In the inkjet vs laser printer decision, a laser printer usually costs less per page for text and copes better with occasional use, because toner does not dry out. An inkjet usually costs less to buy, prints far better photos and, in ink-tank models, can deliver the lowest color cost per page. Your page volume and color share decide the winner.
Below: how the two technologies differ, how to compare cost per page honestly, the total cost of ownership most comparisons leave out, and a decision table for home and small-office buyers. One disclosure up front: GS TONER sells genuine laser toner and drums only, no ink. Where inkjet is the better answer, we say so.
What is the difference between inkjet and laser printers?
An inkjet printer sprays tiny droplets of liquid ink through nozzles in a printhead that moves across the page. A laser printer works electrostatically: a laser (or LED array) draws the page as an electrical charge on a rotating drum, dry toner powder sticks to the charged areas, the toner is transferred to the paper, and a heated fuser melts it into the fibers.
| Inkjet | Laser | |
|---|---|---|
| Consumable | Liquid ink in cartridges or refillable tanks | Dry toner powder in cartridges; some models add a separate drum unit |
| Typical yield per black supply | About 120–2,000 pages per cartridge; about 6,000 per ink-tank bottle | About 1,000–25,000 pages per toner cartridge |
| Text documents | Good; slower on long jobs | Crisp and fast; built for multi-page documents |
| Photos and glossy paper | Excellent; borderless on many models | Weak; not designed for photo paper |
| Idle weeks | Nozzles can dry or clog; cleaning uses ink | Toner does not dry out; prints after long idle periods |
| Purchase price | Usually lower (cartridge models) | Usually higher, especially color lasers |
| Power while printing | Low | Higher: the fuser has to heat up |
Which is cheaper, laser or inkjet?
Ignore the price of the printer for a moment and compare running cost. The formula is the same for both technologies:
Cost per page = cartridge (or bottle) price ÷ rated page yield.
Rated yields come from ISO test methods: ISO/IEC 24711 for inkjet cartridges, ISO/IEC 19752 for monochrome toner and ISO/IEC 19798 for color toner. The test pages differ between ink and toner, so treat cross-technology comparisons as approximate, but the differences in scale are so large that the conclusion rarely changes. Our page yield guide explains what the numbers mean.
How many supplies does 9,000 pages take?
Take a small office or busy home office printing 250 black pages a month: 9,000 pages over three years. Here is how many black supplies that takes, using manufacturer-rated yields.
| Black supply | Type | Rated yield (pages) | Needed for 9,000 pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| HP 67 | Cartridge inkjet | About 120 | 75 |
| HP 67XL | Cartridge inkjet | About 240 | 38 |
| HP 962XL | Business cartridge inkjet | About 2,000 | 5 |
| HP 32XL ink bottle | Ink tank | About 6,000 | 2 |
| Brother TN760 | Mono laser toner | 3,000 | 3 |
| HP 26X | Mono laser toner | 9,000 | 1 |
| HP 58X | Mono laser toner | 10,000 | 1 |
| Brother TN920UXXL | Mono laser toner | 18,000 | 1 (half used) |
You can turn that into a price-free rule. A toner cartridge that costs N times as much as an ink cartridge is cheaper per page whenever it prints more than N times as many pages. An HP 58X prints about 5 times the pages of an HP 962XL and about 40 times the pages of an HP 67XL. Check today's price of each and the answer falls out in seconds.
Inside the laser world, the same math favors high-yield cartridges. At our current prices, the HP 58X costs roughly 1.9 times the HP 58A but prints 3.3 times the pages, so each page costs about 40% less. The TN920UXXL costs about 2.5 times the TN920 and prints 6 times the pages: about 60% less per page.
What about color pages?
Color cost per page is the sum of each color supply's price divided by its yield. A color laser uses four separate toner cartridges, and each is replaced only when it runs out; the HP 414X set, for example, is rated at 7,500 pages for black and 6,000 pages for each color under ISO/IEC 19798. Many cartridge inkjets use a single tri-color cartridge, so the whole cartridge is finished when the first of its three colors runs dry, even if the other two are still half full. If your documents lean on one brand color, that waste adds up.
Where ink tanks change the picture
Ink-tank printers (such as HP Smart Tank, Epson EcoTank and Canon MegaTank) refill from bottles instead of cartridges. HP rates its 135 ml 32XL black bottle at about 6,000 pages and its color bottles at about 8,000 pages each. These printers usually cost more up front, but for families or offices that print a lot of color, an ink tank is often the cheapest way to run color pages. For high-volume black text, a mono laser with a high-yield cartridge remains very hard to beat, and it adds speed and smudge-free output.
Inkjet vs laser printer: the total cost of ownership
Cost per page is the biggest line, not the only one. For a fair inkjet vs laser comparison, add up these items over the years you expect to keep the printer:
| Cost item | Inkjet | Laser |
|---|---|---|
| Printer | Lower for cartridge models; higher for ink tanks | Higher, especially color |
| Supplies | Pages × cost per page (see above) | Pages × cost per page; high-yield cartridges cut it |
| Non-printing use of supplies | Ink is used to prepare the printer and service the printhead; longer gaps between jobs trigger more intensive servicing | Small: color lasers use some toner for calibration and a little ends up as waste toner, but there is no nozzle servicing |
| Other wear parts | Printhead (built into some cartridges, separate on others) | Drum unit on some models, such as the Brother DR730 (about 12,000 pages); fuser on office models |
| Energy | Low | Higher while printing; both sleep at low power when idle |
| Downtime | Clogged nozzles after idle weeks | Rare; jams and worn parts on heavy use |
HP's own explanation of how ink is used in inkjet printers confirms the servicing point: longer periods between print jobs call for more aggressive nozzle-servicing routines, and those routines use more ink. That is why an inkjet that prints a few pages a month can have a much higher real cost per page than its rated yield suggests. Toner has no equivalent loss, and sealed cartridges keep for a long time (see toner shelf life).
When inkjet is the better choice
- You print photos. Photo paper, borderless prints and smooth color gradients are inkjet territory. A laser is the wrong tool.
- You print a lot of color at home or school. An ink-tank model usually has the lowest color running cost.
- Your budget is the printer price. Entry-level cartridge inkjets cost less to buy, which matters if you print little and regularly.
- You print on heat-sensitive or unusual media. Inkjets do not heat the page, so they handle some specialty stocks that a fuser cannot.
- Space and power are tight. Small inkjets are compact and draw little power.
When laser is the better choice
- Most of what you print is text. Invoices, contracts, homework, shipping labels: a mono laser with a high-yield cartridge gives the lowest cost per black page among cartridge printers.
- You print irregularly. A laser that sits for a month prints the first page cleanly. Toner cannot dry in a nozzle.
- You print long documents or share the printer. Lasers are faster on multi-page jobs and built for higher monthly volumes.
- You want durable output. Fused toner does not smear when highlighted or handled straight off the printer.
- You need business color, not photo color. A color laser such as the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw with HP 414X cartridges handles charts, logos and reports well.
Laser vs inkjet: pick by how you print
| Your printing | Best fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Home, under 100 pages a month, mostly text, irregular | Mono laser | No dried-out cartridges; one toner can last a year or more |
| Family with school projects and photos | Ink-tank inkjet | Low color cost per page and real photo quality |
| Occasional photos only | Photo inkjet | Quality matters more than running cost |
| Small office, 500–3,000 pages a month, mostly text | Mono laser with high-yield toner | Lowest black cost per page, speed, reliability |
| Office with color reports and marketing sheets | Color laser | Sharp business color, fast, no idle clogging |
For a small office, the printer that looks cheapest on the shelf often is not cheapest over three years. Our guide to choosing a small-office laser printer by cartridge cost and the step-by-step cost-per-page calculation walk through the numbers. Popular examples: the HP LaserJet Pro M404dw and MFP M428fdw take the 58A/58X, and the Brother HL-L2350DW takes the TN760.
The bottom line
Choose laser if you mainly print text, print more than a few dozen pages a month or print irregularly; choose a high-yield cartridge to get the most from it. Choose inkjet, ideally an ink-tank model, if photos or heavy color are the point. Then run the cost-per-page formula on the exact supplies your shortlisted printers use. If you go laser, our printer cartridge finder lists the genuine toner for each model, and every GS TONER cartridge is factory sealed with free US shipping.
Frequently asked questions
Is it cheaper to run an inkjet or a laser printer?
For black text, a laser printer is usually cheaper to run because toner cartridges print thousands of pages and do not dry out. For heavy color printing, an ink-tank inkjet is often cheapest. Cartridge inkjets usually have the highest cost per page but the lowest purchase price.
What is the difference between inkjet and laser printers?
An inkjet sprays droplets of liquid ink through printhead nozzles. A laser printer uses a laser or LED to charge a drum, attracts dry toner powder to the image, transfers it to paper and melts it in place with a heated fuser.
Is a laser printer good for home use?
Yes, if you mostly print documents, homework, forms and labels. A compact mono laser handles irregular use well because toner does not dry out. If you want photos or lots of color, an ink-tank inkjet is the better home printer.
Does laser toner dry out like inkjet ink?
No. Toner is a dry powder, so it cannot dry out or clog nozzles. A sealed toner cartridge stored at room temperature keeps for a long time, and an installed cartridge prints normally after weeks of idle time.
Can a laser printer print photos?
A color laser can print images on plain paper for reports and flyers, but it is not designed for photo paper and does not match an inkjet's photo quality. For real photo prints, use an inkjet photo printer.
Does GS TONER sell inkjet ink?
No. GS TONER sells only genuine OEM laser toner cartridges and drum units for HP, Canon, Brother, Xerox and Samsung printers. If an inkjet is the right printer for you, buy its ink from the printer maker.
