Printer Cost CalculatorCost per page / Ownership cost

Printers and multifunction printers

Printer & MFP cost per page and ownership cost calculator

The sticker price is the smallest number in a printer purchase. Enter two printers, your real monthly volume and your paper and power costs. See the cost of every page, the total over the years you will keep the machine, and the month one overtakes the other.

01 / CalculatorCompare printer A and printer B

All prices are typical estimates – edit them to match your case. Any currency works, the figures are shown with a dollar sign for readability. Results update as you type.

Your usage shared
Total, mono plus color
Share of pages printed in color
Pages printed on both sides
Typical estimate - edit
1 to 10 years
Time spent actually printing
Powered on but idle or asleep
Typical estimate - edit
A Printer A
Typical estimate - edit
Ink tank: enter bottle prices and yields below
All color cartridges or bottles
Starter supplies, not used by subscription
Used only for subscription
B Printer B
Typical estimate - edit
Ink tank: enter bottle prices and yields below
All color cartridges or bottles
Starter supplies, not used by subscription
Used only for subscription

Total cost difference over the ownership period

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Printer A – blended cost per page

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Printer B – blended cost per page

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Cost comparison between printer A and printer B
MeasureAB

Printer class for your volume

    Cumulative cost, month by month

    Printer APrinter B

    02 / MethodHow the numbers are calculated

    Every figure comes from a handful of plain formulas, shown here exactly as the page computes them. P is pages per month, c is the color share (0 to 1), d is the duplex share (0 to 1), N is the number of years.

    Supply cost per page

    mono supply = black price / black yield color supply = color set price / color yield blended supply = (1 - c) x mono supply + c x color supply

    The color figure treats the color set as the full cost of one color page. If your set excludes black, add the black cartridge price into the color set price before you enter it.

    Paper cost per page

    paper per page = ream price / 500 x (1 - d / 2)

    A duplex page uses one sheet for two sides, so each duplex page costs half a sheet.

    Electricity and maintenance

    electricity per month = (active W x active hours + standby W x standby hours per day x 30.4) / 1000 x price per kWh maintenance per month = yearly warranty or service cost / 12

    Subscription model

    supply per month = monthly fee + max(0, P - pages included) x overage per page

    With a subscription selected, the supply cost per page is that monthly figure divided by P, and mono and color pages show the same effective rate because the plan does not price them separately.

    Running cost and ownership cost

    running per month = supply + paper x P + electricity + maintenance running per year = running per month x 12 cost after m months = purchase price + m x (paper x P + electricity + maintenance) + supplies(m) supplies(m) = max(0, P x m - starter pages) x blended supply (cartridges and ink tank) supplies(m) = m x supply per month (subscription) total cost of ownership = cost after (N x 12) months

    Starter pages are the pages already covered by the ink or toner that ships in the box, which matters most for ink-tank printers. Ink-tank mode uses the same math as cartridges, you simply enter the bottle price and the much larger bottle yield. Real cartridges are bought in steps, the calculator spreads them smoothly, so the curve is a good average rather than a receipt.

    Breakeven month

    The page walks month by month from 0 to 600 and reports the first month where the cheaper-at-purchase printer is no longer the cheaper one in cumulative cost. If the lines never cross, one printer is simply cheaper throughout.

    Class hint and duty cycle

    Manufacturers publish a maximum monthly duty cycle. A common rule of thumb is to keep your normal volume at roughly 10 to 20 percent of that rating. The hint therefore shows a rating range of P / 0.20 to P / 0.10, rounded up to the nearest 100 pages, and suggests a class based on volume and color share.

    A worked example

    Take the default values: 150 pages a month, 20 percent color, 30 percent duplex, paper at $6.00 per ream, three years. Printer A is a $89 cartridge inkjet with a $28 black cartridge rated for 300 pages and a $45 color set rated for 200 pages. Printer B is a $229 ink-tank model with $14 of black ink rated for 4,500 pages, a $30 color set rated for 6,000 pages, and 1,500 pages of ink already in the box. These are illustrative estimates, not real products.

    • Printer A supply: black $0.0933 per page, color $0.2250, blended 0.8 x 0.0933 + 0.2 x 0.2250 = $0.1197. Paper is $6 / 500 x (1 - 0.15) = $0.0102 per page.
    • Printer A running cost per month: 150 x ($0.1197 + $0.0102) plus $0.11 of electricity = $19.59.
    • Printer B blended supply is $0.0035 per page, so its running cost is $2.17 per month once the in-box ink is used up.
    • After 36 months, printer A costs $794 in total and printer B $302. B costs $140 more to buy and recovers that in month 8.

    The cheaper printer to buy is the more expensive one to own in this scenario. Drop the volume to 20 pages a month and the verdict flips, which is exactly why you should test your own number.

    03 / GuideBuying a printer by cost per page

    Printers are sold the way razors are: a modest device price, then a long stream of consumables. Whether that stream is expensive depends far more on how you print than on what the box says. The sections below turn the calculator output into a decision.

    Start with your real volume

    Most households print under 100 pages a month, and many print under 30. A small office is typically 300 to 1,500. Count a month of actual printing, or check the page counter in the printer menu and divide by the months you have owned it. Guessing high is the common mistake, and it flatters expensive, high-capacity machines.

    What class fits which volume

    • Up to about 60 pages a month: a cheap inkjet or a compact mono laser. Buy on purchase price and reliability. Inkjet nozzles can clog if the printer sits unused for weeks, so a mono laser is steadier for rare, text-only printing.
    • 60 to 400 pages, some color: an ink-tank printer pays back quickly because its ink costs a fraction of a cent per page, though the printer costs more up front. If you print only black text, a mono laser is competitive.
    • 400 to 1,500 pages: a mono laser or, if color is a quarter of the work or more, a color laser. Look at toner yield, because a high-yield cartridge often halves cost per page.
    • 1,500 to 5,000 pages: an office MFP with a robust duty cycle, automatic document feeder and duplex unit. Run the numbers for the larger toner cartridges and for a service contract.
    • Above 5,000 pages: a departmental or production device, often leased with a per-page service agreement. Compare that per-page rate with the calculator output.

    Read the yield number correctly

    Rated yield is measured with a standard test page at about 5 percent coverage for mono and about 5 percent per color for a color set. A page with a logo and a table is usually well above that, and a full-page photo can be five to ten times higher. If your pages are heavy, divide the rated yield by a factor of 1.5 to 3 before entering it. Starter cartridges that ship in the box often hold only a third to a half of a normal cartridge.

    Original, compatible and refilled supplies

    Third-party cartridges and bottles can lower cost per page, but quality and compatibility vary and some printers reject them after firmware updates. If you plan to use them, enter their real price and measured yield in the calculator, and check the manufacturer warranty terms before you buy.

    When an ink subscription makes sense

    A subscription converts ink into a predictable monthly fee with a page allowance. It tends to win when you print a modest, steady volume and the allowance fits snugly, and when the alternative is cartridges that expire or dry out between uses. It loses when your volume is high and lumpy, because overage pages are priced above the included ones, and because you generally need to keep paying for as long as you use the printer. Set the plan fee, pages included and overage rate in the model field for the printer you want to test, then compare against cartridges or an ink tank in the other column.

    Do not forget power and paper

    Paper is often the largest hidden cost on cheap supplies: at six dollars per 500 sheets it is 1.2 cents per single-sided page, more than the ink in an ink-tank printer. Duplex printing cuts it nearly in half. Power is usually small, a few dollars a year for a home printer, but a laser fuser warming up many times a day can add up in an office, so check the standby watts.

    Common mistakes

    • Comparing sticker prices only, and ignoring a 10-to-1 gap in cost per page.
    • Using the rated duty cycle as a target. Staying near 10 to 20 percent keeps wear low.
    • Entering rated yield for pages that are heavier than the test page.
    • Ignoring the starter cartridges, then being surprised by an early replacement.
    • Counting color pages that are really mono. A black-and-white document printed in color mode still burns color ink on many inkjets.
    • Choosing a long ownership horizon for a printer you will likely replace in two years. Keep N honest.

    Glossary

    Page yield
    The number of pages a cartridge or bottle is rated to print under a standard test.
    Duty cycle
    The maximum number of pages a printer is designed to produce in a month. It is a ceiling, not a recommended volume.
    MFP
    Multifunction printer: prints, copies, scans and sometimes faxes.
    Ink tank
    A printer with refillable reservoirs filled from bottles instead of small cartridges.
    TCO
    Total cost of ownership: purchase plus everything spent to keep the printer running for the period you choose.
    Breakeven month
    The month when the cumulative cost of the cheaper-to-buy printer catches up with the other.
    Overage
    The per-page price charged for pages beyond a subscription allowance.

    04 / FAQFrequently asked questions

    Is cost per page the same as the price on the cartridge divided by its yield?

    Almost. That division gives the supply cost per page. A fair cost per page also adds paper, and for total ownership you add electricity and any service plan. This calculator shows supply plus paper as the cost per page, and a separate all-in figure that includes power and maintenance.

    How accurate are rated page yields?

    They are measured under a standard test, usually about 5 percent page coverage. Real documents with graphics, tables or photos use more ink or toner, so actual yields are often 30 to 70 percent lower. If your pages are heavy, enter a reduced yield, for example 200 instead of 300, to see the effect.

    When does an ink-tank printer beat a cartridge inkjet?

    When you print enough that the savings per page exceed the higher purchase price. With typical estimates the gap is under a cent per page for a tank against several cents for cartridges, so at around 100 to 150 pages a month the extra purchase price can be recovered within a year or so. At 10 pages a month it may never be recovered. Use the breakeven month to check.

    Is an ink subscription cheaper than buying cartridges?

    It depends on how closely the plan allowance matches your volume. A subscription is predictable and avoids dried or expired cartridges, but overage pages cost more than included ones and you pay every month for as long as you use the printer. Select the subscription model on one printer and cartridges on the other to compare on your own numbers.

    Mono laser or inkjet for mostly black text?

    A mono laser usually has a lower cost per page for text with a high-yield toner, handles long idle periods without clogging, and prints faster. An inkjet or ink tank is better when you also need photos or regular color. If color is under 5 percent, a mono laser is hard to beat.

    What is a duty cycle and how much of it should I use?

    Duty cycle is the maximum number of pages a printer is designed to print in a month. It is a ceiling, not a target. A widely used guideline is to keep normal volume at about 10 to 20 percent of it, which the class hint on this page converts into a rating range for you.

    Does printing duplex really lower costs?

    Yes, but only the paper part. A duplex page uses half a sheet, so at six dollars per ream you save about 0.6 cents per duplex page. On an ink-tank printer with a very low ink cost, that can be a large share of the saving, while on a cartridge printer it is a minor one.

    Should I include electricity in the comparison?

    Include it, but expect a small number for most home printers, often a few dollars a year. It matters more for laser printers that run in an office all day, so enter the standby watts from the specification sheet and your hours of use.

    What does the breakeven month mean?

    It is the first month when the printer that costs more to buy becomes the cheaper one in cumulative cost, because its lower running cost has repaid the extra purchase price. If the breakeven falls after the number of years you plan to keep the printer, the dearer machine has not paid for itself in your case.

    Are the default prices real quotes?

    No. The defaults are typical estimates meant to show how the calculator works. Replace them with current prices and rated yields from the seller or the manufacturer specification for the models you are considering.