(Credit: Jade Chung-Lee/Amazon/PCMag)
Updated August 19: Even though most places are fully paperless, there are still good reasons to own a printer. Photographs, legal papers, tax returns and shipping labels do need to be printed on a regular basis, and finding a friend with one or printing everything at work just isn't feasible. Modern home office printers are more affordable than you think, and maintenance and ink costs are steadily dropping. We've found a wide variety of functionality, including specialized models to print high-quality photos, as well as more all-purpose printers to scan items, make copies, or even send faxes.
Here at PCMag, printer expert M. David Stone has been our #1 printer reviewer for nearly four decades. His in-depth writeups evaluate printers on value, output quality, speed, ease of hardware setup, and other key factors. If you need more help finding the right type of printer, check out our extensive guide for all the details, plus links to deep-dive reviews of our highest-rated models. Here are the six best printers we found offers for in August.
Epson EcoTank ET-4800 Printer
Canon Pixma G3270 Wireless MegaTank All-In-One Printer
HP Smart Tank 5101 Printer
HP OfficeJet Pro 8125e Printer
Canon Pixma TS6520 Printer
Epson Expression Premium XP-7100 Wireless Color Photo Printer
Let's get right into it with a $100 price drop on an Epson multi-purpose printer that checks all the boxes: good print quality, decent speeds, and low running cost. We have a review of the very similar ET-4850, where it earned an "Excellent" rating. It's great for home offices, with a reasonable footprint and solid connectivity through Ethernet and USB, as well as the ability to print wirelessly. The cartridge-free design uses Epson's EcoFit ink bottles for refills, which are affordable and environmentally friendly. The micro-piezo heat-free printing technology delivers sharp text and bold colors on a wide variety of paper types. Throw in a speedy document scanner and you've got a winner.
We gave this Canon all-in-one printer an "Excellent" rating in our review, with contributing editor M. David Stone remarking that it was "a good fit for a home or home office, it offers a flatbed for scanning and a low running cost even for color pages." The tank-based ink system allows for long periods in between refills, and it comes bundled with more than enough to print thousands of pages right out of the box. Setup was a breeze, and it performed well throughout our benchmarks. Amazon has it on sale for almost $100 off, so it's worth a look.
For a good consumer-grade printer that's designed for everyday use at a good price, HP is one of the top manufacturers on the market. The Smart Tank 5101 is a a simple color and black-and-white printer that might print slowly, but makes up for it with remarkably low operating costs and long-lasting ink. We have an extensive review where we praised its simple installation and flexible operation. This machine ships with ink that lasts 6,000 mono text pages and 8,000 standard color pages, so you'll be able to use it for quite some time before even needing to pick up more. Reliability is the key metric with printers like these, and the Smart Tank 5010 leads the pack, especially with a $90 discount.
If your printer budget tops out at a hundred bucks but you still need an all-purpose machine that can handle a wide variety of printing projects, HP's OfficeJet Pro 8125e is a capable choice. While we haven't brought this one into the PC Labs for a teardown, we did do a comprehensive review of its predecessor, the 8025, which is quite similar. We gave that printer an "Excellent" rating, praising its low running cost, good print quality, and the ability to print borderless images up to letter size. While it's not a speed demon or ideal for massive output on a daily basis, it's a can-do printer with a capacious 225-sheet input tray, automatic duplexing, and other pro-grade features.
Recommended by Our Editors
For another ultra-budget option, you can't get much lower than $79 for a competent Canon printer. A hybrid ink system uses dual cartridges for black & white and color jobs, and it's simple to hook up and get running. This model doesn't include features like an auto document feeder, but the single-page scanner works acceptably well, and it supports a variety of print formats, including borderless photo printing. The Canon Print app lets you output images directly from your phone and monitor ink and paper supply and more. It's not the fastest printer in the world, but it'll do the job in emergencies.
If you need a printer to preserve your digital snaps in a physical photo album, we rated the Epson Expression Premium XP-7100 the best option for a compact and high-quality consumer-grade photo printer on the market, and when it's on sale for $100 off, it's hard to ignore. You can read our full review for a breakdown of its pros and cons, but the standout points include a five-ink system that uses traditional CMYK cartridges along with a "Photo Black" for richer, deeper dark areas, along with a strong automatic document feeder and a large touchscreen for configuration and walk-up printing. It has tons of connectivity options, including Wi-Fi Direct, USB, Ethernet, and more.
More Great Deals on Printers
- HP DeskJet 2955 Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer — $89.99
- Canon Pixma TS6520 Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer — $79.00 ($140.99) Save $61.99
- Brother Work Smart 1360 Wireless All-in-One Color... — $89.98 ($109.99) Save $20.01
- Canon Pixma G3270 Wireless All-in-One Inkjet MegaT... — $159.00 ($248.99) Save $89.99
- Epson EcoTank ET-2800 Wireless All-in-One Color Su... — $199.99 ($239.99) Save $40.00
- Get the Best Prices On Printers — Download Our Free Price Comparison Tool $0
Even More Top-Notch Printer Deals
What Kind of Printer Should I Buy?
The right printer for you depends on your typical use case. Some printers are better than others for photographs versus monochrome text. A subcategory of models, dubbed "multifunction" or "all-in-one" printers, can also scan, copy, and fax. Typically, more supported features mean a higher up-front price.
In a nutshell, monochrome lasers are generally better for users who print mostly multipage text documents, with the occasional noncritical graphic inline. (You tend to save on the cost per page with mono lasers versus an equivalent inkjet for this kind of printing.) In most cases, color lasers tend to be economical only for businesses that need bulk printing with spot color in graphics, due to the cost of their four separate color toner cartridges.
As for inkjets, almost all inkjets are color models nowadays. With inkjets, low-cost cartridge-based models tend to have a high cost per page but can be adequate for homes that print just a handful of pages per month. Heavier-printing homes that need the color an inkjet affords might want to weigh the advantages of a bulk-ink tank-based inkjet. Look for models like those in Epson's EcoTank or Canon's MegaTank series.
Where Can I Find the Biggest Discounts on All-In-One Printers?
Check out our complete guide to all-in-one (AIO) printers. In it, we outline the best home and office AIO printers we've tested. Along with the pros, cons, and specs of each model, you'll find buying links with up-to-the-minute pricing from various retailers. Our current Editors' Choice pick is the Brother MFC-L3780CDW, which will run you between $500-570. Our experts notes that it, "offers excellent output quality with relatively low print costs, making it our top recommendation for a budget color laser all-in-one printer."
Why Are Laser Printers More Expensive Than Inkjets?
It's not quite that simple; there are cheap lasers and expensive inkjets, after all. It's true that, in general, you get more overall functionality at a given price with an inkjet versus a laser. But if you print in high volume, the cost per page of a laser printer often ends up being less than that of an inkjet, saving you money in the long run.
That said, color lasers and their four required toner cartridges can be costly to maintain if you don't print in volume. We recommend inexpensive monochrome lasers for folks who print lots of text documents, and color lasers only for businesses that need bulk printing, occasional color, and smear-proof output for things like newsletters, proofs, and internal communications. You can check our total cost of ownership guide to decide what’s right for you.
Are There Ink Subscription Deals for Printers?
Whether you print a lot or a little, it pays to explore bulk-ink and subscription programs. HP, Brother, and Canon all offer ink subscription programs with several monthly levels of allotted pages, which can translate to considerable savings on ink costs. They can be especially advantageous if you print mostly in color.
All three companies plus Epson also offer printers with ink you can buy in volume, while Epson and HP have what amounts to rent-a-printer plans: Epson's ReadyPrint and HP's All-In Plan. These let you choose one of several specific printers as part of the plan with no up-front purchase price. Epson's version even includes unlimited ink in the monthly fee. HP's plan works like its ink subscription plan, with multiple pricing tiers, based on how many printed pages the plan covers per month.
For more, check out our complete guide to ink subscription plans.
About Our Experts
K. Thor Jensen is a writer and cartoonist living in the Pacific Northwest. He has contributed to dozens of prestigious outlets, including PCMag, Tested, Clickhole, and Newsweek. His second graphic novel, Cloud Stories, was released in 2017.
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I’m a managing editor at PCMag.com focused on PC hardware. Reading this during the day? Then you've caught me testing gear and editing reviews of Wi-Fi routers, printers, laptops, and tons of other personal tech. (Reading this at night? Then I’m probably dreaming about all those cool products.) I’ve covered the consumer tech world as an editor, reporter, and analyst since 2015.
I've covered most major consumer tech events, including CES, Computex, Google I/O, and IFA. I've also appeared on CBS News, in USA Today, and at many other outlets to offer analysis on breaking technology news.
Before I joined the tech-journalism ranks, I wrote on topics as diverse as Borneo's rainforests, Middle Eastern airlines, and Big Data's role in presidential elections. A graduate of Middlebury College, I also have a master's degree in journalism and French Studies from New York University.
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When she isn't perusing online stores for deals, Jade enjoys playing video games (mostly JRPGs and roguelikes), sorting board game components neatly into containers, and building Gundam models. Her love of electronics has persisted through her youth and has resulted in a collection of gaming peripherals including keyboards and controllers, scale figures, and art work. Jade lives in blissful harmony with her wife, cat, and two chinchillas—as well as a host of houseplants.
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