List of Best Printers for 2022

The best printers provide convenient printing options for all your documents, photos, and other hardcopies, but selecting the right one can be challenging. Whether you need basic document printing for homework assignments, high-quality photo printing for framed portraits, or something that can handle scanning, copying, and even faxing, there’s a printer for you. Do you prefer an inkjet all-in-one printer or a black-and-white laser printer?

This printer review goes beyond the standard print/scan/copy combo units that are so common on store shelves. Testing every printer on the fundamentals, such as print quality and speed, printing costs, and the volume the printer is designed to handle month after month. We’ve looked into laser printers, photo printers, and even portable models in addition to all-in-one inkjets, all with the goal of finding the best printer for you.

Which printers are the best?

Laser printers receive high marks as well, such as the Brother MFC-L2750DW, a laser all-in-one that can print, scan, copy, and fax. Even if you don’t need color printing, the monochrome laser printer provides fast, crisp text printing, making it a favorite.

The Canon Pixma TR8620 is another favorite home office printer because of its combination of excellent print quality, productivity-minded features like an automatic document feeder and scan/copy/fax capability, and excellent photo printing thanks to a five-ink tank system.

The HP Envy 7855 is the best home printer for printing reams of photos without spending a fortune on ink. Are you looking for a portable photo printer? The Canon Pixma TR150 combines portability with high-quality photo printing.

Whatever your printing requirements are, you can find our suggestions below.

The Best Printers Available Right Now:

Brother MFC-L2750DW XL

The Brother MFC-L2750DW XL multifunction laser printer includes a fast automatic document feeder, fax functionality, and a second paper tray. It’s also quick at duplex printing and copying, but it doesn’t sacrifice quality for speed; documents always look sharp and clear. So long as you don’t need to print in color, it’s easily one of the best home printers overall, and our favorite laser printer.

The MFC-L2750DW XL produced excellent document quality and the fastest speeds for text and mixed text/graphics files to date. The printer was even able to print two-sided documents faster than some models that could handle one-sided documents. Using its high-capacity toner cartridge, the MFC-L2750DW XL has the lowest cost per page in this category, at 2.7 cents. That’s a hard bargain to pass up.

Canon Pixma TR8620

The Canon Pixma TR8620 has a plethora of office features, including scanning and faxing, a 20-page automatic document feeder (ADF), a duplexer for two-sided printing, and two paper trays to keep two types of paper on hand. The printer has a large 4.3-inch color touchscreen for easy control, and it supports smart home integration with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

It’s also an excellent home printer, with faster-than-average print speeds and overall high print quality. Text and color graphics look great, but glossy photos are printed quickly, and the use of a 5-ink cartridge system with two types of black ink resulted in photos with high-quality accuracy: natural-looking colors, sharp details, and smooth transitions. We were so impressed with the excellent quality prints this printer produces. The only major issue I have with the Pixma TR8620 is the higher-than-average ink cost, which is due in part to the cost of the extra ink cartridge.

Brother INKvestment MFC-J995DW

The cost of a printer is much more than just the purchase price: Ink costs can eat away the savings you expected from your low-cost device. If you want one of the best home printers with the lowest per-page ink costs, I recommend the Brother INKvestment MFC-J995DW, which features extra-large ink cartridges and comes with an estimated year’s supply of ink in the box, for the lowest per-page ink costs we’ve seen.

Further to that, the Brother INKvestment MFC-J995DW provides reliable printing, scanning, and copying. Print speeds are faster than the category average, and two-sided printing is among the quickest we’ve seen. And it did all of this while maintaining consistently high print quality. The same quick speed and above-average quality were found in scans and copies, making it an excellent choice for anyone, even if you aren’t purchasing it for the low ink costs.

Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850

The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 combines low ink costs with a plethora of business-friendly features to claim the title of best small business inkjet printer. The EcoTank design incorporates refillable ink tanks and includes enough spare ink bottles to print thousands of pages. It’s a small business printer capable of printing more than 3,000 pages per month, so it can handle whatever your team throws at it. The printer has scan, copy, and fax capabilities, as well as dual 250-page paper cassettes, a 50-sheet automatic document feeder, and a large, easy-to-use 4.3-inch touchscreen for easy operation.

In timed printer tests, the Epson ET-5850 produced some of the fastest printing we’ve seen, as well as crisp, clear text that rivaled laser printer quality. The same fast, high-quality performance was seen in copying and scanning, making it the printer of choice for offices in need of a full-featured multifunction printer. The real attraction, however, is the ink savings, with extremely low per-page costs of 0.4 cents for text pages and 1.6 cents for color pages. Although the initial cost is high, the combination of quality, features and extremely low operating costs makes this one of the best investments you can make for your office.

HP Envy 7855

As a stylish all-in-one inkjet printer, the HP Envy 7855 lives up to its envy-inducing name. It’s one of the best home office printers, with consistently good print quality. However, in addition to printing documents, scanning and copying on the flatbed scanner, and even faxing, the Envy 7855 is also an excellent photo printer, capable of printing everything from small, wallet-sized photos to borderless 8 x 10s.

And it’s the photo print quality that really stood out to me, with photo samples displaying accurate, well-saturated colors and crisp detail. The Envy wasn’t the fastest photo printer on the market, but the quality was good and the price per photo was reasonable. And, if you use HP’s Instant Ink subscription ink service, you can get 8 x 10 photo printing for pennies if you print a lot of them.

Canon ImageClass MF743Cdw

The Canon ImageClass MF743Cdw is an all-in-one color laser printer with a large touch screen and duplex printing capabilities. However, with a monthly page volume of up to 4,000 pages, it is intended for use in an office rather than at home. Business users will appreciate the integrated 50-sheet automatic document feeder, 550-sheet paper cassette, and work-friendly features such as two-sided scanning and low printing costs.

The print quality is also excellent, with sharp text, clear graphics, and faster-than-average printing of mixed text and graphics. Fast scan and copy speeds are a plus, and the color laser printer has one of the simplest setup options. That’s enough for us to call the Canon ImageClass MF743Cdw one of the best all-in-one printers and our preferred laser printer for small business users.

Canon Pixma TR150

The Canon Pixma TR150 is a backpack-sized inkjet printer that can print everything from 4×6 photos to 8.5 x 11 documents. Its ink is reasonably priced and suitable for a wide range of printing applications, thanks to a two-cartridge system. However, photo printing is where the Canon really shines.

The Pixma TR150 produced high-quality photos faster than competing portable printers, with excellent color and detail. It can also handle larger photo prints, but unlike some of my other photo printing picks, it does not have a copy or scan function. You do get a well-made portable printer with an optional battery and even support for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice controls, but I love it for the excellent photos and low ink costs it provides.

HP OfficeJet 250

The HP OfficeJet 250 is not only the best portable printer available; it is also a full-featured all-in-one printer that is small enough to take on a trip. With built-in copying and scanning capabilities – a rarity in portable models – the HP surprised us by complementing that functionality with the excellent print quality and category-leading speeds.

The quality was excellent whether printing simple text documents, color photos, or scanning material to save for later. Despite its small size, the printer has a 2.5-inch color touch screen, a 10-page automatic document feeder, and a total travel weight of 6.7 pounds with the battery attached. We wish it were a little less expensive or had slightly better battery life, but these are minor quibbles given how much the HP OfficeJet 250 can do.

How to Select the Best Printer for Your Needs

The process of finding the right printer begins with defining what you need the printer to do. A large multifunction printer that can copy, scan, and fax are vastly different from a pocket-sized photo printer that is ideal for printing snapshots on the go. The best place to begin is to specify which functions you require and which aspects of printing are most important to you.

Inkjet vs. Laser: Inkjet printers produce a wider range of colors, making them better suited for printing graphics and photos. Laser printers, on the other hand, can produce professional-looking text documents quickly and frequently at a lower cost per page.

All-in-One printers provide more than just printing, as they include built-in scanners that can scan and copy anything from forms to photos. Some (but not all) will also be able to fax.

Photo printing is a separate issue that necessitates support for printing on glossy paper, handling different photo paper sizes, and occasionally requiring additional (and potentially costly) inks to deliver better print quality.

The key to portable printing is mobility. Compact designs are combined with batteries and, in some cases, exotic print technologies to allow you to print from a hotel room, car, or even the beach.

In addition to the type of printer, you should consider specific aspects of performance and operating costs.

Print speed is the rate at which a page in a document is completed by the printer, measured in pages per minute. Faster print speeds are essential if you need to print frequently or in large quantities.

Print quality is determined by the printer’s ability to lay ink on the page and produce sharp details and legible letterforms. Most inkjet printers provide “good enough” quality, but if you want crisp text every time, you’ll need a laser printer. And because photo printing differs greatly between general-purpose printers, take a look at the models we recommend on our best photo printers list.

Because ink refills are part of any printer’s operating expenses, ink costs are an ongoing concern for any printer. Ink can be costly, but some new models are designed to reduce both the cost and the hassle of finding the right ink cartridges. This isn’t just an issue with inkjet printers; laser printers use toner cartridges as well. Look for a lower cost-per-page and read our reviews for a detailed discussion of how print costs can affect one’s end result.

Switching to a laser printer, using a tank-based inkjet printer, or signing up for a subscription ink service are three ways to reduce printing costs.