If you’re looking to buy a laser printer, you’ve probably been told that your best bet is to go with a laser printer whose toner cartridges are expensive. Why? Well, the answer is simple: because the printer companies make more money that way.
But before you give up on finding a cheap toner cartridge for your new laser printer, think about this: there are some great companies out there that produce not only high-quality toner cartridges, but also affordable ones!
You can also read about laser printer toner cost comparison and best black and white laser printer for home use in this post.
Color Laser With Cheap Toner
When it comes to printing, for some the economics takes precedence over functionality or style.
Sometimes you’re looking for the biggest bang for your buck; you’re looking for which laser printer has the cheapest toner.
Low price printers look great on paper. However, further research/calculation is often needed as printer price is not the only factor forming your total printing costs.
Some relatively inexpensive printers may require quite expensive cartridges.
So, you want to focus on finding a laser printer with cheap toner that will save you money.
This could be in the long run with printers that offer the cheapest cost per page. Or in the short term by finding the cheapest toner cartridges on the market.
In this blog we’ll take you through both the cheapest toner cost per page and the cheapest toner cartridge regardless of how many pages it can produce.
It is important to consider that there is a large range in the price per print out.
A cheap laser printer to run can get down to 2 cents a page (black and white).
Compare this to typical costs of around 8 cents per page for black and white and 13+ cents per page for color.
That’s a 6 and 11 cents difference per page, respectively.
And this transforms into $60 or more for every 1000 pages.
Choosing the inexpensive printer may save money initially, but pretty soon, the price of the toner (if more expensive than expected) can add up, and you’ll be in the red, losing money
So, let’s see what cost-effective printer models are out there on the market and how exactly they can help you to save money on your printing costs.
Laser Printer with the Cheapest Toner
Interestingly, the laser printer with the cheapest toner is not a single printer, it’s a group of printers.
More specifically, these are the printers compatible with the most-cost effective toner out there – Brother TN-660 – a high-yield black toner cartridge from Brother.
The original Brother high yield TN-660 black cartridges cost $55 and provide a yield of 2,600 pages. That is a toner price of only 2.1 cents per page.
Here is the list of printers compatible with Brother TN-660:
- HL-L2340DW
- HL-L2360DW
- HL-L2305W
- HL-L2315DW
- HL-L2380DW
- HL-L2320D
- MFC-L2705DW
- MFC-L2685DW
- MFC-L2740DW
- MFC-L2707DW
- MFC-L2680W
- MFC-L2720DW
- MFC-L2700DW
- DCP-L2540DW
- DCP-L2520
Each of these printers is actually a laser printer with the cheapest toner as all of them work with Brother TN-660.
Color Laser Printer with the Cheapest Toner
The color laser printers with the cheapest toner are compatible with the original HP 206X high yield color toner cartridges.
These include:
- HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M283cdw
- HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M283fdn
- HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw
- HP Color LaserJet Pro M282nw
- HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M283fdw
To produce color printouts you need to purchase four cartridges:
- Black
- Cyan
- Magenta
- Yellow
HP206X high yield color toner cartridges are priced at $99.95 each, or you can buy all four together for $389.
With a black cartridge yield of 3,150 pages, and color cartridge yield of 2,450 pages, the HP206X cartridge offers a great price of only 3.2 cents a page for monochrome and 12.7 cents a page for color.
You won’t find cheaper color toner costs per page.
Cheap Laser Printers to Run
There are other laser printers with cheap toner available that offer potential benefits.
Maybe your small business needs a higher monthly duty cycle and print speed; perhaps you’re willing to pay a bit more for the convenience of wireless connectivity or want higher quality printouts.
A table of cheap laser printer options to run is below:
| Model | Brother HL-L2300D* | HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw** | HP LaserJet Pro M404dn | Canon imageClass MF236n All-in-One | Brother HL-L3210CW |
| Output | Monochrome | Color | Monochrome | Monochrome | Color |
| Cartridge Cost | $55 | $99.95 x 4or $389 combined | $215 | $77.66 | $85.78 (Black),$95.53 x 3 (Color) |
| Page Yield | 2,600 | 3,150 (Monochrome) / 2,450 (Color) | 10,000 | 2,400 | 3,000 (Monochrome) / 2,300 (Color) |
| Toner Cost per page (cents) | 2.1 | 3.2 (Monochrome) / 12.7 (Color) | 2.2 | 3.2 | 2.9 (Monochrome) / 15.3 (Color) |
| Monthly Duty Cycle (pages) | 10,000 | 40,000 | 80,000 | 15,000 | 30,000 |
| Print Speed | 27 | 22 | 40 | 24 | 19 |
| Resolution (DPI) | 2400×600 | 600×600 | 1200×1200 | 600×600 | 2400×600 |
| Wi-Fi | X | Y | Y | N | Y |
*Laser printer with the cheapest toner
**Color laser printer with the cheapest toner
All cartridge prices are from Toner Buzz. To find out how to calculate the toner cost per page check out our post here.
Cheapest Laser Printer Cartridges
The laser printers with the cheapest toner discussed above take into the page yield of the cartridges to find the best cost per page.
However, many people are just looking for the lowest cartridge price. Below is a list of the cheapest laser printer cartridges out there.
All cartridge prices are from Toner Buzz.
Buying a Laser Printer That Fits Your Needs
When buying a laser printer, you need to search around and find one that fits your needs while also having low toner costs.
A laser printer with cheap toner is great, but if it doesn’t cover all your needs, the money saved can’t help you.
Essential factors to consider include:
- How much printing do you perform? What monthly duty cycle do you need to cover your requirements?
- Do you want color printing? Or will monochrome suffice?
- How dense are your printouts? How much information do they contain, and how much toner does that require? (Keep in mind the cost per page and page yields listed above are based on 5% page coverage, roughly a third of a page of double spaced text)
- What quality and type of printout do you use? (Reducing the image resolution can reduce toner costs)
- Are you happy with a simple printer? Or do you want an All-in-One device with added functionality?
- What size and speed of printout are you planning to use?
Check out our blog on accurately calculating your printing costs once you find your chosen printer.
Compatible and Remanufactured Toner Cartridges
The information provided above is all based on OEM toner cartridges. However, there are also compatible and remanufactured toner cartridges that promise a similar performance at lower prices.
In our experience, however, choosing OEM toner cartridges is always the best option.
Compatible and remanufactured toner cartridges lead to:
- Inconsistent performance across different compatible models
- Reduced page yields
- Worse image quality
- A higher risk of malfunctioning
If you want more information check out our blog, where we go deeper into the subject.
Tips for Reducing Toner Spend
You can find a laser printer with cheap toner that matches all your needs. But there are also tips that can increase page yield and reduce your toner costs even further.
Cartridge Tips
- Shaking the cartridge – Toner is a powder, and with time it can clump together in the cartridge. Giving the cartridge a good shake loosens the toner within, getting a few more pages out before you get uneven or streaky printouts and have to change the cartridge.
- Unclogging the nozzle – Toner cartridge nozzles that are all clogged up produce inconsistent printouts or stop working entirely. Keeping your toner cartridge nozzles clean and in good shape leads to better performance for longer.
- Stock up – Toner lasts a long time, so when you spot an excellent deal, you can stock up without worrying about the toner going bad. As long as you store your extra cartridges properly, they will perform great long after purchasing.
Printer Setting Tips
- Print modes – You can reduce the DPI/resolution and use less toner by changing print mode. This does come at the expense of print quality, though. Modes like “draft,” “fast,” and “toner-saver” all increase page yield.
- Use grayscale – Standard printouts utilize additional toner to produce deep-toned blacks. By changing to grayscale printouts, you can get more out of each cartridge.
- Change printout style – you can even adjust your printout style to save on toner. At Toner Buzz we recently did some tests to find which fonts are the most cost effective and use the least toner.
Whatever your requirements, you can find a laser printer with cheap toner that will save you money in the long run.
If you’re looking for a basic monochrome home printer, the laser printer with the cheapest toner would be any printer compatible with Brother TN-660. The color laser printer with the cheapest toner would be any printer compatible with HP 206x cartridges.
Laser Printer Toner Cost Comparison
| Best Laser Toners Models | Price |
|---|---|
| Dubaria SP 210 Black Toner Cartridge | ₹1199 |
Best Black And White Laser Printer For Home Use
- Best Black And White PrinterBrother MFC-L2750DWSEE PRICEAmazon.com
SEE PRICEBestBuy.comBlack & White 9.1Estimated Black Page Yield 1,953 printsCost-Per-Print 9.6Black & White Documents 9.0Black Only Text Document 36 PPMScanner ADF + FlatbedSee all our test resultsThe best black and white printer we’ve tested is the Brother MFC-L2750DW, an all-in-one laser model. It produces incredibly sharp documents, doesn’t take long to warm, and prints quickly at 36 pages per minute. You can connect to the printer via Wi-Fi, USB, or Ethernet, and there’s also NFC support, so you can connect by tapping your NFC-enabled device against the printer. Its ADF-equipped scanner isn’t particularly fast, but it’s still more convenient than scanning each page manually, and it can scan double-sided sheets in a single pass. The toner cartridge yields a large number of prints, so you won’t need to replace it often unless you print a lot, and you can increase the yield further with an XL cartridge. The drum is a separate unit you’ll have to spend extra to replace, although it’s usually good for about 12,000 prints and won’t need regular replacement.If you don’t need all the features on the MFC-L2750DW and would rather save some money, know that there are cheaper variants with slightly different features and performance. You can get a model like the Brother MFC-L2710DW, which lacks duplex scanning and prints a little slower at 32 pages per minute. The print quality remains the same, so you’ll still get sharp-looking documents. You can also get bundles with longer-lasting XL toner cartridges, like the Brother MFC-L2750DW XL, which might be cheaper than buying the cartridges separately. You can see more details about the variants in the full review.See our review - Best Mid-Range Black And White PrinterBrother HL-L2390DWSEE PRICEAmazon.com
SEE PRICEBestBuy.comBlack & White 8.4Estimated Black Page Yield 1,425 printsCost-Per-Print 9.3Black Only Text Document 32 PPMScanner YesSee all our test resultsIf you have simpler needs, you can save money with the Brother HL-L2390DW. It’s also an all-in-one monochrome model, but unlike our top pick, it lacks an automatic feeder and Ethernet connectivity. It produces sharp-looking documents, prints quickly at 32 pages per minute, and supports automatic duplex printing. The toner cartridge is good for about 1400 prints and is fairly cheap, so you don’t need to worry about high maintenance costs. The lack of an automatic feeder is probably the most significant compromise with this printer, so you need to ensure you won’t need to scan lots of long, multi-page documents.This model has a variant, the Brother HL-L2395DW. It’s essentially the same printer but with Ethernet connectivity, a larger touch-sensitive display, and a slightly faster printing speed.See our review - Best Budget Black And White PrinterBrother HL-L2350DWSEE PRICEAmazon.com
SEARCHBestBuy.comBlack & White 7.7Estimated Black Page Yield 1,273 printsCost-Per-Print 9.1Black & White Documents 9.0Black Only Text Document 33 PPMScanner No ScannerSee all our test resultsFor our budget pick, we have yet another Brother laser printer (Brother makes really good laser monochrome printers), the Brother HL-L2350DW. This print-only unit is a variant of the Brother HL-L2325DW we tested. We chose this model because the HL-L2325DW is hard to find, so this is the best option. It feels sturdily built, produces outstanding quality documents, and prints up to 32 pages per minute. It doesn’t cost much to maintain as the toner cartridge yields a large number of prints and is fairly cheap. Of course, if you have a very tight budget and don’t mind shopping around, the HL-L2325DW is cheaper and performs almost identically.Like the Brother printers we recommend above, you’ll have to replace the drum on this model separately, which is an added expense, but again, the drum usually lasts a long time, so you likely won’t need to do it all that often.See our review - Best Cheap Black And White PrinterPantum P2502WSEE PRICEAmazon.com
SEARCHBestBuy.comBlack & White 7.2Estimated Black Page Yield 2,090 printsCost-Per-Print 9.4Black & White Documents 9.0Black Only Text Document 23 PPMScanner No ScannerSee all our test resultsIf you want a cheap printer that can get the job done, get the Pantum P2502W. Like the Brother HL-L2350DW above, this is also a print-only unit, so there isn’t a scanner. It produces nice, sharp documents and doesn’t cost much to maintain because the toner cartridge lasts a long time. It takes a little longer than most laser printers to warm up, but it’s very fast once it starts printing, pushing up to 23 pages per minute. You just have to flip the pages manually when printing double-sided because it doesn’t support automatic duplex printing.Unfortunately, there’s an issue with this printer. It tends to push printed sheets off the output tray, which can be annoying during large print jobs, as you’ll have to rearrange the prints into the right order. This issue also causes misaligned prints. While this doesn’t happen all the time, it’s still an inconvenience, as you might waste a lot of time, paper, and toner. Again, this model can get the job done; just know that you might run into some occasional problems.See our review - Best High-Yield Black And White PrinterEpson WorkForce ST-M1000SEE PRICEAmazon.com
SEARCHBestBuy.comBlack & White 7.8Estimated Black Page Yield 4,465 printsCost-Per-Print 10Black Only Text Document 18 PPMScanner NoSee all our test resultsIf you regularly print in bulk and only care about a high page yield, we recommend the Epson WorkForce ST-M1000, a print-only inkjet model. The biggest advantage of this model over the others is its much cheaper ink cost, which helps keep its cost-per-print exceptionally low. It comes with three black ink bottles, so you’ll be good for over 10,000 prints. It produces sharp documents, wakes up quickly from an idle state, and prints up to 18 pages per minute. Unlike laser printers, you won’t have to worry about replacing the drum unit; however, this model’s inkjet technology means you need to print frequently, as letting the printer go unused for a long time will cause the ink to dry up and clog the printheads.