People search for this for one reason, and it is not brand loyalty. It is firmware that rejected a cartridge. Here is what to buy instead, with the numbers.
#ad — buy links are affiliate links and we may earn a commission at no cost to you. How this site is funded. Prices as shown on Amazon as of October 17, 2026; Amazon’s own page is the price of record. Cost-per-page figures are arithmetic on supply prices we read on 27 September 2026 — here is the method.
If you are shopping specifically to avoid HP, the Brother HL-L2460DW at $179.99 is the pick: cartridges bought outright, no plan, a separate drum, and about 3.3 cents a page. For an all-in-one, the DCP-L2640DW at $209.99. For color, the HL-L3220CDW at $284.99. The one non-Brother alternative we can price comes with a real cost-per-page warning.
How we picked
This page ranks on two things in order: whether the supply is sold to you outright with no plan and no firmware history, and then what it costs per page. Speed, trays and features break ties. That order is deliberate — somebody searching for a printer that is not HP has already decided what matters to them.
A note on the shortlist: our verified registry contains Brother and Canon lasers and no others, so this page is not a survey of every non-HP laser on sale. It is every non-HP laser we have actually priced from the manufacturer’s own pages. Kyocera, Lexmark, Xerox and Ricoh all make lasers we have not priced and so do not recommend either way.
Why people search for this
Almost nobody wakes up with a brand grudge. What produces this search is a specific experience: a cartridge that worked yesterday and is rejected today, after an update nobody asked for. HP calls the mechanism Dynamic Security, and it has been reported widely enough that PCWorld covered a firmware route to allow third-party ink again on some models. PCWorld
The second reason is subscriptions. A supply plan that charges monthly for pages you may not print and can stop cartridges working when it ends is the other half of the same complaint. We keep the detail on HP Dynamic Security explained and do HP printers require a subscription.
What to check on any printer, not just HP
Is the cartridge sold outright? Look for a part number you can buy from several retailers with no account attached.
What is the rated yield, and what does the cartridge cost? Divide one by the other. That number, not the printer price, is what you will pay for years.
Is the drum separate? A separate drum rated in tens of thousands of pages means a cheap consumable and a long-lived printer. Drum versus toner.
Does setup require an app and an account? If the specification page publishes USB or Ethernet, you can always set it up with a driver instead.
Is anything being added at checkout? Supply plans are offered during purchase and during setup. Declining is allowed and nothing stops working.
The numbers, side by side
Every cartridge on this page, priced and divided
Cartridge
Rated yield
Price we read
Per page
Brother TN830XL high-yield toner cartridge
3,000 pages
$98.29
~3.3¢
Brother TN830 standard-yield toner cartridge
1,200 pages
$60.99
~5.1¢
Brother TN229XL black high-yield toner cartridge
3,000 pages
$96.29
~3.2¢
Canon 125 black toner cartridge
1,600 pages
$96.95
~6.1¢
Yields are manufacturer-rated (ISO/IEC 19752 for mono, 19798 for color); prices read on 27 September 2026 from the sources at the foot of this page. Our arithmetic is supply price divided by rated yield — the method.
Read the Canon row against the Brother rows and the point is unmissable. At 100 pages a month over three years the toner alone is $118 on a Brother TN830XL and $218 on the Canon 125 — a gap wider than the price of the better printer. Avoiding one brand is a good reason to shop; it is not a reason to stop doing the arithmetic. The full ranking.
Specifications and running costs side by side, for the printers discussed on this page.
#ad — the price buttons are affiliate links and we may earn a commission at no cost to you. How this site is funded. Prices as shown on Amazon as of October 17, 2026; Amazon’s own page is the price of record.
Cost-per-page figures are our own arithmetic: supply price divided by the manufacturer’s rated page yield, using prices read on 27 September 2026 and yields rated at the ISO 5% coverage standard. They are not measured by us and they are not current prices. Every input, and the working · run the numbers for your own printing
The picks in detail
Best HP alternative overall
Brother HL-L2460DW
If you print black text and nothing else, this is the printer to buy. It cannot dry out, it duplexes, and Brother does not block third-party toner.
Product photograph supplied by Amazon for this listing. We do not have this model in hand and have not photographed it ourselves.
#ad — we may earn a commission. How this site is funded. Prices as shown on Amazon as of October 17, 2026; Amazon’s own page is the price of record.
~3.3¢ per mono page
Based on a Brother TN830XL high-yield toner cartridge rated at 3,000 pages at $98.29, priced on 27 September 2026.
Brother TN830XL high-yield toner cartridge — rated 3,000 pages (ISO/IEC 19752), $98.29 at Brother USA, checked 27 September 2026
Yields are manufacturer-rated at the ISO 5% page-coverage standard, not measured by us, and real-world cost runs higher. Prices are not live: this is arithmetic on a price we read on the date shown, not a current price. How we calculate cost per page.
Dual-band wireless (2.4 GHz / 5 GHz), Ethernet or USB
Subscription
None required
What we like
Toner does not dry out, so it is ideal if you print in occasional bursts
Automatic two-sided printing at 36 pages per minute
Brother has publicly denied blocking third-party toner with firmware
What you give up
Black only - no color at all
Cost per page is roughly ten times a tank printer's
The 700-page starter cartridge runs out fast; budget for a TN830XL
Up to 36 pages a minute, automatic two-sided printing, dual-band wireless, Ethernet and USB, and the TN830 cartridge family bought off a shelf with no plan and no account. $179.99 at list.
About 3.3 cents a page on the TN830XL, with the DR830 drum a separate part rated at approximately 15,000 pages — so a worn drum does not mean a new printer. Our Brother laser picks.
#ad — we may earn a commission. How this site is funded. Prices as shown on Amazon as of October 17, 2026; Amazon’s own page is the price of record.
~3.3¢ per mono page
Based on a Brother TN830XL high-yield toner cartridge rated at 3,000 pages at $98.29, priced on 27 September 2026.
Brother TN830XL high-yield toner cartridge — rated 3,000 pages (ISO/IEC 19752), $98.29 at Brother USA, checked 27 September 2026
Yields are manufacturer-rated at the ISO 5% page-coverage standard, not measured by us, and real-world cost runs higher. Prices are not live: this is arithmetic on a price we read on the date shown, not a current price. How we calculate cost per page.
50-page document feeder, so scanning a stack is one action
Auto duplex printing at 36 pages per minute
Same TN830 toner family as the HL-L2460DW, with the same cost per page
What you give up
Mono only
Thirty dollars more than the print-only model for hardware you may not need
Toner is far dearer per page than bottle ink
The replacement for a LaserJet MFP, at $209.99: the same 36-page-a-minute engine with a flatbed scanner, a 50-page automatic document feeder, automatic duplex printing, Ethernet and dual-band wireless.
Same TN830 cartridge family, so the same roughly 3.3 cents a page. Nothing here requires an app or an account to set up, which for many people is the whole point. Printers you can use without the app.
A color laser that will not dry out between jobs. Buy it for occasional color that has to be crisp, not for cheap color - a tank printer wins on cost by a wide margin.
Product photograph supplied by Amazon for this listing. We do not have this model in hand and have not photographed it ourselves.
#ad — we may earn a commission. How this site is funded. Prices as shown on Amazon as of October 17, 2026; Amazon’s own page is the price of record.
~3.2¢ per mono page
Based on a Brother TN229XL black high-yield toner cartridge rated at 3,000 pages at $96.29, priced on 27 September 2026.
Brother TN229XL black high-yield toner cartridge — rated 3,000 pages (ISO/IEC 19798), $96.29 at Brother USA, checked 27 September 2026
Yields are manufacturer-rated at the ISO 5% page-coverage standard, not measured by us, and real-world cost runs higher. Prices are not live: this is arithmetic on a price we read on the date shown, not a current price. How we calculate cost per page.
Color laser output does not dry out during long idle spells
Auto duplex printing
Four separate cartridges, so one exhausted color does not mean replacing the set
What you give up
Color toner is expensive per page next to any ink tank printer
Four cartridges to replace instead of one
Slower than the mono lasers at 19 pages per minute
The counterpart to a Color LaserJet: 19 pages a minute in black and in color, automatic duplexing, wireless, and the TN229 family at about 3.2 cents a black page with color pages several times that.
Four separate cartridges rather than a combined unit, which matters because it means one exhausted color does not force you to buy the set. Our color laser picks.
#ad — we may earn a commission. How this site is funded. Prices as shown on Amazon as of October 17, 2026; Amazon’s own page is the price of record.
~6.1¢ per mono page
Based on a Canon 125 black toner cartridge rated at 1,600 pages at $96.95, priced on 27 September 2026.
Canon 125 black toner cartridge — rated 1,600 pages (ISO/IEC 19752), $96.95 at Precision Roller, checked 27 September 2026
Yields are manufacturer-rated at the ISO 5% page-coverage standard, not measured by us, and real-world cost runs higher. Prices are not live: this is arithmetic on a price we read on the date shown, not a current price. How we calculate cost per page.
List price
Not published where we checked on 27 September 2026
Supply type
Toner cartridge
Two-sided printing
Manual only
Document feeder
None
Connectivity
Wireless
Subscription
None required
What we like
Compact and long established, so toner is easy to find
Laser, so nothing dries out between jobs
Frequently sold well below the price of a Brother equivalent
What you give up
Highest cost per page on this site once you buy genuine toner
No automatic two-sided printing, so paper costs double
Canon's own store would not show us a printer price on the date we checked
Named for honesty rather than enthusiasm. If you want to avoid HP and also avoid Brother, this is the compact Canon mono laser people reach for: small, long established, and frequently sold well below the price of a Brother equivalent.
The catch is the supply. The Canon 125 cartridge is rated at 1,600 pages at $96.95, which is about 6.1 cents a page — the highest cost per page on this site. There is no automatic duplexing either, so the paper bill doubles. Buy it only for genuinely light printing.
The Brother HL-L2460DW at $179.99: 36 pages a minute, automatic duplexing, cartridges bought outright with no plan, and about 3.3 cents a page. For an all-in-one, the DCP-L2640DW at $209.99.
+−Why do people avoid HP printers?
Mainly firmware. HP’s Dynamic Security has rejected third-party cartridges after updates, to the point that PCWorld reported on a firmware route to allow them again on some models. The subscription supply plans are the second reason.
+−Does Brother block third-party toner?
We found no firmware blocking programme on the Brother pages we read, and Brother sells its cartridges outright with no plan. The detail is on our Brother third-party toner page.
+−Is Canon a good alternative to HP?
On policy, yes. On cost, check the cartridge first: the Canon 125 in the imageCLASS LBP6030w is rated at 1,600 pages at $96.95, about 6.1 cents a page, which is the dearest page we have priced.
+−What about Kyocera, Lexmark or Xerox lasers?
They make lasers we have not priced from the manufacturer’s own pages, so we do not recommend them either way. Apply the same test: cartridge price divided by rated yield, and whether a plan is attached.
+−Can I keep using an HP printer I already own?
Usually yes, with genuine cartridges, and you can decline any supply plan. The risk is specific to third-party cartridges and firmware updates — what to watch for.
