The home printer category is one of the few where the cheap product is actively a worse value than the more expensive one — once you do the maths properly. A £40 inkjet printer locks you into ink that costs 6-15p per page. A £300 EcoTank prints at 0.3-1p per page. Over five years of typical home use, the upfront-price ranking inverts. The £40 printer ends up costing more in total because the ink cartridges are sold as razor blades to the printer's razor.
The other genuinely surprising answer: most UK households should consider not buying a printer at all. If you print under 50 pages a year — which is most households now that bills, tickets, and forms are digital — the £15 occasional trip to a print shop costs less than owning a printer that mostly sits idle and dries its ink out from underuse.
For households that genuinely need a printer, three categories work, depending on volume and use case.
How to pick
Print rarely (under 100 pages/year): Brother HL-L3220CDW laser at £170-£220.
Print regularly (500+ pages/year), need colour: Epson EcoTank ET-2820 at £280-£360.
Need premium photo printing: Canon PIXMA TR8650 at £200-£280.
Want HP ecosystem with subscription: HP Smart Tank 7301 at £300-£400.
For most UK households: Brother HL-L3220CDW colour laser at £200. Genuinely cheap to run, doesn't dry out from infrequent use, prints reliably for years.
The cost-per-page maths most buyers miss
For typical home use:
- Cheap inkjet printers (£40-£100): 6-15p per page in ink. 500 pages/year = £30-£75/year ink. Plus ink dries out if you print rarely.
- Tank printers (£250-£400): 0.3-1p per page in ink. 500 pages/year = £1.50-£5/year ink.
- Colour laser printers (£170-£300): 1-3p per page. 500 pages/year = £5-£15/year toner.
Over 5 years of typical home printing, the upfront-price ranking inverts. Cheap inkjet printers cost more total.
The four worth knowing
Brother HL-L3220CDW at £170-£220. Colour laser printer. Doesn't use ink (uses toner, doesn't dry out from infrequent use). Per-page cost ~1-2p for black, ~5-8p for colour. Built to last 5-plus years easily. Best for UK households printing infrequently who want reliable, low-maintenance.
Epson EcoTank ET-2820 at £280-£360. Tank printer. Refillable ink reservoirs (last for thousands of pages); replacement ink bottles £20 for ~7,000 pages of black, ~6,000 pages of colour. Per-page cost as low as 0.3p. Best for UK households printing 500-plus pages/year, particularly with photos and colour content.
Canon PIXMA TR8650 at £200-£280. Premium inkjet with strong photo printing. Higher per-page cost than EcoTank or laser; but photo quality is genuinely excellent. Best for UK households who specifically print photos and want top quality.
HP Smart Tank 7301 at £300-£400. HP's tank printer with HP+ subscription option. The subscription locks you into HP — useful for some, restrictive for others.
How I'd actually pick
UK households printing rarely (taxes once a year, occasional documents): Brother HL-L3220CDW. The "doesn't dry out" matters when usage is infrequent.
UK households printing regularly with colour needs (kids' homework, photos, recipes): Epson EcoTank ET-2820. Pays back the upfront premium within 2-3 years.
UK households who specifically print photos at quality: Canon PIXMA TR8650.
What I'd swerve: cheap (£40-£70) inkjet printers from supermarket brands. The ink-subscription trap; printers fail within 2-3 years. Also: HP's "Instant Ink" subscription at face value — read the terms carefully, cancellation can leave you with non-functional cartridges.
When to consider not having a printer
Most UK households over-print. Tools that reduce print:
- PDF readers with annotation (Adobe, PDF Expert, Apple Books) replace much paper
- iPad / e-reader for reading documents (less eye strain than phone, no paper waste)
- Cloud storage for documents that historically required printing
For UK households: consider whether you genuinely need a printer at all. Many UK households print under 50 pages/year — a £15 trip to a print shop covers that for less than the printer itself, with no maintenance, no dried ink, and no decade-long obligation to a particular ink brand.
Affiliate disclosure: Morningfold has affiliate partnerships with Brother, HP, Canon, and Epson — see editorial standards.