Why are printers so cheap but ink so expensive?

Many inkjet printers are sold at very low margin because the profit is in the cartridges. The low number sits where people compare and the high one where they do not.

How do I work out the real cost of a printer?

Divide the cartridge price by its published page yield to get cost per page, then multiply by how many pages you print a year. A dearer printer with efficient cartridges is often cheaper by year two.

Are tank printers worth the higher price?

Above a modest print volume, usually yes. They cost considerably more up front and refill from bottles at a fraction of the cost per page.

Why the cheap printer costs more

The clearest example in retail of a price that is designed to be the wrong thing to compare.

Updated 3 September 2026 · 2 min read

The printer is not the product

Inkjet printers are frequently sold at very low margin, and some at a loss, because the cartridges are where the money is. The cheaper the printer, the more likely it is that the pricing assumes years of cartridge sales to follow.

This is the purest version of a pattern that runs through retail: put the low number where people compare, and the high number where they do not.

How to work out what it actually costs

The figure that matters is cost per page, and it is calculable before you buy:

Find the cartridge your chosen printer takes.
Find its page yield — manufacturers publish this, measured to a standard test.
Divide the cartridge price by the page yield. That is your cost per page.
Multiply by roughly how many pages you print in a year.

Do that for two printers and the answer is often the opposite of what the shelf price suggests. A dearer printer with efficient cartridges routinely costs less by the end of the second year.

The things that change the maths

Tank printers cost much more up front and refill from bottles at a fraction of the cost per page. Above a modest print volume they win comfortably.
Laser printers cost more per unit and far less per page for text, and toner does not dry out — which matters if you print rarely.
Individual versus combined colour cartridges. A single tri-colour cartridge is exhausted when any one colour runs out, wasting the rest.
Third-party and refilled cartridges are much cheaper. Check the printer does not reject non-original cartridges, because some do.
Subscription ink plans, which can genuinely be cheaper at the right volume and expensive at the wrong one. Price them against your actual page count.

If you print rarely

Occasional printing is its own case. Inkjet heads can dry out and clog when unused for long periods, so cartridges get consumed by maintenance cycles rather than by printing. If you print a handful of pages a month, a laser printer or simply using a print shop can work out cheaper than owning an inkjet at all.