If you're shopping for the best printers for a home office, an all-in-one is a good choice. Multifunction printers include scanners to digitize receipts, invoices, and other documents. The scan and print functions combine to make copies. Some all-in-one printers can connect to a phone line to act like a fax machine.
Multifunction printers are like the smaller cousins of the bulkier copiers you might see at the office. As our printer buyers guide points out, an all-in-one printer usually costs less than it would to buy a printer and scanner separately. Here are some of the best multifunction printers on the market today.
Canon Color ImageClass MF753Cdw
Best all-around multifunction printer
- Superfast print and scan speeds
- Good print quality
- Two paper trays
- Easy setup and use
- Reliable operation
- Color cost per page is just OK
- No borderless printing
If you’re looking for an all-in-one printer that can print fast and delivers affordable prints, then Canon’s Color ImageClass MF753Cdw should be on top of the list. Strong connectivity options, support for printing from a USB drive, and excellent image quality make Canon’s laser all-in-one printer our top pick for the best all-around multifunction. It includes a full black toner and enough color toner for 1,100 documents.
In my hands-on review of Canon’s Color ImageClass MF753Cdw, I found it to be one of the best color laser printers available. It's fast and reliable with exceptional print quality for monochrome and color documents. It even does a good job when printing photographs on plain paper.
A 5-inch color touchscreen gives access to the printer’s controls, and as an enterprise-focused offering, the ImageClass MF753Cdw comes with some more advanced features — like support for scripts and workflow profiles — that may be useful for small businesses. With a 300-sheet split paper cassette and the ability to stack in an additional tray for more sheets, the MF753Cdw printer can output at speeds of 35 pages per minute, along with duplex scanning and printing. Print quality is excellent, and costs are $0.02 to $0.04 per page in black-and-white and $0.12 to $0.16 for color jobs.
HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e
Best inkjet all-in-one printer
- Fast prints for a midrange inkjet
- Nice borderless prints on photo paper
- Good-quality pictures (with borders) on plain paper
- Reliable Duplex
- USB-A for thumb drives
- It's cartridge-based
- No media tray for one-off prints
Known for their solid performance when printing photos and graphics, inkjets have been a staple for many homes and home offices. Combining great print performance, an automatic document feeder (ADF) for scanning, a fax, a USB port to print directly from a memory stick, and the ability to do double-sided copies, you’ll end up with a robust and versatile office tool for your filing needs.
HP’s OfficeJet Pro 9125e is an excellent pick in this category. It delivers print speeds of up to 22 pages per minute (ppm) and can handle double-sided prints and scans. For home offices with moderate print needs, the OfficeJet Pro 9125e comes with six months of free ink through HP’s subscription HP Plus cartridge delivery program. Here, you’re looking at an affordable $0.03 per page for black-and-white prints and about $0.10 per page for color. For detailed photo printing, the cost might triple, but this is a very affordable printer for home office use.
HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301fdw
Best laser multifunction printer
- Lightning fast print and scan speeds
- Good print quality
- Two paper trays
- Easy setup and use
- Reliable operation
- Color cost per page is just OK
- No borderless printing
Historically, laser printers were known for delivering crisp texts and are great for printing documents. The best color laser printers are more versatile machines that can go toe-to-toe with some inkjets for printing graphics. A laser offers faster print speeds and lower long-term costs, making HP’s Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301fdw a wise choice if you print frequently or in high volume.
I reviewed the Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301fdw and was impressed by its speed and reliability. It's a relatively compact option for home use that delivers many of the features found in larger office copiers. Despite its robust features, this LaserJet is smaller than many home printers. That makes it versatile enough to fit into home office spaces, making it a solid option for those hunting for a laser all-in-one. A sturdy build quality and the ability to print 35 PPM and create double-sided copies are some of the key highlights of this printer. Here, black-and-white prints cost $0.02 to $0.05 per page, while color prints come in at $0.12 to $0.18 with great color accuracy. Like many modern HP printers, you can connect the printer to a USB port on your computer and print via Ethernet, Wi-Fi, an external storage drive, or Apple’s AirPrint. For scanning, copying, and faxing, you have a flatbed scanner and a speedy automatic document feeder that can handle duplex scanning.
Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850
Best tank multifunction printer
- An inkjet that's as fast as a laser
- Excellent plain paper photos
- Three paper trays so you rarely need to switch paper
- Fast, accurate color copies
- High-resolution scans
- USB port for thumb drives
- Two years of free ink
- It's a big, heavy printer
- High upfront cost
Tank printers combine the best qualities from the inkjet and laser printer worlds. With ink stored in large tanks, these printers deliver the pristine image quality you’ve come to expect for photo printing while cutting down on costs, making them more efficient than laser options.
In my Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 review, I was surprised that an inkjet could print so quickly without any loss of quality. This inkjet has color laser printer speed without the high energy use and expensive color printing and usually comes with quick performance.
With the tank, Epson says you can print up to 7,500 monochrome pages or 6,000 color pages, which not only saves you money but also helps the environment with less waste. At four-tenths of a cent for a monochrome page and a penny per color document, ink costs are no longer a consideration. The automatic document feeder can also handle duplex scanning at up to 1,200 dpi.
Print speeds reach 25 pages per minute with terrific photo print detail, accurate colors, and crisp text. This makes the printer feel like the best of both worlds, combining the strengths of inkjet technology with the precision of laser printing. Epson also makes other tank printers that are more modestly priced if you don’t need this much speed.
Canon Pixma G7020
Best MFP for photo prints
- Low cost per page
- Budget price
- Photo quality printing
- Compact size
- Slow print speed
- Small display
For photographers who need solid-quality photo printing along with duplex scanning, the Canon Pixma G7020 delivers. Strong photo printing capability alongside more economic per-page costs thanks to a tank cartridge system helps make the Pixma a workhorse for photo-heavy workflows.
The Pixma isn’t the fastest printer on our list, but it focuses heavily on excellent photo quality prints, outputting pages at a more modest 13 pages per minute. What you lack in speed, you’ll make up for in quality with this printer. The best part is that you don’t need to spend a fortune to get solid image quality. Prints average under $0.02 per page for color and less than a penny for black-and-white documents.
The only major downside with the Pixma is that you’re dealing with a more dated interface. Traditional buttons, rather than a touchscreen, adorn the printer’s front side.
Brother MFC-J1170DW
Best budget MFP
- Cheap price
- Good print speed
- Compact size
- High cost per page
Home users who may not want to splurge for all the bells and whistles of an office multifunction printer will do well with Brother’s MFC-J895DW. This all-in-one printer still comes with a flatbed scanner, automatic document feeder, and the ability to print from your smartphone thanks to NFC and wireless connectivity, all for just $160. While there’s still plenty to love in this affordable option, the MFC-J1170DW will not win any speed contests, printing at just 12 pages per minute in black-and-white. And compared to its predecessors, Brother has updated the controls of MFC-J1170DW with a small touchscreen for ease of use.
Print costs average upward of $0.06 per page for black-and-white and $0.09 for color, but given that this is a home printer, you’ll likely only be turning on the MFC-J1170DW a few times a month rather than using it for volume printing. When you do need it, though, this printer delivers good-quality prints in both black-and-white and color, and home users who need to print more frequently can opt for the XL cartridges to get a lower per-page cost.
HP OfficeJet 250
Best portable MFP
- It's portable
- High quality prints
- Good print speed
- Long battery life
- High purchase price
- High cost per page
Designed for mobility and portability, the HP OfficeJet 250 is one of the most compact multifunction printers on the market. It’s the perfect tool for traveling salespeople or anyone who needs to make a quick print on the go thanks to the built-in rechargeable battery. Unlike other compact printers, HP’s OfficeJet 250 can also scan and copy, but it does lose faxing functionality.
The OfficeJet 250 comes with a built-in automatic document feeder, making scanning easy -- even while you’re mobile -- but you are still limited to simplex scans. Print speeds are on the slower side at around 10 pages per minute, but the upside is that despite its versatility as a travel tool, print costs aren’t that high, averaging around $0.08 to $0.12 per page. The OfficeJet 250 can connect wirelessly to your laptop or smartphone for a cable-free print experience, allowing you to turn any coffee shop into your mobile office.
You'll be sure to get top quality results from any of the all-in-one printers on this list. They aren't always the most affordable, however. If you're working with a tight budget, check out our list of the best cheap printers.
Sometimes, initial savings end up costing more over time. For fast, durable printers with long-term savings, you might want to focus on the best color laser printers.
