The 6 Best Printers With Cheap Ink - Summer 2024 Reviews

The best printer with cheap ink we've tested is the Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850, an all-in-one inkjet model. If you're looking to save on ink costs, a supertank printer is the way to go, as these types of printers have a large ink tank that you can refill as you go. A full tank yields thousands of prints, and replacement ink is cheap, so maintaining the printer over time won't cost much. It produces high-quality black and color documents and is fast, pushing out 25 black or color pages per minute. As for photo printing, it produces pictures that look extremely detailed but noticeably grainy and overly warm. The scanner supports automatic double-sided scanning and optical character recognition.

If you want a model that produces higher-quality photos, get the Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8550, one of the best all-in-one printers with cheap ink we've tested. It has a wider color range and produces photos with less grain. Plus, it supports wide format paper sizes up to 13x19, which is great for making posters. However, it doesn't have an ADF and prints slower, and its document printing quality isn't quite as good as the ET-5850. You can get the Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8500 variants if you don't need wide-format printing. It performs identically but has a smaller 8.5x11.7 flatbed scanner and only supports up to 8.5x11 paper.

Our best mid-range pick is the Epson EcoTank ET-3850, one of the best printers for home use with cheap ink we've tested. Like our top pick, it's an all-in-one supertank model that yields thousands of prints with a full tank. It has the usual USB, Wi-Fi, and Ethernet connectivity options and support for Apple AirPrint and Mopria Print Service, making it easy to print from various devices. The scanner has an automatic feeder to process long, multi-page documents and produces high-quality scans, but it doesn't support automatic double-sided scanning, a tradeoff for its lower price tag.

As for its print quality, black documents look incredibly sharp with no visible artifacts. Color documents also look good, albeit slightly washed out. Photo printing is a little bit of a mixed bag. The pictures look detailed and colorful; however, the colors are noticeably inaccurate, and there's a fair amount of grain in the pictures. Printing speed is decent; it can get a single page out in 15 seconds and prints up to 15 black or seven color pages per minute.

If you want something cheaper than the Epson EcoTank ET-3850, consider the Brother MFC-J4335DW, one of the best home printers with cheap ink we've tested. Unlike the supertank models we recommend above, this printer uses ink cartridges. It yields around 2,000 black and 800 color prints, which isn't as good as a supertank printer but still very respectable for this type of printer. The cartridges aren't overly expensive, so your maintenance cost will remain low, and you can get XL cartridges that'll last even longer.

This printer has great printing speeds. It doesn't take long to initialize and get a single page out, and it can churn out 17 black or 15 color pages per minute when printing longer documents. It has an ADF-equipped scanner that processes up to 20 pages per minute and produces high-quality scans; however, it doesn't support duplex scanning. The slightly more expensive Brother MFC-J4535DW variant is the same printer, but it has a larger display, an additional 250-sheet input tray, as well as an Ethernet port and NFC support.

Another option in the same price range as the Brother MFC-J4335DW is the Epson EcoTank ET-2400. Like the EcoTank models we recommend above, this model yields thousands of prints from a full ink tank, making its cost-per-print exceptionally low. It also produces nicer photos than the Brother because it has a much wider color range and better color accuracy. Unfortunately, there are a few drawbacks, including its significantly slower printing speeds and the lack of an automatic feeder. There's also no Apple AirPrint and Mopria Print Service support.

For those on a tight budget, we recommend the Brother MFC-J1205W, also known as the Brother MFC-J1215W at Walmart. It's very similar to our mid-range pick, the Brother MFC-J4335DW, but it's a more affordable model. It produces high-quality documents; it just prints slower at nine black or six color pages per minute. As for photos, printed pictures look detailed but often too dark, as the printer has trouble reproducing bright, saturated colors.

Regarding page yield, you can expect roughly 1,100 black and 750 color prints from a set of regular ink cartridges, which is still far more than most budget inkjet printers on the market. There's no automatic document feeder, so you must scan everything manually. Overall, it's a good choice if you're only looking for a budget-friendly model and don't mind losing some features.

The best color laser printer with cheap toner we've tested is the Brother MFC-L8905CDW. This all-in-one has nearly everything you'd need for a small or home office. It produces incredibly sharp documents, prints quickly at up to 32 pages per minute (black or color), and requires very little maintenance. The regular toner cartridges yield a large number of prints, and you can get XL cartridges that'll last even longer, with the TN437 cartridges yielding up to 9,000 black and 8,000 color prints. You'll have to spend extra to replace the drum, though you won't have to do it often, as it has an estimated lifespan of 30,000 prints. A separate drum unit is also less wasteful than an integrated one, as you won't have to throw out the whole toner cartridge if the drum gets damaged.

This all-in-one has a Legal-size (8.5x14) flatbed scanner that produces high-quality scans. There's also an automatic feeder with single-pass duplex scanning, so you can quickly process multi-page and double-sided documents. Its wide connectivity options include USB, Wi-Fi, and Ethernet, and it can also print directly off a USB flash drive. This model's only downside is that it's a massive machine, so you'll need a fair amount of space to put it.

Like most printers, the MFC-8905CDW has many variants at different price points, so if you don't need features like duplex scanning and NFC support, you can save some money with a cheaper variant like the Brother MFC-L8610CDW. There's also the Brother MFC-L8900CDW, which has nearly the same features as the MFC-8905CDW except for a smaller display. You can see more details about all the variants in the full review.

If you only print black-and-white documents, we recommend the Brother MFC-L2750DW. This well-built all-in-one model has a scanner with an automatic feeder to process multi-page documents, extendable hinges to accommodate thick items, and single-pass duplex scanning capability. It yields around 2,000 prints from a single black toner cartridge, and you can get an XL cartridge that'll last longer. It also accepts third-party toner. You have to replace the drum separately, but it's usually good for about 12,000 prints, so you likely won't need to do it too often. It warms up quickly and prints at 36 pages per minute.

As with most Brother printers, there are many variants of this printer with minor differences in features and performance, so if you want to save money, you can get a cheaper model like the Brother MFC-L2710DW, which lacks duplex scanning and prints slightly slower. You can also find bundles with a longer-lasting XL toner cartridge, like Brother MFC-L2690DWXL, which might be cheaper than buying the cartridge separately. You can see all the variants and their differences in our full review.