Everything this site produces is a computed estimate under stated assumptions — use it to compare and budget, not as a guarantee of what you’ll spend. The specific limits, in order of how much they matter:

Coverage is a linear model, and reality isn’t quite linear

The calculator rescales rated yield to your coverage by direct proportion — twice the coverage, half the yield. Toner tracks this closely; inkjets land measurably below it at high coverage because printhead maintenance consumes ink regardless of what the page held. High-coverage estimates should be treated as optimistic by roughly 10–30% on inkjets. The approximation is chosen and disclosed deliberately — it’s the same simplification every CPP figure on the internet makes, but at least here it’s printed.

Yields are test-bench numbers, not promises

The ISO yield methods (19752/19798/24711) produce comparable ratings under controlled conditions — continuous printing, standard pages, specified environment. Real cartridges print intermittently, in your climate, on your pages, and deliver less. Starter cartridges deliver much less. A printer kept idle delivers less still, since cleaning cycles don’t scale with how much you print.

Benchmark figures are ranges with a date on them

The cost-per-page ranges in the benchmarks article come from real street prices and rated yields at publication time — cartridge prices move, promotions distort, and regional pricing differs widely. They’re offered as orientation for sanity-checking, not as quotes. When a figure here and your actual receipt disagree, your receipt is right and we want to hear it.

Breakeven results are models, not verdicts

The inkjet-vs-laser solver prices printer + consumables only. It deliberately excludes: repair and lifespan differences (a printer that dies at year two costs more than its TCO line), inkjet reliability at very low volume (the model’s biggest known blind spot, disclosed on the page), electricity (negligible either way), and resale value (negligible either way). It’s a decision aid with the assumptions visible, not a purchase oracle.

Filament estimates exclude your time and your failures

The filament block prices material and waste percentage you set — it can’t model your printer’s actual failure rate, your print-farm electricity tariff, or what your time is worth. The waste field is your honest number to provide.

Not professional advice

Nothing here is procurement, tax, warranty or legal advice. Warranty questions involving third-party consumables have real legal nuance (the third-party ink article sketches the US position — your jurisdiction and contract may differ). Purchase decisions worth real money deserve the arithmetic plus your own verification.

Advertising

The site may display third-party advertising (e.g. Google AdSense) to cover hosting. Advertisers have no visibility into or influence over the calculator’s math, the benchmark figures, or article content — the arithmetic doesn’t know the ads exist.

Liability

Use of this site is at your own risk. To the maximum extent permitted by law, PrintCost and its maintainers accept no liability for losses arising from its use — including purchase decisions made on modeled figures, cartridge stock bought on estimated yields, or disputes with vendors. For any number you’ll spend real money against, verify it against the cartridge box, your own page count, or a test print.