Cheapest Ink for the Canon PIXMA TR8620 (and TR8620a, TR8622, TR8500 Series)
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Canon's PIXMA TR8620 is a popular all-in-one for home offices — and an expensive one to feed. A single OEM PGI-280XXL pigment black runs close to $38 at Canon's store. The color CLI-281XXL cartridges are around $22 each, so a full replacement set costs about $100. For a printer that retailed around $180, Canon is charging you more than half the printer's price every time you replace ink.
Here's what to buy instead, and what to watch out for.
The cartridges your TR8620 uses
The TR8620, TR8620a, TR8622, TR8520, TR8522, TS6120, TS8120, TS8220, TS9120, and TS9520 all use Canon's PGI-280 / CLI-281 ink family. For each, there are three yield levels:
- Standard (PGI-280 / CLI-281) — lowest yield, worst cost per page, not recommended
- XL (PGI-280XL / CLI-281XL) — medium yield, reasonable choice
- XXL (PGI-280XXL / CLI-281XXL) — highest yield, best cost per page
The XXL cartridges print roughly 2.5x more pages than standard for about 1.5x the price. Unless you truly print almost nothing, XXL is the correct pick every time.
Compatible set pricing
We sell compatible versions of both the PGI-280XXL + CLI-281XXL 6-pack (pigment black, photo black, cyan, magenta, yellow, and a second pigment black) and the 4-pack.
Current pricing:
- Compatible XXL 4-pack: ~$55.95 (vs. ~$100 OEM — 44% savings)
- Compatible XXL 6-pack: better cost per page if you print a lot in black
- OEM XXL 5-pack at Canon: ~$125
The two canon-specific issues to know about
1. The photo black vs. pigment black distinction matters
Unlike most HP and Brother printers, the TR8620 uses two different black cartridges: a pigment black (PGI-280XXL) for text and a photo black (CLI-281XXL BK) for photo printing. If you only buy the pigment black, color photo printing will look off and the printer may complain. Buy them as a set unless you're sure you don't need photo black.
2. Canon's chip detection is less aggressive than HP's
Good news for Canon owners: Canon has historically been much less hostile to third-party cartridges than HP. Firmware updates rarely block compatibles, and most compatible PGI-280XXL / CLI-281XXL cartridges from reputable sellers install cleanly with no "non-Canon ink" workarounds needed. You'll see a notification that reminds you it's a non-Canon cartridge — click through and ink levels will still show.
What to expect from compatible Canon ink
Page yields on compatible Canon cartridges track closely to OEM — usually within 5%. Print quality on text documents is indistinguishable. Where OEM has a slight edge is in photo printing: if you're printing 8x10 glossy photos for a portfolio, OEM photo inks have marginally better longevity before fading. For everything else — documents, forms, school projects, color graphics — compatible cartridges perform at OEM parity.
Recommended buy pattern
For a typical home office printing 100–200 pages/month on a TR8620, a compatible XXL 4-pack lasts roughly 6–9 months. Buying two 4-packs at once crosses our free shipping threshold and usually covers you for a full year.
If you're on a TR8620a, TR8620, or TR8622
All three use the exact same cartridges. The "a" suffix is a minor hardware revision only; cartridge compatibility is identical.
Questions?
If you're not sure which cartridge your specific TR-series printer uses, or you've already had a bad experience with a different compatible brand and want to know what changes with ours, email or call us. We'd rather answer questions before you order than after.