Inkjet vs Laser Cost Comparison

Laser costs $180 less over 5 years

Price per page is only half the story, and the other half is what happens when a printer sits idle. Inkjet heads dry out: a printer used once a fortnight spends ink on cleaning cycles that never reach paper, and can lose a significant share of a cartridge to maintenance alone. Laser toner does not care how long it waits. That single difference decides the choice more often than the arithmetic does, so if printing is occasional, laser usually wins even when the numbers here say otherwise. In the other direction, inkjet still handles photographs and coated paper far better than any laser at the same price.