Epson EcoTank ET-2850 vs ET-2980: Same Tanks, Same Duplex, One Just Prints Faster

Updated June 18, 2026

Epson EcoTank ET-2850

VS

Epson EcoTank ET-2980

Here's the thing: this matchup is decided by one feature, not five. The Epson EcoTank ET-2850 and the EcoTank ET-2980 sit on the same line: refillable bottle tanks, the same no-subscription refills, the same plain-paper document quality. Pick either and the cartridge tax that drives most printer regret is already behind you. So the usual question — which one saves you more on ink — has no answer here, because they save the same. The fork is speed.

And the fork is unusually clean because the feature that splits most EcoTank pairs is already settled. Both of these do automatic two-sided printing, so duplex is not a deciding factor. The dearer ET-2980 buys a faster PrecisionCore engine and a small color screen; the cheaper ET-2850 keeps the slower color speed its owners grumble about. The rest of this page is about whether that speed is worth paying for, because on the cost math that decides most supertank buys, there is nothing to choose between them.

Epson EcoTank ET-2850

Epson EcoTank ET-2980

At a Glance

The ink math is a tie, and so is duplex

Look — the reason to read an EcoTank-versus-EcoTank comparison is usually to find the cheaper one to feed, or the one that adds two-sided printing. Here both of those are already settled, in both printers' favor.

Both escape cartridges by the same route. The ET-2980 box ships full — Epson says it Comes with enough ink to print up to 6,600 pages black/5,500 color — and per Epson, each refill is a cartridge-tax escape: Each replacement ink bottle set is equivalent to about 90 individual cartridges. The ET-2850 runs the identical bottle system, and its owners confirm the payoff plainly: The ink lasts a long time and saves a lot of money. Neither forces a subscription — an ET-2850 owner notes No subscription is required, you can just use the ink bottles. RTINGS' cost-per-print and page-yield testing puts that bottle-fed bracket far below any cartridge printer, and we stage every brand yield claim against owner reports in our comparison criteria for inkjet printers.

The cost honesty cuts the other way too, and the ET-2980's own owners say so. Several concede the ET-2980 may not be the most economical printer of choice, but has the feature set to justify the gap — which is the whole point. The premium over the ET-2850 buys speed and a screen, not lower cost per page. On ink, these two are level.

Duplex is the second tie, and it is the one most EcoTank step-ups charge for. The ET-2850 lists Auto 2-sided printing helps save time and money. as a built-in feature, and the ET-2980 carries it too — the ET-2980 spec line reads 15 PPM, 1.44-inch color screen with auto 2-sided printing. So the feature most rivals gate behind a higher price is standard on both. That leaves exactly one thing to decide.

Speed is the whole fork

With cost and duplex off the table, the difference is the print engine and the screen. This is where the ET-2980 earns its higher number, and where the ET-2850 shows its one real weakness.

Start with the complaint owners repeat about the cheaper machine. The ET-2850 is rated to Prints up to 10.5 pages per minute (ppm) in black and 5 ppm in color. — fine on black, slow on color. Owners feel it: one warns about double-sided printing if you want a 6 page job to complete within 20 minutes, and another calls it this is an extremely cheap and flimsy little printer. It is slow when printing in colour. That is the ET-2850's soft spot, named twice.

The ET-2980 is built to fix exactly that. Powered by PrecisionCore Heat-Free technology, the ET-2980 delivers print speeds 50% faster than the predecessor model it replaces, rated 15 pages per minute. It also adds the 1.44-inch color screen the ET-2850 does without, so walk-up copying and setup happen on a real panel instead of by indicator light. Both are full mobile all-in-ones — you can Print and scan from the convenience of your smart device on either through the Epson Smart Panel app. The split is speed plus the screen, nothing more. We map the full set of yardsticks behind these calls — speed, yield, running cost, duplex — in our inkjet comparison criteria.

The quirks both rungs share

One set of trouble ignores the price tag entirely. These are the same family, so they inherit the same limits — and no buyer escapes them by paying more.

Both run liquid ink, so both dry out if left alone. EcoTank owners are blunt about the fix on the ET-2980 — print at least one time per week. You do not want to experience the printheads clogging beyond what the cleaning cycle can clear — and the ET-2850 behaves the same way. Consumer Reports' inkjet reliability testing reaches the same conclusion: the idle inkjets are the ones that fail, which is why RTINGS scores risk-of-clogging as a first-class metric. The free fix is identical for both — print color weekly.

Neither is a photo printer, either. The ET-2850 draws a plain warning from owners — You do not want the ET-2850 for photos, its not a photo printer — and the ET-2980 is the same four-ink document machine at heart. Both lay down adequate color for a worksheet; neither is built for borderless glossy prints. The ET-2980 does carry one durability note in its favor: Epson markets it as built unlike conventional thermal inkjet printers, with a permanent printhead. That is a real design point, but it does not exempt the machine from the weekly-use rule above. Epson's own EcoTank specifications confirm the shared cartridge-free four-ink design across both models. The ET-2850 itself is, per Epson, an EcoTank ET-2850 All-in-One Supertank Printer — same tank platform, slower engine.

Epson EcoTank ET-2850

Epson EcoTank ET-2980

So which EcoTank — speed or savings?

Because the ink math is a tie and both already do duplex, "who buys which" comes down to one question: do your color jobs run long enough that a faster engine earns its price? If you're coming from a clogged or bricked cartridge printer, either EcoTank is the upgrade, and the savings land the same on both. The split is purely speed against the gap.

Buy the Epson ET-2980 if…

…you print color in volume, or a slow print job already frustrates you. The PrecisionCore engine rated 50 percent faster than its predecessor is the ET-2980's whole reason to exist, and it directly fixes the color-speed complaint the ET-2850 collects from owners. The 1.44-inch color screen is a smaller bonus — nicer for walk-up copying than driving by indicator light. You pay more upfront, but you get the same proven EcoFit ink economics with the faster engine a color-heavy home actually wants. Going in, accept that the premium buys speed, not lower running cost.

Buy the Epson ET-2850 if…

…your printing is mostly black text and the price gap is real. The ET-2850 gives you the identical refillable-tank economics, the same no-subscription refills, and the same automatic duplex for less money — the only thing you surrender is color speed and the color screen. For a household printing homework, labels, and the occasional color page, that slow 5-ppm color rarely surfaces in daily use, and the savings are honest money kept. We weigh its real-world setup and ownership quirks in our full ET-2850 review.

Skip both if…

…you print rarely, or you need office volume features neither has. A supertank that sits idle for weeks will fight you on either rung, and a color laser is the honest pick for sporadic use. And neither of these entry EcoTanks carries an automatic document feeder or a second paper tray, so a busy office that scans stacks should step up a tier in the line. For the full cross-brand running-cost picture, weigh both against the field in our best supertank printers roundup.