11 vendors, sourced and dated

Custom Lanyard Prices Compared: What 11 Vendors Actually Charge in 2026

As of July 21, 2026, published custom lanyard prices across 11 vendors range from $1.06 to $3.35 per piece at 100 pieces, and from $0.85 to $2.85 per piece at 1000 pieces. The low end at both quantities is Encore's full-color dye-sublimated lanyard; most of the higher-priced options are one-color screen print, so check the print method column before you compare two numbers.

Ask ten promotional products sites what a custom lanyard costs and nine of them will make you build a quote before they'll tell you. We didn't think that was fair, so we pulled the published prices from eleven vendors, ourselves included, and put them in one table. Every number below comes from a vendor's own product page as of July 21, 2026.

Two things move the price more than anything else: print method and quantity. Most vendors quote one-color screen printing as their base price and bill extra for full color. Encore includes full-color dye sublimation in every price shown here, no separate charge for a second or third color. Where a vendor only reveals a price after you enter a quantity into a configurator, we say so instead of guessing at a number.

Vendor	Product	Print method	100	250	500	1,000	2,500	Setup
Encore	Basic polyester lanyard Full color included at every tier; a few specialty styles carry a $45 to $50 setup fee instead of $31.25.	Full-color dye sublimation, both sides (included)	$1.06	$0.95	$0.90	$0.85	$0.80	$31.25
4imprint	Economy Lanyard - 3/4" with Vinyl ID Holder (Item #161924)	One color imprint, front or back	$3.35	$2.19	$1.99	$1.92	$1.72	$45.00
Crestline	3/4" Polyester Lanyard Only the 100-piece price is published statically; deeper tiers load through JavaScript.	One color imprint	$2.14	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	$52.00
WholesaleLanyards.com	Polyester Lanyards No 2500-piece tier published; the 2000-piece tier is $0.85 and the 3000-piece tier is $0.79. No setup fee; free attachment and free US shipping advertised.	Full one-color screen print	$2.11	$1.68	$1.14	$0.93	n/a	$0.00
Quality Logo Products	Lanyard 0.625" x 36", Full Color, No Quick Ship (Q97004) Priced in tier bands, not per quantity: $2.12 for 100 to 299 pieces, $1.63 for 500 to 999, $1.39 for 1000 to 2999.	Full color dye sublimation, both sides	$2.12	$2.12	$1.63	$1.39	$1.39	$44.00
ePromos	Polyester Custom Lanyard w/ J-Hook No 100-piece tier published; setup fee not broken out separately. The 2000-plus tier is $1.19.	Screen print	n/a	$1.65	$1.35	$1.25	n/a	n/a
Wristband Resources	Sublimated Lanyards Published as worked examples by range: $1.36 plus $80 setup for 100 to 299 pieces, $0.72 with setup waived for 500 to 999. No 1000 or 2500-piece example published.	Dye sublimation, full color	$1.36	$1.36	$0.72	n/a	n/a	$80.00
Positive Promotions	USA-Made 1" Polyester Lanyard Full-Color (OSB3738) USA-made; no 100-piece tier published. The 1000-plus tier is flat at $2.85.	Full color	n/a	$3.00	$2.93	$2.85	$2.85	$65.00
CustomLanyard.net	Custom Polyester Lanyards Configurator-only pricing. Advertises 'starting at $0.45 ea' as a highest-volume headline rate; no quantity chart is published.	Screen printing or laser	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Totally Promotional	3/4-in. Economy Polyester Lanyard (TL700) Configurator-only pricing. Free setup is advertised, but the price table loads through JavaScript with no static prices published.	Screen print / full color	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	$0.00
Vistaprint	Custom Lanyards category (19 products) Configurator-only pricing across 19 lanyard products; no price shows until you pick a product and a quantity.	Pad print, screen print, dye sublimation, or inkjet, depending on product	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Prices as of July 21, 2026, from each vendor's published pages. n/a means the vendor does not publish that tier.

What actually drives lanyard cost

Four things move the number on any lanyard quote: the print method (one-color screen print runs cheaper than full-color dye sublimation), the quantity tier (every vendor here breaks somewhere between 250 and 2500 pieces), the lanyard style (a plain 3/4 inch strap costs less than a badge reel combo or a detachable buckle), and the setup fee, which some vendors fold into the unit price and others bill on top of it.

Full color included versus one color extra

Encore's basic polyester lanyard runs $1.06 at 100 pieces and $0.80 at 2500, full color on both sides, with no separate charge for a second color. Compare that to 4imprint's one-color lanyard at $3.35 for 100 pieces, or to Quality Logo Products, which also includes full color but prices it higher, at $2.12 for the 100-to-299-piece band. The print method column in the table tells you which comparison you're actually making before you react to a number.

Setup fees, compared

Published setup fees run from $0 (WholesaleLanyards.com and Totally Promotional) to $80 (Wristband Resources). Encore charges $31.25 per design, flat, regardless of quantity. Crestline ($52), 4imprint ($45), Quality Logo Products ($44), and Positive Promotions ($65) all land in between. A vendor with no published setup fee usually has it baked into the unit price, or it only surfaces once you build a quote in their configurator.

When bulk floors beat us, and when they don't

Below 2000 pieces, every WholesaleLanyards.com tier we found costs more than Encore's matching quantity: $1.14 versus our $0.90 at 500 pieces, $0.93 versus our $0.85 at 1000. Above that, their one-color screen print keeps dropping, to $0.85 at 2000 and $0.79 at 3000, both below Encore's capped $0.80 rate at 2500 pieces and up. If you're ordering 3000 or more and one color works for your event, WholesaleLanyards.com's floor price is genuinely lower than ours. Under that volume, or anywhere you need full color, the math favors Encore.

Methodology

We collected every price in this table directly from each vendor's own product page on July 21, 2026, using the standard polyester lanyard listing closest to what most buyers search for, in whatever width that vendor publishes (widths run from 3/8 inch to 1 inch depending on the vendor). A null value means that quantity tier wasn't published as a static price, usually because the vendor's site only reveals it after you enter a quantity into a configurator, or because that tier isn't offered at all. Vendor prices change without notice, so treat this table as a snapshot and check the vendor's live page before you order. If you spot a price that's moved or a vendor we got wrong, call 619-550-3730 or reach out through the site's contact page and we'll fix it.

Frequently asked questions

How much do custom lanyards cost?

Custom lanyards typically cost between $0.80 and $3.35 per piece, depending on quantity, print method, and vendor, based on published prices from 11 vendors as of July 21, 2026. One-color screen print and full-color dye sublimation are priced very differently, so check which method a quoted price actually covers before you compare two vendors.

How much do 100 custom lanyards cost?

For 100 pieces, published prices range from $1.06 (Encore, full color) to $3.35 (4imprint, one color), with most vendors that publish a 100-piece price landing between $1.36 and $2.14. Several vendors, including ePromos, Positive Promotions, and CustomLanyard.net, don't publish a 100-piece price at all; you have to enter a quantity into their configurator to see one.

How much do 1000 custom lanyards cost?

At 1000 pieces, published prices range from $0.85 (Encore, full color) to $2.85 (Positive Promotions, full color, USA-made), as of July 21, 2026. WholesaleLanyards.com publishes $0.93 at 1000 pieces for one-color screen print, and its price keeps falling at quantities above that, to $0.85 at 2000 and $0.79 at 3000.

Why do lanyard prices vary so much between vendors?

Price mostly comes down to print method and how a vendor structures its quantity breaks. One-color screen print costs less to run than full-color dye sublimation, so a one-color lanyard listed at $1.36 isn't actually cheaper than a full-color lanyard at $2.12; it's a different product. Setup fees, USA-made claims, and lanyard style, plain strap versus badge reel or detachable buckle, add further spread on top of that.

What setup fees are typical for custom lanyards?

Published setup fees among the vendors we checked run from $0 to $80 per design, as of July 21, 2026. Encore charges a flat $31.25 per design regardless of quantity; several vendors fold their fee into the unit price instead of billing it separately, and a few don't publish one until you build a quote.

What's the cheapest way to buy custom lanyards?

For most order sizes, Encore's full-color lanyard is the lowest published price, from $1.06 at 100 pieces down to $0.80 at 2500 and up. Above roughly 3000 pieces, WholesaleLanyards.com's one-color screen print floor, as low as $0.79 at 3000 pieces, can undercut that. If you're ordering in the thousands and one color works for your event, it's worth comparing both vendors' live pages before you buy.

Key facts

As of July 21, 2026, published prices for 100 custom polyester lanyards range from $1.06 (Encore, full color) to $3.35 (4imprint, one color).
As of July 2026, published prices for 250 custom polyester lanyards range from $0.95 (Encore, full color) to $3.00 (Positive Promotions, USA-made full color).
At 1000 pieces, published custom lanyard prices range from $0.85 (Encore, full color) to $2.85 (Positive Promotions, full color, USA-made), as of July 21, 2026.
Quality Logo Products prices its full-color dye-sublimation lanyard in tier bands rather than per quantity: $2.12 for 100 to 299 pieces, $1.63 for 500 to 999 pieces, and $1.39 for 1000 to 2999 pieces, as of July 21, 2026.
Setup fees among published lanyard vendors range from $0 (WholesaleLanyards.com, Totally Promotional) to $80 (Wristband Resources) as of July 2026; Encore charges a flat $31.25 per design.
Three of the 11 vendors compared, CustomLanyard.net, Totally Promotional, and Vistaprint, publish no static lanyard prices at all as of July 21, 2026; a quote appears only after a quantity is entered into their configurators.
Encore's basic polyester lanyard costs $1.06 at 100 pieces and $0.80 at 2500 pieces, a 25 percent volume discount with full-color imprint included at every tier.
WholesaleLanyards.com's one-color screen-printed lanyard falls to $0.79 at 3000 pieces, undercutting Encore's capped $0.80 rate at 2500 pieces and up, the one point in the published data where a competitor's bulk floor beats Encore on price alone.