When shopping for the best printer for home use, you're likely looking for something versatile enough to satisfy everyone's needs. Your family might need to copy documents to sign, scan delicate old photos, or print long essays or reports at a moment's notice. Having good scanning features is important to ensure you can digitize your work quickly and efficiently, while a low cost-per-print is a must to help keep you within your budget. Having a variety of connectivity options is ideal if you want to print with ease from any device.
We've tested over 125 printers, and below are our recommendations for the best home printers you can buy. You can also check our picks for the best all-in-one printers, the best photo printers, and the best office printers.
The best printer for home use we've tested is the Brother MFC-J4535DW. This all-in-one model feels well built and has plenty of features to satisfy every family member's needs. You can connect to the printer via USB, Wi-Fi, or Ethernet or print directly from a USB flash drive. It has a flatbed scanner with lid hinges that extend to accommodate thicker items like textbooks, and its automatic document feeder lets you scan up to 20 pages per minute, though you'll still have to flip the pages manually when scanning double-sided documents. Its cartridges yield a large number of prints, resulting in a low cost-per-print over time.
The MFC-J4535DW has a 400-sheet input tray and prints fairly quickly at 14 black or 15 color pages per minute, and it doesn't take long to warm up. It doesn't have the best color accuracy, but photos still look decent, albeit a bit washed out. It's compatible with widely-used operating systems like Windows, macOS, and Chrome OS, and it has a mobile companion app for both Android and iOS.
If you're looking for a more budget option, check out the Brother MFC-J4335DW. It uses a hybrid cartridge–tank system that yields a large number of prints to help keep maintenance costs low. It churns out documents at a good pace, about 17 black or 15 color pages per minute, and it can perform double-sided printing automatically so that you don't have to flip the pages yourself.
Its color accuracy is fair, but photos come out looking just okay with a lot of graininess present. The connectivity options are great, including Apple AirPrint and Mopria Print Service, so you'll have no problem connecting and printing from your phone or tablet anywhere in the house.
If you need an all-in-one for your office, check out the HP OfficeJet Pro 9025e. This inkjet model has an excellent cartridge system that yields about 1100 black and 740 color pages, and its ink cartridges are inexpensive, meaning you won't have to spend too much on maintenance. This model also comes with a six-month subscription to HP's Instant Ink, a service that delivers replacement ink to you when you run low. Its overall printing speed is great at around 16 black or 14 color pages per minute, and it has two input trays holding a total of 500 sheets of paper, allowing you to complete large print jobs quickly with minimal interruptions.
The OfficeJet Pro has an ADF-equipped scanner that scans up to 10 pages per minute, and it can scan double-sided documents in a single pass so that you don't have to flip the pages manually, though the ADF can sometimes cause tilted scans. It's compatible with HP's Smart mobile companion app, which you can use to print, copy, scan, order supplies, and manage your ink subscription.
Only need to print in black? You can save money with a monochrome all-in-one, like the Brother MFC-L2710DW. This laser model doesn't require nearly as much maintenance as an inkjet printer, so you don't have to worry about any printheads getting clogged or breaking. Its page yield is amazing at around 2000 pages, meaning you won't have to replace the toner often unless you print a lot.
The toner cartridge is cheap, but it doesn't have the drum unit built-in, so you'll have to replace the drum separately, adding to the overall maintenance costs. It prints very quickly at over 30 pages a minute, doesn't take long to wake from sleep, and performs double-sided printing automatically.
For photo printing, go with the Canon PIXMA TR8620. It produces amazing-quality, borderless photos that look detailed and vibrant. There's no banding in the photos, and color accuracy is pretty decent. It takes about a minute to print a typical 4" x 6" photo on glossy paper, which is a little slow but typical for most inkjets.
Its color page yield is pretty good at around 340 color prints, and the cartridges are relatively inexpensive. It also accepts third-party ink, which might further help you save money. In addition to the usual USB, Wi-Fi, and Ethernet connectivity options, you can print directly from an SD card or use the mobile companion app to print photos from your smartphone. It has a high-resolution scanner, great for digitizing or making copies of old family photos.
If you often print in bulk and want a printer with a page yield, check out the Epson EcoTank ET-3850. It's an inkjet model with a refillable ink tank instead of traditional ink cartridges. A full tank yields around 7800 black and 4600 color pages, and you can simply replenish the tanks with bottles of ink. Plus, the ink bottles are cheap, so your maintenance cost remains low over time. It prints decently fast, churning out 15 black or seven color pages per minute, and it has a fairly large 250-sheet input tray.
The scanner has an ADF to scan long, multi-page documents; however, it only scans up to three pages per minute and can't perform duplex scanning, so you'll still have to flip the pages manually. It has plenty of connectivity options, including wired LAN, USB, and Wi-Fi, and it supports Apple AirPrint and Mopria Print Service.
Jun 10, 2022: Minor structure change; no change in recommendations.
May 12, 2022: Verified accuracy of picks; no change in recommendations.
Apr 14, 2022: Changed the 'Best Supertank' category to 'Best High-Yield'. Verified availability and accuracy of picks, and updated text for clarity.
Mar 18, 2022: Replaced the Epson WorkForce Pro WF-4830 with the Brother MFC-J4535DW for 'Best Family Printer' since the Brother prints a lot more pages. Also replaced the Epson EcoTank ET-3760 with the Epson EcoTank ET-3850 for 'Best Home Printer With Supertank' since the ET-3760 is discontinued.
Feb 17, 2022: Picks verified for availability; text updated for accuracy; no changes.
Our recommendations above are what we think are currently the best home printers for most people. We factor in the price, feedback from our visitors, and availability.
If you would like to do the work of choosing yourself, here's the list of all our printer reviews. Be careful not to get too caught up in the details. While no printer is perfect for every use, most are good enough to please almost everyone, and the differences are often not noticeable unless you really look for them.