Best Paper Weight for Flyers in GSM and Lb

Paper weight is the spec people feel before they read a word. A light uncoated sheet bends like a good letter, the 100 lb gloss text has a snap, and the 80 lb gloss cover feels like a postcard. A flyer that flops in the hand reads as disposable, while a piece with real heft signals that the offer behind it is worth keeping.

The right weight also decides whether your flyer survives the real world. A giveaway stack at a trade show, a rack outside a shop, a mailer that rides through sorting machines, each demands a different stiffness. Pick too light and the piece curls, tears, or shows print bleeding through the back. Pick too heavy for a mass run and you pay for durability the campaign never needed.

This guide walks the full range of flyer stocks by both gsm and the US lb system, shows which weight fits which job, and points you to the exact flyers and finishes at 4OVER4.COM. If you are building the design itself, our companion guide on how to make flyers covers layout and file setup.

Text weight is the workhorse of flyer printing. It is flexible enough to fold, light enough to keep runs affordable, and thick enough to feel legitimate. For the majority of flyers, this is where you should start.

• 70 lb uncoated text: A natural, writable surface with no shine. Ideal for informational flyers, tear-off sheets, and anything a reader marks up with a pen.
• 100 lb gloss text: The default flyer stock at 4OVER4.COM. Rich color and a satisfying snap in the hand at the lowest price on the form.
• 100 lb silk/matte text: The same weight with a soft, low-glare finish that reads as premium and is easier on the eyes under bright light.

If your flyer is part of a folded piece, the same text stocks bend cleanly, which is why they carry over to brochures. Our guide on how to fold a brochure shows how these weights behave once a fold is added.

When a flyer needs to stand up on its own, in a rack, on a counter, or on a fridge, cover weight is the answer. These stocks are rigid, resist creasing, and carry the perceived value of a premium piece.

80 lb gloss cover (about 216 gsm) is the sweet spot for durable flyers. It feels like a thick postcard, holds a sharp edge, and survives handling that would dog-ear a text sheet. It suits a keepsake coupon or a flyer that lives on a fridge. The 100 lb silk/matte cover gives the same kind of stiffness with a low-glare surface.

14 pt gloss cover and 14 pt uncoated cover push into true cardstock territory, roughly 350 gsm. They are the pick for flyers that sit in an outdoor rack, get pinned to boards, or need to project real quality.

Cover weight raises the cost per piece, so reserve it for pieces where durability and first impression justify the spend. For everyday handouts, text weight still wins on value.

Weight decides the feel, but finish decides the look. On the flyer form the coating comes with the stock you pick, gloss, silk/matte or uncoated, so each row of the table above is a weight and a finish in one. Gloss suits event, retail and food flyers with bold photos, and our silk flyers video shows the low-glare sheet up close.

You can also add High Gloss UV Coating on top of a gloss stock for extra shine and scuff resistance. It adds 35 percent to the price and never changes the weight, so choose your stock first.

Heavier paper uses more fiber, so weight is also an environmental choice. The greenest flyer is one that is heavy enough to do its job and no heavier, printed on stock with recycled content.

The 14 pt uncoated cover (30% PCW) option pairs true cardstock rigidity with 30 percent post-consumer waste content, a strong pick when a durable flyer also needs green credentials. For lighter runs, standard text weights keep fiber use down while still feeling substantial.

Right-sizing the weight to the campaign is the most effective step. A mass giveaway on efficient text stock wastes less than the same run on cardstock it never needed.