Sixteen Brother machines run on this family — desktop printers, all-in-ones and two fax machines — and every one of them accepts both of its toner codes and the same DR420 drum. Brother rates the two codes a world apart: the TN420 at about 1,200 pages, the TN450 at about 2,600. Our own shelf tells a plainer story, and this guide prints it instead of tidying it away: the compatible cartridge sold here under the TN420 name and the one sold under the TN450 name are the same physical cartridge, at the same prices, rung for rung. So the honest work is arithmetic. What does a page cost read at each of Brother's two ratings? Which rating should a careful buyer plan around? And when does the drum, this family's slower second clock, come due?
The short answer: start with the TN450 2-pack at $31.10. Read at Brother's TN450 rating it works out to about 0.60¢ a page; read at the TN420 rating, the identical box is about 1.30¢ a page. Both readings are printed throughout this guide, because the cartridge underneath the two names is one cartridge. The DR420 drum (about 12,000 pages, $26.52) is the only other part these machines take.
Buy the TN450 2-pack at $31.10 and read its value both ways: about 5,200 pages and 0.60¢ a page at the TN450 rating Brother publishes, or about 2,400 pages and 1.30¢ a page at the TN420 rating — the cautious reading, and still a fraction of genuine Brother money either way. There is no fit question to settle first: all sixteen machines take both codes, and the TN420-named 2-pack beside it is the same shelf's same-price twin, carded below so the two can be compared honestly.
Sixteen machines, one list, both codes everywhere
Brother publishes a single "use with" list for this family, and it does not change between the TN420, the TN450 and the DR420 drum: two DCP copiers, seven HL printers, five MFC all-in-ones and the two IntelliFax fax machines. Unlike the bigger Brother platforms, where some models are shut out of the highest-yield cartridges, nothing here is tier-locked. If a machine is on the list, both toner codes and the one drum belong in it.
The sixteen are the DCP-7060D, DCP-7065DN, HL-2220, HL-2230, HL-2240, HL-2240D, HL-2270DW, HL-2275DW, HL-2280DW, IntelliFax-2840, IntelliFax-2940, MFC-7240, MFC-7360N, MFC-7365DN, MFC-7460DN, MFC-7860DW. One caution, stated plainly because our own house needs it: some of our product descriptions name further models that Brother USA does not list for this family. This guide follows Brother's list, and so should an order — if your model is not among the sixteen, it belongs to another family.
Owners of the newer compact L-series machines (HL-L2300 and MFC-L2700 lines) are in the next generation of this same idea — theirs is covered in our Best Brother TN660 Toner Cartridges guide. The heavier workgroup platform has its own shelf entirely, in our Best Brother TN850 Toner Cartridges guide, and the newest high-capacity family is covered in our Best Brother TN920 Toner Cartridges guide.
One ladder, read two ways
Every compatible pack size in this family costs the same under either code's name, so a single ladder of prices covers the whole toner shelf. What changes between the two columns is only the rating the pages are counted against — Brother's TN450 figure of about 2,600 pages per cartridge, or its TN420 figure of about 1,200. We print both, everywhere, rather than quietly choosing the flattering one.
| Compatible offer | Price | Pages at the TN450 rating | Cost per page | Pages at the TN420 rating | Cost per page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single cartridge | $23.59 | About 2,600 | About 0.91¢ | About 1,200 | About 1.97¢ |
| 2-pack START HERE | $31.10 | About 5,200 | About 0.60¢ | About 2,400 | About 1.30¢ |
| 3-pack | $38.61 | About 7,800 | About 0.50¢ | About 3,600 | About 1.07¢ |
| 5-pack | $53.63 | About 13,000 | About 0.41¢ | About 6,000 | About 0.89¢ |
| DR420 drum (separate part) | $26.52 | About 12,000 pages | About 0.22¢ | — | — |
For scale, the genuine Brother cartridges on our OEM shelf work out to about 5.70¢ a page for the TN420 ($68.41) and about 3.57¢ for the TN450 ($92.91) at their own ratings, and the genuine DR420 drum to about 1.17¢ ($140.33). Ratings are measured under ISO/IEC 19752 conditions; a page of dense contracts is not the test page, so treat every figure here as the shared yardstick it is, on whichever basis you prefer.
The 2-pack, under either name
This is the listing the guide is named for, and the one most owners should land on. It saves $16.08 against the same cartridges bought one at a time, and it carries the name Brother gives the high-yield tier. For scale, a genuine Brother TN450 single is $92.91 on our OEM shelf — one genuine cartridge costs nearly three of these 2-packs.
View the TN450 2-Pack →
This card exists so the twin is on the record rather than discovered later. It is a separate listing under the standard-yield name, at the standard-yield rating, for exactly the flagship's price. Buyers whose purchasing list or manual names the TN420 lose nothing by taking it — and buyers free to choose should know the two boxes sit on the same shelf at the same money, which is why this guide presents one flagship, not two.
View the TN420 2-Pack →TN450: the high-yield name
The TN450 is the name Brother gives this platform's high-yield tier, and it is the name this guide files the family under. The single below is the unit every saving figure on the page is measured against; the 3-pack and 5-pack walk the per-page cost down to about 0.50¢ and 0.41¢ at this rating. The same sizes also exist under second titles — an exact duplicate of the flagship 2-pack, and "Premium"-titled twins of the 2-pack and the single, all at identical prices. One card per offer is this guide's rule; the duplicates are named in the closing note so nobody meets them as a surprise.
TN420: the standard name, the same shelf
Most of these sixteen machines shipped with a TN420 in the box, and most of their manuals name it as the reorder — which is why the standard-yield name keeps its own row of listings, years on. Brother rates that tier at about 1,200 pages. On our shelf the TN420-titled packs mirror the TN450's prices size for size: $23.59, $31.10, $38.61, $53.63. Read at the TN420 rating, that ladder runs from about 1.97¢ a page for the single down to about 0.89¢ in the 5-pack.
Nothing about fit separates the two rows — the sections differ by the name on the listing and the rating the pages are counted against, and this guide keeps them in separate sections so each card is read on its own title's terms.
The long ladder: 4, 6 and 10 at a time
Above the 5-pack, the shelf changes its naming habit, and it is better said once, plainly, than left for a buyer to puzzle out at checkout: the 4-pack, 6-pack and 10-pack exist only under titles that carry both codes at once — TN420 / TN450 on the same line. They are the same ladder continued, not a third product: $46.12 for four, $61.14 for six, $91.18 for ten, with the two-basis arithmetic unchanged (about 0.44¢, 0.39¢ and 0.35¢ a page at the TN450 rating; about 0.96¢, 0.85¢ and 0.76¢ at the TN420 rating). These are fleet sizes — a year of toner for a small office in one box — and the 10-pack's $144.72 saving against ten singles is the largest single figure in the family.
DR420: the drum, on its own schedule
The cartridge rides inside a drum unit, and the two wear out independently. Brother's figure for the DR420 is about 12,000 pages at one page per job — and that is the only drum figure Brother publishes for this family. There is no longer rating for multi-page jobs here, of the kind some larger Brother drums carry, so 12,000 is the number to plan a stockroom around. At $26.52 the compatible drum adds about 0.22¢ to a page; the genuine Brother DR420 on our OEM shelf is $140.33. In cartridge terms, one drum typically sees off four to five TN450s, or around ten TN420s.
A warning about titles, because this family's shelf earns one: four of our drum listings are titled "Toner Cartridge" even though the box holds this drum — two singles and two 2-packs, at the same prices as the correctly titled cards below. They are not carded here. If a search lands you on one, the DR420 code and the drum description are the truth of the listing; the headline is not.
Drum and toner, boxed together
The combination sets pair the DR420 with TN450-tier toner for the moment both messages land together, and they price the pairing below the parts bought apart — the saving runs from $16.08 on the one-and-one set to $48.24 on the drum with three toners. Every one of these four compositions also exists a second time under an identical title at an identical price, and an older dual-coded generation sells the same mixes alongside; each composition is carded once here, under the listing we verified.
Two parts, two counters
A toner message and a drum message are different requests from different counters. "Toner Low" and "Replace Toner" belong to the cartridge; "Replace Drum" belongs to the DR420's own page count, and a fresh cartridge will not clear it — the drum counter is reset from the machine's menu when the drum itself is changed. Print that stays faint or streaked after a cartridge change is the drum asking ahead of its message.
And the chip question, answered from the listings themselves: no cartridge in this family is documented with a newly fitted chip, and this guide claims none. The word "chip" surfaces in only nine of the family's fifty-nine listings, always inside one of two recycled sentences — a parts-list line loose enough to also be printed on drum units, which have no toner chip, and a monitoring sentence that speaks of ink levels in a laser family. The other fifty listings say nothing about chips at all, and no listing here mentions firmware. Brother's published firmware position, the drum-counter reset procedure, and the recognition messages for this generation are set out on our Brother Monochrome Toner & Drum Compatibility page.
Before you order: the TN450 family checklist
Frequently asked questions
Either fits; the two codes share one sixteen-machine list and one drum, so the choice is about the rating you plan around, not about fit. Brother rates the genuine TN450 at about 2,600 pages and the genuine TN420 at about 1,200. On our compatible shelf the two names sit on the same cartridge at the same prices, which is why this guide shows both cost-per-page readings for every size instead of declaring a winner between the names.
Because the compatible shelf is one ladder, not two. Single, 2-pack, 3-pack and 5-pack carry identical prices under both titles, and the bigger sizes are sold under dual titles that name both codes. Genuine Brother pricing keeps the tiers apart — $68.41 for a TN420 single against $92.91 for a TN450 on our OEM shelf — but no such gap exists among the compatibles, and pretending otherwise would misstate the shelf.
Plan cautiously and be pleasantly surprised, not the reverse. Both figures are Brother's ratings for its two genuine tiers; the compatible cartridge here is one product sold under both names, and its own listings carry both figures in their specification fields. If a budget or a reorder interval hangs on the number, work from the TN420 reading (about 1.30¢ a page in the 2-pack) and treat anything beyond it as headroom.
No — and any source quoting one for this drum is borrowing from another family's page. Brother publishes about 12,000 pages at one page per job for the DR420 and no second figure. That is roughly four to five TN450 cartridges or ten TN420s per drum, which is the planning ratio this guide uses.
You met one of this family's mis-titled listings. Four DR420 drum listings wear toner headlines — two singles and two 2-packs — while holding drum units at drum prices. None of them is carded in this guide; the drum cards above point at the listings titled as drums. On any listing, the DR420 code in the title and the drum description settle what the part is.
No fitted-chip claim is made for this family, because the listings do not support one: the chip word appears in nine of fifty-nine listings, always as the same recycled template sentences — one of them printed even on drum units — and firmware is mentioned in none. Brother's own published position is that its firmware updates do not block third-party cartridges; the wording, the drum-reset steps and the recognition messages for this generation are collected on our Brother Monochrome Toner & Drum Compatibility page.
Our 1-year warranty covers every compatible cartridge and drum in this guide, and returns run for a full year on the same terms — a part that is not right comes back to us. Orders ship from four US warehouses (Illinois, Pennsylvania, Georgia and California), and support answers Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM Central.