The best cheap printer for your needs is one that does everything you need and nothing you don’t. You don’t need to pay a fortune for high image quality and good performance. If you know what to look for—and what to avoid—a deal printer can deliver what you need, without disappointment.
Low-cost models tend to abandon gloss and focus on functionality. For example, an affordable printer is unlikely to have a color touch-screen LCD, a tilted control panel, or an automatic document feeder. But some bargaining models offer a duplexer to make duplexes.
If you don’t need copying or scanning functionality and are looking for a single-function printer, you’ll likely get another attractive medium, such as a second paper tray for specialty media. The best news is that you don’t have to sacrifice image quality. Attractive prints, copies, and scans can be had on models that cost under $60.
At Tom’s Guide, we put these bargain inkjet printers through the same testing system as more expensive models to find the best printers on the market. On some tasks, performance can vary widely, so it is important to compare test results to ensure that your primary task is not the model’s Achilles heel. But that doesn’t mean you can’t find a budget printer that outperforms the more expensive model for a given task—you absolutely can. It just takes a little digging.
Get the features you need most
Deal printers are best suited for use with a PC or smartphone. That’s because the control panel tends to be simple, with few, if any, dedicated function buttons. If there is a screen, it will most likely be a small LED without backlight. The control panel is unlikely to tilt, so where you place the printer is important for easy independent operation. For example, a small LED on the front face of a printer would be difficult to read if it was on a low table in a dimly lit room. Some models offer a control panel on top of the printer. The configuration that’s best for you depends on where the printer is located.
If you need a printer mostly for office tasks, the Brother MFC-1205w ($130) is worth a serious look, for its fast performance and low ink costs. But if photography-related fun is right up your alley, you’ll likely gravitate toward the Canon Pixma TS702a ($130), which can print on several specialty media, such as glossy magnetic photo paper, double-sided matte paper, fabric iron-on transfers and nail stickers.
Most affordable printers offer a single paper tray. The Canon Pixma TS702a is one exception, offering both a paper tray and a vertical rear paper tray. This allows you to keep two types of media loaded. The rear tray provides a straighter paper path, which can accommodate thicker media such as card stock.
Most deal printers don’t offer a duplexer—but the previously reviewed Canon TS702a and Canon MG3620 ($60 when reviewed) do.
If you think you’ll move your printer periodically—but don’t specifically want to buy a portable one—check the weight. For example, the HP DeskJet 2755e weighs only 7.5 pounds. By comparison, the Brother MFC-J120 weighs just over 14 pounds, which is more popular.
Photography Features
The convenience of photo printing at home can’t be beat. But not all budget printers place the same emphasis on photo printing and related features.
For example, the HP DeskJet 2755e does not support borderless photo printing at all. The Brother MFC-J1205w, on the other hand, won’t make borderless photo prints with the Windows 10 driver — you have to use the company’s iPrint & Scan software.
Also, the Canon TS702a offers PictBridge support for printing directly from a compatible digital camera. These days, with most photos taken with a smartphone, it’s not as cool as it used to be. Neither the Brother MFC-J1205w nor the HP DeskJet 2755e ($85) offers PictBridge support — but like Canon, they offer an iOS and Android app for printing photos from a smartphone.
Communication and smart assistants
All affordable printers offer Wi-Fi these days. Some forego the USB port, so be sure to consider your network plans. As usual, the HP 2755e and Brother J1205w both offer a USB port and Wi-Fi connectivity. The Canon TS702a provides these as well, as well as an Ethernet port.
Plus, if you’re in the market for a printer compatible with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, your only option among these bargain models is the Canon TS702a.
Performance: print, copy, and scan speeds
Performance can vary greatly between printers. Waiting for a print job to finish can be frustrating. While very few printers excel across the board, this tends to be more true among the more affordable models.
To reduce your impatience and disappointment, pay special attention to your repetitive tasks. Some models excel at printing and copying documents, but lag behind at printing photos. And even photo printing performance can be mixed. For example, the HP DeskJet 2755e was faster than average at printing 4 x 6 inches glossy, but was relatively slow at printing 8 x 10 photos.
The Brother MFC-J1205w, on the other hand, was very slow at printing two-size photos. For comparison, Brother took roughly 4 minutes to print a 4 x 6 inch photo, while the Canon TS702a did it in 1 minute 3 seconds.
However, Brother was faster than average at printing documents on plain paper. It prints text documents at 12.2ppm and color pages at 3.2ppm. Canon prints text at 9.5ppm and color pages at 3.5ppm. HP was the slowest model in these tests, printing text at 7.6ppm and color pages at 2ppm. Class averages are 8.8 ppm (text) and 2.7 ppm (colored).
Likewise, Brother was very fast at copying in black and white, reproducing a page of text in just 10.8 seconds. HP DeskJet took 25.1 seconds to make the same copy. Color copy making was average or slower than average: Brother made color copy in 28.1 seconds, which is exactly average, while HP was a little slower, at 32.4 seconds.
On the other hand, scanning was fast with the brother. It scanned at 600 dpi in color in just 37.5 seconds, while the HP took 1 minute 36 seconds. (Average 1 minute 6 seconds). Black and white scanning was also fast with Brother, which captured a 300dpi scan to PDF in just 9.1 seconds, while HP took 19.4 seconds to finish the same job. (Average 11.7 seconds).
ink costs
If there’s an elephant in the room when it comes to haggling on printers, that’s the ink costs. Nothing will spark buyer remorse faster than seeing expensive toner cartridges scatter your initial savings.
The HP DeskJet 2755e and Canon TS702a have fairly high ink costs. HP ink costs 10 cents (text) and 22.5 cents (color) per page, when using high-yield XL cartridges. Canon saves on lower ink costs: When using its High Yield XXL cartridges, the cost per page is 6.3 cents (text) and 17.9 cents (color).
Instead, the Brother MFC-J1205w offers only the high-yield cartridges with an estimated output volume of 750 pages. (HP XL cartridges max out at 240 pages, while Canon color cartridges max out at 824 pages.
To curb ink costs, the subscription plan is worth considering. If you purchased an HP printer, you will be prompted regularly to sign up for Instant Ink. To see if it’s right for you, check out our article explaining what instant HP ink is, which reveals how this plan can deliver significant savings.
In contrast, Brother Refresh automatically rearranges your ink cartridges, but unlike HP, you don’t have to sign up for a set number of pages per month.
Oddly enough, the Canon TS702a didn’t come with printed information about the company’s ink subscription program. But while setting up with my iPhone, the Canon Print app asked me to sign up for the Pixma Print Plan, which claims to save you 20% to 70%. These plans start at $3.99 per month.
For a comprehensive breakdown of ink subscription plans from all the major vendors, see our story comparing HP Instant Ink vs. Canon vs. Epson to determine which subscription plan is worth the cost.
print quality
All three budget printers mentioned in this article provided high image quality. However, there were some subtle differences. The Brother and Canon models printed text that was relatively bold and sharp, while the HP text was softer around the edges.
All three models are printed with attractive color graphics. However, HP had some difficulty with our PDF test, and its copies of both text and fine detail in graphics lack the sharpness of Brother and Canon prints.
Image quality was very high for all three models. The differences were subtle, but overall Brother made prints with less contrast than Canon. The added contrast in Canon prints added an extra “pop”. HP tends to have more yellows and warm shades, and does a lighter print than Canon, which results in reds that are darker and richer in gloss.
HP and Brother both made high quality scans.
Copy and Scan Quality
The Brother MFC-J1205w and HP DeskJet 2755e made attractive copies in our tests. Both models faithfully reproduce documents and graphics, with plenty of detail and natural-looking colors. (Canon TS702a is a single function and does not copy or scan.)
Brother and HP also captured higher quality scans in our tests. Both models tend to lose some fine detail in dark shadow areas. Brother tends to overexpose, and prevent harsh shadows on faces, compared to HP. HP’s disappointment was HP Smart scanning’s automatic cropping feature, which was unreliable and tended to cut out a large portion of the original image.
Excellent scanning quality doesn’t cost much. The $60 Canon MG3620 delivered excellent image scans in our tests, and it actually beat the category average (see embedded graphs above) in terms of copy speeds.
Programming
Printers include software and an app for smartphones. Our individual reviews provide details of these apps. In general, software packages with budget models are very basic, as are smartphone applications.
One oddity is the “Camera Scan” function, which, for all practical purposes, is just taking a picture. The HP Smart app also has a copy function. Either way, these features pick up exact copies, but for the most part the sub-par quality is a waste of time. If you have a flatbed scanner at hand, just use it. You will get much better results.
final decision
To make sure you get the best printer for your money, prioritize your wish list. Are you primarily outfitting a home office or buying a photo printer, or looking for a little bit of both? No one printer is best suited to everyone, no matter how inexpensive it may be.
Tom’s Guide tests reveal the strengths and weaknesses of each model, so you don’t have to know the hard way. Low cost doesn’t mean low quality or poor performance – but you will likely have to make a trade-off somewhere. With a variety of deal printers on the market, a little research can ensure they’re just a small trade-off.
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