Printer and Photocopier Hire vs Lease vs Rental in Australia
Treating hire, lease and rental as the same thing can leave a short term need stuck on a multi year agreement.
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Last updated: September 2026
Printer and Photocopier Hire vs Lease vs Rental in Australia
Printer and photocopier hire usually means genuinely short term use, for a project, a temporary office or an event.
LeasemyPrinter does not arrange that: our leases and rentals run 36 to 60 months only, with service and toner included, so an ongoing need fits us better than a short hire.
A short project instead needs a specialist hire provider.
What you get
Build your lease: watch the costs roll into one bill
Tap any item to see what it covers, then flip between leasing and buying to see the difference in shape, not just price.
- Paper is bought separately in both cases.
One set monthly payment
From $160 a month ex GST
on a 36 to 60 month term, one predictable line on the books
Printer lease cost bands in Australia (indicative)
The Australian market sits in four broad monthly bands. They are indicative market benchmarks, not LeasemyPrinter quotes.
Your own quote depends on the device, term, monthly print volume and finance provider.
| Device class | Typical use case | Market band (ex GST, all inclusive) |
|---|---|---|
| A4 mono MFP | 1 to 5 staff, under 1,000 pages per month | from $80 to $150 a month |
| A4 colour MFP | 5 to 15 staff, 1,000 to 3,000 pages per month | from $150 to $220 a month |
| A3 colour MFP | 10 to 30 staff, 3,000 to 8,000 pages per month | from $220 to $320 a month |
| A3 colour high volume | 30+ staff, 8,000+ pages per month, finishing options | from $320 to $500+ a month |
All inclusive bands: toner, parts, service labour and call outs sit in the monthly fee, so the only thing you buy is paper.
Ready to shortlist a machine? Compare Toshiba vs Kyocera printer lease options or request a like for like quote below.
What hire, lease and rental actually mean
Hire usually means genuinely short term use of a device, for a project site, a temporary office or an event, rather than the multi year commitment a lease or a business rental carries.
A lease is a finance style agreement over a set term, most often 36 to 60 months, arranged through a finance provider.
A rental keeps ownership with the provider for the whole term, and business rental terms commonly run the same 36 to 60 months as a lease.
In everyday conversation many Australian businesses say hire when they actually mean a standard business rental, which is one reason the three words get mixed up.
Why we do not arrange short term hire
LeasemyPrinter agreements run 36 to 60 months only, whether the agreement is structured as a lease or a rental.
If your requirement has a fixed end date inside a year, a specialist short term hire provider will serve you better than we will.
That term length is not an arbitrary cutoff, because it lines up with the ATO effective life of 5 years for office photocopiers and multifunction printers, so the agreement ends around the point the device reaches that life.
When long term hire actually describes what we do
A search for long term photocopier hire or long term printer hire usually describes an ongoing requirement with no fixed end date, not a short term project.
That ongoing requirement is what our leases and rentals are built for, from $160 a month ex GST on a 36 to 60 month term.
The monthly fee covers the device, toner, parts, service labour and call outs, so paper is the only separate cost.
Brands available include Kyocera, HP, Toshiba and Brother, sized to your monthly print volume rather than sold as one generic model.
How to decide between hire, lease and rental
- Check whether your requirement has a known end date inside about a year, and if it does, contact a specialist hire provider rather than us.
- If the need is ongoing, compare a lease and a rental on the same device, since both commonly run 36 to 60 months and can bundle the same service and toner.
- Confirm exactly what the monthly figure includes before signing, because inclusions vary more between providers than the hire, lease or rental label does.
- Ask what happens at the end of the term, since a lease and a rental both return, upgrade or continue rather than roll over automatically.
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Frequently asked questions
What does printer or photocopier hire usually mean?
Hire usually means genuinely short term use of a device, for a project site, a temporary office or an event.
It typically costs more each month than a longer lease or rental of the same device, because the provider recovers the cost of the equipment over a much shorter period.
Can I hire a printer or photocopier from LeasemyPrinter for a short project?
No, not for a genuinely short term need.
LeasemyPrinter agreements run 36 to 60 months, whether they are structured as a lease or a rental, and a requirement with a fixed end date inside a year is better served by a specialist short term hire provider than by us.
What does long term hire actually mean, and do you offer it?
A search for long term hire usually describes an ongoing requirement with no fixed end date, not a short project.
That is exactly what our lease and rental agreements cover, on 36 to 60 month terms with service and toner included, so it is worth requesting a quote rather than searching for a hire company.
What is the difference between a photocopier lease and a photocopier rental?
A lease is a finance style agreement, usually arranged through a finance provider, over a set term.
A rental keeps ownership with the provider throughout the same term.
Both commonly run 36 to 60 months and can bundle service and toner into one monthly figure, so the choice comes down to how the agreement is structured rather than what it includes.
Does hire, lease or rental cost less overall for an ongoing need?
Across the market, the shorter the arrangement runs, the higher the monthly figure tends to be, because the provider recovers the equipment cost over fewer months.
A 36 to 60 month lease or rental is usually the lower cost path for an ongoing requirement, while hire stays the more expensive but more flexible option for a genuinely short one.
Tired of surprise toner and repair bills? Tell us about your office.
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Cyrus Dickie
Founder, LeasemyPrinter (Global Document Solutions Pty Ltd)
You deal with the founder directly, from first quote to ongoing support, since 2010.
Authored by Cyrus Dickie, Founder at LeasemyPrinter (Global Document Solutions Pty Ltd). In the industry since 2010.