The Best Home Printers for When You Need Hard Copies

Paige Szmodis, Hunter Fenollol

9 June 2022 at 3:03 pm·15-min read

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Work from home is here to stay, making this an ideal time to invest in a reliable printer. New printers feature advancements in quality, smart features like automatic ink refills, and expanded wireless connectivity support so that you can spend more time getting work done and less time playing tech support professional or on the phone with one. This makes pains like paper jams, unexpectedly empty ink cartridges, and connectivity issues largely a thing of the past.

We selected each of these home printers after our extensive research showed consistently high marks for their performance and dependability.

Check out quick info below on the best printers, then scroll deeper for buying advice and in-depth reviews.

The Best Home Printers

Best Overall: HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e
Best Inkjet Printer: Canon Maxify GX7021
Best Laser Printer: Brother MFCL2710DW
Best for Photos: Canon Pixma TR8620
Best Portable: HP OfficeJet 250
Best Value: HP Envy Inspire 7955e

Printer Types—Inkjet vs. Laser

While each type of printer has its set of strengths and weaknesses, you’ll also want to consider each individual printer’s functions. Our recommendations consist of all-in-one devices that can print, copy, scan, and sometimes fax, but some are more suited to specific tasks. Printers with automatic document feeders are ideal for scanning and copying many pages at once; other printers with high page-per-minute (ppm) numbers excel at quickly printing out multi-page documents; and models with different paper inputs are crucial if you plan to print on different colors or sizes of paper.

Inkjet

Most home printers utilize inkjet technology because it produces high quality graphics for image-centric prints with a lower upfront cost. Inkjet printers use small nozzles to emit liquid black or color ink or dye from cartridges directly to the paper. This liquid ink mixes to create photos and documents with richer colors, though it’s more likely to smudge when printing fine text. Ink tends to run more expensive than toner, but its undeniably stronger image performance and compatibility with smaller-bodied printers make it the more popular choice for small home offices. Inkjet printers may be a lower intitial investment, but a laser printer can save you money over time compared to the cost of replacing ink, especially so if you plan to use the printer less frequently for higher quantities of black and white documents like text-heavy reports.

Inkjet Cartridge Cost: You can expect to pay an average of $35.25 per cartridge based on the lowest ($19 and $25) and highest ($33 and $64) priced genuine black and color ink cartridges at the time of this publication. You can buy generic third-party cartridges for most printers to save a few bucks, but they often set off warning messages and tend to clog more frequently. While most inkjet printers themselves are affordable, their cost of ownership has become more expensive over time due to rising ink costs. The brightest colors and clearest images are going to come at a premium depending on how frequently you have to replace your cartridges.

Laser

Laser printers are less commonly found in home offices due to the fact that they are more expensive than inkjet models and take up more space. Laser printers use a toner cartridge that contains powder instead of ink. These devices use static electricity to attract and imprint toner onto the paper through heat. Unlike ink, toner can sit unused for longer periods of time and isn’t used up for maintenance. Laser printers excel at printing monochrome text and are generally faster and more detailed, with smaller fonts than most inkjets. If you often print out multiple pages of text-heavy documents or run an office with high print volumes, laser offers a better bang for your buck. With that said, many laser models cannot print in color—and color-capable laser printers are significantly pricier.

Toner Cartridge Cost: Toner is generally cheaper, at $77 for a genuine high-yield cartridge capable of printing 3,000 black and white pages. However a generic high-yield toner like this one from E-Z Ink can print 6,000 pages (3,000 per cartridge) for just $14 per cartridge with its two-pack. Opting for laser means you’ll save on ink costs, but these printer types often suffer in printing color photos and images.

Why Ink Runs Out So Fast And How to Preserve It

If you’ve owned an inkjet printer, you’ve likely found yourself frustrated by insatiable cartridges that tend to guzzle ink. Even if you use a printer infrequently, you can find yourself replacing expensive cartridges for just a light one- or two-page print job. You’re not imagining this phantom drain phenomenon—and no, it’s not some sort of scam to make you spend more money. Unfortunately, inkjet printers not only use ink to print on the page, but also for maintenance. Consumer Reports found that intermittent use—a few pages a few times per week—used more ink for routine maintenance than printing in larger batches. Leaving the printer on between uses may reduce the ink used during this maintenance cycle—without requiring a ton of electricity to keep it running. You can also save significantly by purchasing XL ink cartridges in bundles.

And if you print only a few times a year and seem to always have to buy new ink whenever you go to print, you’ll probably be better off printing through your workplace, the library, or another service from stores like Staples or FedEx. This issue occurs only with inkjet printers. If you won’t be using your printer daily, you may instead want to consider laser printers that use toner instead of liquid ink, because toner won’t dry up between use.

How We Selected and Rated

We researched ten expert sources and 25,000 consumer reviews to select the top home printers. To determine our Total Expert Score, we calculate the ratings from trusted publications such as PC Mag, CNET, and RTings then convert them to a 100-point scale to make it easier for you to weigh the best options. Our Consumer Score represents the percentage of customers who rated the product at least four out of five stars on retail and review sites like Amazon, Best Buy, and Office Depot. To accurately verify those scores, we use Fakespot analysis to confirm that the product reviews have a B rating or above, which indicates they’re left by real consumers and not bots.

—BEST OVERALL—

HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e

Total Expert Score: 85/100 | Consumer Score: 83% give it 4 stars or more

You’d be hard pressed to find a printer that makes the experience of printing effortless, but this updated version of the OfficeJet delivers in spades. Wirecutter named the 9015e the best all-in-one printer for most people because it “[hits] a sweet spot of speed, print quality, and reliability that other printers can’t match.” Serving as an incremental upgrade to the 9015, the 9015e is virtually the same model save for improvements, such as a sturdier build and higher color page yield. Compared to most inkjets, its performance is faster than average, with print speeds up to 22 ppm in black and 18 ppm in color. And when you need to scan multiple pages, you can use the auto document feeder to load up to 35 pages at a respectable 10 ppm.

HP refined this model to be easy to operate and more compact than previous iterations, so that you can set it and forget it. The 2.7-inch color display is relatively tiny but functional, though some icons may be difficult to click because of the limited space. Setting up this printer is relatively painless with HP’s EasyStart installer and HP Smart app, which connects to your devices over Wi-Fi smoothly regardless of platform. If your printer disconnects from your network at any point, the self-healing Wi-Fi feature automatically attempts to reconnect to your router. That cuts down on hours of troubleshooting on your end over the lifetime of this printer. Lastly, the company offers an Instant Ink subscription service with a variety of tiers (depending on how much you print each month) and will automatically mail you reasonably priced new cartridges when your ink supply runs low.

—BEST INKJET PRINTER—

Canon Maxify GX7021

Total Expert Score: 94/100 | Consumer Score: 91% give it 4 stars or more

Canon’s Maxify GX7021 inkjet is really a small office printer, with a massive tank for ink refills. Unlike cartridges, this refillable high-yield “MegaTank” (as Canon calls it) cuts down on waste and ink costs—a major advantage if you frequently print in color. Each color-coded tank corresponds with a matching refill bottle, and a whole color set comes in at just $30. That relatively affordable set of ink bottles can last approximately five times the life of cartridges, according to reviewers. A fully topped-off reservoir prints up to 6,000 black and 14,000 color pages on a single set of inks, amount to a cost of about two cents per page.

Prints from the Maxify feature a pigment that offers water resistance and doesn’t fade like dye-based inks, which degrade if not protected from light. The GX7021 prints blacks the fastest at 24 ppm but is 2 ppm behind our overall pick at 16 in color. Unlike the HP 9015e however, it offers a larger 500-sheet storage capacity (packed into two 250-page bottom cassettes) and narrower width. And its automatic single-pass duplex scan is faster than the auto document feeder found on the 9015e. Canon even offers an extensive three-year warranty and, should anything malfunction, the print head and maintenance cartridge are easily replaceable with a sliding mechanism. For the highest quality pages featuring the sharpest text and crispest color, the GX7021 is the best inkjet you can get. Though those marginal performance gains come at double the price.

—BEST LASER PRINTER—

Brother MFC-L2710DW

Total Expert Score: 77/100 | Consumer Score: 89% give it 4 stars or more

Brother’s MFC-L2710DW offers an easy Wi-Fi setup, speedy print times, and all-around reliability in a sub-$300 package. Since it only prints in black and white, its speeds reach up to 36 ppm. That’s fast, though it could use a boost to the rate at which it makes copies via the 50-page automatic document feeder, which prioritizes capacity over speeds. The lack of a touchscreen and relatively few manual buttons make it a bit more user-friendly, but the MFC-L2710DW may be too basic for those that prefer to play with settings, print templates, and functions directly on from a screen. Many Amazon reviews noted and appreciated that setup through Wi-Fi took just a few minutes.

At first glance, the MFC-L2710DW may seem a bit expensive for just a monochromatic printer. With that said, it’s feature-rich, capable of printing from mobile devices and automatically generating an Amazon order when it detects toner levels get low. This automates the printing experience so that you can simply send and print documents. And automatic two-sided printing and a Toner Save Mode reduces costs, making it a solid value. If you’re looking for a similarly capable laser printer that also has color printing options, check out the Brother HL-3170CDW. For clean colorless prints, you’ll have a hard time finding this level of performance for the price.

—BEST FOR PHOTOS—

Canon Pixma TR8620

Total Expert Score: 80/100 | Consumer Score: 86% give it 4 stars or more

This Canon isn’t strictly for photos, but it’s an excellent option if you need to print quality black-and-white documents and color pictures. Instead of tri-color cartridges, this printer uses a five-color ink system, including an extra Pigment Black ink that makes text and photos come out more resistant and rich. If you’ll be frequently printing colored graphics or photos, you’ll want a high page yield, which these cartridges are. In addition to having two paper input trays, it also has a 20-page auto document feeder and auto duplex printing for utilizing both sides of each sheet. The 4.3-inch color touchscreen is fairly large and user-friendly, and this model can print wirelessly or through USB or an Ethernet connection.

While the TR8620 can handle a large amount of printing, keep in mind that PCMag estimates its ink cost at seven cents per monochrome page, 12.3 cents for color pages, and 25 cents for 4 x 6-inch photos, which is more expensive than most for black-and-white printing. Its results speak for themselves, with still images that produce gorgeous HDR-like colors that pop from photos and no visible banding. If you print photos often, produce colored graphs, or work in a field focused around graphic design, this printer will serve you best with how it produces the best looking images. But if you’ll simply be printing black and white or text-heavy documents, a laser printer like the MFC-L2710DW above may be a better option for speedier, more cost-efficient prints.

—BEST PORTABLE PRINTER—

HP OfficeJet 250

Total Expert Score: 84/100 | Consumer Score: 90% give it 4 stars or more

This battery-powered all-in-one printer allows you to set up your office virtually anywhere. HP’s OfficeJet 250 falls on the more expensive side of the spectrum, but you’re paying for the versatility of its compact 15 x 8-inch design. You can easily shuffle it between rooms or pack it into a travel bag—a godsend with many employers embracing remote and hybrid work policies.

You can utilize either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connectivity for mobile printing from any device. Scanning multiple pages through the 10-page auto document feeder produces crisp results thanks to the higher-end 600 DPI resolution. Printing is on the slower end at just 10 ppm for black and 7 ppm for color but is well worth the wait. Color accuracy, text clarity, and the level of image details are among the best of any portable printer available. The OfficeJet 250 is a capable all-in-one performance home office printer first and foremost, and it just happens to be portable.

If you don’t print often or need battery power but want an equally compact design, you should check out the HP Tango X for half the price. This is an even smaller machine that can be stored and pulled out for convenient, if infrequent, printing. It comes in a compact construction you may actually want to display, and the fabric cover folds the printer up into a book-like package that’ll be fairly inconspicuous in your home office. While HP lists the Tango as an “all-in-one” model, keep in mind that it doesn’t actually include a scanner bed like the 250 does. Rather, it wirelessly connects to the HP smart app, which allows you to scan and copy documents by taking photos on your smartphone. It also requires a power outlet, so its placement options are more limited.

—BEST VALUE—

HP Envy Inspire 7955e

Total Expert Score: 72/100 | Consumer Score: 85% give it 4 stars or more

HP’s new Envy Inspire 7955e is the perfect fit for those looking for an affordable all-in-one printer that can handle wireless printing, copying, and scanning. You can easily load up the auto document feeder to rapidly scan multiple high-quality photos or pages. Plus its hinges even extend to give an extra 0.5 inches of clearance for scanning thicker objects like books, which our best overall pick struggles with. Because it’s a budget model, its scan and print speeds are merely okay—often coming in at rates a fraction of those of our top picks. According to RTings.com, it prints color documents at 10 ppm versus the 14 ppm of the HP 9015e. It also scans at 4 ppm as opposed to 10 ppm.

You save a ton of money if you’ll only be making occasional prints instead of heavy loads. Plus you gain Bluetooth connectivity, which others lack. The 7955e’s 9-inch tall body is easier to store within a shelf or media center. Like with the Tango, you can use the HP Smart app to print wirelessly from anywhere. But in addition to self-healing, dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0, it can also connect via a USB port so you can print even if your internet is down. Its recommended monthly page volume is between 100 to 400, and its input tray can hold up to 100 pages. It’s also impressive that a model of this size and price has a flatbed scanner and can automatically print two-sided. Not to mention HP has been streamlining its printers into more compact designs—and this one is made with 20 percent recycled plastic.

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