People often call these two tools by the same name, and it’s easy to understand why. Both are handheld, both help you get merchandise ready for the sales floor, and both live in the same corner of your supply closet. But a labeling gun and a tagging gun do two different jobs and if you order the wrong one, you end up with a tool that will not do what you need.

I have spent years in our Sales and Customer Service department helping independent retailers sort this out over the phone. The confusion is common, and it is easy to fix once you know what each tool is actually for. Here is the plain-language version.

What Is a Labeling Gun?

A  Pricing Gun , often called a labeling gun, or a price labeler, is a handheld device that prints a small adhesive label and applies it to your merchandise in one motion. You dial in a price (or a date, or a code), squeeze the trigger, and a sticky label rolls out and presses onto the item.

The label gun definition really comes down to the sticky label. The gun holds a roll of blank adhesive labels, an ink roller, and a set of adjustable number bands. When you pull the trigger, the bands stamp your price onto the label and the label feeds out ready to stick.

You will hear the tool described a few different ways:

• Price gun or price labeler: the most common names
• Labeling gun or handheld label gun: same tool, different phrasing
• 1-line labeler: prints one line of information, usually a price

The consumables matter here. A pricing gun needs the right 1-line pricing gun labels to match your model, and it needs ink. Guns run dry, so keeping a spare ink roller on hand keeps you from stopping mid-shift. You can find both alongside the guns in our Tagging, Labeling & Price Tags category.

What a Pricing Gun Is Good For

Reach for a pricing gun when you want price or date information printed and stuck directly onto an item or its packaging. Think boxed goods, cans and jars, health and beauty products, hardware, books, and anything with a flat, clean surface that a sticker will hold to.

One thing I always mention: consistent, machine-printed price labels also help at the register. As one of our label descriptions notes, single line labels help deter price switching and speed up checkout, because the price is right there and hard to swap.

What Is a Tagging Gun?

A Tagging Gun is a different animal. Instead of printing a label, it shoots a small plastic fastener through your merchandise to attach a hang tag or a price tag. You load the gun with a clip of fasteners, push the needle through the fabric and the tag, pull the trigger, and one plastic fastener locks the tag in place.

There is no printing involved. The tagging gun does not create the tag or the price. It only attaches a tag you already have to the item. You supply the tag, the gun supplies the fastener.

What a Tagging Gun Is Good For

Tagging guns shine on soft goods where a sticker will not hold: apparel, plush toys, socks, hats, linens, and similar items. If you have ever pulled a little plastic barb off a new shirt, that came from a tagging gun.

The fasteners come in a couple of common styles, and picking the right one matters:

• Regular fasteners, like our 3 inch regular tagging fasteners, attach tags to apparel or sporting goods.
• Hook fasteners add a hook at the end so tagged merchandise can hang directly on a peg hook.

A quick note from experience: fasteners are made to fit most standard tagging guns, but always match the fastener style (regular versus  Hook) to how you plan to display the item.

Pricing Gun vs Tagging Gun: Side by Side

Here is the labeling gun vs tagging gun comparison in one place.

	Labeling Gun (Pricing Gun)	Tagging Gun
What it does	Prints and applies an adhesive label	Attaches a tag with a plastic fastener
Prints a price?	Yes, you dial it in	No, you supply the tag
Consumables	Label rolls and ink rollers	Fastener clips (regular or hook)
Best for	Boxes, cans, jars, books, packaged goods	Apparel, plush, hats, soft goods
Leaves a hole?	No, sticker only	Yes, a small needle hole

Which Store Needs Which Tool?

The answer usually comes down to what you sell.

You likely want a pricing gun if you run a grocery, gift shop, hardware store, pharmacy, book store, or any shop with packaged products that have a surface a sticker can grip. Pricing goes fast, and the printed label looks clean and consistent.

You likely want a tagging gun if you run a clothing boutique, resale or consignment shop, or any store built around apparel and soft goods. You cannot stick a price label to a knit sweater and expect it to stay, so a tag and fastener is the way to go.

Plenty of stores keep both, and that is completely normal. In my years helping consignment shops in particular, the mistake I see most is ordering a case of fasteners for a store that only sells boxed goods, or ordering label rolls for a shop that is all clothing. A quick look at your inventory tells you which tool does the daily work.

A Few Alternatives Worth Knowing

Not every pricing job needs a gun at all. For apparel, many retailers skip the price sticker entirely and let the fixture carry the information. Options like Slip On Hanger Size Markers  and Size Dividers help customers find their size on a rack without a single sticker, and they pair well with tagged merchandise.

Getting the Consumables Right

Whichever tool you buy, the tool is only half the purchase. The part that trips people up is the consumables, so keep these points in mind:

• Pricing guns need labels sized for your specific model, plus ink rollers. A gun with the wrong label roll will jam or misfeed.
• Tagging guns need the right fastener style. Regular fasteners for standard tagging, hook fasteners when you want the tagged item to hang on a peg.
• Keep a backup of whatever runs out fastest. An empty ink roller or an empty fastener clip stops your pricing cold, and that always seems to happen on your busiest day.

If you searched for one term and realized halfway through that you actually needed the other, you are in good company. Now you know the difference: a pricing gun prints and sticks a price, and a tagging gun pins a tag in place. Match the tool to what you sell, stock the right consumables, and pricing day gets a lot smoother.

Written by Kris Boettigheimer
Purchasing Assistant
Kris brings over 32 years of retail industry experience and more than 20 years at Store Supply Warehouse to every article he writes for storesupply.com. Since joining SSW in 2005, Kris has worked across multiple departments , including six years in Sales/Customer Service, where he helped independent retailers and small business owners find the right store fixtures, retail displays, and merchandising supplies to improve their store layouts and drive sales. For the past 15+ years in SSW's Purchasing Department, he has collaborated with suppliers, tracked market trends, and sourced products across all three Store Supply divisions. Today, Kris channels that hands-on experience into content that helps retailers enhance store presentation, discover new display solutions, and make smarter product decisions.