8 Home Printers Tested and Approved for Homework, Projects, Presentations, and More (2024)

• Our Picks

• How We Tested

• What to Look For

• FAQ

• Why Trust The Spruce

The HP OfficeJet Pro 9025e Wireless Color All-in-One does it all, and does it well, which is why it’s easily our top recommendation for the best home printer. In testing, we found that it offers speedy printing and high-quality results, and it boasts an automatic document feeder, flatbed scanner, and two huge paper trays. It’s also surprisingly inexpensive to operate due to excellent page-per-cartridge yields, with an option to sign up for HP’s Instant Ink plan to drive those costs down even further (if your print volume warrants signing up for such a service).

This all-in-one inkjet is a mild upgrade over its predecessor that came out a few years ago, the OfficeJet Pro 9025, with the main difference being that it’s compatible with the HP+ service. The 9025 is also a great printer, but opting into HP+ while setting up this model doubles the warranty length and scores you six months of free ink. This kind of service isn’t for everyone, but it’s a good option if you go through a lot of ink.

The OfficeJet Pro 9025e offers great print speeds for an inkjet, too. During our testing process, we found that it churned through our ten-page monochrome test document in one minute and 19 seconds, and HP reports that it tops out at a blazing 24 pages per minute in ideal conditions. Printed documents come out crisp and clean without any fuzziness or distortion, and it also handles photo prints very well. Our test photos turned out a bit dark, but the contrast was excellent, color reproduction was good, and the photos didn’t smudge at all. That said, we wouldn't recommend this printer for photos that you plan to display, since the muted colors aren't ideal. However, the color printing function is acceptable for basic presentations and other documents.

Our testing found the flatbed scanner turned in excellent quality scans, even when scanning a bulky book. The automatic document feeder (ADF) only holds 35 pages, but it’s capable of auto-duplexing, or scanning both sides of the page, on a single pass through the scanner. That saves both time and effort, as you can set a stack of papers to copy or scan and walk away while the printer does all the work. One minor drawback is that this model doesn’t feature near field communication (NFC), which would allow you to print documents located on your phone by simply touching your phone to an NFC tag located on the printer.

If you’re looking for a powerful all-in-one home printer that handles all of your daily printing, scanning, and copying needs, the OfficeJet Pro 9025e is more than equal to the task. This printer has the specs to run in a small office environment, so it’s also a solid option if you work from home or even if you’re looking for a printer for a shared workspace. This is a physically large printer that will likely take up a bit too much real estate for most home office desks, so we would recommend a dedicated space for it.

_{Type: All-in-one | Technology: Inkjet | Color: Yes | Wireless: Yes}

The Canon Pixma MG3620 has an attractive price tag, of course, but it’s also a very competent all-in-one inkjet printer that can duplex print, print both color documents and photos, scan, and make copies. It also has wireless connectivity that lets you print from your computer or the well-designed mobile app. With all of that functionality, we were astounded that Canon doesn’t charge more for this model.

This is a feature-packed budget printer, which means it can do a little of everything, but it isn’t necessarily the best in every way. One area where this printer struggles is speed, and it actually took about five minutes to print our ten-page test document. Print quality is excellent though, with crisp text and graphics. It also handles printing pretty well, but it only has one paper tray. That means you can’t stock it with both photo paper and standard paper, and you have to manually swap in your glossy photo stock whenever it’s time to run off a few photos. It also lacks an automatic document feeder for effortless scanning, but it does have a flatbed scanner that lets you scan books and other bulky items in addition to single-page documents and forms.

We're quite pleased with how this compact printer has performed over six months of use at home, too. Although it's not a go-to option for printing high-quality photos, we're still impressed by how well it prints text and graphics on basic printer paper. It's also easy to store this printer in a cabinet when not in use.

_{Type: All-in-one | Technology: Inkjet | Color: Yes | Wireless: Yes}

The HP DeskJet 3755 is a compact all-in-one that gets all the basics right without overloading on features that not everyone needs. This color inkjet printer produces crisp monochrome documents and colorful photo prints, copies, and scans, all in a remarkably small footprint. It doesn’t perfectly duplicate all of the functionality of a bigger, more expensive all-in-one, but it has everything you’ll need for basic printing and scanning jobs. We loved the compact size, noting that it’s perfect for small home offices, dorm rooms, bedrooms, and anywhere that space is at a premium.

This isn’t the fastest printer, as it took over five minutes to print out our ten-page test document, but text comes out clear and legible. We also noted that photos came out a bit wet and prone to smearing, but they looked fantastic if left to dry after printing. Another quirk is that while this all-in-one can scan and copy, it doesn’t have an automatic document feeder or a flatbed scanner. Instead, it has a single-page document feeder on the top. That means you have to feed each page manually when scanning or copying, and you can’t scan things like books and other bulky items. It does support both wireless scanning and printing though, including through the mobile app.

_{Type: All-in-one | Technology: Inkjet | Color: Yes | Wireless: Yes}

A good home office printer needs to duplicate a lot of the functionality that you’d typically have access to in a professional office or shared workspace—and, based on our thorough testing, the Canon Pixma TR8620a is our recommendation for the work-from-home set. This all-in-one model offers excellent print quality, impressive print speeds, an automatic document feeder and flatbed scanner, and two paper trays so you can load up two different kinds of paper at once. It’s also rated for a 1,000-page-per-month duty cycle, which is great for most home office settings.

The Pixma TR8620a turned in solid print speeds during our testing, with our ten-page test document taking less than one minute to print. Photos came out a whole lot slower, at about two minutes each, but that’s less of a concern unless you’re in the business of printing photos.

Print quality is excellent for both monochrome documents and photos, and we found that photos in particular came out looking just as good as professional prints. The scanner also turned out good results in our tests, with good text reproduction, although it is important to note that the automatic document feeder only supports manual duplexing. That means you can scan double-sided documents, but you need to feed them in one at a time and flip them over to scan both sides.

_{Type: All-in-one | Technology: Inkjet | Color: Yes | Wireless: Yes}

If your ideal printer needs to support the whole gamut of connectivity options, the Epson Expression Home XP-4100 has you covered. What impressed us in our testing was that this printer allows you to connect in three different ways, including USB for single computer connections, Wi-Fi for printing from any device on your local network, and Wi-Fi Direct for direct wireless printing. These connectivity options let you print from a laptop or desktop via a wired connection, print over your home network from any network-connected device, or print straight from your Wi-Fi Direct-enabled phone or tablet with no network connection needed. It also supports Apple AirPrint, Google Cloud Print, and Epson Connect, which lets you print via email along with a variety of other options.

The XP-4100 was a bit of a headache to set up during our testing process because it needed a firmware update right out of the box. Once it was set up, though, it performed flawlessly in terms of print quality. Monochrome prints turned out nice and crisp, though the printer did have some color accuracy issues when printing photos on glossy photo stock, with browns appearing a bit red. It doesn’t have an automatic document feeder, but we noted that the flatbed scanner was remarkably quiet during operation.

After six months of usage, we were still impressed with the Expression XP-4100's print quality. However, one major learning for us is that you cannot use third-party ink cartridges, especially after completing a software update. The printer will not recognize the cartridges, so you can expect ink costs to be slightly more expensive with Epson ink being a requirement.

_{Type: All-in-one | Technology: Inkjet | Color: Yes | Wireless: Yes}

Home office users in need of a reliable color printer need look no further than the HP Color LaserJet Pro M244dw. This single-function printer is super fast without sacrificing quality, turning in sharp, colorful graphics alongside crisp, legible text. It’s also capable of printing photos, but it’s much better at handling color documents on standard printer paper.

The networking features included with this printer are top-notch. It includes an Ethernet port for establishing an optional wired network connection, and it also supports dual-band Wi-Fi for circ*mstances where plugging directly into the router isn’t viable.

One thing that makes this a great color printer for home office use is the automatic duplex feature. That allows it to print on both sides of the paper, which is extremely useful when printing things like flyers. Color charts and other graphics come out bold and dark, perfectly suitable for brochures, hand-outs, and reports. We did notice that the paper tray is a bit on the small side during testing though, which could be a source of annoyance if you have a lot of especially big printing jobs.

Color photos printed on glossy photo paper come out well enough if viewed from a distance, but the results are more middling when inspected up close. Since it’s a single-function model, it doesn’t have an on-board scanner or copying—but you do have the option of scanning documents using your phone and sending them to the printer to print.

_{Type: Single function | Technology: Laser | Color: Yes | Wireless: Yes}

The Brother HL-L2350DW is a monochrome laser printer that prints fast without sacrificing quality. It also offers exceptionally low operating costs due to how many pages you can get out of one toner cartridge, and Brother offers a subscription service to further drive down operating costs. It supports automatic duplexing for printing on both sides of the page, includes a USB connection for hooking up to a single computer, and also supports Wi-Fi for wireless printing. All of those factors help make this printer the ideal choice for anyone who needs to print black and white documents and doesn’t require color printing, scanning, or any other additional functionality.

This is a single-function printer, but it performs that single function exceptionally well. It turned in excellent print times and quality in the lab, churning through our ten-page test document in just 32 seconds. We found the print quality to be sharp and clean, even when printing on both sides of the page.

To be clear, it doesn’t have an Ethernet port, you can’t print directly from an SD card or USB drive, and the display screen is quite small—but that allows it to have an exceptionally small profile, and our testing team loved how compact it is. It doesn’t feature a built-in scanner but, unlike a lot of other printers, this one is really small enough to fit on most desks. Plus, we're blown away by how well it prints black-and-white materials. It's so quick to print and it's also compact enough to store in a cabinet or under a console table.

_{Type: Single function | Technology: Laser | Color: No | Wireless: Yes}

When looking at the value proposition of a home printer, it should include a lot of great features at a price that beats the competition. The HP Envy Inspire 7955e fits the bill there, as this highly competent all-in-one offers good print quality in both monochrome and color, includes both a flatbed scanner and an automatic document feeder, and pretty attractive operating costs if you opt for an HP Instant Ink subscription.

It’s also exceptionally easy to set up, and we had it up and running faster than any of the other printers we tested in the lab thanks to its big display and simple instructions. “Printers with touchscreens built in are typically easier to set up,” says Carl Prouty of Abt Electronics. “In most cases, the instructions will be right on the printer screen rather than having to find them on your computer. The HP Envy Inspire 7955e, for example, is the easiest printer to set up that we carry.”

This is a big printer, which is to be expected out of an all-in-one with this many features. It’s also a little on the slow side, as we found during testing that it took one minute and 45 seconds to churn out our ten-page test document, and about the same amount of time to print a single photo on glossy stock. Overall print quality is excellent though, with crisp blacks and vibrant colors. Copies also come out legible and high quality, although we did note that color scans turned out a bit muted compared to the originals.

_{Type: All-in-one | Technology: Inkjet | Color: Yes | Wireless: Yes}

Final Verdict

Our best overall pick for a home printer is the HP OfficeJet Pro 9025e. It has lightning-fast printing speeds without sacrificing quality, a huge paper tray, and excellent print yields, which makes it quite affordable to operate. If you’re looking for a printer on the lower price end, our best budget pick is the Canon Pixma MG3620 Wireless All-In-One Color Inkjet Printer, which clocks in at under $100. This all-in-one printer can reliably print, scan, and copy documents, but it skips out on perks like an automatic document feeder, which can make scanning multiple pages easier.

Testing Home Printers for Settings, Function, and Ease of Use

FAQ

• How many years should a printer last?

  Factors like build quality, how much it gets used, and how well it’s maintained all impact the longevity of a printer. According to Prouty, “Printers can last several years as long as they're maintained well.”

  Prouty elaborates that, “In a typical home setting you should expect to get 4 to 5 years of use out of them.” He also offers some advice that can help you keep your printer running as long as possible. “Many times a problem can be fixed by simply replacing the toner or ink cartridge, cleaning the printer's head contacts, or blowing the dust out of the printer using canned air or a blow dryer.”

• Does a wireless printer have to be plugged into the router?

  Wireless printers don’t have to be plugged into a router, because they connect via Wi-Fi. That does mean you need a wireless router though. That said, you may want to consider using a wired connection whenever possible. While Wi-Fi is more convenient, it’s also more prone to connection errors.

  According to Prouty, “A wired connection is more stable as it's not as susceptible to interference from other wireless devices.” Some wireless printers do have features, like self-healing Wi-Fi, that help fix printing errors that can occur due to wireless interference, but wired connections will always be more reliable.

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