Society6 vs Spreadshirt 2024: The Ultimate Comparison

Overall, I think Spreadshirt is one of the most flexible POD platforms for beginners. It gives you the option to sell through an existing marketplace, create your own store, or even integrate your POD tools with a range of marketplaces and platforms. For me, it’s the clear winner in this comparison.

However, if you’re an artist looking to sell high-quality prints, Society6 is a slightly more “niche-focused” solution. It has an excellent reputation for producing top-quality products, and makes it relatively easy to start earning money online.

If you’re a member of the ever-growing creative economy, you might have considered monetizing your skills with the help of a Print on Demand (POD) platform. As a subset of dropshipping, POD offers entrepreneurs, artists, and creators one of the easiest ways to start selling products online.

With this business model, there are minimal upfront costs, virtually no risks (you only pay for what you sell), and you don’t have to deal with producing and fulfilling orders yourself.

The biggest challenge? Figuring out which platform to use.

Spreadshirt and Society6 are two Print on Demand solutions I’ve seen deliver excellent results to artists and creators in the last few years.

However, while they’re both POD platforms, they target very different audiences. Here’s what you need to know to make the right choice for your business.

Spreadshirt vs Society6: How the Platforms Work

On the surface, Spreadshirt and Society6 seem pretty similar. They both give you an online marketplace you can use to sell products without creating your own ecommerce store.

They also both offer access to a wide range of customizable products (although Spreadshirt seems to have more variety to offer). However, these platforms work in very different ways.

How Society6 Works

Society6 describes itself as an “artist-driven marketplace”, and I can definitely see why. The company focuses specifically on helping independent artists to monetize their creativity.

Compared to Spreadshirt, the experience of using Society6 is pretty basic.

All you need to do is sign up for an account (for free), and upload your original designs to the platform.

Based on the size of your file, Society6 will give you a range of items you can apply your print to (there are 90+ products to choose from).

Once you’ve uploaded your prints, customers can purchase them from the Society6 marketplace, and Society6 handles the rest.

The team prints your products, ships them to customers, and handles all customer communications for you. After that, you receive a “commission” for each sale made.

Usually, these commissions start at around 10%, but you can set your own prices on premium plans.

How Spreadshirt Works

Spreadshirt started off a lot like Society6, giving creators a marketplace they could access to list their products, and connect with potential buyers.

However, these days, there’s more than one way to sell with Spreadshirt. The marketplace is still a great option, attracting more than 80,000 visitors a month.

Once you sign up for an account, you can use the Spreadshirt mockup generator and design tools to create your products, and list them on the site.

Plus, you’ll be able to access promotional campaign tools to showcase your items on Amazon and Ebay.

Alternatively, you can choose to create your own Spreadshirt Shop (For free) with Spreadshop, and earn commissions on every product you sell through your custom storefront.

There’s also the option to use SPOD to connect your Spreadshirt POD tools to a range of other ecommerce platforms and marketplaces, such as WooCommerce, Etsy, and Shopify.

Society6 vs Spreadshirt: The Pros and Cons

I’ve experimented with dozens of print on demand platforms in the last few years, and they all have their own pros and cons to consider.

Spreadshirt and Society6 are no different. Here’s my insight into the main pros and cons of each platform.

Society6 Pros and Cons Pros