The 5 Best Home Printers - Fall 2023 Reviews

The best home printer we've tested is the Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8500, a cheaper variant of the Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8550. They're both excellent printers; the difference is that the ET-8550 has a larger 8.5" x 14" flatbed scanner and supports wide format paper up to 13" x 19", which is only relevant to a limited subset of people. Simply put, the cheaper ET-8500 is a better option for most households. Regardless of which variant you choose, remember that this is a photo printer first. If you only plan on printing documents, you can easily find more affordable models that are just as good, like the printers we recommend below.

Printing-wise, the ET-8500 (and the flagship ET-8550) model produces sharp, high-quality documents and incredibly detailed photos. It takes only 12 seconds to initialize and get a single page out, and it can push up to 15 black or 10 color pages per minute when printing long documents. As for its page yield, this is a supertank model, meaning it has a refillable ink tank instead of cartridges. A full tank gets you thousands of prints, and replacement ink is cheap, so you don't have to worry about high ownership costs. The flatbed scanner performs well; it's excellent for digitizing your old photos and can pick up even the tiniest details. However, there's no automatic feeder, so you must scan each page manually.

If you only need a printer for document printing and general office tasks, get the Epson EcoTank ET-3850 instead. Like the Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8500, it's also an all-in-one color inkjet model with a refillable ink tank, making it a great choice for households that print a lot. It prints black and color documents well at a decent speed, churning out 15 black or seven color pages per minute. Printed photos look good but aren't as detailed or color-accurate as the pictures the ET-8500 produces since it's more of a general-purpose printer.

You get Wi-Fi, USB, Ethernet, and support for Apple AirPrint and Mopria Print Service for connectivity. The scanner produces exceptionally high-quality scans and is equipped with an automatic feeder to process multi-page documents. It's slow, though, as it can only scan up to three pages per minute and doesn't support duplex scanning. It's compatible with Epson's mobile app, so you can print, scan, copy, and perform maintenance tasks right from your smartphone or tablet.

The best printer for home use we've tested in the mid-range category is the Brother MFC-J4335DW. This all-in-one inkjet model yields around 2200 black and 800 color pages with a set of full cartridges, and you can get XL cartridges that'll last even longer. Of course, it'll never match the page yield or cost-per-print of a supertank printer like the models we recommend above, but its page yield is very impressive for a cartridge-based printer. It produces high-quality black and color documents, and although it doesn't have the best color accuracy or color range, printed photos still look very detailed.

As for printing speed, it doesn't take long to initialize and get a single page out, and for longer documents, it churns out 17 black or 15 color pages per minute. The scanner processes up to 20 pages per minute through its automatic feeder, but it doesn't support duplex scanning, so you'll have to scan double-sided sheets manually. If you need Ethernet connectivity or NFC support, you can get the Brother MFC-J4535DW variant; just expect to pay more. For the price increase, you also get an additional 250-sheet input tray and a larger touch-sensitive display.

Our best budget home printer pick is the Brother MFC-J1205W, also known as the Brother MFC-J1215W at Walmart. It's a good option for households with a light to moderate print load. It has the usual Wi-Fi and USB connectivity and supports Apple AirPrint and Mopria Print Service. Although the scanner produces high-quality scans, it has trouble capturing finer details, so it might not be the best for digitizing photos. There's no automatic feeder or duplex scanning, which is typical for a budget model.

As for its printing performance, it produces very sharp documents; it just isn't very fast, as it can only push out nine black or six color pages per minute. Also, it doesn't support automatic duplex printing, so you'll have to flip the pages manually when double-sided printing. For photo printing, it's excellent at reproducing very fine details but struggles with bright, saturated tones, so pictures tend to look a little flat. It yields around 1100 black and 700 color pages, so you won't have to replace the ink cartridges often unless you print a lot. Plus, they're relatively cheap, which helps keep running costs low.

If you only print occasionally, we recommend the Canon PIXMA MG3620. It prints sharp documents and colorful photos, but unlike the models above, it yields significantly fewer prints, meaning you'll often have to replace the ink cartridges. The cost per print is still low because the ink cartridges are relatively cheap; the printer just requires more maintenance. Also, since it uses a tri-color cartridge, you replace the entire cartridge if one color runs out, which is wasteful. You can get XL cartridges that'll last longer; however, they'll still yield fewer prints than the budget Brother MFC-J1205W or the mid-range Brother MFC-J4335DW.

Unfortunately, this is a pretty slow printer. It takes longer than most inkjet printers to initialize and only prints up to nine black or three color pages per minute. It supports automatic duplex printing, so you don't need to flip the pages manually when printing double-sided. The Canon also has USB and Wi-Fi connectivity, supports Apple AirPrint and Mopria Print Service, and is compatible with Canon's mobile app. The scanner performs well; the scans look very detailed but slightly washed out.