, simplify workflows, and improve customers’ shopping experience.

WooCommerce Multiple Email Recipients

As the name implies, the WooCommerce Multiple Email Recipients plugin allows you to automatically send order-related emails to various people in the operational chain – partners, suppliers, shipping companies, internal team members, etc. You can also use it to enable CC or BCC options for customers if needed, for example, sending a copy of the invoice to multiple addresses in case of gift orders.

Built-in per-order or per-product email routing lets you send specific notifications based on the product ordered. For example, suppose your POD store sells products from various suppliers. If a custom notebook is handled by one supplier and a T-shirt by another, the plugin will ensure that each supplier receives notifications only for their respective products.

WooCommerce Lead Time

Custom products often require longer production times. With WooCommerce Lead Time, you can easily communicate production and shipping times clearly to set clear expectations about when customers can expect to receive their orders.

You can define lead times storewide for all products or for each product and their variations and dynamically display lead times on product detail pages to let customers know how long it will take before their order ships.

This feature helps increase conversion rates, reduce the number of support inquiries about order statuses, and boost customer satisfaction in your store.

WooCommerce Bulk Variations

POD stores commonly offer products with numerous variations, such as size, color, material, design, etc. WooCommerce Bulk Variations replaces WooCommerce’s default dropdown menus and displays product variations in a user-friendly grid or matrix format.

For instance, if you sell custom T-shirts in various sizes and colors, customers can view all options in one table and add multiple variations to their carts simultaneously. This simplifies the ordering process and makes it easier for customers to order multiple quantities of different variations without navigating through several product detail pages.

Which WooCommerce print on demand solution will you use?

WooCommerce is the perfect platform to power your print on demand business. It’s simple to use, cost-effective, and packed with robust features.

To recap, here are our final WooCommerce print on demand plugin recommendations:

• WooCommerce Product Options. Best for any WooCommerce print on demand stores. It offers rich customization options, capturing detailed customer input and showcasing live product previews. Its support for variable products also integrates with Printful, our other recommendation.
• Printful. The best third-party print on demand dropshipping company with an extensive product catalog comprising clothing, accessories, prints, home décor, etc. They offer additional valuable services like graphic design, marketing videos, bulk discounts, etc.

Feel free to check out each of these options and choose the ones that align best with your specific business needs.