Printer Ink Price Index
The Printer Ink Price Index: What Genuine Cartridges Actually Cost Per Page
We priced 32 of the most common ink and toner cartridges in America against their manufacturers’ own published yields. The median genuine cartridge costs 4.92¢ per printed page. The most expensive costs nine times more per page than the cheapest.
Printer buyers are shown one number — the price of the printer — and almost never shown the one that determines what the machine actually costs them. This index exists to publish that second number.
For each cartridge below we took the manufacturer’s current published price, divided it by the manufacturer’s own declared page yield, and got a cost per printed page. We then did the same arithmetic on the compatible equivalent. Everything is sourced, dated, and reproducible.
What the numbers show
- Inkjet costs 2.4× more per page than laser. Median genuine inkjet runs 7.92¢ per page; median genuine toner runs 3.32¢. Printing 1,000 pages costs about $79 in genuine inkjet ink versus $33 in genuine toner — before you buy either printer.
- The cheapest cartridge to run costs more than most printers. HP’s 87X toner is the single most expensive item in the index at $441.99, yet at 18,000 pages it is one of the cheapest per page (2.46¢). Low sticker price and low running cost are close to opposites.
- Tank and high-yield formats break the pattern. Brother’s LC406XLM INKvestment cartridge delivers 1.64¢ per page — cheaper to run than most laser toner, and roughly one-ninth the per-page cost of a small starter-class inkjet cartridge.
- Compatibles save more on toner than on ink. Median saving is 66.7% on toner versus 47.2% on inkjet, because OEM toner carries the wider margin.
- Small cartridges are where the money goes. Every cartridge above 12¢ per page in this index holds 300 pages or fewer. Yield, not price, is the variable that matters.
Cost per printed page, genuine vs. compatible
32 cartridges; the 20 with first-party manufacturer pricing shown. Sorted by genuine cost per page, highest first.
The full index
Every figure below is reproducible from the two source numbers in each row. Yields are the manufacturer’s own declared values under ISO/IEC 24711 (inkjet) and ISO/IEC 19752 (monochrome toner), measured at 5% page coverage.
| Cartridge | Type | Yield | OEM price | Compatible | OEM ¢/pg | Compat ¢/pg | Saving |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HP 67XL Black | inkjet | 240 | $35.99 | $18.99 | 15.00¢ | 7.91¢ | 47% |
| Canon CL-246XL Tri-Color | inkjet | 300 | $41.99 | $24.95 | 14.00¢ | 8.32¢ | 41% |
| Canon PG-275XL Black | inkjet | 300 | $38.99 | $26.00 | 13.00¢ | 8.67¢ | 33% |
| Canon PG-245XL Black | inkjet | 300 | $37.99 | $21.95 | 12.66¢ | 7.32¢ | 42% |
| HP 910XL Black | inkjet | 720 | $56.99 | $26.99 | 7.92¢ | 3.75¢ | 53% |
| HP 85A | toner | 1,600 | $104.99 | $34.95 | 6.56¢ | 2.18¢ | 67% |
| HP 12A | toner | 2,000 | $120.99 | $39.95 | 6.05¢ | 2.00¢ | 67% |
| HP 05A | toner | 2,300 | $138.99 | $42.95 | 6.04¢ | 1.87¢ | 69% |
| HP 26A | toner | 3,100 | $173.99 | $69.95 | 5.61¢ | 2.26¢ | 60% |
| HP 902XL Magenta | inkjet | 750 | $36.99 | $15.99 | 4.93¢ | 2.13¢ | 57% |
| HP 58A | toner | 3,000 | $146.99 | $39.95 | 4.90¢ | 1.33¢ | 73% |
| HP 26X | toner | 9,000 | $298.99 | $79.95 | 3.32¢ | 0.89¢ | 73% |
| Brother TN760 | toner | 3,000 | $98.29 | $33.95 | 3.28¢ | 1.13¢ | 65% |
| Brother TN830XL | toner | 3,000 | $98.29 | $59.95 | 3.28¢ | 2.00¢ | 39% |
| Brother LC75Y Yellow | inkjet | 600 | $18.79 | $6.99 | 3.13¢ | 1.17¢ | 63% |
| Brother TN660 | toner | 2,600 | $71.49 | $35.95 | 2.75¢ | 1.38¢ | 50% |
| Brother TN450 | toner | 2,600 | $71.49 | $34.95 | 2.75¢ | 1.34¢ | 51% |
| HP 87X | toner | 18,000 | $441.99 | $85.95 | 2.46¢ | 0.48¢ | 81% |
| Epson 676XL Magenta | inkjet | 1,200 | $26.99 | $15.95 | 2.25¢ | 1.33¢ | 41% |
| Brother LC406XLM Magenta | inkjet | 5,000 | $81.79 | $21.99 | 1.64¢ | 0.44¢ | 73% |
The cartridges the manufacturer stopped selling
Twelve of the most-searched HP inkjet cartridges in America are no longer sold on HP’s own online store. HP has consolidated or discontinued the 61XL, 63XL, 65XL, 950XL, 951XL, 96 and 98 lines, but the printers that take them are still in millions of homes and offices — so the cartridges are still stocked by national retailers, at retailer prices.
Those prices are markedly higher per page than anything in the main index. The median across this group is 12.79¢ per page, roughly 2.6× the median for cartridges the manufacturers still sell directly. Three tri-color cartridges exceed 19¢ per page.
| Cartridge | Yield | Retail price | Compatible | Retail ¢/pg | Saving | Price source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HP 61XL Tri-Color | 300 | $68.89 | $24.95 | 22.96¢ | 64% | officedepot.com |
| HP 63XL Tri-Color | 300 | $67.89 | $19.99 | 22.63¢ | 71% | staples.com |
| HP 65XL Tri-Color | 300 | $57.99 | $19.99 | 19.33¢ | 66% | staples.com |
| HP 65XL Black | 300 | $45.89 | $18.99 | 15.30¢ | 59% | staples.com |
| HP 61XL Black | 430 | $64.89 | $23.95 | 15.09¢ | 63% | staples.com |
| HP 63XL Black | 430 | $62.89 | $18.99 | 14.63¢ | 70% | staples.com |
| HP 98 Black | 420 | $45.99 | $12.95 | 10.95¢ | 72% | officedepot.com |
| HP 96 Black | 860 | $59.99 | $12.95 | 6.98¢ | 78% | officedepot.com |
| HP 950XL Black | 1,650 | $71.89 | $17.95 | 4.36¢ | 75% | staples.com |
| HP 951XL Cyan | 1,500 | $51.99 | $14.95 | 3.47¢ | 71% | staples.com |
| HP 951XL Magenta | 1,500 | $51.99 | $14.95 | 3.47¢ | 71% | staples.com |
| HP 951XL Yellow | 1,500 | $51.99 | $14.95 | 3.47¢ | 71% | staples.com |
Why these are listed separately. Prices in this second table come from national retailers (Staples, Office Depot), not from the manufacturer, because no manufacturer price exists any more. Several were out of stock at capture. They are a weaker basis for comparison than the main index and should be cited as retail shelf prices, not as manufacturer pricing.
Method
How cartridges were selected
The basket is drawn from Castle Ink’s best-selling cartridge families — the cartridges American households and small offices actually buy — across HP, Canon, Epson and Brother, covering both inkjet and monochrome laser. Multi-packs, MICR variants and chipped/unchipped duplicates were excluded so that every row is a single comparable cartridge.
Where prices come from
Genuine cartridge prices were captured on August 14, 2026 from the manufacturer’s own US online store (hp.com, brother-usa.com, usa.canon.com, epson.com) wherever the cartridge is still sold there. Where the manufacturer no longer sells the cartridge, the price comes from a national retailer and that cartridge is reported in the separate table above, with its source named. Compatible prices are Castle Ink’s list prices on the same date.
How cost per page is calculated
Cost per page = cartridge price ÷ declared page yield, expressed in cents. Yields are the manufacturer’s published approximate values under ISO/IEC 24711 for inkjet and ISO/IEC 19752 for monochrome toner, both at 5% page coverage.
Assumptions and limits
Compatible cartridges are compared at the OEM’s declared yield for the equivalent cartridge. This is the standard basis for comparison in the category, but it is an assumption: real-world yield varies with coverage, print settings, humidity and how often the printer runs a cleaning cycle. Cost per page also excludes the printer, paper, drum units where separate, and electricity. Prices move; this index is a dated snapshot, not a live feed. Promotional and subscription pricing (including HP Instant Ink) is excluded — all figures are standalone cartridge purchase prices.
Disclosure
Castle Ink sells compatible and remanufactured cartridges, including many in this index. That is a commercial interest and readers should weigh it. Everything here is checkable against the sources named: the OEM prices are public, the yields are the manufacturers’ own published figures, and the arithmetic is one division per row. This page carries no affiliate links.
Citing this index
Castle Ink Printer Ink Price Index, August 2026.
castleink.com/pages/printer-ink-price-index
Journalists and researchers are welcome to use these figures with attribution. For the underlying data, methodology questions, or comment, contact Bill Elward, Founder, Castle Ink.
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