When a hand-written label just isn’t good enough, the best label printers will give you the professional finish you are looking for, and there’s an astonishing variety of them to choose from. They range in cost and sophistication from a simple handheld printer that’ll spit out black and white sticky labels on demand, to desktop devices that producing barcodes, receipts and full-color stickers. To help you choose, we have combed the market to find the very best label printers available to buy right now.
Before selecting your label printer, ask yourself what you need it to do. For basic labelling and filing, a direct thermal printer delivering ticker-tape-style labels of single-line monochrome characters might be enough. In which case, we have some highly affordable and portable products to choose from on our list. Printers like the excellent Brother P-Touch Cube take thin rolls of printable sticky tape, which are also reasonably priced.
For larger labels, price tags and receipts you’ll find mid-priced desktop and portable printers able to print your design on rolls of special proprietary paper and stickers. These tend also to use thermal transfer paper rather than relying on bulky ink cartridges. For full-color labels and crafting projects you will probably need a miniature inkjet printer and we have those on the list too. For home crafting, corporate branding and retail labelling, check out the very best label printers.
We've compared these printers across numerous factors, from the type of printing technology they use and their size to the quality of their prints and the design. We considered their connectivity options, printing speeds, and printing volumes, among other factors.
We've also reviewed the best portable printers and the best HP printers.
The best label printers of 2023 in full
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The P-Touch Cube uses thermal transfer to print onto a variety of Brother’s rolled paper tape and fabric ribbons. It requires no cartridges or cables, while batteries are included to make it truly portable. It’s controlled by a very user-friendly iOS/Android app, which makes it easy to design your labels from a wide choice of fonts and templates.
The satisfyingly square printer has only two buttons, one to turn it on/off and another to cut the printed tape. Depending on the type of tape you choose, you’ll be able to make sticky colored labels of different widths, or personalized fabric ribbons for gift wrapping and garment labelling.
The bundled white tape is laminated, making it fade resistant and able to survive the freezer, the microwave and the dishwasher. This inexpensive printer is effective, easy and fun to use, though the rolls of tape are somewhat expensive.
This compact thermal transfer printer is perfect for printing address labels, barcodes, name badges and price tags. It’s a simple and very speedy desktop device that can deliver up to sixty-two monochrome labels per minute.
Thanks to thermal printing, you won't need to spend a lot on expensive ink or toner to run this label printer. The Dymo LabelWriter 550 lets you print precise label quantities, thereby eliminating excess waste of sheet labels.
You can create and customize more than sixty label types using the free Dymo Connect Mac/Windows software and print wirelessly onto Dymo’s range of plastic and paper label rolls.
The included software can tell you the size, type and number of labels reaming on the roll. It’s a reasonably rugged design that’ll sit just as happily on your desk, or in a laboratory or warehouse.
This miniature inkjet printer uses four individual pigment-based inks to create high-resolution full-color labels that dry more quickly than dye-based inks. They are more durable too, ensuring these sticky labels are smudge and water resistant straight away.
It prints quickly at 103mm per second on a variety of paper and laminated media, and comes with software to help you design your labels. The initial purchase price may seem high, but with individual cartridges available separately, the running cost is lower than most label printers and the print quality is high. This is a high-resolution printer, but the images it prints are not photographic.
The Epson TM-C3500 is quite suitable for users that need to print small batches of custom labels for new products. The labels get printed swiftly, there's no color bleeding, and they're fairly durable.
This rugged label printer uses thermal transfer technology to print on rolls of paper between 15 and 112mm in width. That’s broad enough to print tickets, receipts, visitor passes, price tags or address labels. And thermal transfer technology means you don't need to spend on ink and toner.
You can design the labels using the free software via your iOS, Android, or Windows device, and there are several ways to get connected. Wi-Fi is in-built and it can join your local wireless network, but it also offers Bluetooth in for making a direct connection and even an NFC module. The wireless connectivity makes it quite simple to print labels, but there are wired options too, like USB and Ethernet.
It’s a fairly solid looking unit that can sit on your desk, or travel with you when you purchase the optional high-capacity battery pack.
This compact and lightweight label printer takes regular AA batteries (not included) and connects wirelessly to your PC or mobile device via Bluetooth, so it will work anywhere. It even comes with a clip-one rubber drop-guard.
Thermal transfer technology means there’s no ink or toner to worry about, you simply buy the rolls of special laminated self-adhesive tape which come in cartridges that slot in easily. There are a few different width and color options to choose from and you get a roll of laminated white 12mm tape in the box. You also get an AC adapter and USB cable for hardwired desktop use.
Along with the AC connection, you have the option to run the printer using six AA batteries. The Epson LW-PX400 lacks a keypad, and you'll need to look at other options if that's a crucial feature for you.
How to choose the best label printers for you?
When selecting the best label printer for yourself, start with assessing the type of printer you need. Do you need a thermal label printer or a laminated label printer? The former is suitable for barcodes and food packaging, while the latter is suitable for name badges, cabinets, shelves, etc.
You'll want to evaluate the quality of the label printing. If you need high-resolution labels with images on them, then you're looking at a high-quality label printer. But if you need a label printer primarily for text or barcodes, then an average quality label printer will work fine.
Depending on the nature of your business, the printing volume and speed will make a big difference. If you work in a time-sensitive environment, then a high-speed label printer will be apt. Similarly, a large volume label printer will have features that make it more streamlined for printing large quantities of label.
Make sure to evaluate the label printer's connectivity options and portability. If the printer has Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connectivity, it'll make printing hassle-free. A highly portable label printer will also be easy to carry around with you, and it'll feature batteries for wire-free operation.
The best label printers: How we test
We've tested the best label printers across multiple factors, starting with the type of printing technology they use — thermal or inkjet?
We looked at what types of printing they'd be most suitable for, whether it's regular text, barcodes, images, or graphics. We evaluated the quality of the printing and the resolution, and checked for smudge and water resistance.
We then analyzed the label printers' printing speeds and their recommended monthly print volumes. We considered how portable the label printers are and calculated their running costs.
We also checked the connectivity options that the printers featured, and whether they offered wire-free battery operation, among other things.
