How to Choose a Printer for a Small Business: Cost Per Page, Laser vs Inkjet and Leasing

The cheapest printer on the shelf is rarely the cheapest printer to own. A low-priced inkjet can cost far more over 3 years than a pricier laser once you add up cartridges. And an office copier lease can be a bargain or a trap, depending on how many pages you actually print.

This guide walks through the decisions in the order that matters: how much you print, what it costs per page, laser versus inkjet, multifunction features, security and whether to buy or lease.

Start with how much you print

Before looking at models, estimate your monthly volume. Check your current printer’s page counter (usually in its settings menu or web admin page), or look at how many reams of paper you buy. A ream is 500 sheets.

Rough volume tiers help narrow the field:

• Light: a few hundred pages a month. Invoices, the occasional contract, shipping labels.
• Moderate: roughly 500 to 2,000 pages a month. A small office with several staff.
• Heavy: several thousand pages a month or more. Medical, legal, real estate and accounting offices often land here.

Every printer lists a maximum duty cycle, the most pages it can handle in a month without damage, and a recommended monthly page volume, which is much lower. Choose a printer whose recommended volume comfortably covers your typical month. Running a light-duty printer at heavy volume shortens its life.

Calculate cost per page, not sticker price

Cost per page (CPP) is the number that decides total cost. The basic formula:

Cost per page = cartridge price ÷ rated page yield

For color, add the CPP of each color cartridge to the black CPP. Then add paper and, for laser printers, replacement parts such as drums or fusers if they are sold separately.

Page yields are only comparable if they use the same test. Look for yields rated to the ISO/IEC standards:

• ISO/IEC 19752 for monochrome toner cartridges
• ISO/IEC 19798 for color toner cartridges
• ISO/IEC 24711 for color inkjet cartridges

These standards measure yield using standard test pages. ISO notes they measure yield only, not quality or reliability, and do not calculate CPP for you. Your real yield will differ if you print dense graphics or mostly short text.

To compare 2 printers over time:

3-year cost = printer price + (monthly pages × 36 × cost per page)

Run this for each shortlisted model at your actual volume. At low volume the purchase price dominates. At high volume CPP dominates, and a printer with a higher price but cheaper supplies often wins.

Key takeaway: Compare printers on 3-year total cost at your real page volume. A cheap printer with expensive cartridges is a subscription in disguise.

Laser vs inkjet: which fits your office

Choose a monochrome laser if most of what you print is black text. It is fast, reliable and cheap per page, and toner doesn’t dry out if the printer sits idle for a week.

Choose a color laser if you print color documents, charts or in-house marketing at moderate to high volume and want laser speed.

Choose an ink tank inkjet if you print a lot of color but not at high speed. These printers, sold in lines such as Epson EcoTank, Canon MegaTank and HP Smart Tank, use refillable bottles instead of cartridges. They cost more upfront and usually much less per page.

Avoid standard cartridge inkjets for anything beyond light use. They are cheap to buy but often the most expensive per page.

Multifunction or print-only?

A multifunction printer (MFP) adds scanning, copying and sometimes fax. For most small businesses, it is worth it. Features to look for:

• Automatic document feeder (ADF) for multi-page scans. A duplex ADF scans both sides in one pass, which saves real time.
• Scan to email, network folder or cloud storage so scans go straight where they are needed.
• Automatic duplex printing to save paper.
• Fax only if your industry still requires it. Many healthcare and legal offices do; many others can skip it.

If you already have a good scanner or rarely scan, a print-only model is simpler and has fewer parts to fail.

Connectivity, management and security

Printers are networked computers, and they are easy to forget about. A joint CISA and NSA advisory on common misconfigurations specifically calls out printers and scanners as devices that often ship with default credentials, and warns that some hold privileged network accounts that attackers can use to move through a network.

What to look for and do:

• Wired Ethernet for a shared office printer. It is usually more reliable than Wi-Fi.
• Change the default admin password on day 1, and disable features you don’t use.
• Firmware updates that are easy to apply, ideally automatically.
• Secure or PIN release printing if you print sensitive documents, so pages print only when the owner is at the device.
• Encrypted connections to the admin page and for scan-to-email.
• Hard drive or storage wipe options if the device stores scans and jobs.

Put the printer on a separate network segment from payment systems if you can. Our guides on securing business Wi-Fi and small business cybersecurity basics cover the bigger picture.

Buying vs leasing vs managed print

Leasing usually makes sense when you need a larger multifunction copier that would cost several thousand dollars to buy, and when the lease includes service and supplies. For a typical small office printing a few hundred to a couple of thousand pages a month, buying a reliable laser or ink tank model is often simpler and cheaper.

Before signing a lease or MPS contract, read the term length, renewal clause, per-page rates for black and color, monthly minimums, service response times and what happens at the end of the term. Prices vary widely by region and provider, so get at least 2 or 3 written quotes. If you work with an IT provider, our guide to choosing a managed IT service provider covers what to ask.

Energy use and sustainability

ENERGY STAR certified printers and multifunction devices can save up to 35% on energy versus conventional equipment, according to the EPA program, mainly through low power use in idle and sleep modes. Certified printers are also set to print double-sided by default, which cuts paper use. Keep sleep settings on, and recycle old devices and cartridges properly. See how to recycle old electronics.

Where to start: a 6-step buying checklist

1. Measure your volume from current page counters or paper purchases.
2. List what you print: mostly text, color documents, photos or labels. If you ship products, a dedicated label printer may beat a general one; see how to print shipping labels at home.
3. Pick the technology: monochrome laser, color laser or ink tank.
4. Decide on MFP features: duplex ADF, scan destinations, fax.
5. Shortlist 2 or 3 models whose recommended monthly volume covers your typical month, and calculate 3-year cost using ISO yields and current supply prices.
6. Check security and management features, then decide whether to buy, subscribe or lease.

Setting up a home office as well? Our home office setup guide and monitor buying guide cover the rest of the desk.

Conclusion

The right small business printer is the one with the lowest total cost at your real volume, not the lowest price tag. Use monochrome laser for text-heavy offices, ink tank inkjets for color at moderate volume and multifunction models if you scan. Secure it like any networked device. Lease or use managed print only when your volume or equipment cost justifies the contract. For more office tech picks, see our top lists.

Sources

• ISO/IEC 19752: Toner cartridge yield for monochrome printers — monochrome toner yield method; measures yield, not cost per page
• ISO/IEC 19798: Toner cartridge yield for color printers — color toner yield method and its limits
• ISO/IEC 24711: Ink cartridge yield for color inkjet printers — inkjet yield method
• ENERGY STAR: Imaging equipment — up to 35% energy savings, duplex defaults and sleep mode
• CISA and NSA advisory AA23-278A: Top ten cybersecurity misconfigurations — printers and scanners with default credentials and privileged accounts