Home sticker printer vs ordering stickers online: break-even calculator
By our calculation, a Cricut StickerPix Print + Cut ($299.00) making 3 two-inch stickers per sheet costs less than Sticker Mule’s 100 for $73.00 only after 590 stickers. Below that, ordering online costs less, and the two are not the same kind of sticker. Try your own numbers.
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Break-even calculator
- Break-even (stickers)
- 590
- Online, per sticker
- 73.0¢
- Home supplies, per sticker
- 22.2¢
- Home per sticker incl. printer, at your quantity
- ≈ $1.22
For 300 stickers: home about $365.65 (printer + 100 sheets) vs online $219.00 (300 × 73.0¢). Our calculation.
1. Printer and refill (published prices)
- (Cricut shop (US); Cricut shop (US) refill)
- (Liene product page; Liene shop)
- (Cricut shop (US); Cricut shop (US) refill; Cricut Help Center)
- (Best Buy; Canon U.S.A. shop (KC-18IF); Canon manual)
2. Online order (published prices)
Online prices: (Sticker Mule; StickerApp). Configurations we read are listed under the price table below.
3. Adjust the numbers
Already own one? Enter 0.
Counts from our sheet maker’s layout (0.15 in margins, 0.125 in gaps), not a printer spec. Pre-cut and label presets fix the count.
Our calculation from list prices; excludes tax and shipping. Not a measured cost.
How the calculation works
Home cost is the printer price plus every sheet you print: stickers ÷ stickers per sheet, rounded up to whole sheets, times the pack price ÷ sheets per pack. Online cost is the number of stickers times the per-sticker price of the order you picked. The break-even point is the first sticker count where the home total is no higher than the online total. If home supplies alone cost as much per sticker as the online price, there is no break-even. All of this is our calculation from the published prices below, not a measured cost.
Example (our calculation): Cricut StickerPix Print + Cut supplies cost about $0.67 per sheet ($47.99 ÷ 72) (Cricut shop (US) refill). At 3 two-inch stickers per sheet that is 22.2¢ per sticker, against 73.0¢ for Sticker Mule’s 100 for $73.00 (Sticker Mule). Each sticker saves the difference, so the $299.00 printer (Cricut shop (US)) is paid back at 590 stickers.
Break-even at a glance
Larger online orders cost less per sticker, so the break-even point moves out. Smaller stickers fit more per sheet, which lowers the home cost per sticker, but the online prices here are for 2″ × 2″ stickers only.
| Printer and sticker layout | Sticker Mule 100 for $73.00 | Sticker Mule 500 for $152.00 | StickerApp 100 for $52.00 | StickerApp 500 for $132.00 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cricut StickerPix Print + Cut (2 in stickers, 3 per 4×7 sheet in our layout) | 590 | 3,657 | 1,005 | 7,149 |
| Liene PixCut S1 (2 in stickers, 3 per 4×7 sheet in our layout) | 528 | 2,670 | 873 | 4,311 |
| Cricut StickerPix Print (1.5 in pre-cut circles or squares, 6 per sheet per Cricut) | 270 | 838 | 405 | 1,043 |
| Canon SELPHY CP1500 (KC-18IF, 1 full-page 2.13 × 3.39 in label per sheet per Canon) | Never | Never | Never | Never |
Published prices we used
| Printer | Printer price | Refill pack | Per sheet (our calculation) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cricut StickerPix Print + Cut | $299.001 (Essential Bundle) | 72 sticker sheets + 2 ink cartridges: $47.992 | ≈ $0.67 ($47.99 ÷ 72) |
| Liene PixCut S1 | $279.993 (Starter Kit, “from” price) | 72 sheets + 2 ribbons: $42.994 | ≈ $0.60 ($42.99 ÷ 72) |
| Cricut StickerPix Print | $169.005 (Essential Bundle) | 54 pre-cut sheets (18 circle, 18 rectangle, 18 square) + 1 ink cartridge: $32.996 | ≈ $0.61 ($32.99 ÷ 54) |
| Canon SELPHY CP1500 | $179.007 (Best Buy listing, white) | 18 card-size label sheets: “as low as” $14.998 | ≈ $0.83 ($14.99 ÷ 18) |
| Quantity | Sticker Mule | StickerApp |
|---|---|---|
| 29 | Not offered | $27.00 → 93.1¢9 |
| 50 | $60.00 → $1.2010 | $36.00 → 72.0¢9 |
| 100 | $73.00 → 73.0¢10 | $52.00 → 52.0¢9 |
| 200 | $95.00 → 47.5¢10 | $77.00 → 38.5¢9 |
| 300 | $115.00 → 38.3¢10 | $97.00 → 32.3¢9 |
| 500 | $152.00 → 30.4¢10 | $132.00 → 26.4¢9 |
| 1,000 | $232.00 → 23.2¢10 | Not offered |
What we read: Sticker Mule, “Die cut stickers”: 2″ × 2″ (the default size); matte-finish vinyl; free shipping per Sticker Mule10. StickerApp, “Custom stickers”: Die Cut, Contour Cut, Vinyl, Glossy, 2″ × 2″ (the configurator’s defaults); the configurator doesn’t say whether shipping is included9. Both prices come from each site’s order configurator, not a fixed price list.
Sources (10)
- Cricut shop (US), “Cricut StickerPix Print + Cut Essential Bundle”, accessed 26 Sep 2026 ↩
- Cricut shop (US) refill, “Cricut StickerPix Print + Cut Sticker Sheets & Ink Cartridges Set (72 Prints)”, accessed 5 Oct 2026 ↩
- Liene product page, “PixCut S1 Photo Sticker Printer and Cutter (product page)”, accessed 26 Sep 2026 ↩
- Liene shop, “PixCut S1 4x7" Sticker Paper 72 Sheets & 2 Ink Cartridges Refill”, accessed 5 Oct 2026 ↩
- Cricut shop (US), “Cricut StickerPix Print Essential Bundle”, accessed 5 Oct 2026 ↩
- Cricut shop (US) refill, “Cricut StickerPix Print Pre-cut Sticker Sheets & Ink Cartridge Set (54 Prints)”, accessed 5 Oct 2026 ↩
- Best Buy, “Canon SELPHY CP1500 Wireless Compact Photo Printer, White”, accessed 5 Oct 2026 ↩
- Canon U.S.A. shop (KC-18IF), “Ink/Label KC-18IF”, accessed 26 Sep 2026 ↩
- StickerApp, “Custom Stickers (order configurator)”, accessed 5 Oct 2026 ↩
- Sticker Mule, “Custom die cut stickers (order configurator)”, accessed 5 Oct 2026 ↩
What the numbers leave out
- They are different stickers. Sticker Mule says its die cut stickers are cut through the vinyl and the backing and printed on thick vinyl with a matte finish (Sticker Mule). The two print-and-cut machines print dye-sublimation sheets with a clear laminate layer and kiss-cut them, so the stickers stay on the backing sheet (Cricut Help Center; Cricut blog; Liene blog). Cricut describes its laminated sheets as fade-, water- and scratch-resistant (Cricut shop); Sticker Mule says its vinyl protects against scratches, water and sunlight (Sticker Mule). These are each company’s own claims, and we haven’t compared them.
- Sizes differ. The online prices are for 2″ × 2″ stickers. A 4×7 sheet fits 3 of those in our sheet maker’s layout; StickerPix Print pre-cut shapes are 1.5 in circles and squares or 1 × 2.6 in rectangles (Cricut Help Center); SELPHY full-page labels are 2.13 × 3.39 in (Canon manual).
- Ink is sold with the paper. Each StickerPix Print + Cut cartridge is good for 36 prints and is sized to run out with a material pack (Cricut shop (US)); Liene lists 36 sheets per ribbon (Liene tech specs); the StickerPix Print set has one 54-print cartridge for 54 sheets (Cricut shop (US) refill). Our per-sheet figures assume you use every sheet; misprints and test prints cost extra.
- Supplies in the box are not counted. For example, the StickerPix Print + Cut Essential Bundle includes 18 sticker sheets and a 36-print cartridge (Cricut shop (US)), which would lower the home cost a little.
- Your time. Liene lists a 59 s print time (Liene tech specs); Cricut doesn’t publish one for StickerPix. Sticker Mule lists a 4-day turnaround (Sticker Mule).
- Tax and shipping. Excluded throughout. Sticker Mule says shipping is free (Sticker Mule); StickerApp’s configurator price doesn’t say whether shipping is included (StickerApp).
- Prices. The PixCut S1 price is Liene’s “from” price for its Starter Kit (Liene product page); the SELPHY CP1500 price is a Best Buy listing (Best Buy), because Canon’s own store page didn’t load for us.
Reading the result
- Fewer stickers than the break-even point: ordering online costs less in total for the stickers you plan, by our calculation.
- More stickers than that, or you already own the printer: printing at home costs less per sticker whenever supplies cost less per sticker than the online price. With the layouts in the table above, supplies per sticker come to 22.2¢ for the Cricut StickerPix Print + Cut, 19.9¢ for the Liene PixCut S1 and 10.2¢ for the Cricut StickerPix Print, all below even the lowest online price in our table, 23.2¢ (Sticker Mule 1,000 for $232.00). Our calculation.
- SELPHY full-page labels: one label per sheet works out to 83.3¢ per sticker (our calculation: $14.99 ÷ 18) (Canon U.S.A. shop (KC-18IF)), so it never pays back the printer against 10 of the 12 online prices in the table (all except Sticker Mule 50 for $60.00, $1.20 each; StickerApp 29 for $27.00, 93.1¢ each). Canon also sells 8-label sheets (Canon manual), but their price isn’t in our sources.
More: cost per sheet calculator · StickerPix Print vs SELPHY CP1500 · sticker printer vs Print Then Cut · buying guide
Sources
All 16 sources, each with its access date
- Cricut shop (US), “Cricut StickerPix Print + Cut Essential Bundle”
- Cricut shop (US) refill, “Cricut StickerPix Print + Cut Sticker Sheets & Ink Cartridges Set (72 Prints)”
- Liene product page, “PixCut S1 Photo Sticker Printer and Cutter (product page)”
- Liene shop, “PixCut S1 4x7" Sticker Paper 72 Sheets & 2 Ink Cartridges Refill”
- Cricut shop (US), “Cricut StickerPix Print Essential Bundle”
- Cricut shop (US) refill, “Cricut StickerPix Print Pre-cut Sticker Sheets & Ink Cartridge Set (54 Prints)”
- Cricut Help Center, “Cricut StickerPix Print + Cut paper, ink, and supplies”
- Best Buy, “Canon SELPHY CP1500 Wireless Compact Photo Printer, White”
- Canon U.S.A. shop (KC-18IF), “Ink/Label KC-18IF”
- Canon manual, “SELPHY CP1500 product manual: Specifications”
- Sticker Mule, “Custom die cut stickers (order configurator)”
- StickerApp, “Custom Stickers (order configurator)”
- Cricut blog, “Meet Cricut StickerPix Print + Cut and Cricut StickerPix Print”
- Liene blog, “The practical guide to custom label design with Liene PixCut S1”
- Cricut shop, “StickerPix Print + Cut Sticker Sheets & Ink Cartridge Set (72 Prints)”
- Liene tech specs, “Technical Specifications for PixCut S1”