The best printers for photos on the market today!
The devices on our list of the best photo printers of 2020 have been built specifically to print stunning photos from home.
This means that photo printers are excellent purchases for anyone who has a large collection of digital photos, and would like to make physical versions of them, for gifts or photo books, for example.
While there are multi-function printers that do a good job of printing out photos, there are also specially designed printers that only print out photos, and in this guide to the best photo printers, we’ve included both types of devices, as well as photo printers for a wide range of budgets and use cases.
These days, there’s a huge range of photo printers to choose from, so we’ve picked the absolute cream of the crop – from affordable desktop photo printers for everyday use, to expensive studio-quality professional photo printers and even wireless printers that can be used with a smartphone.
Not only have we collected the very best photo printers for a huge range of budgets, our very own price comparison tool will also scour the internet for you and deliver the best prices.
1. Canon Pixma Pro-100
The Canon Pixma Pro-100 is a monster of a photo printer. Its 8-ink dye system called ChromaLife 100+ provides excellent color accuracy and a wide range of colors for vivid prints that you would want to hang in a museum. Its large format allows you to print up to 13” x 19” prints and, with its two paper trays, you’re able to cover just about any paper stock you can think of, making this printer incredibly versatile.
2. Epson Expression Photo XP-970
A small-in-one with exceptional A3 photo ability
Print speed: 8.5ppm (mono) | Paper capacity: 100 sheets | Paper size: A3 | Weight: 8.7kg
Despite its sleek dimensions, this smooth 3-in-1 inkjet device is able to print on A3-size paper and uses not four, but six inkjet cartridges to achieve superior colour accuracy. It means your ink costs are rather high, but it’s worth it for the beautifully shaded results. The scanner is only A4-size, but it makes very high resolution scans and combined with the high print resolution, you can make near identical colour copies. There’s no fax and print speeds are slow, but in all other respects, the Epson Expression Photo XP-970 is hard to beat. For an idea of its performance you can read our review of the almost identical Epson Expression Photo XP-960.
3. Epson SureColor SC-P800 photo printer
On a roll with this large format photos printer
Print speed: 3ppm | Paper capacity: 100 sheets | Paper size: up to A2 | Weight: 8.7kg
This A2-size print-only device will suit any business that needs to turn out professional quality large format colour documents. It uses Epson’s nine-colour UltraChrome HD inkset for lifelike colour shading, which come in high capacity 80ml cartridges. Add the paper roll option and this machine can handle high print runs, or turn out impressive panoramic posters. Unsurprisingly, it takes up quite a bit of room and the cost is high, although considerably lower that outsourcing your prints.
4. Canon IP8720
Borderless printing monster
Category: Photo printer | Print speed: 4″ x 6″ borderless photo: 36 seconds | Paper capacity: 150 sheets | Paper size: Up to 13″ x 19″ | Weight: 8.44Kg
Want to produce borderless photo-quality prints of up to 13” x 19”? Most printers just can’t do that. The Canon IP8720 however can. And with its 6-color ink and 9600 x 2400 max DPI, you get gorgeous and rich color reproduction as well as incredible detail. The Canon also allows for a plethora of ways to print including from mobile devices using their Canon Print App or from the cloud with AirPrint and Google Cloud Print.
5. Epson EcoTank ET-7750 photo printer
Cartridge-less photo printing at its best
Print speed: 28ppm | Paper capacity: 100 sheets | Paper size: up to A3 | Weight: 10.5kg
It looks a little ungainly with the refillable ink tanks ruining the symmetry of this otherwise compact all-in-one, but it’s the refined EcoTank system that sets this model apart from the competition. If you can swallow the high price tag, your ongoing ink costs will be very low and Epson’s five-colour printing guarantees excellent image quality, especially with photos on photo paper.
6. HP Envy 6055
Home photo printing on a budget
Print speed: 10ppm | Paper capacity: 100 sheets | Paper size: up to A4 | Weight: 11.51lb
This humble all-in-one can scan and copy, but its real strength is in printing photos. Frustratingly, there’s no Ethernet port, or USB port for printing from a flash drive and it churns very slowly, but the results are surprisingly good for such an affordable inkjet. The supplied starter cartridges are rather light on ink, but if you replace them with high-capacity carts, then the running cost is competitive too.
7. Canon Pixma TS9150 printer
Premium photo inkjet looks as good as it prints
Print speed: 15ppm | Paper capacity: 120 sheets | Paper size: up to A4 | Weight: 6.7kg
Sitting at the top of Canon’s Pixma range, the TS9150 looks like a premium product as you might expect, with a giant touchscreen display nestling up-front. It also boasts a high-resolution printing and scanning and Canon’s excellent six-ink system. By using black pigment ink alongside dye-based colours, photographic prints look especially realistic.
8. Canon Pixma G4510
Refillable tanks mean affordable photos
Print speed: 13ppm | Paper capacity: 100 sheets | Paper size: up to A3 | Weight: 10.5kg
Canon’s most affordable printer to include ink tanks instead of cartridges is a modest 4-in-1 that could work well in a small office that needs to run out lots of colour documents. It prints very slowly and cannot print on both sides of the page, but in all other respects, it holds up well. The cartridge-less system is very economical and the box includes enough ink for 6,000 mono and 7,000 colour pages.
9. Epson Surecolor P400
Prints fabulous photos
Category: Inkjet photo printer | Print speed: 8″ x 10″: 1 min 8 sec; 11″ x 14″: 1 min 42 sec | Paper capacity: 150 sheets | Paper size: Up to A6 | Weight: 12.30Kg
If you want results that look like they came from a photo lab, the Epson Surecolor P400 is hard to beat. Not only does it come with an 8-color ink set including both matte and photo black for a full spectrum of rich color, but it has cut-sheet and roll paper support that allows you to produce just about any project you can think of. The ink system includes 14 mL cartridges that can be individually replaced, making this a printer that won’t run out of ink in the middle of a project or waste precious ink.
10. HP Envy Photo 7855 (7830 in the UK)
A feature-rich photo printer for the office
Print speed: 15ppm | Paper capacity: 125 sheets | Paper size: up to A4 | Weight: 7.6kg
HP’s oddly shaped all-in-one includes every feature from a fax facility, to an SD card slot, while giving you easy access to them via a colourful touchscreen interface. The coloured inks are combined in one cartridge and if you subscribe to HP’s Instant Ink service, it will be automatically replaced just before you run out. It feels a little flimsy, but photos prints in particular, look vibrant.
