How do you calculate profit on a screen printing job?

Profit is the customer quote minus your true cost — blanks, ink, and press labor (setup plus run time). AI Separations computes all of it and shows the margin percent, so you can see whether a job is worth running before you commit.

When is DTF cheaper than screen printing?

Screen printing has high per-color setup, so it's cheapest on long runs; DTF has almost no per-color setup, so it's cheaper on short runs and high color counts. The profit calculator estimates the break-even quantity between screen and DTF for each job.

Profit Mode lets you pick a goal — cheapest production, fastest print, best quality, lowest screen count, or premium — and the app retargets the whole separation. The same art can come out as 8 colors for quality, 6 for balance, or 4 for budget, with the price and quality tradeoff shown side by side.

Does fewer colors actually make more profit?

Often, yes. Fewer colors mean fewer screens, less setup, and faster press time, which raises profit per hour even when the total price is lower. Profit Mode shows the tradeoff so you can choose the most profitable option for each run length.

Screen Print Profit Calculator — Margin & Cost Per Job

Choose quality, speed, or profit before generating the final seps

The most expensive mistake in a print shop is separating a job one way and only then finding out it isn't profitable. AI Separations ties pricing, profit, and the separation strategy together — so you can see the money before you commit a single screen.

What the profit calculator shows

True job cost — blanks, ink, and press labor (setup + run time), not a rough guess.
Profit and margin — dollars and percent, colour-coded, on the actual quote.
Break-even vs DTF — the run length where screen printing beats DTF for this job.
Cost-to-print warning — a flag when the screen count makes a short run unprofitable.

Profit Mode: one design, priced five ways

Pick a goal and the app retargets the entire separation — color count, halftone vs solid, line ruling, and white strategy — then shows the price and quality side by side:

Goal	What it does
Cheapest production	Fewer screens, less ink — lowest cost to run
Fastest print	Few solid colors, no extra flash passes
Lowest screen count	Squeezed to the fewest screens possible
Best quality	An extra color for clean detail and smooth blends
Premium print	Max colors, finest screen, all whites

The same complex design might separate as 8 colors for quality, 6 for balance, or 4 for budget — and the comparison shows the quote, margin, and quality rating for each so you pick with eyes open.

Print the profitable way

Download the free trial, run a real job, and compare the profit across every mode before you pull the seps. The full toolset unlocks for $179 one-time — no Photoshop, no subscription.

Download the free trial

Works hand-in-hand with the quote calculator, the print-readiness check, and ink inventory matching.