Managed print vs buying your own printers
Buying your own printers seems like the straightforward option. You pay once, you own the hardware, and you're in control. But for most UK businesses printing at any meaningful volume, the economics rarely work out that way — and the true cost of ownership is almost always higher than expected.
This guide gives you a clear, honest comparison between managed print services and buying your own printers — covering upfront costs, total cost of ownership, flexibility, support, and the scenarios where each option genuinely makes sense.
The real cost of buying your own printers
The purchase price of a printer is just the beginning. Most businesses focus on the hardware cost — typically £300 to £2,000 for a business-grade device — and overlook everything that follows. Over a three to five year period, the hidden costs of owning and running your own printers almost always dwarf the original purchase price.
The hidden costs businesses consistently underestimate
- Toner and consumables — bought reactively, at retail prices, often urgently. Businesses without a managed supply arrangement consistently overpay for toner. A single high-yield colour cartridge can cost £40–£80 at retail. Multiply that across multiple devices and the annual spend is significant.
- Maintenance and repairs — when something breaks on a purchased printer, the repair cost falls entirely on you. Engineer call-out fees, parts and labour add up quickly — particularly on ageing hardware. A single engineer visit can cost £150–£300.
- IT support time — print-related issues are one of the most common categories of IT support ticket in UK businesses. Driver problems, connectivity issues, error codes and paper jams cumulatively consume meaningful IT resource that could be better spent elsewhere.
- Downtime costs — when a purchased printer fails, your team can't print until it's fixed. Ordering a repair, waiting for an engineer, sourcing parts — the productivity cost of printer downtime is rarely counted but is genuinely significant.
- Hardware obsolescence — printers purchased outright age and become less efficient. Ageing devices consume more energy, break down more frequently and eventually need replacing — at which point the cycle of capital expenditure begins again.
- No visibility — without print management software, most businesses have no idea what they're spending on printing each month or where the waste is occurring. Invisible costs are unmanageable costs.
Industry research consistently shows that print costs account for 1–3% of a business's annual revenue — most of which goes untracked. For a business with £2 million turnover, that's up to £60,000 per year on printing. Most finance directors would be surprised by that number.
A real cost comparison — 20-person business over 3 years
To make this concrete, here's a side-by-side comparison for a typical 20-person UK business printing 10,000 pages per month — 9,000 mono and 1,000 colour.
This is a guide comparison based on typical UK costs — your actual figures will vary. But the direction of travel is consistent: for businesses printing at meaningful volumes, managed print almost always delivers a lower total cost of ownership than outright purchase, once all costs are properly accounted for.
Head to head — managed print vs buying your own
| Factor | Managed print service | Buying your own |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | No capital outlay — device included in monthly cost | £300–£2,000+ hardware purchase required |
| Monthly cost predictability | Fixed monthly cost — no surprise invoices | Unpredictable — toner, repairs and downtime vary |
| Toner & consumables | Monitored and replenished automatically | Manual ordering at retail prices — often urgent |
| Maintenance & repairs | All included — same-day engineer response | Your cost and your problem to arrange |
| Hardware upgrades | New devices at contract renewal — always current | Ageing hardware with rising maintenance costs |
| Print visibility & reporting | Full usage data, cost reporting and analytics | No visibility unless you purchase software separately |
| IT support burden | Removed entirely — handled by provider | Falls on internal IT team |
| Print security | Secure print release, user authentication, audit trails | Minimal — documents left on output trays, no controls |
| Scalability | Add or remove devices as business needs change | Requires additional hardware purchases to scale |
| Environmental impact | Usage optimised, waste reduced, carbon reporting available | No management of waste or energy consumption |
| Ownership | You don't own the device | You own the hardware outright |
| Contract commitment | Typically 3–5 year agreement | No ongoing commitment once purchased |
Which option is right for your business?
Managed print is not the right answer for every business. Here's an honest guide to which option makes more sense depending on your situation.
- You have multiple devices or a growing fleet
- Print costs feel hard to track or control
- Your IT team is spending time on printer issues
- You want predictable monthly costs with no surprises
- Your contract is due for renewal
- You print regularly at meaningful volumes
- Print security and compliance matter to your business
- You want newer hardware without capital expenditure
- You're scaling up and need flexibility
- You print very occasionally — a few hundred pages per month
- You have a single device and minimal print needs
- You prefer outright ownership over monthly commitments
- Your print environment is unlikely to change
- You have in-house technical resource to manage devices
If you're genuinely a very low-volume printer — a sole trader or micro-business printing occasionally — managed print may not be the most cost-effective option. A reputable provider will tell you this upfront. At Syncro, we won't recommend a managed service if it isn't right for your situation.
The verdict
For the vast majority of UK businesses printing at office volumes, managed print delivers a better outcome than buying outright — on cost, on service, on visibility and on flexibility. The perception that buying is cheaper rarely holds up once the full picture is examined.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Most providers can either take on your existing devices within a managed service agreement or replace them with newer equipment. A good provider will assess your current fleet and recommend the most cost-effective path — including whether keeping existing hardware makes sense.
Depending on its age and condition, your existing printer may be incorporated into the managed service, traded in, or replaced with a newer device. Your provider should assess all options and recommend the most cost-effective approach for your specific situation.
It depends on your print volumes. For businesses printing several thousand pages per month across multiple devices, managed print typically delivers strong value. For very low-volume environments, the economics may not stack up — and a honest provider will tell you that upfront.
Most managed print contracts include provisions for volume changes. It's important to check the terms around minimum commitments and overage charges before signing. At Syncro, we build flexibility into our agreements to reflect how businesses actually operate.
The most reliable way is through a free print audit — a review of your current devices, volumes and costs that produces a clear before-and-after comparison. Any reputable provider should offer this free of charge and without any obligation to proceed.
Not sure which option is right for your business?
Book a free, no-obligation print audit with Syncro. We'll review your current setup, calculate your true cost of print and give you an honest recommendation — even if that recommendation is to stick with what you have.
Book your free print audit Or call us on 0300 124 0975Syncro Group provides managed print services to businesses across the UK with dedicated local coverage in Northamptonshire, Milton Keynes & Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire.