Buying an affordable printer it can be confusing. It seems that every printer has a long name and, if you've never bought a printer before, the stats can be difficult to understand, too.

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You might think that being on a budget would limit your options; however, even excluding some of the more expensive models from your list, there’s still a lot of choices out there.

We've put together this round-up of the best budget printers and some tips on how to find an affordable printer which matches your needs.

To start, it's helpful to determine what you consider to be affordable. This will depend on personal budget but it's also worth thinking about whether the printer you want to buy is cost-effective to run.

Ink and toner cartridges are where printer companies make a large chunk of money, so consider how often you’ll hit that ‘Print’ button before opening your wallet. If you only print documents once every month or so, then picking up something with a low initial cost might be better, even if it’s not the most economical option out there – we're thinking about cost-per-page here.

On the flip side, if you’re printing documents frequently, whether that’s for homework, coursework, newsletters, posters or pamphlets, you’ll want a printer with the lowest possible cost-per-page that your budget can accommodate.

Although you may be tempted to opt for the printer with the cheapest initial cost, it could soon be burning a hole in your pocket in the long run. It might be better to pick something with a slightly higher RRP if it turns out to be a long-term saver.

Depending on your needs, you might also want to consider a laser printer instead of an inkjet.

In our round-up below, we've picked printers which are around the £100 price mark. Some are cheaper and some are slightly more expensive, but we've included the more expensive printers as they are cost-effective in the long run.

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Best affordable printers at a glance:

How to choose a cheap printer

As in all of RadioTimes.com Technology team's best lists, such as best budget projectors and best budget laptops, we've put together top tips to help you secure the best printer for you as cheaply as possible. Some handy things to look out for include looking out for cheap ink subscriptions, the cost-per-page to print, and the initial printer price.

Look at the cost-per-page

Keeping an eye on running costs, such as ink and toner costs, is a key consideration when shopping around for the best budget printer in 2024.

In terms of which printers have the most affordable ink, HP has some of the lowest prices going for HP 305 black ink and tri-colour (cyan, magenta, yellow) cartridges. These cost £13.09 per cartridge and come with enough ink for roughly 120 and 100 printouts, respectively. That works out at a cost-per-page of 10p and 13p.

That’s about the standard per-page price you can expect from an affordable inkjet printer, but it’s by no means the cheapest option available to you.

For example, a single HP 934 black toner cartridge is priced at £46.49, far more expensive than the HP 305 ink cartridges, but it promises enough toner for around 1,000 printouts – which means that the cost-per-page falls to below 5p.

As we spoke about before, sometimes it's better to opt for a more expensive printer to save money in the long run. For example, the most expensive budget printer included in our round-up is the Brother HL-L2400DWE, but it has one of the cheapest ink costs per page. You can buy TN-2510XL black toner cartridges for this printer for £82.90, working out at around 3p per page.

Even better value for money in terms of running costs is bottled ink. Printers like the Epson EcoTank ET-2750 – excluded from this round-up because at £349.99 it's outside of the cheap price range – are cheap to run, with cost-per-page working out to be less than a penny.

Likewise, going for bigger XL ink cartridges will always be more expensive up-front, but your money is highly likely to go further in the longer run. Think about how many pages you will realistically be printing every month before making your choice.

Remember to check out our guide to the best printer paper, too.

Research which ink subscriptions are the cheapest

While it’s useful to weigh up the cartridge prices and ink yields, consider that a lot of printers these days are covered by subscription plans, which can save you money, not to mention the hassle of having to order fresh cartridges yourself.

These are typically only offered if you’re buying a printer that can be connected to the internet because services like HP’s Instant Ink and Epson’s ReadyPrint work by the printer monitoring the device’s ink levels and alerting the manufacturer when ink levels are getting low. Fresh cartridges are then popped into the post and sent out to you in advance of you running out of ink. It’s a helpful aspect to consider.

The HP Instant Ink and Epson ReadyPrint subscription prices are based on how many pages of paper you print in a month. Here's a breakdown of the current pricing:

HP Instant Ink subscription prices

PagesPrice
15 pages99p/month
50 pages£1.99/month
100 pages£3.49/month
300 pages£9.99/month
700 pages£22.49/month

Epson ReadyPrint subscription prices

PagesPrice
30 pages£1.29/month
50 pages£1.99/month
100 pages£3.49/month
300 pages£9.99/month
500 pages£16.49/month

Check out the upfront printer price

If running costs are less of a consideration, then your job is made slightly easier by the fact that you’ll mainly, if not exclusively, be looking at the initial price tag. At the same time, it's good to consider what you need the printer for.

If you are buying one just for documents, then get a mono printer. This means the printer will only print in black and white. Even if the mono printer is not as cheap as a colour version, it's a good choice purely for the fact that you’ll only ever have to buy black ink to replace it.

By the same token, if you want to print out the occasional photo or document with colour images, then there’s absolutely no point in buying a mono printer, even if it does have a lower RRP.

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Best affordable printers to buy in 2024

Our round-up of the best budget printers to buy this year:

HP Envy 6020e

Best budget printer for most homes

HP Envy 6020e All in One Colour Printer

Pros:

  • Three months' worth of ink is included when you sign up for HP Instant Ink
  • Can print from mobile app

Cons:

  • Smaller tray capacity

The 6020e is affordable and does pretty much everything you need from a home model: producing documents and colour photographs, copying, scanning and double-sided printing. The easy setup means it’s a top choice if you don’t want to fuss over settings, and there are three months of HP Instant Ink included for free when you sign up for the automatic monthly ink subscription.

The 6020e is a compact and lightweight model so is perfect for squeezing into a home office or any spare corner in your home. It has a reasonably small capacity of 100 pages but if you don't mind refilling the tray it's a great budget printer for the whole family to enjoy.

Buy the HP Envy 6020e:

  • Amazon | £79.99 £47.99 (save £32 or 40%)
  • Ryman | £79.99 £47.99 (save £32 or 40%)
  • HP | £79.99 £47.99 (save £32 or 40%)
  • Very | £79.99 £49.99 (save £30 or 38%)

Epson Expression Home XP-4200

Best affordable Epson

epson best budget printer 2023
Amazon

Pros:

  • Helpful LCD screen
  • Fast and lightweight

Cons:

  • Delicate

With a price point of around £75, this budget printer is a great choice if you are a fan of Epson models and want to save money. The Epson Expression Home XP-4200 is a stylish choice, with the ability to print, scan and copy in black/white and coloured ink. We like that it has an LCD display on the front, too, so you can easily navigate the settings once it's connected to your device, whether that’s a phone, tablet or computer.

It is one of the lightest models on our list, weighing in at just over a kilogram, so can be moved as you please. Its compact design also means it won't take up much space. Ink replacement is not too expensive and you can buy the colours separately so you only need to replace each colour when you run out.

Buy the Epson Expression Home XP-4200:

HP LaserJet M110w

Best affordable mono laserjet

HP LaserJet M110w
HP LaserJet M110w Amazon

Pros:

  • Easy to use
  • Quick at printing

Cons:

  • Expensive toner and ink

This is a black and white LaserJet printer and is 'perfect for home office'. The small but mighty printer is designed for high-speed and high-volume printing. It can spew out 20 pages per minute and is compatible with computers, phones and tablets.

Due to the speed and reliability of this type of printer, they use toner and are more expensive than inkjet models. This one comes with enough toner for up to 300 pages. It is an easy-to-set-up printer and is a dynamic security enabled printer.

Buy the HP LaserJet M110w:

  • Amazon | £109.99 £70.99 (save £39 or 40%)
  • HP | £79.99

Canon Pixma TS3355

Best budget colour printer

Canon Pixma TS205 Front

Pros:

  • Very cheap to buy and run
  • Good overall print quality
  • Easy to set up and use

Cons:

  • Slow printing speeds
  • Ink smudges easily
  • No Wi-Fi or mobile app support

The Canon Pixma TS3355 is a reasonable and cheerful colour inkjet printer. Very cheap to buy at around £35, the TS3355 is a no-frills option, with basic printing, scanning, and photocopying functions.

Aimed at buyers who want a cheap, sub-£50 printer to use every so often, the TS3355 is included as it’s one of the cheapest colour printers on the market. It’s very easy to set up and use and is suitable for running off homework, letters, boarding passes and the like.

Despite its low price, the Canon Pixma TS3355 can even print photos on glossy photo paper. The print quality is generally very good, and, in fact, a lot better than you might expect from such a cheap printer.

Buy the Canon Pixma TS3355:

HP DeskJet 2820e

Best all-in-one wireless budget printer

HP DeskJet 2820e
HP DeskJet 2820e Amazon

Pros:

  • Cheap and easy to use
  • Good all-rounder

Cons:

  • No two-sided printing
  • Small capacity

If you need a new home printer, the HP DeskJet 2820e should be able to handle any basic task you throw at it – including both black/white and colour documents. It is a wireless model, too, so that cuts down on fussing over wires to your main device, whether that’s a laptop or smartphone.

You get three months of HP Instant Ink included and automatic ink detection, so if you subscribe you'll be sent ink before you run out. It has print, scan and copy features, but does have a smallish capacity compared to other printers on our list with space for just 60 sheets of paper.

Buy the HP DeskJet 2820e:

HP DeskJet 4220e

Best value all-in-one printer with HP Instant Ink

HP DeskJet 4220e
HP DeskJet 4220e Amazon

Pros:

  • Good at printing graphics and photos
  • Lightweight
  • Easy to install

Cons:

  • Text quality is middling
  • Alignment issues
  • Not cheap to run without Instant Ink

The HP DeskJet 4220e hits a lot of tick boxes for buyers in the market for a cheap colour all-in-one printer. It’s capable of printing on glossy paper as well as regular A4, it can print over Wi-Fi and USB, and quality is very good, considering it’s a sub-£100 device.

Text quality on the default setting is admittedly pretty average, but move things up to higher quality settings, and you get higher quality results. The HP DeskJet 4220e uses the HP 305 Black (£13) and HP 305 Tri-Colour (£13) cartridges, which promise 120 and 100 pages’ worth of ink, which comes to a cost-per-page of around 10p and 13p each.

The HP DeskJet 4220e is also not the fastest printer on the market, which is perhaps understandable given the price. On the plus side, it’s lightweight and doesn’t hog desk space, so it’s ideal for home offices that are on the small side.

Buy the HP DeskJet 4220e:

  • Amazon | £69.99 £42.99 (save £27 or 39%)

Canon Pixma MG3650S

Best budget printer for ease-of-use

Canon PIXMA MG3650S

Pros:

  • Very cheap

Cons:

  • Slow print speed

With a price point of around £35, the Pixma MG3650S is a great budget option from Canon. It is the joint cheapest on our list and despite its low price point, still packs a punch. It’s an all-in-one budget printer, so can be used to produce both documents and photos between 4x6 inch and A4.

The printer is compatible with PC and Mac, and comes with a scanner and copier. You can use two-sided printing and for such a cheap printer it still holds up to 100 sheets. The one thing letting this printer down is its speed. With an average rate of 10 pages a minute, it isn't a great choice for those wishing to print frequently. However, for smaller scaler printers it's great.

Buy the Canon Pixma MG3650S:

  • Canon | £44.99 £34.99 (save £10 or 22%)
  • Amazon| £64.50

Canon Pixma TS7450/1

Best quality all-in-one budget printer

Canon Pixma TS7450

Pros:

  • Excellent overall print quality
  • Fast printing and scanning speeds
  • Reasonably cheap to run

Cons:

  • Photos need to be printed on glossy paper
  • Double-page printing is slow
  • Only economical with XL cartridges

The Canon Pixma TS7450 is an excellent all-round colour budget printer, scanner, and copier which can be had for around £130 RRP.

It’s not especially speedy, but the quality is high, and the Pixma TS7450 is versatile, able to print on plain paper and glossy photo sheets, as well as print on both sides of plain A4, so it’s handy at producing letters, essays and homework, as well as high-quality holiday snaps.

You can connect to the Canon Pixma TS7450 via Wi-Fi or USB, and control is with iOS and Android apps, as well as Windows and Mac machines. It supports Apple AirPrint, so getting up and running on a Mac OS device takes no time at all.

Running costs are about average, with the standard-sized Canon PG-560 (£18.80) and CL-561 (£18.80) cartridges, which give you 180 pages’ worth of ink each work out at 9p per page each.

Not bank-breaking, but not cheap either, and while the bigger XL cartridges work out at 6p and 7p, respectively, there’s no option to go for a subscription, meaning it’s less economical for heavy use. This probably won't matter if you only print once in a blue moon or can pick up bundle deals on cartridges for cheap elsewhere.

The Pixma TS7451 is the same model but in the colour white.

Read our full Canon Pixma TS7450 review.

Buy the Canon Pixma TS7450/1:

  • Canon | £99.99 £59.99 (save £40 or 40%)
  • Amazon | £99.99 £59.99 (save £40 or 40%)

HP OfficeJet Pro 8122e

Best budget printer for fast colour jobs

HP OfficeJet Pro 8122e
HP OfficeJet Pro 8122e Amazon

Pros:

  • Cloud connectivity

Cons:

  • Slow print speed for price

The HP OfficeJet Pro 8122e has a number of great features that will make it a fantastic addition to your home. It has cloud connectivity that makes sure it has the latest software updates installed, alongside built-in WiFi which means you can print documents straight from your laptop or phone.

Three months of HP’s Instant Ink subscription service means you will remain topped up before ever running dry. It has an average print speed of 20 pages per minute for black/white and 10 for colour, which is on the faster side for a model of this price.

Buy the HP OfficeJet Pro 8122e:

  • Amazon | £109.99 £72.99 (save £37 or 34%)
  • John Lewis | £77.99
  • HP |£85.49 £79.98 (save £5.51 or 6%)

Brother HL-L2400DWE

Best high-capacity mono laserjet budget printer

Brother printer

Pros:

  • High page capacity
  • Quick print speed

Cons:

  • Bit more pricey

Priced at around the £130 mark, the Brother HL-L2400DWE is one of the most expensive printers in this round-up but is worth the money if you prioritise ease of use.

It has an impressive tray capacity with space for 250 sheets of A4. It promises to pump out 30 pages per minute which is an impressive speed for the price point. With top printing speeds and high capacity, the Brother HL-L2400DWE may be better suited to home office users who need to print several copies of multi-page documents and don’t want to have to reload the paper in-tray as frequently.

It’s a powerful, and cheap-to-run unit that does one thing – print text documents – very well.

Buy the Brother HL-L2400DWE:

  • Amazon | £130.80 £89.99 (save £40.81 or 31%)
  • Ryman | £129.99 £89.99 (save £40 or 31%)
  • Currys | £129.99 £99.99 (save £30 or 23%)

Canon Pixma TR4550/TR4551

Best value all-in-one budget printer

Canon-Pixma-TR4550-printer

Pros:

  • Low upfront cost
  • Versatile all-in-one device
  • Lighter than the Canon Pixma TS7450

Cons:

  • Neither cheap nor expensive to run
  • Not covered by ink subscription
  • Bigger than the Canon Pixma TS7450

The Pixma TR4550 is a cheap-to-buy colour inkjet all-in-one printer that offers similar functionality to the impressive Canon Pixma TS7450. It’s available in two colours, the Pixma TR4550 (black) and the Canon Pixma TR4551 (white).

For your money, you’ll get an all-in-one colour printer, scanner, and copier which gives 8.8ppm (pages per minute) printing speeds for black text, 4.4ppm for colour images on plain A4, and 4x6-inch colour photos in around 65 seconds.

Canon Pixma’s running costs are around 11p per page, which is about the norm for most cheap inkjet printers. As always, the bigger cartridges give you more ink and so the cost-per-page here falls to 6p and 8p if you opt for Canon's bigger cartridges.

Buy the Canon Pixma TR4550/TR4551:

Epson Expression Photo XP-8700

Best for printing photos

Photo printer

Pros:

  • Great for printing photos
  • Touchscreen
  • Fast printing speed

Cons:

  • On the more expensive side

The Expression Photo XP-8700 is great if you're looking for an A4 printer that can cater for both everyday printing and producing glossy photographs. It aims to make everyday tasks easy and includes options to print straight from your mobile and tablet. It has a large touchscreen which makes printing, scanning and copying easy to control.

The printer is on the more expensive side compared to most of our budget picks but is a great option if you're looking to print photos. Pairing the printer with Claria Photo HD Inks, Epson promises that photos can last up to 300 years in a photo album and have a real professional feel.

Buy the Epson Expression Photo XP-8700 from:

HP ENVY Inspire 7220e

Best sustainable budget printer

Sustainable printer

Pros:

  • Decent tray capacity
  • Sustainably made
  • 3-months free ink

Cons:

  • Not the fastest printing speed

The HP ENVY Inspire 7220e is a great sustainable choice and is an impressive printer as well as being environmentally conscious. The printer is made from 45% recycled materials and HP promises net zero-deforestation prints and closed-loop cartridge recycling.

At just over £100 is fairly expensive for a budget printer but you do get three months of free ink for this price using HP's instant ink subscription, so this can make it worth the price if you plan on printing a lot. The printer has a good tray capacity of 125 pages and can also print photos well with its built-in photo tray. The only drawback is the printer's printing speed which is below average at 15 pages per minute for black text.

Buy the HP ENVY Inspire 7220e from:

  • John Lewis | £119.99 £99.97 (save £20.02 or 17%)

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