The best Epson printers will deliver great results on image and document quality, offer excellent print speeds, and will be an asset in any home, office, or studio.
My team has reviewed over two-hundred of the best printers and best small business printers. In our testing, the best Epson printer is the Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 in our experience - this refillable printer also scans, copies, and faxes, offers excellent print quality. For an alternative, you can go wrong with the 4800 3850, or 2850, which are less expensive but no less impressive.
We put the top printers from Epson to the test, comparing print quality, print speeds, and capabilities to see which is best for home, office, and which offers the best for long-term running costs.
Best Epson printer of 2024 in full:
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Best Epson printer overall
The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 is so good, when the team the at our sister site Tom’s Guide tried the printer out, they called it “our new favorite office printer”
Controlled by a 4.3-inch touchscreen that effectively operates like a phone, this is a very accessible all-in-one that means serious business. And it proved the perfect balance with high-quality prints at impressively fast speeds.
In tests by the Tom’s Guide team, the ET-5850 printed a five-page text document in 19.6 seconds (approx. 15.3ppm). Double-sided text printing was recorded at 14.5 ppm A six-page color PDF with text and graphics printed at a similarly quick 32.8 seconds (11 ppm). Copies and scans are lightning fast, too. However, scans do come out slightly too dark by default (and the packaged software is somewhat lacking).
Print quality is just as good as you’d expect. Text documents are crisp, clear. Graphics were sharp and detailed, although the testing team did spot very mild banding visible in parts. Otherwise, there’s little to complain about, with colors appearing natural and well-saturated.
The 4.3-inch touchscreen effectively operates like a phone, making it very accessible. With an outstanding performance and low ink costs, the Epson ET-5850 is ideal for the busy office or home office.
Read what Tom’s Guide thought in their Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 review .
Best Epson printer for small businesses
In our tests, the Epson WorkForce Pro WF-4630 proved to be an affordable printer for small businesses and workgroups, boasting fast print speeds, excellent print qualities, and a host of features including remote printing and scanning.
One of the main attractions for the WF-4630 is its affordability. Not only did we find the unit reasonably priced, but the printer’s use of larger XL print cartridges means it can offer economical on-going costs that even rival laser printers.
Initial set-up is very simple, with the clear touchscreen display an able guide through every step. But it’s not quick - it took us around twenty minutes to get started, but at least you only have to do it once.
Speeds are good. Our tests matched Epson's claims of approximately 20ppm for both black-and-white and color print jobs. It’s around half this time for duplex printing. Quality was also exceptional for this inkjet. Text, charts and diagrams are sharp, and we struggled to tell the difference between a print from the WF-4630 and a mid-range laserjet. With a maximum resolution of 4800 x 1200 dpi, we found printing photographs less impressive. It’s acceptable for general photo printing, but pale compared to professional photo printers.
For every other task, the Epson WorkForce Pro WF-4630 is an exceptional machine particularly for small offices. It’s sadly no longer available direct from Epson, but it’s still stocked by third-party sellers.
Read our full Epson WorkForce Pro WF-4630 review .
Best ink tank Epson printer for home
The Epson EcoTank ET-8550 is an A3 photo printer featuring an impressive six refillable tanks instead of four - meaning greater clarity and quality to images (and substantially reduced running costs). .
Its design is sleek, with a small footprint roughly A3 in size, and only 16cm tall, making it much easier to accommodate than other A3 printers we’ve tested. The printer is also generously kitted out with features, including A4 auto-duplex, the ability to enlarge A4 photocopies to A3, and printing to a variety of blank media. Paper sizes up to A3+ are supported, and we found we could even print 2m banners via the rear tray. However, the ET-8550 is more home than office-focused, so it lacks ADF and fax facilities.
The printer’s speeds are fair- for us, mono A4 pages came out at 32ppm. Auto duplex and colour printing is slower. But we won’t complain about a machine putting quality ahead of speed for photo printing (and it does print quietly, at least). With an impressive 5760 x 1400 dpi print resolution and a scan resolution of 1200 x 4800 dpi, you can expect incredibly accurate printing and photocopies. In all of our tests, the Epson EcoTank ET-8550 performed well, with crisp quality prints across the board. But its real strength is in printing photos on glossy photo paper. Colors pop and photographs are vibrant.
The Epson EcoTank ET-8550 succeeds on all fronts - and beyond the high upfront cost of the unit, it’s hard to find fault here.
Read our full Epson EcoTank ET-8550 review .
Best Epson photo printer
Epson has a range of refillable A3 photo printers that deliver sharp detailing and vibrancy to colors. We’ve picked the more modestly priced model here as it offers a great balance between quality and cost.
For more Epson photo printers, with more ink tanks, the Epson EcoTank ET-7750, the Epson EcoTank ET-18100, and the ET-8550 all received strong reviews from us.
The Epson EcoTank ET-3850 is a 3-in-1 that lacks a few basic features, but it prints well and lowers long-term running costs by employing a refillable ink tank system. True, the printer lacks a touchscreen and no dual-scan mode. Although it does boast an ADF, and we were seriously impressed with the amount of ink in the box - enough to print 14,000 mono pages, or 5,200 color pages. Those four built-in EcoTanks are large, and that does mean we found the printer had a bigger footprint than its rivals. However, the extra bulk is well-hidden in its cuboidal shape, the ADF and tilting control panel effortlessly tucked away flush.
In our tests, printing speeds weren’t dramatically fast - 15ppm single-sided mono printing, color at just 8ppm, and 6ppm in auto duplex mode. It’s quiet and smooth, though, with excellent quality prints. We found black text satisfyingly bold and dark, while colors were full and bright, with no banding or blocking on the page.
This is a pitch-perfect home office printer that’s relatively compact, given its high ink capacity, with most of the features a business needs. We would’ve liked to see dual-scanning, a USB Host port, and touchscreen (although the Epson app is an excellent alternative). But it’s a fair-trade for running costs as low as this.
Read our full Epson EcoTank ET-3850 review .
Best A3 Epson printer for business
The Epson WorkForce WF-7210DTW represents an affordable, entry-level A3 inkjet printer largely aimed at the micro business community.
Print quality is very good, chiefly due to Epson’s PrecisionCore technology. Black text was crisp, without smudging, while color printing is vibrant, and altogether much punchier than comparable color laser printers.
Likewise, print speeds are good for an inkjet. 18ppm (mono and 10ppm (color) for standard printing. In draft mode, it boasts a rated speed of 32ppm (mono) or 20ppm (color). Measurements largely met during our own testing via USB printing. However, we did find the printer somewhat finicky when it comes to paper handling.
All told, the Epson WorkForce WF-7210DTW is a very able and affordable large-format color printer with low running costs, suited to most small business tasks. But it undeniably faces some stiff competition at this price-point.
Read our full Epson WorkForce WF-7210DTW review.
Best portable Epson printer
The WorkForce WF-110 is Epson’s smallest printer - with built-in Wi-Fi and rechargeable battery, it’s designed for total portability for business users who need print capabilities on the go.
Taking this portable printer out for a test drive, we found it impressively compact and robust. Easily small enough to slip inside a briefcase, strong enough to survive life on the road.
As a petite Epson printer, it lacks a few features we would’ve liked to have seen, such as a USB or memory card port and duplex printing (an issue many portables struggle to deliver). However, since this is effectively a miniaturized color inkjet printer, it offers pretty much the same functionality you get with full-sized versions. Print speeds are also low - we clocked it running at approximately 7ppm (mono) and 4ppm (color) on mains power. On battery, that dropped to 2ppm for color printing.
On the whole, though, the WF-110, with its 5760 x 1440 resolution, impressed us with the clarity and precision of our test pages. Mono text, in particular, appeared uncompromised by the miniature stature, while images and graphics were detailed. However, we did spot less consistency when printing block colors, with results neither as bright or vivid as traditional inkjet printers.
There are always trade-offs when it comes to portable printers. But given it serves up prints with such detail and clarity, even at slow speeds, we would recommend the Epson WorkForce WF-110 to anyone who needs to print documents on the road.
Read our full Epson WorkForce WF-110 review .
Best Epson office printer
The distinctive form factor (which won a Red Dot design award) makes this a simple and practical printer ideal for use at home or the office. There’s a handy touchscreen built into the raised scanner bed and plenty of room for paper in both the main tray (250 sheets) and the ADF (35 sheets).
It can auto duplex and turn out printed pages surprisingly quickly for an inkjet. 17ppm is the ISO standard figure given for monochrome pages, but it can manage a remarkable 37ppm in draft mode.
While the initial cost is quite high for an all-in-one inkjet, the refillable tanks mean you are not tied to expensive cartridges and Epson is bundling enough bottled ink in the box for 7,500 mono pages and 6,000 color.
It lacks fancy features such as NFC connectivity or a front USB port, but this EcoTank Pro model should meet the needs of any small office, while keeping running costs right down.
Best photo printer for businesses
Hats off to Epson for managing to eke professional-looking photos out of the XP-15000, a consumer-grade model that does a great impression of a commercial printer.
It is a feat the company has achieved through the use of its Claria Ultra HD inks and the XP-15000's 180 nozzles, which combine to produce strikingly vibrant color photo prints and sharp greyscale images with a max resolution of 5760 x 1440 dpi.
The unit is compact for a wide-format inkjet printer, and there is a 2.4-inch LCD panel with a set of buttons for navigation. The printer's compatible with various mobile printing services, including Epson Connect Solutions, Epson Remote Print, Epson E-mail Print, Epson iPrint App (for iOS and Android), Apple AirPrint, and Google Cloud Print.
The other connectivity options include Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, and USB.
Best mono Epson printer
This refreshingly simple monochrome print-only device may seem spartan in terms of features, but what it does do, it does well.
There’s no display of any kind, no inbuilt wi-fi and no auto duplex mode, however, there is a large refillable reservoir for black ink that makes this one of the most economical printers in town.
It ships with enough bottled ink to yield around 5,000 pages, so it actually works out at a lower cost per page than a laser printer. There’s enough room for 150 sheets of A4 in the main tray and it prints at a respectable rate of 15 pages per minute, or more than double that in fast mode.
Connectivity options include Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, Ethernet, USB 2.0, and other mobile/cloud connectivity modes, like Epson Remote Print, Epson iPrint (iOS and Android), Google Cloud Print, and Apple AirPrint.
Best compact Epson printer
This is a compact printer that produces pleasingly high-quality photos. Similarly to its wide-format printers, Epson twins the model with its premium Claria ink cartridges to print stunning color photos.
It is rated to print 4" x 6" photos in 15 seconds and documents at speeds of 15.8 ppm (black) and 11.3 ppm (color).
On the flip side, they are as expensive as they are impressive and offset the XP-6100's initial affordability. Once in operation, the XP-6100 prints quickly and can handle a variety of media, from glossy A4 paper to envelopes.
Its connectivity options include Wi-Fi Direct, and AirPrint, in addition to an SD card reader and a 2.4-inch touchscreen that's bigger than most. The printer also has some photo tools to enhance pictures before printing them, including red-eye removal and auto photo correction.
Best Epson office printer on a budget
The Epson WorkForce Pro WF-4820DWF is a fine example of just how much you can get out of a mid-priced office-oriented inkjet all-in-one these days.
This is a color printer with auto duplex, an automatic document feed, high-res flatbed scanner and a fax modem. It can print faster than some laser printers in its fastest monochrome mode, but being an inkjet, it can also print decent quality photos onto glossy paper.
There's a decent 4.3-inch color panel with touchscreen functionality, and connectivity options include USB 2.0, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth, and Ethernet. There is no NFC on this printer, though.
The cost of ink cartridges should be a consideration as they are not the cheapest. The consumables cost is more competitive if you sign up for Epson’s ReadyPrint subscription ink service, which mails replacement cartridges to your door.
Best Epson office printer with ink tanks
Epson’s supertanker printers undercut the cost of cartridge printing by up to 90% and the Epson EcoTank ET-5170 takes the ink reservoir technology to a new high.
The tall design makes it especially easy to photocopy documents on the raised scanner bed, while the copies collect underneath. There’s only room for 60 sheets in this output tray, but you can fit 250 sheets in the main input tray and another 35 in the automatic document feeder on top.
There’s a fax facility, inbuilt Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Direct, but this model’s standout feature is its rapid print speed. 23 pages per minute in color and 37 in monochrome. The five bottles of ink included in the box are another major reason for choosing the Epson EcoTank ET-5170.
Other connectivity options include USB 2.0, Ethernet, Apple AirPrint, Mopria, and Google Clound print.
Best Epson printers: FAQs
What is the life expectancy of an Epson printer?
You can expect the best Epson printers to last approximately 5 years.
As a rule, home and office printers from any brand should last between three and five years, depending on daily usage and maintenance. For what it’s worth, Epson currently offers a 5-year warranty on selected EcoTank printers.
Does Epson EcoTank ink dry out?
Inkjet printer cartridges are notorious for drying out over time. However, Epson’s EcoTank range places the ink in a sealed chamber within the printer, so the ink in an EcoTank is unlikely to dry out - unless you leave the cap off the refillable ink bottle. However, it’s worth noting that most ink still has an expert date.
Why is Epson printer ink so expensive?
Printing costs vary depending on the type of printer and cartridge being used. Inkjet printers from all brands are typically cheap to buy, but replacement ink cartridges are more expensive. Laser printing is typically cheaper than ink, but the machines cost more upfront. Refillable ink tank printing is the cheapest option, with fewer running costs and reduced waste. The Epson EcoTank line-up is estimated by the company to cut ink costs by up to 90%.
How to choose the best Epson printer for you
When deciding which Epson printer is best for you, there are a number of key considerations.
Category
First, you'll want to choose the right ink delivery system. Epson offer some of the best inkjet printers, best laser printers, and best ink tank printers on the market. As a rule, inkjet printers are cheap to buy but expensive to run. Laser printers and ink tank printers (Epson's EcoTank range) are expensive to buy, but cheap to run.
Budget
More functions means a higher price, so take that into consideration along with overall long-term running costs. If you're working to a budget, our team has rounded up the best cheap printers - and you can often find even the best Epson printers in the the Prime Day printer deals and Black Friday printer deals when sales are live.
Features
You'll want to check core features - the best all-in-one printers offer plenty of functionality, including print, scan, copy, and fax. But you may not need these bells and whistles, and the best home printers will be fine for most.
Use
You should also note what type of printing you're planning. There's a world of difference between traditional printers and the best photo printers, so if you're opting for images on glossy photographic paper, a dedicated inkjet photo printer should be the top choice.
Dimensions
Size will be a consideration, particularly for smaller workspaces. Always check the dimensions of your chosen unit, and check out the best portable printers if you need on-the-go printing without mains power. Paper sizes should also be placed under the microscope, as while office and home printers from Epson will be fine up to A4, not all are as equipped as the best A3 printers and the best large-format printers for more heavyweight printing.
Print speed
Speed are also a factor when choosing the best Epson printers, so it's worth selecting the fastest printers in your budget. You may not need speed over other features, but generally, if this is an issue, select a wired connection, as even the best wireless printers struggle to maintain consistent print speeds.
Have a preferred brand? We’ve also tested, reviewed, and rated the best HP printers, the best Canon printers, and the best Brother printers.
How we test the best Epson printers
Our expert team has gone hands-on with over 200 printers, including the best printers for Mac, best label printers, and even the best sublimation printers for businesses who need to get their name out there.
But whether we're comparing the specs of Canon's latest machine or exploring the capabilities of Epson's newest offering, we take the same rigorous testing process every time.
Each Epson printer we source for testing is measured on our test bench, and the results are critically compared with every other printer we've reviewed. Rather than relying on the manufacturer’s quoted figures, we time the first page out and print speeds in single sheet and duplex mode using a standard ten-page document and a stopwatch app.
To compare print quality, we print out the same set of test documents on every machine. These twelve test pages include text of varying font sizes and colors, mixed image and text pages, a set of photos, and a series of test patterns designed to assess sharpness, color fidelity, contrast, and grey scale. We also calculate running costs, compare functionality and consider each product’s versatility, design, and build quality.
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