CheckStream® prints the check itself rather than filling in a pre-printed form. That single difference removes check stock from your inventory, your safe, and your shredder.
Printing checks is an exact science, with precise tolerances for MICR character position, signal strength, security features, and check forms. CheckStream handles all of it from the accounting data you already produce, across a single desktop printer or a network of hundreds of devices.
Six editions exist. They divide along two lines: how many people need to print, and whether the checks are monochrome or full color. The comparison table below is the fastest way to find yours.
The distinction sounds small and is not. A pre-printed check is an inventory item: ordered in quantity, stored under lock, counted, and destroyed when something on it changes. Every bank account needs its own stock. Every address change makes the remainder worthless.
Blank safety stock is one product. The account details, the logo, the background, the security features, and the MICR line all print at the moment the check is produced. Change a bank, an address, or a logo and you change a template, not an inventory.
Why print on blank stock
Pre-printed stock
One product per account
Blank safety stock
One product covers every account, each check printed on demand
Composition and the run are separate steps, which is why the layout can be proofed before anything prints.
Two rows. Maximum users and printer support. Every other capability is identical across LS, Office, and Pro, which makes this a simpler decision than it first appears.
| Feature | CheckStream LS | CheckStream Office | CheckStream Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Graphic user interface | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Top, middle, and bottom check formats | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Maximum number of users differs | 1 | 5 | 10 |
| Printer support differs | 1 | Multiple | Multiple |
| User-level security | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple bank accounts | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| US and Canadian check support | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Network capability | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Positive pay file generation | Optional | Optional | Optional |
| Logo insertion on checks | Standard | Standard | Standard |
| Signature encryption | Optional | Optional | Optional |
| Manual check printing | Optional | Optional | Optional |
| Reprint capabilities | Standard | Standard | Standard |
| Reprint security | Standard | Standard | Standard |
| Windows compatibility | Standard | Standard | Standard |
| Forms design | Optional | Optional | Optional |
| Email support | Optional | Optional | Optional |
| PDF check archive creation | Optional | Optional | Optional |
| Rules-based check printing | Standard | Standard | Standard |
Standard means included. Optional means available but not included by default. Rows marked "differs" are the only ones where the three editions are not identical.
The three business editions
The three color editions
Maximum users and printer support. Every other capability in the matrix is identical across LS, Office and Pro.
One user, one printer
Optimized for small businesses with one check writing user and one MICR printer.
LS is the single-seat edition. One person prints, one printer receives, and everything else in the CheckStream feature set is present: user-level security, multiple bank accounts, US and Canadian check support, rules-based printing, and reprint security.
Up to 5 users, multiple printers
Creates and controls check printing workflows in mid-size offices and departments with multiple MICR printers and check forms.
Office raises the user ceiling to five and removes the single-printer limit. That matters when more than one person can issue a check, or when different accounts print to different devices.
Up to 10 users, data center scale
Enables large enterprises to manage data center production print environments, execute advanced transpromo applications, and control distributed MICR printers.
Pro is the enterprise edition, with a ten-user ceiling and the language of data center production rather than desktop printing. It is the edition for distributed MICR printers across sites.
Full color, workgroup printer
Sets up accounts and merges variable financial data to print full-color checks onto blank perforated paper.
Color Plus prints the background, the logo, the endorsement side, and the MICR line in one pass onto blank safety stock. It integrates with the four-color SP C840DNM workgroup MICR printer. Embedded security features include VOID Pantograph, Eurion Dot Security, microprint, and watermarks.
Full color, production printer
The production-scale build of Color Plus, integrating only with the five-color production MICR printer.
Color Plus Pro is the same application aimed at production volumes. It integrates with the five-color production MICR printer, the Pro C7210XM.
For commercial print shops
For commercial printing environments producing blank personal checks, business checks, and multi-up sheet formats for other companies.
Commercial is the edition for a printer selling check stock as a product. Digital check printing removes the minimum volume limits that make short runs uneconomic, so a shop can accept any job in any quantity and turn finished check stacks around in minutes. Jobs split across output devices to balance load and reroute automatically on a printer error.
A WYSIWYG check form design tool, bundled rather than sold separately.
Designer is how a check form becomes a file instead of an inventory item. It creates and stores custom templates for fast reprinting, and it handles the parts of check production that are easy to get wrong by hand.
Shown for Color Plus and Color Plus Pro. For LS, Office, Pro and Commercial, we confirm requirements against your environment before installation.
| Client operating system | Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10, and 11; Windows Server 2016, 2019, and 2022 |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel i5 or higher |
| Memory | 2 GB RAM recommended, depending on the operating system |
| Storage | 20 GB drive with 512 MB free for the program, scripts, forms, and configuration files |
| Display | 1920 x 1080 or higher |
| Network | Ethernet network card or wireless access point, with TCP/IP |
| Java | Oracle Java runtime, version 8.11.123 or higher |
| Printer | SP C840DNM four-color workgroup printer, or Pro C7210XM five-color production printer |
| Additional | Additional drive spooling space is required depending on server load and printing habits |
Written to be useful whether or not the reader buys from us.
Check printing software takes payment data from an accounting system and prints a complete check onto blank stock, including the payee details, the amount, the background design, any security features, and the MICR line along the bottom. It replaces the older approach of buying pre-printed check stock and running it through a printer that fills in only the variable fields.
Pre-printed check stock has to be ordered, stored securely, tracked, and destroyed whenever a bank account, address, or logo changes. Printing on blank safety stock removes all four costs. It also removes the risk of running out of a specific account's forms mid-run, because every account prints from the same blank paper.
Start with how many people print checks. LS supports one user and one printer, Office supports up to five users across multiple printers, and Pro supports up to ten users in a data center production environment. If the checks need to be full color, Color Plus and Color Plus Pro are the color editions. Commercial is for print shops producing check stock for other companies.
CheckStream Color Plus ships pre-loaded with default check forms for ten of the most popular accounting packages, and publicly names four: QuickBooks, Microsoft Dynamics, Yardi, and Propertyware. We also provide customization services for other templates, colors, and formats. Ask about your specific package rather than assuming either way.
VOID Pantograph, Eurion Dot Security, microprint, and watermarks imprinted into the background, all printed at the same time as the check itself on blank safety stock. Signature encryption is available as an option, as is positive pay file generation.
Tell us your monthly volume and what you are running now. That is enough for a real answer rather than a brochure.
