Best black and white printers in 2024

Searching for the "Best black and white printers" is an essential step for businesses and individuals prioritizing efficiency and cost-effectiveness in their printing needs. Black and white printers, also known as mono printers, stand out for their ability to deliver high-quality document printing at a fraction of the cost associated with color printing. These printers are not only more affordable upfront but also boast lower running costs. This is because they require only black ink or toner, sidestepping the expensive color cartridges necessary for color printing.

Among the top contenders, our reviews spotlight a standout model that exemplifies what users seek in an ideal black-and-white printer. This model combines exceptional print speed with superior print quality, making it an unbeatable choice for those requiring fast, reliable document printing. Its cost-efficiency is further enhanced by its low maintenance needs, ensuring that ongoing expenses remain minimal. This printer's robust build and advanced connectivity options also make it a versatile tool for both home offices and larger businesses.

Our confidence in recommending the best black and white printers is backed by our comprehensive review process. We have meticulously analyzed over a dozen printer models, focusing on various critical aspects such as print speed, quality, size, connectivity, build quality, multifunction capabilities, security features, and overall value. This extensive evaluation ensures that our readers receive well-informed advice, helping them make a purchase that meets their specific printing requirements and budget constraints.

The best black and white printers of 2024 in full:

 Below you'll find full write-ups for each of the best black and white printer options in our list. We've tested each one extensively, so you can be sure that our recommendations can be trusted.

The best black and white printer overall

The initial cost might seem high for a mono printer that doesn’t even have a Wi-Fi module built in. However, it looks and performs like a premium printer, turning out perfectly crisp mono pages at the very impressive rate of 55 per minute. 

It is highly efficient too, thanks to a hardwearing image drum that lasts much longer than usual and a very low running cost of around 0.4p per page. There is a five line LCD display that is an upgrade from previous two-line displays, but it lacks touchscreen functionality. 

There’s enough toner in the box for 10,000 pages and enough room in the main tray for a whole ream of paper. If your print demands are high, this quality machine will keep your print costs low.

Read the full Kyocera Ecosys P3155dn review.

The best budget black and white printer

Suitable for home printing, this speedy model from Brother is suitable if you’re looking to occasionally burst print a bunch of pages while initially looking to spend as little as possible. Setting up the HL-L2350DW isn’t fun on its tiny LCD screen, but once completed, the printer is compact and light enough to move into position. 

It is also pleasingly inexpensive to operate in the long term and features connectivity options aplenty – including compatibility with AirPrint, Google Cloud print, and Brother’s own iPrint & Scan app. Thanks to its 250-sheet capacity, you won't have to refill often, and you can store letter and legal sized paper.

Turning our attention to quality, the Brother produces text with above average sharpness – certainly enough for everyday printing tasks – but we were less enamoured with its graphics quality.

The best high-capacity black and white printer

The Canon PIXMA GM4050 is one of the first monochrome printers to be added to Canon’s cartridge-free MegaTank range and it’s one of the cheapest ways to print around. It’s a 3-in-1 device with a scanner, 35-sheet ADF (automatic document feeder) and room for 250 sheets of paper in its main paper tray. 

It can duplex print and Wi-Fi with Wi-Fi Direct built in. The sluggish print speed cannot compete with a laser printer, but with three bottles of black ink in the box, it can offer a higher page yield and a lower per page cost. It has a control panel that folds outwards, but the two-line display is hard to read.

If you print frequently and never in colour, this capable machine will keep your print costs right down.

Read the full Canon PIXMA GM4050 review.

The best small black and white printer

The tiny and portable Laserjet Pro M15W combines the practicality of a mono printer with the footprint of an inkjet model. Its two trays fold away neatly, making the printer's footprint just a bit larger than an A4 sheet, and it's around the same height as an average smartphone. Perfect for those who work from home or in a cramped office and aren’t fussed about high-quality prints (its resolution is a meagre 600 x 600dpi), it prints quickly and reliably. 

Initial setup is a breeze despite its lack of an LCD display, which means you can’t tweak settings on the printer itself. However, this is made up for in HP’s excellent (and free) Smart app, which lets you scan and print documents wirelessly, in addition to printing from the cloud with support for Google Docs, Dropbox, and Evernote.

Read the full HP LaserJet Pro M15w review.

The best workgroup black and white printer

Don’t underestimate this pale grey laser printer. The Brother HL-L6400DW may be small, but it can hold 570 sheets of paper and prints at the remarkable speed of 50 pages per minute. It ships with enough toner for 1,200 pages, so it will satisfy the needs of any small office with a big workload. 

The setup and installation process is smooth, thanks to the touchscreen interface, But the display is quite small, and you're likely to have trouble when inputting your Wi-Fi password. 

Although it performs simplex printing swiftly, the speed drops down to 24ppm in duplex mode. 

There are plenty of upgrade options too, and with its paper capacity expanded to a maximum of 2,650 and Brother’s ultra high-yield cartridge achieving 20,000 prints, it could serve a really large workgroup just as well.

Read the full Brother HL-L6400DW review.

The best high-speed black and white printer

If you think the Brother model above is fast at printing, the Versalink asks you to hold its beer. With a duplex print speed of 55ppm, it is one of the fastest laser printers in the business and stores a massive number of sheets while supporting high-capacity toner cartridges, which ultimately brings down the running cost over time. 

It is larger, noisier, and more expensive than the HL-L5100DN – not to mention twice the weight – which makes it more suitable for a busy SMB or large workgroup than a household. And although it is compact enough to fit on a desk, it is quite heavy at 22.3kg. 

There is a generous folding touchscreen display (five inches) that presents the printer's functions as apps, as seen on smartphones. 

Read the full Xerox VersaLink B600DN review.

The best secure black and white printer

This mono print-only device could not be any simpler and what it does, it does well. It prints quickly at 40 pages per minute and it can automatically print both sides of the page (auto duplex). 

There’s no touchscreen, just a two-line monochrome display, but that’s fine for a single-use device. You can fit 250 sheets of A4 in the main tray and another 100 in the multipurpose tray. 

If that’s not enough, you can buy additional paper cassettes to expand the capacity, though these accessories are quite expensive. The toner cartridge included is good for 3,000 printed pages.

Connectivity options include 1 x Hi-Speed USB 2.0, 1 x USB at the rear side, 1 x Gigabit Ethernet jack. It supports Apple AirPrint, Google Cloud Print, and HP Smart App, among other wireless connectivity options.

The best efficient black and white printer

Offering decent print quality and a slew of features, this Lexmark printer is an attractive model that doesn’t skimp on security. Logging into its web server lets you restrict printing and admin access to certain users and departments, making it ideal for use in office or shared accommodation scenarios. 

Duplex printing is enabled by default and print quality itself is stellar considering the B2236dw’s initial affordability. It has a separate drum (rated for up to 12,000 prints) and toner (up to 6,000), which together result in acceptable (but far from best-in-class) running costs over time. 

It features USB and Ethernet connectivity, along with Wi-Fi and support for Apple AirPrint, Mopria, and the Lexmark Mobile Print app. 

Heavy users are advised to sign up for Lexmark’s Cartridge Collection Program for best bang-for-buck when it comes to replacing ink.

The best inkjet black and white printer

This mono inkjet printer won’t suit everyone, but if you simply need to scan and print black and white pages, you won’t find a more efficient device. The distinctive design with the raised flatbed scanner is unusual, but practical because it allows for a large (250-sheet) paper and there are surprisingly few features. 

There’s no Wi-Fi, or an ADF (automatic document feeder), or even an Ethernet port. What it does have is a single ink reservoir for you to top up with black ink. Epson generously includes two bottles in the box, which is enough for 11,000 pages. 

It has an easy-to-access color display that's mounted on top, but it’s hard to see because the screen is pretty reflective. It prints quickly for an inkjet and turns out crisp auto duplexed pages at a lower cost than most lasers printers.

Read the full Epson EcoTank ET-M2140 review.

The best black and white printer with touchscreen interface

It might seem expensive for a desktop device, but this colour laser printer comes with impressive specifications and a slick smartphone-style interface. It has a huge capacity for paper with a 550-sheet tray built in and the option of doubling that by adding a second tray. Xerox includes a generous amount of toner too, enough for 2,000 colour or 3,000 mono pages. 

The five-inch touchscreen makes setup and operation easier than most while it’s print quality is excellent, thanks largely to its bold Pantone-approved colour performance.

You'll find connections at the printer's rear for a power cable, type A and B USB ports, and an Ethernet port. There's another USB port located at the front for easy access, but it only supports PDF, JPEG, TIFF and XPS file types.

Read the full Xerox VersaLink C400DN review.

How to choose the best black and white printers for you?

When choosing the best black and white printer for yourself, start by considering whether you'll be using the machine at home or the office, and how much printing you could be doing on a monthly basis. 

If it's for office space, a large and noisy printer will be fine, but if it's for home use, then something compact and silent is preferable. 

If your printing requirements go into several hundreds or thousands of pages a month, it's best to opt for a heavy-duty machine that can keep up with the large output and whose ink prices aren't steep. 

Don't forget to consider the printer's speed, connectivity options, multi-function capabilities, control panel, companion app, and price, among other things. 

The best black and white printers: How we test

Each black and white printer we sourced for testing was measured on our test bench and the results were compared with the other models that we'd reviewed. 

Instead of relying on the manufacturer’s quoted figures, we timed the print speeds in single sheet and duplex mode using a standard ten-page document and a stopwatch app.

We printed out the same test documents on every machine to accurately compare print quality and assess sharpness, color fidelity, and contrast, among other things. 

We also calculated the running costs, compared functionality, and considered each product’s versatility, design and build quality. The overall score reflects all of these parameters and value for money.