If print were an event, offset vs. digital printing would be its heavyweight bout.

To start, offset printing broke grounds early as the only way to produce high quality postcards. It is estimated that 40% of all printing jobs use some kind of offset printing. A metal plate  and a rubber pad are used to roll your design on paper through the press, using a mix of ink, oil, and water. Its main advantage is highly volume printing with a finer finísh, despite a few passes through the printer which makes for expense runs. Set-up costs are high, making offset printing a favorite for larger runs.

For the print buffs, offset printing is well suited to printing PMS colors,along with solid screen tints, which work best with paper. Black ink or one or two ink colors go better with offset printing, wheres tour color printing is best suited to digital. For business cards, both options support CMYK (full color), although digital is known to be offkey with color ranges from time to time. Offset printing also offers the most flexibility on different sets of paper (changing surfaces, size, etc.)

Digital printing is offset´s cheaper cousin. With lower setup costs, digital printing specialized more in short run printing, with one pass required for master turnaround time. Overall, digital printing is lesser in quality than offset printing, resulting in cheaper prices and fewer paper options. Plus, digital printing is more versatile with binding. Its sheets could be folded or cut faster than offset printing which requires ink to dry first.

The choice between offset and digital printing comes down to volume and end-usage. Offset printing offers better quality, at a cheaper price for larger runs.  Digital printing is used for smaller volumes, and does a better job of handling print jobs where variable text or images are used such as in personalized company sendouts, like brochures and postcards. Go with both according to your needs, and you can´t go wrong.