Printing Costs: A Guide
Compare Prices from 4 Top Printing Companies in the UK
When it comes to printing your company’s marketing material, promotional material, internal communications or stationery, the quality of printing and materials is of great importance. But while a certain standard of print quality is non-negotiable, it’s printing costs that will really determine which printing company gets your business.
With the huge array of printing companies on the market, the almost infinite number of products and countless variations, some people would think that trying to write a pricing guide to Printing Costs was a fool’s errand. Well, today Approved Index are your fools because we’ve tried to pool all our collected knowledge on printing costs into one simple guide.
How Are Printing Costs Derived?
Printing costs for a standard print job are determined by three factors: the amount of materials (paper and ink) required, the number of different images (pages) to be printed per document and the method of printing itself. The first factor is self evident. The other two relate to different methods of printing
- Digital Printing is done on professional quality laser or inkjet printers. Every page is printed as if it was the first time and takes the same time to print.
- Litho Printing uses much large machinery. The initial image for each page is created on a plate (or aluminium drum or rubber roller) which can then print the image an unlimited number of times.
The consequences are that litho printing is a much more cost effective method for printing high volumes of the same image, whereas using it for small, one-off jobs is not cost effective at all. The opposite is true for digital printing. The grey area in between involves jobs which are of medium volume but require many different images or pages (which each require a new plate to be set-up in litho printing).
Printing Costs for Digital and Litho Printing
Most times you won’t know which method of printing you’re being quoted for. Most printing companies have the equipment to perform both types of printing and the different print qualities are almost indistinguishable from each other. Every printing company will have worked out in advance a printing costs matrix so they’ll just feed your requirements into their database and give you their lowest quote, regardless of the technology involved.
Rough Guide to Printing Costs
We’re selecting prices at random from Approved Printing Companies suppliers. We’re going to use a price-per-unit for each of flyers, brochures, business cards, letterheads and posters to give you an indication of how these prices change with volume (in brackets). Prices will apply to full colour prints with a paper weight of 130gsm with a gloss finish, unless otherwise stated. This is only to give a rough idea of costs – if you’re looking for prices for a specific job, you’re best off getting quotes from several suppliers which you can accomplish easily through our simple online form.
Flyers
- Single sided A6 – From 0.7p (20k) to 4.5p (1k) per flyer
- Double sided A5 – From 1.3p (20k) to 9p (1k) per flyer
Brochures
Based on 32pp, 130gsm throughout, staple bound (saddle stitched)
- A4 - Prices from 38p (10k) to £3.01 (250) per brochure
- A5 – Prices from 20.1p (10k) to £1.61 (250) per brochure
Business Cards
Based on 400gsm matt laminated, double-sided, full colour
- Prices from 3.8p (5k) to 18p (250) per card
A4 Letterheads
Based on 120gsm single-sided, full colour
- Prices from 2.58p (50k) to 29.6p (250) per letterhead
Posters
Based on full-colour, single-sided, 170gsm gloss
- A3 prices from 6.22p (25k) to 56p (250) per poster
- A2 prices from 12p (25k) to 59.6p (250) per poster
Printing Costs: Don’t Take Our Word For It
As we’ve indicated, prices vary a lot between different suppliers so gathering as many quotes as you can for each printing job is essential to find best value. Aside from printing cost, quality of printing also varies so asking to see, or be sent, samples of similar jobs before choosing a supplier isn’t out of order. If you have ongoing printing costs it might be worth taking on a print management company so you can benefit from discounts applied to repeated orders.
Compare Prices from 4 Top Printing Companies in the UK
