Real five-year totals
Purchase or lease, ink, printheads, service, and power, added up by category for up to three printers, with the lowest-cost machine called out.
Free download · Excel
Wide Format Printer TCO Calculator
Three printers can land within $3,500 of each other on price and end up $53,000 apart after five years. Plug in your shortlist and see the real five-year number before you sign anything.
See what's inside
Three printers, five years, every cost — side by side. Here's a quick look before you download.
The sticker price is the smallest part of the bill
Ink, printheads, service, and power decide what a printer really costs you. This puts all of it side by side.
Cost per square foot
What each printer actually costs you per square foot printed, plus the effective monthly cost.
Year by year
When the money actually goes out, with a running total so you can see where the lines cross.
Profit check
Enter your selling price per square foot and see each printer's break-even price.
How to use it
1
Load your shortlist
It comes preloaded with the HP Latex 630, Roland TrueVIS XP-640, and Mimaki UJV200-160 from the video. Swap in any three printers you're considering.
2
Enter your own numbers
Your volume, your power rate, your ink pricing, and whether you're buying or leasing. Hover notes explain the trickier inputs.
3
Read the results
Compare the five-year totals and cost per square foot, then check the Sources tab to see where every preloaded number came from.
Excel file (.xlsx). No spam, unsubscribe any time.
Built by Mike Goodwin
25-plus years in the wide format industry. I've owned my own shop and worked for a national supply distributor, so I've seen how printers get sold, and how often the real operating costs never come up. This calculator is the math I wish every shop owner ran before signing.