Start With the Running Cost, Because This Printer Invites Volume

The HL-3170CDW is the networked step up from the family's base model: up to 23 pages per minute, automatic two-sided printing, and a choice of Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, wired Ethernet or USB. Printers wired into a small office tend to print more than their owners estimate — shared machines always do — which is why the yield question matters more here than the cartridge question. The cartridge answer never changes; the tier answer decides what the year costs.

Cost per Page, Ranked

Prices below are our compatible cartridges, read from their product pages on November 2, 2026; yields are Brother's ISO/IEC 19798 ratings.

Rank	Cartridge	Yield	Price	Cost per page
1	TN225C / TN225M / TN225Y	~2,200 pages	$24.24	~1.1¢
2	TN221BK	~2,500 pages	$23.71	~0.9¢
3	TN221C / TN221M / TN221Y	~1,400 pages	$24.24	~1.7¢

Black is the cheapest page this printer produces, as it should be — most office volume is black. The colors tell the interesting story: the high-yield TN225 colors cost exactly what the standard colors cost on our shelf, $24.24, and return roughly 800 extra pages for it. Paying standard-tier money for standard-tier yield only makes sense if a color is printed so rarely that a cartridge would sit for years. On a shared office machine, that is seldom true of any color.

The Cartridges, Linked Individually

Black (one choice, both tiers)

• TN221BK

Standard-yield colors

• TN221C Cyan
• TN221M Magenta
• TN221Y Yellow

High-yield colors

• TN225C Cyan
• TN225M Magenta
• TN225Y Yellow

Swapping a Cartridge

With the printer powered, raise the top cover and the drum tray comes up with it. Each of the four stations is labeled with its color. Pull the relevant unit straight out, squeeze the green lever to release the toner from its drum, and set the old cartridge aside. Shake the replacement gently from side to side before you strip its cover — this evens the powder out — then seat it in the drum until it clicks, return the unit to its labeled station, and close the cover. The machine needs no menu input for an ordinary swap; it reads the new cartridge on its own.

Two Printers' Worth of Duty, One Drum Set

Brother rates the DR221CL drum set at about 15,000 pages — roughly six black cartridges' worth of work. Because the set is really four separate drums, wear is uneven: the black drum does most of the traveling and usually calls for replacement first. We sell the drums singly by color (the DR221 black drum is $28.88), so a worn black drum does not force you to retire three healthy color drums with it. Budget-wise the drum works out near 0.2 cents per page — a rounding error next to toner, provided you only buy the drum that is actually worn.

When the Four-Color Set Beats Four Singles

Our TN221/TN225 high-yield four-color set pairs the black with the three TN225 colors for $48.20. The same four cartridges bought separately total $96.43, so the set halves the bill. For a shared printer whose colors tend to fade in the same season, that is the standing order. The counter-case still applies: one empty color with three healthy ones is a $24.24 single-cartridge problem, not a set problem — do not let the set discount talk you into stocking cartridges a lightly used color will take years to need.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the HL-3170CDW need a TN225 black to match my TN225 colors? There is no TN225 black. The TN221BK is the black for both tiers, and mixing it with high-yield colors is exactly what Brother intends.

Will the printer accept high-yield colors if it shipped with standard ones? Yes. The starters in the box are about 1,000 pages per color; any TN221 or TN225 cartridge fits the same stations afterward, with no settings to change.

Is Ethernet actually useful on a printer this size? For a shared machine, yes: a wired connection does not drop when the Wi-Fi gets crowded, and every workstation prints to the same queue. It has no effect on which toner the printer takes.

How do I know whether faded prints mean toner or drum? Swap in a known-good cartridge for that color if you have one. Fading that follows the cartridge was toner; a repeating mark or grey background that stays put points at that color's drum in the DR221CL set.

Can I print with one color empty? The printer will generally let black-only jobs through for a while if you confirm on the panel, but it will stop for color work, and running a station dry is not good for the drum under it. Treat the first low warning as the order signal.

Other Printers That Use TN221 and TN225

• HL-3140CW
• HL-3180CDW
• MFC-9130CW
• MFC-9330CDW
• MFC-9340CDW

Ready to order? Start from our HL-3170CDW toner page, which lists every cartridge, drum and set that fits this printer.