How to Choose Web-to-Print Software: A Weighted Scorecard

What makes web-to-print software right for a print shop?

Web-to-print software is right for a print shop when it handles the shop's own products from the product page to the press: options and prices for every combination, online design or upload, file checks, proofs and print-ready files. Features that look the same on a vendor's list can behave very differently with a real product, so the choice has to be tested, not read.

If web-to-print is new to you, the pillar guide explains how a web-to-print order works and the four ways to get the software. This article is the next step: a scorecard for comparing candidates on the same terms, whether they are plugins, a hosted web-to-print SaaS platform, ready-made full stores or a custom build.

Lists of "best web-to-print software" rank vendors on general features. A print shop that sells business cards, flyers and banners to local businesses needs different software from a print-on-demand brand or a corporate print room, and only a weighted scorecard can show that difference.

How does a weighted scorecard compare web-to-print software?

A weighted scorecard gives each criterion a weight that reflects how much it matters to your business, scores every candidate from 0 to 5 on each criterion, and adds up the weighted scores. Decision analysis calls this the weighted sum model, the simplest method for comparing several options on several criteria at once. The candidate with the highest total fits your shop best.

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<a href="https://solution.printcart.com/insight/how-to-choose-web-to-print-software"><img src="https://solution.printcart.com/insight/how-to-choose-web-to-print-software/scorecard.webp" alt="Scorecard of 12 web-to-print software criteria with weights, print options and prices weighted highest at 15" width="1440" height="1080"></a><br>Source: <a href="https://solution.printcart.com/insight/how-to-choose-web-to-print-software">Printcart</a>

The weights in the scorecard are a starting point for a print shop that sells standard print products: they add up to 100, and print options and prices carry the most because every product page depends on them. To score a candidate, rate each criterion from 0 (missing) to 5 (passes the test easily), divide by 5 and multiply by the weight. A candidate that scores 4 on print options earns 12 of the 15 points; the best possible total is 100.

The scores are only as good as the tests behind them. Give a 5 only when you have seen the criterion pass with your own product, a 3 when it works with workarounds, and a 0 when the vendor could not show it. The checklist at the end of this article gives the test and the pass mark for each of the 12 criteria, and its CSV download is the same scorecard in a spreadsheet.

What should you test in a web-to-print software demo?

In a web-to-print software demo, test your own best-selling product, not the vendor's sample. Rebuild it with its real options and prices, design or upload artwork as a customer would, place an order, and download the file production would receive. Then check the proof, the order status and the admin screens your staff would use every day.

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<a href="https://solution.printcart.com/insight/how-to-choose-web-to-print-software"><img src="https://solution.printcart.com/insight/how-to-choose-web-to-print-software/product-page.webp" alt="Business card page in the Printcart demo store with the ① price, ② size, paper and quantity options and ③ Start design button" width="1440" height="810"></a><br>Source: <a href="https://solution.printcart.com/insight/how-to-choose-web-to-print-software">Printcart</a>

The capture shows the three things to test first on any product page: whether the price follows the options, whether every option your product needs is there, and whether a customer can design online or upload a finished file from the same page. In the Printcart print shop demo store, each size, paper and quantity combination of a product has its own price; see printing options and pricing and the online product designer for how they work.

A selection that works runs in this order:

1. Write down your requirements. List your top products, their options and how customers order them today.
2. Shortlist three to five candidates. Keep only software that supports your store platform or comes as a complete store.
3. Run a demo with your product. Ask each vendor to show your best-selling product, or build it yourself in a trial.
4. Score the 12 criteria. Use the tests and pass marks of the checklist, on the same day for each candidate if you can.
5. Price three years. Add licences, hosting, set-up and extra modules for each candidate.
6. Check set-up and support in writing. Who sets up the products, by when, and what support and updates cover.
7. Decide and plan the launch. Start with the products that sell most, train the staff, then add the rest.

Which criteria matter more for each kind of print business?

The criteria matter differently by the kind of print business. A commercial print shop depends most on options and prices and on upload checks; a print-on-demand brand on the online designer and previews; a printer selling to companies on B2B ordering and proofs; a photo business on image upload and print quality. Raise the weights that match your sales and lower the others.

Trade printers, who print for other print businesses, have needs of their own that a retail scorecard misses, such as unbranded proofs and price lists per reseller; the article on web-to-print software for trade printers covers them.

What does a scorecard not tell you?

A scorecard does not tell you how the software will run after launch or whether the route itself suits you. Two candidates with the same score can differ in who hosts the store, who updates it and how easily you can leave. Those questions sit behind the platform-fit, support and cost criteria, and they deserve a written answer before you sign.

Be clear about the trade-offs of each route. Printcart full stores, for example, run on WordPress and WooCommerce on your own host, which suits a shop that wants to own its store and pick its host, but not one that wants no hosting to manage at all; the Printcart B2B and marketplace stores are still in build. A shop already selling on Shopify, Wix or WooCommerce can add web-to-print to its existing store with an app or plugin from www.printcart.com instead.

Cost is where the routes differ most. The article on full store, plugin or custom build costs lays out the cost of each route over three years, and migration services cover moving products, customers and URLs from an old system. When the software is chosen, the job submission article explains what should happen to every file your customers send.