Two numbers decide what printing costs you: how many pages a cartridge prints, and what the pack costs. The first one is called page yield.
What does page yield mean?
Page yield is the number of pages one cartridge prints before it is empty. GREENBOX rates it as up to a number of pages at 5% coverage on Letter or A4 paper.
Five percent coverage is a page of plain text with normal margins. A page with a logo, a chart or a photo covers far more of the sheet, so it uses more ink or toner. Treat the yield as the most you will get, and expect fewer pages if you print graphics.
Where the measuring method comes from
Printer brands measure yield by published test methods, one for black laser toner and one for color inkjet ink. The standards body describes the limits of those tests in its own words.
ISO/IEC 19752:2017 is only intended for the measurement of toner cartridge yield. No other claims can be made from this testing regarding quality, reliability, etc.
This document is only intended for the measurement of ink cartridge page yield when printing on plain paper. No other claims can be made from this testing regarding quality, reliability, etc.
So a yield is a count of pages under set conditions. It says nothing about print quality.
How do I work out cost per page?
Divide the pack price by the pages in the pack. The 2-pack of HP 63XL costs $36.88 and prints up to 1,100 pages in all, so a page costs about 3.4¢.
| Cartridge | Pack | Pages in the pack | Price | A page costs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HP 63XL | 1-pack, 63XL, 1 Black | 650 | $19.99 | 3.1¢ |
| HP 61XL | 2-pack, 61XL, 2 Black | 1,430 | $37.99 | 2.7¢ |
| Canon 245 / 245XL | 2-pack, 245, 2 Black | 800 | $39.95 | 5¢ |
| Brother TN660 | 2-pack, 2 Black | 6,000 | $28.59 | 0.5¢ |
| HP CF248A | 4-pack, 4 Black | 4,000 | $54.79 | 1.4¢ |
| Brother TN760 | 4-pack, 4 Black | 12,000 | $53.29 | 0.4¢ |
The pattern holds across the range. Ink for a home printer costs a few cents a page. Toner for an office laser costs a cent or two, sometimes less, because one cartridge holds thousands of pages.
Why a bigger pack changes the number
A multi-pack usually costs less per cartridge than a single. The pages per cartridge stay the same, so the cost of a page drops. The pack table of each cartridge shows the difference in cents. Buy the larger pack only if you will use it before the cartridges sit for a year in a drawer.
63XLHP
Remanufactured for HP
Up to 650 black / 450 color pages
TN660Brother
Sources
- ISO, ISO/IEC 19752:2017, toner cartridge yield for monochromatic printers, read 11 October 2026
- ISO, ISO/IEC 24711:2021, ink cartridge yield for colour inkjet printers, read 11 October 2026