What do I have to answer?

How many pieces, what a blank costs you, where you're printing and how many colors go at each location, whether the press is manual or automatic, how many people run it, and roughly how many finished shirts you print in an hour.

How are screens and impressions counted?

One screen per color at each print location, so a three-color front and a one-color back is four screens. One impression is one color printed once, so that same job is four impressions on every shirt you print.

Are these my exact costs?

Only the numbers you enter are yours. Everything else starts as a PriceMyPrint estimate for ink, screens, setup time, cleanup, equipment, and shop overhead — open Adjust costs to replace any of them with your own.

Yes. Screens, screen prep, registration, and cleanup are charged once for the job and spread across every sellable piece, which is exactly why short runs cost more per shirt.

Do I need an account?

No. Every PriceMyPrint calculator works anonymously and free.

Free Screen Printing Pricing Calculator

PriceMyPrint estimates the real cost of a screen printing run — ink, screens, setup, press time, and shop costs — then shows the price that hits your target margin.

Free. No account required.

Pricing workspace

Screen Printing job

Cost Breakdown

Each piece of a job carries its own cost. Amounts appear once your answers are complete.

Blank
The undecorated garment or item.
PriceMyPrint Estimate
$—
Printing it
Transfers, film, ink, thread, or supplies.
PriceMyPrint Estimate
$—
Employee time
Hands-on time to produce the job.
PriceMyPrint Estimate
$—
Equipment
Wear and cost of the machines doing the work.
PriceMyPrint Estimate
$—
Running the shop
A share of rent, power, software, and other fixed costs.
PriceMyPrint Estimate
$—
Mistakes & waste
The extra pieces you produce so spoilage doesn't shrink the order.
PriceMyPrint Estimate
$—

Pricing a product with multiple decorations or several items? Price the complete job.

Want to see the math behind these numbers? How PriceMyPrint calculates job costs.

How screen printing pricing works

Screen printing cost per piece drops as the run gets longer, because setup is paid once and spread over every shirt. Colors matter too: each screen means more reclaiming, more registration time, and more setup before the first good print.

That is why a 12-piece three-color job and a 300-piece three-color job cannot share one price per shirt.

Costs screen printers often forget

Press time is the obvious one. The quiet ones add up faster.

Burning, reclaiming, and replacing screens
Emulsion, tape, chemicals, and cleanup time
Registration and test prints before the run starts
Dryer power and floor space
Misprints on the first few pulls

Margin vs markup

These two words get used as if they mean the same thing, and mixing them up quietly costs shops money. Markup is added on top of your cost. Margin is the share of the selling price you keep.

If a job costs you $10, a 50% markup gives you a $15 price. A 50% gross margin needs a $20 price. Same words, five dollars apart on every single piece.

Example pricing calculation

Say you print 48 shirts with one front graphic. Your cost is the blank, the decoration supplies, the hands-on time to produce it, a share of the machine, a share of what it costs to keep the doors open, and an allowance for the pieces that go wrong.

Add those together and you have your cost per piece. Choose the margin you want to keep, and the price follows from the math instead of from a gut feeling. PriceMyPrint fills in the dollar amounts once the calculation engine for this method is switched on.

Related pricing guides and tools

Many shops quote screen printing against DTF for smaller runs. Try the DTF calculator to compare, or read the methodology page for the cost equation.

Frequently asked questions

What do I have to answer?: How many pieces, what a blank costs you, where you're printing and how many colors go at each location, whether the press is manual or automatic, how many people run it, and roughly how many finished shirts you print in an hour.
How are screens and impressions counted?: One screen per color at each print location, so a three-color front and a one-color back is four screens. One impression is one color printed once, so that same job is four impressions on every shirt you print.
Are these my exact costs?: Only the numbers you enter are yours. Everything else starts as a PriceMyPrint estimate for ink, screens, setup time, cleanup, equipment, and shop overhead — open Adjust costs to replace any of them with your own.
Is setup included?: Yes. Screens, screen prep, registration, and cleanup are charged once for the job and spread across every sellable piece, which is exactly why short runs cost more per shirt.
Do I need an account?: No. Every PriceMyPrint calculator works anonymously and free.