Major Printer Brands Ranked Worst To Best
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Finding the best printer for you is a tough task, and it often starts with narrowing down your search to one or two brands. Each brand usually has a massive catalog of available printers, so it's much easier to identify a brand you find reputable first and then browse through that brand's product catalog.
Once you have a brand or two in mind, you can start getting picky with what you want out of a printer, whether it's for home use or for your small business. You can see if an all-in-one printer is what you need, check out special features like mobile printing or a touchscreen display, and decide on a printer that only prints black-and-white ink versus one that prints both black-and-white and color ink. And most importantly, you can decide what kind of printing technology you want to go with, like laser or inkjet.
Of course, the first step is identifying the right brand, and as it turns out, legacy often plays an important role.
Kyocera
Kyocera Corporation was founded by Dr. Kazuo Inamori in April 1959 with a 3 million yen investment from his acquaintances. The business was originally known as Kyoto Ceramic Co. because it produced ceramics, but the name later changed to Kyocera Corporation to encompass its new products. Dr. Inamori served as president and chairman of the company until 1997 when he took on the title of founder, but his philosophy lived on in Kyocera's mission, which is "to do what is right as a human being."
The company offers multi-functional printers (MFPs), production printers, and wide-format products. The company's MFPs handle scanning, copying, and printing with ease, and production printers use inkjet technology for a cost-effective and productive workflow within businesses. Kyocera's wide range of products is capable of scanning, copying, and printing large drawings in the architectural and engineering professions. Kyocera's printers can handle paper sizes A3 and A4, or up to 8.5- by 14-inch papers, and output black-and-white ink and color ink. Some of the company's printers can print over 50 papers per minute (ppm), while others can print up to 20 ppm.
One of Kyocera's most popular printers is its ECOSYS M2635dw laser printer. It's an all-in-one printer, so it can print, copy, scan, and fax. You can print via your smartphone, a wireless connection, or Gigabit Ethernet. The printer can hold up to 250 pages at a time and print up to 37 ppm in only black-and-white with up to a 1200 x 1200 dpi resolution.
Sharp
Sharp Corporation has established itself as a trustworthy brand in the technology field. Based in Osaka, Japan, the company was founded in 1912 by Tokuji Hayakawa, and its first noteworthy products included "Ever-Sharp" mechanical pencils and the world's first LCD electronic calculators. Now, the company has a U.S. business arm headquartered in Montvale, NJ, and offers copiers and printers, collaboration displays, commercial displays, projectors, Synappx applications, and Dynabook laptops.
As far as printers go, Sharp makes compact, full-size, or light production printers. There are black-and-white-only printers, as well as printers capable of color printing. You can find print speeds over 71 ppm, or more affordable printers that offer speeds between 21 and 30 ppm. While Sharp printers can be a great addition to your home rather than your small or big business, you can't buy these printers at your local Staples or Target. You have to buy Sharp printers from limited corporate locations.
The MX-B467P is a popular monochrome (or, black-and-white only) desktop printer that can reach print speeds up to 46 ppm and a print resolution of 1200 x 1200 dpi. This printer comes with an intuitive 2.4-inch LCD panel with operation keys, automatic two-sided printing, and mobile printing capabilities.
Ricoh
Ricoh started its journey in the United States in 1962, but the Ricoh Group was founded in 1936 by Kiyoshi Imichura. His vision then and now was to love your neighbor, love your country, and love your work. Globally, Ricoh has 78,000 employees working to embrace The Spirit of Three Loves, the official title for Imichura's vision.
The company offers a wide variety of printers, whether you're looking for something small for home use or even for a large business. There are laser, multi-functional, and all-in-one office printers and copiers to choose from. Ricoh has both black-and-white only and color printers, print speeds of over 60 ppm, and various max paper tray sizes. Some printers can staple, hole punch, and make booklets as they print, and most printers offer mobile and wireless printing.
Many of Ricoh's printers are all-in-one options that can copy, fax, and scan, but there are plenty of print-only options too. In addition to high-quality printers, Ricoh also produces copiers, commercial and industrial printing devices, and various equipment, as well as supplies and accessories for all of its products. The M 320F laser printer is one of Ricoh's bestsellers, featuring 1200 x 1200 dpi max print resolution, a paper capacity of up to 550 sheets, and a print speed of up to 34 ppm. In addition to printing in black-and-white ink, the M 320F can copy, scan, and fax.
HP
Despite the fact that HP makes some best-selling printers, there are many people who hate HP printers. There are issues with locked-down hardware, proprietary ink cartridges, firmware updates that prevent users from using third-party cartridges, and an ink subscription that has been described as "sketchy."
The HP company was formed in 1939 by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard, and some great decisions have been made over the years toward sustainability. So far, HP has planted 2,740 trees with 1t.org, recycled 352 tons of supplies and hardware, and reduced its Co2e emissions by 2% since 2020. Unfortunately, the seemingly greedy decisions surrounding HP printers and the necessary ink to print outshines any positive sustainability efforts.
HP has a variety of printers in its catalog, including laser, inkjet, and tank printers. There are options for black-and-white-only printers, color printers, two-sided printing functionality, and different paper sizes. The company also sells other devices for home offices, like laptops, desktop computers, monitors, keyboards, computer mice, headsets, webcams, and microphones. If you were to invest in an HP printer despite the uproar surrounding Instant Ink with HP+, the OfficeJet Pro 8034e is a popular all-in-one option that can scan, fax, copy, and print wirelessly. It can print up to 20 ppm, offers automatic two-sided printing, features a color touchscreen display, and fits 225 sheets in the paper tray.
Konica Minolta
Founded by Rokusaburo Sugiura in 1873, Konica Minolta started out selling photographic and lithographic materials in Kojimachi, Tokyo. The company continued to experiment with new cameras and photographic technologies, eventually moving into the world of paper copiers and printers. The company's first copier was released in 1960, and 2004 saw the company's first bizhub multi-functional printer that could print, scan, and copy.
Today, Konica Minolta continues to sell printers and copiers, as well as scanners, intelligent surveillance products, production & industrial printing devices, and various technology products, like webcams. Diving deeper into the printers Konica Minolta offers, you'll find multi-functional printers that use only black-and-white ink or a combination of black-and-white and color ink. There are compact multi-functional printers, all-in-one choices, and single-function printers that are only able to print.
Konica Minolta's bizhub 4020i printer is a compact, all-in-one option that's perfect for home office or small business use. Its small footprint makes it easy to set up on a desktop surface, and it's capable of printing legal documents on 8.5- x 14-inch paper as well as normal letter paper. It can print up to 42 ppm, scan in black-and-white or color, and print wirelessly from your phone.
Xerox
American inventor Chester Carlson is responsible for making the first xerographic image in 1938 for the company known today as Xerox. This discovery had wildly successful effects on the future of printing. However, this wasn't where the company started its journey. The M.H. Kuhn Company was founded in 1903 and then became the Haloid Company in 1906 to begin pursuing a business in manufacturing and selling photographic paper.
About 11 years later, the company made the Model A, the world's first xerographic copier. The company changed its name in 1958 to Haloid Xerox Inc. and announced the first automatic, plain-paper commercial copier to the public in 1959. Today, Xerox sells scanners, multi-functional systems, and of course, printers. The company offers all-in-one printers, laser printers, high-volume printers, 11 x 17 printers, and specific options for the work-from-home population and workgroups.
The Xerox B225 is the company's best-selling all-in-one printer. In addition to copying and scanning, it can print up to 36 ppm, comes with comprehensive security features, and features automatic two-sided printing. This printer works wonderfully for workgroups of one to five users, and it can print wirelessly via your network or your mobile device. Or, there's also the Xerox B230, the company's best-selling print-only printer.
Lexmark
Lexmark was founded in 1991 as a spin-off company of IBM, or the International Business Machines Corporation. The company is headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky, and has customers in over 170 countries across multiple industries.
The company produces a variety of printers for small- and medium-sized businesses, as well as large businesses and enterprises. In addition to printers, Lexmark sells other imaging products and software, solutions, and services that help its customers save time and money. While this is a vague description of what Lexmark offers, its "software, services, and solutions" vary by industry, so what's offered for a banking business may be different than what's offered for an education company.
Lexmark's GO Line series is one of its most popular. All printers in this series feature two-sided printing, fast scanning and print speeds, and responsive touchscreen displays. The C3326dw model is a color laser printer with a 2-line LCD display, a 100-sheet output bin, a 250-sheet input tray, and a print speed of up to 26 ppm. The recommended monthly page volume for this printer is between 600 and 2,500 pages.
Epson
The Seiko Epson Corporation was originally titled Daiwa Kogyo Ltd. and was established in 1942 in Nagano, Japan. In 1968, the company made the world's first miniprinter, and it was from this little device that the Epson brand was born. The Stylus 800 was released in 1993 as the first inkjet printer equipped with MicroPiezo technology. Epson also developed the world's first 720 dpi color inkjet printer in 1994 and called it the Epson Stylus Color.
Over the next twenty years, Epson developed its six-color photo-quality printer known as the Epson Stylus Color Photo and introduced a WorkForce Pro line of inkjet printers ready for high outputs. In 2015, Epson adopted a more eco-friendly stance with its new EcoTank line of all-in-one printers that featured a special ink replacement technology. Epson still produces and sells all-in-one printers, EcoTank printers, photo printers, and accessories for each. The company also offers consumers at-home scanners, projectors, and paper, and offers businesses smart glasses, point-of-sale devices, robots, microdevices, and printheads.
The EcoTank ET-3830 wireless printer is among Epson's best. It can scan, copy, and automatically print double-sided pages, be controlled through its 2.4-inch color display, and print in both color and black-and-white ink. The EcoTank ET-3830 features an innovative cartridge-free solution, which uses EcoFit refillable ink bottles. Each replacement ink bottle is the equivalent of about 90 individual ink cartridges, so you can save up to 90% with Epson's innovative ink bottle solution compared to traditional ink cartridges.
Canon
Officially known as Canon U.S.A., this company's New York branch was established in 1955 and the company was formally incorporated in 1965. Canon's corporate headquarters is in Melville, New York, and the company is responsible for quite a few notable firsts in the world of printer technology. In 1983, Canon created the LBP-CX, the world's smallest laser beam printer. Two years later, the BJ-80 was launched as the world's first inkjet printer to use bubble-jet technology. Then, Canon released the CJ-10 printer in 1992, which was the world's first digital desktop printer, scanner, and full-color copier.
Today, Canon still produces top-notch home printers, as well as large format printers, multi-functional printers, ink, toner, paper, and other office supplies. The company also sells high-quality cameras, lenses, and other pieces of video technology.
Among its best-selling printers is the Canon Color imageCLASS LBP632Cdw. Though its title is quite the mouthful, this reliable printer boasts a compact design, a 250-sheet paper tray, automatic two-sided printing, a 5-line LCD panel, a print resolution of 1200 x 1200 dpi, and a print speed of up to 22 ppm for both color and black-and-white ink projects.
Brother
Though not originally known as Brother, the company was founded in 1908 by Kanekichi Yasui as Yasui Sewing Machine Company. In his home of Nagoya, Japan, Yasui repaired industrial sewing machines and manufactured sewing machine parts. When his sons inherited the company, it was renamed Yasui Brothers' Sewing Machine Company and eventually shortened to simply Brother.
Today, sewing machines, embroidery machines, and replacement parts are still a huge part of Brother's catalog, though the company has certainly expanded what it makes and sells worldwide. The company also produces label makers, electronic cutting machines, printing and sharing applications, scanners, fax machines, air purifiers, and printers. Among Brother's available printers, you'll find all-in-one options, laser printers, inkjet printers, and 11 x 17 ledger printers.
One of Brother's best printers for home use is the MFC-L2710DW model. This printer can handle both letter- (8.5 x 11 inches) and legal- (8.5 x 14) size papers, hold up to 250 sheets in the paper tray and print up to 32 ppm. It has wireless printing capabilities from mobile devices, automatic two-sided printing, and a 50-page capacity for the automatic document feeder that enables multi-page copying and scanning.