7 Best Colour Inkjet Printer | Skip the Cartridge Trap

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The home-office workhorse that prints both sides without you lifting a finger.

This Brother lets you print, copy, scan, and fax without a fuss. It does all that in a compact body with a 2.7-inch colour touchscreen that makes cloud apps like Google Drive and Dropbox easy to use. The automatic duplexing (two-sided printing) works smoothly, and at 16 pages per minute (ppm) black and 9 ppm colour, it is noticeably faster than the Canon PIXMA TR160, which manages 9 ppm black and 5.5 ppm colour. That speed gap matters when you are printing a twenty-page document before a meeting. The 150-sheet paper tray handles a typical week’s workload, and the 20-sheet automatic document feeder (ADF) (a slot that feeds a stack of pages into the scanner one by one) lets you scan or copy a pile of pages without standing there. Owners consistently praise the sharp text and vivid colours. Setup is straightforward, and a key advantage is that it accepts generic ink cartridges, giving you flexibility on running costs. The catch is that some buyers find the interface less intuitive than expected, and a few ran into issues with missing starter cartridges at delivery, which points to inconsistent packing at the factory. The Brother Mobile Connect app is a solid companion for managing print jobs and checking ink levels from your phone. It is The best all-rounder on this list for anyone running a small office or a busy household. — and you can confidently skip it if you need a dedicated photo printer or a portable travel machine.

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The office-grade tank printer that fires out crisp pages at 25 ppm black speed.

This is the fastest printer in the lineup by a clear margin — 23 ppm black and 12 ppm colour, driven by Epson’s PrecisionCore Heat-Free Technology, which means no warmup time before the first page lands in the output tray. That speed advantage is a real time-saver; owners consistently note that it cuts their printing time in half compared to older machines. The EcoTank system ships with enough bottled ink in the box for up to 7,500 black pages and 6,000 colour pages, so you are set for months or even a year of heavy use before the first refill. The build quality is sturdier than any consumer printer here, with a 500-sheet paper capacity spread across two front trays plus a rear feed for cardstock up to 100 lb. The pigment-based DURABrite inks (pigment means tiny solid particles in the liquid that resist smudging) produce sharp, water-resistant text and vibrant colour that handles borderless 8.5 x 14 prints without issue. Owners praise the easy, spill-free setup with keyed ink bottles that only fit their matching colour slots. The recurring grumble is that the error handling can be inconsistent — you may see a “printer busy” message even when the machine is idle, and the Windows app occasionally loses track of the printer. The ET-5800 also comes with Ethernet for wired office networks, something the Wi-Fi-only models above cannot offer. This is the most future-proof pick on the list for heavy users, but pass on it if you print a few pages a month — the upfront cost is wasted on low volume.

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Prints great, uses less ink than you expect — if you can dodge the subscription nags.

The Brother INKvestment 1365 lands squarely between the cartridge and tank worlds. It ships with a high-yield black cartridge rated for 1,200 pages and 500-page colour cartridges, so you get a genuine head start on ink costs compared to standard starter cartridges. The print speeds match the Work Smart 1410 at 16 ppm black and 9 ppm colour, and owners say the output, especially black text, is impressively sharp — “rivals laser quality” is a common refrain. The 1.8-inch colour display makes checking ink levels and navigating Cloud apps like Google Drive and Dropbox straightforward, and the automatic duplex printing has proven reliable; reviewers report no paper jams across months of use. What buyers rave about most is the print quality for the price, calling it an “awesome value” that is quiet and compact. The biggest frustration is the ink usage — some owners find it consumes ink at an alarming rate, with one estimating it uses ten times more than their previous Brother model. The setup process is also a sticking point: the printer repeatedly prompts you to sign up for a subscription (an ink refill plan the maker pushes), and the initial cartridge priming can be involved. Once past that hurdle, the machine delivers clean, fast output with wireless and Wi-Fi Direct connectivity that works even without a router. This is a strong pick for anyone who likes the idea of high-yield cartridges but is not ready to commit to a tank system — just budget for the ink cost over time and be ready to dismiss the subscription prompts.

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The photo-focused friend that prints borderless shots as well as it prints homework.

HP built the Envy Photo 7975 around the idea that a family printer needs to do two things well: crank out crisp colour photos and handle the daily stack of school worksheets and office documents. It hits 15 ppm black and 10 ppm colour, which is faster than the Brother INKvestment 1365 in colour output (10 ppm vs 9 ppm). The dedicated photo tray is the standout feature here — it keeps your glossy 4×6 or 5×7 paper separate from the main paper path, so you are not swapping trays every time you want to print a snapshot. AI-assisted web print mode (software the maker says strips out ads and page breaks) saves paper on recipes and articles. Owners consistently report beautiful colour accuracy and print quality, with one describing it as “the best printer I ever had.” The ink does not dry out quickly between uses, a welcome trait for a category where clogged nozzles are common. The connectivity story is mixed — some buyers find the wireless setup smooth while others lose connection repeatedly, and the printer is on the noisier side of this lineup. The HP Instant Ink subscription is offered but optional; if you skip it, the standard HP 64 cartridges (standard and XL) are widely available. This is the best balanced option if photo quality is your priority, but it’s not for you if you only print text documents — you are paying for photo features you will not use.

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The cartridge-free pioneer that packs enough ink in the box for years of printing.

The ET-2980 is the most popular tank printer on the market for good reason. It ships with enough bottle ink to print up to 6,600 black pages and 5,500 colour pages — according to Epson, this is equivalent to about 90 individual ink cartridges. That is essentially three years of typical home printing before you need to buy more ink.. The refill process itself is nearly simple to use: the EcoFit bottles are keyed and match the colour of the tank slot, so you cannot put black ink into the cyan tank, and the wide-mouth fill ports mean no drips or spills. The printer is quiet and produces good colour output at 15 ppm black and 8 ppm colour. Owners highlight the extremely low running cost and the easy, step-by-step setup — “the easiest set up” appears repeatedly in the feedback. The Epson Smart Panel app works reliably for mobile printing and scanning. The trade-off is that this printer uses dye-based ink, which is more prone to smearing on glossy paper and can fade faster over time compared to pigment-based alternatives. A few customers note that the printhead can clog if the printer sits idle for a week or more, and the first double-sided print sometimes jams. The colour speed of 8 ppm is also slower than the Canon MegaTank GX2020 (10 ppm) and the Brother models (9 ppm). If you are tired of buying cartridges every few months and want the lowest hassle-per-page machine, the ET-2980 is the single best entry point into the tank-printer world — just print at least once a week to avoid clogs.

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The small-office tank printer that matches high volume with low-cost refills.

The MAXIFY GX2020 is Canon’s answer to the Epson EcoTank, aimed squarely at the small office that prints both documents and photos. It prints at 15 ppm black and 10 ppm colour, placing it ahead of the Epson ET-2980 in colour speed (10 ppm vs 8 ppm). The 35-sheet automatic document feeder (ADF) is generous for scanning or copying multi-page contracts, and the 2.7-inch colour touchscreen is responsive and easy to navigate. The pigment-based ink resists smudging and water damage, which is a real plus for documents that need to stay legible. The most-discussed strength is print quality — it is consistently praised for crisp colour and clean black text, and the ink bottles are clearly marked with a leak-proof design that allows you to see the fill level through the translucent reservoirs. Setup is straightforward for most owners, though Wi-Fi setup requires downloading the Canon app, which some find intrusive with data-sharing prompts. The biggest issue a subset of reviewers point out is that wireless connectivity can drop or become unreliable over time, forcing a router reboot or reinstallation of the printer. A smaller but vocal group finds the printer slow for processing a one-page document, despite the advertised speed. This is The right pick for a small office that wants tank-printer economics. plus a sturdy ADF and reliable pigment-based output — just be aware that Wi-Fi stability is a recurring topic in the feedback, and a wired Ethernet port is not included here, unlike the Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5800 which has one.