HP 63XL/65XL Ink CartridgeWorth it, if you print occasionally and hate guessing which number your printer needs
around $45Buy on Amazon

Is the HP 63XL/65XL combined ink cartridge worth it?

Worth it, if you print occasionally and hate guessing which number your printer needs

4/5around $45
Buy on Amazon

1 of 5

You're not sure whether your printer takes a 63 or 65 cartridge and want that decision made for you

Does that sound like you?

Is the HP 63XL/65XL combined ink cartridge worth it?
The moment

You're standing in front of the printer aisle, or scrolling on your phone, squinting at a string of numbers on the side of your old cartridge. Is it a 63? A 65? The label wore off months ago and the printer just says "low ink" in that flashing orange way that makes you want to throw the whole machine out the window. This is the exact moment a cartridge hp ink search is supposed to solve, and usually it just adds more numbers to be confused by.

The mechanism

Here's the bit that actually matters: HP has combined the 63 and 65 cartridge lines into one part. Those used to be separate products because different printer generations wired their cartridge contacts and ink formulations slightly differently, so a 65 wouldn't physically work in a 63 slot and vice versa. This cartridge is built to satisfy both sets of contacts and both ink chemistries at once, so instead of matching a number, you're matching your printer model, which is the thing you actually know off the top of your head. That's the whole trick: it collapses two buying decisions into one. On top of that, it's a high-yield cartridge, roughly 300 pages, meaning it's built with more ink packed into the same cartridge shell, so the tray you print your kid's school forms or the odd boarding pass on doesn't need swapping every few weeks. It's still a standard ink cartridge under the hood, not a refillable tank, so the yield and the price scale together the way they always have with HP.

The click

You're not really buying ink here, you're buying certainty that you grabbed the right part before you even opened the box. The high yield just means you get to forget about the printer for longer, which for most home setups is the whole point.

Who it's for

Worth it if

  • You're not sure whether your printer takes a 63 or 65 cartridge and want that decision made for you
  • You print occasionally rather than constantly
  • You want a higher page yield so you're not reordering every month

Skip it if

  • You print hundreds of pages a week and would save more with an ink tank printer
  • Your printer isn't on the compatible model list
  • You're chasing the lowest possible cost per page above all else

Not for high-volume home printing, where a refillable ink tank printer pays for itself faster

The verdict

If you own a compatible DeskJet, Envy, or OfficeJet and print in short bursts, an email attachment here, a form there, this is a quiet yes: buy once, stop thinking about it. If you print constantly, photos, documents, a home business's worth of pages every week, the per-page cost of any cartridge system like this adds up fast, and an ink tank printer will save you more than any single cartridge ever could.

Amazon shoppers rate it 4 out of 5 across 235,707 ratings. That is their number, not ours.

Buy on Amazon

Before you go

Can I use generic ink cartridges in my HP printer?

Yes, many HP printers accept third-party cartridges, though print quality and error messages may vary.

Are generic HP printer cartridges worth buying?

No, they often cause compatibility warnings and inconsistent print quality despite lower upfront costs.

By the numbers

9%

earn an unconditional yes at full priceOut of 46 office products we have reviewed. This one is a yes with a condition attached.

7

other reviews field the same questionAre generic HP printer cartridges worth buying? comes up across our office coverage, not just here — one of the things worth settling before you choose.

Verdict datasetQuestion indexCC BY 4.0

Full spec sheet
Model NameHP 63/65XL Black Ink Crtg
BrandHP
Ink ColorBlack
Page Yield300
Compatible DevicesPrinter
Special FeatureFade Resistant
Compatibility OptionsOEM
ColorBlack

Lena Fischer covers office & workspace for Is It Worth It Reviews. We research products and explain them honestly; we do not test them and we never pretend to.