The best all-in-one printers give you more than just a quick way to print a hardcopy. Whether it’s a multifunction inkjet printer or a laser printer with scanning, copying and fax built in, an all-in-one printer puts several document handling features into one convenient device. Whether you want to print a photo, scan an assignment from a textbook, or just run off a few copies of a document, the best all-in-one printers can handle it all, and offer something for every member of the family.
For both inkjet and laser printers, the best all-in-ones offer useful features, speedy printing, sharp print quality and affordable ink. We’ve spent hundreds of hours testing dozens of models to find the best printers out there — here are our top picks right now.
What are the best all-in-one printers?
Of the dozens of printers we’ve tested, the best all-in-one printer overall is the Brother INKvestment MFC-J995DW. With solid performance across the board, it’s our favorite model, not least because it uses extra-large ink cartridges to deliver some of the lowest per-page printing costs we’ve seen.
For those working from home, the Canon Pixma G6020 MegaTank offers incredible value, with the chops to handle thousands of pages of prints and copies with ease, and an ink tank system that keeps print costs extremely low. Plus, you get a load of capability without paying much more than a standard inkjet, with savings you’ll see on day one.
If you’re not so hot on ink, there’s always the Brother MFC-L2750DW XL, the best laser all-in-one printer we’ve reviewed. With scan, copy and fax capabilities, you can do a lot with this printer, but it’s monochrome, so you can’t print in color, making this printer best for handling lots of text documents.
The best all-in-one printers you can buy today
There’s much more to the cost of a printer than just the purchase price: Ink costs can eat away the savings you expected from your affordable inkjet device. If you want one of the best all-in-one printers with the most affordable ink, we recommend the Brother INKvestment MFC-J995DW. The printer features extra-large ink cartridges, and comes with an estimated years’ supply of ink in the box, which adds up to the lowest per-page ink costs we’ve seen.
On top of that, the Brother INKvestment MFC-J995DW offers solid printing, scanning and copying. Print speeds beat the category average and two-sided printing is among the fastest we’ve seen. And it did all of this while delivering high print quality across the board. That same zippy speed and above-average quality was found in scans and copies, making it a great choice for anyone, even if you aren’t buying it for the affordable ink.
Read our full Brother INKvestment MFC-J995DW review.
The most obvious reason to like the Canon Pixma G6020 MegaTank is the use of refillable ink tanks that offer huge savings on ink and dramatically low print costs, thanks in part to the thousands of pages worth of ink that come included with the printer. But there’s more to the G6020 than cheap printing.
The compact body is sized right for use in a home office but it doesn’t skimp on the features, with dual paper trays for a total capacity of 350 sheets, and an automatic duplexer that makes two-sided printing a breeze. And with scanning and copying built-in – both offer speedy performance, as well – it’s got everything a home office needs (provided you don’t rely on faxing). And with a recommended monthly duty cycle of up to 3,300 pages, it can handle much heavier workloads than the average cheap inkjet, despite still offering an attractively low price.
Read our full Canon Pixma G6020 MegaTank review.
The Brother MFC-L2750DW XL multifunction laser printer is packed with features like a fast ADF, fast duplex printing and copying, fax capability, and a second paper tray. This device is monochrome laser printer that lends itself well to fast document printing that looks sharp and clear every time. It’s easily one of the best all-in-one printers overall, and our favorite laser printer – so long as you don’t need to print in color
The MFC-L2750DW XL turned in great document quality, and the fastest speeds to date for text and mixed text/graphics files. The printer even made two-sided prints faster than some models can handle one-sided documents. Using its high-capacity toner cartridge, the MFC-L2750DW XL offers a cost per page of just 2.7 cents, the lowest we’ve seen in this category. That’s a tough deal to beat.
Read our full Brother MFC-L2750DW review.
The Epson EcoTank ET-7460 is a great choice for busy offices, thanks to its combination of solid performance, generous feature-set and impressively low ink costs. Built for heavy duty, the EcoTank earns its name by not only printing thousands of pages a month, but also keeping ink costs low with refillable high-capacity ink tanks.
The printer comes with the first set of ink bottles, and enough ink for an estimated 7,500 pages (black) and 6,000 pages (color) before ever worrying about refills. Even when you buy new ink, you’ll get plenty of bang for your buck, with costs of less than a cent per page.
Speedy printing and copying make it a smart pick for any busy home office or small team, though you might miss having a second paper tray. Regardless, the printer’s relatively compact footprint and convenient two-sided printing make it a winner for day-to-day productivity.
Read our full Epson EcoTank ET-4760 review.
The Canon Pixma TR8620 offers plenty of office features, from scanning and faxing to a 20-page automatic document feeder (ADF), a duplexer for two-sided printing, and two paper trays for keeping two types of paper at the ready. A big 4.3-inch color touchscreen makes it easy to control, and the printer supports smart home integration with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
It’s also a great printer, with faster-than-average print speeds and high print quality overall. Text and color graphics all look great, but we noted that glossy photos printed impressively fast, and the use of a 5-ink cartridge system with two types of black ink resulted in photos with high-quality accuracy: Natural-looking colors, sharp details and smooth transitions. Really, our only big complaint with the Pixma TR8620 is the above average cost of ink, due partially to the expense of the extra ink cartridge.
Read our full Canon Pixma TR8620 review.
The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 combines impressively low ink costs with an abundance of business-firendly features to take its place as the best small business inkjet printer we’ve reviewed. The EcoTank design uses refillable ink tanks and comes with enough spare ink bottles to print thousands of pages. A small business printer rated to print more than 3,000 pages per month, it’s more than capable of handling whatever your office team might throw at it. The printer boasts scan, copy and fax capability, dual 250-page paper cassettes, a 50-sheet automatic document feeder and a large, easy-to-use 4.3-inch touchscreen for convenient operations.
In timed printer tests, the Epson ET-5850 delivered some of the fastest printing we’ve seen, and produced crisp, clear text that nearly rivals laser printer quality. That same quick, high-quality performance was also seen in copying and scanning, making it the printer of choice for offices that need a full featured multifunction printer. But the real draw is the ink savings, extremely low per-page costs of 0.4 cents for text pages, and 1.6 cents per color page. The upfront price may be high, but the combination of quality, features and super-low operating expenses make this one of the best investments you can make for your office.
Read our full Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 review.
How to choose the best all-in-one printer for you
There are several key details to consider when shopping for a new printer. Obviously, you want a printer that performs well, so all of our reviews discuss a printer’s output quality and speed, but there’s more to an all-in-one printer than just churning out documents.
Price: All-in-one printers sell for as little as $60 (£45/AU$90) for inkjet models, and $150 (£170/AU$200) for laser printers, with high-end models costing hundreds of dollars, but offering better print quality, durability and features. And don’t forget ink and toner, which can range from 1 to 5 cents per page for basic documents (photos will cost more).
Inkjet or Laser: Next, it helps to determine the style of printer you need. Inkjet printers are generally better suited to producing the full range of colors, making them better suited to printing graphics and photos. Laser printers, on the other hand, can quickly produce professional looking text documents, often at a lower cost per page. (Learn more in our guide Inkjet vs. Laser: Which printer is right for you?)
Home or Office: Home and office printers differ greatly in their handling of large print volumes. Some printers are built to offer great quality and value for the home user that prints a few pages a week, while others are built for busy offices where multiple users print dozens or hundreds of pages every day. Find the one that’s right for you to avoid paying for features you don’t need.
Use case: Additional use-cases, such as photo printing are addressed in our selections above, while specific features are discussed in every printer review we do. Portable printing is another niche area where the right printer can make a world of difference. (See the best photo printers and best portable printers to learn more.)
Operating expenses: Finally, consider the cost per page. Whether it’s using ink cartridges or toner, printers cost money over time. Check our reviews for a breakdown of the costs to print individual pages as a good measure of how expensive operating costs will be over the life of the printer.
Some companies even offer subscription services that save you money while sending you ink just in time to replace that empty cartridge. Learn more in our article HP Instant Ink vs. Canon vs. Epson: Are ink subscriptions worth it?
How we test all-in-one printers
Every printer we review is extensively tested to determine the performance and output quality. These tests include timed prints of text, mixed text and graphics and color photos. The resulting prints are carefully examined for errors and issues, and compared with samples from other printers to determine the print quality.
We time every test print to see how quickly the machine handles document printing, and closely examine the finished product to determine how well different printing tasks are handled. We also test the scanning and copying functions of the printer, timing how quickly it captures a page and comparing the results to the original images to determine how well it captures color and detail.
To measure the cost of owning and operating a printer, we look at the current street price of ink refills and the estimated number of pages that each cartridge can produce, and calculate the cost for printing a single page.
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