HP DeskJet 2855e vs 4255e: One Adds a Feeder, Both Keep the Ink Trap

Updated June 18, 2026

HP DeskJet 2855e

VS

HP DeskJet 4255e Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer

These two are siblings, not rivals. The HP DeskJet 2855e and the 4255e come off the same budget line: the same compact body, the same 60-sheet input tray, the same 2.4 GHz-only radio, and the same HP cartridge system carrying an Instant Ink trial. The model number buys you one real thing — the 4255e adds an automatic document feeder and automatic two-sided printing the 2855e doesn't have. So the pick is straightforward: if you copy stacks of paper or print double-sided, the 4255e is worth the step up; if you don't, the 2855e does the rest identically.

That answers the literal question. The more honest one sits underneath it. Both of these are "e" printers — the suffix that ties them into HP's print services and refuses third-party cartridges — so whichever you pick, the cartridge shelf is where the money goes. HP designs the low purchase price to recover later in ink, and owner reviews on both models say so in plain language. Spend a minute on the feature gap; spend the rest on whether a cartridge DeskJet is the right buy at all.

HP DeskJet 2855e

HP DeskJet 4255e Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer

At a Glance

One feeder apart, otherwise twins

On paper these printers are near-identical, and the "At a Glance" table above reads as two copies of one column with a single row that differs. Start with that difference, because it is the only reason to pay more.

The 4255e's headline addition is the feeder. HP lists its KEY FEATURES – Color printing, copy, scan, auto document feeder — and an ADF is the thing that turns a flatbed scanner from a one-page-at-a-time chore into a stack-and-walk-away copier. The second upgrade is duplex: HP confirms the 4255e lets you print on both sides of paper automatically, where the 2855e makes you flip pages by hand. Those two features are the entire case for the higher number.

Speed barely moves. The 2855e is rated for Print speeds up to 5.5 ppm color, 7.5 ppm black, and the 4255e quotes Print speeds up to 5.5 ppm color, 8.5 ppm black — one page a minute faster in black, identical in color. On a few pages a day you will not feel it. Print quality matches too: 2855e owners call text output Text documents come out crisp, sharp, and perfectly legible, and the 4255e lands in the same place — fine for documents, unremarkable for photos.

Everything else is shared hardware. Both carry a flatbed scanner, both print-scan-copy from one compact unit, and both run the same HP Smart app for setup and mobile printing. If you never copy a multi-page document and never print double-sided, the 2855e gives you the identical machine for less.

So the feature math is settled in a sentence: pay more for the 4255e only if you copy stacks or print double-sided.

The cost that dwarfs the feature gap

Here's the thing: the feeder is the small story. Both printers are cheap to buy and expensive to feed, and the gap between buying the 2855e and the 4255e is pocket change next to what either one costs to keep in ink. That is the real comparison.

The ink is where HP makes its money back, not the printer.

Both are firmware-locked to HP cartridges. The 4255e's own listing states it is This printer is intended to work only with cartridges with HP chips or circuitry, and the 2855e behaves the same way. That lock kills the one trick that makes cartridge printing affordable — cheap third-party ink — and leaves you paying HP's price per cartridge for the life of the machine. Independent testing puts that running cost in context: RTINGS' cost-per-print and page-yield testing measures cartridge cost-per-page far above refillable ink-tank printers, and Consumer Reports' inkjet running-cost testing reaches the same verdict. We lay out exactly how that cost axis gets weighed in our inkjet comparison criteria.

The subscription adds a second string. Both bundle a three-month Instant Ink trial, and the 2855e listing spells out the catch: After 3 months, monthly fee applies unless cancelled. The 4255e ships the same trial. You can decline it and buy cartridges outright, but the printer still won't accept cheaper ink — so the "deal" on the box is the hook. One 4255e owner put it bluntly: This printer might seem like a good deal at first, but it’s really just a ploy to lock you into HP ink. That complaint applies word-for-word to the 2855e.

Then there is the radio both share. The 2855e is, per HP, This printer is only 2.4 ghz capable. and the 4255e carries the identical limit. On a modern mesh router that defaults to 5 GHz, that is the most common setup failure on both machines — a problem you solve by splitting out a 2.4 GHz band, not by choosing one model over the other. Our guide to HP inkjet printers walks through this ecosystem before you buy into it. HP's own printer specifications confirm the 2.4 GHz-only radio across this DeskJet range.

HP DeskJet 2855e

HP DeskJet 4255e Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer

So which DeskJet — or neither?

Because these two share everything but a feeder, "who buys which" comes down to one habit — do you copy and print double-sided — wrapped around a bigger question about whether a cartridge DeskJet suits you at all. If you're looking at the 2855e to save a few dollars, be honest about how often you'll miss the feeder; if you're considering the 4255e for its ADF, be honest about the ink bill you're signing up for. For light-printing households either works; for HP loyalists upgrading from an older model, the 4255e is the closer match to what you had.

Buy the 4255e if…

…you copy multi-page documents or print double-sided. The automatic document feeder and auto-duplex are the 4255e's whole reason to exist, and for a home office that scans paperwork or prints reports they save real time every week. You also get the marginally faster 8.5 ppm black. Going in, accept the ink lock — you're paying for the feeder, not an escape from HP cartridges.

Buy the 2855e if…

…you only print the occasional single page and want to spend less. With no feeder and manual duplex, the 2855e is the lighter-duty sibling, and for printing a homework sheet or a return label now and then it does the identical job for less money. It best suits the household that, in HP's own framing, prints a few times a month — not the office that copies stacks. We cover its real-world setup and ownership quirks in our full review of the 2855e.

Skip both if…

…you print weekly, or you refuse to be locked to one ink brand. A regular printer should not buy either of these — the cartridge tax outruns the savings on the sticker, and a refillable supertank is the honest pick. Read the full case in our best supertank printers roundup, and weigh the whole cartridge-versus-tank fork in our all-in-one wireless printer guide. The 2855e and 4255e are for light home use only — at any real volume, both are the expensive answer.