If you’re ordering custom dice for a wedding favor, a board game Kickstarter, or your D&D group’s next campaign, the first question is almost always the same: how much does this actually cost, and how many do you need to buy? Pricing swings wildly depending on who you order from — anywhere from around $50 for a single engraved die to well under a dollar each at bulk quantities — and minimum order quantities range from one piece to 5,000.
This guide pulls real per-die pricing, minimum order quantities, lead times, and material tradeoffs from several dice manufacturers, so you can budget an order before you ever request a quote.
Source: Bear Dice, BoardGamesMaker, em4miniatures, PrintNinja (manufacturer sites, accessed August 2026)
How much do custom dice cost?
Across most manufacturers, custom dice run $2 to $5 per die for small-to-mid orders, with price dropping sharply as quantity climbs. Bear Dice publishes a clear tier structure for its custom acrylic D6 dice: $3.00 each at the 20-die minimum, $2.50 from 50–149 pieces, $2.00 from 150–999, and down to $1.00 or $0.80 once you cross 1,000 and 2,000 units. On the other end, a shop like dnddice will engrave a single die for around $50 plus shipping — useful for a one-off gift, but not something you’d scale to a game night’s worth of sets.
Whatever quote you get, ask what it includes. Some manufacturers bundle in worldwide shipping; others charge separately and add per-logo setup fees on top of the per-die rate, which matters more on small orders where a flat fee is a bigger share of the total.
Minimum order quantities by manufacturer
MOQ is often the deciding factor before price even enters the conversation. On the low end, BoardGamesMaker will produce a run of a single die with no minimum, and em4miniatures sets its minimum at 25 dice with no tooling charge. Bear Dice’s minimum is 20 dice per custom design.
Move up to wholesale-style production and the minimums jump. Role4Initiative requires 100 dice per shape and color combination, plus a $35 setup fee for each unique logo or text design. Awesome Dice sets its floor at 100 individual dice, or 200 full sets. At the top end, PrintNinja requires 1,000 units for engraved dice and 5,000 units for silkscreened dice — a gap driven by how each printing method is set up on the production line.
If you only need a handful of pieces — a proposal die, a set of groomsmen gifts — stick to the low-MOQ shops even though the per-die price is higher; the setup and tooling costs at bulk manufacturers won’t pencil out for small runs.
Choosing a material: acrylic, resin, or metal
Material choice affects price, weight, and how the dice feel to roll, and it’s usually where quotes diverge the most between vendors.
Acrylic and resin
Acrylic is the default for most custom dice programs: it’s light, inexpensive to mold and color, and takes engraving or print well, which is why it dominates mass-produced gaming and promotional dice. Resin sits a step up — it hardens into a glass-like, translucent material with more depth and a heavier, more premium feel in the hand than acrylic, though it can chip if dropped on a hard surface. Resin and acrylic both have a specific gravity around 1.1–1.3, so the weight difference between them is modest compared to metal.
Metal dice
Solid metal dice, usually zinc-alloy, weigh roughly five to six times as much as acrylic dice of the same size. That extra mass changes how they roll — more momentum, a distinct “thunk” on landing — and it’s the reason metal dice are priced and marketed as a premium tier rather than a standard option. Expect metal to cost more per unit and to be offered by fewer manufacturers than acrylic or resin.
Lead times: how long custom dice take
Turnaround time varies more than almost any other factor in this category, and it’s worth confirming before you commit to a date-sensitive order like a wedding or an event giveaway.
On the fast end, Bear Dice quotes 7–10 days production with free worldwide shipping on top. Role4Initiative’s standard lead time is about 8 weeks, though it can expedite personalized runs down to roughly 2 weeks for an added cost. Baron of Dice quotes 9–13 weeks for production, and Awesome Dice’s custom manufacturing runs 60–90 days from order to delivery. For larger wholesale orders across the industry, 14–18 weeks is a realistic planning window depending on the time of year — factories get backed up ahead of major holiday and convention seasons.
If you’re on a tight timeline, filter vendors by lead time before you even compare price — a cheaper die that arrives after your event isn’t a deal.
Engraved vs. printed dice
The two main customization methods — engraving and printing (typically silkscreen or pad printing) — carry different cost structures because of how they’re set up on a production line. Engraving cuts your logo, text, or symbol directly into the material, which makes it durable and well suited to single-color designs like a monogram or a wedding date; PrintNinja’s MOQ for engraved dice sits at 1,000 units. Printing applies full-color ink to the surface and can reproduce more complex artwork, but it typically requires a much higher minimum — PrintNinja sets that MOQ at 5,000 units — because each color needs its own screen setup.
If your design is a single logo or short text, engraving is usually the more economical path at low-to-mid volumes. If you need multi-color artwork and you’re ordering in the thousands, printing starts to make more financial sense per piece. Either way, budget for a one-time setup fee — Role4Initiative, for instance, charges $35 per unique logo or text design regardless of which method you choose.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the cheapest way to order custom dice in small quantities?
For runs under 50 pieces, low-MOQ shops like Bear Dice (20-die minimum, from $3.00 each) or em4miniatures (25-die minimum, no tooling charge) will beat bulk manufacturers on total cost, since wholesale vendors add setup fees that only pay off at higher volumes.
How long does it take to get custom dice made?
It depends heavily on the vendor. Small-batch shops like Bear Dice can produce custom dice in 7–10 days. Standard wholesale production runs 8–13 weeks at manufacturers like Role4Initiative and Baron of Dice, and can stretch to 14–18 weeks for large seasonal orders.
What’s the minimum order for custom dice?
Minimums range widely: BoardGamesMaker will make a single custom die, Bear Dice and em4miniatures require 20–25, Role4Initiative and Awesome Dice require around 100, and bulk manufacturers like PrintNinja require 1,000 (engraved) to 5,000 (silkscreened) units.
Is resin or acrylic better for custom dice?
Acrylic is lighter, cheaper, and the standard choice for most custom dice programs. Resin costs more but offers a glass-like, translucent look and a heavier, more premium feel — a common upgrade for wedding favors or collector sets, though it’s more prone to chipping if dropped.
Do custom dice orders come with extra setup fees?
Often, yes. Some manufacturers, like Role4Initiative, charge a flat setup fee (around $35) per unique logo or text design in addition to the per-die price, so confirm the full quote before comparing vendors on price alone.
The bottom line
There’s no single right answer for where to buy custom dice — the right vendor depends on how many you need, how fast you need them, and how much finish quality matters. For a handful of pieces on a short timeline, a low-MOQ shop with 7–10 day production is worth the higher per-die price. For a 500-piece convention giveaway or a product line, the math flips toward a bulk manufacturer with a longer lead time but a per-die cost that can drop below $1.00. Get quotes from at least two vendors with your exact quantity, material, and design in hand — the price swings enough between providers that a single quote rarely tells the full story.