HP OfficeJet 8015 vs HP Envy 6055: A Feature-by-Feature Breakdown

9th May 2025
IJT Admin

Trying to make sense of the difference between printer models is a tall order. Lucky for you, I’ve spent hands-on time with both the HP OfficeJet 8015 and the HP Envy 6055. 

Through my tests, I’ve aimed to figure out which printer works best, which prints look sharpest, and how we can save on ink costs. In this post, I’ll cover everything from print quality and speed to connectivity and ink costs, and who each printer suits best.

First Impressions: Build and Interface

Interface 

Out of the box, the OfficeJet 8015 feels like a serious workhorse. It’s fairly chunky and heavy (it even has a large 2.2-inch colour touch LCD on the front). The Envy 6055, by contrast, is more petite and minimalist. 

It has no LCD, just a few touch buttons and status lights. So, you navigate more with your phone or computer. In everyday use, that means setting up the OfficeJet is more straightforward on the machine itself, thanks to the screen. 

The Envy really makes you rely on the HP Smart app or AirPrint on a phone.

Officejet has better paper handling

The OfficeJet’s beefier build isn’t just for show: it has a 35-sheet automatic document feeder (ADF) on top and a 225-sheet input tray. 

The Envy’s paper tray only holds about 100 sheets, and it has no ADF. Yeah, just a flatbed scanner. 

What that means practically is if you’re scanning multi-page documents, the OfficeJet will zip through with its ADF, whereas the Envy requires you to manually lift the lid and feed each page. 

In real-world terms, after my first multi-page scan on the Envy, I felt like I was back in the ’90s flipping pages by hand.

On the plus side, both printers support automatic duplex printing (double-sided), which is handy. 

Print Quality 

So, how do they print? Well, on plain text and graphics, both do a decent job, but the OfficeJet has the edge. I printed the same test documents on each. 

The OfficeJet 8015 really nails sharp, crisp text and figures and the colour accuracy is impressive. The Envy 6055 prints text a bit slower and, frankly, a touch softer. Its black text was fine, but just not quite as sharp as the OfficeJet.

Printing in colour

I recommend the OfficeJet for colour documents (flyers, charts, photos) over the Envy. The Envy’s prints were perfectly acceptable for school projects or casual use, but if you really care about photo accuracy, it’s slightly behind the OfficeJet.

What about photos?

Okay, so I know a lot of people want a home printer that can do it all, even print photos. Long story short is that if you want decent quality photo prints at home, a photo-specific model will do a much better job in my opinion. 

When it comes to colour photos for the HP OfficeJet 8015 and HP Envy 6055, neither printer is a champion (they’re both budget inkjets, after all). I fed them a batch of family photos. 

The OfficeJet’s colours came out a bit richer and more accurate than the Envy’s. The Envy’s prints looked flat. The blues and reds just didn’t pop as much, and faces looked a little dull. 

In my experience, this is because the Envy’s colour range is narrow which makes its output look much darker and less detailed than it should. 

The OfficeJet isn’t perfect either. It also has a limited gamut, so in my opinion some photos came out a bit grainy. In short, if you need to print a bunch of photos, you’ll probably notice slightly better results on the OfficeJet. 

Speed and Productivity

Speed-wise, the OfficeJet is noticeably faster. I did some timing tests: printing a simple one-page report (draft mode) on the OfficeJet took roughly a few seconds, but on the Envy it felt noticeably longer. 

Officially, HP rates the OfficeJet 8015 at up to 18 pages per minute (ppm) black and 10 ppm colour (A4, ISO). The Envy 6055 is rated around 10 ppm black and 7 ppm colour. 

In other words, the OfficeJet can push out almost twice as many pages per minute as the Envy. In my opinion, that extra speed is definitely worth the extra price if you’re regularly printing documents more than 10 pages. If you’re not at that volume, then stick with the Envy.

Multi-page copying was also quicker on the OfficeJet (thanks to the ADF doing the heavy lifting). And even on first-page-out tests, the OfficeJet often started printing a few seconds faster than the Envy.

Connectivity

I should note both printers are pretty similar in terms of connectivity, so this won’t be a deal breaker. They both have Wi-Fi (the OfficeJet even supports dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n and the Envy supports 802.11ac/b/g/n). 

In testing, both connected easily via the HP Smart app or AirPrint. I had no trouble printing from my laptop or phone on either printer. 

The OfficeJet’s built-in panel even let me check Wi-Fi status and ink levels on the machine; the Envy required me to do that via the app or its very basic “i” and copy buttons.

And just quickly, if you need some help connecting your printer to wifi, just check out my blog post.

Scanning and Copying

The scanning experience really highlights the differences between these printers. 

As mentioned, the OfficeJet 8015 has a 35-sheet ADF plus flatbed scanner. I scanned a batch of 20 pages of documents, and the OfficeJet fed them through automatically (though it only scans one side at a time – there’s no auto-duplex in the ADF). 

The Envy’s flatbed meant I had to open the lid for each page. It took forever. In fact, scan speed is comparable (both around 8 ppm mono, ~3.5 ppm colour), but the ADF on the OfficeJet lets it multitask in the background while I grab a coffee.

For copying, the OfficeJet again wins on convenience. You stack pages in the ADF, hit copy on the touchscreen, and it spits out copies quickly. 

On the Envy, I had to lift each page. Both support colour and black-and-white copying, but only the OfficeJet has a true one-touch interface (the Envy’s copying is done via the smartphone app or by pressing the small copy buttons on the panel).

As a result, for any serious scanning/copying job, I recommend the OfficeJet. The Envy’s scanning and copying are fine for odd pages – but if you’ve got more than a handful of pages, it becomes a chore.

Ink Costs and Efficiency

Here’s where things get interesting. Not all HP ink costs the same, so let me explain. 

The OfficeJet 8015 uses HP 912/912XL individual ink cartridges (one each of black, cyan, magenta, yellow). The standard HP 912 cartridges yield around 200 pages each, and the high-capacity 912XL ones yield about 825 pages per colour. 

On the other hand, the Envy 6055 uses only two cartridges: a black and a tri-color, both under the name HP 305 or HP 305XL for high capacity. 

Now, the regular HP 305 black cartridge is ~120 pages, and the standard HP 305 tricolor is ~100 pages. Even the 305XL high-yield tri-color only manages about 200 pages, and black around 240 (XL).

Putting it plainly: the OfficeJet’s ink goes MUCH further. With HP’s high-yield 912XL, you get about four times the page count in colour per cartridge than the Envy’s tri-colour (825 vs ~200). T

That means in my testing, the Envy was constantly warning “ink low” even on moderate use. My family’s 50-page photo album test emptied an Envy 67XL in a snap, while the OfficeJet was only halfway through a 912XL. 

In my experience, 6055’s cartridges run out pretty quickly and make it expensive to maintain. Between the two, the OfficeJet 8015 is the better value for ink if you print a lot, simply because each cartridge lasts so much longer. 

So, if you’re looking to lower the cost per print and save the hassle of frequent cartridge changes, I recommend the Officejet 8015. That said, if you only print occasionally (let’s say once a week or less), the cheaper initial price of the Envy might outweigh its ink cost 

Now, here’s where IJT comes in. We have our own recycled (remanufactured) HP 912 and 305 cartridges, and they work flawlessly in both printers. What’s better is that they are 40–50% cheaper per cartridge than HP’s. 

So, Who Should Buy Which Printer?

Home or family use

If you’re printing school worksheets, recipe prints, newsletters, etc., both printers will serve you. The Envy 6055 is smaller and usually cheaper (often selling for under £100 in the UK), so it’s appealing for a tight budget. 

However, be prepared for more frequent ink changes. The OfficeJet 8015 (around £120–£140) is a bit more of an investment, but its faster speed and better print quality make it nicer for families, especially if you do yearbooks or photos. 

For a household that prints bigger documents (10+ pages) and occasionally photos, I’d lean OfficeJet. But for a really casual user who prints maybe a few pages a week, the Envy is okay.

Home office or student

If you’re a student or home office user, your needs might be a mix of homework, essays, and some colourful presentations. 

Speed helps here: the OfficeJet’s ~18 ppm in mono vs the Envy’s ~10 ppm means less waiting during study crunches. The automatic duplex on both is handy for saving paper (the Envy can print double-sided but you feed the paper manually one side at a time). 

I personally tested under a simulated student load – printing draft papers and slide prints – and the OfficeJet came out ahead every time. 

Its only downside is size; if desk space is really tight, the Envy’s compact shape is tempting. That said, I value the OfficeJet’s ADF and larger tray (225 sheets vs 100) for sanity during busy weeks. 

Basically, for a serious student or home entrepreneur, I recommend the OfficeJet 8015. For a more casual student or bedroom/home user with light print needs, the Envy 6055 is fine (especially on a student budget), but be prepared to be patient with the print out speed.

Small Business or office settings

This is where the OfficeJet 8015 really shines. If you’re looking for a small office printer, you want reliability, speed, and features. 

The ADF and automatic duplex copying on the OfficeJet make multi-page docs a breeze. The Envy 6055 is really designed for home use, not a heavy office. 

So if I were setting up a small business space – say 2–3 people sharing a printer – I’d pick the OfficeJet 8015 hands-down.

 The bigger upfront cost is offset by its efficiency and lower cost-per-page (especially with IJT remanufactured inks). The Envy, while “family-friendly,” would bottleneck our workflow with its slower speed and fiddly scanning.

I’ll also note here that the OfficeJet 8015 isn’t designed for teams more than 3 or 4 people, it just won’t handle it. So, if you’re shopping for a larger office, I suggest having a look at the LaserJet models. 

And if you’re not about the difference between a laser and inkjet printer, have a quick read of my explainer. 

Final Verdict

After putting both printers through the wringer, my take is this: If you need a workhorse that can handle heavier use, go for the HP OfficeJet 8015. It’s faster, its text and document quality are crisper, and it has the features (ADF, duplex, larger trays) that save you time. 

Yes, it costs a bit more initially, but you’ll thank yourself over time with fewer ink refills. On the other hand, the HP Envy 6055 is a fine little printer for casual use. 

It’s more affordable upfront and takes up less space, which is great for students or a corner home office. 

In short: both are HP-branded, well-made machines, but they target different users. I’d say OfficeJet 8015 for busy home/office use and Envy 6055 for occasional home or student use. 

Rest assured, in my tests both printed just fine, but the OfficeJet generally delivered better value-per-page thanks to its high-yield cartridges and faster operation.

Hope this breakdown helps you pick the right printer – and the right ink!