Cheap business cards: what you are really paying for
Where the money goes on a printed card, which savings are free and which ones show, and how to spend less without handing over something flimsy.
Read it →Free business cards usually means one of three things: a free design tool, a free file to download, or free printed cards with somebody else's advert on the back. They are different offers with different costs, and below is exactly which parts are free here.
The three kinds of free
They are not the same offer, and they do not cost you the same.
A free design tool. You lay out a card and see it. Whether you can take the file away is the question that matters, and it is often no.
A free download. The file is yours, at print resolution, with no watermark. This is the useful one, because a file you own can go to any printer.
Free printed cards. Somebody prints a hundred at no charge and puts their own advertising on the back. It is a real offer and it is also an advertisement you hand to your customers.
What costs nothing here, stated plainly
- The design. Fifteen designs, colour sets, lettering pairs, your own brand colour.
- The print files. A print PDF with bleed and crop marks, a PNG, an SVG, and a print at home sheet of ten copies with cutting guides. No watermark on any of them.
- A card on the web at your own address, with a small line saying it was made with VisitingCards.store.
- Installing that card on a phone's home screen.
- The free tools: a code generator, a contact file generator, an email signature builder, a size converter and a link generator, at the tools page.
You do not have to buy printing from us to use any of it.
What costs money
Paper and a press. That is the honest answer for the printed half, and no software removes it.
On the digital half, the paid plan adds the things that only matter once the card is working. Pro is $0.99 a month. It takes the made with line off your card, and it lets you send card notifications to everyone who opened your card from the code and saved it to their phone: a reminder after you met, or news when your number changes. The WhatsApp add-on goes further and sends automated follow-ups for you, starting with a thank-you when somebody saves the card. Add-ons to Pro also open a store, events with QR tickets and 1-on-1 bookings on your card, paid on your own payment page with no commission taken. The full list is on the plans page, and the free card shows the paid parts greyed, so you can see what they do before deciding anything.
How to tell a free offer from a trial
Four questions answer it.
- Can I download the print file without paying? If not, the design tool is a shop window.
- Is there a watermark? A watermark on a print file means the free version cannot be used for the thing a card is for.
- What appears on the printed card that I did not put there? Free printing is usually paid for with a line on the back.
- What happens when I stop paying? The answer here is that the card stays live, the made with line comes back, and your leads and numbers stay where they are. Nothing is deleted because a plan ended.
Free is only useful if the card is good
A free card that looks free is expensive. Three things do most of the work:
Paper. Around 350 gsm if a print shop is doing it, the heaviest stock your own printer will feed if you are. This is the only part somebody judges by touch.
One clear thing to press. A name and a number is a card that gets filed. A reason to scan, a booking page, a catalogue, a code that saves your number, is a card that gets used.
Room. Keep words 3 mm inside the cut line and stop filling every corner. Space reads as confidence. For a start that already looks right, pick your line of work from our 25 use cases and open the design shown there in the free maker.
The order that costs least
Make the card in the maker. Take the free files. Print ten at home on card stock and carry them for a week. If the design survives that week, order two hundred and fifty on good paper. The free business cards page lists what the free plan holds, and the printable cards guide covers the home printing properly. None of it asks for a payment card, so make your free card now.
Questions people ask
Is the print file really free?
Yes. A print PDF, a PNG, an SVG and a print at home sheet, all at real size, none watermarked, and no purchase required.
What is the made with line?
One small line on the free card saying it was made with VisitingCards.store. It is the whole of what the free tier carries.
Do I have to give a card number to start?
No. Signing up asks for your name, your email, a password and the address you want. There is no card to enter and nothing to approve.
Can I use the free design commercially?
Yes. The design and the files are yours to print and hand out.