Vexels vs PlaceIt: The Truth Behind Their Total Costs

Last Updated on July 25, 2023 by John Cirelly

If you’re looking for an honest comparison between Vexels vs PlaceIt, you’re in the right spot.

I run print on a print on demand business, and I know just how important it is to run lean. I’ll break down the cost, features, and customer service of each tool and let you decide for yourself.

Enough pussyfootin’ around. Let’s crunch some numbers!

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Vexels vs PlaceIt Quick Comparison

In a hurry? Here’s what you need to know.

Vexels

The Vexels platform has over 70,000 pre-made designs that you can use for print on demand, thumbnails, artwork, you name it. It’s all done by real artists so it’s like having a design team at your finger tips constantly cranking out new stuff. Many graphics are available in PNG, PSD, or Vector format.

If you suck at design, or simply want access to new high quality artwork, Vexels provides way better images than PlaceIt. The platform also has a mockup generator and t-shirt designer.

Vexels is truly tailored for people who want to run a print on demand business, but lack the skills to create original artwork. The number of designs you can download are based on which tier you subscribe to, which ranges from 200 to 2000 downloads per month.

Lastly, they even allow you to request up to 7 custom designs per month which is pretty great, especially if you’re using it for a custom storefront.

Here’s the catch: If you want to sell these designs through print on demand you will need have the “Merch” tier which gives you that licensing for $264 per year, or $29 per month. You must continue paying for this license for as long as you plan to sell those designs.

That means if you cancel your subscription and continue to sell those designs you technically no longer have the proper licensing to do so. (I touch more on this later.)

Alternatively you can purchase lifetime licensing for a one-time payment of $550 that allows you to use those designs on merch without paying a monthly fee.

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PlaceIt

PlaceIt offers thousands of designs that can be used for clothing, logos, YouTube thumbnails, animated video intros, and even Twitch layouts, mostly in PNG format.

They offer way more templates and ways you can use the designs than Vexels, but have fewer unique images that aren’t quite as good in my opinion. (Still better than what I could ever draw up.)

PlaceIt has over 5,700 templates and 13,000+ mockup options to display your designs. Need a white guy with an Asian baby playing fetch with a cat wearing your shirt? They probably have it.

Unlimited designs, mockups, videos, and logos are either $14.95 per month, or $89.69 per year. (A 50% annual savings)

This includes the commercial license you need to put these designs on products and resell them.

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Vexels vs PlaceIt: The Bottom Line

PlaceIt is the best option if you want to do print on demand part time, or have other design needs for marketing or social media.

The platform has tons of awesome resources and templates that are priced competitively for any sized business. With no limits you don’t have to worry about licensing or how many downloads you have left in a month.

Vexels is the best option if you’re committed to starting a print on demand business, and have extra money to invest in quality designs.

As you automate and scale designs you’ll find that Vexels will always have something new and fresh to bring to the table. This is more important when you start competing with other brands for more competitive keywords and need to move faster on trends.

I personally commit to the lifetime license so I don’t have to worry about monthly fees and lapses in licensing. Even with a 200 monthly design download limit, that’s still more than enough for most storefronts.

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Features Overview

Vexels has more design format options such as Vector, SVG, PNG, and PSD. PlaceIt has more template options for Facebook, Instagram, Twitch, and YouTube.

PlaceIt’s features are definitely more suited for social media and marketing, while Vexels is better for clothing design, infographics, and physical products.

Let’s compare Vexels vs PlaceIt on just their features alone.

	Designs	Custom Requests	Download Limits	Mockups	Video	Logo Maker
Vexels	70k+	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
PlaceIt	29k+	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes

Vexels has:

• More designs
• Custom design requests
• Product mockups
• 200 or 2000 designs per month download limit
• More formats like SVG, PSD, and Vector
• T-Shirt maker
• Done-for-you PSD design templates

PlaceIt has:

• More templates, less unique designs
• Product mockups
• No download limit on designs
• Less formats, offering only PNG and MP4
• Video design options
• Logo maker

As you can see they both excel in their own areas. Personally, I use Vexels for print on demand designs, and PlaceIt for some thumbnails and social media graphics.

Below is a quick look searching for cats comparing Vexels vs PlaceIt.

Vexels vs PlaceIt: Customer Support

I’ve never had an issue with either platform in regards to customer service. But let’s review how they support their customers anyway.

PlaceIt has a email support along with live chat that is available Monday – Friday 8:30am to 6:30pm CT. They also have about a dozen videos teaching viewers how to use their mockup, design, and video tools.

They also have an up to date blog filled with tips and tricks when it comes to designing on their platform. Lastly, they have a fairly robust FaQ section that knocks out some easy questions if you had them.

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Vexels actually has a direct phone number on their contact page along with a form contact box in case you’d rather email. Their phone support hours were not publicly listed but I did call and got an answer after 7pm their time, so it could be a 24-hour line.

They also have an equally impressive blog that they use to answer common questions, as well as create guides helping users use Vexels to create and customize different products.

Finally, their FaQ section is very in depth. I feel this is needed mostly to explain their licensing structure which I’m sure they get plenty of questions about.

Vexels vs PlaceIt: Pricing

PlaceIt Pricing

Pricing for PlaceIt is 14.95 per month, or $89.69 per year. This covers unlimited downloads with commercial use licensing, meaning you can put images on products and sell them.

I feel this price point is incredibility affordable considering the amount of templates that are available. Alternatively you can purchase single licenses for designs ranging from $20-$40 per image.

You can cancel your PlaceIt subscription at anytime and avoid being billed for the next month as long as the cancellation is done 1 day before renewal. Since it is a subscription based service they don’t generally issue refunds.

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Vexels Pricing

Pricing for Vexels is a bit more complicated than PlaceIt, this is mostly because of their licensing structure. Vexels has three pricing tiers, Pro at $7.50, Merch at $22, and Business at $68. All prices are per month when billed annually.

Those prices change to $9.99, $29, and $89.99 when billed month per month.

In order to put your designs on a merchandise and sell them you must be subscribed to either the Merch tier, Business tier, or have a lifetime license. As soon as you stop paying this fee Vexels states you must remove your designs and stop selling them.

Vexels has reached out to us and is offering our readers 35% off their annual pricing for the Merch tier.

The way I look at it, it doesn’t take too many successful designs to cover $29 per month, especially when you fully understand how print on demand works. This is why I recommend Vexels to those who are a little more experienced in the POD space.

Let’s run a hypothetical:

You spend $29 a month for Vexels and have 200 designs you can download for a month. Assuming your don’t make any variants (which is highly unlikely), you pump out all 200 designs on shirts to Merch By Amazon for $19.99.

Now lets say you suck really bad, and only 5% of your 200 designs actually make a sale. That’s 10 sales at $19.99. On Amazon that’s a profit of $5.23 per shirt, netting you a total of $52.30 in sales.

Those numbers get even better when you claim the 35% off deal Vexels is currently offering. At 35% off, your cost drops to only $18.83 per month.

Bottom line, Vexels pays for itself in under six sales per month which is not hard to accomplish.

You can of course run these numbers on any other marketplace, but selling at a $5 margin is more than realistic.

(I told you we were gonna crunch some numbers)

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“So how likely am I to get caught if I just stop paying for Vexels licensing?“

– You (probably)

My thoughts are, you might get away with not paying for awhile, but you’ll get caught sooner or later. it’s not worth it. Here’s why.

Robots are getting smart as hell. They can already identify shapes, as well as unique images. This means you risk your entire stream of revenue to a trademark identifying robot getting an update. Not smart.

Even if Vexels isn’t using artificial intelligence to identify trademark violations, they’re probably working on it. Whether its AI or a human that flags your designs its going to cause you a serious headache.

Not only will you lose your sales, but you’ll also likely be banned from the marketplaces you get caught in. On top of that, you might even be taken to court over it. Not fun.

Tools Similar To PlaceIt & Vexels

Not happy with either Vexels or PlaceIt?

If you’re looking for something similar to both Vexels and PlaceIt, Canva does a great job at striking a balance between quality designs, simple templates, and affordability.

Canva has a a ton of free designs, as well as a paid tier that starts at $30 per month.

Just note that if you want to place the designs from Canva on to clothing you’ll need the $30 per month plan in order to save PNG files that are large enough for print.

Conclusion

When comparing Vexels vs PlaceIt I believe both tools are great, and a choice between the two really depends on what your goals are. As stated earlier:

Vexels is the best option if you’re set on starting a print on demand business, and want to invest in quality designs.

PlaceIt is the best option if you want to do a little print on demand, and also need designs for marketing and social media.

Questions? Comments? Rap lyrics? Feel free to reach out with all three.

Also if you are interested in print on demand, I spent way too much time creating this kickass guide teaching you how to start a print on demand business from scratch.

FaQ