Brochures and flyers are the print workhorses of small business marketing. A brochure folds; a flyer does not. A brochure carries more content and feels more substantial; a flyer carries one message and works at scale. Both print well from a home printer for short runs, both scale to commercial printing for larger volumes, and both have well-established template formats that match standard paper sizes.

The difference matters because the format dictates how a reader engages with the content. A brochure invites careful reading; a flyer is a quick visual hit.

Brochure formats

Brochures are defined by how they fold.

Tri-fold brochures use six panels (three on each side of an A4 or US Letter sheet) and fold into thirds. They are the dominant format for service overviews, event programmes and product catalogues — the workhorse business brochure.

Bi-fold brochures use four panels and fold in half. The format feels more formal and suits content that benefits from larger panel space — annual reports, premium product descriptions, conference programmes.

Gate-fold brochures fold from both edges into the centre. The dramatic reveal makes them suit product launches and high-impact marketing pieces.

Z-fold brochures use six panels folded in a Z shape, where each panel reveals the next. Map-style content works well in this format.

The base sheet is usually A4 (210 x 297 mm) or US Letter (8.5 x 11 inches) for home printing, with A3 and Tabloid+ sizes used for commercial print runs.

Flyer formats

Flyers are simpler. The format choice is mostly about size.

Full-page flyers use the full A4 or US Letter sheet. They suit posters, event announcements and any content that needs maximum visual presence.

Half-page flyers print two to a sheet and trim to A5 or half-Letter size. They work for hand-out marketing, in-store promotions and inserts in mailings.

Quarter-page flyers print four to a sheet at A6 size. They are the cheapest per piece and suit volume distribution where each flyer carries a single short message.

Flyers can be one-sided or two-sided. One-sided is cheaper to print but loses real estate; two-sided suits flyers that carry both a hook and supporting detail.

Software options

Microsoft Word has built-in flyer templates under File > New > “flyers” and can handle tri-fold brochures by switching to landscape orientation and using three columns or a three-column table. Word manages bleed and margins for home printing well.

Google Docs sets up tri-folds via Format > Columns set to three columns in landscape orientation. The template gallery has fewer pre-built brochure layouts than Word, but the tools are sufficient for clean tri-fold and bi-fold designs.

LibreOffice handles both Word and Docs-style approaches and opens most third-party brochure templates without conversion issues.

For more visual design freedom — heavy imagery, complex layouts, multiple colour zones — design tools like Canva and Adobe Express produce polished brochures faster than document software, with the trade-off of less direct control over print precision.

For commercial printing, three setup details matter:

  • Bleed: add 3mm of design beyond the trim line so background colours run to the edge cleanly. Without bleed, the printer leaves a white line if the cut drifts.
  • Safe zone: keep important content (text, logos, key images) at least 3-5mm inside the trim line. Anything closer risks being trimmed off.
  • Paper weight: 100-130gsm is standard for flyers; 150-200gsm is standard for brochures. Heavier weights feel more premium but cost more and may need single-sheet feeding on home printers.

Export to PDF before sending to a commercial printer. Most commercial printers want CMYK colour space rather than RGB.

Going deeper

For tri-fold brochure design specifically, see how to design a professional tri-fold brochure. For a full reference on fold types, see brochure folding styles explained. The flyer Word templates tutorial walks through the Word-specific flow, and brochure vs flyer covers the format choice. Google Docs users should see designing brochures and flyers in Google Docs, and print-ready brochure templates covers the technical print prep.