Both processes put ink on paper and both can look excellent. They differ in what they cost to start and what they cost per copy.
Digital: no setup, flat rate
A digital press images straight from the file. There are no plates, so the first copy costs almost the same as the thousandth. That makes it ideal below roughly 1,000 impressions, for jobs that need to run tomorrow, and for anything with variable data such as numbered tickets or personalised mailers.
Offset: setup once, then cheap
Offset needs plates and a make-ready on the press. That fixed cost is spread across the run, so the per-copy price keeps falling as quantity rises. Above a few thousand it is clearly cheaper, and it also opens up spot colours, metallic inks and a wider range of stocks and sheet sizes.
Where the line sits
For a standard A5 flyer the crossover is usually somewhere between 800 and 1,500 copies, depending on stock and colour count. Below that, digital wins on price and speed. Above it, offset wins and the gap widens fast. If your quantity is near the line, ask for both quotes — we will run them side by side.
Quality differences today
Modern digital output is close enough to offset that most clients cannot tell them apart on a flyer. The gaps that remain are large solid areas, where offset lays down a more even film of ink, and heavy stocks above 350 GSM, which some digital presses cannot feed reliably.
Tell us the quantity, the stock and the deadline, and we will tell you honestly which press should run it.
