Price per page is the cost of printing one sheet of paper with a specific cartridge. You calculate it by dividing the cartridge's price by its rated page yield. A $25 XL cartridge that prints 500 pages costs $0.050 per page. A $15 standard cartridge that prints 150 pages costs $0.100 per page. The "affordable" cartridge costs twice as much per sheet.
This is the number that actually tells you what ink costs. The sticker price is nearly useless on its own — manufacturers sell ink in wildly different yield sizes, and pricing between standard and XL versions of the same cartridge is designed to obscure the per-page comparison. Once you calculate price per page, every cartridge on the market becomes directly comparable.
BuyPerUnit ranks every ink cartridge and toner by this metric by default. The benchmarks below reflect real street prices across Amazon, Best Buy, and Newegg in early 2026.
BuyPerUnit calculates price per page automatically for every listed cartridge. You don't need to do the math — just browse the ranked list and filter by brand or yield. Compare all ink cartridges by price per page.
The Formula
Price Per Page = Cartridge Price ÷ Page Yield
Page yield is printed on the cartridge packaging and listed in every product description. It represents the number of pages the cartridge can print under standard test conditions: 5% page coverage per ISO/IEC 24711 for inkjet, ISO/IEC 19752 for toner. That 5% figure is approximately what a typical text document looks like — a paragraph of text on a page with normal margins.
If you print graphics-heavy documents, charts, or photos, your actual yield will be lower than the rated number. If you print mostly light text, you may slightly exceed it.
Three examples:
- $28 cartridge, 825 pages: $28 ÷ 825 = $0.034/page — excellent
- $22 cartridge, 400 pages: $22 ÷ 400 = $0.055/page — good
- $15 cartridge, 120 pages: $15 ÷ 120 = $0.125/page — overpaying
The third example is the default state of most ink shopping. People reach for the cheapest cartridge on the shelf and end up paying the most per page.
What Good Price Per Page Looks Like in 2026
These ranges reflect actual market prices across major US retailers. "Excellent" means you found a genuinely good deal for that category. "Good" is fair value. "Overpaying" means you should keep looking.
| Ink Type | Excellent $/page | Good $/page | Overpaying |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inkjet OEM black (standard yield) | Under $0.08 | $0.08–$0.13 | Over $0.15 |
| Inkjet OEM black (XL/high-yield) | Under $0.05 | $0.05–$0.09 | Over $0.12 |
| Inkjet OEM color (per-page combined) | Under $0.12 | $0.12–$0.20 | Over $0.25 |
| Compatible inkjet black | Under $0.03 | $0.03–$0.06 | Over $0.08 |
| Compatible inkjet color | Under $0.06 | $0.06–$0.10 | Over $0.13 |
| Toner OEM black (standard yield) | Under $0.04 | $0.04–$0.06 | Over $0.08 |
| Toner OEM black (high-yield) | Under $0.02 | $0.02–$0.035 | Over $0.05 |
| Compatible toner black | Under $0.015 | $0.015–$0.03 | Over $0.04 |
A few things stand out in this table:
Inkjet OEM standard cartridges are almost always a bad deal. Standard-yield cartridges are the base option that exists primarily to create a lower sticker price. The XL version of the same cartridge is almost always cheaper per page — often significantly so. The only reason to buy standard is if you print so infrequently that a high-yield cartridge would dry out before you finish it (roughly: printing fewer than 10 pages per month).
Compatible inkjet cartridges cut costs by 50% or more. A compatible XL black that falls in the "excellent" range at $0.02–$0.03/page costs three to four times less per page than the OEM equivalent. For document printing, this is the right default unless you have a specific reason to use OEM. The warranty concern is largely a myth — compatible cartridges cannot void your printer warranty under US federal law.
Toner is cheaper per page than inkjet at every tier. Even OEM toner at the "good" range ($0.04–$0.06/page) beats OEM inkjet on cost. High-yield OEM toner at $0.02–$0.035/page is cheaper than compatible inkjet in many cases. If your priority is lowest cost per page and you print primarily text documents, a laser printer with toner is the right long-term choice.
Why This Varies So Much Within a Category
Within inkjet OEM cartridges alone, prices range from $0.04/page to $0.20/page — a 5x spread. That range exists because of three variables:
Yield tier. Standard vs XL vs XXL. The yield tier is the single biggest driver of per-page cost within a cartridge family. Going from standard to XL typically drops per-page cost by 15–30%. Going from XL to XXL (where available) drops it another 10–20%. XL cartridges are almost always worth the upfront premium — the math is straightforward.
Brand. HP's consumer inkjet cartridges tend to have higher per-page costs than Canon and Epson. Brother's inkjet line is competitive on per-page cost. Epson's EcoTank models use bottled ink instead of cartridges, with per-page costs in the $0.004–$0.013 range — far below anything in the cartridge market. The tradeoff is a higher upfront printer cost ($200–$400 vs $50–$100 for a standard inkjet).
OEM vs compatible. As the table above shows, compatible cartridges cut per-page costs roughly in half compared to OEM. The quality gap has narrowed dramatically over the past decade. For text documents, the difference is negligible. For professional photo printing, OEM is still worth the premium for accurate color reproduction.
Color printing is always more expensive than black-and-white because color pages use multiple cartridges simultaneously. The "color page cost" in the table above represents the combined cost of all cartridges used for a typical full-color document page. If you mostly print in black, your effective per-page cost will be significantly lower.
The Inkjet vs Toner Calculation
The benchmarks above show per-page cost for the cartridge alone. The full cost comparison between inkjet and laser printers needs to account for the printer itself:
| Inkjet | Laser (Monochrome) | |
|---|---|---|
| Printer cost | $50–$150 | $150–$350 |
| Black page cost (OEM) | $0.05–$0.13 | $0.02–$0.06 |
| Black page cost (compatible) | $0.02–$0.06 | $0.01–$0.03 |
| Color printing | Yes | Limited (mono only) or expensive |
| Cartridge shelf life | 6–24 months | 2+ years (sealed) |
| Best for | Photos, low volume, color | Text documents, high volume |
If you print 500 pages per month in black, the cost difference between $0.10/page inkjet OEM and $0.02/page toner is $0.08 per page × 500 pages × 12 months = $480 per year. A laser printer pays for itself in under a year at that volume.
If you print 50 pages per month, the printer cost dominates. The $300 premium for a laser printer takes six years to recoup at the same math. An inkjet makes more sense at low volumes.
The crossover point for most households is around 200–300 pages per month. Above that, laser is almost always the cheaper long-term choice for text printing.
How BuyPerUnit Tracks This
BuyPerUnit pulls current prices from Amazon, Best Buy, and Newegg daily, calculates price per page using the manufacturer's listed page yield, and ranks every cartridge from cheapest to most expensive per page. When a cartridge goes on sale, its ranking moves up automatically. When the sale ends, it moves back.
This means the list reflects what you can actually buy today, not a static guide that becomes outdated the next time prices shift. Ink prices are relatively stable compared to storage, but multi-pack deals, subscribe-and-save discounts, and periodic promotions do move the rankings.
Browse Ink & Toner Ranked by Price Per Page →Further Reading
- Cheapest Printer Ink in 2026: Best Deals Per Page — the current best deals, updated regularly
- OEM vs Compatible Ink Cartridges: Are Third-Party Cartridges Worth It? — the full case for and against compatible ink
- HP 67 vs HP 67XL: Which Saves You More Money? — the standard vs XL math in detail
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good price per page for printer ink?
For inkjet OEM black in XL format, under $0.05/page is excellent and under $0.09/page is good. For compatible inkjet black, under $0.03/page is excellent. For OEM toner, under $0.02/page (high-yield) is excellent. These benchmarks reflect US retail prices in early 2026.
How do I calculate price per page for a cartridge?
Divide the cartridge price by its page yield. Example: a $22 cartridge rated for 400 pages costs $22 ÷ 400 = $0.055 per page. Page yield is listed on the box and in the product description on Amazon, Best Buy, and Newegg.
Why does the same brand cost so much more per page in standard vs XL?
Manufacturers set standard cartridge prices lower to create an accessible entry price, but they hold back ink so the yield is proportionally even lower. The XL version contains more ink at a smaller per-ml premium, which makes it cheaper per page even though it costs more upfront. The math almost always favors XL unless you print infrequently enough that ink dries out.
Is compatible ink actually cheaper per page?
Yes — compatible cartridges typically cost 40–60% less than OEM for the same page yield, making them 40–60% cheaper per page. The quality gap for document printing is negligible. For professional photo printing, OEM still produces more accurate colors. Compatible cartridges cannot void your printer warranty under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.
What printer brand has the cheapest ink per page?
Epson EcoTank printers have by far the cheapest per-page cost for inkjet — $0.004 to $0.013/page using bottled ink — but the printers cost $200–$400 upfront. Among standard cartridge brands, Brother and Canon tend to have lower per-page costs than HP at the OEM level. For toner (laser), Brother is consistently the most competitive at the consumer level. See our HP vs Canon vs Epson vs Brother ink cost comparison for the full breakdown.