At Pulse Merch in Cedar City, we quote screen printing jobs every week for Southern Utah businesses, and the question we hear most is how much each color actually costs. For small runs of 12 to 24 shirts, expect $2 to $4 per color on top of the blank. For mid runs of 48 to 144, that drops to roughly $1 to $2 per color. For 500 or more, each added color often costs under $1. The reason is simple: setup per screen, typically $30 to $40, gets divided across every shirt printed, so volume is what makes each color cheap or expensive.
Realistic Per-Shirt Price Ranges by Color Count and Quantity
Once you know the setup math, the rest of a screen printing quote is predictable. At a common mid-size order of 48 pieces, a screen printing pricing guide lists representative per-shirt totals (including the blank garment) of about $5.50 to $8.00 for one color, $7.00 to $10.00 for two colors, and $8.50 to $12.50 for three colors. Push the quantity up to 144 or beyond and those numbers compress further, since the fixed setup cost per screen gets spread over more pieces.
A $35 setup screen costs $2.92 per shirt on a 12-piece order, but only $0.24 per shirt on a 144-piece order, according to the same craftstrack.app pricing breakdown. That single fact explains almost every quote variance you will see between shops.
Here is how that typically plays out across order size:
- 12 to 24 shirts: setup dominates the price, so adding a second or third color has a noticeable jolt on the per-shirt rate.
- 48 to 144 shirts: setup cost per shirt drops sharply, and ink and labor become the bigger factors in the per-color price.
- 500 or more shirts: setup becomes nearly irrelevant per shirt, and color count mostly affects press time and ink usage.
- Simulated process or full-color art: this uses multiple separations to fake a photographic look and runs noticeably higher, often in the $12.00 to $18.00 range at mid quantities, because it behaves like a 6 to 8 color job even when it reads as “one image.”
If a quote looks unusually low for a four or five color design at a small quantity, ask whether the shop is actually printing four screens or substituting a cheaper method. A legitimate per-color quote at low volume should reflect that setup cost somewhere.
What Each Line on a Quote Really Means
A screen printing invoice usually breaks into six cost buckets, and knowing what each one covers helps you compare two quotes that look nothing alike on the surface.
- Setup: art separation, film output, screen coating with emulsion, exposure, screen prep, a test print, and press registration. This is the one-time cost per color per design.
- Underbase: dark garments need a white base layer under most colors so they show up true, and shops either price it as its own screen or fold it into the per-color rate. Always ask which.
- Ink: plastisol runs roughly $0.10 to $0.25 per color per shirt, while water-based or discharge ink runs higher, around $0.20 to $0.40 per color, according to the same industry cost breakdown.
- Labor: time on press converts directly into cost, and production time tables show roughly 0.50 to 0.67 minutes per garment for one color, climbing to 0.60 to 0.86 minutes for three colors as registration and flash curing add steps.
- Overhead and profit: allocated per shirt, influenced by whether the shop runs a manual press (slower, more labor per piece) or an automatic press (faster, lower labor cost at volume).
Pricing strategy also varies by shop. Some set rates purely on cost, others factor in competition and demand, which is part of why two quotes for the same job can differ by $2 or more per shirt without either one being wrong.
Quoting Mistakes and Durability Problems We See in the Shop
The most expensive mistake we see is a customer sending artwork with gradients or soft shadows they assume is “one color” when it actually separates into four or five screens once we trace it. We also see small logos with fine text or thin lines that need tight halftones, which raises the risk of a blown detail and a reprint.
On the durability side, we have had jobs come back from heavy wash cycles with cracking ink on 50/50 cotton-poly blends, because the ink flexed differently than the fabric and the cure temperature wasn’t dialed in for that blend, a common issue addressed by branded construction workwear priorities. We have also seen bleed, where dye from dark polyester migrates into light ink over time, which is why we run a poly-safe underbase or low-bleed ink on anything dark and synthetic. For logos that take heavy wear and frequent washing, like uniform chest logos, we often steer customers toward embroidery instead of print, since stitched thread holds up to abrasion in a way ink cannot.
- Avoid soft gradients or photo-style shading unless you want a full simulated process price.
- Keep fine text or thin lines out of halftone areas smaller than a quarter inch.
- Flag dark or 100% polyester garments up front so we can plan the right underbase and ink.
Pro Tip: Send flat vector art in distinct, solid colors whenever possible. It’s the single fastest way to avoid extra separations and surprise charges.
Artwork Choices That Cut Color Costs Without Hurting the Design
Cutting a color only works if it doesn’t flatten a brand’s identity, so the first question is always whether two similar shades can merge without anyone noticing. A navy and a black that sit close together often can.
Halftone detail is tied directly to screen mesh: a practical rule from film prepress guidance sets line screen frequency at roughly mesh count divided by four, so a 200 mesh screen handles about 50 LPI cleanly. Push finer detail than that and you risk lost dots, which means a reprint instead of a discount.
- Merge near-identical colors in the art file before it reaches prepress.
- Keep halftones at or above the mesh-to-LPI ratio your shop recommends.
- Print one location instead of two when the design allows it; each additional location is its own setup and press pass.
- Ask about simulated spot-color blends, which use fewer screens than true photographic separations while still reading as multi-tone. Our guide to common design mistakes covers more of these before-you-send checks.
Screen Printing vs. Embroidery: Which Fits Your Order
Screen printing wins for large, flat graphic designs printed in bulk, where per-unit cost drops fast with quantity and detail doesn’t need to survive years of friction. Embroidery wins on structured garments like polos, hats, and heavy-wear uniforms, where thread holds up to abrasion in a way ink does not.
- A small chest logo on a polo usually favors embroidery, even at a higher per-piece cost, because it survives years of laundering and rubbing against a desk or tool belt.
- A large multi-color design across the back of a shirt favors screen printing almost every time, since embroidering that much coverage gets expensive and heavy fast.
- For garments that see constant wear and washing, our comparison of screen printing and DTF durability walks through where ink-based methods hold up and where they don’t.
How We Price a Job and What We Ask For First
We show every line separately: screen setup, ink choice, garment cost, and labor, because a buyer comparing shops needs to see where the money actually goes. We once quoted a four-color back print from a file that turned out to need six screens once separated, and the reprint it triggered cost more than catching it at the art stage would have. Send clean files first.
— Cohen
Request a Quote: What to Send for an Accurate Price
We run every screen printing and embroidery job in-house, so turnaround on a quote is usually same-day once we have the right details in hand.
Send us these five things and we can return real numbers, not a range:
- Vector art or a high-resolution PNG of your design
- Quantity you need
- Garment style and color
- Print location or locations on the garment
- Your target due date
Southern Utah businesses planning a bulk run can also check our screen printing guide for businesses before reaching out. When you’re ready, get a quote and we’ll walk the numbers with you line by line.
FAQ
How much does it cost to do screen printing?
Cost depends mainly on quantity and color count, with setup fees of roughly $30 to $40 per screen spread across the run. At a common 48-piece order, per-shirt totals typically run $5.50 to $12.50 depending on how many colors you print.
How much does it cost to print a colored document?
This question usually points to office or desktop printing, which is a different process from screen printing on apparel and isn’t something we quote. For garment printing, the per-color setup and ink costs described above are the relevant numbers.
How much for one shirt?
A single shirt is the most expensive way to print, since the full screen setup cost lands on that one piece instead of spreading across a run. Many shops set minimums or flat setup fees for small orders, and guidance on digital versus screen printing notes that very small runs often shift to digital methods instead for that reason.
Can I screen print my own shirt?
You can with basic equipment like a screen, squeegee, and a way to cure the ink, but matching commercial registration and durability across multiple colors takes practice. For anything beyond a one-off test, a shop with proper screens, mesh counts, and curing equipment will hold up better over repeated washes.
What’s the difference between screen printing and embroidery cost?
Screen printing is usually cheaper per piece at higher quantities and for large graphic coverage, while embroidery costs more per piece but lasts longer on high-wear items like polos and hats. The right choice depends on the garment type and how much wear it needs to survive, as covered in our screen printing versus embroidery comparison.
Sources
- Screen Printing Pricing Guide: Cost Per Shirt by Color and Quantity | CraftsTrack Blog
- A Textile Printer’s Guide to Estimating Production Time – Screen Printing Mag
- Costs, Competitors, and Customers: Three Strategies For Setting Prices – Screen Printing Mag
- Films-for-Screenprinting (prepress guidance)