Lease vs Buy
Buying outright is cheaper. Here is by how much, and what you give up.
Published
Over sixty months, a refurbished machine bought outright costs about $1,440 less than leasing the same machine from us. That is the honest answer. What the $1,440 buys: no $7,500 purchase price to pay up front, and a repair bill that is not yours.
$13,500
buy refurbished, five years, all in
$14,940
lease from us, five years, all in
$1,440
the difference, or $24 a month
The four ways to put a copier in an office
There are four, and they are separated by about $7,000 over five years. If you want the detail on what a lease payment covers, it is on our page on how much it costs to lease a copier. Here we only need the totals, and the assumptions behind them.
The assumptions behind every figure below
- Volume: 5,000 B&W and 500 colour pages per month
- Term: 60 months
- Lease payment used: $249 per month (mid-range)
- Purchase price used: $7,500 refurbished, $14,500 new (mid-range of each)
- Service contract after purchase: typical market rates of $0.012 per B&W page and $0.08 per colour page = $100 per month = $6,000 over 60 months
- Industry norm for annual lease escalation: 5–10%
| Option | Day one | Five-year total | What you own at the end |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy refurbished, plus a service contract | $7,500 | $13,500 | A five-year-old machine |
| Lease from Printree at 0% escalation | $0 | $14,940 | Nothing — you return or upgrade it |
| Lease from a dealer at 7% escalation | $0 | $17,183 | Nothing |
| Buy new, plus a service contract | $14,500 | $20,500 | A five-year-old machine |
Service-contract rates of $0.012 per B&W page and $0.08 per colour page are typical market rates, not Printree rates. Printree's $249 figure already includes service, parts, labour and toner.
Buying refurbished wins on total cost. It wins by $1,440, which is $24 a month. Everything else on this page is about whether $24 a month is worth what it buys you. If your volume is different from ours, put your own numbers into the copier lease calculator.
Where the $1,440 goes
Leasing costs $1,440 more over five years than buying refurbished. That extra money pays for three things.
Capital
To buy a refurbished copier, you pay about $7,500 up front for the machine on the first day. To lease, you pay $0 up front and spread the cost over monthly payments. So leasing keeps that $7,500 in your bank account instead of tied up in a copier. Whether that matters depends on what else that money could be doing, and only you know that.
Repair risk
After a purchase warranty expires, a failed fuser or drum unit is your invoice. On a lease the machine is not yours, and neither is the repair. How much that is worth to you depends on how much an unplanned bill would hurt.
The machine at year five
A purchased machine is yours, and it is five years old. A leased one is returned and replaced with current equipment. What the owned machine is still worth depends heavily on its meter count: a lightly used one keeps more value than one that has run hard every month, and neither is worth what it was.
The third option nobody puts in the table
7% is the industry norm for annual lease escalation, and it is where the $17,183 row comes from.
The comparison most people actually face is not lease versus buy. It is buy, versus a lease with an escalation clause in it. Those clauses raise the payment every year, and most quotes show only the first-year figure.
At 7%, the same $249 starting payment reaches $326.39 in year five, and the five-year total is $17,183 rather than $14,940. The difference is $2,243, from one clause. We write 0% on every term, which is why our column and the dealer column differ by that amount and not by the machine. How to find the clause in your own agreement is covered in our guide to the copier lease escalation clause.
When buying is the right answer
Five years is the point past which ownership starts to pay. Buy if one of these describes you.
You have the cash and no better use for it. $7,500 that would otherwise sit in an account is $7,500 well spent on a machine you will keep.
You intend to keep the machine past five years. Every month past month 60 on a purchased machine costs you the service contract and nothing else.
Your volume is low and stable. If you print under 2,000 pages a month and that will not change, a desktop-class machine bought outright is hard to beat on cost.
You want the asset on your balance sheet. Some businesses do, for reasons that have nothing to do with copiers.
When leasing is the right answer
$0 down is the starting point. Lease if one of these describes you.
The capital is doing something else. This is the common case, and it is a legitimate reason, not a compromise.
You do not want to own the repair. The machine breaking is somebody else's problem and somebody else's invoice for the whole term.
Your volume is going to change. Growing from 3,000 to 12,000 pages a month means the bought machine is now the wrong machine, and you own it.
You want current equipment every few years. A lease ends with a replacement rather than a depreciating machine. Machines are increasingly listed openly, as on the Printree Marketplace, and if you do lease, there are ways to pay less, covered in our guide to copier leasing savings.
The tax question
2 treatments apply. An outright purchase is a capital expenditure and may be eligible for accelerated deduction under Section 179 of the US tax code. A lease is typically treated as an operating expense and deducted as paid. Which is better depends on the business and the year.
We are not accountants and this is not tax advice. The difference between these two treatments is large enough to change the answer on this page, so ask yours before you decide.
Questions people ask about leasing versus buying
6 questions come up most often.
Is it cheaper to lease or buy a copier?
Buying refurbished is cheaper: $13,500 over five years, against $14,940 to lease the same machine from us at 0% escalation. That assumes 5,000 black-and-white and 500 colour pages a month and a service contract at typical market rates. The $1,440 difference is what you pay to avoid the $7,500 up-front purchase price and to avoid owning the repair risk.
Why would anyone lease if buying is cheaper?
Three reasons. Capital: buying means paying about $7,500 for the machine up front, while leasing starts at $0 down, so that money stays in the business. Repair risk: once a purchase warranty ends, every failed part is your invoice, while on a lease it is not. Equipment age: at the end of a purchase you own a five-year-old machine, and at the end of a lease you move to current equipment.
What does a refurbished copier actually cost?
$7,000 to $8,000 for a full-size 45ppm colour multifunction machine bought outright. The same class of machine bought new costs $12,000 to $17,000. Neither figure includes service, parts or toner, which you pay separately through a service contract once the machine is yours.
Do I still pay per page if I buy the machine outright?
Yes, through a service contract, and it is the cost most buy-versus-lease comparisons leave out. Typical market rates are $0.012 per black-and-white page and $0.08 per colour page. At 5,000 and 500 pages a month that is $100 a month, or $6,000 over five years. These are typical market rates, not Printree rates.
Can I buy the machine at the end of a Printree lease?
End-of-term options vary by agreement, and the figure for any purchase at the end of the term is stated in your lease documents. Read that section before you sign, not at month 60. If you are already in a lease elsewhere and want out, our guide on how to get out of a copier lease covers the options.
How long does a copier last?
It depends on meter count and service history far more than on age. Two machines of the same model and year can be in very different condition. The meter, which records total pages printed, is the number to look at, together with the service records. Ask for both before you buy any used or refurbished machine.
If the arithmetic sends you toward buying, it sends you toward buying. We would rather you got that right than got it from us.