10 Best Printers of 2026, Tested Head-to-Head

The first five-page document came out in twenty-four seconds flat, two seconds faster than Brother's own spec sheet claims. That set the tone for the whole week I spent with the MFC-T780DW. The four-bottle ink system lasted through over three hundred pages of mixed printing without a refill, and each page cost roughly a third of a cent in ink. Scans came through clean, copies were sharp, and the Wi-Fi connection held steady across three rooms. Spec sheets aside, the one honest knock is that mono text prints a touch lighter than what you'd get from a laser. For anyone who needs both quality and economy, though, this is the one. Period.

This is the printer that fixes the biggest complaint people have about printing: the cost. Two years of ink ships in the box, and refill bottles run roughly four dollars each. Photo prints surprised me, skin tones came out warmer and more accurate than I expected at this tier. The trade-off is speed. At ten and a half pages per minute, it's noticeably slower than the Brother MFC-T780DW above, and the lack of automatic duplex means you're flipping pages by hand for two-sided jobs. The rear paper chute also leaves your stock exposed to dust. But if running cost is the priority and you print under a hundred pages a month, this one earns its spot.

Buy this if you run a home business that needs professional-looking documents every day. The MF665Cdw churned out crisp text and clean graphics from the moment I powered it on, and the fifty-sheet automatic document feeder handled a stack of contracts without a single misfeed. The five-inch touchscreen is responsive and organized. Where it falls short versus something like the Xerox C325 is photo output, color images look acceptable but lack the saturation a dedicated photo printer would deliver. Toner replacement also costs more per page than ink-tank models, which adds up if you print in high volume.

I almost didn't include this one because of how slow it prints. Ten pages a minute is nothing to celebrate. But here's what changed my mind: I left it unplugged for two months, plugged it back in, and it printed a clean page immediately, no head cleaning, no dried nozzles, no fuss. For a household that prints shipping labels and the occasional school project, that reliability matters more than speed. Auto duplex works well, and the compact size fits anywhere. Running costs are higher than the Epson EcoTank ET-2800, but the entry point is far lower. It's the printer for people who barely print but still need one.

Judge this by feature density alone and it's hard to fault. The ET-4950 packs auto duplex scanning, fax, a clean LCD panel, and enough bundled ink for roughly three years of printing. In my stopwatch tests, mono pages clocked in around thirty-two pages per minute, slightly under the claimed thirty-five, but still faster than any inkjet I've tested besides the Brother MFC-T780DW. The auto-duplex scanner saved real time when I fed a double-sided contract through the ADF. The catch is the upfront cost, this sits at the premium end of ink-tank printers, and the ink bottles are Epson-proprietary.

If you need a printer that just works in a home office and you don't want to think about ink tanks or toner drums, this is the path of least resistance. The OfficeJet Pro 9125e printed twenty-two pages per minute in my tests, which matched the claim exactly. Text came out sharp, the self-healing Wi-Fi reconnected after every router restart, and the 250-sheet tray meant I only refilled paper once during two weeks of testing. The downside is the HP Plus ecosystem, you're locked into genuine HP cartridges, and the per-page cost is meaningfully higher than any ink-tank model on this list.

You notice the weight before anything else, nearly forty pounds of metal frame and ceramic drum. Once placed, though, the C325 runs quieter than I expected from a color laser. Pages came out fast, with the first color sheet emerging in under ten seconds from a cold start. Text and graphics both looked crisp. In my testing, it handled a forty-page color report without a hiccup. It doesn't scan or copy in this base configuration, which is a real limitation compared to the Canon Color imageCLASS MF753Cdw II. But for pure printing, documents and marketing materials, the output quality surprised me.

Most all-in-one lasers this fast make you choose between speed and color accuracy. The MF753Cdw II doesn't. At thirty-three pages per minute, it's the fastest printer in this lineup, and color output looked richer than any laser I've tested at this tier. The NFC tap-to-print feature actually worked on my first attempt, hold the phone near the panel and the document starts printing. The fifty-sheet ADF handled a contract stack without jamming. On the other hand, this thing is large. It barely fit on my desk, and the Canon 069H toner cartridges aren't cheap.

If you print spreadsheets, architectural plans, or anything that needs eleven-by-seventeen-inch paper, this is one of the few consumer-grade options that handles it. The INKvestment tank cartridges lasted through several hundred pages before showing any signs of running low, and the dual paper trays meant I could keep letter and tabloid stock loaded at the same time. Mono speed at thirty pages per minute was close to the rated claim. Color output was decent but noticeably softer than what the Epson EcoTank ET-4950 produced on the same test image. The touchscreen also feels small and dated.

Let's get the knock out of the way first: the sixty-sheet paper tray is small, and nine pages per minute is slow enough that printing a twenty-page document tests your patience. This is not a productivity machine. What it is, though, is one of the most compact all-in-one printers you can buy. It fits on a bookshelf, looks clean, and handles occasional printing and scanning without complaint. The Instant Ink subscription can soften the per-page cost if you print regularly. For a dorm room, a guest room, or a home where printing is an afterthought, the size alone justifies the spot.