The best printers are fast, affordable, easy to use, with excellent quality, and good long-term value. Finding the perfect balance of features and cost is incredibly hard, so we've put together a list of the printers we think will meet your needs best. These printers are our top picks for business, home use, budget pricing, and more.
We cover a variety of printers in this guide, but if you already know what you're looking for, you might prefer our guide to the best cheap printers, best color laser printers, or best all-in-one printers.
HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e
Best business inkjet for your home office
- Fast prints for a midrange inkjet
- Nice borderless prints on photo paper
- Good-quality pictures (with borders) on plain paper
- Reliable Duplex
- USB-A for thumb drives
- It's cartridge-based
- No media tray for one-off prints
Why should you buy this? It's a solid all-around printer that's great for documents and photos.
Who is the HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e for? Homes and offices with moderate printing needs.
Why we picked the HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e:
The previous generation HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e was already a solid printer, and improvements to make the OfficeJet Pro 9125e an even better inkjet printer. With print speeds up to 22 pages per minute, 1,200 dpi scans, and an automatic document feeder with a tray capacity of 35 pages for quick scans and copies.
The tray loader can handle up to 250 sheets of paper, and the printer can output to a variety of formats and paper sizes, including envelopes, cards, labels, and more. And with an output of up to 4800 x 1200 resolution for color jobs, this printer is versatile enough to handle photo printing as well.
With the OfficeJet Pro 9125e, HP includes three months of its Instant Ink subscription service, which monitors how much ink you have in your cartridge and sends you replacements when you're running low. While it may not be worth subscribing if you print in volume, it's a nice feature for small offices with limited space in supply closets. Other features include Wi-Fi printing, a companion app to monitor print status, and support for AirPrint.
HP also sells high-capacity, eco-friendly EvoMore cartridges, which will help reduce printing costs in the long term. This printer averages about 3 cents per page in monochrome and 10 cents for color. The OfficeJet Pro 9125e can handle duplex scanning, copying, and printing to help reduce your paper cost.
Brother DCP-L2550DW
Best budget monochrome laser printer
- Fast 36 ppm printing
- Scans and copies are equally fast
- Paper tray olds 250 sheets
- ADF holds 50 sheets
- Four months of toner in trial subscription
- Needs extra room for ventilation
- Toner is a bit expensive in standard size
Why should you buy this? The Brother DCP-L2550DW delivers fast print speeds and exceptionally affordable print costs.
Who is the Brother DCP-L2550DW for? Home and small office users looking for economical monochrome printing.
Why we picked the Brother DCP-L2550DW:
Brother's DCP-L2550DW is remarkably quick for an affordable all-in-one printer, rolling out long documents at up to 36 pages per minute. While the pricing works for home offices, it's sturdy and fast enough to satisfy small businesses. As a monochrome printer, it's best for documents, homework, PDFs, shipping labels, and invoices rather than photos, business reports, and craft projects.
If you mostly print in black-and-white, you'll be happy with the scan, copy, and print capabilities of this printer. The cost per print is roughly two to four cents per page, depending on whether you use standard or high-capacity toner cartridges.
Brother cut costs by providing a small, two-line monochrome display. It makes setup a little harder, but copying and scanning with the controls is simple. The DCP-L2550DW has a 250-sheet tray with automatic duplexing.
HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301dw
Best fast color laser printer with full duplex
- Lightning fast print and scan speeds
- Good print quality
- Two paper trays
- Easy setup and use
- Reliable operation
- Color cost per page is just OK
- No borderless printing
Why should you buy this? It's a quick, reliable color laser printer with great quality.
Who is the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301dw Printer for? Office users who need a color laser printer.
Why we picked the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301dw:
If you want a laser printer for your home or office, the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301dw could be what you're looking for. It's blazing fast, printing 35 pages per minute in color or monochrome. Even though it's expensive, this sturdy printer is built to last, so you'll get long-term value in a busy workspace.
With a 250-sheet main paper tray and a 50-sheet multipurpose tray, it's an excellent choice for offices, where you might switch between paper types and sizes often. It looks nice enough with its navy blue and white styling that you won't mind putting in your home office either.
HP's Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301dw isn’t just fast; it also supports duplex printing for double-sided scanning, copying, and printing. No job is too big for this printer.
The only downside to a color laser printer is the cost of color toner. If you frequently print photos or a large volume of color documents, an inkjet tank printer is a more economical choice.
Epson EcoTank 2850
Best way to save on ink costs
- Large ink reservoirs last a long time
- Ink levels visible at a glance
- Great print quality
- Very high-resolution scans
- Two-year warranty
- Print speed is a bit slow
- Mobile app setup didn't work
- Blueish tone to some prints
Why should you buy this? You have moderate printing needs and don't want to spend a fortune on ink.
Who is the Epson EcoTank ET-2850 for? Small office users with limited ink budgets.
Why we picked the Epson EcoTank ET-2850:
The Epson EcoTank ET-2850 is a compact all-in-one printer designed to minimize the hassle and cost of ink replacement. It features large, refillable ink tanks, making it easy to monitor ink levels at a glance. The EcoTank ET-2850 is among the most economical printers. It comes with enough ink to last up to two years, saving you hundreds of dollars ink. That's a substantial savings if you print frequently or in high volume.
The EcoTank ET-2850 offers high-resolution printing, scanning, and copying, making it suitable for both home and small office use. While it isn't as fast as some office printers, its quality, versatility. and large ink supply make it a worthwhile investment.
The EcoTank ET-2850’s ability to print high-quality borderless photos, envelopes, labels, and documents without the constant need for ink cartridge replacements makes it an excellent choice for those looking to reduce printing costs and environmental waste.
Canon MegaTank Pixma G3270
Best compact office printer
- Good borderless photo prints
- Accurate colors and good detail
- Large ink tanks last a long time
- Great value
- Minimal ink costs
- Slow document scanning and printing
- Display panel isn't adjustable
Why should you buy this? It has all the features of an office printer with a home printer footprint.
Who is the Canon MegaTank Pixma G3270 for? Office users who need a fast printer.
Why we picked the Canon MegaTank Pixma G3270:
The Canon MegaTank Pixma G3270 is a compact and affordable home office printer that balances cost, quality, and features. Measuring just 16.4 inches wide, 13.3 inches deep, and 7 inches tall with all trays closed, it's easy to fit into small spaces and weighs only 13.2 pounds, making it easy to setup and move around. The printer comes in black or white, so you can pick the model that works best in your office.
Despite its small size, the Pixma G3270 doesn't sacrific print quality. Photo prints look great on glossy and matte paper, with a slight bias toward warm colors. The printer is relatively fast for its category, printing 11 black and six color pages per minute. While the flatbed scanner is slow, it delivers good quality scans and copies.
The printer is user-friendly, with clearly marked adjustments and a simple control panel. It supports Windows, macOS, iPhone, Android, and ChromeOS. The MegaTank Pixma G3270 is ideal for home use, offering low ink costs and easy maintenance, though it lacks some advanced features like duplex scanning and automatic document feeding.
Canon Pixma TS6420a
Affordable and stylish inkjet for dorms and homes
- Great photo prints
- Fast for a budget printer
- Very compact and lightweight
- Low upfront cost
- Easy setup
- Black ink is expensive
- Tricolor cartridge wastes ink
Why should you buy this? It's small and inexpensive, yet still produces great-quality prints.
Who is the Canon Pixma TS6420a? Students and home users who want a high-quality all-in-one printer without the bulk.
Why we picked the Canon Pixma TS6420a:
Canon's Pixma TS6420as a stylish and affordable printer that's suited for those who may not have frequent printing needs. The compact design of this printer makes it a great option for dorm rooms. It has a footprint of 16 by 14 inches and stands just six inches tall.
You can find incredible deals on the Pixma TS6420a, but don't let its size and cost fool you — this tiny all-in-one printer has great quality and prints up to 13 pages per minute in monochrome and seven pages per minute in color.
The only trade-off is ink cost, which ranges from eight cents to 12 cents per page. Canon also offers a subscription ink service to help you manage your ink cartridges, cutting costs a bit and ensuring you're always ready for your next print job.
Epson WorkForce Pro WF-4730
Affordable workgroup printer with terrific print output
- Fast printing speeds
- Reliable inkjet quality
- Borderless prints up to 8.5-by-11-inch
- No auto-duplexing ADF capability
Why should you buy this? It's a big MFP that does everything and does it well.
Who is the Epson WorkForce Pro WF-4730 for? Workgroups and small office users who need a fast printer.
Why we picked the Epson WorkForce Pro WF-4730:
Epson's powerful Workforce all-in-one printer is a boon for offices that still need a reliable printing solution that can handle whatever they throw at it. It's designed to be highly accurate and uses technology to minimize heat so the printer lasts as long as possible while still handling frequent work.
It's also speedy for its size: The printer has a 20 ppm rating for printing and copying either B&W or color, and an ADF makes scans and copies speedy. The Epson WorkForce Pro WF-4730 also supports faxing for the rare times when you need to use that feature. Plus, the 500-sheet tray is larger than many printers offer at this size. The model also sports all the reliable Epson features we love, including a solid touchscreen for controls, app management for setup, built-in wireless support for the office network, and more.
Brother HL-L2405W
Best monochrome laser printer for light use
- Very low cost
- Fast print speeds
- Easy wireless connections
- Compact design
- Expensive operating cost
- No duplex printing
Why should you buy this? It's a fast, compact laser printer that takes all of the work out of printing black and white documents and shipping labels.
Who is the Brother HL-L2405W for? Work from home offices and small businesses that don't print several documents each day.
Why we picked the Brother HL-L2405W:
The initial cost of the Brother HL-L2405Wis shockingly low for a laser printer. With a cost of just a little over $100, you might expect this to be an inkjet, but this budget-priced printer can roll through 30 pages per minute and lasts a long time before needing new toner. It's monochrome and meant for printing documents and it handles that task beautifully.
Brother has excellent wireless compatibility and didn't skimp on its budget model. It's easy to print over your Wi-Fi network from Apple devices using AirPrint, Google, and Android via Cloud Print, Windows WSD or you can use Wi-Fi direct if a local area network isn't available.
It's not all good news and the toner is where Brother makes back some money. If you're printing several pages each day or a big batch weekly, the costs might add up too quickly and overcome the initial savings. However, for lighter use, this is a fantastic deal.
Epson EcoTank ET-8500
Best all-in-one for photo-quality prints
- Excellent photo quality
- Fast document and photo prints
- Easy setup and use
- Fast and quiet scanner
- Three paper trays with wide media support
- SD card and USB drive support
- Small footprint with automatic output tray
- No automatic document feeder
- High initial cost
Why should you buy this? It's an all-in-one inkjet tank that prints lab-quality photos, and it's versatile enough to double as a home office printer.
Who is the Epson EcoTank ET-8500 for? Photographers, creative professionals, and anyone that demands top-quality prints without high ink costs.
Why we picked the Epson EcoTank ET-8500:
The Epson EcoTank ET-8500 is a compact all-in-one photo printer designed for lab-quality prints at home. It features a six-color ink system, including the standard cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, along with gray and photo black. The additional inks enhance the dynamic range and color fidelity, for stunning picture quality.
The EcoTank ET-8500 prints vibrant, borderless photo prints on matte or glossy paper, with colors that are crisp and accurate. Even draft-quality photos maintain good color accuracy and sharpness. The speed is also impressive, delivering up to 16 black-and-white or 12 color documents per minute. Photo prints are also quick, with best-quality 4×6 prints taking under a minute.
As an all-in-one, the EcoTank ET-8500’s scanner is fast and quiet, and the large touchscreen simplifies copying, scanning, and accessing drives and cards. The printer supports various media types, including CDs and DVDs, making it versatile for different printing needs.
Despite its higher price, the EcoTank ET-8500 offers long-term value with its large ink tanks and low running costs. The included ink supply can last over a year, and the cost per page is significantly lower than cartridge-based printers. If you prioritize photo printing and need high-quality, reliable prints, the EcoTank ET-8500 is highly recommended.