5 Best Photo Printers - 129 Tested - Summer 2022

The best photo printer we've tested is the Canon PIXMA TR8620. Although its color accuracy and color gamut might not satisfy professional photographers, it still prints excellent-quality photos that are good enough to hang at home. The pictures have a good amount of detail, zero banding, high contrast, and vibrant, saturated colors. It has good color page yields, and the cost-per-print for photos is excellent, making it significantly more cost-effective than getting your photos done at a print shop. It takes about a minute to print a 4" x 6" photo, which is decently quick.

Additionally, you can print directly from SD cards, which is helpful if you're a photographer. It can't print on 2" x 3" photos, but it does accept a variety of larger paper sizes and different media. You can even print custom magnetic photos that you can stick directly to your fridge or locker. All in all, it's a very good choice if your main focus is at-home photo printing.

Shopping for a photo printer with a limited budget is tough. However, the Canon PIXMA TS6420a is a good option if you're trying to save some money. It prints amazing photos with lots of fine details. There's a bit of graininess in the images, but it's only noticeable if you're looking at it very closely. This model can print on photo paper of various sizes, including 4" x 6", 5" x 7", and 8" x 10", and it takes a little less than a minute to print a single photo.

The downside with this model is that its two-cartridge system only prints around 200 pages, so you'll be buying cartridges often. If this is a problem, the cheaper Brother MFC-J1205W might interest you. While its cartridges are more expensive, it prints approximately 1000 pages, so you don't need to replace them as often. Unfortunately, its photos don't look as good as they have a lot more grain and banding across the images.

If you're a professional, the best printer for pictures we've tested is the Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-300. As you would expect of a professional-grade photo printer, the pictures look clear, vibrant, and full of detail. It prints a wide range of colors and gradients, and colors are extremely accurate, so it can handle color reproduction if you're printing out logos, graphics, or other print media. It has nine cartridges and uses specific photo cartridges that work only on glossy photo paper, so you won't have to worry about depleting the photo ink if you shift to printing documents or reports.

It takes nearly two minutes for a photo to come out, but this is part of the cost of such high-quality photos. It also lacks a USB port and SD card slot, so you can't print directly from your camera's memory card. If you're a professional looking for a printer that can produce outstanding prints, this is the best printer for printing photos for professional use.

If you need a high-yield photo printer to keep maintenance costs low, get a supertank model like the Canon PIXMA G7020. Instead of using traditional ink cartridges, it has an ink tank that you can refill as you go. A full tank yields around 4700 color prints, and the ink bottles are cheap, which leads to an exceptionally low cost per print. Although there's some banding and oversaturation, the photos still come out looking great with plenty of fine details.

As it's an all-in-one option, it has a high-resolution scanner so that you can digitize your old family photos or make copies. In addition to the usual USB, Ethernet, and Wi-Fi connectivity, it also has Apple AirPrint and Mopria Print Service support. You can also print photos directly from your smartphone with Canon's mobile companion app, available for Android and iOS devices.

If you are looking for the best printer for pictures that also happens to be portable, we recommend the Liene Amber M100. It's a well-built, compact, and lightweight model that's fairly easy to carry around. It's a dye-sublimation printer, so instead of using ink, it heats dye transfer films to create an image. If you're wondering about its photo printing quality, we have great news: it prints amazing-looking photos with very little grain or banding. The downside is that you have to use proprietary paper, and you can only print 4" x 6" photos. Fortunately, you don't have to buy the paper separately as it always comes bundled with the cartridge. As for the cartridge itself, it has enough dye film for about 40 photos.

Unfortunately, it doesn't have an internal battery, meaning you have to use it plugged in. If you'd prefer a more compact printer with a battery, look at the Canon SELPHY Square QX10. Its smaller size makes it easier to carry around, but its photo printing quality isn't as good. Also, it can only print 20 prints with its cartridge (which is half of the Amber M100), leading to a higher cost per print.