I often see forums and articles comparing these two websites when it comes to designing cards for their board games. They are generally out of date, so I am here to compare these two sites, card for card, and see which is the better option.



For this, I am going to compare both sites basic card stock, and the next step upgrade. For Printer’s Studio, it is the 300 gsm (smooth) and the 310gsm (linen). For The Game Crafter, it is the 305 gsm (clay coat) and the 305gsm (UV Coat).



This isn’t comparing apples to apples exactly, more like, comparing honeycrisp to red delicious.



For the cards, I chose each site’s square cards, and prepared some art files as well as several hex colors for each card type to compare printing, the stock, and the cut qualities.





When placing the orders, here is how the prices compared.





Print Studio 18 square cards - 300gsm (smooth) - $6.90USD

Print Studio 18 square cards - 310gsm (linen) - $8.90USD

Shipping - $5.99 in the US

Total

$21.79





The Game Crafter 24 square cards - 305gsm (clay coat) - $3.26 USD

The Game Crafter 24 square cards - 305gsm (UV Coat) - $3.36 USD

Shipping - $2.94 in the US

Total

$10.36

Despite having a 3 day difference in estimated delivery times, they both arrived to my door on the exact same day. I am sure you noticed the deck card count is different. Here is why. The smallest deck sizes for each was 18 for Printer’s Studio and 24 for The Game Crafter. This is based on how they cut their sheets, and I am sure varies with any company.

Printer Studio’s cards were ¼th of an inch bigger, at 2.75.

When the decks arrived, Printer’s Studio had them shipped in a padded envelope, each deck was separately shrink wrapped. While this was a nice presentation, It took a while to get them open without damaging any of the cards.

The Game Crafter’s decks came in a small shipping box, each deck was in it’s own zip-lock baggie. This isn’t the greatest presentation, however it is very functional, as after I opened them, I could put them back in their baggies. With Print studio, I had to hunt down baggies to store them.

Now, onward to the cards quality!

Here is a picture of all the colored hex cards laid out with a hex color guide.

Neither’s printed colors were perfect. However they were still really good, and really close. The blues were the only ones I found to be pretty off for both. The Game Crafters “Aqua” (#00FFFF) was quite a bit darker, while Printer’s studio’s Aqua was more of a bluish grey. The “Blue” for The Game Crafter was pretty close, but Printer’s Studio was more of a bluish lavender.



With this test print, it is easy to compensate for both of these when designing your art, and I think both have very similar print quality, if The Game Crafter isn’t slightly better.



All of the decks are fairly matte except for The Game Crafter’s UV, which is more glossy. However, this increased the saturation and vibrancy of the cards, UV also makes the cards dry-erasable, which I thought was a cool added benefit.





Next up are close ups!

On close inspection here is what I found. Each card type from both company had rough edges. They are not horrible, nor do they effect shuffling and handling.



The Game Crafter’s basic cards had a bit more fray around the edges, but the UV reduced it quite a bit. The glare in this picture made it look quite a bit worse on all the cards than it was.



You will also notice the scratch and scuffs on the Printer’s Studios Linen card (far right). Almost every linen card they sent me had these scuffs and scratches. Only a couple of the basics had them. None of The Game Crafter’s cards had any scratches or scuffs.



All the cards are nice to hold, and feel sturdy in the hand. The linen didn’t seem to add anything much, it is very subtle, and not like most linen you run across. The UV seems to collect finger prints a bit.



Next up are two images of something I noticed on the basic Printer’s Studio cards.



On the PS Basics, there is a weird grain or texture on the card, as if the cards resolution was reduced and than stretched. You can also see here that both edges are rather nice.



Here is another example. This one looks like carpet.



This worried me quite a bit, I would hate for my art to be grainy. However, when looking at the cards I printed with art, it wasn’t nearly as bad.



The Game Crafter cards were one smooth color, with no variations.



Here is a picture of art printed on the cards. You will notice that you can see the grainy-ness of the Printer studio cards, but it isn’t as bad as I had worried about.



(Left to right: TGC basic, UV, PS Basic, PS Linen)



You may also notice that the UV card has an increased vibrancy/richness to the color. (Sorry for the picture being a tad blurry).



Here is another example.



(Left to right: TGC basic, UV, PS Basic, PS Linen)



On this one, The Game Crafter cards had some rough edges. They weren’t too bad, but were more noticeable on darker colored cards.





With all of this said, here is my conclusion.

Both sites are great, they both offer nice cards, with different options. However I think Printer’s Studio is way over priced for what they offer, and the quality you actually get. They are twice the price of The Game Crafter, and offer much less when it comes to board games. I think The Game Crafter is perfectly priced, offers more card options, has better print quality, but slightly less cut quality than Printer’s Studio.



Both sites have pros and cons, but for me, having an unbeatable price for a great product is a winner in my book.