Find the best printer for your business without breaking the bank.
What exactly is an economical business printer? For this article, we won’t just be taking the upfront price of a printer in consideration; but more importantly, the running cost of maintaining an office printer. Office printing costs add up quickly, especially if your business has a high print volume. Finding a printer that meets your printing needs and budget is vital for any busy office. But with so many printer options available, it’s hard to know where to start. In this guide, we focus on one of the most important contributors to your printer’s operating costs: the cartridge’s page yield.
Page yield is the approximate number of pages that can be printed with a particular cartridge. The manufacturer’s cited page yield is based on 5% page coverage, or a printed page where only 5% of the page has been imprinted with ink. Every cartridge is subjected to page yield testing based on this standard, giving customers a reliable way to compare competing products. If you print a lot, naturally, you will want a toner cartridge that offers a higher page yield. Not only will you get more prints out of the cartridge, it is generally a better overall value. In the hopes of making your printer search easier, we did some research to see which business printers offer incredibly generous page yields, so you can get the most from your machine. We will also jump into how much more you can save with compatible cartridges too.
Best Printers at a Glance
- Best Home Office Printer: Brother HL-L6200DW
- Best Small Business Monochrome Printer: HP PageWide Pro 552dw
- Best Small Business Color Printer: Brother MFC-L8900DW
- Best High Volume Monochrome Printer: Xerox VersaLink B400
- Best Mid-Sized Business Monochrome Printer: HP LaserJet Enterprise M507
Best Home Office Printer
Brother® HL-L6200DW – Buy on Amazon*
Uses the following toner cartridges:
- TN820 – This standard cartridge prints 3,000 pages.
- TN850 – This high yield cartridge prints 8,000 pages.
- TN880 – This super high yield cartridge prints 12,000 pages.
The Brother HL-L6200DW is a reliable monochrome printer with a captivating initial price point and big lifetime value. Offering super-fast print speeds of up to 48 ppm and a 520-sheet paper capacity, it is a perfect printer for any small business. Automatic duplexing lets you print on both sides of the page with the push of a button and advanced security features password protect sensitive documents. The printer’s toner cartridges are its greatest selling point, with the TN880 super high yield cartridge printing up to 12,000 pages. The standard yield TN820 and high yield TN850 toners are also available for consumers that print less. An original TN880 goes for $119.79, but LD Products offers a compatible version for far less at just $29.99! Keep in mind, the drum unit is sold separately for this printer and should be replaced after the use of 3 or 4 toners. An original Brother DR820 drum is $101.59, and the LD compatible option is only $39.99.
Best Small Business Monochrome Printer
HP® PageWide® Pro 552dw – Buy on Amazon
Uses the following toner cartridges:
- HP 972A – A standard black HP 972A prints 3,500 pages; a standard color HP 972A prints 3,000 pages.
- HP 972X – A high yield black HP 972X prints 10,000 pages; a high yield color HP 972X prints 7,000 pages.
HP PageWide printers are some of the fastest in the industry. Using a stationary printhead that scans across the entire page, the PageWide Pro 552dw can print up to 50 ppm in both black and color. First page out speed is quick too, with pages printing as quickly as 6 seconds after warm up. Featuring a 4.3 inch touchscreen display and wireless options for a variety of devices, including HP ePrint and Apple AirPrint, printing from anywhere is a breeze. Instead of toner cartridges, HP PageWide cartridges are pigmented inks with a substantial printing capacity. The cartridges are sold in a standard yield, high yield and extra high yield cartridge size, ranging from 3,500 pages for the 972A standard black cartridge, up to 17,000 pages for the HP 976Y extra-high yield option. The color cartridges offer a similar range, with the standard 972A printing 3,500 pages and the extra high yield printing 10,000 pages. Cartridge replacement may get pricey if you go through cartridges quickly. An original HP 972A black toner sells for $69.99 and the extra-high yield version goes for $220.99. 972A color cartridges are $79.99 apiece and the extra-high yield options are $338.99. LD compatible cartridges are considerably less expensive. The LD brand 972A standard yield cartridges are just $39.99 each. Or, get the higher capacity compatibles for $59.99 each!
Best Small Business Color Printer
Brother® MFC-L8900CDW – Buy on Amazon
Uses the following toner cartridges:
- TN431 – A standard size cartridge that comes in black, cyan, magenta, and yellow; prints 3,000 pages for black, and 1,800 for each color cartridge.
- TN433 – A super high yield cartridge that comes in black, cyan, magenta, and yellow; all cartridges print 4,500 pages each.
- TN436 – An ultra high yield cartridge that comes in black, cyan, magenta, and yellow; all cartridges print 6,500 pages each.
Brother’s MFC-L8900CDW printer is great for mid-sized work groups that need to print in black and color. Offering print speeds of up to 33 pages per minute and a monthly print volume of up to 6,000 pages, this is an ideal printing solution for small-medium sized businesses. Advanced security features like Active Directory support regulates printer use and secure print keeps print jobs confidential with a required PIN. Brother offers a 1-year warranty on this printer and free technical support for the life of the machine. There are a couple of toner cartridge options for the MFC-L8900CDW, allowing for flexibility across teams. The printer’s super-high yield TN-436 toners are the most economical, printing 6,500 pages per cartridge. LD’s compatible version of the TN436 cartridges offer the same page yield at an incredible price. The black cartridge is just $19.99 and each color cartridge for $22.99 each; LD also sells a four pack of TN-436 toners for $83.96.
Best High Volume Monochrome Printer
Xerox® VersaLink B400 – Buy on Amazon
Uses the following toner cartridges:
- B400 / B405 – This extra high yield cartridge prints 24,600 pages.
Xerox’s VersaLink is a printer series with forward thinking features. The B400 touts print speeds of up to 47 ppm and a 110,000 page monthly duty cycle. One of the printer’s most interesting qualities is its ConnectKey® technology, which directly connects to Google Drive®, Microsoft® OneDrive® and DropBox®, giving you instant access to a number of popular print-related apps. If your business prints in high volumes, this is a great printer to go with. There are three toner cartridge sizes to choose from, the standard yield 106R03580 prints 5,900 pages, the high capacity 106R03582 prints 13,900 pages and the extra high capacity 106R03584 prints 24,600 pages. Cartridge price varies depending on the toner. The price of the extra high yield is almost the same cost as the printer at $379.99. LD Products compatible toner cartridges are much more affordable – get the high yield cartridge for just $38.99 and the extra high yield for $42.99.
Best Mid-Sized Business Monochrome Printer
HP® LaserJet® Enterprise M507n – Buy on Amazon
Uses the following toner cartridges:
- HP 89A – A standard black cartridge that prints 5,000 pages.
- HP 89X – A high yield black cartridge that prints 10,000 pages
- HP 89Y – An extra high yield black cartridge that prints 20,000 pages
HP’s LaserJet Enterprise M507n printer is built for business and an ideal printing option for medium sized offices. With print speeds of up to 43 ppm, advanced security features and a series of high yield cartridge options to choose from, this is a solid monochrome machine. HP sells their standard 89A toner cartridge for $149.99 that prints 5,000 pages. The high yield 89X cartridge is more expensive at $229.99 but offers more than double the page yield, printing approximately 10,000 pages, or you could spring for the extra high yield 89Y that prints 20,000 pages at $310.99. To save money, consider purchasing LD brand compatible versions – these cartridges will be available soon!
The number of pages a toner cartridge can print may vary anywhere from 2,000 to 25,000 pages or more. Knowing which laser printer models have cartridges with really high page yields can save offices with a high print volume a substantial amount of money. Now that you have a few printers to choose from, map out how much you would like to spend on printing in the long term. Factor in the initial cost of the printer, how much you intend to print each month, the cost of replacement cartridges, and of course, the page yield of each cartridge. Printer price and cartridge price varies across printer models and your printer bill can be very different, depending on what printer you go with. We recommend compatible cartridges to keep your printing costs low! If you have any questions about any of the printers listed here, or have a printer you would like to recommend, drop us a line, we would love to hear from you.
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*Savings based on price comparison between remanufactured/compatible cartridge prices on www.LDProducts.com and OEM cartridge and printer prices from Amazon and Staples. All prices effective as of June 1, 2023. All products are reviewed independently. As an Amazon associate, LD Products earns from qualifying purchases through links on this page. OEM names are registered trademarks of their respective owners and are not affiliated with, and do not endorse LD Products.
Hi,
what is best fair priced color laser printer that WILL print black only if a color is low or needs to be replaced and the colors do not dry up or waste when not used?
Unfortunately, such printers are very hard to find if not altogether wiped out from the market. You can however try tweaking your print settings to print only in black and white. And no need to worry about the color toner drying up — that’s the good thing about toners, they have a much longer lifetime than ink. Good luck!
[…] manufacturers of your printers will, from time to time, update your printers mainly to fix issues that recur or to add new features to your printer. For this reason, you need […]
HLL6200DW model, what is the approximate cost per page?
Hi Antonio, it depends on what cartridge you are using and how much you paid for the cartridge. This printer is compatible with three different cartridges (TN-820 = standard yield, TN-850 = high yield and TN-880 – super high yield.) Based on the current Brother cartridge price, the cost per page for each cartridge is below:
TN-820 prints 3,000 pages, CPP = 2.2 cents per page
TN-850 prints 8,000 pages, CPP = 1.4 cents per page
TN-880 prints 12,000 pages, CPP = 1.0 cent per page
If you buy the compatible LD-brand version of the cartridge, you get the same number of prints but the cost per page is much lower:
TN-820 prints 3,000 pages, CPP = .53 cents per page
TN-850 prints 8,000 pages, CPP = .21 cents per page
TN-880 prints 12,000 pages, CPP = .16 cents per page
Let me know if you have any questions!