How to Choose a Home Printer

A decision framework for picking a home printer based on how much you actually print, rather than on the spec sheet.

Last updated 2026-07-30

What this guide covers

How to work out which type of home printer fits your household, using your real printing habits as
the starting point. It does not recommend a single "best" model, because the right answer changes
completely depending on whether you print two pages a month or two hundred.

Who it is for

People buying a first printer, or replacing one that has become expensive or unreliable to run. If
you print mostly from a phone, or mostly text documents, or mostly photographs, the sections below
push you in different directions.

The decision factors that actually matter

• **Monthly page count.** Under roughly 30 pages a month, an inkjet that sits idle can dry out. Over
• roughly 200 pages a month, laser or ink-tank running costs pull well ahead of cartridge inkjets.
• **What you print.** Text-heavy documents favour mono laser. Photographs and mixed colour work
• favour inkjet. Occasional colour on a mostly-text workload usually means colour laser.
• **Consumable model.** Cartridge, ink tank, or toner. This is the single biggest long-term cost
• difference, and it is the factor most often ignored at purchase.
• **Connectivity.** Wi-Fi is standard. Check whether the model supports direct printing from your
• phone's operating system without a manufacturer account, if that matters to you.
• **Duplex printing.** Automatic double-sided printing halves your paper use. Manual duplex is
• tedious enough that most people stop using it.
• **Scanning.** An all-in-one is worth it if you scan more than occasionally. An automatic document
• feeder only matters if you scan multi-page documents.

Narrowing it down

1. Estimate your monthly pages honestly. Most households overestimate.
2. Decide mono or colour based on what you print, not what you might print.
3. Pick the consumable model that suits that volume: cartridges for low volume, ink tanks for
4. medium colour volume, toner for high mono volume.
5. Filter to models with the connectivity and duplex behaviour you need.
6. Only then compare specific models, and read owner reviews for reliability rather than for speed
7. claims.

Common mistakes

• Buying on purchase price alone. A cheap printer with expensive cartridges costs more within a year.
• Buying a colour laser for photographs. Colour lasers are built for charts and graphics, not photos.
• Assuming quoted page yields apply to you. Yields are measured against a standard test page, which
• is lighter than most real documents.
• Ignoring driver support for your operating system version, especially on older machines.

Where to verify specifications

Print speed, page yield, supported paper sizes and connectivity vary between regional model numbers
that look almost identical. Check the specification sheet on the manufacturer's own product page for
your exact model number before buying, and check the current retail listing for what is in the box.