Ink tank vs cartridge printers: which costs less

An ink tank printer usually costs noticeably more than a cartridge model with similar features, often two or three times as much at the budget end. In return it normally comes with enough ink for thousands of pages, while a cheap cartridge printer may come with low-capacity starter cartridges that run out quickly.

For each printer, divide the price of a replacement cartridge or bottle by its rated page yield, and add the color figures if you print in color. Cartridge yields are usually measured with standard ISO test pages, while ink tank yields are sometimes based on the maker's own method, so treat all yields as estimates. As a rough guide, an ink tank printer often runs at a small fraction of a cartridge model's cost per page, sometimes a tenth or less, but check real prices for the models you are considering.

Count roughly how many pages you print in a typical month, including school work, forms, tickets and photos. If you already own a printer, its status or usage report, or the maker's app, may show a total page count that you can divide by the months you've had it.

Subtract the cartridge printer's price from the ink tank printer's price, then divide the difference by the saving per page. The result is roughly how many pages you need to print before the ink tank model pays for itself. With round illustrative numbers, a price gap of 150 and a saving of 0.07 per page gives about 2,100 pages: under two years at 100 pages a month, but around nine years at 20 pages a month. If the ink tank printer comes with extra bottles, subtract their approximate value from its price first.

Ink tank printers pay off best for people who print every week, especially in color: families with school work, students and home offices. If you print a few pages a few times a year, the higher purchase price may never be recovered, and long idle spells bring problems of their own.

Any inkjet can clog if it sits unused for weeks. It matters more on an ink tank printer because the print head stays in the printer for years instead of being renewed with each cartridge; on some models it can be replaced as a part, on others it can't. Clearing a stubborn clog can take several cleaning cycles, which use ink and fill the printer's waste ink pad or maintenance box faster. Many cartridge inkjets have the print head built into the cartridge, so each new cartridge brings a fresh head.

Paper costs the same whichever type you choose, but parts that wear do not. Some ink tank models use a user-replaceable maintenance box that collects waste ink, while on others the internal ink pad eventually needs servicing. Some cartridge makers offer ink subscription plans that lower the cost per page for regular printing; compare the monthly fee and page allowance with what you actually print.

If you mostly print black text, a mono laser printer is often the cheapest and most dependable choice, especially if you print only occasionally. Toner is a dry powder, so it doesn't dry out between uses, and the cost per black page is low. Color lasers cost more to buy and aren't designed for photos, so they make most sense for offices printing color documents.

As a rule of thumb: if you print a lot, especially color or photos, an ink tank printer is likely to cost the least over its life. If you print rarely and mostly in black, a mono laser is likely to be cheaper and less trouble. If you print rarely but need color now and then, a basic cartridge inkjet may cost less overall, even with dearer ink.