If you’re looking for a list of alternatives to Merch Informer, you’ve come to the right place.
I’ve been selling print on demand t-shirts online for nearly 10 years and have used pretty much every tool out there. If I haven’t used it myself, I’ve researched it and chose not to use it for a reason (all of which will be covered in this article).
Before we get into the list of Merch Informer alternatives, you first should know that there are 4 main sections to this article.
- Niche Research
- Trademark Research
- Design Creation
- Bonus Features
Each of these 4 categories should be considered when choosing a print on demand tool.
When it comes to Merch Informer, it’s a tool that is not just limited to one feature, but rather it has many different features that help in the print on demand process.
Let’s get started!
30-Second Article Summary
When compared side-by-side, Merch Informer wins overall compared to the alternatives. If you’re looking for the tool that’s going to give you the best experience overall, for the best price, Merch Informer is the tool to use. Accurate information, quick and easy tools, and the most bonus features. It’s recommended to take advantage of the 3-day free trial to get full access before signing up for a full month. Merch Informer offers 20% off lifetime coupon codes (ie. code: greg20).
Niche Research
Niche Research because is the most important feature of a print on demand tool.
Niche Research tools give sellers the ability to quickly see if a niche (also known as a topic) is worth creating designs for. Some niches are over-saturated and far too competitive to get sales in. This means sellers may spend weeks or months creating great designs for the niche, just to find out a year later that they never sell a single t-shirt.
Using a Niche Research tool will research an entire niche in the matter of seconds, and show the seller how likely they are to get t-shirt sales if they create designs in the niche.
Trademark Research
Trademark Research is the second most important feature of a print on demand tool.
Trademark Research tools allow sellers to quickly see if their design infringes on any Trademarks. Sometimes there are phrases or slogans that are Trademarked and therefore not allowed to be sold on print on demand t-shirt designs.
In the past, sellers would create seemingly great designs only to find out that the print on demand marketplace removes the design and issues a Trademark Strike on the seller account for infringing on a Trademark. The Trademark Strike on the account could lead to less account exposure, and if too many Trademark Strikes are received, the account can be terminated.
This is why thinking ahead and checking designs for Trademarks is one of the most important tools a print on demand seller can have.
Design Creation
Design Creation tools are the third most important feature of a print on demand tool.
Design Creation tools allow sellers to use pre-designed templates to create t-shirt designs that are more likely to sell. Ultimately, creating t-shirt designs is the largest part of a print on demand t-shirt business, so having a good design process is important.
Speaking from years of experience, creating t-shirt designs from scratch (using Photoshop or similar) is far more time consuming than using a Design Creation tool. To put it in perspective, I’m able to create roughly 10 designs on a Design Creation tool in the same time as 1 single design on Photoshop.
An important note is to make sure your Design Creation tool uses Commercially Usable graphics and fonts so you don’t get a Trademark Strike.
Bonus Features
Bonus Features are more of a nice surprise rather than an important feature.
Some print on demand tools have Bonus Features that are included at no extra cost. These Bonus Features can range from Bulk Upload tools, Free Custom Graphics, Free Print On Demand Courses, and more.
Although these are not a requirement for a great print on demand tool, they are certainly a nice addition to consider in a tie breaker.
Merch Informer Alternatives
- Merch Titans
- Pretty Merch
- KWFinder
- Merch Ninja
- SpyAMZ
- Merchify
- Productor
- Flying Upload
- DS Amazon
- Merch Database
- Keywords Everywhere
- Uber Suggest
1. Merch Titans
Merch Titans is likely the most direct alternative to Merch Informer. However, Merch Titans is more like the little brother to Merch Informer.
Merch Titans has 2 pricing plans:
- $9.99/mo
- $29.99/mo
The skinny on Merch Titans is that it’s essentially a copy-cat of Merch Informer that offers less in the end.
2. Pretty Merch
Pretty Merch is a Google Chrome Extension to help print on demand sellers. If you use Google Chrome as your internet browser, you can add this extension to you browser to see extra data when logged into your Merch by Amazon account.
Pretty Merch is more comparable to an organizing tool rather than a research, trademark, or design tool. It’s used by a large audience, but mainly for the improved visual dashboard that it shows on Merch by Amazon.
Pretty Merch has 3 pricing plans:
- Free (limited)
- $9.99/mo
- $24.99/mo
The skinny on Pretty Merch is that it’s essentially an add-on to your Merch by Amazon account to see your own account data better.
3. KWFinder
KWFinder is a research-only tool for Google Search research. Because KWFinder compares data from all of Google, not specifically print on demand data, it quickly becomes less-useful for print on demand sellers.
As a print on demand seller, we need a tool that uses print on demand data only. In most cases, this is using data specifically from the Merch by Amazon marketplace. This way we get accurate, and relevant, information to make decisions from.
For instance, if you are researching a niche on KWFinder, it will show you how competitive that niche is on Google Search results, but that does not help us as a print on demand seller. We want to know how competitive that niche is Amazon and other print on demand marketplaces.
KWFinder has 3 pricing plans:
- $49.00/mo
- $69.00/mo
- $129.00/mo
The skinny on KWFinder is that it uses data for Google Search rather than data from print on demand marketplaces, so it does accurate for print on demand sellers.
4. Merch Ninja
Merch Ninja is a print on demand tool that focuses on the niche research and trademark research categories. It’s definitely a capable print on demand tool, however it lacks in the UI design (meaning it’s a bit more confusing to use).
The creators of Merch Ninja are for Germany, therefore the website is German by default. There is however an English translated version of the website.
Merch Ninja has 3 pricing plans:
- $23.87/mo
- $29.84/mo
- $39.99/mo
The skinny on Merch Ninja is that it’s essentially the more expensive, German, version of Merch Informer.
5. SpyAMZ
SpyAMZ offers very similar features to Merch Informer, but comes with a much higher price tag. Since the tool was first being developed in 2016, the creators designed the tool to be used for their own Merch by Amazon business. This lead them to develop the important tools for the business, like Niche Research and Trademark Research.
SpyAMZ does not focus on the Design Creation category, nor do they have many Bonus Features within their tool.
SpyAMZ has 1 pricing plan:
- $99.99/mo
The skinny on SpyAMZ is that it costs 10X as much as Merch Informer for the same features.
6. Merchify
Merchify, more recently known as Podly, is an up-and-coming print on demand tool. It’s planning to offer very similar features as Merch Informer.
Merchify is still in the works, but it’s potential is great. When comparing it to Merch Informer, it’s very visible that Merch Informer is many years ahead with it’s features.
Merchify has 2 pricing plans:
- $25.00/mo
- $250.00/yr
The skinny on Merchify is that it’s an up-and-coming tool that is still in development, costs more than Merch Informer, and may be called Podly in the future.
7. Productor
Productor is another Google Chrome browser extension for print on demand sellers. If you are a Google Chrome user, this could be a beneficial starter tool for you, but it comes with some drawbacks.
Over the years, Productor’s Germany based creator has added a boatload of features. However, this may also be Productor’s inherent flaw. Too many features translates into too confusing to use, and too slow for features to load. It can sometimes slow down the entire computer, requiring you to disable the plugin when not using it.
Productor has 1 pricing plan:
- Free
The skinny on Productor is that it’s a fantastic free tool for Merch by Amazon research, but it’s only offered in a Google Chrome browser extension, it’s slightly complicated to use, and it takes a long time to load.
8. Flying Upload
Flying Upload is a print on demand tool focused on speeding up the design uploading part of the process. Flying Upload more recently now offers research features as well.
Flying Upload is one of the few print on demand tools that offers a tool to help upload designs to print on demand marketplaces. Interestingly, Merch Informer has recently added a bulk uploader feature included at no extra cost.
Flying Upload seems to be moving towards adding more research tools.
Flying Upload has 7 pricing plans:
- Free (limited)
- $9.95/mo (trademark research only)
- $19.95/mo (niche research only)
- $28.95/mo (trademark research + niche research)
- $49.95/mo (uploader only)
- $89.95/mo (trademark + niche + uploader)
- $109.95/mo (trademark + niche + uploader + 100GB data storage)
The skinny on Flying Upload is that it focuses on the uploading part of the print on demand business, but is moving towards adding research features as well. The cost is the main drawback, coming in at $89.95/mo to do what Merch Informer does for under $10/mo.
9. DS Amazon Quick View Extended
DS Amazon Quick View is another Google Chrome browser extension for print on demand sellers. It comes in the Standard version and the Extended version. The Standard version is far more limited.
DS Amazon is focused on showing the price history, sales ranks, and other Amazon selling factors. It does not however help with Niche Research, Trademark Research, or Design Creation.
DS Amazon has 1 pricing plan:
- $25.00 one time fee
The skinny on DS Amazon Quick View Extended is that it’s not a very helpful tool for print on demand sellers because it leaves out many important features.
10. Merch Database
Merch Database is a print on demand tool focused on organizing, managing, and growing your print on demand business. This means it’s a tool to help you stay organized and efficient.
The difference between Merch Database and Merch Informer is that Merch Database is not geared towards helping you find profitable niches like Merch Informer is.
Merch Database has 5 pricing plans:
- Free
- $9.99/mo
- $14.99/mo
- $24.99/mo
- $49.99/mo
The skinny on Merch Database is that it’s designed for organizing and managing your existing Merch by Amazon business to make it more efficient. Great for exporting reports and analytics on your print on demand business.
11. Keywords Everywhere
Keywords Everywhere is another Google Chrome browser extension but it’s designed to research Google Search data.
This tool is great for internet marketers who are creating content to be posted on Google Search results, but not great for print on demand sellers who need data specific to print on demand.
Keywords Everywhere has 1 pricing plan:
- $10 for each 100,000 credits
The skinny on Keywords Everywhere is that it’s a Google Chrome browser extension for Google Search results, not print on demand data. This makes this tool less-useful for print on demand sellers.
12. Uber Suggest
Uber Suggest is a great research tool, but it is designed to analyze Google Search results rather than print on demand data.
For those looking to rank their content on Google, this is a great research tool. But for print on demand sellers, this tool is going to provide analytics that are not relevant to us.
Uber Suggest has 3 pricing plans:
- $29.00/mo or $290.00/lifetime
- $49.00/mo or $490.00/lifetime
- $99.00/mo or $990.00/lifetime
The skinny on Uber Suggest is that it’s a great research tool for Google Search results, but not very useful for print on demand sellers.
So, Is Merch Informer The Best?
Now that you’ve seen the alternatives to Merch Informer, you can make that decision.
Merch Informer was the first tool of its kind, and has been continuing to add and improve its features. It’s pretty hard to find an alternative that can match its features and do it for less money.
Frankly, Merch Informer does a great job in all 4 categories.
Niche Research
Merch Informer has a feature called the Competition Checker that analyzes an entire niche is under a minute.
Essentially, you type in a topic you want to research, and the Competition Checker checks all the data for that niche and shows you a letter grade of how profitable it will be (A is the best, F is the worst), and then also shows you what the top 10 best selling designs are in that niche currently.
What more could you ask for as a print on demand seller? Within seconds, you know is it’s a profitable niche to enter, and you can see the top selling designs to get design inspiration.
Trademark Research
Merch Informer has a feature called the Trademark Alerts that checks your phrases to see if they are Trademarked specifically on clothing.
Not many people know that there are different types of Trademarks. For print on demand, we need to check to see if the phrase is Trademarked on apparel specifically.
Essentially, you type in the phrase you want to put on your t-shirt design, and the Trademark Alerts will check the Trademark database for Trademarks on apparel specifically, and then show you if the phrase can be used or not.
You can even type in several phrases and the Trademark Alerts will check them all at once.
Design Creation
Merch Informer has a built in t-shirt designer with pre-designed templates, but I wouldn’t buy Merch Informer specifically for this feature.
This is a feature Merch Informer is in the process of expanding, but it’s nice to have it included at no extra cost.
Personally, I use Placeit Graphic Designer for my t-shirt designs because they have both t-shirt design templates and t-shirt mockups included. This is the image shown above, and it’s definitely my recommendation specifically for creating t-shirt designs.
However, if you don’t have a Design Creation tool at all, you will certainly still benefit from using the Merch Informer Designer.
Bonus Features
Merch Informer always seems to be improving and expanding based on user requests. If there are enough people requesting a feature, it’s pretty likely that it will be added to your features in the future.
Merch Informer really seals the deal with their Bonus Features. Over the past few years, I’ve watched Merch Informer include numerous extra features at no extra cost (most recently the Bulk Uploader).
Essentially, Merch Informer is an all-in-one tool that continues to expand over time. It’s nice to have just 1 single tool that has the capabilities of multiple other tools combined.
In Conclusion
Merch Informer is likely going to be the most capable and most affordable print on demand tool ever made. They simply have the best features, and the best prices.
Merch Informer has 2 pricing plans:
- $9.99/mo
- $59.99/mo
Merch Informer’s $9.99/mo plan includes Niche Research, Trademark Research, Design Creation, and the Bonus Features.
There is a 3-Day Free Trial that gives you full access, and a 20% Off Lifetime Coupon Code (code: greg20) that you can enter at checkout.
Hopefully this article was helpful, saving you time and money. Enjoy!
