Compare the Best Inkjet PrintersSeptember 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 Prices

In total we found 83 inkjet printers ranging from $48 to $5,399. On average, a new inkjet costs $512 and 80% of inkjet printers are priced between $85 and $1,193. The HP Envy 5010 is the cheapest inkjet printer at only $48, 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 inkjet printers with an average price of $2,454. Xerox inkjet printers range in price from $254 to $4,655.

The average price of Epson inkjet printers is $541 which is the second highest average price of all inkjet printer brands. Epson inkjet printers start at $89 and their most expensive inkjet printer costs $1,795.

HP inkjet printers start at $48 and their most expensive inkjet printer costs $5,399. The third highest average inkjet printer price out of all brands is HP inkjet printers with an average price of $533.

Inkjet Brands - Average Ratings

We have analysed 95 expert reviews and 701 user reviews for inkjets and used this information to determine the average rating for each brand of inkjet printer. Epson is the top rated inkjet printer brand with an average rating of 86%. HP is the second best brand with 82% and Canon is the third best brand with 78%.

Biggest Inkjet Retailers

The biggest inkjet retailer by number of products currently for sale is eBay. We found 232 current inkjet offers from eBay. The second biggest retailer is Adorama with 26 offers. That means eBay is over 8 times bigger than Adorama when it comes to inkjets. Overstock is the third biggest retailer with 14 current offers.

When Are Most New Inkjet Printers Released?

The most common period for new inkjets to be released in is between July and September. That means that most of the latest inkjet technology was released in within the last 3 months, and now is good time to buy. The biggest month last year for new inkjet releases was July, with 14 new inkjets released that month. In December 2018, 20 new inkjets were released making it the biggest month that year for new inkjet printer releases. 28 new inkjet printers were released in September 2017 making it the biggest month that year for new inkjet releases.

How Fast Do Inkjet Printer Prices Drop After Release?

On average inkjet printers drop in price by 11% in the first 6 months after release.

That means that on a typical inkjet printer costing $512 you could save on average $55 by waiting 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 inkjet printers, the print speeds (colour) range from 1ppm to 75ppm. The print speeds (colour) of the majority of inkjet printers range from 1ppm to 7ppm. The inkjet with the fastest print speed (colour) is the HP PageWide Pro 477dw, which is a 55ppm print speed (colour, normal quality, A4/US Le inkjet and is priced at $415.00. The HP DesignJet T730, which is available at $2,495.00, has the slowest print speed (colour) and is a 1.36ppm print speed (colour, normal quality, A4/US Le inkjet.

Maximum Resolutions

Maximum printing resolution.

Amongst new inkjets, the most common maximum resolution is 4800 x 1200 DPI. We found 167 inkjets that are 4800 x 1200 DPI inkjet printers. 5760 x 1440 DPI is the second most frequently found maximum resolution amongst new inkjet printers. We found 64 inkjet printers that are 5760 x 1440 DPI inkjets.

Wi-Fis

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

Of the 441 new inkjet printers currently listed on Kagoo, the vast majority are inkjet printers with a Wi-Fi. 380 out of 441 inkjet printers are inkjet printers with a Wi-Fi.

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Inkjet Printers?

The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying inkjets. For each retailer it shows the total number of inkjets where they currently have a market leading price. The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying inkjet printers. 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. 170 of their inkjet prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.

Proportion of Inkjet Printers 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. 73.3% of their inkjet printer prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.