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The 4 Best Small Printers - Winter 2025

Updated Feb 26, 2025 at 02:05 pm
Best Small Printers

While small printers generally lack features and don't have the best print quality, they're very convenient, especially if you have a small room where every inch counts or need to store your printer in a cupboard between print sessions. Small printers come in many forms; you can find all-in-ones designed for home use, portable models with a built-in rechargeable battery, and even film-based printers that produce Polaroid-like pictures. To help you with your purchasing decision, we've put together a few top picks for different budgets, uses, and sizes.

Below are our recommendations for the best compact printers you can buy. If you're looking for printers you can use on the go, check out our recommendations for the best portable printers. You can also check our picks for the best printers and the best printers for college students if you're looking for dorm-room specific picks.

Quick Look

Build Quality
Best Small Printer: Epson EcoTank ET-2800/ET-2803
Document Quality
8.0
Color Quality
7.2
Weight
9.6 lbs (4.4 kg)
All-in-one inkjet—high page yields & great print quality.
Build Quality
Best Budget Small Printer: Brother MFC-J1205W/MFC-J1215W
Document Quality
9.0
Color Quality
6.6
Weight
12.8 lbs (5.8 kg)
All-in-one inkjet—lower yields, worse photo quality.
Build Quality
Document Quality
6.0
Color Quality
0.0
Weight
16.8 lbs (7.6 kg)
Print-only model—recommended for infrequent use.
Build Quality
Best Compact Photo Printer: Polaroid Hi-Print Generation 2
Document Quality
0.0
Color Quality
5.5
Weight
0.7 lbs (0.3 kg)
Small photo printer for Polaroid-like prints.
  1. Best Small Printer

    The best small printer we've tested is the Epson EcoTank ET-2800, also sold as the Epson EcoTank ET-2803 at Walmart and Target. It's an all-in-one inkjet supertank model and the best small home printer for households that print a lot due to its high page yields and low cost-per-print. While it isn't the smallest printer, it's quite compact for storage and offers a great balance of features and performance for its size. Printed documents look sharp, and photos are fairly color-accurate and detailed, albeit slightly grainy. The flatbed scanner produces great, vivid-looking scans; however, know that the image processing boosts the color contrast and saturation, so scans aren't particularly color accurate.

    It has plenty of wired and wireless connectivity options, along with support for Apple AirPrint, Mopria Print service, and support and compatibility with the Epson mobile app. The main drawback is the print speed. Unfortunately, it's pretty slow, pushing just eight black and four color pages per minute and taking about a minute and a half to print a single 4x6 photo. Also, if you don't print a lot, know that inkjet printers are prone to clogging. We recommend checking out our pick for the best small laser printer, the Brother HL-L2460DW if you plan on storing your printer for long periods between prints.

  2. Best Budget Small Printer

    If you want a less expensive option, we recommend the Brother MFC-J1205W, also sold as the Brother MFC-J1215W at Walmart, the best compact printer we've tested for people on a budget. Its compact size is perfect for tight spaces, and the printer feels impressively well-built. Compared to our top pick, the Epson EcoTank ET-2800, this all-in-one inkjet yields fewer prints and produces grainer and less detailed photos. Still, it prints sharper documents than the Epson and has a smaller footprint while in use. It offers USB and Wi-Fi connectivity and is also compatible with the Brother Mobile Connect app, which you can use to perform maintenance tasks and order supplies from your mobile devices.

    While it produces good quality scans, and its scanner's lid hinges extend slightly to accommodate thicker items like textbooks, there are some tradeoffs. It also has a slow printing speed of nine black or six color pages per minute. Finally, while this is a versatile and budget-friendly printer, it isn't the best choice if you print infrequently; again, all inkjets risk clogging if unused for long periods. 

  3. Best Small Laser Printer

    If you only need to print a return label once in a blue moon, get the Brother HL-L2460DW or one of its variants. While this is by far the largest and heaviest printer on our list, it's quite compact compared to most laser printers, making it a great option for people in small apartments or dorm rooms. It's a monochrome print-only unit, so you can't print in color or scan anything, but there's also no risk of clogging, making it the best small home printer we've tested. It prints quickly at up to 32 pages per minute, and with a page yield of around 1,300 prints, you won't have to replace the toner often unless you have a large print load.

    The toner cartridge is relatively cheap, and the drum is in the cartridge, which makes maintenance easier; however, this can also be an inconvenience if the drum gets damaged while there's still toner left, as you would have to discard the remaining toner. The major pain point is its out-of-the-box print quality. You can fix this by changing some settings on the printer; see our review for more details. There are many variants that scale features up or down depending on your needs and price point. For cheaper options, the Brother HL-L2405W loses duplex printing but maintains wireless connectivity, whereas the Brother HL-L2400D loses wireless connectivity but maintains duplex printing and most of the printing speed.

  4. Best Compact Photo Printer

    Let's say you're looking for a way to capture the moment at a special event and print small photos on the go; for this use case, get the Polaroid Hi-Print Generation 2, our choice for the best compact printer for photo printing. Given its small size and lightweight, it's eminently portable, so you can easily throw it in a bag or purse for a night out. However, it's important to adjust your expectations regarding its photo quality; photos are nicely detailed, but the color and print quality can't match other portable (albeit larger) inkjet printers, like the Canon PIXMA TR150. Still, for its niche use, this printer is the best.

    It produces 2x3 portraits using Polaroid's proprietary Hi-Print Generation 2 photo paper. As for connectivity options, this printer only works with Android and iOS smartphones or with Chrome OS devices via a Bluetooth connection and its Hi-Print mobile app. 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, its battery life lasts just 20 prints, so you'll want to keep the charging cable close.

Notable Mentions

  • Brother MFC-J4335DW: 

    If you're looking for a small printer for your home office, the Brother MFC-J4335DW is a better choice than the Epson EcoTank ET-2800. It has an ADF that scans multi-page documents quickly and produces better-looking documents, but it incurs higher recurring costs and doesn't produce as good-looking photos as the Epson.

     See our review
  • Epson Expression Home XP-4200: 

    Get the Epson Expression Home XP-4200 instead of the Brother MFC-J1205W if you're looking to minimize upfront costs. However, the Epson incurs much higher recurring costs and doesn't perform as well.

     See our review
  • Canon PIXMA MG3620: 

    For an even cheaper option, consider the Canon PIXMA MG3620 to the Brother MFC-J1205W. It prints better-looking photos but has a very low page yield and high recurring costs.

     See our review
  • Canon imageCLASS LBP122dw: 

    If you want a more compact and cheaper laser printer, consider the Canon imageCLASS LBP122dw instead of the Brother HL-L2460DW. However, it produces lower-quality prints and is slower.

     See our review
  • Canon SELPHY Square QX10: 

    If you prefer a punchier, brighter image but are still chasing that Polaroid-esque photo aesthetic, get the Canon SELPHY Square QX10 instead of the Polaroid Hi-Print Generation 2. They are similar devices, but the Polaroid is better at rendering fine details, and it charges faster, so there's less downtime between photo sessions.

     See our review

Recent Updates

  1. Feb 26, 2025: 

    We've overhauled the article to offer better recommendations for small printers for home use by revising the product categories, changing some of our product picks, and adding new Notable Mentions.

  2. Jan 21, 2025: 

    We've verified that our recommendations are available and represent the best choices. We also made edits for clarity throughout.

  3. Oct 28, 2024: 

    We've replaced the Canon SELPHY Square QX10 with the Polaroid Hi-Print Generation 2 as the 'Best Compact Photo Printer' since it's cheaper, prints faster, and produces more detailed photos. We've moved the Canon to the Notable Mentions. We've also added the HP Officejet 200 to the Notable Mentions and made small edits throughout for clarity.

  4. Aug 08, 2024: We've completely revamped this article, introducing a new format, new performance usages, and changes in recommendations to better represent the best choices available.

  5. May 24, 2024: Minor text edits for clarity and accuracy. Confirmed that all picks are still available and represent the best option.

All Reviews

Our recommendations above are what we think are currently the best printers with a small footprint for most people. In addition to the test results, we factor in the price, feedback from our visitors, and availability.

If you would like to do the work of choosing yourself, here's the list of all our printer reviews. Be careful not to get too caught up in the details. While no printer is perfect for every use, most are good enough to please almost everyone, and the differences are often not noticeable unless you really look for them.

Comments

  1. Recommendation

Best Small Printers: Main Discussion

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  1. Update: We’ve overhauled the article to offer better recommendations for small printers for home use by revising the product categories, changing some of our product picks, and adding new Notable Mentions.

    What do you think of these changes? Let us know

    Show More Updates
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