Guide

Printers with no third-party ink lock

Some printers check the chip in a cartridge and refuse anything that is not the manufacturer's own — and on the models sold through HP+, that commitment lasts the life of the printer and is a condition of the warranty. It is the single most repeated complaint in owner discussions about modern printers. These are the ones in the catalogue that impose no such lock.

42 printers · Ordered by price, lowest first — not by cost per page, because a third of these have no sourced consumable price and ranking them on a number we do not have would invent one.

Printer	Price	Mono page	Colour page	5,000 pages	Speed
Canon PIXMA TS3520	~$79	13¢	27¢	~$872	7.7 ppm
Canon PIXMA TR4720	~$99	13¢	27¢	~$892	8.8 ppm
Fujifilm Instax Mini Link 3	~$99	—	—	—	—
Epson WorkForce WF-2950	~$129	9.7¢	30¢	~$815	10 ppm
Kodak Dock Plus	~$129	—	—	—	—
Brother HL-L2400D	~$134	3.3¢	—	~$298	32 ppm
Brother HL-L2405W	~$139	3.3¢	—	~$303	30 ppm
Canon SELPHY CP1500	~$149	—	—	—	—
Fujifilm Instax Link Wide	~$149	—	—	—	—
Brother HL-L2460DW	~$179	3.3¢	—	~$343	36 ppm
Epson WorkForce Pro WF-4820	~$199	4.4¢	14¢	~$518	25 ppm
Canon PIXMA TR8620a	~$199	7.2¢	21¢	~$691	15 ppm
Brother DCP-L2640DW	~$209	3.3¢	—	~$373	36 ppm
Epson EcoTank ET-2800	~$249	0.40¢	1.1¢	~$276	10 ppm
Canon PIXMA G3270	~$249	0.38¢	1.3¢	~$277	11 ppm
HP Smart Tank 5103	~$269	0.40¢	1.2¢	~$297	12 ppm
HP Smart Tank 6001	~$269	0.40¢	1.2¢	~$297	12 ppm
Brother MFC-L2820DW	~$269	3.3¢	—	~$433	34 ppm
Epson EcoTank ET-2850	~$299	0.33¢	1.2¢	~$324	10.5 ppm
Epson EcoTank ET-4800	~$299	0.40¢	1.1¢	~$326	10 ppm
Canon PIXMA G4270	~$299	0.38¢	1.3¢	~$327	11 ppm
Canon PIXMA TS9520a	~$299	7.2¢	21¢	~$791	15 ppm
Brother HL-L3220CDW	~$299	3.2¢	19¢	~$621	19 ppm
Xerox B235	~$299	3.6¢	—	~$479	36 ppm
Brother HL-L3280CDW	~$344	3.2¢	19¢	~$666	27 ppm
Canon PIXMA G6020	~$379	0.38¢	0.95¢	~$404	13 ppm
HP Smart Tank 7301	~$379	0.40¢	1.2¢	~$407	15 ppm
HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw	~$379	4.1¢	21¢	~$756	22 ppm
Epson EcoTank ET-3850	~$399	0.33¢	1.2¢	~$424	15.5 ppm
Xerox C235	~$399	5.7¢	25¢	~$876	24 ppm
Canon PIXMA G7020	~$429	0.38¢	0.95¢	~$454	13 ppm
HP Smart Tank 7602	~$449	0.40¢	1.2¢	~$477	15 ppm
Epson EcoTank ET-4850	~$499	0.33¢	1.2¢	~$524	15.5 ppm
Canon MAXIFY GX6020	~$549	0.52¢	1.3¢	~$583	24 ppm
Brother MFC-L3780CDW	~$569	3.2¢	19¢	~$891	31 ppm
Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8500	~$599	0.30¢	1.1¢	~$622	16 ppm
Canon PIXMA PRO-200S	~$649	—	—	—	—
Epson EcoTank ET-15000	~$699	0.33¢	1.2¢	~$724	17 ppm
Canon MAXIFY GX7020	~$699	0.52¢	1.3¢	~$733	24 ppm
Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8550	~$799	0.30¢	1.1¢	~$822	16 ppm
Epson SureColor P700	~$799	—	—	—	—
Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-310	~$849	—	—	—	—

Cost figures are estimates computed from each consumable’s ISO page yield and list price. A dash means we could not source one of those two numbers.

Cost to own · 5,000 pages

Canon PIXMA TS3520~$872
~$79 printer + ~$793 supplies
Canon PIXMA TR4720~$892
~$99 printer + ~$793 supplies
Epson WorkForce WF-2950~$815
~$129 printer + ~$686 supplies
Brother HL-L2400D~$298
~$134 printer + ~$164 supplies
Brother HL-L2405W~$303
~$139 printer + ~$164 supplies

purchase priceink or toner. An estimate: purchase price plus 5,000 pages at each printer’s computed cost per page, assuming 4 mono pages for every colour page. Printers whose consumable price we could not source are left out.

CanonTS3520

Canon

Canon PIXMA TS3520

Mono page: 13¢
Colour page: 27¢

Inkjet all-in-one

7.7 ppm~$79