The HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e is an inkjet printer that replaces the older HP OfficeJet Pro 8025e. It uses HP 923 cartridges and is only compatible with genuine new or remanufactured HP cartridges. This printer comes with a free three-month subscription to HP's Instant Ink service, which automatically ships new ink to your door when it detects it's running low. That said, subscribing to this service requires you to ensure that the printer is always connected to the internet to function. It offers a wide variety of connectivity options, including USB, Wi-Fi, or Ethernet, and there's also support for Apple AirPrint and Mopria Print Service. Its 8.5" x 11" flatbed scanner has an automatic document feeder to scan multi-page documents more efficiently, but unfortunately, it doesn't support duplex scanning.
This printer is part of the HP OfficeJet Pro and 8120e and 8130e series of all-in-ones, which includes many regional variants with similar features and performance. You can see more details between these models in the Differences Between Variants section below.
Our Verdict
The HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e is decent for home use. Its cartridges aren't the cheapest on the market, but they have a reasonably high yield, so you won't have to replace them too often, which helps keep recurring costs pretty low. Black-and-white and color documents look fairly crisp and sharp, too. It has an ADF-equipped scanner to process multi-page documents more efficiently, though the scanner bed doesn't have adjustable hinges, so it'll have trouble accommodating thicker books and magazines. When using the default settings, scan quality is decent overall, but its processing algorithm tends to smooth out a lot of finer elements. The printer is an okay option for photo printing, but it has a limited color gamut, so pictures have a slightly flat, muted appearance.
- Impressively low cost-per-print.
- Sharp overall document print quality.
- Wide range of connectivity options.
- Has a scanner with an ADF.
- Supports borderless printing.
Decent scan quality.
- Slow printing speed over Wi-Fi.
- Clunky user interface.
Can clog if it's left unused.
The HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e is an okay choice for small offices. Its 923 ink cartridges have a reasonably high yield, so you won't have to swap them out too often, but they're also on the pricier end of the scale. Although printed documents look crisp and legible, it takes quite a while to output them when printing over Wi-Fi, which isn't ideal for frequent high-volume prints. Its flatbed scanner boasts an ADF to process multi-page documents, but it isn't the fastest scanner on the market and doesn't support automatic duplex printing. There's also no built-in optical character recognition (OCR) to automatically generate text-searchable PDF or .txt files, forcing you to rely on third-party software instead.
- Impressively low cost-per-print.
- Sharp overall document print quality.
- Has a scanner with an ADF.
- No built-in OCR.
- Slow printing speed over Wi-Fi.
- Clunky user interface.
The HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e is a disappointing printer if you're looking for something that'll always be ready to print, even if you leave it idle for longer periods. Like any inkjet printer, it's prone to clogging if you don't use it often enough. Its ink capacity is also relatively limited, which means you may need to empty your cartridge to get rid of severe clogs. On the bright side, the printheads are user-replaceable, providing a good fallback option if you encounter a clog that can't be resolved with regular maintenance tasks. As mentioned above, page yields are only decent, which means you may need to change the cartridge frequently if you have large printing needs. On the bright side, this printer offers all the connectivity options to seamlessly print from virtually any device.
- Wide range of connectivity options.
Decent page yields.
Printheads are user-replaceable, providing a last-resort option in case of tough clogs.
- Slow printing speed over Wi-Fi.
Can clog if it's left unused.
The HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e is a satisfactory choice for photo printing. It can print in various sizes on glossy photo paper and supports borderless printing, but has a somewhat limited color gamut, giving images a flat, muted cast. While its 923 cartridges are more expensive than similarly designed 910 cartridges found in other HP printers, they also have a higher yield, so the cost-per-print is fairly inexpensive, especially for a conventional inkjet model.
- Impressively low cost-per-print.
- Supports borderless printing.
- Limited color gamut.
The HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e's page yields are satisfactory. You can expect to print approximately 400 black and white pages and a similar number of color pages before needing to replace the cartridges. High-yield 923e cartridges are available. They should be able to print about twice as many pages.
Decent page yields.
The HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e offers decent print speeds, but performance varies by connection. When printing black-and-white documents over Wi-Fi, buffering and pauses limit speeds to about 10 pages per minute, well below the claimed 20 PPM. Printing over USB is much faster, reaching around 18 PPM for monochrome pages. Color printing remains slow at 6 PPM regardless of how it is connected, and the printer also takes a while to wake from idle and produce the first page.
- Slow printing speed over Wi-Fi.
The HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e delivers great overall document print quality. Text appears crisp and sharp. Some banding is visible when using the standard print setting, but these artifacts disappear when switching to the High Quality preset.
- Sharp overall document print quality.
The HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e offers a decent scanner, both in terms of features and outright quality. Text scans are clear and easy to read, though the default processing can smooth out very fine details. Using the Photo setting preserves more detail, but it may also capture unwanted textures like paper grain. The flatbed is suitable for standard letter-size documents, and the ADF facilitates easy multi-page scanning, although it doesn't support duplex scanning and is relatively slow. It also lacks a built-in OCR, so converting scans into searchable PDFs requires third-party software.
- Has a scanner with an ADF.
Decent scan quality.
Performance Usages
Changelog
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Updated Jan 07, 2026:
We've updated text throughout the review after converting to Test Bench 1.3.
- Updated Jan 05, 2026: We've updated the review to Test Bench 1.3, which adds a number of test boxes including Risk of Clogging and Ease of Unclogging. We also updated the Usage and Performance boxes at the top of the review to better integrate the new aspects covered. See the changelog.
- Updated Jul 26, 2024: We've corrected an error in the Dimensions section. The 'Depth When In Use' measurement of 21.5" (54.5 cm) is incorrect. The correct measurement is 20.3" (51.5 cm).
- Updated Feb 20, 2024: Added mention of the HP OfficeJet Pro 9135e as an alternative with duplex scanning in the Scanner Features section.
Check Price
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
There are a few variants of this printer, though they're almost entirely mechanically identical, though models in the 8120 series do lack fax connectivity. We tested the 8135e variant; you can see its label here.
| Model | Region/Retailer | Product Number | Fax Capability |
|---|---|---|---|
| HP OfficeJet Pro 8120e | Asia | 405W3C | No |
| HP OfficeJet Pro 8122e | UK | 405U3B | No |
| HP OfficeJet Pro 8124e | Europe | 405U7B | No |
| HP OfficeJet Pro 8125e | North America, Europe | 405U8B | No |
| HP OfficeJet Pro 8132e | North America | 40Q45B | Yes |
| HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e | North America | 40Q35A | Yes |
| HP OfficeJet Pro 8138e | North America | 40Q50A | Yes |
| HP OfficeJet Pro 8139e | North America | 40Q51A | Yes |
Let us know in the comments if you come across another variant of this printer, and we'll update our review.
Popular Printer Comparisons
The HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e is a basic inkjet printer. In many respects, it represents a step down from its predecessor, with a higher upfront cost, a clunkier user interface, slower printing speeds, and a removal of built-in software features like OCR for its scanner.
If you're looking for an alternative, look at our list of recommendations of the best inkjet printers, the best home printers, and the best printers for small businesses.
The HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e is better than the HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e for most uses. The 9125e produces nicer documents and yields significantly more prints, so you won't have to spend as much on ink over time. It supports duplex scanning and scans faster via the automatic feeder; however, the scans come out crooked, an issue the 8135e doesn't suffer from.
The Epson WorkForce Pro WF-4830 is better in practically every way than the HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e, though it is a bulkier appliance. The Epson feels more robust, is easier to maintain, and has a less clunky interface and a scanner that can automatically process two-sided pages.
The HP OfficeJet Pro 9135e is better than the HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e for most uses. The 9135e has a larger display, extendable scanner lid hinges, and automatic single-pass duplex scanning. It also has better print quality and faster printing speeds. Its cartridges are more expensive; however, they yield a larger number of prints, so you won't have to replace them as often as on the 8135e, resulting in lower ownership costs.
The HP OfficeJet Pro 9025e is better than the HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e. The 9025e has a more robust construction and a far more intuitive user interface, and it uses different cartridges with a much higher page yield. It also outputs documents much faster than the 8135e, and the 9025e's scanner's ADF processes documents far more efficiently. The 9025e's scanner also features built-in optical character recognition.
Test Results
The HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e feels pretty well-built. It's similar to most other HP printers in this respect, with a body made mostly from thicker plastic; as per the manufacturer, at least 45% of the printer is recycled material. Lifting the scanner bed gives you good access to the maintenance bay, and the dampener that props the scanner bed open is quite robust. This also makes clearing paper jams fairly easy. Unfortunately, the scanner lid hinges feel rather cheap, and the front paper tray takes a lot of effort to pull out. The internal support that allows you to adjust the angle of its screen also feels rather fragile and is easy to pull out of its socket when pivoting the display upwards, producing a disconcerting cracking noise.
The display is sub-par. The touch-sensitive screen is small and responds sluggishly to inputs. Meanwhile, the touch-capacitive buttons just below the screen are very sensitive, and it's easy to accidentally press one when swiping through the menu. The screen's glossy surface, combined with the white-on-black interface, results in all-around poor viewing angles. The display tilts, but its range of movement is limited. The internal support that allows the screen to tilt vertically also feels fragile; pulling the screen upwards just a little too much produces a disconcerting cracking noise.
The HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e has an okay cartridge system. It uses HP 923 cartridges, which look outwardly identical to the HP 910 cartridges found in the HP OfficeJet Pro 8025 but have a higher page yield. The printer will issue low ink warnings on the display screen, but you can only check real-time ink level status through the HP Smart software. Thankfully, the printer won't block any print jobs when a cartridge is low on ink or empty.
The printer is compatible with HP 923e high-yield cartridges, which are designed to increase page yields to approximately 1,000 pages, according to HP's estimates.
The HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e has the typical maintenance requirements you'd expect of an inkjet printer. Like any inkjet model, the printheads can clog if you don't print for a prolonged period. To combat the risk of print quality deterioration over time, you can run a few procedures: printhead cleaning, printhead alignment, and smear cleaning, which removes smudges that can appear on printed pages.
The HP 923 cartridges have a reasonable yield, so you won't need to replace them all that often unless you print at high volumes regularly. You can access the cartridges by opening the printer's front panel and lifting the entire scanner bed. However, the printer needs to be on for you to replace them since the cartridge carriage is locked in place to the left of the maintenance bay when the printer is off, where pulling out the cartridges is effectively impossible. You can easily remove the cover from the sheet rollers to clear out any paper jams. The input tray holds 225 plain sheets, so you don't need to refill it very often.
This is an inkjet printer, which means it can clog if left unused for an extended period. Inkjet printers use liquid ink that flows through extremely fine printhead nozzles. During extended periods of inactivity, this ink can evaporate, thicken, or dry out, potentially blocking the ink flow. Environmental factors such as dry air, dust, temperature fluctuations, or direct sunlight can accelerate clog formation. Clogs may cause missing lines, faded colors, or complete print failures. To reduce the risk, we recommend printing periodically and storing the printer in a cool, stable environment. If clogs occur, most inkjet printers include built-in maintenance routines to help clear the printheads, which are detailed in the Expected Maintenance test box of this review.
If you don't want to deal with unclogging, laser printers use a different system with dry toner and a drum instead of ink and printheads, which avoids this issue.
This printer features replaceable printheads, but its cartridges have a low volume. The available flush volume can fix many everyday clogging issues, but you may need more than one cartridge for the most severe blockages. When flushing is insufficient, users can at least replace the printhead as a last resort.
- User manual
- Power cable
- HP 923 Instant Ink setup cartridges:
- 1x cyan
- 1x magenta
- 1x yellow
- 1x black
This is a corded printer without a battery.
The HP OfficeJet Pro 81355's cost-per-print is great, with caveats. Its HP 923 cartridges have a higher yield than the 910 cartridges used in the HP OfficeJet Pro 8025, but they also cost more, resulting in only marginally lower recurring costs. Unfortunately, and more importantly, the 8135e has a considerably higher MSRP than the 8025, offsetting the relatively meager difference in ownership cost if you buy it at full price. It's also worth noting that this printer is only compatible with genuine new or remanufactured HP cartridges, and it won't accept generic third-party cartridges.
This printer comes with a 3-month subscription to HP's Instant Ink service, which automatically ships replacement cartridges to your door when the printer detects that it's running low on ink. Subscribing to this service does come with a few important caveats, however. The printer will have to be constantly connected to the internet to function. Subscribing to the service also means that the printer will only accept HP Instant Ink cartridges instead of conventional HP cartridges. As such, you'll have to estimate how much ink will be required before a printing job since the service will only send you new cartridges when it detects that your printer is running low. Hypothetically, there could be a situation in which a single large print job consumes more than one cartridge, forcing you to wait on a replacement from HP before you can complete the print job.
The HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e prints reasonably fast, though that depends on the source of your printed material. There's noticeable buffering and pausing while printing black-and-white documents over Wi-Fi, resulting in a max speed of 10 PPM, far from the advertised pace of 20 PPM. That said, it prints considerably faster when printing directly over USB, which increases its monochrome print speed to 18 PPM. Unfortunately, color printing speeds are quite slow, regardless of connection type. It's also slow to initialize from an idle state and get a single page out.
The quality of black-and-white documents is great. Text looks crisp and sharp. However, there is some evidence of banding when printing in its standard setting. These artifacts disappear when using the 'High Quality' preset, however.
The HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e delivers great color document print quality. Text looks clear and legible, and colored areas aren't overly saturated, though they're a tad grainy. Finer elements are also represented accurately. Similar to printing in black and white, there's some evidence of banding when printing in its standard setting. These artifacts disappear when using the 'High Quality' preset.
This printer supports most standard paper sizes.
The HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e has a decent range of scanner features. While the flatbed isn't large enough to scan legal documents or tabloid pages, it's more than enough for scanning typical letter-format items. Its automatic document feeder (ADF) makes scanning multiple pages in a row easy, though it can't perform automatic double-sided scanning. Its scanning speed also isn't all that fast either. Unlike its predecessor, the HP OfficeJet Pro 8025e, there's no built-in software-based OCR, which would allow you to turn your scans into text-searchable PDFs. This is a rather unusual omission for a printer of this type, and you'll be forced to use third-party software for this kind of application instead. If duplex scanning is a must, check out the HP OfficeJet Pro 9135e.
Models in the 8120e series lack fax functionality.
The scan quality is decent. Text looks crisp and legible, but in its default setting, the scan processing algorithm tends to smooth out really fine details. You'll want to use the 'Photo' setting to preserve finer elements in a document, though be aware that it'll pick up on unwanted details like the texture of the paper.
This printer has a limited color gamut. Color transitions are grainy, and the printer has a tough time reproducing lighter shades of red, green, and blue, giving printed photos a somewhat flat and dark appearance and smoothing out fine details. You can easily tell the difference when comparing the sample photo from this HP printer versus the same image printed with the professional-grade Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-300 as well as the source photo.
The HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e has decent color accuracy. It produces images that look relatively natural, if a little dark. All the same, it's suitable for printing the occasional family portrait. Professionals seeking more precise color reproduction will want to look elsewhere.
The HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e does an okay job of reproducing small details. Small details in the background of some shots are very hard to see due to halftones (dot effect). These halftones are very noticeable and make edges and distant objects look less defined.
This printer features an additional USB slot on the right side of the printer. Models in the 8120e series don't have RJ-11 modem/phone cable ports for faxing.
Like most other HP printers, the HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e is compatible with the HP Smart app, which offers a broad range of features. From the app, you can print a variety of file types, scan from the printer, mobile fax, and manage your HP Instant Ink subscription.
On Windows, downloading the HP Smart app automatically installs the printer drivers. You don't need to download any drivers on macOS since you can print using AirPrint. You can add the printer to the Chrome OS printer settings without installing additional software.