Offset printing

Win more offset deals before your competitors finish quoting.

Manual offset estimates take 30 to 60 minutes. The first vendor to respond wins half the time. GelatoConnect Estimator generates accurate offset quotes in 15 seconds using your presses, your plates, your make-ready times, and your margin rules.

GelatoConnect AI Estimator generating an offset print quote

By the numbers

Real outcomes from print shops on GelatoConnect Estimator.

15 sec
to generate an offset estimate
<5 min
to customer-ready quote, end to end
200+
estimates per day at ESP Colour
65%
reduction in human quoting effort at Hudson Printing
2x
win rate at BSG; £750K contract won by responding first
<0.35%
error rate on AI-generated estimates

What Estimator covers

Every offset job, every spec, one engine.

Six pricing models and 300+ configurable parameters cover the full offset workflow, from short-run business cards to long-run catalogues. Your presses, your plates, your make-ready times feed the engine.

Brochures & catalogues

Saddle-stitched and perfect-bound. Multi-section workflows with cover/text routing across presses.

Books & manuals

Mono and colour interior, hard and soft cover. Binding, lamination and embellishment priced in.

Posters & large prints

Sheet-fed offset for posters, point-of-sale and large marketing collateral up to your press capacity.

Business stationery

Letterheads, compliment slips, business cards. Short and long runs priced through the same engine.

Make-ready & plate costs

Plate-making, wash-ups and make-ready time loaded per press. Cost-per-run calibrated to your actual data.

Multi-pass colour

PMS spot colours, varnish passes, second-side workings. Routed and priced through the same logic as the base run.

Paul Hudson, CEO at Hudson Printing, on instant quoting with GelatoConnect AI Estimator

CUSTOMER STORY · HUDSON PRINTING

Instant quotes 

First PSP globally with conversational AI quoting live on its website. 65% reduction in human quoting effort across the team.

"It does not just make our estimating team faster and more automated. It creates a powerful new path for buyers. They can describe what they want, get a quote instantly, and we still control the margin."

Hudson Printing · Commercial print, USA

Read the Hudson Printing story →

The engine

Six pricing models. Your offset data. Customer-ready in under 5 minutes.

Trained on millions of real print transactions with 10 AI models. 300+ configurable parameters across machines, substrates, finishing and logistics. Every estimate uses the same logic, the same margin rules, the same data.

6
pricing models, every print combination
300+
configurable parameters for machines, substrates, finishing
10
AI models working together on every estimate
<5 min
to customer-ready quote, end to end

Interactive demo

See a offset quote happen, on your screen.

Paste a real RFQ. Watch the engine generate a offset estimate in 15 seconds. No sales call, no form, no waiting.

Try the offset demo →
GelatoConnect AI Estimator offset demo preview

Specialised job types

Every offset job type, priced in seconds.

GelatoConnect Estimator handles every common offset job type with the right cost model out of the box. No rules to build, no spreadsheet lookups.

Booklet printing (saddle-stitch, perfect-bound, wire-o)

Signature counts, paper grain, plate make-ready by colour, imposition, per-binding-style adders. Saddle-stitch and perfect-bound routed and priced automatically.

Book printing software

Hardcover, perfect-bound paperback, case-bound, short-run trade. Paper waste, plate runs, binding line time and trimming priced from your real cost data.

Brochure and catalogue quoting

From 4-page leaflets to 200-page catalogues: substrate, ink coverage, signature imposition, folding, perforation, lamination. Variable-data inserts handled at the same speed as flat runs.

Industry research

The data behind the urgency.

Speed and automation are not opinions. They are buyer behaviour and the industry response, evidenced across two decades of independent research.

Companies that contact a lead within 5 minutes are 21x more likely to qualify it than those waiting 30 minutes.

Source: MIT / InsideSales Lead Response Management Study

77% of print providers are automating workflows. 88% plan capital investments in automation.

Source: NAPCO Research 2024 Commercial Print Trends, via Canon Production Print

Print industry research report being reviewed in a print shop

See Estimator pricing.

Plans from €1,000/month, billed annually. 14-day free trial, no credit card.

See pricing →

Frequently asked questions

Offset quoting, answered

Does Estimator handle both short and long offset runs?+

Yes. The engine prices a 250-card business stationery job using the same pricing logic as a 50,000-run catalogue. Make-ready, wash-up, plate-making and run-length cost loadings are all parameters in your library, not hard-coded assumptions.

Can it route a job across multiple presses?+

Yes. The engine compares cost paths across your press park, so you can see which press should run a given job before you quote it. Useful for shops with mixed sheet sizes or a mix of B1/B2/B3 presses.

What about plate-making and make-ready costs?+

Plate-making time, plate cost, wash-up time and make-ready time are configurable parameters loaded per press. Every estimate factors them in automatically and consistently across the team.

Does it support PMS spot colours and varnish passes?+

Yes. Each additional ink or varnish pass is priced as an extra workings on the press, with the right make-ready cost loading. Spot colours, fluorescents, metallics and varnishes are all handled.

Can my sales team quote offset jobs without an estimator?+

Yes. Sales and customer service teams generate estimates independently. Senior estimators move to reviewing complex quotes, handling exceptions, and growing relationships rather than doing arithmetic.

Does this replace my MIS?+

No. GelatoConnect Estimator works alongside your existing MIS as a bolt-on accelerator for quoting. It wins you the job. Your MIS still manages the job.

How much does it cost to print a booklet?+

Booklet costs depend on page count, binding style (saddle-stitch is cheapest, hardcover most expensive), paper stock, run length and finishing. GelatoConnect Estimator calculates the full cost stack from your specifications in 15 seconds, using your real production data rather than generic rate cards. Try it free on a sample booklet job to see your accurate cost.

How is book printing priced?+

Book printing pricing covers four cost components: paper and substrate (driven by signature count and paper grade), prepress and plate-making (driven by colour count and run length), press time (driven by sheet count and impression speed), and bindery (driven by binding style: saddle-stitch, perfect-bound, hardcover). GelatoConnect combines all four into a customer-ready quote without manual lookups.

What the industry research says

In NAPCO Research's 2025 survey of growth-leading print firms, 84% reported active investment in workflow automation to streamline operations, reduce labour costs, and accelerate job turnaround.