Is a Printer Ink Subscription Worth It? Instant Ink vs EcoTank vs Compatibles (UK 2026)
There are three ways to stop printer ink costing a fortune: pay a monthly subscription (HP Instant Ink), buy a printer with refillable tanks (Epson EcoTank), or buy a mono laser and run it on cheap compatible toner. Each wins for a different kind of printing.
Here is the honest maths for 2026, and the one printer we would buy for each route.
At a glance — the shortlist
| # | Model | Best for | Speed | Price band | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Epson EcoTank ET-2850 | Best for mixed colour and mono at home — no subscription | 10.5 ppm | £299.99 | Amazon |
| 2 | Brother HL-L2400DW | Cheapest per page for black-only printing | 30 ppm | £118.99 | Amazon |
| 3 | HP OfficeJet Pro 9120e | When a subscription genuinely makes sense | 22 ppm mono / 18 ppm colour | £165.71 | Amazon |
Epson · 10.5 ppm
Best for mixed colour and mono at home — no subscription
An EcoTank's bottles cost about £30 for a full set and print roughly 4,500 mono and 7,500 colour pages — well under 1p a page — with nothing to cancel. The printer costs more up front than a cartridge inkjet, but on anything above ~50 pages a month it is cheaper within the first year. See our EcoTank guide for the full range.
Brother · 30 ppm
Cheapest per page for black-only printing
If you print text, a Brother mono laser on compatible TN-2510XL toner costs around 0.5p a page — cheaper than any subscription — and toner never dries out between jobs. No colour, though.
HP · 22 ppm mono / 18 ppm colour
When a subscription genuinely makes sense
HP Instant Ink charges by pages printed, not ink used, and ships cartridges before you run out. It is good value for steady colour printing between roughly 50 and 300 pages a month, and the 9120e includes a few months free. The catch: cancel and the subscription cartridges stop working, and unused pages only roll over so far. Outright HP 937 cartridges cost about £100 a set — that is the number the subscription is saving you from.
Rough cost per page, 2026
- Mono laser + compatible toner: ~0.5p mono.
- EcoTank (genuine bottles): ~0.3p mono, ~1p colour.
- Instant Ink plan: roughly 3–8p per page depending on plan and how much of your allowance you use.
- Cartridge inkjet, bought outright: 3p mono, 10p+ colour.
Rule of thumb: mostly black text → mono laser. Regular colour, own the printer outright → EcoTank. Steady colour and you like not thinking about it → Instant Ink. A few pages a year → none of these; use a library or print shop.
Head-to-head: EcoTank ET-2850 vs OfficeJet Pro 9120e and Brother HL-L2400DW vs HP LaserJet M110we (HP+).
Head-to-head
Supplies for these models
- Epson 104 EcoTank Black Ink Bottle (genuine)
- Epson 104 EcoTank Ink Bottles — Genuine Multipack (CMYK)
- Brother TN-2510 Toner (genuine, 1,200 pages)
- Brother TN-2510XL High-Yield Toner (genuine, 3,000 pages)
- TN-2510XL Compatible Toner Twin Pack (third-party, 2 × 3,000 pages)
- HP 937 Black Original Ink Cartridge 4S6W5NE
- HP 937 Original Ink Cartridges — 4-Pack CMYK