I'd say three times the price for sure. Masking tape and paint is very inexpensive. Nothing wrong with that either. I just powdercoat my stuff because I can and I like the challenge of doing intricate stuff with it.
Lately I've been working with a buddy who does vinyl sign work. We're using his skills at that to make masks for powdercoating. Coat the base color, apply vinyl decal mask, apply second color and partial bake, remove mask, and full bake. Finally, a coat of clear powder over the whole deal to seal the edges down tight.
We did this sprocket for his minibike that way.
Previously I have always used high temp powdercoat masking tape for this stuff and it's tedious at best. We're still working out the bugs in the process but we're getting good results and it's much quicker and easier.