What is the HP All-In Plan?

HP has launched its All-In Plan in the USA, a subscription package that bundles together a printer, ink and 24/7 support into a single monthly fee.

HP promises to remove the hassle of printing by supplying a new printer and keeping subscribers stocked with ink. You also get the option to upgrade the printer after two years.

The All-In Plan builds on HP’s Instant Ink subscription model, essentially turning it into a device-as-a-service. However, this presents more support headaches than dropping 304XL cartridges into the post – especially in the SME and consumer sectors where the HP All-In Plan is focussed.

In this explainer, I’ll aim to answer the key questions about the HP All-In Plan.

Will HP’s All-In Plan subscribers finally be free of printing nightmares? Is the global solution to unrepairable printers and eye-watering ink prices a monthly direct debit? Does offering to upgrade working devices after two years sound any form of environmental alarm within HP’s boardroom at all?

Let’s find out.

Is HP’s All-In Plan needed?

Let’s not mess around. HP’s All-In Plan is designed to make money. In January, HP’s CEO Enrique Lores reminded CNBC that HP’s long-time goal has been to make printing a subscription business.

At the end of 2023, HP’s CFO Marie Myers reported to the UBS Global Technology conference that HP’s Printing division’s margin increased from 14.8% in 2020 to 18.9% in 2023 and much of this success was thanks to 11 million Instant Ink subscribers.

Myers further revealed that these numbers have whetted HP’s appetite for subscriptions:

“When you move a customer from that pure transactional model, we see a 20% uplift on the value of that customer because you’re locking that person, committing to a longer-term relationship and more annuity stream in terms of predictability. That’s clearly a part of our business shift.”

Myers shows that HP’s business shift is to lock customers into contracts for a highly profitable ‘relationship’. HP’s All-In Plan brings select hardware into this lucrative model.

Is HP’s All-In Plan good value for money?

Currently, the HP All-In Plan offers three different models of printers: the HP Envy starting at $6.99, the HP Envy Inspire from $8.99 and an OfficeJet Pro from $12.99 per month. This subscription governs how many pages can be printed.

The entry-level HP Envy price of $6.99 allows subscribers to print 20 pages per month, but there are options for 50 pages ($8.99) and 100 pages ($10.99). If you regularly print out over 100 pages, you’ll need to bump up to a more expensive tier and printer. A year’s subscription on the basic plan is $83.88, which includes part rental of a printer and the option to push out 240 pages.

In reality, the entry-level HP Envy is actually the 6020e, currently being sold by HP UK for £59.99 (but not currently on sale by HP’s USA store). This comes with a set of HP305 inks, which HP states have a yield of around 120 pages. To balance the books, let’s chuck another set of inks into the shopping bag so we can print 240 pages.

As the All-In Plan is only currently available in the USA, a quick £ to $ conversion says to buy the Envy 6020e ($76.44) with extra ink ($28.28) is $104.72, which is $20.82 more expensive than the subscription, in year 1.

In year 2, the pendulum swings the other way and the traditional non-subscription HP printer is far cheaper. We can freely purchase HP305XL inks (yield ~240 pages) for $51 – and please note that these are HP ink prices so cheaper options are available. That brings the total price to $155.72 compared to $167.76 for HP All-In.

Is HP All-In always more expensive?

In terms of retail spend, then the answer is not always, but trying to work out which printer plan is the best fit for your needs isn’t obvious.

If we stick at the same 20-page limit, but up our printer to the top-tier HP OfficeJet Pro, then over two years, the subscription will cost $311.76. Again, in reality, that printer is the OfficeJet 9010e which HP sells for £154 in the UK. If we run the numbers again, and factor in the extra spend to give enough ink for 480 pages over two years, then we have a far cheaper non-subscription price of $251.76.

However, if we need 100 pages per month, over two years, our HP All-In Plan on the HP Envy will cost $263.76 and the HP OfficeJet Pro $407.76. Doing this with non-subscription products would cost $1,073 for the HP Envy and $732.36 for the HP OfficeJet Pro. The eye-watering difference is because of the immense cost of buying enough genuine HP ink to print 4,800 pages.

Finally, before we all fall asleep, let’s roll the dice again. Going back to 20 pages per month but over three years on the HP All-In Plan, the HP Envy will cost $251.64 and the OfficeJet Pro, $467.64. The non-subscription versions are far cheaper at $206.72 and $290.41 respectively – and this gap only continues to grow over the lifecycle of an untethered printer.

The HP All-In Plan gives customers a reassurance that they can allocate a monthly spend to their printing costs, but there isn’t any certainty that this equates to value for money.

How much do extra pages cost on the HP All-In Plan?

This HP All-In Plan business model reflects the old mobile phone contracts where the penalties for exceeding call times were harsh. In HP’s T&Cs, it clearly states that if you exceed the monthly page allowance, you’ll be able to print without interruption, but “additional sets of 10–15 pages will be automatically added to your monthly invoice at $1 per set”.

How many times have you sent something to print, only for it to be the wrong size? HP’s T&Cs don’t make any reference to who is footing the bill for paper jams. Innocent mistakes could become very costly.

Isn’t part of HP All-In Plan’s value in the support?

Absolutely – and great support is expensive to deliver. One benefit of an HP All-In Plan is that if the printer breaks, then it will be replaced, which could be reassuring for many US citizens. In Europe, new printers are often covered by a statutory two-year warranty, so HP may need to sweeten the deal if it expands into other territories.

I can tell you from personal experience that supporting users who have printer issues is challenging and frustrating work when you’re not all in the same room. HP’s assurance to dispatch replacement printers “the next business day” may not be soon enough for frustrated users who need that report printed in minutes, not days.

Can I cancel HP All-In after a year?

Yes, but it will cost you. If you choose to terminate the subscription after 30 days but within two years, there will be a fee to pay which varies depending on which printer you’re using.

Sticking with our example of the base HP Envy, you’ll need to pay $120 to exit the subscription after 30 days but within 12 months and $60 between 12 and 24 months. These exit fees rise to $270 if you want out of the OfficeJet contract early.

Is HP All-In Plan a more sustainable way to print?

If you dig into the details, you’ll eventually find HP’s sustainable declaration, but it’s not worth getting excited about. The best that can be said is that HP is offering subscribers a way to recycle ink cartridges and a collection service to send unwanted printers back to the manufacturer.

Set fire to those tyres Frank, the planet is saved!

The two-year support upgrade cycle of the hardware can’t be considered an environmentally beneficial practice as replacing something which works for something newer is how we’ve ended up drowning in e-waste. We need more transparency from HP on its lifecycle strategy for HP All-In printers.

Currently, all three printers use old-style cartridges, which hold much less ink than refillable bottles used in other printers in HP’s catalogue. Small cartridges require more frequent shipping, which increases carbon generation. They’re also more complicated to recycle at the end of their lifecycles than refillable bottles.

HP All-In prevents the use of third-party inks, which eliminates mainstream options for buying refills and re-manufactured consumables. Despite the ink wars of the early 2000s, HP vowed to eliminate third-party ink use and using a subscription gives it a legal way to do this.

Right To Repair

Also, as subscribers are renting the printer, it takes all repair options away. This is convenient as printers are some of the most complicated tech devices to repair, but the HP All-In Plan isn’t making green gains. It doesn’t progress Right To Repair as it restricts the practice further and promotes a complex form of serialisation (without an internet connection and valid HP account, that printer won’t do jack!).

There’s nothing new or innovative with environmental benefits, but then HP has a history of missing this point when it comes to rentals. In HP Tech Takes from March 2023, HP said:

“Have you ever tried getting rid of an old printer or copier? With regulations making it difficult to simply dispose of your old devices in a landfill, leasing offers a simplified way to scrap your outdated printer.”

Damn those regulations, making it hard for us all to put things into the ground. At least HP can still scrap things!

In short, I have yet to see any tangible environmental benefit to HP’s All-In Plan when compared to buying a non-subscription printer.

Verdict on HP All-In Plan

HP is trying to maximise revenues and has publicly stated that subscriptions are the way it wants to do it. There is nothing inherently wrong with a business wanting to make money, but given the environmental mess the entire tech industry has created, it is sad that HP couldn’t use HP All-In Plan as a genuine environmental offer. It could have offered “green” ink policies, used refurbished printers and promoted closed-loop recycling.

It should also be noted that HP All-In Plan data collection policy makes it clear that your data is going to be shared, but it’s still surprising to see what they’re planning to pass on to other companies:

“For purposes of this paragraph, “personal data” includes Your name; shipping address; city; state; zip code; province; phone number; email; Printer model; Printer serial number;  if one was provided, and its pin or promotional code; serial number; the subscribed Service plan; date of enrollment in the Service; date of Printer shipment; date of Printer delivery; and date of the cancelation of Services.”

I’m making a list of what entities would want to know when the printer was delivered and when the services were cancelled. So far, I’ve written law enforcement and bailiffs, but if you have any other suggestions, please let me know.

To work out if the HP All-In Plan will be worth it for you, take the time to calculate the various pricing options and how you expect them to stack up over multiple years. When you’ve got the figures, and especially if you’re renting a lot of pages per month, run them against the costs for a laser printer. You may be surprised.

More explainers

• Do Toshiba laptops still exist?
• What is an SSD?
• What is Intel Xeon Scalable?
• How do you update the BIOS on an Acer Aspire One?