An image forming apparatus capable of both normal printing and special-purpose printing includes a first identification unit, a second identification unit, and a selection unit. The first identification unit identifies a type of print data. The second identification unit identifies a type of print material. The selection unit selects a print resource in accordance with a combination of the type of print data identified by the first identification unit and the type of print material identified by the second identification unit. The selection unit selects the print resource so as to prevent unauthorized printing from being performed when the print data is for special-purpose printing.