Buying a multifunction printer (MFP) without knowing your monthly print volume is like buying a delivery van without knowing how many packages you ship. You could end up with a machine that is too small and slow, too expensive to run, or far bigger than your office needs.
Your monthly print volume is simply the total number of pages your office prints and copies in a typical month, in both black and white and colour. Working it out before you buy helps you choose the right size of machine, avoid paying for capacity you will never use, and plan for growth.
This guide shows you how to calculate it in a few simple steps, with worked examples throughout.
Why Does Print Volume Matter?
An MFP is not just a one-off purchase. It is an ongoing running cost, so the right machine needs to handle your normal workload comfortably, cope with busy periods, and keep the cost of each page under control.
Get it wrong in either direction and you pay for it:
- Too small: an office printing 3,000 pages a month on a small desktop MFP built for light use will face constant paper refills, slow printing, more breakdowns, and a machine that wears out early.
- Too big: an office printing 1,500 pages a month on a large departmental A3 machine pays for speed, paper capacity, and service levels it does not need.
Your print volume also decides:
- The size and type of MFP you need
- Whether you need A3 or only A4
- Your monthly toner and supplies costs
- Whether a colour machine makes sense
- How fast the machine needs to be
- How much paper capacity and finishing (stapling, hole punching) you need
General figures for how much an average office worker prints vary widely between industries and departments, so measuring your own office is always more reliable than using an average.
Method 1: Read the Counters on Your Current Machines
If your office already has printers, copiers, or MFPs, their own usage data is the most accurate starting point. Almost every modern office machine can print a usage report (sometimes called a meter or page-count report) from its control panel or its web settings page.
Look for:
- Total pages printed
- Black-and-white pages
- Colour pages
- Copies made at the machine
- Pages by user or department, if your machine tracks this
Note the page counter at the start of the month and again at the end. The difference is your monthly volume.
Example: the counter reads 128,400 on the 1st of the month and 131,650 on the last day. Your office printed 131,650 − 128,400 = 3,250 pages that month.
Do this for three months in a row. A single month can be misleading, because printing often jumps during invoicing, audits, recruitment, year-end reporting, or big projects. Three months gives you a fair average and shows you where the spikes are.
If you have several machines, add their monthly totals together.
Method 2: Use Toner and Paper Purchases
If your machine cannot produce a usage report, your purchase records can still give you a good estimate.
Toner invoices
Every toner cartridge has a stated yield: the approximate number of pages it can print. Check your toner purchases over the last three to six months.
Example: your cartridges have a yield of 6,000 pages and your office uses two a month. Estimated volume: 2 × 6,000 = 12,000 pages a month.
This is not exact, because real yield depends on how much of each page is covered in print, but it gives you a practical baseline.
Paper purchases
A standard box of office paper usually holds 5,000 sheets (ten reams of 500).
Boxes of paper used per month × 5,000 = approximate monthly sheets
Example: two boxes a month = 2 × 5,000 = 10,000 sheets a month.
Keep two things in mind. Paper is also used for other things besides printing, which pushes the estimate up. Double-sided printing pushes it the other way: one sheet printed on both sides counts as two pages, so your true page count may be higher than the number of sheets you buy.
Method 3: Estimate From Scratch
If you are opening a new office or have no usable history, estimate your volume from the number of people who print and how much they print.
Active printing users × pages per user per day × working days per month = estimated monthly volume
Step 1: Count active printing users
Do not simply count every employee. Include only people who regularly print, copy, or scan. Drivers, field staff, and remote workers who rarely come into the office can usually be left out.
Example: a company has 25 employees, but only 18 regularly use the office printer. Use 18.
Step 2: Estimate pages per person per day
A practical starting range is 10 to 30 pages per person per day. Use the lower end for teams that work mostly digitally and the higher end for paper-heavy roles. As a rough planning guide, monthly usage by role often looks like this:
| Department or role | Estimated pages per person per month |
|---|---|
| Sales and marketing | 200 to 400 |
| Administrative staff | 300 to 500 |
| Human resources | 300 to 600 |
| Accounting and finance | 400 to 800 |
| Engineering or technical teams | 400 to 700 |
| Legal and compliance | 500 to 1,000 |
These are planning estimates, not rules. A law firm, accounting practice, school, or clinic may print far more than a software company or design agency.
Step 3: Multiply by working days
Most offices work about 20 to 22 days a month.
Example: 18 users × 20 pages a day × 22 working days = 7,920 pages, or roughly 8,000 pages a month.
Adjust the Number for How Your Office Really Works
The basic calculation is a starting point. Now adjust it to reflect your office’s habits. The percentages below are common rules of thumb, not exact figures.
Digital habits: reduce
If your office uses digital approvals, cloud storage, electronic invoices, and paperless HR, less gets printed in the first place. Reduce your estimate, for example by around 10 percent.
Example: 8,000 − 10% = 7,200 pages a month.
Bulk printing: increase
If you regularly print newsletters, invoices, contracts, brochures, training packs, or customer mailings, increase your estimate, for example by around 25 percent.
Example: 8,000 + 25% = 10,000 pages a month.
Busy months: plan for the peak
Most businesses have predictable busy periods: financial year-end, audits, school enrolment, retail promotions, or quarterly reporting. Work out your average month, then identify your busiest one.
Plan for your busiest month, not just your average. If you normally print 8,000 pages but your peak month reaches 12,000, choose a machine that handles 12,000 without becoming a bottleneck.
Growth: add a buffer
If you expect to hire staff, add a department, or take on more clients, build that into the number. Adding a 20 to 30 percent buffer is a common approach.
Example: 8,000 + 25% = 10,000 pages a month as your planning figure.
This does not mean buying the biggest machine available. It means avoiding one that will be overloaded soon after it is installed.
Count Colour and Black-and-White Separately
Colour pages cost more to print than black-and-white pages, because colour toner and the parts that print colour are more expensive. So split your total into the two.
Example:
- Total: 10,000 pages a month
- Colour: 1,500 pages
- Black and white: 8,500 pages
This tells you whether you need a colour machine at all. If colour is only occasional, a black-and-white MFP plus a small colour printer may be cheaper overall. If you regularly print presentations, marketing material, client proposals, or designs, a colour MFP is easier to justify.
Do Not Forget Copies
Many people count only what is sent from computers and forget the copier. Your total should include:
- Documents printed from computers
- Copies made at the machine (contracts, ID documents, forms, handouts)
- Invoices, reports, and forms printed from business software
- Regular jobs such as labels, receipts, and delivery notes
Scanning does not create printed pages, but it still matters. If your office scans most incoming documents instead of photocopying them, you may print less, and you may need a machine with strong scanning more than one with very high print speed.
Match Your Volume to the Right Type of MFP
Once you have a realistic monthly figure, use it to choose a class of machine. Exact models vary by brand, but the categories are broadly similar:
| Monthly volume | Typical suitable machine |
|---|---|
| Under 2,000 pages | Desktop or small-office MFP |
| 2,000 to 8,000 pages | Workgroup A4 MFP |
| 8,000 to 20,000 pages | Larger workgroup or entry-level A3 MFP |
| 20,000 to 50,000 pages | Departmental A3 MFP |
| Above 50,000 pages | Light-production machine or a fleet of devices |
These ranges are guides, not hard limits. An office printing 7,500 pages a month is usually better served by a workgroup A4 MFP than a personal desktop printer. An office printing 25,000 pages a month, especially with A3 documents, should look at a departmental A3 machine or several shared devices.
Recommended Volume vs. Maximum Duty Cycle
When comparing MFPs you will see two numbers that are easy to confuse.
- Maximum duty cycle is the theoretical maximum number of pages a machine can produce in a month. It is a measure of how tough the machine is, not a target for everyday use.
- Recommended monthly volume is the workload the machine can handle steadily, month after month, without excessive wear or service problems. This is the number to compare with your own.
As a practical rule, your monthly volume should sit well below the maximum duty cycle and within the recommended range, with room for your busiest month.
Example: if your office prints 10,000 pages a month, do not choose a machine just because its duty cycle says 50,000. Check its recommended monthly volume, paper capacity, speed, service support, and cost per page as well.
Work Out Your Cost Per Page
Once you know your volume, you can compare quotes fairly by working out the cost of each page.
Total monthly printing cost ÷ total monthly pages = cost per page
Include everything you pay each month:
- The machine itself (monthly payment or rental)
- Toner
- Maintenance and service charges
- Parts and other supplies
- Paper, if you want the full picture
Example: total monthly cost of AED 1,200 ÷ 10,000 pages = AED 0.12 per page.
This is especially useful when comparing quotes. One machine may have a lower monthly payment but a higher cost per page, while another costs more upfront but becomes cheaper as your volume grows. Work out colour and black-and-white costs separately if your volumes of each are very different.
A Worked Example
Here is how a 20-person professional services office might do the whole calculation:
- Active users: 16 of the 20 staff print regularly.
- Base estimate: 16 users × 20 pages a day × 22 days = 7,040 pages.
- Bulk printing: the office sends a monthly client newsletter of 1,000 pages. 7,040 + 1,000 = 8,040 pages.
- Growth: four new hires are planned, so add a 20 percent buffer. 8,040 × 1.20 = 9,648 pages.
A sensible planning figure is around 9,500 to 10,000 pages a month. This office should look beyond a basic desktop MFP to a sturdy workgroup A4 machine, or an entry-level A3 MFP if it regularly prints larger documents.
Final Checklist Before You Buy
Before you contact suppliers, have these figures ready:
- Average monthly pages over the last three months
- Your busiest month’s page count
- Black-and-white page count
- Colour page count
- Number of active printing users today
- Expected headcount over the next one to two years
- Average pages per user per day
- Boxes of paper used per month
- Current toner yields and how often you replace cartridges
- Peak printing times
- Paper sizes you need, especially A3
- Features you need, such as double-sided printing, scanning, stapling, or secure print release
Knowing your monthly print volume turns buying an MFP from guesswork into a straightforward business decision. Measure what you print today, adjust for busy periods and growth, separate colour from black and white, and choose a machine whose recommended volume comfortably matches your real workload. The result is a printer that supports your office instead of slowing it down.
For a free consultation contact us at https://wa.me/971569981942 or call us at +971 56 998 1942
