Compare the Best Inkjet PrintersNovember 2019

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.

Ink Cartridges

Inkjet printers are generally cheaper than laser printers, however they have significantly higher running costs. This is because the individual ink cartridges used for the printing (usually 4 - black, yellow, magenta & cyan) are expensive to purchase, and are used up far quickly than toner cartridges for laser printers. Therefore though inkjet printers may seem like a good bargain when you first buy them, they may be a false saving if you only print black and white documents - a laserjet will save more money in the long term.

On the subject of cartridges, there are two main types of ink cartridges used for these printers - dye and pigment inks. While there isn’t a massive difference between the two, dye inks give more vivid and brighter colours, whereas pigments inks are more resilient, and less prone to fading. However recent improvements to both types of ink have shortened the gap between them, meaning you won’t really go wrong with either choice of ink type.

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.

Print Quality

When choosing an inkjet printer, print quality is among the most important considerations. The output quality of the printers on our site are measured in dots per inch (dpi) - higher dpi printers use more ink in denser configurations. This allow for far more detail and colour depth to be packed into every inch of the printing, leading to far higher quality prints.

It is also important to consider the number of print nozzles when choosing an inkjet printer. The more nozzles a printer has, the higher the density of ink it can apply to the page. Printers with a very high number of nozzles will be more expensive than other models, but you will gain far higher-quality prints from it, so it may well be worth the expense.

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

We currently list 99 inkjet printers ranging from $26 to $5,399. On average, a new inkjet printer costs $363 and 80% of inkjets are priced between $45 and $499. The most expensive inkjet that we found is the HP DesignJet Z5200 at $5,399, and the cheapest is the Epson XP860 at only $27.

Inkjet Brands - Price Range

The highest average inkjet 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 average price of HP inkjet printers is $411 which is the second highest average price of all inkjet printer brands. HP inkjet printers range in price from $29 to $5,399.

Epson inkjets range in price from $27 to $1,193, and the average price of Epson inkjets is $268 which is the third highest average price of all inkjet brands.

Inkjet Brands - Average Ratings

We have analysed 396 expert reviews and 4,764 user reviews for inkjet printers and used these reviews to determine 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 79%.

Biggest Inkjet Retailers

The biggest inkjet retailer by number of products currently for sale is eBay. We found 291 current inkjet offers from eBay. The second biggest retailer is Adorama with 135 offers. That means eBay is more than twice as big as Adorama when it comes to inkjet printers. Target is the third biggest retailer with 17 current offers.

When Are Most New Inkjet Printers Released?

The most common period for new inkjets to be released in is between August and October. In August 2018, 16 new inkjets were released making it the biggest month that year for new inkjet releases. December was the biggest month in 2017 for new inkjets, with 14 new inkjets released that month. The biggest month in 2016 for new inkjet printer releases was October, with 29 new inkjet printers released that month.

How Fast Do Inkjet Printer Prices Drop After Release?

In the first 6 months after release, inkjet printers drop in price by 29% on average.

A typical new inkjet printer costs on average $363. By waiting 6 months before buying you could save on average $106.

Print Speeds (Colour)

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

The print speeds (colour) of inkjets range from 1ppm to 75ppm. The print speeds (colour) of the majority of inkjets range from 1ppm to 7ppm. The inkjet printer with the fastest print speed (colour) is the HP Pro X451dw, which is a 55ppm print speed (colour, normal quality, A4/US Le inkjet printer and is priced at $50.99. The inkjet with the slowest print speed (colour) is the HP DesignJet T730, which is a 1.36ppm print speed (colour, normal quality, A4/US Le inkjet and is on sale for $2,480.60.

Maximum Resolutions

Maximum printing resolution.

Amongst new inkjets, the most frequently found maximum resolution is 4800 x 1200 DPI. We found 143 inkjets that are 4800 x 1200 DPI inkjet printers. We found 55 inkjet printers that are 5760 x 1440 DPI inkjets, making this the second most frequently found maximum resolution amongst new inkjet printers.

Wi-Fis

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

The vast majority of the 388 new inkjets currently listed on Kagoo are inkjets with a Wi-Fi. 330 inkjets (85%) are inkjets 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 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 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. 246 of their inkjet printer 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. 84.5% of their inkjet prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.