Blog/Offset
Side by Side
Offset vs. digital printing: which one fits your job?
Both look professional. The right choice depends on how many you need, how soon, and how exact the color has to be.
Go digital for small quantities, tight deadlines and anything personalized. Go offset when the quantity is large, the brand color has to match exactly, or the paper is out of the ordinary.
Every week somebody asks me for "the cheap printing." I respect the honesty. The problem is that the cheap option changes depending on whether you need 50 flyers or 50,000, and nobody mentions the number until the third email.
So here is the conversation we would have at my desk, minus the coffee. Your job will almost certainly be printed one of two ways: offset or digital. Both look professional. Choosing the wrong one is how a small order gets expensive, or a big one takes forever.
Offset
- Ink travels from metal plates to the paper
- Setup takes time, then every extra piece costs very little
- Exact brand colors with specially mixed inks
- The widest choice of papers and sizes
Digital
- Prints straight from your file, with no plates
- Almost no setup, so small quantities stay affordable
- Every piece can carry a different name or number
- Ready sooner
Offset, in one paragraph
Offset printing uses plates, one for each ink color. Making them and getting the press up to color takes time, paper and a very patient press operator. That is the setup cost, and you pay it whether you print 500 pieces or 50,000. Once the press is running, though, each additional sheet costs very little. Think of it as renting a bus: terrible value for two passengers, excellent for sixty.
Digital, in one paragraph
A digital press takes your file and prints it directly, the way your office printer does. (It is nothing like your office printer. Please don't tell our press I made that comparison.) There are no plates and almost no setup, so the first copy costs about the same as the thousandth. That makes small quantities affordable and very large ones less so.
Side by side
| Factor | Offset | Digital |
|---|---|---|
| Quantity | Medium to very large runs | One piece to a few hundred |
| Setup | Plates and press preparation | Minimal |
| Cost per piece | Drops as the quantity goes up | Stays about the same |
| Turnaround | Longer | Shorter |
| Color matching | Spot inks for an exact brand color | Very close, built from four inks |
| Personalization | Every piece is identical | Every piece can be different |
| Paper options | Widest range | Wide, with some limits |
Three questions that settle it
1. How many do you need?
There is a crossover point where offset becomes the cheaper option per piece. It moves with the size, the paper and the number of colors, so I won't pretend there is a magic number. Tell us the quantity and we will tell you which side of the line you are on.
2. When do you need it?
If the answer is "yesterday," we should talk about digital. And then, gently, about calendars.
3. How exact does the color have to be?
If your logo color has to be identical on letterhead, envelopes and forms printed months apart, offset with a spot ink is the safest route. A spot ink is mixed to one specific color before it goes on the press, the way a paint store mixes a gallon to match a sample. Digital builds every color from four inks and gets very close, which is more than enough for most jobs.
When the answer is both
Plenty of companies use the two together. Stationery and business forms get printed on offset once or twice a year, because the quantities are high and the color has to stay consistent. Event flyers, short runs of brochures and personalized invitations go digital as they come up.
You do not have to make this decision alone, and you definitely do not have to make it in the subject line of an email. Send us the quantity, the size, the deadline and what the piece is for, and we will tell you which press it belongs on. You won't even have to say "the cheap one." We'll know.
