Compare the Best Inkjet PrintersAugust 2020

There are 2 main types of printers available on the consumer market - inkjet and laser printers. Both have strengths and weaknesses, and your choice will largely depend on what you plan on using your printer for. This guide will concentrate on information about inkjet printers - for a detailed rundown of laser printers, please see the guide under the Laser/LED printer category.

So, inkjet printers. As the name would suggest, these printers function by squirting a thin, focussed stream of black & coloured ink onto the page. This process makes inkjet significantly slower than laser printers, however there are capable of printing far more vivid colours, higher detail photos, and are generally far more preferable for colour-dependant printing.

Print Speed

Inkjet printers are significantly slower than their laser printing cousins. However even within inkjet printers, there is a significant variety in print speeds - some models of inkjet printer can take double the time to print a page when compared to newer and more efficient models. All of our printers have detailed stats on the number of pages they can print a minute, broken down into black and white, colour, photo, etc. This will allow you to make the best decision as to the printer that best suits your needs.

Connectivity

Most models of inkjet printers have several different network connectivity options to make printing easier and more efficient. Ethernet connectivity is now a common feature in modern printers - so data can be transferred over a network without having to plug your computer into the printer directly. This makes it far easier to share printers with groups: the printer can be placed in a central area and used freely by everyone around.

Additionally, many models of inkjet printer also have wifi and/or bluetooth connectivity. These options mean that you do not even have to use a wire to use the printer - data can be transferred over wireless connection.

Finally, the newest models of printers have support for cloud or app printing. These options allow you to send a document to print from anywhere in the world - from a browser over the cloud, or from an app on your smartphone. While you will pay more money for these options, the convenience they provide may be worth the extra expenditure.

Inkjet Printer Prices

The price range of inkjets is from $48 to $5,399 and in total we found prices for 73 inkjets. The average price of a new inkjet is $517 and the 80% of inkjet printers are priced between $73 and $925. The HP Envy 5010 is the cheapest inkjet at only $49, and HP DesignJet Z5200 is the most expensive at $5,399.

Inkjet Brands - Price Range

The highest average inkjet printer price out of all brands is Xerox inkjets with an average price of $2,454. Xerox inkjets range in price from $254 to $4,655.

The second highest average inkjet price out of all brands is HP inkjets with an average price of $554. HP inkjets range in price from $49 to $5,399.

The average price of Epson inkjets is $452 which is the third highest average price of all inkjet brands. Epson inkjets range in price from $139 to $1,795.

Inkjet Brands - Average Ratings

We have analysed 408 expert reviews and 4,740 user reviews for inkjet printers and used this information to evaluate the average rating for each brand of inkjet. HP is the top rated inkjet brand with an average rating of 86%. Epson is the second best brand with 83% and Canon is the third best brand with 78%.

Biggest Inkjet Retailers

We found 251 current offers for inkjet printers from eBay making it the biggest inkjet retailer. That is over 9 times bigger than the second biggest retailer, Adorama for whom we found 26 current offers for inkjet printers. The third biggest retailer is Target with 16 current inkjet offers.

When Are Most New Inkjet Printers Released?

Over the last 3 years we couldn't see any evident pattern in the release month for new inkjets. In 2019 most new inkjets were released in July, with 14 new inkjets released that month. The biggest month in 2018 for new inkjet releases was December, with 20 new inkjets released that month. In January 2017, 22 new inkjet printers were released making it the biggest month that year for new inkjet printer releases.

How Fast Do Inkjet Printer Prices Drop After Release?

On average, in the first 6 months after release, inkjets drop in price by 10%.

That means a saving of $51 on a typical $517 new inkjet if you wait 6 months before buying.

Print Speeds (Colour)

'Print Speed' measures how long it takes the inkjet printer to print a single colour A4 page at normal quality.

Comparing all inkjets, the print speeds (colour) range from 1ppm to 75ppm. The print speeds (colour) of most inkjet printers range from 1ppm to 7ppm. The HP PageWide Pro 477dw, which can be purchased for $449.99, has the fastest print speed (colour) and is a 55ppm print speed (colour, normal quality, A4/US Le inkjet. The HP DesignJet T730, which currently retails for $2,995.00, has the slowest print speed (colour) and is a 1.36ppm print speed (colour, normal quality, A4/US Le inkjet printer.

Maximum Resolutions

Maximum printing resolution.

The most frequently found maximum resolution amongst new inkjets is 4800 x 1200 DPI. We found 166 inkjets that are 4800 x 1200 DPI inkjets. 5760 x 1440 DPI is the second most frequently found maximum resolution amongst new inkjets. We found 63 inkjets that are 5760 x 1440 DPI inkjet printers.

Wi-Fis

'Wi-Fi' denotes whether the laser printer has a support for wireless communications or not.

The vast majority of the 440 new inkjet printers currently listed on Kagoo are inkjets with a Wi-Fi. 377 inkjet printers (86%) are inkjets with a Wi-Fi.

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Inkjets?

The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying inkjet printers. For each retailer it shows the total number of inkjet printers where they currently have a market leading price. The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying inkjets. For each retailer we took all of their prices and looked at what proportion of those prices where the cheapest on the market. The cheapest retailer that we found was eBay. 198 of their inkjet prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.

Proportion of Inkjets for Which Each Retailer is Cheapest?

Assessing how cheap each retailer is for inkjets by counting the number of cheapest prices for that retailer, makes the retailers that offer the greatest number of inkjet printer prices more likely to offer the greatest number of cheapest prices. The chart below considers the proportion of each retailer's inkjet printer prices that are the cheapest compared to other retailers. The cheapest retailer that we found using this approach was eBay. 78.9% of their inkjet prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.