If you are looking for the best printer for home use, you are probably looking for something that is versatile enough to meet the needs of everyone. Your family may have to copy documents to sign them, scan sensitive old photos or print long essays or reports in no time. Good scan functions are important to ensure that you can digitize your work quickly and efficiently, while low costs per print are a must so that you can adhere to your budget. A variety of connectivity options are ideal if you want to print every device without any problems.
We have tested over 125 printers, and below you will find our recommendations for the best home printer you can buy. You can also check our selection of the best all-in-one printers, the best photo printer and the best office printer.
Bester Familiendrucker: Brother MFC-J4535DW
Whether you have a large family or a small one, you want a printer that is versatile enough for many uses. The Brother MFC-J4535DW is the best home printer we’ve tested. This all-in-one model prints thousands of pages before the ink cartridges run out. While the cartridges are a bit pricey, the high page yield helps keep the total cost of ownership low since you don’t have to replace cartridges too often.
It’s an inkjet printer, so it’s prone to ink drying out and clogging the printheads if you don’t use it often. To prevent this, you should print regularly. It has a flatbed scanner with lid hinges that slide out easily to easily scan thicker items like textbooks or a painting on a small canvas. There’s also an automatic document feeder that scans 20 pages in a minute, which is great when you need to scan a long form or lots of handwritten notes.
However, if you’re looking for something to print lots of photos with, you might want to check out the best home photo printer on this list instead. The Brother struggles to print colors accurately and the edges of the photos are printed with a white vertical band. Also, this model is hard to find at a reasonable price from most of our partners, but you might have better luck at Staples or Office Depot. Overall, this is a very good option if you’re looking for a do-it-all model and don’t need to print good photo quality.
Best Home Photo Printer: Canon PIXMA TR8620
For excellent quality prints you can produce at home, look no further than the Canon PIXMA TR8620. It produces borderless photos with amazing quality and vibrant colors that you can frame and hang on your wall without hesitation. The printed colors are fairly accurate, giving your photos a natural look that’s not too far removed from their originals. It takes about a minute to print a typical 4″ x 6″ photo on glossy paper, but that’s typical for most inkjet printers.
It uses four color cartridges, including a special photo black cartridge, and produces good color page yields. The cost per print for photos is excellent and will help keep your prints economical even if you plan to print an entire album or photo wall. It’s also designed for home office use, so it has a high-resolution flatbed scanner, an automatic document feeder, and even an integrated fax. You can print from a wide range of devices thanks to its excellent connectivity options, and it can also print directly from SD cards.
Due to the low yield of black pages, you often need to replace the black cartridge when you print a lot of school essays or office reports. The black cartridge is cheap, keeping the cost per print very low. All in all, it’s a very good choice for printing quality photos from the comfort of your own home, and it’s the best home photo printer we’ve tested.
Best Budget Home Printer: Brother MFC-J4335DW
The best inexpensive home printer we tested is the Brother MFC-J4335DW. It uses a hybrid cartridge tank system, and although the cartridges are a little more expensive, the costs per print are still exceptionally low thanks to the excellent side output. This helps you to keep your budget, even if you print a lot.
There is a high -resolution flat bed, an automatic document feeder and an integrated fax, great if you are looking for an inexpensive option for a small home company. It prints documents at a good speed, which means that you can quickly do your work. It is also easy to access paper jams and ink cartridges. The connectivity options are great, including Apple Airprint and Mopria Print Service, so that you can easily connect anywhere in the house and print from your phone or tablet.
Unfortunately, it cannot print over Bluetooth or directly from external media such as USB sticks and SD cards, which can be very restrictive if you tend to carry work on external devices. In addition, the photos that it prints only look okay and it takes a very long time to print them. Even if it is not available from some of our affiliate dealers, you may find it in some other shops near you. All in all, it is a good printer for family use when you have a limited budget, and it is also one of the best printers with cheap ink that we tested.
Bester Home-Office-Drucker: HP OfficeJet Pro 9025e
If you’re looking for an all-in-one addition to your office, check out the HP OfficeJet Pro 9025e. It’s a great option for a home office as you can print a good number of pages before one of the cartridges runs out. Not having to buy cartridges too often helps keep running costs down.
This all-in-one features a flatbed scanner and an automatic document feeder, so you can scan whatever you need, whether it’s a multi-page document or something too thick to fit in the feeder. With two 250-page input trays, you don’t have to worry about refilling paper frequently. You can print wirelessly via Wi-Fi, Apple AirPrint or Mopria Print Service and also use the app to print, scan and fax.
Unfortunately, there is a known issue with this model’s ADF that results in skewed scans. While the flatbed scanner can scan thick items, you can’t close the lid over things like textbooks because the hinges don’t extend. Overall, this is a great option if you’re looking for a home office printer that doesn’t cost a ton of ink.
Best home printer with a high range: Epson Ecotank ET-3850
If you print hundreds of pages a week you will be satisfied with a Supertank model. The Epson EcoTank ET-3850 is an all-in-one model with four large ink tanks that you can refill yourself. Not only are the ink bottles cheap, but you can print thousands of pages before worrying about buying new bottles.
This makes it a very good option for teachers, hobbyists, or students who need to print large volumes on a regular basis. While the initial cost of the printer is a bit high, the money you save on ink is worth it. It has a flatbed scanner if you need to scan thick objects like a diagram from a textbook, and there’s also an automatic document feeder if you need to quickly scan a form with many pages. However, at 3 PPM, it doesn’t scan very quickly.
Unfortunately, it’s a little slow when printing, but that won’t be a big deal unless you’re in a fast-paced environment that needs to get your pages out quickly. Also, the printed photos will have an overall bluish tint and most of the colors will look different from their originals. It might not be a big deal for stickers or charts, but it’ll likely bother you if you’re looking to print photos of family and friends.
Best black and white home printer: Brother MFC-L2710DW
If your household prints fairly infrequently and most of your printouts are usually recipes, essays or reports, the Brother MFC-L2710DW should fill the bill for your needs. This monochrome laser model doesn’t require nearly as much maintenance as an inkjet printer, so you don’t have to worry about clogged or cracked printheads.
It has an excellent cartridge system that will print over a thousand pages before you need to replace the toner. The drum unit isn’t built into the cartridge, so you’ll have to replace it separately, but the cost per print is still remarkably cheap, allowing you to print economically over the long haul. In addition, documents at over 30 pages per minute are output remarkably quickly. There is a high-resolution flatbed scanner, an automatic document feeder for easy processing of multi-page printouts and an integrated fax.
Unfortunately, it’s best to make sure you don’t have to print photos or in color, as this only produces horrible quality monochrome photos. However, thanks to its wide range of connectivity options and excellent mobile app, it’s easy to print your files from a variety of devices. It’s currently hard to find at most of our affiliates, but you can still get it at Staples or Office Depot. All in all, it’s an excellent choice if you need an all-in-one monochrome laser model that suits your needs.
Notable Mentions
- Canon PIXMA TR8520: The Canon PIXMA TR8520 is a great family and casual photo printer, but it doesn’t support Wi-Fi Direct like the Canon PIXMA TR8620. It has been discontinued so it might be difficult to find in stock.
- Canon Pixma TR7520: The Canon Pixma TR7520 prints photos much faster than the Canon Pixma Tr8620. However, the pictures look less detailed and the connection options are not so good. It is difficult to find in stock for most retailers.
- HP Officejet Pro 9015E: The HP Officejet Pro 9015E is a cheaper alternative to the HP Officejet Pro 9025E with a similar performance. However, it prints black text documents slightly slower and has a much lower paper capacity because it only has one
- HP OfficeJet Pro 7740: The HP OfficeJet Pro 7740 is a great printer for the small or home office that can print and scan large sheets of tabloid. However, it does not print as fast as the HP OfficeJet Pro 9025e. In addition, it is bulkier and heavier.
- Canon imageCLASS MF445dw: The Canon imageCLASS MF445dw is a good alternative to the Brother MFC-L2710DW, with significantly better page yields and an ADF capable of duplex scanning. However, it does not print as fast and is quite a bit more expensive. Also, it’s bigger and heavier, which might be uncomfortable for some.
- Brother MFC-L2750DW: The Brother MFC-L2750DW is an excellent alternative to the Brother MFC-L2710DW with a better screen, duplex scanning and higher side output, but it is currently difficult to available.
- Epson WorkForce Pro WF-3820: The Epson WorkForce Pro WF-3820 is a very good budget printer with a great print speed for black text documents and decent quality photos. However, it doesn’t deliver nearly as many pages as the Brother MFC-J4335DW.
- Epson EcoTank ET-3760: The Epson EcoTank ET-3760 is replaced by the Epson EcoTank ET-3850. The ET-3760 is better than the ET-3850 when it comes to printing colors accurately, but it yields fewer pages, and being out of production it’s hard to find in stock at a reasonable price.
Latest updates
April 14, 2022: Changed Best Super Tank category to Best High Yield. Verified availability and accuracy of choices and updated text for clarity.
March 18, 2022: Replaced the Epson WorkForce Pro WF-4830 with the Brother MFC-J4535DW for “Best Family Printer” as the Brother prints many more pages. Also, the Epson EcoTank ET-3760 was replaced by the Epson EcoTank ET-3850 for “Best Home Printer With Supertank” as the ET-3760 was discontinued.
February 17, 2022: selection checked for availability; updated text for accuracy; no changes.
01/21/2022: Made minor text changes due to new test bench update.
December 24, 2021: Selections reviewed for availability and accuracy; no changes.
All reviews
In our opinion, our above recommendations are currently the best home printers for most people. We take into account the price, the feedback from our visitors and the availability.
If you want to take on the work of the selection yourself, you will find the list of all of our printer reviews. Make sure not to deepen the details too much. While no printer is perfect for every use, most are good enough to make almost everyone satisfied, and the differences are often not perceptible unless they are really looking for it.
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