What the rate should cover
A genuine all-inclusive cost per page covers toner, all parts including drums, fusers and rollers, all service labor, preventative maintenance visits and travel. What it never covers is paper, staples for the finisher, and anything consumed outside the machine.
Get the inclusions listed in the agreement. A rate that excludes drums or fuser units is not comparable to one that includes them, and drums on a color machine are a significant cost.
Typical rates
Black and white generally runs between one and one and a half cents per page on an office multifunction printer. Color typically falls between six and nine cents. Higher volume moves both down; a 100,000 page a month account prices materially better than a 5,000 page one.
If a color rate looks unusually low, check what happens above the included volume and check whether drums are included.
The coverage assumption
Rates are built on an assumed ink coverage, conventionally five percent of the page for black. Real business documents with logos, headers and charts routinely exceed that. Some agreements simply absorb the difference; others include a clause allowing the rate to be revised if measured coverage exceeds the assumption.
Ask directly whether a coverage clause exists. It is the most common source of a bill that grows without any change in page count.
Minimum volumes
Most agreements include a minimum monthly page count, billed whether or not you print it. That is reasonable — a dealer cannot cover a machine for nothing — but the minimum should reflect your actual volume, not an optimistic one. If your average is 8,000 pages, a 12,000 page minimum is a price increase disguised as a rate.
Comparing dealers properly
Build the five-year total. Take the monthly equipment payment, multiply by the term. Take your real monthly volume split by color and black, multiply by each rate, multiply by the term. Add them. Then compare that single number across quotes.
Two proposals with identical monthly payments can differ by thousands once page rates run for 60 months. Our service agreements quote equipment and page rates separately so this calculation is possible.
Common questions
What is a good cost per page for a copier?
For an office multifunction printer at moderate volume, roughly one to one and a half cents for black and six to nine cents for color, with everything except paper included. Higher volumes should price below that.
Does cost per page include toner?
On a genuine all-inclusive agreement, yes — toner, parts, labor and preventative maintenance. Always confirm that drums and fuser units are included, since excluding them is the most common way a low headline rate is achieved.