Think of this model as the document hub of its family. It prints and copies in colour, but its feeder and scan destinations are what most teams buy it for — and its toner use follows that steady, shared pattern.

Running Costs, Before Anything Else

Price per cartridge tells half the story, so here is the arithmetic from Clever Supplies single prices checked November 2, 2026:

• TN433 black at $28.39 over 4,500 pages: approximately 0.63 cents per page. Each TN433 colour, also $28.39 over 4,000 pages: about 0.71 cents.
• TN436 black at $27.55 over 6,500 pages: roughly 0.42 cents per page. TN436 colours at $29.46 over 6,500 pages: near 0.45 cents.

The longest-life black cartridge is also the cheapest to buy outright here. Unless you print very little, TN436 is difficult to argue against for this printer.

One note on the entry tier: what we sell into the TN431 slot is built on the shared TN431/TN433 high-yield pattern. Its product page lists 4,500 pages black and 4,000 per colour at $28.39 — a high-yield rating under that label, which is why no standard-yield cost figure appears above.

The Three Tiers Side by Side

Yields follow Brother's ISO/IEC 19798 ratings. Coverage shifts real results: a page of charts uses more colour than a page of email.

Tier	Black rating	Cyan rating	Magenta rating	Yellow rating
TN431	~3,000 pages	~1,800 pages	~1,800 pages	~1,800 pages
TN433	~4,500 pages	~4,000 pages	~4,000 pages	~4,000 pages
TN436	~6,500 pages	~6,500 pages	~6,500 pages	~6,500 pages

This model ships with full standard toner — black near 3,000 pages, colours near 1,800 each — rather than reduced starters, so your first replacement cycle lands later than starter-loaded models suggest.

Order by Colour and Code

TN431 slot: Black TN431 · Cyan TN431 · Magenta TN431 · Yellow TN431

TN433 range: Black TN433BK · Cyan TN433C · Magenta TN433M · Yellow TN433Y

TN436 range: Black TN436BK · Cyan TN436C · Magenta TN436M · Yellow TN436Y

If Several Colours Are Low Together

Look first at the TN436 four-colour set at $67.69. The four TN436 singles total $115.93 — the set saves $48.24 and restocks every colour in one order. A TN433 set exists too, at $65.31.

Restraint pays in the opposite case. One depleted colour beside three strong ones calls for a single cartridge, nothing more; a bundle bought to fix one faded colour parks cash in a cupboard.

Changing a Cartridge on This Machine

1. With the printer on, open the front cover and slide the internal tray fully outward. 2. Find the bay matching the low colour, release it and remove the spent cartridge. 3. Unpack the replacement, rock it gently side to side, and strip off its protective cover. 4. Push it into its colour-matched bay until seated, then work the green corona tab back and forth. 5. Return the tray, shut the cover and print a test page once the display clears.

About the Drum, Belt and Waste Box

Four cartridges sit in a single DR431CL drum assembly that wears on its own schedule: about 30,000 pages at one page per job, rising toward 50,000 at three pages per job. The BU330CL belt and WT320CL waste box each rate near 50,000 pages. Fading across every colour at once points to the drum, not individual cartridges. Clever Supplies lists no compatible DR431CL — only the genuine Brother unit — so no drum product is linked here.

Where This Model Earns Its Keep

Single-pass scanning through a 70-sheet feeder. Both faces of an original are captured in one pass, up to 58 images per minute. Long two-sided files become documents without anyone flipping pages, and copying is two-sided as well.

Destinations, not just scans. Output routes straight to email, SharePoint, cloud services or SFTP, removing the scan-then-forward detour. Around that: 33 ppm print and copy speeds, automatic duplex printing, NFC, Wi-Fi, Gigabit Ethernet and USB, a legal-size flatbed, and capacity expanding from 250 sheets plus a 50-sheet multipurpose tray to 1,300 sheets. Maximum duty cycle 60,000 pages monthly; recommended up to 4,000.

Frequently Asked Questions

What toner came installed when the printer was new? Full standard supplies: black rated around 3,000 pages and each colour around 1,800, so the first reorder comes later than on starter-cartridge models.

Does single-pass scanning change how I load the feeder? Only for the better. Load the stack once in the 70-page feeder; both sides are read in one pass, with no page reordering.

Can scans go directly to SharePoint or SFTP? Yes. Scans can go to email, SharePoint, cloud services and SFTP without a desktop folder in between.

Is copying automatic two-sided as well as printing? Yes — auto duplex covers print and copy, so double-sided output needs no manual re-feeding.

How is monthly volume framed for this printer? Brother recommends up to 4,000 pages a month, within a 60,000-page maximum duty cycle — headroom for spikes, not a target.

Other Printers That Use TN431 and TN433

Seven Brother models share TN431, TN433 and the DR431CL drum. Two — HL-L8260CDW and MFC-L8610CDW — finish at TN433; the remaining five, this one included, accept all three tiers.

• HL-L8260CDW — ends at TN433
• HL-L8360CDW — takes TN436 too
• HL-L8360CDWT — takes TN436 too
• MFC-L8610CDW — ends at TN433
• MFC-L8895CDW — takes TN436 too
• MFC-L8905CDW — takes TN436 too

For supplies matched to this exact printer and nothing else, head to the MFC-L8900CDW category page.