🖨️ Printing Cost Calculator

Printing cost breaks down into paper cost and ink/toner cost. Total cost = pages × (paper cost + ink cost), and cost per page = total cost ÷ pages. For example, printing 100 pages in black & white at $0.01/page for paper and $0.03/page for ink gives a paper cost of $1.00, ink cost of $3.00, total cost of $4.00, and $0.04 per page. Print the same 100 pages in color at $0.12/page for ink instead, and ink cost jumps to $12.00, total cost to $13.00, and cost per page to $0.13 — over 3x more expensive than black & white for the same page count.

You can back out your printer's real per-page ink cost by dividing a cartridge's price by its rated page yield. A $50 toner cartridge rated for 2,000 pages, for instance, works out to $0.025 per page.

① Set double-sided (duplex) printing as your default to cut paper use roughly in half. ② Print drafts and internal review copies in draft/economy mode to reduce ink usage by 20-40%. ③ Remanufactured or refilled cartridges can cut your per-page ink cost by more than half, though they may affect print quality or void printer warranties — check before switching. ④ Switch to black & white whenever color isn't essential — as shown above, color can cost 3x or more per page. ⑤ If you print in high volume regularly, a laser printer (higher upfront cost, lower per-page cost) often wins on total cost of ownership versus an inkjet.