HP OfficeJet Pro 8125e vs 8135e: What the Fax Line Actually Costs You

Updated June 18, 2026

HP OfficeJet Pro 8125e Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer

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HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer

Search "HP 8125e vs 8135e" and the model numbers suggest a clear upgrade path. The reality is narrower. The OfficeJet Pro 8125e and 8135e are siblings built on one office engine — same print mechanism, same document feeder, same auto-duplex, same 225-sheet tray. The 8135e steps up by adding a fax line, a bigger touchscreen, and extra network security. So our pick is blunt: take the cheaper 8125e unless you have a specific reason to pay for fax, because nothing in how these two print, scan, or sip ink separates them.

The higher number buys features, not a better printer.

That answer holds whichever side you start from. If you're looking at the 8125e because the price caught your eye, you are not settling for a lesser printer — you are skipping a fax modem and a touchscreen, full stop. And if the 8135e caught your eye for feeling like the "pro" choice, the harder question is whether its extras justify a higher sticker and a worse owner record. The bigger trap, the one the model number hides, is shared: both are HP "e" printers locked to genuine HP ink. That is where this page spends its time.

HP OfficeJet Pro 8125e Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer

HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer

At a Glance

Same office engine, top to bottom

On the specs that decide an office printer, these two are one machine. The 8125e is rated at Print speeds up to 10 ppm color, 20 ppm black, and the 8135e prints at the identical 10/20 ppm. Both are true print-scan-copy all-in-ones, and the workflow hardware matches part for part. The "At a Glance" table above reads as two near-identical columns.

Same engine, same speed rating, same scan-copy core.

Start with the things a home office actually leans on every week. The 8125e ships with auto 2-sided printing, auto document feeder, and a 225-sheet input tray — and the 8135e carries the same kit, listed as Fast color printing, scan, copy, fax, auto 2-sided printing, auto document feeder, and a 225-sheet input tray. Spot the one extra word in that list: fax. Strip it out and the two feature sets are a match — same feeder for stacking a multi-page scan, same duplex for two-sided pages, same tray depth.

So where does the higher number earn its price? The 8135e adds three things. It brings a fax modem the 8125e lacks. It swaps in a larger interface — HP pitches it as a way to Quickly navigate your printer with a large color touchscreen and a phone-like user interface. And it layers in HP Wolf network security. Real additions — but none of them changes a page printed, scanned, or copied, and none of them lowers the cost to feed the machine.

The owner record then tilts hard the other way. HP's own marketplace data for the cheaper sibling reads HP OfficeJet Pro 8125e Wireless Color All-in-One Printer — 1500 reviews, rated 4.2/5 — a large, warm base. The 8135e sits at a thinner, cooler rating: 3.8 across only 13 reviews — low for a home-office printer, and a caution flag on a model that costs more. We grade both against the full owner record in our inkjet comparison criteria, and on this pair the cheaper machine is the better-regarded one by a clear margin.

The cartridge trap they both spring

Honestly, the fax-versus-no-fax choice is the least important thing about these two. The decision that actually moves money is the one stamped on the back of both: the "e" in OfficeJet Pro 8125e and 8135e means HP+ cartridge DRM. Both are tied into HP's print services and will refuse to work without genuine HP supplies. No remanufactured cartridges, no third-party ink — the firmware can reject them on either model.

The subscription side compounds it. Both ship on an HP Instant Ink trial that becomes a monthly fee unless you cancel, and the catch owners hit is that the subscription cartridges are only usable with an active subscription. Stocking up on Instant Ink cartridges before you quit does not keep the printer running — they stop the day the subscription ends. That lock-in is identical across the 8125e and the 8135e, and it is the real running-cost story, not the fax line.

Independent testing keeps the focus where it belongs. RTINGS' cost-per-print and reliability testing treats running cost and clogging risk as first-class printer scores, and Consumer Reports' inkjet running-cost testing reaches the same conclusion: the ink model, not the feature checklist, decides what a printer costs over years. HP's own positioning agrees on fit — its OfficeJet Pro line is aimed at higher-volume homes and offices, and The sweet spot for OfficeJet Pro is over 100 monthly.

Two more marks against the pricier model, both from owner reports. A documented complaint on the 8135e is that The paper tray has a design flaw where it does not secure letter-size paper lengthwise, so sheets shift around when you pull the tray. And on the reliability tail, one buyer recounts that The first printer lasted approximately 5 months before failing with WIFI not being recognized. The 8125e draws fewer of those reports. On their own each is minor; stacked on a higher price and a weaker rating, they are one more reason the cheaper sibling is the safer default.

On the page itself, neither HP disappoints, and neither separates from the other — the print engine is shared, so output quality is too. Print quality simply isn't where this decision lives. For the OfficeJet Pro 8125e and 8135e, the decision is fax-or-no-fax wrapped around an ink lock both carry. Our guide to HP inkjet printers lays out that HP+ ecosystem in full before you commit to either.

So the spec sheet hands you a clean read: one fax line and a touchscreen apart, the same printer twice.

HP OfficeJet Pro 8125e Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer

HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer

So which OfficeJet Pro — or neither?

Because the 8125e and 8135e are one office engine with a fax line and a touchscreen between them, "who buys which" comes down to a single feature question — wrapped around the bigger one of whether an ink-locked OfficeJet Pro suits you at all. If you're coming from the 8125e side because the price caught your eye, you're giving up only fax and a touchscreen, nothing in the core workload. If you're already in the 8135e camp drawn to the "pro" badge, be sure you'll actually use what the higher number buys before you pay for it.

Same machine, one fax line apart — so the answer is mostly about price and one feature.

Buy the 8125e if…

…you want the office workload without the fax line. The HP OfficeJet Pro 8125e is the default pick for most home offices: it has the same document feeder, the same auto-duplex, and the same 225-sheet tray as its pricier sibling, and it arrives with a far larger and warmer owner review base. You lose nothing in everyday print-scan-copy versus the 8135e, and you skip the worse rating and the paper-tray reports. Read the full ownership picture — the cartridge-validation quirks, the Instant Ink terms, real-world reliability — in our HP OfficeJet Pro 8125e review before you commit.

Buy the 8135e if…

…you specifically need fax, or want the touchscreen. The HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e is the only one of the two with a built-in fax modem, and its larger color touchscreen makes on-unit navigation easier — genuine value if your work still moves over a fax line. Just go in clear-eyed: you are paying more for a printer with a thinner, lower owner rating and at least one documented tray complaint, and you get the same cost-per-page and the same ink lock as the cheaper model. The deeper look at how it holds up is in our HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e review.

Skip both if…

…you print lightly, or you want freedom from HP ink. Neither OfficeJet Pro is built for a few pages a week — below roughly a hundred monthly, you are paying for an ADF and a fax modem you will rarely touch, and a budget cartridge all-in-one or a supertank is the honest pick. And if your whole plan is cheap third-party ink, both of these "e" models block it; a Brother or an Epson EcoTank outside HP+ is the right room. For the wider field, see our best office inkjet printers roundup. The 8125e and 8135e are for the steady home office that prints real volume and accepts the HP ecosystem — at any lighter use, both are the wrong tool.