The 3 Best Printers Under $100 - Spring 2025

For inkjets, the best printer under $100 we've tested is the Brother MFC-J1010DW, an all-in-one inkjet model designed for home use. It has a sturdy build, Wi-Fi and USB connectivity, and a front panel with tons of buttons to make navigating the printer's functions easier. The scanner produces high-quality scans and processes up to eight pages per minute through its automatic feeder. Unfortunately, it doesn't support duplex scanning, so you'll have to flip the pages manually when scanning double-sided sheets.

Documents look sharp whether you're printing in black and white or color, and while the printer doesn't have the widest color range or most accurate color reproduction, photos still look very detailed. Unfortunately, like most printers in this price range, page yields from its ink cartridges are very low, yielding only 200 black and 130 color prints. Thankfully, the cartridges are relatively cheap, so your running cost won't rise too much if you print a lot. Just remember that inkjet printers can clog if they aren't used regularly; thankfully, this printer has built-in functions to help resolve this issue, including printhead cleaning and alignment tasks.

If you have a larger print load and can stretch your budget a bit, it's worth checking out the Brother MFC-J1205W/MFC-J1215W. This is also an all-in-one inkjet printer, and it usually retails for around $130 USD but goes down to around $100 on sale. It yields about 1,150 black and 750 color, resulting in fewer cartridge replacements and a lower cost-per-print. However, it doesn't have an ADF and prints slightly slower at nine black or six color pages per minute.

Our best laser pick is the Brother HL-L2405W, a variant of the Brother HL-L2460DW. This monochrome print-only unit's regular price is slightly over $100, but it often goes on sale for around $99 USD, so keep an eye out. It has a sturdy build and a compact design, making it well-suited for smaller spaces. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi and USB, and there's support for Apple AirPrint and Mopria Print Service, so you can easily print from various devices. As mentioned, this is a print-only unit, so you need to be sure you won't need to scan anything.

Printing-wise, this model can produce sharp black-and-white documents, but you'll need to tweak the print settings a bit, as the print quality isn't that great out of the box. Printing speed is great is very fast once, pushing up to 30 pages per minute, but it can take a while to get the first page out. A regular toner cartridge gets you around 1,300 prints, and you can get XL cartridges that yield more prints. You'll have to replace the drum separately; it's an added expense but an infrequent task as the drum tends to last a long time.

If you want to print photos on the go, check out the Polaroid Hi-Print Generation 2. This compact printer fits easily into a small handbag and has a built-in rechargeable battery, allowing you to print anywhere. It's designed for use with Android and iOS smartphones and connects easily through Bluetooth. It also works with the Polaroid Hi-Print mobile app; it's fairly basic and lets you access your photo library, take a picture with your smartphone and print it, and apply some basic image processing like adjusting colors and photo size while adding a filter, text, sticker, or frame to your photos. 

It produces 2" x 3" portraits using Polaroid's proprietary Hi-Print Generation 2 photo paper. The print quality isn't that great compared to desktop printers, but for its niche use case, this printer is the best as it produces nicely detailed photos that are fun for capturing the moment at a special event or night out. You can get the printer on its own or in a bundle with packs of photo paper. Unfortunately, its photo paper is very expensive, so know that the recurring costs will quickly add up if you print a lot. Also, battery life lasts just 20 prints, so you'll want to keep the charging cable close.