Along with many artists in the summer of 2024, I have found myself in a place to shop around for sticker production companies. Full transparency: I hand draw/digitally design each of my stickers myself, but I do outsource production because it’s a better fit for my personal life. I’ve used one sticker company the entire time I’ve been at this side hustle hobby of mine, but now it’s time for a change.
My biggest concern with this change is if my customers will notice a difference in quality, namely texture and thickness, when they hold my stickers. I believe those brief moments in which my customers hold my stickers before putting them onto a water bottle or stick them into a birthday card are crucial, because that’s when they decide if it was worth the money. So many of my positive sticker reviews comment on the quality and durability of my stickers to the touch, and I don’t want to lose that. Most of my stickers are die cut matte vinyl, so those are the ones I’m looking at most closely.
The sticker companies I have sampled (listed in backwards alphabetical order because I’m a former teacher and I like giving everyone a fair shot, not just the ones at the top of the alphabetical list/top of Google search):
- Sticky Brand
- Sticker Ninja
- Sticker Junkie
- Sticker Giant
- Sticker Bros
- Sticker Blitz
- Sticker App
- Rockin Monkey
- Jukebox Print
I originally evaluated these stickers as the samples arrived. After I received my own sticker designs from my Phase 2 testing, however, I realized that the texture was just a little bit different than I expected. I re-evaluated the samples side-by-side with my originals. Here are my results, plus pricing for 50 3×3 die cut matte vinyl stickers for reference.
TL;DR: Jump to my video reviews!
Sticky Brand
Touch/Texture Test: The thickness is about at the level I like, perhaps a bit thinner, but not by much. There is a visual texture difference with their “BombProof” material, which made me move this down in my ranking.
Notes: Being eco-conscious is a priority for this company!
Ships from: S Burlington, VT
50 3×3 die cut matte vinyl stickers: Not Possible
Minimum Quantity of 100: $67.50 for die cut matte vinyl
Sticker Ninja
Touch/Texture Test: Thickness matches the level I like. The surface texture is not as silky smooth as Mule; it has a bit more texture to it that feels a bit like the BombProof material that StickyBrand has. Overall, it feels durable and high quality, it’s thick like I like, but it isn’t a 100% match in texture.
Notes:
- Women-owned, vocal and passionate about politics/human rights issues and on the opposite side of the spectrum from Mule.
- I have loved my interactions with their customer service and their design team — they feel like real people and they are very friendly.
- They are closed on Sundays to allow their small business to have some rest time.
- I and some of my sticker biz friends have had some difficulty with peeling their stickers.
- I moved them to Phase 2 of testing, which is ordering my own designs. I expressed concern about the legibility of a design. They had personal notes for me in their proof which helped reassure me that my sticker order would come out fine.
Ships from: Portland, OR
50 3×3 die cut matte vinyl stickers: $54.59
Sticker Junkie
Touch/Texture Test: 100% match in thickness and surface texture. This one is an ideal candidate for a switch.
Notes: Woman owned. They had excellent customer service when I contacted them about my samples. They’re also real fun to watch on social media. They currently do not provide any fun materials like glitter or holographic.
Ships from: Santee, CA
50 3×3 die cut matte vinyl stickers: $71
Sticker Giant
Touch/Texture Test: This is noticeably thinner to the touch. However, I do want to note that the sticker itself is thicker and feels stronger than StickerApp, which is the other thin sticker company that I got.
Notes: Excellent peel quality. Lots of varieties of stickers. Really, if I didn’t have touch/texture as such a big deciding factor for me, this would be a contender. I really appreciated their customer service: they actually had a real person contact me to check on quality and experience. And even though they seem like a big company because of all the many different types of stickers they are able to provide, they still had the little personal touch of having their envelope signed off by the person who packed it. Loved that little touch!
Ships from: Longmont, CO
50 3×3 die cut matte vinyl stickers: $69
Sticker Bros
Touch/Texture Test: The vinyl top layer felt exactly like the Sticker Ninja one to me: the thickness that I liked, but the texture was just a little bit different from Mule. It still has a great feel to it, but it’s not as silky smooth as Mule.
Notes: Buy more/save more discounts (currently 5% off for multiple orders), weekly deals. I moved this on to Phase 2 of testing (buying my own designs), and the print quality is excellent. I didn’t know how bad my print quality was with Mule until I got my StickerBros pieces and saw that my artwork looked exactly as I saw it on the screen.
Ships from: Fort Worth, TX
50 3×3 die cut matte vinyl stickers: $52.04
Sticker Blitz
Touch/Texture Test: This is nearly identical to Mule. The backing paper may be just a tad thinner, but really, the sticker feels just as thick, just as bendy, just as smooth to the touch.
Notes: I really didn’t like the ordering experience here. They didn’t have samples, so I used a promo code to get one of my designs for free. The website felt bare bones to the point that I wasn’t sure if my order went through all the way. So, it’s a pretty good match to replace Mule, but I had better customer experiences with other companies.
Ships from: Warren, MI
50 3×3 die cut matte vinyl stickers: $57.97
Sticker App
Touch/Texture Test: Noticeably thinner. Compared to my current stickers, it feels flimsy. HOWEVER, I do want to note that I have StickerApp stickers from other artists + 1 of my own designs, and they have lasted and retained their quality for years. So this is a texture difference that my customers may misconstrue as a quality difference; but I do want to note that I think StickerApp has great stickers. I just do not want my customers who don’t know all this behind the scenes information to assume the worst.
Notes: Really, a great sample pack that shows off so many different material options. I do want to stress that.
Ships from: Annapolis, MD
50 3×3 die cut matte vinyl stickers: $53
Rockin Monkey
Touch/Texture Test: Their sample was tiny, so it was a bit hard to get a full feel for it, but I believe this is a 95-100% match in surface texture and thickness. (You’ll want the matte finish. Rockin Monkey’s signature finish is semi-gloss satin, but it’s a bit glossier than Mule)
Notes: This is a small company, so they tell you up front that their processing times will take longer (expect 4 weeks at least). Their sticker quality was amazing, though. They’re the only company I’ve seen that advertises their stickers as microwave- and dishwasher-safe.
Ships from: Selma, TX
50 3×3 die cut matte vinyl stickers: $58
Jukebox Print
Touch/Texture Test: When I first felt their signature super matte texture, I thought I had never touched anything so glorious before. The surface texture and overall feel are very similar to Sticker Ninja and Sticker Bros, to the point that it’s hard to discern sometimes. I think Jukebox has a bit more weight to theirs, though. I had my sister check on this, and she confirmed that Jukebox feels thicker and a bit more luxurious overall. Final verdict is similar to Ninja and Bros: the thickness I like, with a slightly different surface texture. Not a perfect match, but also not a bad difference in any way.
Notes: The glitter stickers were way different than what I’ve seen. They lay their color over the glitter in a separate layer, which results in a texture difference that I loved. The sample pack has a ton of stickers with so much variety in sticker styles and materials, and they provide other printing services. This is a sample pack that I would say is worth trying out.
Ships from: Niagara Falls, NY, but their HQ is in Canada
50 3×3 die cut matte vinyl stickers: $59
Final Ranking
Based purely on touch/texture, here’s how I rank the sticker companies:
Level 1: Nearly identical, difficult to tell any difference in touch/texture
Sticker Junkie (top pick)
Sticker Blitz
Rockin Monkey
Level 2: Similar thickness, but surface texture was slightly different
Sticker Ninja
Sticker Bros
Jukebox Print
**All three of these had a very similar, “super matte” surface texture to me. I loved the feel of them. I think I’ve been converted to preferring this texture now.
Level 3: Noticeable differences in texture
Sticky Brand – Whereas the Level 2 stickers felt different to the touch, they didn’t have a noticeable visual texture difference. Sticky Brand had a tactile and visual texture difference to their BombProof vinyl.
Sticker Giant – thinner feel overall, but the sticker itself is thicker than Sticker App
Sticker App – ultra thin
**I do not mean this to be a mark against the durability or life of these stickers. I believe that my customers only have a moment of holding the sticker before determining if it’s worth it. The tactile experience is important to me, and I don’t want to sacrifice that if I have a choice.
Shipping Time Comparisons
I ordered my samples 12-48 hours after receiving the text and email that rocked the sticker world, so it was right at the height of the rush to switch sticker makers. Here’s how ordering samples looked during a peak period:
So which one did I go with?
I think I’m actually going to start using multiple providers now! Sticker Bros is an amazing fit for me: they’re located in our neighboring city, they have great deals, and my own designs have come out SO much better through them already. The smaller carbon footprint + shorter processing times due to their proximity are hard to beat, so I’ll use them for most of my popular die cut matte vinyl stickers.
I loved my customer experience with Sticker Ninja, and the glitter sticker I got through them came out beautifully. They’re at the top of my list for my sparkly designs and any new designs that I’m unsure about that could use a personal touch from a design team.
After that, I’m keeping all the other companies in mind for special projects. This ended up being an amazing experience for me to see what else is out there and get ideas for new styles of stickers that I can create and provide for my book-loving nerds!
Social Media/Video Reviews
If this was way too long an article, here are all my video posts on the topic, with clips of the stickers I reviewed!
Hope this helps!
I don’t have a huge business, but I remember having even less in my business spending account than I do now. Past Me couldn’t have spared the money to get all these samples. I’m hoping I can help out someone in their search for sticker companies! Let me know how your search goes!
NLD x Swapna 
This was so unbelievably helpful, and saved my small business time and money in ordering from all these companies. Thank you so much for doing this and sharing your results so generously.
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I’m so glad it helped!!
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