An all-in-one is the default home printer because most households need to scan something occasionally. The question this page answers is which ones do that without a supply plan attached — and, more usefully, which of them will not quietly cost you more than the printer did.
How we picked
Scanning was the gate. A machine only appears here if it prints, scans and copies, which rules out the print-only models we recommend elsewhere. Within that set we ranked on cost per page first, then on whether the scanning hardware is any good — a flatbed and a fifty-page document feeder are very different propositions and the price difference between them is small.
We also checked each one for a duplexer, because on an all-in-one the documents being printed are usually multi-page, and reported honestly where a manufacturer’s specification page did not state it rather than assuming either way.
What these actually cost to run
The spread on this page is roughly twenty-fold, and none of it is visible on a box. Every figure below is our own arithmetic: supply price divided by the manufacturer’s rated page yield, using prices read on 27 September 2026.
| Printer | Supply | Rated yield | Price we read | Per page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canon MegaTank G3270 | Canon GI-21 pigment black ink bottle | 6,000 pages | $17.99 | ~0.3¢ |
| Epson EcoTank ET-2800 / ET-4800 | Epson 522 black ink bottle | 4,500 pages | $17.99 | ~0.4¢ |
| Brother DCP-L2640DW | Brother TN830XL high-yield toner cartridge | 3,000 pages | $98.29 | ~3.3¢ |
Yields are manufacturer-rated at the ISO 5% coverage standard, so your real cost will be higher. Prices are not live — these are figures we read on the date shown, not current prices. The method in full · run it on your own printing.
How to choose between them
Do you print color?
If yes, buy a tank printer. Cartridge color is expensive and color laser toner is worse — published figures put color laser at between 12 and 15 cents a page, according to Toner Buzz. A bottle-fed color page here costs well under two cents.
Do you scan stacks or single sheets?
Stacks mean a document feeder, which narrows the field to the Brother and the ET-4800. Single sheets mean a flatbed is fine and you can save the money.
How often do you print?
This is the one that overrides the others. Below roughly twenty to forty pages a month, the Brother wins on total cost despite its higher cost per page, and it is the only machine here that genuinely does not mind being ignored. Above that, the tank printers pull away fast.
What “no subscription” does not protect you from
Buying without a plan removes the monthly charge. It does not guarantee you can use any supply you like — that is a separate mechanism living in the cartridge chip. The bottle-fed machines on this page sidestep it entirely because there is no chip in a bottle. If supply freedom is the actual goal, read which printers accept third-party ink before you choose.
Who should skip all of these
Anyone who does not need to scan. An all-in-one costs more and takes more desk space than a print-only machine, and if you have a phone you already have a usable document scanner for the two pages a year you send to somebody. In that case buy the print-only Brother or an ET-2400 and spend the difference on paper.