Digital vs Paper Business Cards: Which Is Right for You?
An honest comparison on cost, updates, tracking and impression — including the situations where paper still wins.
The short version
Paper is a snapshot. Digital is a live record. Most people benefit from carrying both for a while.
| Paper business card | Digital business card | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost over a year | Roughly £30–£80 per print run, repeated whenever details change or someone joins. | £4.99/month, or £54.89/year with one month free. £3.99/month per extra team member. |
| Updating your details | Requires a reprint. Cards already handed out stay wrong permanently. | Edit the profile; every QR code already in circulation shows the new details. |
| Getting into their phone | They have to type it in later, if they remember. | One tap saves you to their contacts, with photo and links. |
| Tracking | None. | Views over time, device and rough location, and which links were clicked. |
| Running out | Yes, usually at an event. | Never. |
| Works without a phone | Yes. | You need your phone, or a printed copy of your QR code. |
| Environmental impact | Card stock, ink and delivery for every reprint. | No physical production. |
Where digital clearly wins
Anything that changes. A promotion, a new mobile, a rebrand, a move to a different office. With paper, each of these is a reprint and a period of handing out cards you know are wrong. With a digital card you edit one page and every QR code already in someone's drawer points at the corrected version.
Getting into the other person's phone. The realistic fate of a paper card is a pocket, then a desk, then a bin — the details rarely get typed in. A digital card is saved to contacts in one tap, complete with photo and links, at the moment of the conversation while you are still standing there.
Knowing whether it worked. A paper card tells you nothing after you hand it over. A digital card shows you how many people opened it, roughly where from, and which of your links they clicked — which is the difference between guessing that an event was worth attending and knowing.
Running out. You cannot run out of a QR code, and there is no minimum order quantity for a new starter.
Where paper still makes sense
It would be dishonest to claim paper has no advantages, so here they are.
- Formality and ritual. In some industries and some countries, presenting a physical card with both hands is part of how respect is shown. A phone screen does not replace that.
- Tactile impression. Heavy stock, letterpress, a good edge — a well-designed card is a physical object someone keeps on a desk. Design-led businesses often get real value from that.
- No phones. Trade floors, workshops, sites, hospitals and anywhere phones are impractical, discouraged or in a locker.
- Flat battery. Rare, but it happens at exactly the wrong moment.
The hybrid most people end up with
The sensible answer for the majority is not either/or. Keep a small run of nicely printed cards for the occasions that call for them, and put your QR code on them. The paper carries your name and the impression; the code carries the details that change. When the number changes you update the profile, and the printed cards you already have stay usable.
On cost, a decent run of paper cards is typically £30 to £80 and has to be repeated each time something changes or someone joins. A Link Centre subscription is £4.99 a month, or £54.89 a year with one month free, plus £3.99 a month for each extra team member — and it includes the wallet passes, analytics and contact capture rather than just the card. Full detail on the pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
Try a digital business card alongside your paper ones
Ten-day free trial. Keep the printed cards; put the QR code on them.
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