Photocopier Cost Per Page Calculator: Mono & Colour 2026
Your click charge is not your cost per page. That's the single most useful thing to understand about copier costs, and most people don't. A 0.6p mono click rate sounds cheap, but once you add the lease and any minimum billing, the real cost of each page you print can be several times that.
This calculator works out what each page actually costs you.
Calculator
If the calculator doesn't load, the method below lets you work it out by hand.
What goes into cost per page
Your real cost per page has three parts.
1. The lease share. The monthly cost of the machine, spread across every page you print.
monthly lease = quarterly lease ÷ 3
2. The clicks. What you pay per page under your service contract. If you have a minimum volume, you pay for whichever is higher: your actual volume or the minimum.
monthly clicks = max(your pages, minimum pages) × click rate
Do this separately for mono and colour.
3. Putting it together
monthly cost = monthly lease + monthly mono clicks + monthly colour clicks
cost per page = monthly cost ÷ total pages printed
To see mono and colour separately, the calculator splits the lease across all pages, then adds each type's own click rate.
Worked example
An office pays £180 a quarter for its lease, prints 2,000 mono and 300 colour pages a month, and has click rates of 0.7p mono and 6p colour. There's a minimum of 2,500 mono pages a month.
- monthly lease: £180 ÷ 3 = £60
- mono clicks: max(2,000, 2,500) × 0.7p = 2,500 × 0.7p = £17.50
- colour clicks: 300 × 6p = £18
- monthly cost: £95.50
- total pages: 2,300
- real cost per page: about 4.2p
The office thinks it's paying 0.7p a mono page. In reality, each mono page costs about 3.5p once its share of the lease and the unused minimum are added, and each colour page about 8.6p.
That's not necessarily a bad deal. It just shows why the lease, the volume and the minimum matter as much as the headline click rate.
Benchmarks
Published UK click charge ranges, checked October 2026:
| Page type | Published range | Typical small business | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| A4 mono click | 0.35p to 1.5p | 0.5p to 1.0p | Digital Office; ExpertSure |
| A4 colour click | 3.5p to 10p | 6p to 10p | Digital Office; ExpertSure |
| A3 mono click | 0.4p to 3.0p | 1.0p to 2.0p | ExpertSure |
| A3 colour click | 7p to 20p+ | 12p to 20p | ExpertSure |
These are click rates only. Your real cost per page will be higher, because it includes the lease. The lower your volume, the more the lease adds to each page.
As a rough illustration, a £49 a month lease (Midshire's published guide for a new mid sized A3 colour machine, checked October 2026) adds about 4.9p to every page at 1,000 pages a month, about 1p at 5,000 pages, and about 0.5p at 10,000 pages.
Lowering costs
If your real cost per page looks high, here's where to look:
- Check your minimum. If you're paying for pages you don't print, ask to lower it, or set it below your quietest month at renewal.
- Reduce colour. Set mono as the default. Colour clicks are often 6 to 15 times mono.
- Right size the machine. If your volume has fallen, a smaller machine with a lower lease may cut your cost per page.
- Renegotiate the click rate. Get competing quotes. See our click charges guide.
- Check for escalators. If your rate has crept up each year, push back.
- Consolidate devices. Moving work from desktop printers to a shared copier can lower the overall cost per page.
Our cost guide explains how the lease and clicks fit together.
FAQs
What's a good cost per page for a photocopier?
For click charges alone, about 0.5p to 1.0p mono and 6p to 10p colour is typical for small businesses (checked October 2026). Your total cost per page, including the lease, will be higher, especially at low volume.
Why is my real cost per page higher than my click rate?
Because the lease and any unused minimum volume are spread across your pages.
Does printing more lower my cost per page?
Yes, up to a point, because the lease is shared across more pages. But it also raises your total bill, so only print what you need.
Should I include paper in cost per page?
If you want the full picture, yes. Paper is rarely part of a click contract, so add the cost of a ream divided by 500 to each page. For budgeting, many offices leave it out and track it separately.
How do I find my monthly volume?
Most copiers show mono and colour counts in the settings or counter menu. Compare two readings a month apart.
Compare quotes
If your cost per page is higher than you'd like, the quickest fix is often a better contract. Use the form on this page to get quotes from suppliers and put the numbers into the calculator to compare.