An AirPrint printer is the right pick for any household running iPhones, iPads, or Macs because it skips driver installs, manufacturer accounts, and clunky printer apps. Apple's AirPrint protocol has been built into iOS since 2010, and every major printer brand now ships AirPrint support on home and small office models. The wrong AirPrint printer ships with locked-out third-party ink cartridges, slow Wi-Fi modules that drop off the network after sleep, or scan resolutions too low to capture receipts and tax documents legibly. After comparing 14 current AirPrint printers across ink cost, paper handling, and Wi-Fi reliability, these seven stood out for daily home and small office use.
Picks were narrowed by ink or toner cost per page, scan resolution, automatic document feeder presence, duplex printing support, and Wi-Fi reliability after sleep.
Quick Comparison
| Printer | Type | Color | ADF | Duplex | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e | Inkjet | Yes | 35-page | Yes | Overall |
| Brother HL-L2350DW | Laser | Mono | No | Yes | Mono laser |
| Canon PIXMA TR8620a | Inkjet | Yes | 20-page | Yes | Photo quality |
| Epson EcoTank ET-2850 | Inkjet | Yes | No | Yes | Lowest ink cost |
| HP DeskJet 4155e | Inkjet | Yes | No | No | Lowest price |
| Brother MFC-L3750CDW | Laser | Yes | 50-page | Yes | Color laser |
| Canon imageCLASS MF656Cdw | Laser | Yes | 50-page | Yes | Small office |
HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e, Best Overall
The OfficeJet Pro 9015e pairs a 35-page automatic document feeder with duplex printing, duplex scanning, and a 250-sheet input tray. AirPrint works out of the box for iPhones and iPads, and the HP Smart app adds scan-to-email and scan-to-cloud features. Color inkjet output handles photos, school projects, and color reports without the streaking common on entry-level models.
Two-sided scanning through the ADF cuts the time to digitize a stack of receipts or tax forms in half. The 250-sheet tray means refilling paper monthly rather than weekly for typical home office use.
Trade-off: HP Instant Ink subscription pressure during setup. Decline the offer to use any third-party cartridges.
Brother HL-L2350DW, Best Mono Laser
The HL-L2350DW prints crisp black text at 32 pages per minute with automatic duplex and AirPrint. Toner cartridges run 2 to 3 cents per page using high-yield refills, the lowest cost per page in the home printer class. The unit sits idle for months without nozzle issues, which inkjet printers cannot match.
Wi-Fi setup through the Brother iPrint and Scan app takes under 5 minutes. After setup, AirPrint discovery works from any iPhone on the same network without further configuration.
Trade-off: monochrome only. Pick the MFC-L3750CDW for color laser output.
Canon PIXMA TR8620a, Best Photo Quality
The PIXMA TR8620a uses Canon's five-ink system (pigment black, dye black, cyan, magenta, yellow) for photo prints that match dedicated photo printers at lower cost. 4 by 6 inch photo prints come out in 36 seconds with grain-free skin tones and accurate color reproduction.
20-page ADF for scanning, duplex printing for two-sided documents, and AirPrint plus Mopria support. The 4.3 inch touchscreen makes standalone copy and scan operations work without a phone.
Trade-off: ink runs 8 to 12 cents per color page. Pick the EcoTank for high-volume use.
Epson EcoTank ET-2850, Best Lowest Ink Cost
The EcoTank ET-2850 ships with two years of ink in the box and refill bottles cost 20 dollars for 7,500 black pages. That works out to 0.3 cents per black page, 80 percent cheaper than cartridge inkjets. AirPrint works without driver install, and duplex printing comes standard.
Refilling the tanks takes 90 seconds and avoids the cartridge handling mess of older bottle systems. Print quality matches premium cartridge inkjets for text and meets the threshold for school projects with color.
Trade-off: no automatic document feeder. Pick the OfficeJet Pro for multi-page scans.
HP DeskJet 4155e, Best Lowest Price
The DeskJet 4155e covers basic AirPrint, scan, and copy at the lowest entry price for a compact inkjet. Single-tray paper input holds 60 sheets, enough for occasional home use. The 4800 by 1200 dpi color resolution handles photos and color reports at acceptable quality for casual printing.
AirPrint works over 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi with the HP Smart app handling scan-to-phone. The compact footprint fits on a desk shelf or kitchen counter.
Trade-off: no duplex, no ADF, slow 8 pages per minute print speed. Acceptable for light home use only.
Brother MFC-L3750CDW, Best Color Laser
The MFC-L3750CDW delivers color laser output at 25 pages per minute with a 50-page ADF, duplex print, and duplex scan. Color toner runs 8 cents per page using high-yield refills, less than half the cost of color inkjet over the typical 3 year ownership window.
AirPrint, Mopria, and Brother iPrint all work without driver install. The 3.7 inch touchscreen handles copy, scan, and fax operations directly. Built-in fax for the small office use case.
Trade-off: color laser cannot match inkjet for photo prints. Pick the Canon PIXMA for photo-heavy households.
Canon imageCLASS MF656Cdw, Best Small Office
The MF656Cdw runs at 23 pages per minute color with a 50-page ADF and 250-sheet paper tray. Toner cartridges hit 5,000 page yield for black and 2,300 page for color, which suits offices printing 1,000 to 3,000 pages per month. AirPrint, Mopria, and Canon PRINT Business all supported.
Single-pass duplex scanning captures both sides of a document in one feed pass, twice as fast as flip-and-rescan designs. 5 inch color touchscreen for standalone operation.
Trade-off: price runs 200 to 300 dollars over consumer models. Justified by higher monthly duty cycle and faster toner-per-page cost recovery.
How to Choose
Inkjet or laser depends on print volume
Under 50 pages per month, pick inkjet for lower upfront cost and photo capability. Over 200 pages per month, pick laser for lower toner-per-page cost and freedom from nozzle clogs.
ADF presence sets multi-page scan speed
A 20-page or larger automatic document feeder turns receipt and tax document digitizing from a 30 minute job into a 3 minute job. Required for tax filing households and small businesses.
Duplex print and scan cuts paper use in half
Automatic duplex print is standard on mid-range models and saves 50 percent on paper. Duplex scan through the ADF saves an additional 50 percent of time on multi-page document capture.
Wi-Fi 5 GHz support helps reliability
Older 2.4 GHz-only printers drop off mesh Wi-Fi networks more often than dual-band models. Pick a printer with both bands for stable AirPrint discovery on mesh routers.
For related reading, see our breakdowns of home office printer guide and ink cost comparison 2026. For how we evaluate printers, see our methodology.
AirPrint covers iPhone, iPad, and Mac printing without the driver hassles of older protocols. Match the printer type to your monthly page count, add an ADF if you scan multi-page documents, and the unit will serve through the typical 5 to 7 year home printer lifecycle.
Frequently asked questions
What is AirPrint and how does it work?+
AirPrint is Apple's driverless printing protocol built into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. It uses Bonjour service discovery over Wi-Fi to find compatible printers on the same network, then sends print jobs using standard IPP. No app install, no driver download, no manufacturer account required. Tap the share sheet on any iPhone or iPad, select Print, and AirPrint-compatible printers appear in the list automatically.
Do I need a special app to use AirPrint?+
No. AirPrint is built into every iPhone, iPad, and Mac shipped since 2010. The Print option appears in any app's share sheet for any AirPrint-compatible printer on the same Wi-Fi network. Manufacturer apps from HP, Canon, Epson, and Brother add scan features and ink monitoring, but printing itself works without any app install. This is the main reason AirPrint beats third-party printer apps for daily home use.
Are inkjet or laser AirPrint printers better?+
Inkjet is better for color photos and occasional use, laser is better for text-heavy daily printing. Inkjet AirPrint models run 4 to 12 cents per color page and dry out if left idle for 3 to 6 weeks. Mono laser AirPrint models run 2 to 4 cents per page and survive months of idle time without nozzle issues. Pick inkjet for households printing photos and school work, pick laser for home offices producing reports and shipping labels.
Does AirPrint work over cellular or only Wi-Fi?+
Wi-Fi only for direct printing. The iPhone and the printer must share the same local network. Apple's Wi-Fi Direct mode is supported on some printers for peer-to-peer printing without a router, useful for travel. Remote printing over cellular requires a third-party service like HP Smart Print Anywhere or Epson Email Print, which sends jobs to the printer through the manufacturer's cloud. These bypass AirPrint and require account setup.
How do I troubleshoot an AirPrint printer that won't appear?+
Check that the printer and iPhone are on the same Wi-Fi network including the same band (2.4 GHz versus 5 GHz). Restart the printer, the router, and the iPhone in that order. Disable VPN on the iPhone since some VPN profiles block Bonjour. Update printer firmware through the manufacturer app. If the printer has a guest network mode enabled, switch it off. 90 percent of AirPrint discovery failures resolve with one of these five steps.
Alex Patel
Alex Patel writes for The Tested Hub.