How to Calculate Printer Cost Per Page (3 Steps)

1. Reference the ink or toner requirements of your printer. Monochrome printers will only have a single black cartridge, but color printers will have one or several color cartridges in addition to the black cartridge. The specifications sheet of the printer will tell you how many cartridges are required. You will also need to know the cost per cartridge and the average page yield of the cartridge. This information should be available from the ink manufacturer.
2. Divide the cartridge cost by the page yield for each cartridge. As an example, if your black ink cartridge costs $30 and yields 500 printed pages, its cost per page is $0.06. If each of the three color cartridges costs $40 and yields 400 pages, their cost per page is $0.10 each.
3. Add the cost per pages for each applicable cartridge. If you are only calculating the cost of printing in black and white, then the black cartridge's cost per page is your answer. If you are calculating the cost for color printing, you need to add the cost per page of all cartridges, including black. In the example, your color cost per page would be $0.06 for the black cartridge plus $0.10 for each of the color cartridges. Therefore, your total color cost per page is $0.36.