What GSM Actually Tells You
GSM, or grams per square meter, measures the weight of a single sheet of paper relative to its area. It is not a direct measurement of thickness, but the two are closely correlated in practice: a higher GSM sheet is almost always thicker, stiffer, and more opaque than a lower GSM sheet of the same paper type. For office bond paper, the most common grades sold in the Philippines are 70, 75, and 80 GSM, with 100 GSM available for documents that need extra substance.
The difference between 70 and 80 GSM sounds small on paper, roughly a 14 percent difference in weight, but it is noticeable both in hand feel and in print behavior, particularly at high volume or in double-sided printing.
70 GSM: Lightweight and Economical
70 GSM bond paper is thinner and lighter, which makes it the more economical choice per ream and per sheet in most cases. It is well suited to high-volume, lower-stakes printing: internal memos, drafts, photocopying, training materials, and any document that will likely be discarded or filed rather than presented. Because reams of 70 GSM paper are lighter, they are also slightly easier to handle in bulk and take up marginally less storage weight per box, which matters for businesses ordering pallet quantities.
The tradeoff is that 70 GSM paper is more prone to show-through on double-sided prints, meaning text or images on one side can be faintly visible from the other, and it handles less predictably in some high-speed copiers that are tuned for a slightly heavier default stock. For businesses printing primarily single-sided internal documents, this tradeoff rarely matters in practice.
80 GSM: The Common Middle Ground
80 GSM bond paper is noticeably more substantial in hand feel and is generally the default choice for businesses that want one paper grade to serve most of their needs, from internal printing to client-facing letters and proposals. The additional weight reduces show-through on double-sided documents, gives printed text and graphics a slightly crisper appearance, and tends to feed more reliably through a wider range of printers and copiers, including older or heavily used office equipment.
The cost difference between 70 and 80 GSM is usually modest on a per-ream basis but compounds at high volume, which is why many businesses choose to stock both grades: 70 GSM for internal, high-volume printing, and 80 GSM for anything that leaves the building or represents the business externally.
A Quick Way to Decide
As a general rule, if a document is going to a client, a government office, a bank, or anyone outside the organization, 80 GSM or heavier is the safer default. If a document is strictly internal, high-volume, or likely to be printed once and discarded, 70 GSM is usually sufficient and saves money without any meaningful downside.
- Client proposals, contracts, letterheads: 80 GSM or higher
- Internal memos, drafts, meeting notes: 70 GSM
- Double-sided printing where show-through matters: 80 GSM
- High-volume photocopying and training handouts: 70 GSM
- School exam papers and worksheets printed in bulk: 70 GSM is commonly used for cost efficiency
- Certificates, formal documents, presentation materials: 100 GSM often preferred over either
What About 75 GSM and 100 GSM?
70 and 80 GSM get the most attention because they anchor the economy and standard tiers, but 75 GSM and 100 GSM both have a place in a well-stocked supply cabinet. 75 GSM sits close enough to 70 GSM in price and feel that some brands offer it as their standard multipurpose grade rather than stocking 70 GSM at all, and for most everyday printing the difference between 70 and 75 GSM is not something an end user would notice.
100 GSM is a different category altogether. It is noticeably stiffer and more substantial, closer to a light cardstock than a standard copy sheet, and is generally reserved for certificates, formal proposals, presentation covers, and documents meant to convey extra weight, both literally and figuratively. Businesses that occasionally need this heavier stock usually keep a smaller quantity on hand for specific use cases rather than standardizing their whole office around it, since it costs more per ream and is not necessary for routine printing.
How Paper Weight Affects Shipping and Storage Volume
GSM has a direct, practical effect on logistics that buyers ordering at wholesale or export volume should factor into planning. A pallet of 80 GSM paper weighs more than the same number of reams in 70 GSM, which affects freight cost when paper is priced or shipped by weight, and it also affects how much total paper fits within a given container's weight limit before volume, rather than space, becomes the constraint.
For businesses ordering by the pallet or container, this means a straight per-ream price comparison between GSM grades does not tell the whole story once freight is added. A slightly higher per-ream cost for 70 GSM can still work out cheaper in total landed cost than 80 GSM once the weight-based freight difference is accounted for, particularly on long-distance or export shipments where freight is a larger share of total cost than it is on short domestic deliveries.
Printer and Copier Compatibility
Most modern laser printers, inkjet printers, and photocopiers are designed to handle a range of GSM without adjustment, typically anywhere from 70 to 90 GSM without needing a tray or setting change. Businesses running older equipment or high-speed production copiers should check the manufacturer's recommended GSM range, since some machines are tuned to a narrower band and perform less reliably, with more frequent jams, outside that range.
In practice, feed reliability tends to depend more on paper quality and consistency within a ream than on GSM alone. A well-manufactured 70 GSM ream from an established brand often outperforms an inconsistent 80 GSM ream from an unfamiliar source, which is why brand reputation and manufacturing consistency matter as much as the GSM number printed on the wrapper.
How Schools, Print Shops, and Offices Use Each Grade Differently
Schools and training centers are among the heaviest consumers of 70 GSM paper in the Philippines, given how much of their printing goes toward worksheets, exams, quizzes, and handouts that are used once and then either kept in a student's folder or discarded at the end of a term. At the volume most schools print, the cost difference between 70 and 80 GSM across an entire term's worth of materials can be significant, which is why 70 GSM remains the default for most educational institutions despite 80 GSM being available.
Print shops and copy centers typically stock both grades side by side, since their customer base spans students needing the cheapest possible photocopy through to businesses wanting a more substantial feel for a proposal or portfolio. Corporate offices tend to split the difference by grade rather than by customer type, using 70 GSM as the default for internal printing and reserving 80 GSM specifically for anything that will be seen by a client, government office, or business partner outside the company.
Does Paper Weight Affect Environmental Footprint?
It is a reasonable question whether lighter paper is meaningfully more sustainable than heavier paper, since a 70 GSM ream uses somewhat less raw material per sheet than an 80 GSM ream of the same size. In practice, the difference in material use between the two grades is real but modest, and the more significant sustainability factors in paper buying tend to be overall consumption volume, whether printing is genuinely necessary in the first place, and how paper waste is managed after use, rather than which of these two common GSM grades is chosen.
Businesses genuinely focused on reducing their paper footprint generally get more impact from reducing unnecessary printing, encouraging double-sided printing, and recycling used paper, than from switching grades alone. That said, for organizations that print at very large scale, the cumulative material difference between defaulting to 70 GSM versus 80 GSM across tens of thousands of reams a year is not negligible, and is a reasonable factor to weigh alongside cost when setting an organization-wide paper standard.
Cost Considerations at Wholesale Volume
At retail, single-pack pricing differences between 70 and 80 GSM paper can seem negligible. At wholesale volume, ordering by the box or pallet, the gap becomes a real budgeting factor, and businesses evaluating cheap bond paper philippines options should weigh cost per ream against how the paper will actually be used rather than defaulting to the lowest listed price. A business that orders a large volume of 70 GSM for internal use and a smaller volume of 80 GSM for client-facing work often ends up with lower total spend than standardizing on one grade for everything.
For businesses trying to minimize cost without sacrificing reliability on external-facing documents, mixing grades by use case, rather than choosing a single GSM for the entire office, is usually the more cost-effective approach.
Testing a New Grade Before Switching an Entire Office
Businesses considering a switch between 70 and 80 GSM as their default, or adjusting the mix between the two, are generally well served by running a small trial order through their actual printers and copiers before committing a full quarter's supply to the new grade. A trial run surfaces any feed or jam issues specific to a particular office's equipment fleet that a general product description would not reveal, and it gives staff a chance to weigh in on whether the new grade's feel is acceptable for client-facing work.
This is a low-cost, low-risk step that many businesses skip in the interest of moving quickly, only to discover a compatibility issue with an older printer model after a large order has already arrived. A modest trial box, tested across the office's actual equipment for a week or two, is a small investment of time that avoids that outcome.
Choosing the Right Grade for Your Business
Neither 70 nor 80 GSM is universally better; the right choice depends on what the paper is used for, how it is printed, and how much of the budget is allocated to paper versus other supplies. Many established offices simply stock both, using 70 GSM as the default workhorse and reserving 80 GSM for documents that carry the business's name outside the building.
RC Printshoppe and General Merchandise supplies bond paper in 70, 75, 80, and 100 GSM across more than two dozen brands, and can help businesses work out a mixed order that matches actual usage patterns rather than a single default grade. Businesses unsure which mix fits their volume are welcome to request a wholesale quote and discuss their specific printing needs.
