CustomInk Vs. Vistaprint Vs. Stitchi: What’s the Difference?
Medha Mehta
When looking for custom printing solutions, whether it's for personal projects, business branding, or promotional materials, three names frequently come up CustomInk, Vistaprint, and Stitchi. These companies offer a wide range of products and services, from custom apparel to business cards and marketing materials. In this article, we have covered CustomInk vs. Vistaprint, vs. Stitchi, focusing on their product offerings, minimum order quantity, ideal buyer profiles, design tools, quality, pricing, and customer service, to help you decide which provider might best meet your needs.
CustomInk vs. Vistaprint, vs. Stitchi: Cost, Quality, Designing
Before ordering your custom merchandise from any of these three platforms, please check out these accurate comparisons of CustomInk vs. Vistaprint, vs. Stitchi to save money and your designing efforts.
Difference 1: Product Pricing
CustomInk is the most expensive platform compared to VistaPrint and Stitchi for apparel and totes. VistaPrint has a mid-price range for apparel, totes, and bags. Its business cards are impressively cost-efficient. As Stitchi is a new startup, it has the lowest price range for all apparel, hats, and bags. Plus, the front-side customization is free with Stitchi with unlimited colors of print, which is a huge advantage.
A pack of 25 regular short-sleeved tees with front-side customization costs $18.29 in CustomInk, $13.43 in VistaPrint, and $10.29 in Stitchi.
If you’re selling custom merch, this small price difference can significantly affect your overall profitability. For example, if you’re selling 1,000 tees for $30 each, your profit will be $11,710, $16,570, and $19,710 if you have ordered from CustomInk, VistaPrint, and Stitchi, respectively.
Difference 2: Product Offerings
CustomInk: It specializes in t-shirts, hoodies, and similar items. CustomInk also offers a selection of other promotional products, but apparel remains its stronghold.
VistaPrint: It, offers a broader range of printing services beyond apparel, including business cards, banners, flyers, and various other marketing materials. While Vistaprint also offers custom clothing options, its range is not as extensive as CustomInk's and Stitchi’s.
Stitchi: Stitchi specializes in apparel, headwear, bags, and totes and has the highest collection of apparel with 10,000+ products. However, it doesn’t offer pens, mugs, business cards, banners, posters, etc, like VistaPrint.
Difference 3: Design Tools
CustomInk: It has the best self-designing tools compared to VistaPrint and Stitch. It offers a vast library of templates, shapes, smileys, and graphics while designing your merchandise. If you want to create some unique designs beyond logos or quotes, CustomInk’s design lab will be a useful selection.
VistaPrint: Its drag-and-drop designing tool is a bit more generic compared to CustomInk's specialized apparel-focused options. However, VistaPrint is more versatile when it comes to non-apparel products, especially business cards and banners.
Stitchi: It works on a different design practice. You need to submit the design ideas, logo, and images to Stitchi and a dedicated designer will work on your designs, providing you a professional and best-resolution prints. This service is 100% free.
Difference 4: Shipping Cost and Delivery Time
CustomInk: It has a standard 14-day shipping and also express shipping option at an additional cost. It offers free shipping and flat rate shipping is $9.95 per US address, if delivering to multiple addresses.
Vistaprint: It has Standard shipping in 8 business days. It is free on an order above $100. It also offers priority and express shipping options at an additional cost. Here are VistaPrint’s accurate shipping costs and speed to get a better idea.
| Order Total | Standard 8 business days | Priority 4-6 business days | Express 3-4 business days |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0.00 - $25.00 | $ 5.99 | $ 9.99 | $ 18.99 |
| $25.01 - $50.00 | $ 7.99 | $ 12.99 | $ 22.99 |
| $50.01 - $75.00 | $ 9.99 | $ 17.99 | $ 32.99 |
| $75.01 - $100.00 | $ 11.99 | $ 18.99 | $ 34.99 |
| $100.01 - $200.00 | Free | $ 20.99 | $ 39.99 |
| $200.01 - $500.00 | Free | $ 24.99 | $ 49.99 |
| Over $500.00 | Free | $ 44.99 | $ 74.99 |
Stitchi: It delivers in 10 days and also has express shipping options. The exact shipping cost of the regular orders will be calculated at the checkout. They also send merchandise to multiple addresses for $5.99 per US address, which is way cheaper than CustomInk.
Difference 5: Minimum Order Quantity
CustomInk: It doesn’t have a minimum quantity requirement and you can order even one merchandise also. However, please note that if you’re ordering fewer than six pieces, your choice of colors and sizes will be limited. They have a tab for “Ordering fewer than 6”.
VistaPrint: It also doesn’t have a minimum order quantity for most of its apparel. For business cards, the minimum order quantity is 100. For totes and bags, some of them don’t have a minimum order quantity while some products have minimum order quantities of 25 to 100. Hence, check for the individual item for the minimum quantities.
Stitchi: It has a minimum order quantity of 24 pieces for all types of products. You can avail of the bulk discount as well.
Difference 6: Customer Service
CustomInk offers dedicated support throughout the design and ordering process, with representatives readily available to assist with design decisions or order issues.
Vistaprint also has a solid customer service reputation, with support available via phone, email, or chat, ensuring that customers can get help when they need it.
Stitchi is still a small startup and has chat and email support. However, they have a thriving startup spirit and their tech team goes above and beyond to help you in ordering, designing, Shopify/WooCommerce integration, and any additional services you require for free.
Difference 7: Cookies
This one is an interesting observation by us while ordering merchandise from CustomInk, Vistaprint, and Stitchi. VistraPrint has an advanced cookie setting that stores the session data for your next visit to the site. In simpler words, if you have added a custom product to the cart and abandoned the website without ordering, VistaPrint will keep your custom-designed products in the cart for your next visit. But with CustomLink and Stitchi, you need to start the entire product selection and designing from scratch on your revisit to the site. VistaPrint has a huge advantage over the other two competitors in this matter.
Difference 8: Quality
All these platforms, i.e. CustomInk Vistaprint, and Stitchi have reputations for producing high-quality products, but the perceived quality can vary depending on the specific item. CustomInk and Stitchi are often praised for the durability and print quality of their apparel, making it a go-to for custom t-shirts and similar items. Vistaprint's quality is generally well-regarded across its diverse product range, with particular commendation for its business cards and marketing materials.
Conclusion
The choice among CustomInk, Vistaprint, and Stitchi ultimately depends on your specific needs. If you're looking for custom apparel, especially in larger quantities, CustomInk's specialized services and high-quality products might be the better choice. If you’re looking for the same quality and branded products at a lower cost, Choose Stitchi. Stitchi’s cost difference will heavily impact your profitability if you’re planning to sell the merch. However, if you need a wider range of printed materials beyond clothing, Vistaprint's extensive product offerings and competitive pricing could make it the ideal solution.