Hello everyone! I’m sure everyone with a home printer has looked has had that moment where you get the low ink message and then inwardly winced on seeing the costs of printer ink cartridges from the printer suppliers. So today I’m going to be providing a guide with some practical tips on how to save on printer ink costs!
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Why is Printer Ink so Expensive?
As a production cost it isn’t actually that expensive, but the manufacturers are selling the printers themselves at not far off cost price in the expectation that they will be able to make an ongoing profit from you needing to buy cartridges on an ongoing basis.
These can get really expensive – at times printer ink can feel like a luxury item (and it has a horrible tendency to run out just as you need to print something important).
As ink cartridges can be manufactured in such a way as to be unique to certain types of printers, you usually (but not always) find a correlation that the more expensive the printer, the cheaper and longer lasting the ink cartridges tend to be (and vice versa).
One thing that can also drive cost is that some printers used combined cartridges, meaning that if one of the inks within runs out the whole cartridge has to be replaced. This is fairly wasteful, but a fact of how some printers work via colour mixing.
How can I reduce the cost of buying Printer Ink?
Use a Generic Ink Cartridge Manufacturer
Best option if: You use a printer for occasional home printing, but not frequent, everyday business use.
One common thing people do with printer ink is to continue to buy cartridges direct from the manufacturer of their printer, mainly out of fears about compatibility or that the quality will be bad.
However as long as you know what printer you have there is absolutely nothing that stops you putting in one from a third-party brand – this is the route I go down and I can say that with a good quality one there is literally no observable difference between the two with a good quality cartridge.
I’d call out a couple of companies I’ve used as having good options here – Inkcredible and StinkyInk. I have also had good reports of Colour Direct, although I haven’t used them myself.
Buying a Tank Printer
Best option if: You are frequently printing on a regular basis.
A tank printer (which is actually just a different style of inkjet) can be a great alternative to a classic cartridge printer for regular users. With these you full relevant ink reservoirs with ink directly – less complexity than with a cartridge and as a result both cheaper and can be something used in bulk.
Tank printers are generally becoming more common, as they’re actually an option less print to issues than cartridge systems, so these are likely the future of home printing.
The disadvantage with this approach is that because the ink isn’t in cartridge form (where ink is actually usually powdered) it’s less protected, and so can start to dry out without regular printing taking place.
They are a particularly good choice if you are alternating between printing lots of text and photos, as they handle both types of media very well.
I’ve highlighted some of the better tank printers later in this article.
Using a Laserjet Printer
Best option if: You print black and white documents only in larger volumes.
First let’s clear up a common myth – some people think a laserjet printer doesn’t require ink at all – it doesn’t technically require ink, but it does require a toner cartridge to make the impressions on the paper.
However there is a reason that offices tend to go for laser printers – whilst toners don’t initially seem to be any cheaper at first glance, in bulk they tend to be much more economical and cheaper on a per page basis, although you need to be printing in relative bulk to achieve this.
Whilst a laser printer can print in colour as well, it tends to be a less economical option here.
You can combine a couple of this articles suggestions here – just as you can get a third party ink cartridge you can also get third party toner which will also work out as a cheaper option – Inkcredible and StinkyInk are both good for this as well.
Ink or Toner Cartridge Subscriptions
Best option if: You really want to stick with the manufacturers recommendations and maximise convinience.
I personally don’t think this is the best value route compared to the routes above but if you really want to stick with products directly from the manufacturers, you can subscribe to receive regular cartridges for a discounted price.
The advantage of this route is that some of the more recent printers monitor your ink usage, and automatically notify your printer manufacturer who send out a new cartridge if you have a subscription.
It’s convenient and means you don’t run out, but it’s still often not as cheap as third party ink. You also need to estimate how much ink you’ll use – most people will veer towards over-caution by default, which again leaves you paying more than you need to.
Here’s a list of the services from the most popular printer manufacturers:
Third Party Ink Cartridge FAQ’s
Will Third Party Ink Cartridges work in my printer?
Yes, as long as you buy ones compatible with your printer model.
In the case of HP in particular, some manufactures will install a “cartridge protection” option which essentially stops any non-HP cartridge being used.
This can be disabled – for HP open your printer control panel, select “setup” then “system setup” then “supply setings” and switch both cartridge protection and cartridge policy to off.
For others it’s likely to be in a similar place but may not be the exact wording used above – look for setting related to ink cartridges.
Will Third Party Ink Cartridges have inferior print quality?
They can do if you buy from unknown sources – those absolute bottom prices are for a reason! However we’ve had no issues with Inkcredible and StinkyInk and seen no difference in quality from the manufacturer cartridges.
Will Third Party Ink Cartridges leak?
Ditto to the above, a good quality third party cartridge won’t, but an unknown cheap imitation may have some potential to link – so go with third party cartridges, but make sure they are one’s well used and reviewed by others.
How do I refill a printer with Ink Tanks?
It’s actually really easy – you’ll get little bottles which you essentially just pour straight into.
A selection of the best Printers
We think the below printers represent good value, balancing initial purchase cost with ongoing use of ink whilst delivering high quality.
Best Tank Printers
Epsom EcoTank ET-4580
Whilst not the cheapest to initially buy, this tank printer from Epsom works out at having extremely low ongoing running costs, and also allows 2 sided printing which can be something lacking in home options. It’s a great choice for frequent home office use where you also need to occasionally print in colour.
Available from Epsom, Amazon and Currys
Canon Pixma G3570
For a cheaper tank printer option than the one above this choice from Canon is a great alternative. It lacks the 2 sided printing and it’s scanning isn’t as good as the choice above, but with a lower price point that fairly reflects this whilst maintaining great quality printing.
Available from Amazon, Canon and Argos
Best LaserJet Printers
HP LaserJet Pro 4002dw
This HP LaserJet gives fantastic quality for office led documents and actually comes in at a very reasonable price given the quality of the output. Our only real mark against is a lack of 2-sided printing, but this isn’t particularly common with home printers.
Available from HP, Amazon and Printerland
Canon i-Synsis Range
Canon’s LaserJets really stand out for those who want to print images as well as big blocks of text, as the image quality (not always something particularly associated with LaserJet’s) really stands out here.
Available from Printerland
Best Cartridge Printers
When we researched this, we do actually struggle to find a classic cartridge printer we were able to recommend to the extent of the options above, and really do think tank printers outperform despite higher starting costs.
So here we’ve put a couple of options for those who want a printer only for very occasional use and therefore want lower initial purchase costs than the printers we’ve listed above, picking some sub-£100 choices.
HP OfficeJet Pro 8125e
And if you’re more looking to print the occasional office document at home, we recommend the HP OfficeJet option – this is more suited to text than the option above, but comes with the same comment on using third party cartridges.
Canon Pixma TR4755i
If you’re looking to print photos and text at home, this Canon is a great option for it’s image clarity (just make sure you do use third party ink, else it can get a bit expensive!), It’s text performance can be a bit more variable.
Available from Currys
Any questions?
If you’ve got any questions or your own tips on how to save money on printer ink we’d love to hear from you! Just leave us a note in the comments below.
And that’s it!
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