If you’ve ever wanted to try out print on demand, or POD, to make money online, you’ve probably thought about selling on Redbubble.
After all, Redbubble is one of the most popular print on demand marketplaces in the world.
With over 700,000 artists, Redbubble has a wealth of designs and has truly become one of the go-to POD solutions for artists.
However, with immense popularity comes immense competition.
If you’re an artist who has tried making money on Redbubble before but found that it’s impossible to get eyeballs on your designs, it might be time to try something new.
So, today we’re breaking down the 10 best sites like Redbubble that you can use to make money with your artwork.
If you’re hunting down a Redbubble alternive, this is absolutely the post for you!
The Best print On Demand Websites (2021) – Top RedBubble Alternatives To Try!
Redbubble makes it easy for artists to upload designs, access an existing market, and gradually earn passive income from their designs.
Additionally, Redbubble’s artist margins are fairly decent and the pricing structure is simple…products have a base price, you add your artist margin, and that’s the price.
When looking for websites like Redbubble, you want to consider the following factors before making the switch:
- Your margin.
- How large the marketplace is.
- What type of POD products you can sell.
With these factors in mind, let’s dive into a few alternatives to Redbubble!
1. Society6
Out of all the sites like Redbubble, Society6 is probably one of the most common recommendations.
Society6 has been around since 2009.
With over 3 million monthly visitors and a strong reputation, it’s no surprise Society6 is so popular.
As an artist, you also have a range of products you can add your designs to, including:
- Wall art.
- Stickers.
- Furniture.
- Apparel.
- Home decore.
- Bed and bath products.
- Office products.
Society6’s product depth is definitely one strength since a single design can apply to dozens of products.
Like Redbubble, Society6 also offers plenty of sales and incentives to help drive conversions.
As for margins, things work a bit differently.
According to Society6 “Society6 artists earn 10% of the retail price on all products except for Art Prints, Framed Prints and Canvas Prints. The retail price covers the cost of manufacturing, fulfillment and the artist share.”
However, you can set your own margins for art, framed, and canvas prints, so keep this in mind!
Monthly Traffic: 3 million.
Artist Margin: 10% for most products.
2. Zazzle
Zazzle is another incredibly popular marketplace that artists have been using to sell online for years.
Plus, if you thought Society6 had potential, get this: Zazzle gets over 7 million monthly visitors as of the time of writing this article.
This inherently means that Zazzle’s marketplaces has a lot of potential. If your designs stand out, you’re looking at some serious sales.
Interestingly, Zazzle also lets you make money in 3 different ways:
- As a print on demand designer.
- As a manufacturer.
- As an affiliate marketer for Zazzle products.
This is honestly pretty cool, especially if you feel like trying out affiliate marketing!
As for artist margins, Zazzle is also one of the most flexible POD sites around.
Every product has a base price, and you decide what your royalty is.
You should remain competitive with pricing, of course, but the flexibility is nice.
Monthly Traffic: 3 million.
Artist Margin: You decide your pricing.
Extra Reading – The Best Zazzle Alternatives For Artists.
3. TeeSpring
Contrary to what the name suggests, Teespring isn’t just a way to sell t-shirts online.
In fact, Teespring is arguably one of the best POD websites in the game and an awesome website like Redbubble worth considering.
On Teespring, you can design and sell a variety of products, including:
- Home decor.
- Apparel (Teespring has a pretty impressive range).
- Phone cases.
- Mugs.
- Accessories like tote bags and beach towels.
Overall, there’s enough product variety to get creative. Plus, Teespring makes selling quite easy.
Currently, Teespring gets 2.3 million monthly visitors, so the marketplace is pretty solid.
Plus, Teespring has numerous integrations that make it possible to sell merch on YouTube, Twitch, Streamlabs, and Google Shopping.
The fact that you can make money on YouTube by integrating Teespring designs is massive for anyone with a channel.
Like Redbubble, Teespring also lets you set your own prices, and products have a clear base price you factor in to your profit margin.
If you’re a content creator on YouTube or Twitch, Teespring is definitely one of the best sites like Redbubble you can turn to.
Monthly Traffic: 3 million.
Artist Margin: You decide your pricing.
Extra Reading – The Best Sites Like Teespring.
4. Cafepress
CafePress began in 1999, making them one of the oldest Redbubble alternatives in the business.
However, despite their age, CafePress is anything but antiquated.
With 1.5 million monthly visitors and and one of the most in-depth product catalogues out of any print on demand marketplace, you definitely have a lot of options when it comes to design choice.
In fact, you can sell your designs on over 250 products, which is absolutely insane.
Opening a store is completely free, like Redbubble. You also decide your markup to ensure you profit after factoring in manufacturing and shipping costs.
Now, CafePress actually separates sales you make directly from your shop versus ones that come from their marketplace.
Here’s how the sales break down:
Direct Sales: Receive profit based on markup price.
Marketplace Sales: Earn 10% of marketplace price.
A 10% margin isn’t incredible, but CafePress also pays out performance bonuses if you can break $100 in monthly sales:
Ultimately, CafePress has less traffic than some of the bigger websites like Redbubble. However, the bonus and competition level might make up for it.
Monthly Traffic: 3 million.
Artist Margin: You decide your pricing or 10% from marketplace sales.
5. Designs By Humans
Most POD marketplaces let you quickly setup a store, upload some products, and get to work without any real vetting process.
While this makes life easy, it also means anyone can open a store.
With Designs by Humans, you have to apply to open a store. Overall, the platform also has a more premium vibe and feel to it.
Designs by Humans specializes in apparel, so you won’t find the same product depth as Redbubble or similar websites.
However, what’s also refreshing about Designs by Humans in a way is that royalties are spelled out very plainly.
Here’s an example of some product royalties:
- T-shirts: $3.00
- Hoodies: $4.50
- Long Tees: $3.00
- Phone Cases: $4.00
- Mugs: $2.50
- Stickers: $0.50
These might seem low, but they’re actually pretty standard in the world of POD selling.
Plus, since margins are set in stone, artists compete with their designs, not pricing (so it isn’t a race to the bottom).
Monthly Traffic: 150,000.
Artist Margin: Varies by product.
6. Merch By Amazon
When it comes to making money on Amazon, you truly have an absurd number of options.
Unsurprisingly, Amazon has also started dabbling in the POD business with the creation of Amazon Merch.
With Amazon Merch, Amazon sells your designs as Amazon products, letting you reach millions of global customers on Amazon’s marketplace without having to pack or ship a single thing.
Not bad.
You have to request an invitation to join Amazon Merch, and obviously, Amazon is one of the most competitive places to sell stuff online, period.
However, this is a great way to earn royalties on your designs, and if you get accepted, it can get pretty lucrative.
I mean, just checkout this screenshot from a Reddit user who has been working with Amazon Merch:
Out of all the websites like Redbubble, I’d say Amazon Merch has the highest ceiling just because of Amazon’s size.
Monthly Traffic: Not really a relevant stat, Amazon is insane.
Artist Margin: Varies by product, checkout Amazon Merch’s FAQ for more info.
7. Displate
Honestly, if I had to pick a favorite Redbubble alternative, it would probably be Displate just bacause of how niche this is.
Unlike other POD marketplaces, Displate sells art on high-quality, metal prints.
Yup, these are metal prints that people can purchase and hangup for some unique artwork in their house!
Like Redbubble, all you have to do is open a Displate shop, upload your designs, set a price, and Displate handles everything else.
Additionally, Displate has some insane potential in terms of royalities.
If a sale comes through the marketplace, you earn based on the size of your print:
- Small: $4.00
- Medium: $8.00
- Large: $13.00
However, if you generate sales through your own referral, you earn 50% of the sale price.
Not bad if you already have a decent social media following!
Displate has some pretty unreal designs, so it’s competitive from that perspective. However, I think this is definitely a great alternative to Redbubble you can try.
Monthly Traffic: 1M.
Artist Margin: Varies based on product size or 50% if you generate your own sales.
8. Threadless
With over 200,000 artists and a robust POD product catalogue, Threadless is another way you can sell your designs online without worrying about manufacturing and fulfillment.
At first glance, you might think Threadless is just a carbon-copy of most POD marketplaces.
However, one thing that’s apparent about Threadless is that you have an incredible amount of control over customizing your storefront to match your vision and brand:
So, while this is just another POD marketplace on paper, I think it lends itself well to creating your own little corner of the internet!
Products have a base cost and you decide how much you sell for, and there are hundreds of products you can sell.
If you’re struggling to sell on Redbubble, I’d definitely add Threadless to your list of platforms to test.
Monthly Traffic: 300,000.
Artist Margin: You decide your pricing.
9. Sunfrog
With only 35,000 monthly visitors, Sunfrog is undeniably the smallest marketplace on this list.
However, sometimes the smaller marketplaces are where you find the hidden gems!
As a seller on Sunfrog, you can add your designs to the regular lineup of POD products; shirts, hats, mugs, wall art, youth clothing, and hoodies galore!
Sunfrog lets you showcase these designs on your own storefront. You can also build collections and use pre-existing design templates to help get inspired if you’re struggling to make your first product.
Now, as for royalities, Sunfrog is actually fairly competitive.
Here’s how it works:
Direct Sales: You earn 15% commission.
Marketplace Sales: You earn 10% commission.
I wouldn’t discount Sunfrog just because of their lower traffic – this could be a great marketplace to test, especially if you leverage free traffic sources to drive your own sales!
Monthly Traffic: 300,000.
Artist Margin: 10% to 15%.
10. Teepublic
If you want to earn more money per sale than most POD marketplaces, selling on Teepublic might be the way to go.
Like the name suggests, Teepublic specializes in selling t-shirts and other apparel for men, women, and kids.
However, while many POD marketplaces use low pricing to attract customers, Teepublic apparel is slightly more expensive.
Ultimately, this means you, the artist, makes more per sale:
Teepublic also has 3.5 million monthly visitors, and you can upload your design to more than 70 products.
Interestingly, designs also get a discount for their first 72 hours, making it easier to promote fresh drops on social media and to generate sales.
Monthly Traffic: 300,000.
Artist Margin: Varies based on product.
Another Awesome Redbubble Alternative – Printify
Alright, time to spice things up a bit.
Selling on POD marketplaces is awesome, don’t get me wrong.
However, what if you opened your own store and had complete control over how you priced and marketed your products?
Well, that’s where something like Printify, a POD integration service for ecommerce businesses, can come in handy.
I actually used Printify in the past to start an Etsy POD business, and I even generated some sales!
Granted, I suck at design, so I just sold Spongebob meme mugs that Printify ended up refusing to manufacture because I was blatantly violating copyright law (lol).
But, I digress!
With Printify, you have way more control over selling than on a third-party POD marketplace.
Printify also has a healthy range of products, and I found their design tool was super simple to use.
Plus, Printify can integrate with Shopify, WordPress, Wix, BigCommerce, eBay, and several other ecommerce solutions.
So, if you want to actually start your own business, I think using Printify to design and upload POD products to your own storefront is the way to go!
It might take more work to grow your traffic, but hey, you can say you own your own store and brand, and that counts for something.
Get started with Shopify and Printify today and start building your online empire!
Final Word
It goes without saying that Redbubble is one of the best print on demand websites in the business.
However, it doesn’t mean selling on Redbubble is easy money just because someone you know makes money on Redbubble.
Sometimes, different marketplaces work better for certain artists.
This can boil down to design preferences, monthly traffic, commission rates, and overall competition.
Whatever the case, if you’re struggling with POD selling, don’t give up yet!
There are plenty of awesome sites like Redbubble where you can earn royalties as an artist. It might take time to find the winning platform, but it’s out there!
Thanks so much for reading, and best of luck in your POD journey!
I’ll catch you guys in the next one.
Also, if you want other ideas for making money by selling online, I recommend reading our post on the best website like Poshmark to sell clothing online!
Tom is a 24 year old recent college graduate from Canada with a passion for side hustling, passive income, and marketing. This Online World is all about providing people with honest ways to make and save more money by using technology. To learn more about Tom, read his About Page!
If you’re interested in freelance writing services or want to partner with This Online World, please visit Tom Blake Digital to get in touch!