Is HP Instant Ink worth it?

Is HP Instant Ink worth it?

There is no doubt that HP Instant Ink can save you money, if you maximize your monthly print limit. HP claims that you can save up to 50 percent, but this calculation is based on standard cartridges, not high-yield cartridges, and assumes a fixed cost per page. The biggest question is how many color pages you print—the more color pages you print, the more you'll save by switching to an Instant Ink subscription, particularly if you make lots of large prints of color photos. Or, to look at it another way, having an Instant Ink subscription will free you up to print all those documents in color that in the past you printed in black-and-white in order to avoid the high cost of using your color inks.

It may take vigilance to avoid losing rolled-over pages. You need to make sure to downgrade your plan if you are not using all your pages, and are approaching the limit of rolled-over pages. HP makes this part easy, allowing you to downgrade at the next monthly billing cycle, without locking you in to a longer term. Checking your print volume is easy via HPSmart.com.

Also, you will want to make sure you upgrade your plan if you need to, so you don't overpay for extra pages. HP makes it easy to purchase extra pages, and also allows you to upgrade in the middle of a billing cycle, if you want to. That's quite a bit of flexibility.

All that said, even if you were to lose some pages in your plan, your cost per page would not skyrocket to the traditional costs of color pages, using ink cartridges without a subscription.

For example, even if you only used 75 of the 100 pages allowed each month under the Moderate plan—and lost them all because you maxed out the allowed rollover—your cost per page would only increase from 5 cents to 6.7 cents. That's still less than the cost of a text page when printing with high-yield cartridges in the HP Envy 7855.

As a worst-case scenario, if you only used 10 of the 15 pages under the Basic plan, you'd be paying 9.9 cents per page, using the same "lost rollover pages" assumption.

Although your individual savings may depend on what you print, and the consistency of your print volume, HP Instant Ink appears to be a pretty solid bet for most printing scenarios. Given the flexibility of the plans, the number of allowed rollover pages, and the ability to change plans without getting into a long-term commitment, it appears HP Instant Ink offers a subscription service that can save most inkjet printer owners money.

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