IMG.LY vs. OnPrintShop
The OnPrintShop alternative for commercial printers that want online design for business cards, flyers and other print jobs.
What makes IMG.LY the best OnPrintShop alternative?
Keep the storefront you have
IMG.LY adds design to your current store, and your catalog, checkout and orders stay where they are.
Personalization inside your mobile apps
IMG.LY also runs on iPhone and Android, so customers can design on their phones.
PDF/X straight from the editor
Export PDF/X with the ICC profile for your press and catch errors before files reach prepress.
Automation your systems trigger
Your systems call IMG.LY on a server you host, and it turns your data into personalized print files.
What our clients say about us
Integrating IMG.LY’s editor meant we didn’t have to build or maintain a complex editing layer ourselves. That kept our team focused on our core AI ad engine and saved us countless development hours — while still giving our customers the ability to polish and customize creatives at scale.
Hikari Senju
CEO, Omneky
With IMG.LY we built a central creative portal that now powers over 140 dealer campaigns across multiple automotive brands. Before this, asset creation was slow and inconsistent.
Martin Röhr
Product Owner, Digitas
By embedding IMG.LY’s editor we were able to hit key RFP requirements and deliver a template-based creative experience that now serves 1,000+ customers. It helped us win more deals and exceed enterprise expectations without needing to hire dedicated design teams.
Rob Driscoll
Director of PM, Optimizely
Since integrating IMG.LY’s editor, we now deliver 30,000+ ad creatives per month, dramatically shorten time-to-launch, and help our clients cut design spend by up to $10,000 per month.
Logan Welbaum
Founder, Plai
Our customers create over a million personalized postcards each year choosing from over hundreds of templates with IMG.LY’s SDK. It’s the only solution that allows us to build our own specialized, on-brand UI that integrates seamlessly with our platform.
Jeanine Zaalberg
Product Manager, SwissPost
From a developer’s perspective, the most powerful feature of the photo editor is the integration process. It was completely flawless, quick, and easy to integrate.
Stefano Fornari
CTO, Funambol
We compared IMG.LY SDK with other solutions and found that it would be the best fit for us since it provides all the features that are crucial for our use case.
Carem Pereira
SCRUM Manager, HP
IMG.LY vs. OnPrintShop at a glance
| Feature | IMG.LY | OnPrintShop | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary Use Case | Customers design inside your storefront, ordering portal or app, and IMG.LY turns their designs into print files. The same engine also does video and general design. | OnPrintShop is hosted web-to-print software for print businesses. It runs B2B and B2C storefronts, order management and production workflow automation, and includes an online design editor for buyers. | IMG.LY supplies the design and print-file step for a shop you already have. OnPrintShop is the whole hosted operation, from storefront to production. |
| Target Audience | Commercial and trade printers, print-on-demand businesses, label, packaging, photo and gift sellers, and brand portals that already run a storefront and want personalization built into it. | Print service providers: commercial, large format, packaging, signage, apparel and label printers, plus trade printers, franchise print operations and in-plant print departments, from small shops to large enterprises. | Commercial, trade, label and packaging printers suit either one. IMG.LY targets sellers that already have a storefront, and OnPrintShop also covers franchise and in-plant print operations. |
| Technical Approach | Self-hosted SDK packages cover the browser, iOS, Android, desktop apps and server-side Node.js; teams keep the bundled editor, build their own UI, or automate with no interface. | OnPrintShop runs as cloud-based SaaS that buyers and admins use in a browser. APIs can embed its designer in custom platforms or external workflows, and Designer Studio comes on higher plans. | IMG.LY is software you host and shape yourself. OnPrintShop runs as SaaS, and its designer can be embedded elsewhere through APIs. |
| Advanced Design Editing | Multi-page print layouts mix vector shapes, gradient fills, images and fine typography such as type set along a path, tab stops and superscript or subscript, and the web editor moves individual vector points. | Designer Studio places text, shapes, clipart, images and masks on multi-page products and supports RGB and CMYK color mapping. | Multi-page products are covered either way. IMG.LY adds fine typography and point-level vector edits, and OnPrintShop maps colors between RGB and CMYK. |
| File Format Support | Opens and saves PNG, JPEG, SVG, WebP, PDF, PDF/X and MP4 alongside its own scene files. Imported IDML and PSD files stay layered, EPS and AI logos turn into editable vectors, and output can return to IDML or, on servers, to PSD. | Buyers upload artwork as JPG, PNG, TIFF, SVG, PDF or HEIC, and brochure products accept PSD, EPS, AI and CDR. Admins build templates from InDesign (IDML) files, and output is print-ready PDF. | IMG.LY keeps IDML and PSD imports layered and can export back to them. OnPrintShop also accepts TIFF, HEIC and CDR uploads and outputs print-ready PDF. |
| Print Production | Browser or Node.js exports reach PDF/X at levels 1a, 3 and 4 under the ICC profile your printer sends, and the PDF/X Exporter reports rule breaks ahead of preflight. Files hold trim and bleed boxes, cut lines for die cutting and spot colors, the web adds printer's marks, and screens preview CMYK as printed. | Print-ready files come in RGB or CMYK with bleed and crop marks, and die lines can take Pantone spot colors. Uploads can get automated preflight checks, and large format products support ICC profiles. | IMG.LY writes PDF/X and checks it before preflight. OnPrintShop delivers CMYK or RGB files with bleed and runs preflight on uploads. |
| Templating & Dynamic Editing | Templates mix text variables, placeholders and lockable elements, reflow their layout to the content, and take their settings from JSON or API calls. Exclusion areas keep artwork clear of die cuts, envelope windows and book spines, and users get a safety-margin guide at the page edge. | Admins mark template fields editable or locked and set dependency rules for PDF block templates. Templates can resize across product sizes, and Designer Studio labels the cut, bleed and safe margins. | Locked fields and safe-margin guides appear in each. IMG.LY reflows layouts around content, and OnPrintShop resizes a template across product sizes. |
| Variable Data Publishing | Personalization data merges live while customers edit, or in batches on the server, from one template, and throughput follows the servers you provide. | Buyers upload CSV or XLS records, or type them in, plus a zip of images, and preview the order. Every record can swap text, images, QR codes and barcodes in the template. | IMG.LY merges data during editing or in server batches. OnPrintShop buyers upload a spreadsheet and images, and each record can change text, images and codes. |
| Creative Automation | Spreadsheet rows, database records or API payloads feed a headless renderer on Node.js, which turns your templates into personalized print files without opening an editor. | Mass-personalized orders come out as layered, print-ready PDFs, and corporate templates fill from stored profile data. | IMG.LY renders spreadsheet, database or API data without an editor. OnPrintShop fills corporate templates from saved profiles and outputs layered PDFs. |
| AI Capabilities | Editor plugins remove backgrounds, generate images with AI and refine text, optionally through the AI Gateway. Using the CoDesign SDK, an agent inside your product can create branded designs that users finish in IMG.LY. | Shoppers get AI background removal, image enhancement, translation and writing help in Designer Studio. Prompts also build images and templates, and admins generate product descriptions and listing images. | Background removal, image generation and text help appear on each side. An agent can create branded designs in IMG.LY, and OnPrintShop admins get AI for product listings. |
| Product Mockups | Starter kits for the web show designs on real products: a Mockup Editor covering posters, apparel, business cards and postcards, and a 3D version that previews products in real time using 3D libraries. | Real-time 2D and 3D previews let shoppers check designs, and 3D views include folded products and apparel. | Real-time 3D previews come with each. IMG.LY provides them as starter kits, and OnPrintShop includes folded products and apparel. |
| Asset Management | Connect a DAM or a custom asset source, so artwork, logos and product images remain in storage you control. | Shoppers reuse their uploads and admins' clipart, and B2B portals store each client's logos, fonts and approved artwork. | IMG.LY leaves assets in storage you control. OnPrintShop keeps them on the platform and saves logos and fonts per B2B client. |
| User Interface | Provides a complete editor interface to theme and reorganize, and APIs to embed parts of it or swap in an interface of your own. | Shoppers edit in Designer Studio or in Quick Design right on the product page, while admins pick a studio theme and one of several Quick Design layouts. | IMG.LY's interface can be restyled, split up or replaced. OnPrintShop offers two editing views, a full studio and a quick one on the product page. |
| White-labeling | Ships without IMG.LY branding, and themes, colors and components can carry your brand in OEM and enterprise products. | Admins adjust the layouts, fonts and colors of storefront themes, and the printer's resellers, partners and B2B clients can run white-label storefronts under their own branding. | Only your brand shows in IMG.LY. OnPrintShop extends white-labeling to the storefronts of resellers and B2B clients. |
| Interactive Editing | GPU acceleration keeps edits instant, and designs look the same in a browser, a native app or on desktop. A web starter kit for design validation flags designs that would print badly. | Shoppers drag elements onto the canvas, show gridlines and margins, undo and redo changes and use keyboard shortcuts. The editor alerts shoppers to low-resolution images. | Each warns about print problems while customers work. IMG.LY edits stay instant and match across platforms, and OnPrintShop adds gridlines and keyboard shortcuts. |
| Multi-Layer Editing | Unlimited layers of video, shapes, text and images can be blended, grouped and masked, and the web editor's page and layer list handles order, names, visibility and locks. | Shoppers can group objects on the canvas and mask images, and Designer Studio has a resizable layer panel. | Grouping, masks and a layer panel exist in each. IMG.LY adds blending, video layers and no limit on their number. |
| Cross-Platform Support | One engine powers web browsers, iPhone and Android apps, Electron and macOS apps and Node.js backends, and its renders match across all of them. | Designer Studio and the responsive storefront themes run in browsers on desktops, laptops, tablets and phones. | IMG.LY also runs inside iPhone, Android and desktop apps. OnPrintShop is browser-based on every device, phones included. |
| Customizability | The editor takes your colors, fonts and spacing, ships with light, dark and system modes, and can be localized label by label. Its APIs show, hide or reorder any region of the interface, and roles set editing rights. | Admins pick a Designer Studio theme, set up the studio per product, limit font sizes and copy settings between products, and AI translates predefined text into other languages. | In IMG.LY you set the brand styling, interface language and panel layout. OnPrintShop admins choose a studio theme and adjust settings per product, and its AI translates preset text. |
| Extensibility | Tools, asset sources and render steps can be added as plugins without touching the core SDK, so updates arrive without merge work. | A GraphQL API, opened through OnPrintShop's support team, syncs orders, customers, products and stock, and order files export as JSON. OnPrintShop's own developers build custom features. | Plugins extend IMG.LY without merge work on updates. OnPrintShop connects through a GraphQL API and builds custom features itself. |
| Ease of Integration | Docs and reference apps exist for every platform; with Agent Skills a coding agent sets up a web app from a plain description, and evaluators receive the full SDK. | Ready connectors such as QuickBooks are configured in the admin panel, the connector catalog includes Zapier, and onboarding specialists move customers, products, pricing and catalogs over from a previous platform. | IMG.LY hands evaluators the full SDK, and Agent Skills can build a first web app. OnPrintShop's specialists migrate data from your old platform. |
| E-commerce Integrations | Adds the design step to the store you operate (WooCommerce, Shopify, custom code or a print platform), and leaves catalog, checkout and fulfillment there. | OnPrintShop's own storefronts take payments. Native integrations sync Shopify and Etsy orders into OnPrintShop, and its personalization software also works with Magento and WooCommerce. | IMG.LY joins the store you already operate. OnPrintShop sells through its own storefronts and also syncs Shopify and Etsy orders. |
| Flexible Rendering Approach | Interactive edits render on the user's device. Automated jobs run in the Node.js SDK. Saved scenes can also export through the CE.SDK Renderer on the server GPU. Results match on every path. | Buyers design in a browser-based HTML5 studio, and the hosted platform turns designs into print files. | IMG.LY lets you choose between device and server rendering. OnPrintShop renders every print file on its hosted platform. |
| Production Readiness | Large enterprises run IMG.LY for millions of assets each month, backed by support tiers that cover integration. | OnPrintShop's managed hosting is monitored around the clock and backed up with snapshots for disaster recovery, and incidents follow set reporting procedures. | IMG.LY renders millions of assets monthly for large enterprises. OnPrintShop monitors its hosting around the clock and keeps backups for recovery. |
| Scalability | Asynchronous rendering with load balancing spreads jobs over client devices and servers, and no cap limits batch size. | Requests reach the hosted platform through AWS-managed load balancers. | Each balances its load. IMG.LY also shares jobs with customer devices, and OnPrintShop uses load balancers managed by AWS. |
| Storage & Data Ownership | Customer data, uploads and designs stay within infrastructure you control, and nothing in the setup relies on outside storage or services. | Data sits on OnPrintShop's AWS hosting in several regions, encrypted both at rest and in transit, and order files can be copied to your own FTP, FTPS or SFTP server. | Data never leaves your own infrastructure with IMG.LY. OnPrintShop stores it encrypted on AWS and can copy order files to your FTP server. |
| Clear Pricing Model | Enterprise licenses are sized to deployment scope and usage, and evaluators get the whole SDK with no user cap. | Sold as a fixed monthly subscription in tiered plans with no transaction or commission fee on orders; add-on solutions, some integrations and custom development cost extra. | IMG.LY prices each license by scope and usage. OnPrintShop charges a flat monthly plan without order fees, and add-ons cost extra. |
| Support & Documentation | Every platform has guides and API references, and enterprise support adds consultation with IMG.LY engineers, SLAs and an assigned success manager. | Support runs by live chat, phone and email around the clock on weekdays, and clients get an account manager, onboarding training and video tutorials. | Each assigns a personal contact: an IMG.LY success manager on enterprise plans, an OnPrintShop account manager for every client. |
Key capabilities
Learn more about some of the functionalities of IMG.LY’s SDK.
Editing
Printing
PDF/X export.
PDF/X files for the press are exported in browsers or by Node.js on your servers, and they follow the color profile your printer supplies.
Cutout lines.
Create and customize cutout shapes for web-to-print.
Printer’s marks.
Web editor users set a bleed per page edge, add registration marks and crop marks, and tune their offset, length and weight.
CMYK & spot color support.
Screens show CMYK the way paper will, so rich black differs from plain black and tinted inks scale correctly, and spot colors stay true in gradients and shadows.
Templating
Design templates.
Create role based design templates to jumpstart users’ creativity.
Placeholders & lockable designs.
Constrain templates to guide your users’ design and ensure brand consistency.
Photobook editor.
On the web, the Photobook Starter Kit places photos into page layouts automatically and exports PDF/X-4.
Where an editor fits in web-to-print
Three guides for printers deciding between an all-in-one platform and an editor they add to their own stack.
Compare eight web-to-print editor SDKs
The comparison places OnPrintShop among the storefront platforms and lines up IMG.LY against seven other editor SDKs.
Know which layer each tool covers
Storefronts, pricing, design editors and production each form their own layer. The guide shows who covers which, with OnPrintShop in the storefront layer and IMG.LY in the editor layer.
Turn one template into a full catalog
A locked master template feeds a swag catalog’s mockups and print plates, and each customer gets brand overrides.
Check out other use cases
Learn more about related solutions.
Apparel Designer
Whether t-shirts, hoodies or caps, build for any use case, deploy on any platform.
Get in touch
Contact our sales team to learn more about licensing options and get access to our AI plugins for CE.SDK.
FAQs
If you want online design inside the print store you already run, IMG.LY makes a good OnPrintShop alternative. Customers design on your website or in your phone apps, and your own servers can render the print files.
OnPrintShop is a complete hosted web-to-print platform that covers storefronts, pricing, orders and production, and its Designer Studio is part of it. IMG.LY covers the design and output layer and plugs into the storefront and order systems you pick.
Yes. IMG.LY sits inside a custom store, a print platform, Shopify or WooCommerce as the step where buyers design, and orders, payment and shipping keep running through that store. OnPrintShop runs its own storefronts and pulls in Shopify and Etsy orders through native integrations.
OnPrintShop runs as cloud SaaS on Amazon Web Services. IMG.LY runs on infrastructure you choose, from your own cloud account to on-premise hardware, and renders the print files there too.
Yes. OnPrintShop's print-ready PDFs include bleed and crop marks, support CMYK and Pantone die lines, and its platform can preflight uploads. IMG.LY covers PDF/X-1a, PDF/X-3 and PDF/X-4 from a browser or Node.js and reports rule breaks before prepress.
OnPrintShop's Designer Studio and storefront themes work in mobile browsers. IMG.LY runs natively inside iPhone and Android apps, including ones built with React Native or Flutter.
OnPrintShop's Designer Studio gives shoppers AI help with background removal and translation, and admins can have AI write product copy and create images for listings. With IMG.LY, plugins make pictures from prompts, polish copy and cut out backgrounds, and your own AI agent can design through the CoDesign SDK.