How to Find the Right Ink or Toner Cartridge for Your Printer

Quick answer: There are three reliable ways to identify the cartridge your printer takes — read the number off the cartridge already in the machine, find your printer's full model number and look it up, or use a finder that does the lookup for you. The one thing that does not work is guessing from the printer's series name.

"HP LaserJet Pro" is not a model. "Canon PIXMA" is not a model. Manufacturers reuse series names across machines that take completely different cartridges, and that is where most wrong orders come from. Below is how to get to an answer you can trust in about two minutes.

Method 1: read the cartridge that is already in there

This is the fastest and the least error-prone, because it skips the lookup entirely.

1. Open the printer and take the cartridge out.
2. Look along the top face and the label end. The number is usually printed directly on the plastic — something like a two-or-three digit code, sometimes with a letter suffix, sometimes a longer alphanumeric part number.
3. Write down everything you see, including the suffix. On laser cartridges an "A" and an "X" version are often the same shape with different amounts of toner in them; on inkjets, an "XL" suffix does the same job.

Then search that number in our search box, or start from Toner Cartridges or Ink Cartridges. Our listings carry the OEM part numbers in the description, so searching a number like the one on your cartridge lands you in the right family.

Method 2: find your printer's full model number

If the printer is empty, or you are buying ahead, you need the model number — the whole thing, including trailing letters.

Where it is printed

• On the front bezel, usually below or beside the control panel.
• On a label inside the scanner lid, behind the front door, or on the back near the power inlet. This label is the authoritative one — the bezel sometimes only shows the series.
• On the control panel, under a menu usually called Reports, Information, or Setup. Printing a configuration or status page gets you the model and firmware version on one sheet.
• On your computer, in the printer's entry under Windows Settings → Printers & scanners, or macOS System Settings → Printers & Scanners.

Why the trailing letters matter

Those suffixes are not decoration. They encode features — duplexing, networking, wireless, a scanner, a fax — and machines in the same numeric family can be built around different supply systems. If you copy down the number and stop before the letters, you have copied down a family, not a printer. Take the whole string.

Method 3: let the finder do it

Our printer finder takes brand, then series, then model, and hands you a page containing only what fits that machine. It also remembers your choice: once a printer is selected, every product card and product page on the site tells you whether that item fits, so you are not cross-checking a compatibility list by eye.

If you would rather browse straight to your machine, each model we cover has its own page:

We deliberately do not print a "model → cartridge number" cheat sheet in an article. Those tables go stale, they get copied around the internet with mistakes baked in, and a wrong row costs you a return. The model page is generated from the compatibility data behind the catalogue, so it is the copy that stays correct.

Four traps worth knowing about

• Starter cartridges. The cartridge that shipped in a new printer is often a lower-capacity "setup" version. Its number may differ from the replacement you want, and its yield is usually not what you will get from a retail cartridge.
• Regional part numbers. The same printer sold in different regions can take differently numbered supplies. If your machine came from outside the US, trust the number on the cartridge over any list.
• Same number, different color. Color families share a base number with per-color part codes. Buying "the 4-color set" is safe; buying one code and assuming it is black is not.
• Toner is not the only consumable. Many mono lasers use a separate drum unit, and most inkjets with a waste system use a maintenance box. A machine can be "out of toner" when it is actually the drum asking to be replaced.

Confirm before you pay

Two checks take ten seconds each on any product page:

1. The fit indicator at the top of the page turns green once you have selected your printer, and turns red — with a link to the right page — if the item does not fit.
2. The Compatible printers section lists every machine that cartridge is built for, with a search box, so you can type your model and see it appear.

If your printer is not in our list at all, it is not a hidden compatibility question — we simply do not stock it yet, and no cartridge on the site is the right answer.

Common questions

My printer takes "XL" cartridges. Is that a different cartridge?

Same fit, more ink or toner inside. It is a capacity choice, not a compatibility one — we compare the two in Standard vs high-yield (XL).

The number on my cartridge has extra characters at the end. Does that matter?

Long alphanumeric part codes often carry packaging or region information after the part identity. Search the shortest complete number first; if the results look like the right family, check the model on the compatible-printers list before ordering.

Can I use a color cartridge from a different model in the same series?

Only if that model is on the compatibility list. Physical fit is not the same as being recognized, and a cartridge that seats but is rejected is still a return.