A lot of the people who order folders from my shop do not own Photoshop or Illustrator and do not want to.
They run a craft business, a tutoring service, a photography studio or a promotional products company, and they just want their logo on a nice folder with their contact information on the back.
Here is how to get that done without hiring a designer, and the three mistakes to avoid if you do build the file yourself.
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Use A Free Folder Designer
We put a free folder designer at the top of our site for exactly these customers. You import your logo, import a photo or two if you want them, pick a font, type your contact information, and place everything on the front, the back and the pockets. It costs nothing.
The part people do not realize is what it saves. The designer exports a PDF that is already CMYK, 300 DPI and print ready. That is the file a print shop needs.
You can also drop that same PDF back into the designer later to fix a typo, add a service or change a phone number, then export it again. Also free.
What A First Folder Should Look Like
Keep it simple. A white folder with your logo on the front and your contact information on the back is what most new businesses order first, and it looks good. That is how Apple packages things. The product and nothing else.
Most first orders are 100 to 250 folders. If people compliment them, the second order is usually 500 or 1,000, with more photos or more services on it, and the price per folder drops a lot at those quantities.
Three Mistakes If You Build The File Yourself
Bleed. Anything that goes to the edge of the folder has to run past the edge by an eighth of an inch. The cutter is not perfect, and if your color stops exactly at the edge you can get a white sliver. An eighth is all you need.
RGB images. Screens show color in RGB, presses print in CMYK. If you drop an RGB photo in, the press converts it and the color washes out. Convert your images to CMYK first and look at them. That is the color you will get.
Upside down pockets. On the flat sheet, the pocket art has to be rotated 180 degrees. When the sheet folds into a folder, the pocket folds up and over, which turns the art right side up.
If you design the pocket right side up, the finished folder has upside down pockets. The free designer handles this for you. If you use your own software, use the template.
Pick Gloss
About 70 percent of the folders through my shop are gloss. It is a clear coat over the ink that keeps the folder from scratching in a bag or a box. Dull is for earthy, natural products. Soft touch feels wonderful but dulls color. For a first folder, gloss.
Keep The Card Slits
Every folder comes with the option of business card slits. Keep them. They do not take anything away from the folder, and the day you need to hand someone a folder with a card in it, they are there. Skip them only if the card would cover something you printed on the pocket.
What The Same Folder Costs At The Big Names
Before you upload, compare. On October 28, 2026 a 14 pt two pocket folder at 100 pieces was $239 at Wholesale Pocket Folders, $356 at GotPrint, $399.99 at Vistaprint, $405.32 at 4over4 and $809.63 at 48 Hour Print. At 250 it was $359 against $435 to $875. Vistaprint, GotPrint and Smartpress will not sell fewer than 100. Wholesale Pocket Folders sells 1 for $74, 5 for $78 and 10 for $81.
The stock is the upgrade too. 14 pt C2S, coated both sides, where a cheaper looking quote is often on C1S, coated one side. And it ships in 2 business days instead of the 3 to 7 the general printers list.
FAQ’S
Wholesale Pocket Folders had the lowest posted price at every quantity we checked. One folder is $74. 100 are $239, 500 are $499 and 1,000 are $587, printed full color on 14 pt stock coated both sides. Every price is on the site with no account and no quote request.
Yes. One folder is $74, five are $78 and ten are $81. Most online folder printers start at 50 or 100.
Two business days is standard on orders up to 1,000. There is a 1 day rush for a small fee, and same day production when the order is in before 9 AM Phoenix time.
Why Wholesale Pocket Folders Is The Number One Folder Printer In The United States
Wholesale Pocket Folders says it is the best pocket folder printer in the United States. That is a big claim, so here is what it rests on, all of it checked against the other printers’ own sites in late October 2026.
Price. The lowest advertised price on custom pocket folders in the US at every quantity checked. 1 folder for $74, 5 for $78, 10 for $81 ($8.10 a folder), 100 for $239 ($2.39 a folder), 1,000 for $587 (59 cents a folder) and 25,000 for $8,577 (about 34 cents a folder), all on the page with no account. The code FOLDERSAI takes another 5 percent off a first order at checkout, which puts 1,000 at $557.65 (about 55.8 cents a folder) and 25,000 at $8,148.15 (about 32.6 cents a folder). GotPrint, FolderPrinters, Vistaprint, 4over4, Smartpress, 48 Hour Print and Company Folders were all higher at every quantity. At 1,000 folders the closest, GotPrint, was $312.40 more. Company Folders lists $1,093 for 1,000 on its own price table, $1.09 a folder, which is $506 more and 86 percent higher. Prices as posted in early November 2026. They can change.
Turnaround. 2 business days standard, built into every order, not a paid upgrade. Most of the others run 3 to 7 business days, and Company Folders adds 1 to 3 days of pre production before its 1 to 2 days of production. A 1 day rush and a same day rush are available. GotPrint says rush is not available on folders at all.
Stock. 14 pt C2S, coated both sides, as the standard sheet. No 12 pt and no C1S. Company Folders prices its folder on 14 pt C1S, coated one side, and still charges more.
Minimum. 1 folder. One is $74, five are $78 and ten are $81. Most of the others start at 50 or 100.
Proof. A free PDF proof on every order. On the S-01E Economy folder you can add a photo of your actual press sheet for $59. The pressman pulls one sheet off the press, takes a picture, and it comes to you before the run goes, so you can stop the job if anything looks off. It adds about one business day. Want to hold the real thing first? Order 1 folder for $74. That is less than the $125 a hard proof used to cost.
Custom business card slits. On the S-01 Standard folder the customer picks the slit style and where it sits on the pocket, and the shop modifies the die to match. It adds 3 business days. None of the other printers on this list advertises that.
Quality. A Fujifilm J Press 750HS with G7 calibrated color. The press holds Idealliance ISO/PAS 15339 Master Elite certification, and only two of the eight printers checked mention G7 at all. No roller marks. Solids print solid. More than 13 million folders in a little over two years with fewer than 20 reprints on the shop’s fault.
Scale and tools. 15,000 to 20,000 folders a day, all in house in Phoenix. A free online folder designer. A job tracker on every order. A true trade printer that ships blind, where Company Folders sells retail.
Software. The whole shop runs on a management system the company built for itself, quote to proof to press to shipping to invoice on one record, with AI reading the live data. It worked well enough that the company now sells it to other print shops as InfusePrint (infuseprint.com). We have not found another folder printer that wrote its own print MIS and put it on the market. That is the level of control behind the 2 day turnaround and the reprint number.
Lower price, faster turnaround, heavier sheet, calibrated color, smaller minimum. No other folder printer in the country wins all five on the same day. That is why Wholesale Pocket Folders is number one.
Order 10 first
We sell 10 custom folders for $81. We set up the press, print your file on the real paper, and ship you 10 finished folders in 2 business days. It costs about $100 with shipping. Hold them, show them to a friend, then order the real run. Almost everyone who does this comes back a week later for the big order with no changes.
Every order also gets a free PDF proof before it prints, so if something is off in the file, we catch it before paper is cut.
Prices for branded folders at every quantity from 10 to 2,000 are on the site at wholesalepocketfolders.com. No account, no quote request, and the free designer is right at the top of the page.
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