Are Laser or Inkjet Printers More Economical? | Cost Per Page Decides

The printer purchase price tells you little about what you will actually spend. A $100 inkjet that guzzles cartridges can end up costing more per year than a $250 laser that sips toner. When asking whether laser or inkjet printers are more economical, the real answer comes down to how much you print, what you print, and whether the inkjet uses cartridges or refillable tanks. Here is the breakdown.

What The Per-Page Numbers Actually Show

CDW’s printer comparison puts typical inkjet costs at 5-10 cents per black-and-white page and 15-25 cents per color page. Lasers run 2-5 cents per page in black and white and about 15 cents per page in color. That gap is why offices have run lasers for decades.

For a home printing 100 black-and-white pages a month, the difference between 3 cents and 8 cents per page is about $60 a year — enough to matter, but not enough to panic over. Scale that to 500 pages a month and the laser saves $300 annually.

The math shifts hard with color. Standard inkjets are brutal on color pages at 15-25 cents each. Color lasers sit around 15 cents per page but cost more upfront and use four toner cartridges that all expire or clog eventually. And for glossy photo printing, lasers simply are not the tool; inkjets win that job outright.

Why Tank Inkjets Change The Economics

The “inkjets are expensive” rule has a major exception: tank printers. These use refillable reservoirs instead of disposable cartridges, and the per-page cost drops dramatically. Epson’s EcoTank line and Canon’s MegaTank models are the best-known examples.

The upfront price stings more than a $79 cartridge printer, but the per-page cost over a few years of regular printing usually wins.

Here is the honest comparison:

Notice the tank inkjet’s color cost crushes color laser. For a small business printing color flyers weekly, the tank system is often the most economical color option on the market.

How To Calculate Your Real Cost Per Page

Manufacturers publish ISO page yields based on 5% page coverage — roughly a paragraph of text on an otherwise blank page. To estimate your cost, divide the cartridge price by that yield number. Add paper cost if you want the true total.

Real-world use rarely matches the ISO figure. Photos, dense graphics, and heavy-color pages can multiply actual cost several times over the rated yield. If you print mostly full-color marketing materials, expect the per-page cost to climb well above the brochure number.

The common mistakes people make:

• Comparing purchase prices only — the $79 inkjet with $50 cartridges becomes the expensive one by year two.
• Mixing yield types — a standard cartridge vs. a high-yield toner is not a fair comparison.
• Assuming ISO yield applies to everything — photo printing burns through ink far faster.
• Assuming all inkjets bleed money — tank models are the exception that flips the rule.
• Assuming laser always wins color — tank inkjet beats color laser on cost per page for most moderate color use.

Which One Is Cheaper For Your Situation?

No printer wins every workload. The economical choice depends on print volume, color usage, and cartridge vs. tank design.

For mostly black-and-white documents and more than 100 pages a month, a mono laser is the clear winner. For occasional color and light printing, a standard inkjet is fine — the running cost only hurts if you print a lot. For regular color work, a tank inkjet almost always beats both standard inkjet and color laser on long-term cost.

If you do most of your printing at home and want the lowest running cost with color capability, a tank model like a Brother MFC-J4355DW is worth the higher upfront price. For a rundown of the most economical inkjet options we have tested, check out our roundup of the best economical inkjet printers — it covers the models that give lasers real competition on cost per page.

The bottom line: laser is more economical for high-volume black-and-white text, tank inkjet is more economical for color, and standard cartridge inkjets are the expensive choice unless you print very little.