Cheapest printer ink cartridges you can trust and where to buy them

Looking for the best cheap printer ink cartridges and tank ink? Each year our survey of thousands of printer owners reveals the top third-party ink brands as rated by actual users, plus our lab tests check compatibility and quality. Our research shows third-party ink is often by far the cheapest printer ink, too. 

Printer manufacturers would much rather you use their own-brand printer ink in their printers. However, our research shows you're better off spending much less by opting for cheaper third-party printer ink. Whether you've got a cartridge inkjet or ink tank printer, our extensive research ensures that we only recommend brands with excellent-quality ink and good compatibility, for all printer brands – from Canon to HP.

But it is crucial to choose the right third-party brand to be confident of a good experience, which is why you need to read the results of our in-depth research.

Cheapest printer ink cartridges and tank ink  – we reveal the best

Our recommendations in the table below are the best third-party printer inks based on the real experiences of more than 2,000 third-party-ink users, plus our own lab tests. Only the brands that get the highest ratings from actual users and impress in our lab can be a Which? Recommended Provider. 

All of the best cheap printer ink brands performed superbly, scoring a full five stars for ease of ink installation from users in our survey, as well as in our lab tests. This means you can buy with confidence, knowing they're safe to use in your printer.

The printer ink brands we tested are listed below. Only logged-in Which? members can view our printer brand survey and lab test results. Join Which? to get instant access to our test results and expert recommendations, plus all of our online reviews.

If you’re using a cartridge printer, there are two ways you can save money. Use third-party ink or switch to a good tank printer. Tank models cost more upfront, but offer rock-bottom ink costs. Use our expert printer reviews to find your ideal model with low running costs.

Cheapest printer ink cartridges – why you can trust our recommendations

Our extensive survey of thousands of third-party ink cartridge users reveals which cheap printer ink actual users recommend. We also rigorously lab test the best-rated ink cartridges. 

We send ink cartridges from the top-rated brands in our survey to our lab, where we conduct comprehensive further checks with two typical printers, comparing quality for each ink directly against original manufacturer ink. 

We test the full gamut of printing, from black text to colour office graphics and album-worthy photos, on both matt and glossy photo paper. We also assess how many pages each cartridge will print.

More on the cheapest printer ink brands

Find out more about the most popular third-party printer ink brands.

Cartridge People

Cheshire-based Cartridge People's compatible inks and toners come with a three-year warranty, as well as being one of the few brands to even promise to repair or replace your printer if its own compatible cartridges cause damage. As a larger operation, it also offers telephone ordering as a useful alternative, since third-party inks are usually only bought online. Find out more on Cartridge People's website.

First Call Inks

First Call Inks offers compatible and remanufactured cartridges on its website, Firstcallinks.co.uk: it claims its range is so wide that 'If we don't do it, it probably doesn't exist!'. It offers a guarantee with all of its products and will fully refund unopened orders up to 90 days from the shipment date. 

Ink Factory

Ink Factory was established in 1999 and is a family-run business. It offers a lifetime guarantee on all cartridges and no quibble returns or replacements. See the Ink Factory website.

Inkredible

Inkredible stocks multiple cartridges online, as well as its own brand of compatible ink, at the Inkredible online store. It offers a one-year guarantee against faults, defects and damage (including free returns), and will offer a replacement or reward points if cartridges are deemed defective between 12 to 36 months after purchase (if unused or faulty upon installation, or partial reward points it it becomes defective mid-use).

Internet Ink

Internet Ink is a Nottingham-based store and Hampshire-based business that sells original and compatible cartridges from the Internet Ink website. It claims 'fast free delivery', with delivery included in the price of the inks, and it offers a one-year guarantee on all products.

Refresh Cartridges

Refresh Cartridges sells a wide range of compatible, remanufactured and original cartridges (remanufactured (refilled) cartridges are the type third-parties offer for most HP printers). Refresh offers free shipping and up to a three-year guarantee on ink and toner cartridges from the Refresh Cartridges website.

Stinkyink

Stinkyink stocks original and third-party inks for a wide range of printers. The Stinkyink website is easy to browse, and there’s a 12-month guarantee on all cartridges. It also promises to repair or replace your printer, if it's within warranty, in the unlikely event that its cartridges do cause irreparable damage.

Pricing analysis: our Great Value printer ink brands

Look for our Which? Great Value printer ink recommendations if you want to be confident you're getting good, quality ink at a really good price.

We find our Great Value providers by analysing the prices of the top nine third-party ink brands by customer score in our survey of owners, for the top 12 most popular printers on which.co.uk. This showed a clear trend: two third-party providers achieved substantially lower prices than rivals across a wide range of compatible inks. You'll find these in our round-up of the best cheapest printer ink, above.

Since the inks are highly rated by real owners, you can be confident the inks are not only inexpensive to buy, but high quality as well. This year both Great Value brands did so well in our assessments, they are also Which? Recommended Providers – and one was even our top-scoring brand overall, ranking top for both quality and price.

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Cheapest printer ink: the best websites to buy original and third-party ink 

As well as the quality of the ink itself, it's also important to have a good buying experience from the website you choose. This is why we also ask thousands of owners to rate their customer experience when buying printer ink. 

These results are useful even if you plan to stick with original ink, as you can benefit from a great third-party website. Most third-party sites sell original ink, even if they also stock their own brand. As is usually the case, the printer manufacturers' own websites came bottom in our latest survey – actual users don't rate them as the best place to buy their own ink.

Below, we round up the best online retailers for printer ink. This is based on ratings including how easy ink was to find on the website, whether users felt it was value for money and how good the customer service was.

Only logged-in Which? members can see which retailers were rated the best. If you're not yet a member, you can get instant access to our results if you join Which? – you will also get access to all of our online reviews, from printers, to phones to electric cars.

Cartridge People

Cartridge People is one of the bigger online retailers for buying printer ink, stocking a wide range of both original Brother, Canon, Epson and HP printer ink and more, as well as its own compatible third-party ink at cartridgepeople.com. 

Cartridge People also advertises that it offers telephone ordering – a lifeline alternative for those less confident or able to order online, as third-party inks are otherwise usually only available through the brands' websites (some third-parties may offer a similar service if you ask).

Cartridge Save 

Cartridge Save offers free next-day delivery on all products on its website Cartridgesave.co.uk (orders over £30). It offers a three-year warranty on its own-brand cartridges if you encounter a problem with the ink. Plus, it will repair or replace your printer for free in the unlikely event that its cartridges cause any damage, regardless of how old your printer is. 

It also offers price-matching – it will refund 100% of the difference, if, within seven days of your purchase, you find original or rival compatible ink being offered online at a lower price.

First Call Inks

First Call Inks offers a wide range of remanufactured cartridges on its website, Firstcallinks.co.uk. It claims same-day dispatch on deliveries and offers a guarantee with all of its products. Based in East Sussex, its 'FCI'-branded compatible inks are formulated in the United States.

Ink Factory

Ink Factory loves 'buy one get one free' offers – when you buy a set of ink, you usually get a second set as well. This makes it particularly attractive for budget-conscious buyers. It offers free delivery on orders over £15.

Internet Ink

Internet Ink claims you can 'save up to 90%' on its compatible cartridges from the Internet Ink website versus original inks, with more than 8,000 products available for same-day dispatch. It says if you can't see an ink or toner cartridge you need, email its support team and they'll endeavour to seek it out for you. 

It doesn't add an additional delivery fee and offers a one-year guarantee on faulty products.

Just Ink And Paper

This retailer sticks to its mission statement – it sells only ink and paper, and when it comes to printer ink, strictly only original ink. The Just Ink And Paper website only stocks ink from the big four printer brands: Brother, Canon, Epson and HP. Expect to pay a premium for original ink, compared to third-party inks.

Refresh Cartridges

Like Cartridge Save, Refresh Cartridges has a 'Cartridge Price Promise' and will refund the difference if you find another supplier that beats it on price. You can take advantage of either before or after purchase (within seven days) on the Refresh Cartridges website. 

It offers ink cartridges for an exceptionally wide range of printers, making it very easy to find compatible ink by simply searching for your printer model.

Stinkyink

Stinkyink stocks original and third-party inks for a wide range of printers. The quirky Stinkyink website is easy to browse, and there’s a 12-month guarantee on all cartridges. Similar to Cartridge People, it also promises to repair or replace your printer, if it's within warranty, in the unlikely event its cartridges cause irreparable damage.

Need a new printer with affordable print costs? Take a look at our Best cheap printers with cheap ink.

Why you can trust our cheap printer ink recommendations

Oliver Trebilcock, Which? senior printer expert, says:

Our printer ink test is unique and exceptionally rigorous: no one else assesses third-party printer ink in the UK as thoroughly as we do. 

Compatibility with third-party ink can be a minefield, so we ensure our recommendations are gold-plated with two stages of assessments: 

• First, we have our survey results of how thousands of owners really experienced buying and using the inks 
• Followed by a lab test validation from our printer professionals, who use their decades of experience to verify ink quality. 

Our Great Value assessments go one stage further still, with fine-level analysis of the varying volumes of ink per cartridge or bottle in each economy-size multipack (we checked 90 of these) to find out which brands really offer the best value while still being among the highest-rated brands by owners in our extensive survey.

Willow Parkin, Which? consumer research executive says:

This year, we introduced tank inkjets into our survey, alongside traditional cartridge inkjet printers, to reflect the rapidly growing tank ink market. This ensures our printer ink assessments cover all owners, regardless of what inkjet printer you have.

This meant a major redesign in our survey production software. It ensures that even as more owners switch to tank printers, our survey results continue to give a fully comprehensive picture of the best brands and retailers. While we also continue to serve cartridge inkjet owners – if this is you, then you will enjoy the greatest financial benefit by switching to third-party ink cartridges, as well getting a better customer experience through buying from the best third-party websites.

Ruby Gordon, Which? scientist says:

Our test programme and lab report were redesigned this year to include a lab test for tank ink, alongside our cartridge inkjet lab test. This meant producing two sets of third-party-ink star ratings from the raw lab results to cover both cartridge inkjets and tank inkjets, as well as each brand’s overall score, based on the lab results and customer scores.

The printer ink lab test uses identical lab print-quality assessments to those we use for original ink in our printer reviews, and compares the third-party inks directly against original ink for the tested printers. This means we assess third-party ink to the same standards as original manufacturer ink. 

These tests are conducted by the same lab technicians we use to test printers all-year round, meaning they are dab hands at knowing exactly what top-quality ink looks like, and what is not up to standard. 

The results of these tests are detailed below.

Lab test: Canon cartridge printer

Our lab test results for our shortlisted third-party ink brands we tested are listed below. Only logged-in Which? members can view our lab test results. Join Which? to get instant access to our test results and expert recommendations.

Lab test: HP tank printer

Logged-in Which? members can also view our lab test results table for the test HP tank printer. Join Which? to get instant access to our tank inkjet test results as well and exclusive recommendations.

Is it OK to use cheap ink cartridges?

Printer brands such as Canon, Epson and HP would prefer you to use their own inks. To encourage you to do so, they can use tactics ranging from nagging to warnings. 

HP goes one step further by including what it calls 'dynamic security' on most of its cartridge inkjet and laser printers. However, don't assume this means you can't use cheap third-party ink cartridges with HP printers, because you can (see getting HP ink, below).

Our expert tests show that you shouldn't give in to printer manufacturers' tactics and be put off using cheap ink cartridges. Use our Which? Recommended Provider (WRP) ink brands – these are cheaper, third-party inks that come highly recommended by real users and impressed us in our lab tests.

Will third-party cartridges work in my printer?

Yes, including cartridges for HP printers from reputable third-party suppliers (see getting HP ink, below), such as our WRPs.

When you insert a third-party ink cartridge into your printer, it may try to put you off with messages like 'You have not installed genuine cartridges' (Epson printers often do this). Just accept any messages, and usually the ink will work just fine.

All our WRPs received the full five stars from real users in our ink survey. In our lab test, we had no issues whatsoever with compatibility.

You do need to make absolutely sure that you buy the correct cartridges for your specific printer. So on the third-party website, select your printer model (match its code, as printed on the front of your printer, such as HP Officejet Pro 9132e), and the site then tells you the right inks to buy.

How much money will I save?

This varies greatly, depending on the third-party ink. When we analysed the most popular printers on Which.co.uk, some inks were as little as a tenth of the price, with our Great Value providers offering ink around 60% cheaper, on average, than original ink. 

The savings really ramp up over your printer's lifetime. For example, for the Canon Pixma TS9551Ca, we estimate that if you printed 30 pages a month for 10 years, this would cost you: 

• £762 with original ink cartridges
• £321 with third-party ink, based on the average price of our WRPs.

If you find that third-party ink doesn't seem that much cheaper, make sure you shop around a couple more third-party providers.

Third-party ink for HP printers can be a little more expensive than that for Brother, Canon and Epson printers, as third-party providers have to buy empty HP cartridges and refill them. This is because HP's dynamic security allows only remanufactured third-party cartridges.

Is the print quality any good?

With our WRPs, it's excellent – in our lab test, our professionals with decades of experience couldn't tell the difference between some third-party inks and original ink. For most of the others, you'd have to be a real stickler for any difference to be worth the vast price difference.

Printer owners don't necessarily have the chance to compare quality between inks, so that's where our lab experts come in. They aim to ensure the glowing praise that WRPs receive in our survey matches the standard our professional testers expect from original ink.

In our tests, our lab compared each third-party ink with Canon ink in a Canon cartridge printer and HP ink in an HP tank printer. For the tank printer, we actually bought seven printers – one for each ink we tested – to prevent any risk of the inks mixing in the large tank reservoir.

This ensures our experts can definitively say how the third-party inks we tested compared with each other – and that our WRPs were as good as, or very nearly as good as, the original Canon and HP inks.

That said, our lab tests also show that not all third-party ink is equally high quality. Buying third-party ink can be a real minefield, so it's essential to choose a third-party brand you trust to avoid a poor experience. All our WRPs also offer money-back guarantees, so you can buy risk-free.

Not only can you make enormous savings by switching to cheaper third-party ink, but our survey of buyers shows that overall, most are happier with third-party ink than the printer manufacturers' original ink.

When to buy original ink

In our view, hardly anyone should be using original manufacturer ink. It's usually only worth buying if:

• your printer isn't compatible with third-party inks (this is mainly HP printers launched 2021-2025 with HP+ enabled; see getting HP ink, below)
• your printer was only launched in the past year or two (check our printer reviews for the launch date if your printer is new), as you may need to wait a while for third-party providers to start stocking ink for your printer. It's still worth checking our WRPs, as the cartridges you need may already be available
• you mainly print photos for display
• you're a professional needing colour-managed industry-standard prints (such as a professional photographer).

Our fade-resistance tests expose prints to the equivalent of a year's worth of direct sunlight. We found that original ink holds up considerably better than the third-party inks we tested, although our tests suggest it's still likely to fade noticeably if you leave your printed photo on a wall in sunlight for a year or more. 

For albums, third-party prints will look excellent. When testing original and third-party ink, we've found that the degree of fading in sunlight varies greatly depending on your individual printer, although original ink is generally your best option.

For the occasional print for display, it would be far cheaper to get your photos printed professionally – see which photo album books are best, as these providers also offer general printing services. Most people don't print that many photos for display, so you'd waste a lot of money using original ink for general printing, as swapping between cartridges before they're empty isn't recommended. 

Having a second printer just for occasional display printing wouldn't be a good idea either. The ink would dry out if you left it turned off, and if you left it on, you'd actually be using far more ink in automatic printer cleaning cycles than for printing (this would also be extremely expensive for ink cartridge printers).

Cheap ink cartridge myths

There are many long-running myths about third-party ink that put many people off, just as printer manufacturers want.

Here are some common myths our research debunks:

• 'HP printers block third-party ink' Almost all HP printers work with third-party ink. Reputable third-party ink providers can offer remanufactured third-party HP cartridges for those with HP's dynamic security ink cartridge protection technology. HP even says on its website that 'remanufactured cartridges are unaffected by dynamic security'. The only exception is HP+ printers, where you opted in to HP+; these are certain HP printers launched between 2021 and 2025 (see getting HP ink, below).
• 'I fear third-party ink won’t work in my printer' Just type the printer's model name into the website of a third-party provider and it will tell you which compatible ink cartridges it offers. Many websites offer money-back guarantees in the unlikely event that you run into a problem. All our WRPs are rated the full five stars for ink cartridge installation in our survey. Just try it: with one of our WRPs, you're extremely likely to have a great experience.
  
• 'Third-party ink cartridges don’t last as long' We test for this in our lab, and the verdict is clear: this isn't necessarily the case, and even if a cartridge falls a little short on pages printed, that pales in comparison to the enormous savings you're making by buying third-party cartridges. In other words, the cost per printed page is almost always far lower.
• 'I’m worried third-party ink will leak' Almost no one experiences this issue in our survey of owners. When it does happen, it's usually due to damage in transit – in which case it's obvious on arrival, and you can send it straight back to the retailer for a replacement.
• 'I’m worried it will invalidate my printer’s warranty' HP even says on its website: 'Using a generic or refilled ink cartridge won’t automatically void your warranty.'
• 'The printer advises me to only use original ink' Of course it does. Just because it advises you to use original ink doesn't mean others won't also work well.
• 'I can’t find compatible third-party ink for my printer' Almost all printers, including HP ones, have third-party ink available for them. The only exception is HP+ printers if you opted in to HP+; this is certain HP printers launched between 2021 and 2025 (see getting HP ink, below). Be aware that third-party ink is usually not available on the high street or from big retailers like Currys or John Lewis, as printer manufacturers don't want mainstream retailers to offer it. It's usually only available on third-party providers' own websites; you need to buy from them directly. Our survey of thousands of third-party ink users also asks owners to rate the buying experience, and year after year, it far out-rates buying original ink from the printer brands themselves.

How to recycle your used ink cartridges

Every year, millions of ink cartridges are needlessly dumped into UK landfill. And while most of the big brands have freepost recycling schemes for their own cartridges, they often won’t accept third-party ones. 

However, some third-party retailers, such as Stinkyink, offer a recycling service for all the ink and toner cartridges they sell, including original and third-party cartridges. You could also donate your cartridges via the Recycle4Charity website.

If you own an HP printer, your empty cartridges are very valuable. Third-party providers need them to create remanufactured compatible cartridges so that HP printer owners can enjoy cheaper third-party ink. If you want to support the third-party ink ecosystem for HP printers, return your cartridges to a third-party collection scheme so they can be sold on, rather than returning them directly to HP.

Some larger supermarkets and office supply shops have dedicated recycling bins for printer cartridges. If all else fails, there’s a good chance your local recycling centre will take used cartridges. Check the Recycle Now website for options in your area.

How do you recycle tank printer ink bottles?

Ink cartridges count as electronic waste as they contain chips, so they need to be disposed of appropriately, like other electronic equipment. Under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive, retailers are required to help you dispose of your old printer when you buy a new one from them.

However, tank printer ink bottles aren't electronic waste, as they contain no chips. In theory, this means you can dispose of them just like other similar plastics. However, it's important to avoid contact with printer ink, so cleaning ink bottles for recycling can be tricky.

Brother, Canon and HP accept tank printer ink bottles in their recycling programmes (see Brother, Canon and HP's schemes), but Epson doesn't (see Epson's FAQ). Epson says: 'The plastic used in Epson EcoTank bottles is polypropylene (recycling code #5 PP). Epson encourages customers to check with their local recycling facility for recycling options in their area.'

Can you get cheap printer ink cartridges for HP printers?

HP is the only brand that actively restricts which third-party ink it allows. Its more aggressive strategies include what it calls 'dynamic security', included on most of its cartridge inkjet and laser printers. This means you need to use 'remanufactured' (refilled) third-party cartridges, as these retain the original HP chip or circuitry. 

If you buy from a reputable third-party ink brand, such as our Which? Recommended Providers, the compatible HP ink you buy for a printer with dynamic security will automatically be a remanufactured ink cartridge. This remanufacturing process, essentially refilling empty HP cartridges, does mean the cartridges tend to be more expensive than those for rival printers. They're still usually significantly cheaper than original HP ink, though.

Note that HP tank printers (also known as HP Smart Tank) don't contain dynamic security. They use bottled ink, so there are no cartridges with electronics in them.

HP's most draconian approach to restricting third-party ink use is HP+, an opt-in service available only on HP+ printers. HP+ printers are many models launched between 2021 and 2025; they have an 'e' at the end of their name, although not all 'e' printers have HP+.

HP+ lures you in with an extra warranty and Instant Ink free trials, but a careful read on HP's website reveals that the service also blocks the use of third-party cartridges completely, including remanufactured ones. The biggest sting is that once you opt in to HP+ (usually when first setting up the printer), it can't be reversed – even if you opted in unwittingly and wanted to change the decision later. 

For an HP+-enabled printer owner, the only way to use third-party cartridges would be to buy a new printer.

Our independent, expert printer tests factor in running costs, so use our results to be sure you're not paying over the odds in the long run. See all our printer reviews