How Much Does It Cost to Lease a Photocopier in the UK?
By Bowden Digitec · Published
The short answer
A UK photocopier lease is nearly always two separate costs: a fixed monthly payment for the hardware, and a cost per copy that covers toner, parts and engineer visits. The monthly figure depends on the machine's speed, whether it prints A3, and the length of the agreement. The cost per copy depends on how much you print and whether it's mono or colour. Any quote that gives you one number without splitting it out is hiding something.
The two costs every lease is built from
People ring us asking for "the monthly price" of a photocopier, and the honest answer is that there isn't one number. Every proper agreement in the UK has two parts, and they behave completely differently.
1. The hardware lease
This is a fixed payment to a finance company for the machine itself, usually over 36, 48 or 60 months. It does not change with how much you print. It covers the device, delivery, installation and any finishing kit such as a stapling unit or extra paper trays.
2. The service agreement (cost per copy)
This is a small charge for every page the machine produces, billed in arrears against the meter reading. It covers toner, drums, replacement parts, labour and engineer callouts. Mono pages and colour pages are charged at different rates, and colour is always the more expensive of the two.
Split like that, the arithmetic is easy to check. Bundled into one "all-inclusive" figure, it almost never is. We write more about that on our lease checklist page.
What actually moves the monthly price
- Print speed. Pages per minute is the single biggest driver. A 25ppm desktop unit and a 55ppm floor-standing machine are different classes of hardware.
- A4 or A3. A3 capability adds cost. Plenty of offices lease A3 machines and never print a single A3 page, which is one of the easiest savings to find in an existing fleet.
- Term length. A 60-month agreement has a lower monthly payment than a 36-month one for the same machine, because the cost is spread further. It also locks you in for longer.
- Finishing options. Stapling, hole punching, booklet making and extra trays each add to the hardware cost. See our finishing options page.
- Software. Print management such as PaperCut or Canon uniFLOW is usually licensed separately, either as a one-off or an annual cost.
Typical UK ranges
Figures vary hugely by machine, term and supplier, so treat any published range as a starting point rather than a quote. Our own current pricing bands are:
- A4 colour multifunction, low volume: [TO CONFIRM] monthly lease from £X, mono £X per page, colour £X per page
- A3 colour multifunction, mid volume: [TO CONFIRM] monthly lease from £X, mono £X per page, colour £X per page
- High-volume production device: [TO CONFIRM] monthly lease from £X, mono £X per page, colour £X per page
Rather than guess, use our print cost calculator with your own monthly volumes, or send us a recent meter reading and we'll work it out properly.
The costs people forget
Minimum volumes
Some service agreements include a minimum number of pages per quarter, charged whether you print them or not. If your volume is seasonal, or your team went hybrid and printing halved, that minimum can quietly become most of your bill.
Annual increases
Most cost-per-copy rates are allowed to rise each year. The contract will state a cap or an index. Ask what the increase has actually been over the past three years, not just what the cap says.
End of term
Notice periods, collection charges and automatic renewal catch out more businesses than anything else in this industry. Diarise your notice date the week you sign. We cover this in more detail on our switching provider page.
How to compare two quotes fairly
- Ask both suppliers to split hardware and cost per copy.
- Apply your real monthly mono and colour volumes to each cost-per-copy rate.
- Add the hardware payment, then multiply by the full number of months in the term.
- Check the term lengths match. A cheaper monthly over 60 months is often dearer overall.
- Confirm what happens at the end: notice period, collection, and whether it auto-renews.
That single calculation tends to reorder most shortlists. It's the same one we'd do for you if you send us your current agreement.
Is leasing the right route at all?
Leasing spreads the cost and keeps service bundled with the machine, which suits most offices. Buying outright can make sense for low-volume users who are happy to buy consumables themselves and go without a service agreement. We'll cover that comparison properly in a separate guide.