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What is the Difference between Standard and High-Yield Toner Cartridges?
06/02/2023
Shopping for toner? You’re probably wondering what’s the difference between standard and high-yield toner cartridges.
Answer: High-yield toner cartridges are higher yield.
Thank you! We’ll be here all week!
But seriously, folks, there more to “standard” and “high-yield” cartridges than that. Let’s explain what these labels mean so printer consumers know which toner cartridge they should buy based on their specific printing needs.
Page Yield
First off, it's important to understand what "page yield" means when comparing toner cartridges. Page yield refers to the estimated number of pages a toner cartridge can print before needing to be replaced.
Essentially, it indicates how long the cartridge will last and how many pages you can expect to print with it.
“Standard” and “high-yield” refer to the number of pages the toner cartridge is able to print before needing to be replaced. As expected, a high-yield toner cartridge lasts longer and prints more pages without needing to be replaced.
The higher the page yield, the higher the initial price. As a result, high-yield toner cartridges are priced higher than standard toner cartridges.
However, by printing more pages, high-yield toner cartridges have a lower cost per page, which narrows the pricing gap. If you print a lot of pages, high-yield toner cartridges are typically a more cost-effective option.
Standard Toner Cartridges
Standard toner cartridges have a page yield that’s, well...standard. If a toner cartridge has standard and high-yield models available, the standard model will have the lower page yield.
Standard toner cartridges are priced lower than high-yield toner cartridges, but because they print less pages have a higher cost-per-page.
High-Yield Toner Cartridges
High-yield toner cartridges are generally the same size and shape as standard-yield cartridges but they’ve got more toner powder packed in them.
This means a high-yield toner cartridge prints more pages before needing to be replaced, resulting in a lower cost per page.
Extra High-Yield Toner Cartridges
Hey, you guessed it! Extra high-yield toner cartridges jam even more toner powder in there, resulting in even higher page yields/lower print costs.
Some extra high-yield toner cartridges have a larger storage tank to hold the extra toner powder, but they will still fit into your laser printer.
Extra high-yield toner cartridges can really bring down cost-per-page for high volume print jobs.
Looks Are Deceiving -- Even though it appears slightly smaller in size, the Brother TN-660 cartridge on the left is high yield, while the larger TN-350 cartridge on the right is standard yield.
Check out the example below. You can see, when you buy an extra high yield HP toner cartridge from Toner Buzz, you can bring your cost-per-page down to less than a penny!
| OEM Toner Cartridge | Projected Page Yield | Toner Buzz Price | Toner Buzz Cost-Per-Page |
| HP 37A - Standard Yield | 11,000 | $198 | .018 |
| HP 37X - High Yield | 25,000 | $295 | .0118 |
| HP 37Y - Extra High Yield | 41,000 | $395 | .0096 |
Now let’s look at standard and high-yield toner cartridges for specific toner models:
Original HP 61A C8061A Black LaserJet Standard Toner Cartridge
- Page Yield: 6,000 pages
- Toner Buzz Price: $69.00
- Cost per Page: $0.0155
Original HP 61X C8061X Black LaserJet High-Yield Toner Cartridge
- Page Yield: 10,000 pages
- Toner Buzz Price: $169
- Cost per Page: $0.0169
Original HP 80A CF280A Black LaserJet Standard Toner Cartridge
- Page Yield: 2,700 pages
- Toner Buzz Price: $119
- Cost per Page: $0.0441
Original HP 80X CF280X Black LaserJet High-Yield Toner Cartridge
- Page Yield: 6,900 pages
- Toner Buzz Price: $199.00
- Cost per Page: $0.0288
Toner Cartridge Select-A-Size
What type of toner cartridge should you buy?
The one you need.
If you do a lot of printing, go for the high-yield or extra high-yield toner cartridge and lower your print costs. If you run a small home business, save yourself upfront costs and buy a standard yield cartridge.
You can’t go wrong either way, as long as you stick with genuine OEM toner.
Further Reading
