HP Instant Ink vs. HP Plus vs. HP Smart: Which Ink Program Saves You the Most?

When you buy and install an HP printer, the setup routine may ask you to make some choices depending on the printer model.

- M. DAVID STONE

The most notable is whether to sign up for the HP Instant Ink plan and—for printers that support HP Plus—whether to install it as an HP Plus device. After the installation, you may also have to contend with multiple choices of productivity tools and drivers, most of which aren’t self-explanatory. It’s easy to get confused, especially since (as an HP rep told me) the company is in the middle of a large-scale transition period as it rolls out and scales HP Plus. Some details are still changing, and some rough spots are almost inevitable, as we’ve found when testing some HP Plus printers recently. We’ll explain what you need to know to make your setup go a little more smoothly.

ALL THE MANY PIECES

Because HP’s various plans and tools are interrelated, it’s helpful to know a little about each of them before getting into details. So we’ll start with a quick overview:

HP Instant Ink is an ink subscription plan.

HP Plus (sometimes dubbed HP+) is not an ink subscription plan, but if you sign up for it, you can take advantage of Instant Ink for six months without charge, then choose whether to continue it after the free period. You’ll also get other benefits, including a warranty extension and extra functionality. For laser printers, any given model that supports HP Plus, such as the HP LaserJet MFP M234dwe, must be installed as an HP Plus printer. For supported inkjets, including the HP Envy 6055e and HP OfficeJet 8035e, you get to choose during installation whether to set the printer up with HP Plus or not.