What are the best printer brands?
What company makes the best printers? This question goes hand in hand with what kind of printer you are looking for. The answer will be different depending on what kind of user you are. There are literally thousands of companies that make printers, so picking out just 1 might be a bit difficult. I will narrow it down for you to what I would consider the best printer brands in no particular order.
HP 
First brand that comes to mind when thinking about printers would probably be Hewlett-Packard. Up until 2000 no other brand came even close to their market share. This has changed however. The software those printers use hasn’t always been that crisp, might be a bit harder to install and can lead to printer errors and paper jams. On the flip side, the quality of the prints is still really high and they have a very wide product range. You can find a review of my recommended HP printer here.
Ricoh
Their main focus lies with the corporate world and industrial printers. They do a really good job at it and have a very strong footing in that particular market. Ricoh printers are compatible and very reliable. Company to customer service, even after you bought the printer, is amazing with them. When you are looking for more of an industrial printer this might be your go to brand.
Kyocera 
Kyocera makes use of a somewhat different technology compared to other brands. Their printers run with ceramic drums, hence the company name Kyocera. The advantages of this ceramic drum are the lower printing costs and the lower impact on the environment. On the other hand those printers tend to have a higher initial price tag. It wouldn’t be my first choice of printer, but in some cases it can be interesting getting one of those.
Epson
Interesting brand that is the only one who makes use of a different printing process. Other brands make use of the thermal drop on demand process whereas Epson uses a piezoelectric drop on demand. My only experience with this process is that the print head nozzles clog up faster than usual. This is a huge turnoff to me so I wouldn’t call Epson a very user friendly brand.
Canon 
Very trustworthy brand. They are a big player on the printer market for a very long time now and cover a wide range of niches. Whether you are looking for an industrial printer or you are a student with a low budget, Canon probably has something for you. Biggest advantage would probably be the reliability of their printers. One thing to look out for are the prices of their ink and cartridges. Those prices lean towards the more expensive side so be careful and do your research before you buy.
Brother
A brand which main focus is on the personal user market. Their inkjet printers produce great quality prints and are very reliable too. The cost for these printers can be higher in the long term (due to higher production costs) but that shouldn’t be too much of a problem for a personal or home user.
Conclusion
Don’t forget to check out some reviews before buying. There might be things I didn’t cover in this post and you don’t want to stumble upon any unpleasantries. Thinking about your printing intentions is a good start. Will you need a laser printer or an inkjet printer? After you can decide what brand fits your wishes the best and finally you can decide to make a purchase. Good luck to you on your next printer hunt!
Vincent
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Hello, Vince!
As someone who has went to college for information technology and has also worked in the IT field, all of us IT experts will confess a profound deep hatred of printers. There really is nothing more annoying than being called in to fix a printer that has slowed in performance, jams up, smears the ink everywhere—WHERE DO WE BEGIN?!
I do love that you pointed out early on in your post that choosing a printer depends on the user. This could not be more true. While there are so many options for printers on the market, one being just as capable as the next, the best way to choose the right printer for you is to know what your usage of it will be.
If you’re going to be doing heavy printing jobs in color, needing fine graphics, etc, you may be more interested in printers with a higher dpi and color set like those costly ones graphic designers use.
If you’re a simple home user who prints a document here or there, you may only need a cheap one that could be priced as low as $30. I got my first [own] printer when I was 17 years old and going into college. I was going in to my cyber security and networking degree, and would be needing a printer to print the occasional report, never anything taxing.
I got a small home user type printer, a little HP deskjet. It works wonders. :] It may not be the top of the line model, but it does what I need it to do, and it does an alright job for what I need it for.
I happened upon a free Canon printer earlier this year, too, and it has a smearing problem. It needs to be aligned yet, but she is a work project for a sunny day (a comment those of us make when we dislike the sun instead of disliking the rain ;] ).
Your post is very helpful, and will definitely be able to help someone make a more informed buying decision! I will share this with my friends :]
Hello Brooke,
First of all I want to thank you for taking the time to read and comment on my post. I hope you found all the information you were looking for on my site. If there is anything else I can help you with just contact me or leave another comment.
I can fully understand your hatred towards printer failures. We have all been there and it is certainly a whole lot of trouble to go through to make it work again. That being said, my love for printers is at least 10x bigger than my hatred. It can be such a fulfilling task to help somebody out and turn all that annoyance into positivity!
True printer fans will always remember their first printer. For most people it was a smaller model but it always did the job. When looking for your first printer, reliability is probably key. Doesn’t have to be anything fancy as long as you can print out those 20 pages a month without too much problems
Those cheap models are definitely ideal for such usage since you won’t have to worry too much about buying dozens of extra ink cartridges. That has always been my little frustration with the cheaper models, but I guess it is the company’s full right to charge extra for ink.
I’m mainly working with industrial printers now so I don’t have to worry too much about that anyway. Other problems present themselves with those printers and it’s always a new challenge for me to fix them, only in a different way.
Thanks for sharing with your friends. It would be my pleasure to help everybody out regarding their printer problems.
Best regards,
Vincent
Hey Vinc.
This is a great website. Printers are certainly famous for causing problems.
The best way to prevent these problems would be knowing which printer to buy to start with. I feel that your site will be a great help in this way. You seem to know your stuff so you will be a big help to those who are having printer problems.
I don’t even own a printer right now as my last one broke and I just never got a new one as I didn’t know which one to get. When the time comes to buy myself a new printer I will refer to your site first!
Thanks for the info!
Hannah.
Hey Hannah,
Thanks for your kind words. I would be happy to provide you with enough information when you decide to get a printer. I will be posting reviews very soon so make sure to revisit.
Vincent
I have looking for a good quality printer for a while now. I haven’t chose which one to buy yet, but I do know I will not have another Epson printer. You are right, it does clog to quick. I’m gonna have to bite the bullet and buy one that uses toner. It may cost me more upfront, but I know it will save me money in the long run. I’m looking forward to some reviews.
Hi Ira,
When you decide to go for a laser printer that works with toner, make sure you will have enough printing jobs. If not it might still be cheaper to just get an inkjet. Trying to figure out how often you will be printing, is my advice for you.
Vincent
Wow, I didn’t know there are so many printer brands out there. I usually use HP and Canons, they are pretty good and lasts long but sometimes I got some issues with the ink. Especially while changing it.
What I look for in printers are mostly the quality of the print and the crispness of its’ colours. Here you’ve listed all the good brands but I want to know more specifically which models would you recommend that offers the most quality prints with a good price?
Hi Anh,
There is so much variety in good models. It all comes down to your own specific needs. How many prints do you plan on making monthly? How much are you willing to spent on a quality printer?
Vincent
I currently own an “all in one” EPSON printer, and it’s amazing! However, the ink for it is very expensive, but I guess that’s what I deserve for buying a printer dirt cheap, lol.
It’s also meant to connect via wi-fi, but it doesn’t work for some reason, which frustrates me because I still have to use a cable.
Great article, and I’m thinking about Brother for my next printer choice.
Thanks!
Neil
Hi Neil,
Personally I dont really like Epson, but if it works for you it’s fine! The ink tends to be pretty expensive with those models indeed.
If you want some more information on how to connect your printer via wi-fi, read this article. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.
Vincent
Thanks for the inside information on printers! It just so happens that I’m in the market for a new printer. My last printer (An Epson) simply stopped printing. I tried to use the methods I had seen on YouTube to unclog the nozzle heads, but to no avail. I think the next printer, partly because of your review, will be an HP. I sometimes print pictures and I’m looking at getting a new printer with great resolution. Thanks again for the review!
No problem Martin! Glad to be of help to you.
Vincent
Thanks for info. Same printers like Kyocera I even do not know.
My favorite for home office use is Canon inkjet printers. You wrote about ink cartridge prices, yes, new cartridge prices are high, but there are an alternative. No problems to fill them up by purchasing fill up kit. I use it about 3 years and still not empty.
Thanks for your informative post.
I’ve got an HP Photosmart printer and I’ve been pretty happy with the results so far in terms of print quality. I would say the main downside is the fact that the ink cartridges tend to ‘run out’ very quickly. Usually they are still half full when the printer says they need changing and won’t allow you to continue printing until they’re changed.
Using non HP cartridges are much cheaper but this can cause problems as they are not recognised by the printer and stop functions like cleaning and test printing being performed. In the past, cartridges used to keep going until they actually ran out but now the memory chip seems to decided that for you, often prematurely.
Any suggestions for a way around this problem?