The Complete Paper Weight and Thickness Chart

Few parts of ordering print trip people up like paper weight. You see numbers like 80 lb, 100 lb, 14 pt, and gsm thrown around, and the same pound figure can mean a flimsy flyer in one context and a rigid card in another. The result is a costly and common mistake: ordering a stock that turns out thinner or thicker than you pictured, then reprinting the whole job.

The confusion has a simple root. Weight and thickness are two different measurements, and weight itself is quoted on more than one scale. Once you understand those two ideas, the whole system clicks into place and the chart becomes a tool you can read instantly. This guide separates weight from thickness, explains every scale you will see, and gives you a conversion chart that pairs each common stock with its gsm, its thickness, and the products it suits.

The surest way to avoid a wrong-stock order is to combine the chart with a sample in hand. Shortlist a weight here, then feel it before you commit. When you are ready to order, our standard business cards and other products let you pick the exact stock and see it priced live.

Paper weight in the United States is quoted as basis weight in pounds, and this is where the famous confusion lives. Basis weight is the weight of 500 sheets of a paper at that paper type's standard basis size. The catch is that different paper categories have different basis sizes, so the pound number is only meaningful once you know the category. That is why an 80 lb text is a thin, foldable sheet while an 80 lb cover is a sturdy card: they are weighed at different reference sizes.

The two categories you meet most often are text weights, used for flyers, brochure bodies, and inside pages, and cover weights, used for postcards, covers, and cards. A pound number in the text family is always lighter than the same pound number in the cover family. This single fact clears up most misreadings of a spec sheet.

To compare fairly across categories, professionals use grams per square meter, or gsm, which measures the weight of a one-square-meter sheet and puts every stock on the same footing. Whenever two papers are quoted on different scales, convert both to gsm, and the comparison becomes honest. The chart below lists gsm alongside every stock for exactly this reason.

Here is where everything comes together. The chart in the reference band below lines up the common stocks you will actually choose from, pairing each pound or point figure with its approximate gsm and the products it suits. Read it by first finding the category your product uses, text or cover pounds for flat and folded paper and points for cards, then compare using the gsm column as the shared reference.

A quick way to use it: locate your product type, note the sensible weight range for it, and then decide whether to move heavier for a more premium feel or lighter for cost and foldability. The gsm figures let you sanity-check any stock a supplier quotes you against what you see here, so you are never guessing whether a number means thick or thin.

Keep in mind the gsm values are close approximations, because exact conversions vary slightly by manufacturer and coating. For a decision that matters, treat the chart as the shortlist and confirm with a printed sample. Every stock in the chart is available across our products, from cards to flyers to folders.

The fastest way to choose is to let the product point you to a range, then fine-tune. Business cards want a firm, snappy card, so 14 pt is the trusted standard and 16 pt or higher is the premium upgrade when you want the card itself to signal quality. Order these as standard business cards and step up the thickness in the configurator if you want more heft.

Flyers and handouts belong in text weights, where 80 lb text is the everyday choice and 100 lb text feels noticeably more premium while still folding cleanly. Print these as flyers when you need volume at a sensible cost. Postcards, menus, and covers move up to cover weights like 80 lb or 100 lb cover for rigidity, and folder covers reward a heavier cover stock so the pocket folder holds its shape and protects what is inside.

In every case, the chart narrows it to one or two options and the product's live specs confirm what is available. When feel is critical, do not guess: pull a sample first and commit only once the stock is in your hand.