The Best Printers of 2025

While the demand for printers has decreased in recent years, they are still useful at home and work. Whether you need to print a quick office document or help kids with homework, a good printer saves you time and avoids frustration.

However, finding the right printer for your needs and budget can be daunting. There are lots of them out there, and they just look like they can print, but do you need some extra features on your printer? Do you just need a budget model for printing, scanning, and copying, too? Do you need extras like fax capability? Which is ideal for you – an inkjet or laser? How does a $100 printer differ from a $500 model?

The options are many and confusing but don’t worry, this guide will simplify everything. I’ve been testing and reviewing printers for over a decade and rating each printer based on image quality, design, usability, running costs, and overall value. Below is our current top printer for most people, the HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e, along with top picks for more specific use.

Check out the pros and cons of each printer in the list, plus the key specs to look out for when shopping for the best printer for your needs.

Best Printers for 2025 (at a glance)

• Best Overall Printer – HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e
• Best Budget Printer – Brother HL-L2390DW
• Best Business Printer – Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850
• Best Student Printer – HP Smart Tank 760
• Best Photo Printer – Epson Expression Premium XP-7100
• Best Portable Printer – Brother PocketJet PJ883
• Best Label Printer – Epson LabelWorks LW-PX300

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1. Best Overall Printer – HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e

The HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e is an all-in-one inkjet printer that’s ideal for small and home offices. It features a four-cartridge system (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) and is compatible with the HP 936 cartridges. Also, it has wide connectivity options including Wi-Fi, USB, and Ethernet, and it can also print directly from a USB flash drive. Additional features include an automatic feeder with dual-pass duplex scanning capacity and a 250-sheet input tray.

In use, the HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e is very fast produces high-quality prints, and can do everything you need in terms of documents and photos in a home office or small business setting. Printing, scanning, copying, and faxing are quick and reliable. Its picture quality is especially good, and the running costs are very reachable. If you need something reliable and affordable for the small office or use at home, this OfficeJet is excellent value.

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2. Best Budget Printer – Brother HL-L2390DW

The Brother HL-L2390DW is a monochrome laser all-in-one printer designed for small -and home-office users looking for a budget printing solution. It offers a basic feature set compared to its pricier siblings like the Brother MFC-L2750DW, but it still gets the job done better than most of its peers. For instance, it offers a duplexer for two-sided print and has a scan and copy function, but it does not offer faxing or an automatic document feed.

Still, we recommend it for its speedy performance and high image quality at a reasonable price. While its feature set is basic, it’s nonetheless a fine printer; you don’t need to pay for extra features that you don’t need. For example, more expensive printers offer cloud printing features an Ethernet connection, whereas the HL-L2390DW does not. But the HL-L2390DW comes with a speedy duplexer, and its very low cost per page makes it a solid bargain in the long run.

Read Full Brother HL-L2390DW Review

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3. Best Business Printer – Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850

The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 is an inkjet printer that has the print speed to compete with some laser printers and has the kind of performance that bustling businesses require. This printer can churn out 3,000 to 4,000 pages per month, which is enough to meet the needs of today’s busy small and midsize offices and workgroups.

Whether you operate a small business or a busy home office, the EcoTank Pro ET-5850 checks almost all the boxes for that use. It’s a fantastic printer that’s nearly flawless. While it’s an expensive printer to buy initially, you happen to recover the cost quickly with the ink savings. We recommend the Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 for anyone looking for a high-volume business printer that does a fine job printing photos, too.

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4. Best Student Printer – HP Smart Tank 760

The HP Smart Tank 760 is an all-in-one inkjet printer with refillable tanks and uses the HP 32 XL black ink and HP 31 color ink. It sports a three-inch touchscreen display, an automatic document feeder (ADF), and a flatbed scanner, fax, and copy capabilities, its connectivity options include USB, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, and Ethernet among others.

The HP Smart Tank 760 is great for students and can double up for use as a family printer. It offers outstanding cost per print and its wide connectivity options make it available to every family member. Its print quality for both black and color prints, and scan quality is exceptional on this printer. While it lacks duplex scanning; solid performance, high image quality, and very low ink costs make the HP Smart Tank 7602 a great choice.

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5. Best Photo Printer – Epson Expression Premium XP-7100

The Epson Expression Premium XP-7100 is an all-in-one printer that’s optimized for photo printing but is priced much lower than competing photo printers. It comes with a 5-cartridge system and is fairly well-designed with a great, easy-to-use screen, alongside lots of scanning features as well as a ton of connectivity options.

It prints exceptionally well, especially photos, and it features an auto-duplexing automatic document feeder (ADF) for copying, printing, and scanning two-sided documents without having to flip them manually. Those noteworthy features and a few other specs elevate the Epson XP-7100 to the top of the class.

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6. Best Portable Printer – Brother PocketJet PJ883

The Brother PocketJet PJ883 is a portable printer that delivers top-notch speed and output quality for a mobile thermal printer. Plus, it gives you lots of connectivity options and optional battery and support for both PCs and mobile devices. It’s a bit pricey compared to other printers in Brother’s PocketJet 8 line, but it’s easily good enough to recommend.

If you need extremely portable prints that combine high print quality with lots of connectivity options, the Brother PocketJet PJ883 – either with a battery or without one – might easily be the printer you need. But if you need color output, you should be looking at inkjets, such as the Canon Pixma TR150, but for all its worth the Brother PocketJet PJ883 shines as a top pick thermal printer.

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7. Best Label Printer – Epson LabelWorks LW-PX300

The Epson LabelWorks LW-PX300 is a nifty Full Printer Kit that delivers industrial-style labeling at a very low cost. The low cost and print quality make it a great device for small businesses and everyone else who wants professional-looking labels.

It handles a variety of media well, including standard plastic labels for home or business use, heat-shrink tube tape for labeling cables, and magnetic decals that make excellent promotional magnets. For all light-duty industrial-style labeling, the Epson LabelWorks LW-PX300 does the job well, and its running cost is very reasonable.

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Printer Buying Guide

Printers come in various categories and prices; there are printers for home use, office, business, and dual-use, but it mostly depends on what you want to print with them, and whether you need color printing or just monochrome. For example, text, graphics, and photos require a higher level of precision, meaning you need a printer with higher specifications to get high-quality prints.

Also, even if you print just one kind of document most of the time, you may need a printer that can print other items as well. Based on that, be clear on your printing needs before you make that purchase.

In the market, most printers are designed with business (mostly office) or home use in mind; with the business printers geared towards both text and graphics if they are color models. On the other hand, home printers, usually inkjets are designed for photos and basic graphics. Special-purpose printers include label printers, portable printers, and dedicated photo printers.

Guidelines to buying a printer

1. Determine Your Needs

Before diving into features, think about what you will primarily use the printer for. Some key considerations include:

• Home use: Light printing tasks such as photos, school work, or occasional document printing.
• Office use: Frequent document printing, scanning, and copying.
• Photo printing: If high-quality photo prints are a priority.
• Business use: Heavy-duty printing, multiple users, or printing large volumes.
• Specialized needs: Labels, receipts, or large-format prints.

2. Printer Types

There are several types of printers, each with its strengths and weaknesses. Consider what type suits your needs best.

Inkjet Printers

• Best for: Home use, photo printing, and occasional printing tasks.
• Pros: Great for printing high-quality photos and color images. Generally, smaller and cheaper upfront.
• Cons: Ink cartridges can be expensive over time. Slower printing speeds than laser printers.

Laser Printers

• Best for: Office use and large volumes of text-heavy documents.
• Pros: Fast printing, especially for text documents. High efficiency and lower cost per page.
• Cons: Can be expensive upfront, especially for color printers. Not great for photo printing.

All-in-One Printers (AIO)

• Best for: Users needing to print, scan, copy, and fax from a single device.
• Pros: Convenience of multiple functions in one machine. Often have wireless connectivity.
• Cons: Larger and bulkier. Some models can be more expensive.

Photo Printers

• Best for: Professional photographers or hobbyists who need high-quality photo prints.
• Pros: Exceptional print quality, especially for photos. Some can print borderless images.
• Cons: Usually more expensive and slower than inkjet printers. Limited to photo printing.

Label Printers

• Best for: Those who need to print labels, barcodes, or shipping labels.
• Pros: Tailored for label printing. Quick and efficient.
• Cons: Specialized for labels only, not versatile for other printing tasks.

3. Key Features to Consider

Once you have a printer type in mind, there are several features you should evaluate:

Print Speed (Pages Per Minute, or ppm)

• If you need a printer for heavy workloads, look for a model with a higher ppm. Laser printers generally print faster than inkjets.
• Typical speeds: 10-30 ppm for home printers, 30-50 ppm for office printers.

Print Quality (Resolution)

• Measured in DPI (dots per inch), print quality is especially important for photo printing. Higher DPI usually means better resolution, but other factors like ink quality also matter.
• For photos: 4800 x 1200 DPI is common for high-quality photo printers.
• For text: 600 x 600 DPI is usually sufficient.

Connectivity

• Wi-Fi: For wireless printing from smartphones, laptops, or tablets.
• Ethernet: Good for wired connections in an office environment.
• USB: A direct connection for fast, reliable printing.
• Bluetooth: Some printers support Bluetooth printing for mobile devices.

Cost of Consumables (Ink/Toner)

• Inkjet: Ink cartridges can be expensive, especially for high-volume printing. Look for printers that offer refillable ink tanks or ink subscription plans (e.g., HP Instant Ink).
• Laser: Toner cartridges have a higher upfront cost but usually offer a lower cost per page, making them ideal for high-volume printing.

Paper Handling

• Paper capacity: Check the paper tray size. A smaller tray (100-250 sheets) is fine for home use, but larger trays (500-1000 sheets) are needed for offices with high-volume needs.
• Auto-duplexing: The ability to print on both sides of the paper automatically is useful for saving paper.
• Paper types: If you need to print on various paper types (e.g., photo paper, envelopes, labels), check for compatibility.

Size and Design

• Consider the printer’s size, especially if you have limited space. All-in-one printers tend to be bulkier, while laser printers are usually more compact.

4. Cost Considerations

• Initial cost: Budget for the printer itself.
• Running costs: Factor in the cost of ink, toner, or paper. Some printers have a low initial cost but high ongoing expenses for ink.
• Subscription plans: Some companies offer ink subscription services (like HP Instant Ink) that can save you money in the long run.

Bottom Line

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to. Buying the best printer. Consider the size of your printing tasks, whether you need additional features (like scanning or faxing), and how much you’re willing to spend on consumables. If you print a lot of text documents, a laser printer might be the most cost-efficient in the long run. If you need high-quality photos, an inkjet photo printer would be your best bet.

Last update on 2025-01-20 at 18:07 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API