Print Management Software / PaperCut MF
PaperCut MF: Print Management That Actually Works
PaperCut MF is the print management platform we install most often for mixed-brand fleets. Secure pull-printing, real cost tracking, policy enforcement, GDPR audit trails, scan-to-cloud, and one dashboard for every copier in the building regardless of who made it. We're an authorised PaperCut reseller covering Kent, London and the UK. Bundled into your managed print agreement as one monthly invoice, no surprise renewals.
What Is PaperCut MF?
PaperCut MF is print and copy management software. It sits on your network and talks to every copier and printer you've got, regardless of brand. It does three jobs really well: it tracks who's printing what (and what each page actually costs), it enforces rules that cut waste, and it locks down printing so confidential documents don't end up in the wrong hands. Over twenty years of development by PaperCut Software in Melbourne, deployed in over 100,000 organisations worldwide.
There are two versions. PaperCut MF is the established on-premise platform with a server you control: powerful, deeply customisable, suits any size of fleet. PaperCut Hive is the newer cloud-native version aimed at small and mid-sized businesses that don't want to run a print server at all: no agent on the copier, no VPN, no infrastructure to maintain. We deploy both and will tell you straight which one fits.
Running a Canon-only fleet? Canon uniFLOW usually gives deeper integration. Epson-only? Epson Print Admin runs on the device itself with no separate licence. Compare the lot on our print management software page or read our PaperCut vs uniFLOW comparison.
What It Actually Does
Secure Print Release
Documents don't print until you tap your card or enter your PIN at the machine. No more confidential papers sitting in the tray. Essential for law firms, healthcare, finance, anyone handling sensitive information.
Cost Tracking by Department
See exactly what each department, team or individual is spending on printing. Break it down by colour vs mono, single vs double-sided. When you can see the numbers, you can control them.
Print Rules & Policies
Set defaults: double-sided, mono unless colour is needed, routing jobs to the cheapest printer. Some of our clients cut colour printing by 40% just by changing the default settings. No nagging, the software handles it.
User Authentication
Every print job is tracked to a user. No more anonymous printing. Great for shared environments, hot-desking offices, schools, anywhere multiple people use the same machines.
Multi-Brand Support
PaperCut works across Canon, Epson, Sharp, Develop, HP, Ricoh, Kyocera, Xerox, Brother and Lexmark. If you've got a mixed fleet from different suppliers, it brings them all into one dashboard.
Audit Trail & Compliance
Full log of who printed what, when, on which machine. Useful for GDPR compliance, ISO 27001 audits, Cyber Essentials Plus and general governance. Standard requirement for law firms, healthcare practices and regulated finance.
PaperCut Authorised Reseller, Kent to Leeds
We're a PaperCut authorised reseller and we install both PaperCut MF and PaperCut Hive across the UK with two different teams behind us.
Direct deployment by our in-house engineers. Sam covers Medway and Kent, Harry runs South East London, and the Hatton Garden office handles central, west and north London.
Deployed and supported through our UK partner engineer network. Same configuration standards, same SLA, one contract with us.
We've migrated estate agency networks, healthcare groups and education trusts onto PaperCut with phased cutovers so no office loses printing on the day. One project plan, one phone number.
Do You Actually Need It?
Not every business does. If you've got one copier and five people, you probably don't need PaperCut. You can see who's printing what just by looking around the room.
But if any of these sound familiar, it's worth a conversation:
- You've got 15+ people sharing copiers and no idea who's printing what
- Confidential documents get left in the output tray
- Your colour printing costs are through the roof but nobody knows why
- You're hot-desking and need print-anywhere capability
- Multiple offices with no central visibility on print costs
- You need audit trails for compliance (GDPR, ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials Plus)
- Staff print everything in colour when mono would do
- You've inherited a mixed-brand fleet and want one dashboard for the lot
PaperCut MF: The Honest FAQ
What is PaperCut MF?
PaperCut MF is print and copy management software made by PaperCut Software, an Australian company that has dominated this space for over twenty years. It sits on your network (or in the cloud, via PaperCut Hive) and acts as the middleman between your users and your printers: tracking every job, enforcing rules, releasing print securely at the device, and reporting the cost back to whoever needs to see it. It works across almost any brand of copier or printer, which is why it's the default choice for mixed fleets.
How much does PaperCut MF cost in the UK?
PaperCut MF is licensed per device, not per user, which usually works out cheaper than uniFLOW for organisations with lots of staff and fewer machines. Typical pricing sits between £200 and £400 per device per year depending on edition and volume, plus a one-off setup. We bundle the licence into your managed print agreement so it sits alongside your lease and cost-per-page as one monthly invoice with no surprise renewals.
PaperCut MF vs PaperCut Hive: which one do I need?
PaperCut MF is the established on-premise platform: powerful, deeply customisable, runs on a server you control. PaperCut Hive is the newer cloud-native version aimed at small and mid-sized businesses that don't want to run a print server at all. Hive is faster to deploy (no server, no VPN, no agent on the copier), cheaper at the small end, and updates itself. MF still wins on advanced workflows, large fleets and tight integrations. We deploy both and will tell you straight which fits.
Does PaperCut work with Canon, Epson, Sharp, Develop and HP?
Yes, that's its whole selling point. PaperCut MF has certified embedded clients for every major copier brand: Canon, Epson, Sharp, Develop (Konica Minolta), HP, Ricoh, Kyocera, Xerox, Lexmark, Brother. If you've inherited a mixed fleet from a previous supplier, PaperCut almost certainly talks to all of it. That makes it the obvious choice when you want one print policy across hardware from different generations or different vendors.
Is PaperCut MF GDPR compliant?
Yes. PaperCut MF supports encrypted job transmission, secure pull-printing so confidential documents never sit unattended in an output tray, full audit trails of every print, copy and scan job, and granular data retention controls so personal data is purged on the schedule your DPO sets. We routinely deploy it for law firms, healthcare providers and finance teams who need it to satisfy GDPR, the UK Data Protection Act, ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus auditors.
What is secure print release (pull printing) in PaperCut?
Secure print release means your print job doesn't actually come out of any printer when you hit Ctrl+P. It sits in a queue, encrypted, until you physically walk up to any PaperCut-enabled device in the building, authenticate with a card swipe, PIN or your phone, and release it there. Nothing ever prints into an empty tray. Documents never get abandoned. Reprint rates drop noticeably. It's a small change that has the biggest day-to-day impact on print waste and on confidentiality.
Can PaperCut cut my colour print costs?
Yes, and usually dramatically. The biggest single win is forcing colour printing to require justification: a popup that asks the user to pick a reason before the job runs in colour. Most users will switch to mono rather than answer the prompt. We've seen colour volume drop by 30 to 50 percent in the first month on PaperCut deployments where it was previously the default. Combined with mandatory duplex (double-sided) and routing jobs to the cheapest available device, the savings cover the licence cost several times over.
Does PaperCut MF do scan-to-cloud and Microsoft 365 integration?
Yes. PaperCut MF includes Integrated Scanning: a one-touch scan workflow on the copier that sends documents straight to OneDrive, SharePoint, Google Drive, Dropbox, email, or a network folder, with OCR so the file is searchable. You can build custom scan buttons for specific workflows (scan to AP, scan to case file, scan to onboarding) without writing any code. It's not as AI-driven as Canon's Filing Assist in uniFLOW, but for most businesses it covers the workflow without the price tag.
Who installs PaperCut MF in Kent and London?
We do. We're a PaperCut authorised reseller and we install it across Kent and London with our own in-house engineers. Sam covers Medway and Kent, Harry runs South East London, and the Hatton Garden office handles central, west and north London. For Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and Glasgow we install and support through our UK partner engineer network: same configuration standards, same support contract, one phone number for the lot.
PaperCut vs uniFLOW: which print management software is better?
It depends on your fleet, not on which one is objectively better, because they aim at different problems. PaperCut MF wins for mixed-brand fleets, organisations with a high user-to-device ratio, schools and universities, and any environment where the priority is policy enforcement and cost control across diverse hardware. uniFLOW wins for Canon-led fleets that want hardware-level integration, AI document filing, native Microsoft 365 scanning and UK/EU data residency. We deploy both and will recommend the right one for your situation. See our full PaperCut vs uniFLOW comparison.
How long does a PaperCut MF deployment take?
For a typical small or mid-sized office with 5 to 15 devices, we're usually live within two weeks of order: discovery call, configuration, embedded client deployment to each copier, card readers fitted if needed, a half-day user training session, then go-live with us on-site for the morning. Larger multi-site rollouts run on a project plan with phased cutover so no office loses printing on the day. Migrating off an older PaperCut, uniFLOW, Equitrac or YSoft system is usually a weekend cutover.
Is PaperCut MF good print management software for UK businesses?
PaperCut MF is one of the two print management platforms we recommend most often in the UK, alongside Canon uniFLOW. It's the safer default for mixed-brand fleets, multi-site rollouts and any organisation that prioritises cost control and policy enforcement over deep hardware integration. Over twenty years of development, a worldwide reseller network, and a track record across UK schools, councils, law firms and healthcare providers mean it's a low-risk choice. We deploy it across Kent, London and (through our partner engineer network) the rest of the UK.
Want to See PaperCut in Action?
We can show you a demo, talk you through the licensing, or just tell you straight whether PaperCut or uniFLOW is the better fit. No pressure, no obligation.