Shopify app comparison · updated Sep 15, 2026
Printful vs Gelato
Compare Printful and Gelato for Shopify dropshipping using current ratings, review activity, pricing, features, and OngoingAI-observed adoption.
Printful Latvia AS
Printful: Print on Demand
Create and sell custom products with print-on-demand dropshipping
- Rating
- 4.80
- Reviews
- 3,858
- Review growth · 30d
- +102 · +2.7%
- Pricing
- Free to install
- Years on Shopify
- 13
- Stores observed
- 14,773
Gelato
Gelato: Print on Demand
Print on demand for your ecommerce business
- Rating
- 4.80
- Reviews
- 1,022
- Review growth · 30d
- +29 · +2.9%
- Pricing
- Free to install
- Years on Shopify
- 6
- Stores observed
- No footprint yet
What stands out
Printful carries 3.8× the App Store review depth; the other measurable signals are close.
- Rating
- Level4.8 vs 4.8
- Review growth
- Nearly even+2.7% vs +2.9%
- Review depth
- Printful3.8× more reviews
- Observed adoption
- Not comparable yet
Review trajectory
How each app's Shopify reviews are moving.
Daily App Store review counts since we began tracking — who's gaining reviews fastest, who holds the larger base, and how the race is developing.
Printful leads total reviews and is adding them fastest over the tracked window.
Reviews each app has gained since the start of this tracking window. · Tracking window · Aug 17 – Sep 14, 2026
Head-to-head
The signals, side by side.
Each row reads straight from the live App Store listing and OngoingAI’s census. The Difference column states the gap — not a buyer recommendation.
| Dimension | Printful | Gelato | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.80 | 4.80 | Level |
| Reviews | 3,858 | 1,022 | Printful 3.8× |
| Review growth · 30d | +102 · +2.7% | +29 · +2.9% | Gelato faster |
| Listed pricing | Free to install | Free to install | Not directly comparable |
| Years on Shopify | 13 | 6 | Printful +7y |
| Stores observed | 14,773 | No footprint yet | Not comparable |
Review corpus
What merchants actually report.
Printful
4.68 avg · 3,848 reviews
Gelato
4.81 avg · 1,027 reviews
| Signal | Printful | Gelato | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5-star share | 86% | 92% | Gelato leads |
| Rating · last 90 days | 4.79 | 4.80 | Level |
| Replies to reviews | 54% | 73% | Gelato leads |
| Replies to critical (≤3★) | 80% | 94% | Gelato leads |
| Long-term reviewers (1yr+) | 20% | 8% | Printful leads |
| Top market | United States 70% | United States 42% | — |
| Reviews analyzed | 3,848 | 1,027 | — |
Based on public merchant reviews, with newer feedback given more weight. OngoingAI matches each review to an identifiable store and the app they use.
Which fits your requirements?
Choose by what you actually need.
Choose Printful if…
- You need bags and luggage
- You need home and garden
- You need baby products
Choose Gelato if…
- You need arts and crafts
- You need brazil
- You need chile
- Recent review-growth signals matter to you
Tied to observable requirements only — listed capabilities, ratings, review growth, adoption and price. It doesn’t assert usability or support quality.
Feature differences
What Printful and Gelato each do that the other doesn’t.
They cover largely the same ground — 48% of listed capabilities overlap. The decision material is the rest: what each lists that the other doesn’t.
Printful only
20
- Bags and luggage
- Home and garden
- Baby products
- Sports products
- Pet products
- Latvia
- Pack-ins
- All-over-print
- Blankets
- Shoes
- Home decor
- Wall art
- Eco-friendly
- Organic
- White label
- Bulk shipping
- Custom shipping
- Eco shipping
- Global fulfillment
- Order tracking
Gelato only
21
- Arts and crafts
- Brazil
- Chile
- China
- Denmark
- France
- Germany
- India
- Italy
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Singapore
- South Africa
- Sweden
- Türkiye
- United Arab Emirates
- United Kingdom
- Personalization
19 shared capabilities
- Dropshipping
- Clothing and accessories
- Australia
- Canada
- Japan
- Mexico
- Spain
- United States
- Print on demand (POD)
- Private labels
- Custom packaging
- Design tools
- Mockup generator
- Bags
- Apparel
- Embroidery
- Hats
- Drinkware
- Holiday gifts
Observed adoption
Who actually runs each, on real stores.
The stores OngoingAI’s weekly census observes running each app, and the platform each skews toward — observed presence, not vendor-reported install totals.
Adoption comparison unavailable — a publishable footprint exists for only one app.
Printful
14,773
stores observed
Skews Shopify · 100%
Gelato
No reliable footprint yet
OngoingAI hasn’t observed enough high-confidence installations to publish an adoption count. This does not mean zero installations.
Scope
What this comparison measures.
What it measures
Shopify App Store ratings and review counts, rating distribution, developer reply rates, reviewer tenure and geography, listed pricing and capabilities, category data, and OngoingAI-observed storefront adoption for Printful and Gelato.
What it doesn’t
Hands-on usability, customer-support quality, deliverability, merchant sentiment from review text, or revenue impact. We draw a sharp line around what we can observe.
Methodology
Where the numbers come from.
Ratings, review counts, pricing, and categories come from the live Shopify App Store listing, refreshed daily. Review growth compares the observed snapshots across the trailing 30-day window. “Stores observed” and the platform split come from OngoingAI’s weekly storefront census — the real stores running each app, not the listing’s claimed totals. Comparison generated Sep 15, 2026.
See who’s switching — as it happens.
Track app adoption on live ecommerce stores. Find merchants running Printful or Gelato, follow stack changes, and see when a store installs, removes, or replaces an app.