HP Dynamic Security and third-party cartridges: what HP actually says

HP builds some printers to work only with cartridges that carry a new or reused HP chip. Cartridges that reuse an original HP chip are unaffected. Cartridges with a non-HP chip may work for a while and then stop, and HP can change that behavior through firmware updates. A printer enrolled in HP+ is stricter still: HP requires Original HP supplies for the life of that printer.

HP’s own wording

From HP’s dynamic security documentation: “Cartridges using a non-HP chip or modified or non-HP circuitry may not function,” while “non-HP cartridges that reuse an original HP security chip or have unmodified HP electronic circuitry are unaffected.” HP also states that “changes to dynamic security can occur through firmware updates delivered over the internet,” which is the part worth planning around. A cartridge that prints today is not guaranteed to print after an update.

That distinction matters when you’re buying. A remanufactured cartridge built on an original HP shell with its original chip sits on the safe side of HP’s own carve-out. A new-build cartridge with a third-party chip does not.

HP+ is a separate thing, and it’s stricter

HP+ is an enrollment, not a security feature. HP’s terms require “use of Original HP Ink for the lifetime of the printer,” along with an HP account and an internet connection. In exchange HP lists a two-year warranty instead of one.

You can spot these models by the product code: HP says HP+ models carry “a small letter e at the end of the product code,” such as the OfficeJet Pro 9015e or DeskJet 2755e. If your printer’s model ends in e and you enrolled it, a compatible cartridge will not print, and no cartridge seller can change that. We flag HP+ on the printer pages and on the cartridges those printers use.

One thing we can’t tell you: whether enrollment can be undone. HP’s public HP+ pages say it is “embedded in the device” but do not answer the reversal question, so we’re not going to guess. Ask HP support about your specific model.

The 2025 settlement

HP settled a class action over firmware updates that made printers reject third-party toner. Per The Register’s report, the settlement involved no payment and no admission of wrongdoing. What HP agreed to was to keep disclosing its use of dynamic security and to keep giving users the option to install or decline firmware updates. Dynamic security did not go away. It became better signposted.

What Brother and Canon do

Brother has publicly denied running anything equivalent, stating that “Brother firmware updates do not block the use of third-party ink and toner cartridges in our machines.” Brother’s manuals still recommend genuine supplies and note that third-party cartridges may affect quality or damage the machine, which is a recommendation rather than a lock.

Canon runs no documented HP+ equivalent. During the 2021 and 2022 chip shortage Canon shipped its own toner cartridges without chips and published guidance on dismissing the resulting warnings, which tells you how much of this is enforcement rather than physics.

What to do about it

• Check whether your model ends in e before buying a compatible cartridge for an HP printer.
• Decide about firmware updates deliberately. HP has to offer you the choice. Security updates matter on a networked printer, so this is a real tradeoff rather than an easy no.
• Prefer cartridges that reuse the original HP chip on dynamic security models. That is HP’s own stated carve-out.
• Keep the box and the receipt. If a firmware update stops a cartridge working, that’s a return, and ours are covered for 90 days including opened cartridges that are defective.

Every HP cartridge page on this site carries the firmware warning that applies to it. HP toner.