We sell both, so we ran the numbers. Genuine cartridge costs per page for HP and Canon inkjet and laser, plus the print volume where laser starts paying back.

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Inkjet vs Laser Printers: Which Is Cheaper to Run?

Most inkjet vs laser comparisons tell you that laser is cheaper per page and leave it there. That's not much use when you're standing in front of two printers trying to decide.

We've sold genuine ink and toner since 2007, so we know what cartridges actually cost and how many pages the manufacturers say they'll produce. Below are the real numbers from our own shelves, and the point at which a laser printer starts saving you money.

The short answer

• Print mostly black text? Laser wins, and sooner than you'd think.

• Print photos or colour images? Inkjet, without much argument.

• Print rarely — a few pages a month? Laser, because toner doesn't dry out.

• Print a lot of colour? Look at a refillable tank inkjet instead of either.

What a page actually costs

These are genuine, original cartridges at our current prices, divided by the manufacturer's stated page yield.

Black laser printing costs between a third and a half of black inkjet printing. That gap is the entire argument for laser, and it's larger than most people expect.

One thing worth checking before you buy a laser printer. Some laser ranges use a separate imaging drum, a second consumable you have to replace periodically on top of the toner. That adds to the real cost per page, and running-cost comparisons rarely mention it.

The cartridges above don't. The HP 135A and 142A are all-in-one units with the drum built into the cartridge, so the figures in the table are the complete consumable cost — nothing else to buy. But if you're comparing laser printers, check whether the model you're looking at needs a separate drum, because it changes the sums.

A note on yields. Manufacturers measure page yield to international standards — ISO/IEC 24711 for inkjet, ISO/IEC 19752 for mono laser — based on around 5% page coverage. That's a normal text document. Print dense graphics or photos and you'll get fewer pages than the figure quoted. The comparison between cartridges stays fair, because they're all measured the same way.

When does a laser printer pay for itself?

Laser printers cost more upfront. The question is how long that takes to claw back.

Take the HP 308 inkjet at 11.56p a page against the 135A laser at 4.09p — a saving of 7.47p on every black page you print.

Even on the most cautious of those, a household printing twenty pages a week clears £100 of extra printer cost in under eighteen months — and everything after that is saving. Against the Canon PG-545, which is the cheaper of our inkjet blacks per page, break-even lands between 890 and 2,660 pages.

Work out roughly how much you print in a month. If it's more than about forty black pages, laser is very likely the cheaper machine over its life.

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Where inkjet still wins

Cost per page isn't the whole story.

Photos and colour images. Inkjet lays down liquid ink in fine droplets and handles gradients, skin tones and subtle colour shifts far better than toner powder fused by heat. If you print photographs, a colour laser will disappoint you. This is why dedicated photo printers are all inkjet.

Upfront cost and size. Inkjets are cheaper to buy and physically smaller. If space is tight or the budget is fixed, that matters.

Occasional colour. If most of what you print is black text with the odd colour page, an inkjet is fine. Just be aware of the next point.

Browse genuine ink cartridges →

The thing that catches inkjet owners out

Inkjet printheads clog if the printer sits unused. The ink dries in the nozzles, and the printer runs cleaning cycles to clear them — cycles that consume ink you never printed with.

If you print once a fortnight, a meaningful share of every cartridge goes on maintenance rather than pages. That pushes your real cost per page well above the figures in the table above.

Toner is a dry powder. It doesn't dry out, doesn't clog, and a laser printer left alone for three months will print perfectly when you come back to it. For genuinely infrequent printing, laser is often cheaper even though you print very little — which is the opposite of what most buying advice suggests.

If you're set on an inkjet and don't print often, our guide to making cartridges last longer is worth five minutes.

What about tank printers?

Refillable tank printers — Canon MegaTank, HP Smart Tank, Epson EcoTank — are inkjets that use bottled ink instead of cartridges. Cost per page drops dramatically, often below laser, and you keep inkjet colour quality.

The trade-off is a considerably higher purchase price and a longer payback. They make sense if you print a lot of colour. For mostly-black printing, laser is still usually the cheaper route.

We've covered the trade-offs in detail in tank inks vs traditional cartridges.

Choosing, in one paragraph

Add up what you print in a typical month and what proportion is colour. Mostly black text, more than about forty pages a month, or long gaps between print jobs — buy a mono laser. Regular colour, photos, or creative work — buy an inkjet, and print often enough to keep the heads clear. Heavy colour volume — price up a tank printer.

Frequently asked questions

Is laser really cheaper than inkjet? Per page, yes, and by a wide margin. Our genuine black toner works out at 4–5p a page against 10–12p for genuine black ink. The higher purchase price is typically recovered within 700–2,700 pages.

Are laser printers better for photos? No. Inkjet is clearly better for photographs and colour images. Laser is better for text, speed and running cost.

Do laser printers dry out if I don't use them? No. Toner is a dry powder, so laser printers cope well with long periods of disuse. Inkjet printheads can clog, which is why infrequent printing often suits laser better despite the low volume.

Is a colour laser worth it? For business graphics, charts and documents, yes. For photographs, no — an inkjet will produce noticeably better results.

Do I need to buy an imaging drum as well as toner? Not for the printers these cartridges fit. The HP 135A and 142A have the drum integrated into the cartridge, so the toner price is the whole running cost. Some other laser ranges do use a separate replaceable drum, so it's worth checking the specification of any laser printer you're considering.

Do these costs apply to compatible cartridges? The figures above are for genuine, original cartridges, which is all we sell. Compatible cartridges cost less per page but vary in yield and reliability, and using them can affect your printer warranty.