Last Updated on October 14, 2026 by The Digital Merchant Team
When I first placed an order for custom shirts for a community fundraiser marathon, I went through Custom Ink. We had months to prepare, as this was an annual event, and lots of shirts to order. But then our budget got tighter and our delivery window shorter. Now I needed something with faster guaranteed rush options, more flexible order minimums, and direct quality control. So I started looking at top alternatives to Custom Ink, like:
There are a lot of specific reasons why each company might be better suited to your needs, so I’m breaking them down by feature and top priorities for your business model to make it easier for you to choose.
Custom Ink Alternatives At a Glance
Production | Order minimums | Re-ordering | Standard Shipping | |
BlueCotton | In-house | 6 pieces | Great for large organizations | Free (10 business days) |
Printify | Outsourced | None | Best suited to e-commerce | Multiple carrier options (paid) |
Printful | Mostly in-house | None | Best suited to e-commerce | Multiple carrier options (paid) |
Underground Printing | In-house | None | Great for large organizations | Free for orders over $75 |
Price and Bulk Discounts
Let’s start with the most important thing for most people: price. When price became an issue for me, so did Custom Ink because Custom Ink is a middleman. You give your order to them, and then they outsource that order to different printers. Each time this happens, it increases your cost.
That’s why I decided to look elsewhere, and here’s what I found:
- BlueCotton was the top Custom Ink alternative where cost was concerned; they have in-house facilities, so they don’t send jobs out to multiple printers. This means no middleman and better prices. BlueCotton is a better option for small organizations, especially those placing orders between 50–300+ pieces with recurring needs.
- Printify has made a name for itself because of its competitive pricing, but the catch is that pricing is limited to blank products. This means you get highly competitive pricing for the blank piece of apparel, but not necessarily for your custom print job. It’s also important to know that they have a network of print providers, which can lead to wider margins as a customer. Still, they might be less expensive for a one-off job.
- Printful produces the majority of its items in-house, but some items are outsourced. They advertise savings of up to 55% off when you buy 25 items or more.
- Underground Printing also eliminates the middleman, giving you better margins as a customer if you are ordering more than 300 pieces.
My top pick: BlueCotton or Underground Printing for the bulk pricing discounts.
Sample Policy
After I figured out I needed a cheaper price, I needed to make sure the quality was there, which starts with a sample. One year, we bulk ordered shirts for a church event, and the shirts were so scratchy that the youth made jokes that we were punishing them with homespun shirts just like the figures in our stories.
That said, Custom Ink has a pretty standard approach to their samples, but several alternatives do it better:
- BlueCotton has free printed samples for 250+ piece orders, with refundable samples ($100 credited back) for smaller orders, plus blank garment samples for fit + feel testing.
- Printify and Underground Printing let you order an individual sample at cost so you can test one sample before you place a bigger order.
- Printful lets you place a sample at a discount on larger orders, giving you a low-risk test sample before you commit to the bigger order.
My top pick: BlueCotton for the best sample policy by far.
Minimum Order Amount
One of the issues I had with Custom Ink was their minimum order amount (6 items). When I went to them for a work conference, we obviously needed more than 6, but when I tried to order a smaller amount for a community group, it was a problem.
- BlueCotton is the same as Custom Ink here; 6-piece minimum.
- Printify and Printful don’t have a minimum order amount. You can order a single shirt or sweatshirt, or hundreds.
- Underground Printing let you order samples or one-off, limited runs with no minimum order quantities required.
My top pick: Printify or Printful for the ability to order a one-off with no minimum order.
Order Processing & Turnaround Time
This is the biggest reason why I started looking elsewhere. When I had to order shirts for a (very) last-minute event, I was worried that they wouldn’t arrive on time. Custom Ink typically has a 2-week turnaround time, and that simply didn’t work. Here’s what Custom Ink alternatives offer:
- BlueCotton has a streamlined turnaround time, with a single timeline that includes production and shipping.
- Printful and Printify both fulfill 50% of orders in 3 days, which is a lot faster than Custom Ink.
- Underground Printing has a typical turnaround time of 7-14 days.
My top pick: BlueCotton, Printify or Printful have the quickest turnaround times.
Reordering Ease
For annual events, like our community marathon, we need to know we can reorder with ease, keeping a lot of the customization options the same, and only tweaking the design. Custom Ink let us save our designs, but so did some competitors:
- BlueCotton and Underground Printing make it simple to save previous designs and reorder with a single click. This is better suited to large organizations like schools, churches, businesses, and nonprofits that need bulk orders.
- Printify and Printful can automate reordering fulfillment. So this is obviously a better fit if you sell merchandise online and need orders to be automatically fulfilled when someone places an online purchase, rather than manual reordering. This is better for influencers or online stores selling merch.
My top pick: Underground Printing for their ability to save designs, but Printify for e-commerce stores.
Standard Shipping Options
If your issue with Custom Ink had to do with limited shipping options, you have a few good alternatives:
- BlueCotton offers free standard shipping to all 50 states, with a 10-business-day window for free.
- Printify and Printful let you move away from Custom Ink’s structured shipping tiers by choosing from multiple carrier options (for a fee).
- Underground Printing will give free shipping if you order above a set dollar amount, but they don’t have the same 10-business-day guarantee.
My top pick: BlueCotton for free shipping with a 10-day window.
Rush Shipping Options
Custom Ink lacked a lot where rush shipping options were concerned. The company would have been my go-to when I needed something at the last minute with their “Super Rush” option.
Unfortunately, a “Super Rush” meant 3 days. Sometimes that’s not good enough.
- BlueCotton is the best alternative here, with their “Shirts in a Day” option. This includes a guaranteed delivery date calendar when you check out (for a fee).
- Printify also offers an express option, between 2-3 business days, but that is limited to specific product lines, such as the Gildan 5000 clothing line.
- Printful offers express shipping within 1-3 days after fulfillment.
- Underground Printing is a close second; they can offer a “2-Day Lightning Rush” option because they have 30 physical business locations. They claim customers can pick up from one of their locations or take delivery, but there is nothing on their website about limited locations/customer options for this.
My top pick: BlueCotton’s “Shirts in a Day.” No contest.
Guarantees
Guarantees speak to the professionalism of a company. I liked that Custom Ink provides a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee, but so do others.
- BlueCotton has in-house control. That means every step of the process is done in-house and you get guarantees that products won’t have stains, holes, or other defects. They also have a 9-step quality check with real-time human oversight, in-house corrections when errors happen, and transparent communication.
- Printify does not offer a satisfaction guarantee.
- Printful has a 3-step QC process, but the fine print of their “guarantee” also differentiates between what they consider a defect and what you might call “buyer’s remorse.”
- Underground Printing advertises 100% satisfaction guarantee and includes quality checks as part of their workflow.
My top pick: BlueCotton with a 9-step QC check and complete in-house control.
Summing Up
Custom Ink has a good range of product lines, but there are simply better alternatives today. BlueCotton is a winner when it comes to better cost control for bulk pricing and faster shipping models, whereas Printify can give you on-demand print with low risk.
So while Custom Ink has a singular approach, these alternatives might be a better fit for individual preferences or business needs.