Home Printers: Our Best Picks for 2026

It depends on what you print most. Inkjet printers handle photos and colour documents with more nuance and cost less upfront, making them better for households with varied printing needs. Laser printers produce sharp, smear-proof text at higher speeds and lower per-page cost for black documents, so they suit home offices printing large volumes of text-heavy files. For most households printing a mix of documents and occasional photos, a quality inkjet all-in-one is the more flexible starting point.

Running costs depend on your cartridge or toner price divided by the manufacturer-stated page yield, multiplied by how many pages you print each month. A cartridge that costs a lot upfront but yields 3,000 pages is cheaper per page than a cartridge costing half as much that yields 500 pages. Owner review data consistently shows that tank-based systems like the Epson EcoTank range deliver the lowest real-world per-page costs for moderate to heavy inkjet users.

Inkjet nozzles dry out when ink sits unused for extended periods. The most effective fix is to print at least one test page per week, which runs the cleaning cycle and keeps ink moving through the nozzles. Tank-based printers like the Epson EcoTank range are designed with sealed reservoirs that resist evaporation better than open cartridge systems, making them a better choice for low-frequency users. Storing the printer in a humidity-controlled environment away from direct sunlight also reduces clogging risk.

For most home users, fax functionality is unnecessary since nearly all documents can be signed digitally and sent by email. However, some industries including legal, medical, and insurance services still request fax transmission, and certain government forms in specific regions require it. If your household or small business occasionally deals with those sectors, choosing an all-in-one that includes fax costs little extra and avoids the frustration of needing it once a year without it.