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Run a print-on-demand / dropshipping store: cheapest tool stack
Run a small print-on-demand store: storefront, fulfilment app, email marketing and card processing. Product and shipping costs are not included.
Prices are official, dated and quoted (latest check 2026-10-18). Change any number and the stacks update. Ranking never depends on affiliate status.
- Sales per month: 3,000.0
- Card processing per month: 117.0
The three stacks
Cheapest stack
| Category | Tool | What it does | $/month | Manual h/week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Storefront | Shopify Basic (billed yearly) | Full online store with custom domain. | $29.00 | 0.0 h |
| Print-on-demand fulfilment | Printful Free | Fulfilment with no monthly fee; you pay per product. | $0.00 | 0.0 h |
| Email marketing | Klaviyo Free | Up to 250 active profiles, 500 sends a month. | $0.00 | 0.0 h |
| Card processing | Stripe-level card fees 2.9% + 30¢ | Typical US card rate used as an estimate for every store. | $117.00 | 0.0 h |
| Total | $146.00/mo | 0.0 h/week | ||
Balanced stack
| Category | Tool | What it does | $/month | Manual h/week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Storefront | Shopify Basic (billed yearly) | Full online store with custom domain. | $29.00 | 0.0 h |
| Print-on-demand fulfilment | Printful Free | Fulfilment with no monthly fee; you pay per product. | $0.00 | 0.0 h |
| Email marketing | Klaviyo Free | Up to 250 active profiles, 500 sends a month. | $0.00 | 0.0 h |
| Card processing | Stripe-level card fees 2.9% + 30¢ | Typical US card rate used as an estimate for every store. | $117.00 | 0.0 h |
| Total | $146.00/mo | 0.0 h/week | ||
Most automated stack
| Category | Tool | What it does | $/month | Manual h/week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Storefront | Shopify Basic (billed yearly) | Full online store with custom domain. | $29.00 | 0.0 h |
| Print-on-demand fulfilment | Printful Free | Fulfilment with no monthly fee; you pay per product. | $0.00 | 0.0 h |
| Email marketing | Klaviyo Free | Up to 250 active profiles, 500 sends a month. | $0.00 | 0.0 h |
| Card processing | Stripe-level card fees 2.9% + 30¢ | Typical US card rate used as an estimate for every store. | $117.00 | 0.0 h |
| Total | $146.00/mo | 0.0 h/week | ||
Every option, per category
Sorted by price at your numbers. “Doesn’t fit” means a plan limit (users, minutes, subscribers…) is exceeded.
Storefront
| Tool / plan | $/month | h/week | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify Basic (billed yearly) Monthly-billing USD price not read (the page showed DKK from our location). | $29.00 | 0.0 h | Price sourceBasic, billed yearly: 29.00 USD per month (price data embedded in the pricing page, with a 25% annual discount) (checked 2026-10-18, Website builder calculator (buildercost): shopify fact shopify/basic-yearly-usd)
Formula: |
| Wix Core (yearly) | $29.00 | 0.0 h | Price sourceCore: $29/month (yearly), free domain for 1 year, accept payments with Basic eCommerce (checked 2026-10-18, Website builder calculator (buildercost): wix fact wix/core)
Formula: |
| Squarespace Basic | $79.00 | 0.0 h | Price sourceBasic: $19/month billed monthly (checked 2026-10-18, Website builder calculator (buildercost): squarespace fact squarespace/basic-monthly); Basic: $12/month billed annually, online store transaction fee 2% (checked 2026-10-18, Website builder calculator (buildercost): squarespace fact squarespace/basic-yearly)
Formula: |
Print-on-demand fulfilment
| Tool / plan | $/month | h/week | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Printful Free | $0.00 | 0.0 h | Price sourcePrintful Free: $0/month (you pay per product when an order is fulfilled); Growth $24.99/month (checked 2026-10-18, read on the official page 2026-10-18 (snapshot printful))
Formula: |
| Printful Growth The product discount is not counted, so Growth only looks better here once it is free. | $0.00 | 0.0 h | Price sourcePrintful Free: $0/month (you pay per product when an order is fulfilled); Growth $24.99/month (checked 2026-10-18, read on the official page 2026-10-18 (snapshot printful))
Formula: |
Email marketing
| Tool / plan | $/month | h/week | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Klaviyo Free | $0.00 | 0.0 h | Price sourceFree plan: up to 250 active profiles (checked 2026-10-18, ListCost: klaviyo fact 0)
Formula: |
| MailerLite Free | $0.00 | 0.0 h | Price sourceFree: 250 subscribers, 2,500 monthly emails (checked 2026-10-17, ListCost: mailerlite fact 0)
Formula: |
| Kit Free | $0.00 | 0.0 h | Price sourceKit: Free $0 up to 10,000 subscribers (checked 2026-10-18, read on the official page 2026-10-18 (snapshot kit))
Formula: |
Card processing
| Tool / plan | $/month | h/week | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stripe-level card fees 2.9% + 30¢ Shopify Payments and Wix/Squarespace rates differ by plan and country; not verified here. | $117.00 | 0.0 h | Price sourceStripe standard US rate: 2.9% + 30¢ per successful domestic card transaction (checked 2026-10-18, CourseCost: systeme-io fact stripe/us)
Formula: |
Not covered (yet)
- Ad tools and ad spend.
- Product, printing and shipping costs.
- Shopify monthly-billing price and Shopify Payments rates.
Affiliate disclosure: links marked “affiliate” may earn Built & Stuck a commission at no extra cost to you. They are chosen after the ranking is computed and never affect it. Manual-hours figures are estimates from the assumptions above, not measurements.
Questions
What does it cost to start a print-on-demand store?
Printful has no monthly fee, so the fixed cost is mainly the storefront (around $29 a month on Shopify Basic billed yearly) plus card fees per order.
Is Printful Growth worth it?
It costs $24.99 a month until you reach $12K a year in sales, then it is free; its product discount is not counted here.
Do affiliate links change the ranking?
No. The ranking only uses price, manual hours and your hourly value. Some tools have a marked affiliate link; the calculation never reads it.