Why Is Printer Ink So Expensive?

A home printer on sale for $49.99. The two ink cartridges it uses: $58.49. Per milliliter, a standard black cartridge works out to more than a luxury perfume. Why? Because for the biggest printer maker in the world, the printer is the investment and the ink is the business. We look at HP's own numbers, the chips that block third-party cartridges, what regulators actually ruled, why the cartridge business is shrinking, and the shift to ink subscriptions. 0:00 Ink vs the machine 0:48 The razor trick 1:44 Where the money is 2:39 The chip in the cartridge 3:50 The fine print 4:55 The leak 5:59 The subscription 6:57 Per page Sources: HP Inc. Form 10-K FY2025 (SEC): https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... HP Inc. 10-K filings FY2016–FY2023 (supplies and segment series) and Form 10-Q Q3 FY2026: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... HP Q4 FY2020 earnings call transcript (Motley Fool) Enrique Lores on CNBC, January 2024, as reported by PCWorld: https://www.pcworld.com/article/22168... HP Instant Ink terms and HP Support, Dynamic Security (hp.com) ACCC (Australia), May 2018: https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release... AGCM (Italy), December 2020: https://en.agcm.it/en/media/press-rel... Euroconsumers settlement, September 2022; In re HP Printer Firmware Update Litigation (N.D. Cal.) Which? (UK), September 2022: printer ink vs. Dom Pérignon and third-party ink survey IDC Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker; EIA gasoline prices Retail prices checked October 10, 2026: Staples, Best Buy, chanel.com, epson.com Price per milliliter uses the ink volume listed on retailer spec sheets (HP lists pages, not milliliters). Cost per page for ink tank printers uses retailer yield figures; test standards differ, so it's an approximation. "Supplies" includes ink, toner and other consumables. Photos (Wikimedia Commons; cropped, zoomed and darkened): Kskhh, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Krishna Chaitanya Velaga, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Bruno Girin, CC BY-SA 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Luigi Crespo from Frederick, MD, USA, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... R. Henrik Nilsson, CC BY 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... BrokenSphere, CC BY 3.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Smartway777, CC BY-SA 3.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Baron Maddock, CC BY 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Jacek Halicki, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Lost Parcels from United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Snewkirk7953, CC BY-SA 3.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Daniel Díez Sanquirce, CC BY-SA 3.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Kenny Louie from Vancouver, Canada, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Blogtrepreneur, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Harrison Keely, CC BY 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Carlo Dani, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Trougnouf (Benoit Brummer), CC BY 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Dinkun Chen, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Fawaz.tairou, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Donald Trung Quoc Don (Chữ Hán: 徵國單) - Wikimedia Commons - ©, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Raimond Spekking, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Marcin Wichary, CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Mr.ちゅらさん, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Dinkun Chen, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Plus 6 public-domain / CC0 images from Wikimedia Commons This video is for educational and entertainment purposes only and is not financial advice. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by any company mentioned. Figures come from the sources listed above; fiscal years are noted where relevant. Narration uses an AI-generated voice. Research, script and animation were produced with AI tools and reviewed before publishing. #printerink #hp #business