If you often find yourself printing out photographs, whether that be at home, at work or to share your pictures with friends and family, you might find it worth investing in a photo printer.
Photo printers are a fantastic tool to have around if you find yourself frequenting your local photo printing shop. After all, getting a physical copy of all of your holiday snaps isn’t cheap and you can save a good amount of time and cash in the long run by printing them at home.
However, choosing exactly which printer to buy can be a tricky process. You’ll want to strike a good balance between image quality and affordability – not only when it comes to the device itself, but also the ink required to fuel the printer.
Luckily, we’ve done all the hard work by narrowing that decision down to only the best printers we’ve reviewed.
We’ve included a variety of printers that cater to a wide range of price points in this list. That includes printers that use ink bottles for affordable running costs, as well as cartridge-based models with lower upfront fees.
When testing printers, we take into account multiple factors before settling on a final score and verdict. This includes the design and features, print speed and quality, scans and copies and the price and overall running costs of the machine.
Scroll down this page to see a summary of each of our best printers, along with a brief list of pros and cons for each model, or head over to our full reviews for a more in-depth look at how each printer performed in our lab tests and during real-world use.
If you’re looking for a more general-use printer for the home or office, you might want to check out our guide to the best printers. Alternatively, if you like the idea of snapping and printing photos on the go, make sure to visit our guide to the best instant cameras.
Best printers at a glance
- Best overall photo printer: Epson EcoTank ET-18100 – check price
- Best professional photo printer: Canon PIXMA Pro-200 – check price
- Best value photo printer: Canon PIXMA G550 – check price
- Best smartphone photo printer: Instax Square Link – check price
How we test
Every printer we review goes through a series of uniform checks designed to gauge key things including print quality, speed and cost. These include first-time setup, changing respective cartridges, and measuring key things such as print speed and quality with a range of different paper types, including plain and photo.
We’ll also compare the features with other printers at the same price point to see if you’re getting good value for your money. We’ve also calculated how much it would cost to replace the cartridge or refill the ink in order to see how much the printer will cost you in the long term.
- Very good photo print quality
- Less cost and hassle thanks to bottled ink
- Surprisingly compact
- Underwhelming plain paper printing
- Expensive to buy
- Exceptional photo prints up to A3+
- Eight-ink print engine for less grain in colour photos
- Grey inks for neutral black and white prints
- Expensive to run
- Not great for plain paper
- In-app editing tools give saturation and contrast a boost
- Only Instax Link printer to use square film
- AR Print and Instax Connect aren’t available on other printers
- Limited editing tools
- QR codes are too big
- Film development takes slightly longer than advertised
- Low running costs
- Strong photo quality
- Decent plain paper prints
- Expensive to buy
- Slow, especially on plain paper
- No auto double-sided printing
Epson EcoTank ET-18100
Best overall photo printer
Pros
- Very good photo print quality
- Less cost and hassle thanks to bottled ink
- Surprisingly compact
Cons
- Underwhelming plain paper printing
- Expensive to buy
The Epson EcoTank ET-18100 is the ultimate option for those looking for great photo prints, particular those amateur photographers who want to print photos to their heart’s content.
With the EcoTank ET-18100, you’ll be getting an A3+ capable, six-ink photo printer that opens up the world of photo printing to you through low running costs and super convenient refillable tanks. It’s the big bottles the ink comes in and the refillable tanks that make this such an easy and cost-effective purchase. As such, you can make up for the slightly expensive starting price if you’re going to use this printer a ton.
The result speak for themselves too, producing top-notch photo print quality. Admittedly, the prints aren’t professional tier – look to our next recommendation for that – but for those after great home photo printing, it’s more than good enough. Overally, we found the printer quality to be delightful and it dishes out the prints in speedy fashion too. What’s more, despite its strong capabilities, it is still a surprisingly compact printer too.
Reviewer: Simon Handby
Full review: Epson EcoTank ET-18100 review
Canon PIXMA Pro-200
Best professional photo printer
Pros
- Exceptional photo prints up to A3+
- Eight-ink print engine for less grain in colour photos
- Grey inks for neutral black and white prints
Cons
- Expensive to run
- Not great for plain paper
Are you looking for professional grade photo printing at home? The Canon PIXMA Pro-200 is the choice for you.
Very few printers live up to the quality on offer from the PIXMA Pro-200, the secret? The Canon PIXMA Pro-200 is powered by an eight-ink print engine rather than your more traditional four or six options. The results are stunning, banishing grain from your photo printers up to A3+. The grey ink options make for impressive black and white photo prints too, if monochrome is your vibe.
This photo printer is laser-focused on being for professionals, and that’s why professionals will love it. As such, you’ll need plenty of desk space but, nevertheless, it’s a subtle and straightforwardly designed printer. Printing can be quite expensive if you aren’t printing those larger A3 prints so, again, this is professionals who need its remarkable photo print quality. You’ll have no shame selling your best snaps when using Canon’s high quality photo paper and this printer together.
Again, it’s the quality that sings here, it’s better than what you’d get from your typical lab and it comes back to you in a far speedier manner too – allowing you to hone what you like from your own printer in an efficient way.
Reviewer: Simon Handby
Full review: Canon PIXMA Pro-200 review
Canon PIXMA G550
Best value photo printer
Pros
- Low running costs
- Strong photo quality
- Decent plain paper prints
Cons
- Expensive to buy
- Slow, especially on plain paper
- No auto double-sided printing
The Canon PIXMA G550 isn’t the best value photo printer available, but we decided to include it on this list since it still offers affordable long-term running costs if you plan on printing out photos on a frequent basis.
This model utilises refillable bottles as opposed to cartridges, which immediately makes refills more cost effective. To boot, the G550’s bottles will last for either 3700 black pages or 8000 colour pages. It’s capable of 3800 10x15cm colour photos, giving you a cost per page of just 1.7p, which is some of the lowest we’ve ever seen. This is especially thanks to replacement bottles costing just £11.
As well as offering great value for money, the G550 delivers great quality printouts. This printer offers a six-ink setup, with an extra red and grey ink option, which helped to provide smooth shade transition in coloured printouts, as well as a neutral and exceptionally detailed greyscale print. While some of our colour samples may not be up to standard against other six-inkers, there’s a noticeable difference compared to more standard four-ink printers. Admittedly, it may not be the fastest printer in the world, with a print time of nearly seven minutes to print a single borderless A4 photo, but at least the results are good.
This is a remarkably simple printer, especially given it’s a single function device so you can’t copy or scan images. That being said, it does have a display alongside offering convenient control over key features with some actual buttons. The fact it’s a six-ink printer is also a handy given the extra oomph it gives to photos, as well as the fact the ink is refillable, saving waste and also saving you money with much lower printing costs than more standard cartridge-based inkjets.
Reviewer: Simon Handby
Full review: Canon PIXMA G550 review
Instax Square Link
Best smartphone photo printer
Pros
- In-app editing tools give saturation and contrast a boost
- Only Instax Link printer to use square film
- AR Print and Instax Connect aren’t available on other printers
Cons
- Limited editing tools
- QR codes are too big
- Film development takes slightly longer than advertised
The Instax Square Link is a little different to the other printers on this list, and it’s the one to choose if you’re printing pictures from a smartphone and want a portable option.
This is very much a photo printer, and it gives snaps a retro instant camera feel with a modern twist. You can edit snaps in the companion app before printing and even add AR elements that can be seen through someone else’s phone thanks to a QR code. While our reviewer found this something of a novelty, it remains a neat trick if used correctly.
The Instax Square Link prints square 6.2cm x 6.2xcm images and requires the Square Instant film. While printing time is stated to be 15 seconds and developing time 90 seconds, our reviewer noted the whole process took a little longer.
Print quality is great, it charges via USB-C and easily slips inside a bag if you want to take it on the go.
Reviewer: Hannah Davies
Full review: Instax Square Link review
We also considered…
We’ve reviewed
See all reviewsFAQs
For our money, the Canon Pixma G650 is the best overall photo printer you can buy, with high quality printouts, especially on glossy paper, as well as a convenient featureset and low running costs.
For what it’s worth, we’d say yes, especially given we’ve listed an Epson EcoTank (the ET-2750) above as a potential option for those wanting a versatile photo printer. Although it really does depend on the specific model.
Inkjet printers are arguably better for printing photos, given that laser printers are traditionally more associated with large-scale text work, and for commercial image printing operations such as brochures and flyers.
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Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.