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In-house printing vs outsourcing calculator

Compare the in-house and external costs of a printing job of identical scope. We treat sheets and printed pages separately, even for double-sided documents.

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01

Your inputs

The starting values are an example.

Use 1 for single-sided printing or 2 for double-sided printing.
Do not include the price of paper here.
0 for an existing machine; this amount appears once.

Decimals: 12.5 · Thousands: 1,234.56. Follow the field instructions for lists.

02

Your result

Enter your values and select Calculate.

Your calculation will appear here.

Your result will include the relevant values and units.

Understand the calculation

Formula and example

How it is calculated

Sheets/document = round up(pages/document / printed pages/sheet). In-house cost = purchase + total sheets × sheet price + total printed pages × page cost + months × monthly fixed cost.

Worked example

Printing 100 separate three-page documents per month on both sides requires 200 sheets and 300 printed pages. At 5 currency units per sheet, 10 per printed page and 1,000 in monthly fixed costs, in-house printing costs 5,000 per month. Outsourcing at 30 per page costs 9,000 per month, so a new printer costing 48,000 pays back in 12 months.

Things to check

  • If the difference is positive, in-house printing is cheaper over the given period. We assume documents with the same number of pages, printed separately: a double-sided copy with an odd number of pages leaves a blank back page at the end. Provide the page cost from your own measurement or the quote; print quality and availability are separate considerations.
  • The starting values are illustrative examples. Enter your own data on a consistent cost basis. The result is a conditional calculation; it does not model taxation or future market changes.
  • Use one currency throughout. Amounts are illustrative currency units, not a currency conversion or a provider quote.

Frequently asked questions

Should I count pages or sheets?

A page is one printed side of a document; a sheet is the physical paper. One double-sided sheet carries at most two printed pages. One hundred separate three-page documents require two hundred sheets.

Why is the purchase price of an existing printer zero?

The calculator compares new costs arising from the current decision. Do not count the price of a machine bought previously as a new purchase. You can account for future wear, repair and replacement in the page cost or the monthly fixed cost.