How Much Do Metal Business Cards Cost?

Four things set the price of a metal card: the metal color, the surface finish, the design add-ons and the quantity. Quantity moves it most. The finish moves it least.

Every color we sell starts as stainless steel. Silver is the bare steel itself. Black, gold, rose gold, copper, white and iridescent are PVD coatings: a thin, very hard metallic layer bonded to the steel in a vacuum chamber. Copper and brass tones are coatings too, not solid copper or brass, so they won't tarnish. Aluminum is the one non-steel option, and it's far lighter.

The colors sit in three price groups:

Aluminum is priced in the configurator.

The gap between base and top at 100 cards: 585 $ vs 475 $ for matte 0.5 mm (both from the configurator ladder). My advice: pick the color for the brand, then save elsewhere.

Matte, brushed or mirror. Matte is the base price, and brushed and mirror cost the same small step above it. Choose on looks. I recommend brushed more than anything else: the grain hides fingerprints, catches a moving band of light, and makes engraving easier to read. Mirror is the showpiece, but it reflects the camera, so a QR code or small contact line scans and reads better on matte or brushed.

Laser engraving is included in every price on this page. The laser burns your type and logo into the surface; on a coated card it cuts through the color to bright steel, which is where the contrast comes from. Two add-ons sit on top:

• Cut-outs (+85 $ at 100 cards). The laser goes all the way through, leaving a window the light falls through. Anything floating inside a cut (the middle of an O) needs a small bridge, and we draw those with you.
• Color printing (+60 $ at 100 cards). UV-cured color printed onto the steel, the only way to get gradients, photos or a full-color logo onto metal. Engraving alone can't do tones: it's on or off.

Engraved QR codes are a flat +30 $ at any quantity. What metal can't take: foil stamping, letterpress and paper embossing are paper processes. On steel, the "foil" look comes from mirror polish or color fill, and the "deboss" look from an etch.

Quantity moves the price more than anything else. Setting up the laser, preparing the coating batch and checking the file cost the same for 5 cards as for 500, so small runs carry that cost on very few cards. On our silver ladder a card costs 46,00 $ at 5 and 2,35 $ at 1,000, about 95% less. The steepest drop comes between 5 and 100. After that it flattens.

Three builds, priced straight from our configurator. All three are 0.5 mm stainless with engraving included, a free proof and free shipping within the continental US. I price everything this way: start with the full production, then see what each step down saves. The middle one is what I'd order.

Bare steel, a clean matte face and your mark burned into it. No cut-outs, no color. The weight does the talking. This is the cheapest way into a real metal card, and at 5 or 25 cards it's how I'd test whether metal suits your handoffs before committing to 100.

The one I'd order. The laser cuts through the black coating to bright steel, so the type reads sharp at arm's length. One cut-out turns a flat card into an object that throws a shadow. At 100 cards it's 730 $, the step up from the essentials.

Everything at once. Color artwork on the front, contact details engraved on the back, a cut-out accent, and gold that catches the light along the brush grain. It's the most expensive build we list. It's worth it when the card has to carry a full-color brand mark, and overkill when it doesn't.

How much are metal business cards at the quantities people actually order? Short answers, all silver stainless, matte, engraved, 0.5 mm:

• 100 cards: 475 $ (4,75 $ each)
• 250 cards: 820 $ (3,28 $ each)
• 500 cards: 1.330 $ (2,66 $ each)
• 1,000 cards: 2.350 $ (2,35 $ each)

There's no 200-card tier. Two hundred cards fall between the 100 and 250 prices; for a run that isn't on the ladder, ask and we'll quote it.

For most people, 100 is the right first order. Metal cards get kept rather than handed out by the fistful, so a box of 100 lasts a long time. Don't double up for a lower per-card price you won't use.

Our cheapest metal business card is silver stainless steel, matte, engraved only, 0.5 mm thick. The cheapest order is 230 $ for 5 cards, and the cheapest per card is 2,35 $ at 1,000.

Search for metal business cards and the shopping results are full of cards at a few cents to a couple of dollars each. On 1 October 2026 the cheapest listings were packs of blank aluminum cards about 0.2 mm thick, sold to people who own a laser engraver. They're blanks: no design, no engraving, no file check, no proof. You do the work yourself, on metal less than half as thick as our standard card.

That's a fine product for a maker with a laser. It isn't what most people mean by "a metal business card".

1. How thick is it, in millimeters? 0.5 mm stainless weighs about 18 g. A 0.2 mm aluminum card weighs a fraction of that and flexes in the hand.
2. Is the color a PVD coating or paint? Paint chips at the corners in a wallet. PVD is bonded to the steel.
3. Who checks the file? Text under about 1.5 mm cap height and lines under 0.3 mm don't engrave cleanly, and a cut-out without bridges falls out. Someone should catch that before the laser runs.
4. Is there a proof? You should see exactly what gets engraved, cut and printed before you pay for steel.
5. Is shipping in the price? A box of 100 steel cards weighs about 1.8 kg, so shipping isn't trivial.

Ours: 0.5 mm stainless, PVD color, a person checks every file, a free proof, free shipping within the continental US.

Metal costs several times what our best paper cards do, and it should. Most people who want metal should also carry a paper run. Here's the honest comparison at a quantity you'd actually order.

Paper wins on cost per handoff and on the range of paper finishes (foil, letterpress, edge paint). Metal wins on weight, durability and the moment of the handover.

Yes, if you hand them out selectively. A metal card costs about 4,75 $ at 100, against well under a dollar for most paper cards, so it pays off when one handover matters: a client pitch, a closing, a founder meeting, a membership. It's the wrong card for a trade-show table where 300 cards leave in a weekend.

Two signs it's worth it:

• you remember the people you give cards to;
• the card is part of what you're selling (real estate, private services, design studios).

Two signs it isn't:

• you hand out 30+ a week;
• you're ordering for a team of 15.

For teams, premium paper with foil or embossing is the better buy.

• Start with silver, matte, engraved only. It's the cheapest build at every quantity and still unmistakably steel: the weight and the cold tell the story before anyone reads it.
• Stay at 0.5 mm. 0.8 mm is heavier and stiffer, and costs a little more (the configurator shows the exact step). 0.5 mm already weighs about 18 g, roughly three or four plastic credit cards.
• Skip color printing unless the brand needs it. Engraving plus one cut-out often looks stronger than a busy printed face, and you save 60 $ at 100.
• Order 100, not 250. Metal cards are kept, not tossed. Buy what you'll actually hand over this year.
• Engrave a QR instead of a long URL. 30 $ flat, any quantity, and it frees up room on the card. Point it at a short link you control, so you can change the destination without reprinting steel.

Not sure your mark works on metal? Upload it and our Studio shows you a concept on a black stainless card in a few minutes, with the honest notes: which lines are too fine to engrave, where a cut-out needs a bridge, what reads at arm's length. A concept is a picture, not a print file. A person rebuilds your artwork and proofs it before anything is cut.

Every metal order includes:

• Laser engraving of your text, logo, line art and contact details, at every quantity.
• A person checks your file. Most paper designs need adjusting for steel: fine lines thickened, cut-outs bridged, layers separated for engraving, cutting and printing. We do it at no charge and tell you what changed. metal file requirements
• A digital proof. You see exactly what gets engraved, cut and printed, and where. Nothing is cut until you approve.
• Free shipping within the continental US. Other destinations are quoted at checkout; we ship to 30+ countries.

The configurator prices your exact combination live: metal, finish, thickness, add-ons and quantity, with the total and per-card price at every tier. It also takes the order.

For anything it doesn't cover (more than 1,000 cards, several names, an all-steel NFC build, an unusual size), send us a brief. We'll price the full spec, then show you what each step down saves.