Best cheap printers to buy and run

The best cheap printers will save you more than £100 a year compared to models that waste ink. Be careful - without our test results, you can't tell whether a cheap printer is a bargain or will cost you in the long run. 

In this guide, we've highlighted cheap printers that combine a lower purchase price with affordable printing costs. This means you won't end up wasting money on a printer that's cheap to buy but expensive to run.

Want to save money on ink? We reveal the best cheap ink cartridges.

Best cheap printers to buy and run

Best cheap inkjet printers with low running costs

When buying a good cheap printer, you should focus on the ongoing ink costs, rather than the upfront cost of the printer. While you can get cartridge inkjet printers as little as £40, when a replacement set of ink cartridges costs more than the printer itself, you'll realise you've made an expensive mistake.

All the printers we've recommended below are tank printers which have much lower running costs than cartridge inkjets. We've selected some of the cheapest tank printers that do well in our expert tests, so you can get the best of both worlds: lower upfront costs and dramatically lower ink costs.

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Best cheap inkjets with double-sided printing

Consider which functions you need from a printer. Auto duplexing will automatically print on both sides of the pages, although tank printers that do this will cost a bit more. Here are three tank inkjets we recommend that have automatic double-sided printing.

See all of our printer reviews to filter the specifications you need to find the ideal model for you. 

Best cheap laser printers with low running costs

Get a laser printer if you want fast printing, super-sharp text or waterproof ink (the paper isn't waterproof). A colour laser will print photos fine, but an inkjet printer is recommended for photo printing as laser printers can't print on glossy photo paper.

Laser printers generally aren't as cheap as tank inkjet printers to run, but they're still far cheaper than cartridge inkjet printers. Many laser printers are mono, rather than colour - colour laser printers are usually quite expensive upfront. 

If you're a Which? member, log in to see our recommendations in the tables below. If you’re not yet a member, join Which? to get instant access to our pick of the top cheap printers, including cheap laser printers, plus all of our online reviews - ranging from laptops and phones, to cameras and electric cars.

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Printers to avoid

Some printers cost a fortune to buy and underwhelm in terms of their print quality. Then, to make matters even worse, they will drive up your bills with high printer ink costs. Others seem to be a bargain buy but will cost you more than the printer itself to run every year.

Below, we've picked out three printers to steer clear of, based on our tough tests. 

Need a printer that can do it all? Check out the best printers with scanners.

Buying a cheap printer: 4 key questions to consider

If you're not sure what type of printer you need, here are four key questions to consider when buying a new one:

1. What will you use your printer for? If you often print photos and colour documents, you should consider an inkjet printer. Ink is much better at reproducing colour than laser toner. However, if you frequently print letters, documents and office spreadsheets, then a laser printer could be the better – and more economical – choice.
2. How frequently will you print? If you print only occasionally – around 30 pages per month, say – a Best Buy inkjet printer costing less than £150 should be fine. If you print regularly, potentially more than 100 pages per month, you should consider increasing your budget. More expensive printers come with useful features such as an automatic document feeder.  
3. How much will the ink cost? Laser toner cartridges are expensive to buy but generally last longer than ink cartridges. The price of ink will depend on whether you go for original ink (made by the printer brands) or cheaper third-party alternatives. Some inkjet printers use refillable ink tanks instead of cartridges; these can be pricier upfront but have much lower running costs than printers that use cartridges. 
4. How much will it cost to run? Spending less on a printer upfront might seem a good idea at the time, but if you choose a model that guzzles ink and isn't efficient, then you could be stung over time. Head to our Eco Buy printer reviews, which all have rock-bottom running costs.   

See the ink and toner brands matching high quality with low prices - go to the best cheap ink cartridges.

Don't get stung with high printing costs

We know that there’s more to printer running costs than manufacturers’ figures may let on. Many printers automatically clean their print heads every so often, using up precious ink that never makes it to the paper. This makes a big difference to how much you’ll end up spending on printer ink.

Our unique printing tests take this extra ink into account, so we can give a more realistic idea of printing costs. 

We’ve found that the worst offenders use up to six times as much ink as the best when you leave time between print jobs. This can more than double the amount you spend on ink.

We also set our printers up to run almost continuously, printing as many text, spreadsheet and photo pages as we can from three new sets of ink cartridges. This is much like the method manufacturers use to come up with the page yield figures displayed on the box of the printer.

To give you an idea of how much a printer will cost you to run, we give one, two and three-year running cost estimates for all tested printers in the Tech Specs in our printer reviews.

Recently tested cheap printers

Below are of the most recently Which? lab tested printers available for under £300. 

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