Despite a world that has increasingly gone digital, there's been a renewed interest in printers. With more people running a home business or working from home, multifunction or all-in-one printers are once again finding their place as an important tool in the home. These printers not only allow you to print on demand, they also come with faxing and scanning capabilities.
In essence, multifunction printers are the smaller cousins of the bulkier copiers you might see at the office. The relatively compact size makes these flexible printers a convenient tool for personal projects, labels, and other printing needs. Here are some of the best multifunction printers on the market today.
Best all-around multifunction printer
Canon Color ImageClass MF753Cdw
- Great all-around printer
- Fast 35 ppm print speed
- Affordable mid-range price
- Low maintenance costs
- Slow warm up for first page
- Bulky and heavy
If you’re looking for an all-in-one printer that can print fast and delivers affordable prints, then Canon’s Color ImageClass MF753Cdw should be on top of the list. Strong connectivity options, support for printing from a USB drive, and excellent image quality make Canon’s laser all-in-one printer our top pick for the best all-around multifunction. This is a solid choice at $650. It includes a full black toner and enough color toner for 1,100 documents.
A 5-inch color touchscreen gives access to the printer’s controls, and as an enterprise-focused offering, the MF753Cdw comes with some more advanced features – like support for scripts and workflow profiles – that may be useful for small businesses. With a 300-sheet split paper cassette and the ability to stack in an additional tray for more sheets, the MF753Cdw printer can output at speeds of 35 pages per minute, along with duplex scanning and printing. Print quality is excellent, and costs are $0.02 to $0.04 per page in black-and-white and $0.12 to $0.16 for color jobs.
Best inkjet all-in-one printer
HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e
- Very fast inkjet printing
- First page comes out quick
- Great document quality
- Crisp photo prints
- Low ink costs
- Single paper tray makes one-offs a hassle
- Mobile app lacks some features
Known for their solid performance when printing photos and graphics, inkjets have been a staple for many homes and home offices. Combining great print performance, an automatic document feeder (ADF) for scanning, a fax, a USB port to print directly from a memory stick, and the ability to do double-sided copies, you’ll end up with a robust and versatile office tool for your filing needs.
HP’s OfficeJet Pro 9015e is an excellent pick in this category. It delivers print speeds of up to 18 pages per minute (ppm) and can handle double-sided prints and scans. For home offices with moderate print needs, the OfficeJet Pro 9015e comes with six months of free ink through HP’s subscription HP Plus cartridge delivery program. Here, you’re looking at an affordable $0.02 per page for black-and-white prints and about $0.10 per page for color. For detailed photo printing, the cost might triple, but this is still a very affordable printer for your daily needs. And thanks to the printer’s robust connectivity options, you can print over Wi-Fi, Ethernet, USB, and Apple AirPrint.
Best laser multifunction printer
HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301fdw
- Fast 35 ppm print speed
- High page yield
- Low maintenance costs
- Great print quality
- Bulky and heavy
- Slow warm up for first page
Historically, laser printers were known for delivering crisp texts and are great for printing documents. Modern color laser printers, however, are more versatile machines that can go toe-to-toe with some inkjets for printing graphics, and the benefit of going with a laser is faster print speeds and lower long-term costs if you’re looking for a machine that can handle heavier volumes.
If you don’t find yourself printing photographs, HP’s Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301fdw is a compact option that delivers many of the features found in much larger office copiers. Despite its robust features, this LaserJet is smaller than many home printers. That makes it versatile enough to fit into home office spaces, making it a solid option for those hunting for a laser all-in-one. A sturdy build quality and the ability to print 35 PPM and create double-sided copies are some of the key highlights of this printer. Here, black-and-white prints cost $0.02 to $0.05 per page, while color prints come in at $0.12 to $0.19 with great color accuracy. Like many modern HP printers, you can connect the printer to a USB port on your computer and print via Ethernet, Wi-Fi, an external storage drive, or Apple’s AirPrint. For scanning, copying, and faxing, you have a flatbed scanner and a speedy automatic document feeder that can handle duplex scanning.
Best tank multifunction printer
Epson EcoTank Pro ET-16650
- Two years of free ink
- Excellent print quality
- Fast 25 ppm print speed
- Wide format printing
- High purchase price
- Bulky and heavy
Tank printers combine the best qualities from the inkjet and laser printer worlds. With ink stored in large tanks, these printers deliver the pristine image quality you’ve come to expect for photo printing while cutting down on costs, making them just as efficient as laser options.
Epson’s EcoTank Pro ET-16650 is a wide-format all-in-one printer that promises to save you up to 80% when compared with standard cartridges, thanks to the eco-friendly tank technology. With the tank, Epson states that you can print up to 7,500 monochrome pages or 6,000 color pages, which not only saves you money but also helps the environment with less waste. The company advertises heat-free printing technology, ensuring your pages won’t curl up, and wide-format support means you can scan and print to larger formats. The EcoTank Pro can print up to 13 x 19-inch paper and can scan 11 x 17-inch pages with ease. The automatic document feeder can also handle duplex scanning.
Print speeds are modest at 25 pages per minute, but you’re getting terrific detail, accurate colors, and crisp text. This makes the printer feel like the best of both worlds, combining the strengths of inkjet technology with the precision of laser printing. Epson also makes other tank printers that are more modestly priced if you don’t need wide-format support.
Best MFP for photo prints
Canon Pixma G7020
- Low cost per page
- Budget price
- Photo quality printing
- Compact size
- Slow print speed
- Small display
For photographers who need solid-quality photo printing along with duplex scanning, the Canon Pixma G7020 delivers. Strong photo printing capability alongside more economic per-page costs thanks to a tank cartridge system helps make the Pixma a workhorse for photo-heavy workflows.
The Pixma isn’t the fastest printer on our list, but it focuses heavily on excellent photo quality prints, outputting pages at a more modest 13 pages per minute. What you lack in speed, you’ll make up for in quality with this printer. The best part is that you don’t need to spend a fortune to get solid image quality. Prints average under $0.02 per page for color and less than a penny for black-and-white documents.
The only major downside with the Pixma is that you’re dealing with a more dated interface. Traditional buttons, rather than a touchscreen, adorn the printer’s front side.
Best budget MFP
Brother MFC-J1170DW
- Cheap price
- Good print speed
- Compact size
- High cost per page
Home users who may not want to splurge for all the bells and whistles of an office multifunction printer will do well with Brother’s MFC-J895DW. This all-in-one printer still comes with a flatbed scanner, automatic document feeder, and the ability to print from your smartphone thanks to NFC and wireless connectivity, all for just $160. While there’s still plenty to love in this affordable option, the MFC-J1170DW will not win any speed contests, printing at just 12 pages per minute in black-and-white. And compared to its predecessors, Brother has updated the controls of MFC-J1170DW with a small touchscreen for ease of use.
Print costs average upward of $0.06 per page for black-and-white and $0.09 for color, but given that this is a home printer, you’ll likely only be turning on the MFC-J1170DW a few times a month rather than using it for volume printing. When you do need it, though, this printer delivers good-quality prints in both black-and-white and color, and home users who need to print more frequently can opt for the XL cartridges to get a lower per-page cost.
Best portable MFP
HP OfficeJet 250
- It's portable
- High quality prints
- Good print speed
- Long battery life
- High purchase price
- High cost per page
Designed for mobility and portability, the HP OfficeJet 250 is one of the most compact multifunction printers on the market. It’s the perfect tool for traveling salespeople or anyone who needs to make a quick print on the go thanks to the built-in rechargeable battery. Unlike other compact printers, HP’s OfficeJet 250 can also scan and copy, but it does lose faxing functionality.
The OfficeJet 250 comes with a built-in automatic document feeder, making scanning easy -- even while you’re mobile -- but you are still limited to simplex scans. Print speeds are on the slower side at around 10 pages per minute, but the upside is that despite its versatility as a travel tool, print costs aren’t that high, averaging around $0.08 to $0.12 per page. The OfficeJet 250 can connect wirelessly to your laptop or smartphone for a cable-free print experience, allowing you to turn any coffee shop into your mobile office.
You'll be sure to get top quality results from any of the all-in-one printers on this list. They aren't always the most affordable, however. If you're working with a tight budget, check out our list of the best cheap printers.
Sometimes, initial savings end up costing more over time. For fast, durable printers with long-term savings, you might want to focus on the best color laser printers.
