50 printers · 7 brands · 43 with a sourced cost per page · 8 with an ink lock · updated September 2026
The price on the box is not what the printer costs
Every printer publishes two numbers that decide the bill — how many pages a cartridge lasts, and what that cartridge costs — and never prints them on the same page. Divide one by the other and the same black sheet of paper costs anywhere from 0.30¢ to 15¢. That division is what this site is.
- Cheapest mono page
- 0.30¢Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8500
- Dearest mono page
- 15¢HP DeskJet 2855e
- Cheapest colour page
- 0.95¢Canon PIXMA G6020
- Dearest colour page
- 33¢HP DeskJet 2855e
Every printer we track
Sorted by what a black page costs, cheapest first. Tick up to three and their spec sheets and running costs line up in one table.
7 of these have no sourced consumable price, so this sort cannot rank them. They are listed after the ranked ones and marked “not sourced” — last here does not mean dearest.
Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8500
- Mono page
- 0.30¢
- Colour page
- 1.1¢
Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8550
- Mono page
- 0.30¢
- Colour page
- 1.1¢
Epson EcoTank ET-2850
- Mono page
- 0.33¢
- Colour page
- 1.2¢
Epson EcoTank ET-3850
- Mono page
- 0.33¢
- Colour page
- 1.2¢
Epson EcoTank ET-4850
- Mono page
- 0.33¢
- Colour page
- 1.2¢
Epson EcoTank ET-15000
- Mono page
- 0.33¢
- Colour page
- 1.2¢
Canon PIXMA G4270
- Mono page
- 0.38¢
- Colour page
- 1.3¢
Canon PIXMA G6020
- Mono page
- 0.38¢
- Colour page
- 0.95¢
Canon PIXMA G7020
- Mono page
- 0.38¢
- Colour page
- 0.95¢
HP Smart Tank 7301
- Mono page
- 0.40¢
- Colour page
- 1.2¢
HP Smart Tank 7602
- Mono page
- 0.40¢
- Colour page
- 1.2¢
Epson EcoTank ET-4800
- Mono page
- 0.40¢
- Colour page
- 1.1¢
Canon MAXIFY GX6020
- Mono page
- 0.52¢
- Colour page
- 1.3¢
Canon MAXIFY GX7020
- Mono page
- 0.52¢
- Colour page
- 1.3¢
Brother HL-L3220CDW
- Mono page
- 3.2¢
- Colour page
- 19¢
Brother HL-L3280CDW
- Mono page
- 3.2¢
- Colour page
- 19¢
Brother MFC-L3780CDW
- Mono page
- 3.2¢
- Colour page
- 19¢
Brother HL-L2400D
- Mono page
- 3.3¢
- Colour page
- —
Brother HL-L2460DW
- Mono page
- 3.3¢
- Colour page
- —
What people ask before they buy
The questions that come up over and over in owner discussions, answered from the numbers in this catalogue.
Which printer is cheapest to run?
Refillable tank printers, by a wide margin, and it is not close. Their ink comes in bottles rather than cartridge assemblies, so a black page costs between a third and a half of a cent against fifteen cents on a cheap cartridge all-in-one. A mono laser sits in between at around three cents. Every printer here with a sourced consumable shows the computed figure on its card. Cheapest cost per page under $300 →
Is a laser printer actually cheaper than an inkjet?
Cheaper than a cartridge inkjet, yes — around three cents a page against fifteen. Cheaper than a refillable tank inkjet, no: the tank printer is roughly eight times cheaper per page. The reason lasers get recommended so relentlessly is reliability rather than cost. Toner is a dry powder, so a laser that has sat unused for six months prints properly on the first page, which an inkjet often will not. Toner vs ink, compared →
Do I have to sign up for an ink subscription?
No, but some printers make it hard to avoid noticing the offer, and a few tie something more permanent to it. On the models sold under a supplies programme, enrolling during setup commits the printer to the manufacturer's own ink or toner for the rest of its life, enforced in firmware, and requires it to stay connected to the internet. That commitment cannot be undone afterwards. Every affected printer here carries an ink-lock marker. Printers with no ink lock →
Why does my printer clog when I barely use it?
Because ink dries in nozzles narrower than a human hair. An inkjet left still for several weeks may need cleaning cycles before it prints properly, and those cycles consume ink. It is an awkward fact, because the cheap inkjets marketed at people who print rarely are exactly the printers this happens to. Printing a small colour page weekly prevents it; a laser removes the problem entirely. Why inkjets clog →
What does ISO page yield actually mean?
It is the number of pages a cartridge or bottle produces against a standardised test page — ISO/IEC 24711 for inkjet, 19752 and 19798 for laser — with roughly five percent of the page covered in ink. It is a comparison standard rather than a promise, so a page of dense text or a photograph will use far more. It is comparable across brands, which is precisely why the cost-per-page figures on this site are built from it. ISO yields explained →
How many pages a month justifies a tank printer?
Fewer than most people assume. Take the price difference between the two printers and divide it by the difference in cost per page. Against a cheap cartridge all-in-one the crossover usually lands under fifty pages a month, and colour printing pulls it lower still because the per-page gap in colour can exceed thirty cents. Where the break-even falls →
Can I use third-party ink or toner?
On most printers here, yes. On the ones marked with an ink lock, no — the firmware checks the chip and refuses anything that is not genuine, permanently, as a condition of a programme enrolled during setup. Owners of one brand long recommended for accepting compatible toner also report firmware updates changing that behaviour, so it is worth checking the specific model rather than trusting a brand's reputation. Third-party ink, honestly →
Do I need a colour printer?
Fewer people do than buy one. A colour laser costs around nineteen cents for a page using all four toners; a colour inkjet needs regular use or it clogs. If your colour printing is a few pages a month, a mono laser plus a print shop is usually cheaper and less trouble than owning a colour machine. If you print colour regularly, a refillable tank printer does it for about a cent a page. The cheapest colour pages →