Color seems like the safer choice by default — it's what most packaging on a shelf looks like, after all. But plenty of well-regarded small brands deliberately go black and white, and not just to save on ink.
Cost and consistency
Color printing costs more per label and is harder to keep exactly consistent across print runs — slight color drift between batches is common with home or small-shop printers. Black and white sidesteps both problems entirely.
It can look more premium, not less
A clean, minimal black-and-white label with good typography often reads as more considered and higher-end than a busy, colorful one — this is a well-worn strategy in coffee, skincare, and specialty food branding specifically because restraint signals confidence.
It's more forgiving to print at home or in-house
A standard laser printer produces crisp black text and lines reliably. Getting color to look consistent and vibrant on the same equipment is considerably harder, especially at small label sizes where color bleed is more visible.
Where color genuinely earns its cost
If your brand identity is built around a specific color (a logo that's meaningless in black and white, for instance) or you're competing directly on a shelf where color differentiation matters, that's a legitimate reason to invest in color printing despite the extra cost and consistency effort.
Our take
For most small businesses just starting out, black and white removes cost and consistency headaches while still looking entirely professional — color is worth adding later once the brand and budget can support doing it properly.