Medal engraving is priced one of two ways. In a race-day activation the runner pays — on-site or as an add-on during registration — and the race carries no cost. In a brand-sponsored activation a sponsor covers the whole thing and engraving is free to every finisher. What the activation costs to run depends on field size, station count, and hours on site.
How is medal engraving priced?
There is no single sticker price, because medal engraving is a staffed operation rather than a product. The cost of running one scales with how many medals need to move through it and how long the line has to stay open. Two funding models exist, and which one you pick decides who actually pays.
| Race-day activation | Brand-sponsored activation | |
|---|---|---|
| Who pays | The runner | The sponsoring brand |
| Cost to the race | None | None |
| Cost to the runner | Per-medal fee | Free |
| How runners pay | On-site, or pre-purchased at registration | Nothing to pay — they scan a QR code and register |
| Branding | Race branding | Sponsor owns the zone, screens, and touchpoints |
| Typical fit | Races adding a finish-festival amenity | Brands buying dwell time and earned content |
What does a runner pay at a race-day activation?
The runner pays a per-medal fee, either at the station or as a checkbox during race registration. Pre-purchase at registration is the better option for everyone: the runner skips the payment step at the station, and the race gets a headcount in advance so the right number of stations show up.
Rates vary by event, distance, and what is being engraved, so we quote per event rather than publishing a rate card. If you want a real number for your race, tell us the event and field size and we will send one.
What does a brand pay to sponsor an activation?
A sponsoring brand covers the cost of the activation and engraving becomes free to every finisher. The brand is not buying engraving — it is buying the zone: branded registration screens, branded stations, and a few minutes of undivided attention from every runner who walks up.
This is the model behind our brand activations. At lululemon's Chicago flagship we engraved more than 1,000 medals in 2025, and more than 800 at their Boston flagship. Every one of those runners spent minutes inside a lululemon-branded experience and left holding something they keep.
What drives the cost of an engraving activation?
Five things move the number. None of them are surprises, and all of them are settled before you sign anything.
- Field size. How many finishers, and what share of them are likely to want engraving. This sets the station count.
- Station count. Stations run in parallel. More stations means a shorter line at peak finish, and more equipment and crew on site.
- Hours on site. A single-morning 10K and a three-day marathon weekend with expo hours are different operations.
- Branding depth. A sponsor-owned zone with custom screens and signage costs more to build than a standard race-day setup.
- Travel and logistics. We serve events across the United States and Canada; distance and load-in conditions factor in.
Is medal engraving worth it for a race?
For a race director the calculation is simple, because in the runner-paid model the race pays nothing. You are adding a finish-festival amenity that runners queue for voluntarily, at no line item on your budget, and with almost no work for your staff — we arrive self-contained.
The timing is good, too. US road racing has passed its pre-pandemic peak: races on the 2025 Top 100 list averaged a 5.2% per-race increase over 2019, and grew 6.5% year over year, according to Running USA and RunSignup. Bigger fields make the finish festival matter more, not less.
What is included in the price?
Everything needed to run the line. We arrive self-contained with equipment, trained crew, signage, setup, and teardown, and we carry $2M in commercial liability insurance. Runners confirm the exact text on screen before the laser fires, and you get a post-event report of medals engraved and throughput.
Finish Line Engravers has engraved more than 100,000 medals on-site since 2013. If you want a concrete quote, tell us about your event — or read how on-site medal engraving works first.