Lulu
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy Lulu if you are an author or store owner who wants free print-on-demand publishing with direct Shopify or WooCommerce selling.
New check
Comparison
Lulu vs Books
Lulu and Books both land on Depends.
Books
Depends
Confidence: Low
Confidence is low because reviewed sources mostly cover unrelated 'Books' products, but Google Books itself is a free search tool: casual readers hunting or previewing books lose nothing using it.
| Compare | Lulu | Books |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Depends |
| Best for | Self-publishing authors printing paperbacks | Finding and previewing books |
| Who it's not for | Ebook-first authors . Amazon KDP is the default | Businesses wanting purchasable, admin-managed software . this has none |
| Privacy | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.11 | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.13 |
| Support quality | Recurring complaints documented for years | No evidence found in reviewed sources |
| Public sentiment | Self-publishers report print-on-demand wins but frustration with recent pricing changes and long-running support complaints.² | Sources reviewed discuss books generally rather than Google Books specifically, so no reliable product sentiment was found. |
| Biggest gotcha | Complaint compilations about Lulu Press support span years; support is ticket-based⁵ | Many copyrighted titles offer previews, not full downloads . plan your reading around that14 |
Pick Lulu when
- Self-publishing authors printing paperbacks
- Authors selling print books direct
- Shopify/WooCommerce stores selling books
- Developers needing a print API
When Lulu is not a fit
- Ebook-first authors . Amazon KDP is the default
- Anyone expecting fast, hands-on customer support
- Buyers wanting fixed, predictable pricing . structure changed recently
Pick Books when
- Finding and previewing books
- Tracking down citations in scanned titles
- Casual readers deciding what to read next
When Books is not a fit
- Businesses wanting purchasable, admin-managed software . this has none
- Readers expecting full downloads of copyrighted books
- Buyers researching accounting tools like Zoho Books . wrong product
Sources
- Lulu Publishing Review . Reedsyreedsy.comreview
review
- Trustpilot reviews of www.lulu.comtrustpilot.comreview
- Complaints About Lulu Press . WritersWeeklywritersweekly.comnews
- Lulu vs Books.by comparisonbooks.byreview
- Lulu vs Other Self-Publishing Platformsprintingcenterusa.comreview
- Lulu Direct for Shopifyapps.shopify.comofficial
- Lulu Print API Pricing Calculatordevelopers.lulu.comofficial
- Lulu Book Cost Calculatorlulu.comofficial
- Lulu product security pagelulu.comofficial
- Google Booksbooks.google.comofficial
- Google Books product security pagebooks.google.comofficial
- Search Engines . A Sampling of Alternatives to Google: Bookslegalresearch.usfca.edureview
- Goodreadsgoodreads.comreview
official
