Business cards · How-to

Print Business Cards at Home

A home printer plus a $15 box of Avery stock beats a print-shop minimum order for most people — if the stock matches the printer and the scale stays at 100%. Here's the whole routine, with the free builder that makes the PDF.

The four steps

Stock, build, test, print.

1. Buy stock that matches your printer. Laser printer: Avery 5371 (perforated, 250 cards) or 5877 (Clean Edge smooth edges, 400 cards). Inkjet: 8371 (perforated) or 8871 (Clean Edge, two-sided). The coating differs between laser and inkjet stock — matching it to your printer is the single biggest quality factor.

2. Build your card free in the browser. Use the online builder — pick a layout (text-only, square/circle logo, tall logo, or wide wordmark), type your details, drop in a PNG logo if you have one, and download the 10-up PDF. No account, no watermark.

3. Print one test sheet on plain paper. Print the PDF at 100% scale (“Actual Size”), US Letter, portrait. Hold the plain-paper print against a card sheet in front of a light — the text should sit inside every card outline. If it drifts, your print dialog is scaling: turn off “Fit to Page”, “Shrink to Fit”, and any borderless mode.

4. Print the real sheets and separate the cards. Load the card stock in the tray the manual recommends (usually the main tray, 20–25 sheets at a time). Perforated stock: fold along the perforation and the cards snap out. Clean Edge: flex the sheet gently and the die-cut cards release with smooth print-shop edges.

Step 2 lives here

Open the free business card builder

Four layouts, logo upload, instant 10-up PDF — plus per-product guides for every Avery number.

Start

Choosing stock

Which box should you buy?

The short version: match the printer first, then pick the finish. Laser owners choose between classic perforated 5371-family stock and smooth Clean Edge 5877; inkjet owners between 8371 and Clean Edge 8871. Beyond white matte there’s glossy 8859, ivory 5876/8876, and linen-texture 8873 — and for volume, bulk boxes 5911 (laser, 2,500) and 8471 (inkjet, 1,000). Every one of them prints from the same free template.

Guide and print settings updated through July 2026.