What's the difference between wire and spiral binding?

What is wire binding?

Wire binding is a form of binding paper, documents, or pages together. Wire binding is also commonly known or referred to as “wire-o binding” and comes in two types:

       Double loop wire binding

       Wire Comb binding

Wire binding or Wire-O binding is available in many different color options, as well as many different wire lengths. It all depends on the type of printing project you have.

Wire binding gives a much more professional look than spiral binding does. Because the binding is made up of metal for wire binding, it’s generally used in formal presentations or very professional settings.

Here’s a picture of what wire binding looks like:

What is spiral binding?

Spiral binding is the process of binding pages together with a wire or plastic coil that is inserted into holes along the edge of paper pages. There are also a variety of colors available for spiral binding and is effective for documents up to about 300 pages.

Spiral bound printing is generally used for booklets or catalogs that need to lay flat and referred to often. Cookbooks or manuals are generally products that would use spiral bound printing.

Although spiral binding might not look as professional or clean as wire binding, it’s a lot more durable than wire binding. If you need to constantly refer to a booklet or catalog, you’ll benefit from a spiral binding for your product.

Here’s a picture of what spiral bound printing looks like:

What’s the difference between wire and spiral binding?

The difference between wire and spiral binding then, is the type of binding used to put the documents together. Many people that look for printing services aren’t sure of the difference between wire and spiral binding, but the difference comes down to:

       Spiral binding uses a plastic coil as binding   

       Wire binding uses a metal wire as binding

Also, if you want to know the difference between wire and spiral binding, you can easily determine which type of binding you need by asking yourself whether the product you need is for formal use (wire binding) or for reference, everyday use (spiral binding).