Printing is one of the few office costs that hides in plain sight. Nobody tracks it, yet cartridges, paper, and wasted prints add up fast. The good news: you do not need to buy a new printer to spend less. This guide shows how to measure your true cost per page, decide between inkjet and laser, and buy cartridges without falling for false savings.
Start with cost per page, not cartridge price
The number that matters is cost per page, not the price on the box. Two cartridges can cost the same but print wildly different amounts. The formula is simple:
Cost per page = cartridge price / page yield.
Page yield is how many pages a cartridge prints, and reputable manufacturers publish it. These yields are measured against standardized test documents (ISO/IEC 19752 for monochrome toner and ISO/IEC 24711 for inkjet), so you can compare like for like across brands. A cartridge that costs more but yields three times the pages is often the cheaper choice.
| Cartridge | Price | Yield | Cost per page |
| Standard | 20 | 1,000 pages | 0.020 |
| High-yield (XL) | 32 | 2,500 pages | 0.013 |
The XL costs more upfront but is roughly 35% cheaper per page. For any printer used regularly, high-yield cartridges almost always win.
Inkjet vs laser: pick by volume
The core difference is how they cost you money over time.
Inkjet
Cheap to buy, more expensive per page, and prone to drying out if used rarely. Inkjet suits low-volume offices, occasional color, and photo-quality output. If a printer sits unused for weeks, inkjet heads can clog and waste ink on cleaning cycles.
Laser
Higher upfront cost, much lower cost per page, and no drying problem. Laser is the workhorse for text-heavy, high-volume printing. For most business documents, a mono laser is the cheapest and most reliable option.
A rough rule: if you print more than a few hundred pages a month and it is mostly text, laser will cost less over its life. If you print occasionally and need color, inkjet makes sense.
Where the hidden waste lives
Cartridges get the blame, but a large share of printing cost is behavior and settings:
- Single-sided printing doubles paper use.
- Color set as default drains expensive color cartridges on documents that only needed black.
- Printing emails and web pages in full, including ads and footers.
- Abandoned print jobs left on the output tray.
Fixing these often saves more than switching cartridge brands.
A real scenario
A small design studio assumed their printing bill was high because of expensive toner. When they actually looked, the printer was defaulting to color and single-sided. Most of what they printed was internal drafts that only needed black text on both sides. Setting the default to mono and duplex, and adding a shared draft-quality profile, cut their monthly cartridge and paper spend noticeably, without changing a single cartridge brand. The lesson: measure before you buy.
Common mistakes and how to fix them
Judging cartridges by sticker price. Always calculate cost per page using the published yield. The cheaper box is often the more expensive print.
Buying the cheapest compatible cartridges blindly. Some third-party cartridges are excellent value; others leak, under-yield, or trigger errors. Test one before bulk-buying, and keep a reputable option for critical documents.
Leaving color as the default. Set mono and draft mode as the office default. Let people opt into color and high quality when they truly need it.
Owning too many small printers. Many desktop units each need their own cartridges. One shared workgroup printer with high-yield supplies is usually cheaper to run.
Action steps to lower printing costs
- Calculate cost per page for your current cartridges using the published yield.
- Switch to high-yield (XL) cartridges for any printer used regularly.
- Set duplex (double-sided) and mono as the office default.
- Create a draft-quality print profile for internal documents.
- Test one compatible cartridge before committing to bulk.
- Consolidate several small printers into one shared workgroup unit.
- Track cartridge reorders for one quarter to see the real trend.
Conclusion and next step
Printing costs shrink when you stop guessing and start measuring. Your next step takes ten minutes: find the page yield for your current cartridges, divide price by yield, and compare it against the high-yield version. That single calculation usually reveals an easy saving, and it costs nothing to check.
Frequently asked questions
Are compatible or refilled cartridges safe to use?
Many are fine and offer real savings, but quality varies. Test one cartridge in your specific printer first, watch for leaks or low yield, and keep a trusted option for important documents.
Is laser always cheaper than inkjet?
Not always. Laser wins on high-volume text printing because its cost per page is lower. For low volume or color and photo work, inkjet can be the better fit despite the higher per-page cost.
Do high-yield cartridges expire?
Toner lasts a long time when stored sealed and cool. Inkjet cartridges can dry out over time, so buy high-yield ink only if you print often enough to use it.
Why does my inkjet use ink even when I barely print?
Inkjet printers run cleaning cycles to stop the heads clogging, which consumes ink. If you print rarely, a laser printer avoids this waste entirely.
References
ISO/IEC 19752 (monochrome toner) and ISO/IEC 24711 (color inkjet) are the international standards used to measure and publish cartridge page yields, allowing fair comparison across brands.