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Pricing guide · 2026

How much do custom boxes cost?

A full color mailer runs about $3.50 a box at 100 and about $1.40 at 1,000. That spread is the whole story: most of what you pay for is setup, and setup costs the same whether you print a hundred boxes or a thousand.

Here is what the number is actually made of, and where a first order usually wastes money.

  • $1.40 to $3.50 a mailer
  • From 100 boxes
  • Free design and proof

Try it on your own numbers

Estimate your price

Pick a box, a size and a quantity to see a rough range. It is a starting point rather than a final quote, but it will get you in the right ballpark in a few seconds.

The estimator uses the same board and print costs as the table below, so the two agree with each other.

Cost estimator

An estimate, not a quote

Size
Exact size, if you know it
in
Board
How many boxes

250 mailer boxes

$1.99to$2.66a box

Roughly $498 to $664 for the run, before shipping.

Get an exact quote

Finishes, materials and artwork all move the real price. Nothing is charged and nothing is ordered.

By quantity

What a custom mailer box costs by quantity

Rough pricing for a full color mailer box, around 8 by 6 by 3 inches. Prices shift with size, board grade and finish, so read them as a range rather than a rate card.

How manyPrice a boxRoughly, for the run
100$3.50$350
250$2.21$553
500$1.57$783
1,000$1.40$1,400

Want a real number for your box? Ask for a free quote and we will price your exact size and finish, usually the same working day.

The drivers

What moves the price

  • How many you order. This is the big one. Setup costs get spread across every box, so the price per box drops fast as your quantity goes up.
  • Size and material. Bigger boxes use more board. A rigid set up box costs far more than a thin paperboard carton.
  • How much printing. Full color on every side costs more than a simple one or two color design.
  • Finishes. Soft touch, foil, embossing and spot gloss all add cost, and all add a sense of quality.
  • Inserts and structure. Custom foam or paperboard inserts add material and a bit of assembly time.

How to spend less

  • Match the box to your product so you are not paying for extra board or wasted shipping space.
  • Order what you will realistically use in the next 6 to 12 months so you land a better price per box.
  • Start with one or two finishes you love rather than every premium option at once.
  • Stick to a standard box style where you can. Fully custom shapes cost more to tool up.

The single cheapest thing you can do is check the size before you order. Fold a paper one with our free dieline tool and you will know in a minute.

Straight answers

Questions worth asking

If yours is not here, just ask. A real person reads every message and you will not get signed up to a mailing list for it.

Ask us anything

How much does a custom box cost?

For a standard full color mailer, you're usually looking at somewhere between $1.40 and $3.50 a box, depending on how many you order. That's roughly $3.50 each at 100 boxes and about $1.40 each at 1,000. Rigid luxury boxes cost more. Simple kraft cartons cost less.

Why are boxes so much cheaper when I order more?

Most of the cost is in the setup: the die, the printing plates, and getting the machines ready. Those costs are about the same whether you print 100 boxes or 1,000, so the more you order, the less each one costs.

What is a typical minimum order?

For digitally printed boxes it is usually somewhere between 25 and 100. At BoxCrisp we start at 100, so you can look professional without ordering thousands.

What makes a box cost more?

Fancy finishes like soft touch coating, foil, embossing and spot gloss all add to the price, as do rigid construction, custom inserts and special materials. Printing in full color on every side costs more than a simple one or two color design.

Is the design fee hidden in the price?

There is no design fee, on a first order or on a reorder. The margin is on the print run, and a well built file is cheaper for us to put on press than a badly built one, so there is nothing to recover. If what you need is a whole brand identity drawn from nothing, that is a different job and we will say so rather than quietly bill for it.

What does shipping add?

Enough to plan for, and the shape of the box matters more than the distance. Flat formats pack tight, so freight is a small share of the total. Rigid boxes cannot be knocked down, so you are paying to ship air and freight becomes a real percentage of the order. It is quoted on its own line either way.

Should I order more than I need to get the price down?

A little more, not a lot more. The unit price keeps falling, but board sitting in a garage is cash you cannot spend, and it is worse if the design changes next quarter. The rule that holds up: order what you will genuinely use in six months, not the quantity that produces the prettiest per box number.

Where does the money actually go?

Setup and tooling first, then board, then ink, then freight. Setup is the part that does not scale, which is the entire reason a hundred boxes cost more each than a thousand. Board, ink and freight scale almost exactly with quantity, so they never get cheaper per box. A quote whose per box price falls forever is describing something that cannot happen.

Do I pay for everything up front?

No. A deposit starts production and the balance falls due before your boxes ship, and the split is written on the quote before you agree to anything. Custom print works this way nearly everywhere, because a box with your logo on it has no resale value to anyone if the order falls through.

Why do two quotes for the same box differ by 40 percent?

Because the same box usually is not the same box. Check four things before you compare: the board grade, whether the print is one side or both, the finish, and whether freight is in the number or added afterwards. Most of the gap between two packaging quotes is hiding in one of those four, and a cheaper quote on a lighter board is not a cheaper box.

Price it yourself

Every format, with its own estimator

Each box type has its own page with a price range, the sizes it comes in and what it is actually good for.

Keep reading

Before you place the order

All guides →

Choosing

Mailer box vs shipping box vs folding carton

Three box types that look similar, cost very different amounts, and fail in different ways. Which one your product actually needs.

July 29, 2026 · 6 min

Buying

Six things brands get wrong on a first packaging order

Six common first run mistakes on custom boxes, what each one costs you, and how to avoid them before you approve a proof.

July 22, 2026 · 7 min

Sizing

How to measure a box (and why your first one is usually wrong)

Length, width and depth in the right order, measured on the inside, with the common mistakes that turn a 250 box run into landfill.

August 12, 2026 · 6 min

Want a real price for your box?

Send us the size and quantity and we will price it properly, with a free design mockup. Usually the same working day.
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