Home-office printer running costs: count the pages and the colour
Your home-office printing cost depends on the volume and mix of documents you print, as well as the printer and its compatible supplies. Separate ink or toner spending from ownership cost, which also includes the printer purchase and other included components.
The Printer Cost Calculator lets you estimate these costs using your own usage and prices. Start with an ordinary month, rather than a single busy week.
Build a useful printing scenario
Estimate monthly pages from recent printing records where available. Split those pages between mono and colour so the shares total 100%. Set a period you expect to keep the printer, and enter the purchase price you would pay.
Use the exact compatible cartridge, bottle or toner yield and price. If a model needs a drum or maintenance component, include the applicable supported cost. Check starter supplies separately: the included starter amount offsets replacement use in TrueCost’s method.
Manufacturer yields are estimates from defined tests. Epson explicitly notes that no one standard duplicates every customer’s usage. Document type and printing habits may affect real outcomes; a yield is not a guarantee.
Worked example: 200 pages a month
This is an illustrative teaching scenario based on TrueCost’s approved synthetic mixed-usage example, not a product quote. The printer costs £100, prints 200 pages a month for 24 months, and has no credited starter supply or added maintenance. Synthetic consumables rates are 3p per mono page and 12p per colour page.
| Quantity | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Total pages | 200 × 24 | 4,800 |
| Mono pages | 4,800 × 75% | 3,600 |
| Colour pages | 4,800 × 25% | 1,200 |
| Mono consumables | 3,600 × £0.03 | £108.00 |
| Colour consumables | 1,200 × £0.12 | £144.00 |
| Total consumables | £108 + £144 | £252.00 |
| Ownership cost | £100 + £252 | £352.00 |
Consumables average 5.25p per printed page. Ownership cost averages approximately 7.33p per page because it also allocates the £100 purchase across the 4,800 pages. The monthly equivalent is approximately £14.67; it is an average allocation, not a monthly bill.
At the same volume and synthetic rates, all-mono printing would cost £144 in consumables. The 25% colour share adds £108 over the two years. That difference follows from this scenario and cannot be applied to every printer.
What to include in your decision
Keep paper separate unless you enable that optional cost. Electricity is excluded from the currently released calculator. Delivery, finance, unscheduled repairs, downtime and resale value are outside the headline estimate.
A low cost does not establish suitability. Consider whether the machine meets your colour, scanning, paper-size and workflow needs. If you compare options, give them the same task and usage assumptions.
For a mono-only example at three printing volumes, see our laser-versus-inkjet running-cost guide.
Use the ink-tank versus cartridge guide to explore how purchase cost and running costs interact.
Common questions
Why are cost per page and ownership cost per page different?
Consumables cost per page excludes the printer purchase. Ownership cost per page includes acquisition and the other costs included in the scenario.
What if I do not know my purchase price?
Enter a price you can support or keep the ownership total incomplete. An unknown price is not a free printer.
What happens at zero printing?
Fixed ownership costs can remain, but dividing by zero pages cannot give a useful per-page result.
Sources and example basis
- TrueCost
printer_tco_1.0. - Approved synthetic fixture GF-03, £352 ownership and £252 consumables.
- Epson yield FAQ: Epson yield FAQ (checked 30 September 2026).
- Derived all-mono sensitivity and displayed arithmetic checked with exact decimal arithmetic on 30 September 2026. No real-product price claim is made.