Both 48HourPrint and VistaPrint are multi-product online printers that do “a bit of everything”: business cards, flyers, postcards, banners, and more. VistaPrint is the bigger, mass-market brand with a huge catalog and very polished online tools. 48HourPrint is smaller and more “trade-style,” built heavily around fast turnaround.
Here we’re looking specifically at flyers (single-sheet marketing pieces, not brochures or booklets), comparing:
- Print quality and paper
- Price and value
- Design tools and templates
- Customer service
- Ordering experience
- Turnaround and shipping
- Best use cases
Quality (Materials and Print)
48HourPrint
48HourPrint’s flyer line is built around 100 lb gloss text paper as the default. It’s noticeably nicer than copy paper, still light enough for handouts and mailers, and often paired with high-gloss UV coating on certain products. That UV option gives you the classic shiny, high-impact “club flyer” look that works well for nightlife, concerts, and bold event promos.
Overall, 48HourPrint feels set up for fast, bright, glossy flyers rather than highly customized paper choices. You’re primarily choosing between a few standard weights, sizes, and coatings.
VistaPrint
VistaPrint leans more on range than a single house spec. Their flyers typically offer:
- Multiple sizes (small handbills up through letter-style pieces)
- Several paper thicknesses from lighter text weights up to heavier, card-like options on some formats
- Glossy, matte, and uncoated finishes depending on the product
Print quality itself is generally solid mid-tier: colors are bright, details are clear, and it’s more than good enough for day-to-day business marketing. They’re not a luxury fine-art printer, but they’re reliably consistent across runs and products.
Quality verdict
- If all you want is standard glossy flyers on 100 lb text with the option for ultra-shiny UV, 48HourPrint does that job well.
- If you care about dialing in a specific look (matte, uncoated, heavier stock, varied sizes), VistaPrint’s broader set of materials and formats makes it the stronger quality pick overall.
Price and Value
Exact pricing moves constantly with promos and volume breaks, but the pattern looks like this:
- 48HourPrint is often highly competitive at larger quantities, especially on standard 100 lb gloss text or basic cardstock flyers. They’re a good fit when you’re ordering hundreds or thousands of pieces and want aggressive per-unit costs wrapped around fast production.
- VistaPrint tends to have slightly higher base prices on smaller runs, but they almost always run discounts and bundle deals. If you’re okay with modest quantities or you’re ordering multiple products together, those promotions usually bring the real-world cost down to a very fair level.
From a pure “what do I get for what I spend” standpoint, VistaPrint often ends up with the edge once you factor in:
- Flexible materials and formats
- Strong design tools
- Regular promos and coupons
Value verdict:
- For large, fast, glossy flyer runs, 48HourPrint can be a bit better on raw cost per piece.
- For small and medium runs, or mixed marketing orders (flyers + cards + banners), VistaPrint usually wins on overall value.
Design, Templates, and Customization
48HourPrint
48HourPrint offers a basic but functional online designer and a small collection of starter templates. The workflow is more “upload your finished print file” than “design everything from scratch in the browser.” It’s a good fit if:
- You already have a designer
- You know exactly what you want
- You just need a quick way to drop in a logo and text on a simple layout
If you’re comfortable treating them like a traditional trade printer—set up your files properly, upload, approve proof—they work fine.
VistaPrint
VistaPrint is one of the strongest options online for non-designers, especially for flyers. You get:
- A huge library of templates sorted by industry and use case (real estate, restaurants, events, nonprofits, etc.)
- A clean drag-and-drop editor with pre-paired fonts and colors
- Options like perforated flyers with tear-off tabs and different size/orientation combinations
If you want your flyers to look professional without opening Illustrator or InDesign, VistaPrint is a big step above most competitors. It’s easy to keep your flyers on-brand and visually consistent with your business cards, postcards, and other materials.
Design/tools verdict: VistaPrint easily wins if you care about templates, guided design, and online editing. 48HourPrint is fine when you already have production-ready artwork.
Customer Service
Neither of these companies is a boutique, white-glove outfit, but both are workable.
- 48HourPrint has more of a “trade shop with consumer front end” feel. They offer proofs, live support, and clearly stated policies, but reviews can be mixed: plenty of happy customers alongside complaints when things go wrong on rushed jobs.
- VistaPrint sits solidly in the middle of the pack for service. At their scale, you’ll see both very positive and negative reviews, but they do have established processes for reprints and fixes when there are clear production errors.
If you absolutely need a hand-held, “call your rep on their cell phone” experience, neither is ideal. For everyday flyer runs, both are acceptable; VistaPrint is a bit more predictable, 48HourPrint leans more on speed.
Ordering Experience & Tools
48HourPrint
- Product pages are clear and utilitarian.
- The flow is: pick size/paper → upload or design → review proof → approve.
- It’s efficient if you know what you want and are used to thinking in terms of bleeds, CMYK, and print specs.
VistaPrint
- The site is more of a guided wizard:
- Start with a template or blank
- Pick size, orientation, and paper
- Edit in browser with visual previews
- If you’re ordering multiple products, their system makes it easy to keep a consistent visual identity across your whole kit of print materials.
If you like a “just walk me through it” experience, VistaPrint is friendlier. If you think like a designer or print buyer, 48HourPrint is perfectly adequate.
Turnaround Time and Shipping
This is the key differentiator.
48HourPrint
48HourPrint’s entire brand is built around fast turnaround, especially on core marketing products like flyers. Typical points:
- Many flyer options are set up for roughly 2-business-day production after proof approval.
- Some “club” or promo flyer products can run in as fast as 1 business day, again after you approve the proof.
You still have to account for shipping time, but if your files are press-ready and you move quickly on approvals, they’re very strong for last-minute campaigns.
VistaPrint
VistaPrint is still fast, but not nearly as branded around the “48-hour” promise:
- Standard production is often in the 2–4 business day window depending on quantity and options.
- For some regions and products, you can pay for express shipping that advertises delivery as soon as the next day, but that’s more of a shipping speed boost layered on top of normal turnaround.
Speed verdict:
- If you truly need ultra-fast production and are okay working within a fairly standard spec, 48HourPrint is the more natural choice.
- If you can spare an extra day or two and care more about flexibility and design tools, VistaPrint is a better fit.
Use Cases / Best For
48HourPrint – Best for
- Rush campaigns and events where you absolutely need flyers in hand within a couple of days.
- Nightlife, concert, and club flyers that benefit from very glossy 100 lb text and optional UV coating.
- Buyers who bring fully finished, print-ready files and just want a fast, straightforward production partner.
VistaPrint – Best for
- Small and medium businesses that want flyers, business cards, postcards, signs, and more from a single ecosystem.
- Non-designers who need strong templates and an easy editor.
- Orders where you want to experiment with different sizes, stocks, and finishes rather than just a single glossy option.
- Mixed marketing bundles where discount codes and promos across multiple products really add up.
Pros and Cons Summary
48HourPrint
Pros
- Very fast production on many flyer products
- Great for shiny, high-impact promo flyers on 100 lb gloss with UV
- Simple, proof-driven workflow that suits people with ready-to-print designs
Cons
- Limited variety of paper types and finishes compared to VistaPrint
- Quality and service can feel a bit more hit-or-miss across orders
- Online design tools and templates are basic
VistaPrint
Pros
- Excellent template library and very approachable online editor
- Wide range of sizes, paper thicknesses, and finishes
- Strong overall value once discounts and bundles are factored in
- Easy to keep branding consistent across lots of different products
Cons
- Quality is solid but not “luxury”
- Customer service is average to good, but not boutique
- Not as single-mindedly focused on ultra-fast production as 48HourPrint
Final Verdict: Who Makes the Better Flyers?
If someone asks, “Who should I use for flyers between 48HourPrint and VistaPrint?” the short, honest answer is:
- Choose VistaPrint by default if you want:
- More paper and size options
- Much better templates and design tools
- Strong overall value for typical business flyers
- Choose 48HourPrint when:
- Turnaround time is the top priority, and
- You’re happy with standard glossy 100 lb flyers that can be turned quickly.
For most everyday business flyers, VistaPrint is the better overall pick.
For last-minute, high-gloss promo runs, 48HourPrint is the speed specialist you call when the event is this weekend.