Skip the printer purchase entirely
Drag and drop straight into the browser — no printer needed.
Colour or black & white, sides and copies — set per file.
Card, Apple Pay or Google Pay at checkout.
Printed and dispatched same day, delivered UK-wide.
No printer.
No maintenance.
Skip the upfront cost, the ink, and the printer sitting unused most of the year.
Never spend £40-£150+ on a printer you rarely use.
Order any time. Before 2pm, it's printed and dispatched the same day.
Files are encrypted end-to-end and deleted 90 days after printing.
Next-day delivery available, free on qualifying orders.
What online printing actually costs
Cheaper than ink or toner on a per-page basis for occasional printing.
No colour cartridges to buy or maintain.
No minimum order · Volume discounts applied automatically · Free delivery on qualifying orders
Home vs online,
answered
Common questions about comparing home printing costs to online printing.
01Is it cheaper to print at home or use an online service?
It depends on volume. Frequent printers (hundreds of pages a year) with an efficient printer often do better at home. Occasional printers usually do better online, since there is no printer to buy and no ink or toner sitting unused between uses.
02How much does a home printer really cost per page?
Once you include ink or toner and paper, inkjet printing typically works out to £0.10-£0.30 per page and laser to £0.04-£0.10 per page — before counting the upfront cost of the printer itself.
03What does online printing cost per page?
Online printing is priced per page, with black & white the cheapest option and colour costing more. Upload a document to see the exact price, including delivery, before you pay.
04Do I need to buy a printer if I only print occasionally?
Not necessarily. If you print only a handful of pages a year, an online print-and-post service usually costs less overall than buying a printer plus replacement ink or toner for a machine that mostly sits idle.
05What other costs does home printing have beyond ink?
Paper, cartridge replacement, occasional printer repairs or replacement, and the time spent on maintenance like clearing paper jams or cleaning print heads.
Is it cheaper to print at home or online?
If you only print occasionally — return labels, forms, tickets, a document now and then — the honest answer depends on how much you print, not on which option is "better" in general. Here is the real cost of each.
The real cost of printing at home
Owning a printer looks like a one-off purchase, but the ongoing costs are where it adds up.
- Printer purchase — a budget inkjet runs roughly £40-£70; a laser printer (better for text) £80-£150+.
- Ink or toner — a standard inkjet cartridge set costs £15-£30, high-capacity £30-£60, laser toner £30-£90. That works out to roughly £0.10-£0.30 per page for inkjet, £0.04-£0.10 for laser.
- Paper — standard A4 packs cost around £3-£6 for 500 sheets, a few pence per page.
If you print infrequently, the effective per-page cost is often higher than it looks, because cartridges degrade sitting unused between print runs.
The cost of online print-and-post
With online printing, you pay only for what you print — no printer to buy, no ink or toner to maintain. Pricing is transparent and per page, from {bwFrom} in black & white and {colorFrom} in colour, with delivery shown at checkout and free on qualifying orders.
Time and convenience count too
Money is not the only cost. Home printing can mean replacing cartridges, cleaning print heads, fixing paper jams, finding paper, or driving to a shop when the printer fails. Online printing means uploading a file and receiving the result posted to you — no maintenance, no travel.
So, what's actually cheaper?
Home printing tends to win if you print frequently (hundreds of pages a year), own an efficient laser printer, and buy toner and paper in bulk — the per-page cost can settle around £0.04-£0.15 once the printer is paid off.
Online printing tends to win if you print occasionally, do not want to buy or maintain a printer, and prefer no upfront cost. A couple of pages delivered for a few pounds usually beats cartridges you rarely use.
If you rarely print, an online print-and-post service in the UK often makes more sense than buying and maintaining a printer sitting idle most of the year. Upload your document to see the exact price, or compare our full document printing prices.