The best printer for your home or office in 2026: Tested by our experts

Know what you want your printer to do

What you intend to print will determine which printer is best for you. If you mostly work on shopping lists, concert tickets, or travel itineraries, excellent print quality is arguably less important than print speed and price. If you use your printer for professional materials or photo printing, color accuracy, print quality, and features like borderless printing will be key considerations when choosing the right home printer.

Inkjet versus laser or other types

The two main types of home printers are Inkjet and Laser. They both have different benefits and pitfalls. There are also other options if you have specific needs.

• Inkjet: Inkjet printers spray small droplets of colored ink onto a page to produce images and words. They use multiple vats of wet ink fired from multiple jets to create a wide gamut of colors. If you use the appropriate glossy paper, the image quality will be excellent. If you print a mix of images and words in your home office, you should use an inkjet printer. Brochures and web pages look best on an inkjet printer.
• Laser: Laser printers use dry ink and heat to print pages. The ink is attracted to a charged area – fired by a laser, hence the name – and then heated on the page to make it stick. It’s especially good at printing large documents with few images. However, more and more laser printers can print decent photos and in color, so they are becoming more versatile. Use a laser printer if you are printing large documents or need a large size. Toner can be expensive, but it lasts much longer than inkjet ink.
• last: Many of the other inks on this list are useful in special fields.
  • Thermal printers use heat on special paper to print adhesive labels. Ideal for people who send a lot of parcels.
  • DTF printers print on a special film that can then be heat transferred to items such as T-shirts and jackets. Great for small creative businesses
  • Sublimation printers use special ink to allow you to print on paper, then heat press cups, mugs, and other merchandise. Also great for small creative businesses.
  • UV printers spray a special ink resin onto the material and use ultraviolet light to cure it. Great for medium sized businesses that want something extra special.

Print-only versus all-in-one

All-in-one printers are almost everywhere at this point, and if you’re looking for something for a small home office, there’s no reason not to get one. Built-in scanning and copying coupled with printing makes sense for small businesses.

However, if your printing needs rely solely on photography, or one of the other specialized types on this list — such as sublimation or thermal printing — an all-in-one may not be as useful. You want a printer that does one task very well, rather than a printer that does all of the tasks.

budget

Another factor to consider is the cost of ink and making sure you have enough ink to print everything you need. (There’s nothing more frustrating than having a printer but no ink in the tank.) Inkjet printers use liquid ink to print, while laser printers use toner cartridges that contain powder. Even if you’re getting a great printer deal, be sure to research how to refill ink, so you can choose the best printer for your overall budget. Some new printers include an ink subscription in their original price, so this may be something to consider.