Your IT provider says you should be using Microsoft Universal Print because you already pay for it. Your copier dealer says you need their cloud connector instead. Both have a point and both have a reason to say what they are saying. Here is what Universal Print actually does, whether your leased copier supports it, and when it saves money versus when it quietly costs more.
What Universal Print Is
Universal Print is Microsoft's cloud print service. Instead of running a print server in your office, print queues live in Microsoft 365. A user signs in with their work account, sees the printers they are allowed to use, and prints. The job goes up to Microsoft and comes back down to the copier. No print server, no driver deployment, no VPN needed for remote staff.
For offices already running Microsoft 365 with Entra ID, this is genuinely appealing. It removes an on premise server, it works the same at home and in the office, and permissions are managed in the same admin center as everything else. Printer sharing is assigned to Entra groups, so the marketing team gets the color machine and nobody else does.
It is included with Microsoft 365 E3, E5, F3, A3, A5, Business Premium and a few other plans. Each licensed user contributes a pool of print jobs, commonly around five jobs per user per month, pooled across the tenant. Small offices rarely hit the pool. Print heavy ones do, and then you buy add on job packs.
Does Your Leased Copier Support It
This is the question that decides everything, and the answer splits into three cases.
Native support means the copier speaks Universal Print directly. Register it in the Microsoft admin center, share it, done. Most current models from Ricoh, Canon, Xerox, Konica Minolta, Sharp, Lexmark, HP, Toshiba and Kyocera support it either natively or through a free firmware level app. If your machine was made in the last few years, there is a good chance it is in this group. Check the firmware level first, because support often arrives in an update rather than in the box. See leased copier firmware updates for how those get applied on a leased machine.
Connector support means the copier does not speak Universal Print, so you run the Universal Print connector, a small free Windows service, on a PC or server in your office. It bridges the cloud to your existing printers. This works with essentially any machine, including older ones, but it puts a piece of always on infrastructure back in your office, which was the thing you were trying to remove.
No practical support means an older or low end device where neither route is worth the trouble. In that case, use the manufacturer's own cloud or stay with a local print server until the lease ends.
Ask your dealer directly: is this model natively Universal Print capable at its current firmware, yes or no. Get it in writing before signing, because it is much harder to fix afterwards.
The Real Cost Comparison
Compare three paths honestly.
Universal Print with native devices costs nothing extra if your Microsoft licensing already covers it and you stay inside the job pool. Add on job volume is usually a few dollars per hundred jobs, and you retire a print server, which is worth $600 to $2,000 a year in hardware, licensing and maintenance once you count it properly.
A manufacturer cloud connector runs $8 to $25 per device per month, so five machines is $480 to $1,500 a year. In exchange you get features Universal Print does not have, and that is the real trade.
A third party platform like PaperCut or Printix runs $2 to $6 per user per month, more than either, and does the most.
On raw price, Universal Print usually wins for offices already on the right Microsoft plan. The question is whether it does everything you need, and for a lot of copier users it does not.
What Most Guides Miss
Universal Print is a printing service. Your copier is not a printer. That gap is where the disappointment lives.
Universal Print handles print jobs going to the device. It does not handle scanning coming back. If you want scan to email, scan to SharePoint, or scan to a user's own folder with proper permissions, Universal Print does nothing for you. You still need the manufacturer's cloud connector or a separate scan setup, which means the $8 to $25 per device you were hoping to avoid may come back anyway. If scanning matters, read copier lease scan to email setup and copier lease with SharePoint integration before you make the call.
Second, secure release. Universal Print added a hold and release capability, but it is basic compared with what a print management platform or a manufacturer connector offers. If you need badge tap release across a fleet with per department reporting, Universal Print alone will not get you there.
Third, and this is the one that catches people out at renewal: Universal Print reporting is thin. You get job counts and basic usage. You do not get the per department, per user cost reporting that lets you walk into a lease renewal and argue for a lower volume tier. If that reporting is how you plan to control print costs, budget for a platform that produces it.
The honest summary is that Universal Print is excellent at replacing a print server and mediocre at everything else a multifunction does. Judge it on that.
How to Decide
Go with Universal Print if you already have the licensing, your machines support it natively, your main pain is maintaining a print server and supporting remote workers, and your scanning needs are simple or already solved.
Go with the manufacturer cloud if scanning to cloud storage is central to how your office works, if you want secure release with badges, or if your dealer will bundle the connector cost into the lease. Ask for that bundling. Dealers give up connector fees more readily than they give up equipment margin.
Go with a third party platform if you run mixed brands across multiple sites, or if detailed cost reporting is the actual goal.
You can also run two of these at once, and plenty of offices do. Universal Print for printing, manufacturer cloud for scanning. It is not elegant but it is often the cheapest combination that does everything. Whichever way you go, settle it before you sign a 36 to 60 month lease, because retrofitting cloud print onto a machine that does not support it is the expensive version of this decision.
Ready to Compare Copier Lease Quotes?
Ready to compare copier lease quotes from verified dealers in your area? CopierFinder connects you with pre-vetted local providers so you can compare real pricing, not ballpark estimates. No obligation. No sales pressure. Just honest numbers so you can make the right call for your business.