DTF Cost Simulator
Work out the consumable cost of a DTF print from ink, film and powder, then add your selling price to see gross margin, profit per print and profit per 1,000 prints. Set your own ink prices, coverage and film use. Metric or imperial, four currencies, and it runs in your browser.
1. Print size
2. Coverage and RIP
Solid fills are 100%. Logos with empty space often average 40 to 60%.
The underbase. On dark garments it usually matches or exceeds CMYK coverage.
Rule-of-thumb laydown per square inch at full coverage. Calibrate against your own ink counter.
3. Material costs
Price of one litre of one colour, not a four litre set.
Example prices. Enter what you pay per litre.
Share of the film that ends up in sold prints. 100 ignores gang sheet gaps and failed prints.
Purges and circulation. Set 0 to count only ink that lands on film.
Net use per m2 of inked area. The default is an uncalibrated example, so measure your own.
4. Your price
Enter what you charge per print to see margin.
per 11 by 14 in print
Margin
Below 30% margin. Consumables take most of the price.
30 to 50% margin. Workable, but this is consumables only. Labor, overhead and equipment still come out of what is left.
Above 50% margin on consumables. Labor, overhead and equipment still come out of it.
White ink is 0% of consumable cost. Check white coverage and laydown, especially on jobs that do not need a full underbase.
Cost breakdown
- White ink–
- CMYK ink–
- Maintenance waste–
- Transfer film–
- Powder–
How does the simulator work out the cost?
- Ink volume is print area times coverage times a laydown rate in ml per square inch. CMYK uses 0.009, 0.012 or 0.015 and white uses 0.012, 0.016 or 0.022 for Draft, Standard and High density. Volume times your price per litre gives the ink cost.
- Maintenance waste adds the percentage you enter on top of the ink cost, to cover purges and white ink circulation.
- Film is the print area divided by the roll area, times the roll price, divided by film utilisation.
- Powder is the inked area (the larger of the CMYK and white coverage) times your powder use in grams per square metre, times the price per kg.
- Margin is price minus consumables minus the labor you enter, divided by price. Green is above 50 percent, amber is 30 to 50 percent and red is below 30 percent. These bands are the tool thresholds, not an industry standard.
What does it leave out, and what should I check?
It covers consumables and the labor figure you type in. Equipment depreciation, electricity, overhead, packaging and rework are not in the total. The laydown rates are rule of thumb estimates and the ink, film and powder prices are examples, so replace them with your own. The most reliable check is to print a known area, read the ink used from your printer or RIP counter and compare it with the ml shown here. If the two differ, scale the coverage until they match.
To calibrate powder, record all reusable powder (container, hopper and recovery system) before a representative batch, add anything you top up, and record what is left afterwards. The drop is the net powder consumed. Divide it by the inked area you printed, since that is the area this tool applies the rate to. Powder you recover and reuse is not consumed, and if your figure already includes rejects, do not add them again elsewhere.
The utilisation and maintenance fields default to 85 and 8 percent, which are typical planning values. Set them to 100 and 0 to cost only the film and ink that end up on sold prints.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate DTF consumable cost per print?
Add white ink, CMYK ink, maintenance waste, transfer film and powder. Ink cost is print area times coverage times a laydown rate in ml per square inch times your price per ml. Film cost is the print area share of the roll price divided by film utilisation. Powder cost is the inked area times your powder use per square metre times the price per kg. The simulator does all of this live from your inputs.
What does the DTF Cost Simulator include and leave out?
It includes ink, maintenance waste, film and powder, plus the labor figure you type in when you calculate margin. It leaves out equipment depreciation, electricity, overhead, packaging and rework. Treat the margin as a consumables margin, not a full production margin.
What do film utilisation and maintenance waste do?
Film utilisation is the share of the film that ends up in sold prints. At 85 percent, every print carries about 18 percent more film cost than at 100 percent, which covers gang sheet gaps and failed prints. Maintenance waste adds a percentage on top of the ink cost for printhead purges and white ink circulation. Set them to 100 and 0 to count only what lands on sold prints.
How accurate are the ink laydown and powder figures?
They are rule of thumb estimates, not measurements of your printer. Ink laydown is 0.012 ml per square inch for CMYK and 0.016 for white at the Standard setting. Powder use defaults to 93 grams per square metre of inked area. One supplier publishes 92, but other suppliers publish much lower estimates, so treat 93 as an uncalibrated example. The default ink prices are also examples, not a market average. Print a known area, read the ink used from your printer or RIP counter, measure the net powder you use, and adjust the fields until the tool matches.
When does the white ink alert appear and what are the margin colors?
The white ink alert appears when white ink is more than 40 percent of the consumable cost. The margin is green above 50 percent, amber from 30 to 50 percent and red below 30 percent. These are the thresholds built into the tool, not an industry standard.
Are my prices and files sent anywhere?
No. The calculation runs in your browser, nothing is sent to a server or saved, and there is nothing to upload. Reloading the page resets all fields.
Related on Printing TLDR: the DTF printing cost per transfer guide, DTF gang sheet yield math and the DTF printing tools hub.
Want the complete pricing model?
This simulator covers consumables. The DTF Printing Profit Blueprint adds labor allocation, overhead, gang sheet yield and pricing strategy: 122 pages and 8 Excel templates with 170 formulas.
See the ebook