AliceTeachers work hard. Between marking work, decorating classrooms, preparing resources and handling problem parents, it’s hard to find time to search for the equipment you need. One of the most important pieces of equipment you’ll need is a printer. Without it, you won’t be able to make the resources you need to teach. But which machine is up to the demands of a modern classroom? Which is the best printer for teachers?
Luckily for you, we’ve surveyed hundreds of laser and inkjet printers to bring you the best printer for teachers on the market today. We’ve evaluated these printers against the criteria that matter most to teachers: image quality, ink economy, value for money, paper handling, and reliability. So, let’s break down our top five printers for teachers.
Product Comparison Table: Best Printer for Teachers
| Title | Price | Rating (Amazon) | Best in class | Buy | |
 | HP InkJet Pro 8710 All-in-One Wireless Printer | $$ | 4 stars | Best for Cardstock | Amazon |
 | Brother P-Touch PTD210 Label Maker | $ | 4.5 stars | Best for Labels | Amazon |
 | Epson Surecolor SC-P900 Professional Photo Printer | $$$$ | 4 stars | Best for Posters | Amazon |
 | HP LaserJet Enterprise M553n Color Laser Printer | $$$$$ | 4 stars | Best for Large Volumes | Amazon |
 | Epson EcoTank ET-2760 Wireless Colour SuperTank Printer | $$$ | 4.5 stars | Most Efficient | Amazon |
HP InkJet Pro 8710 All-in-One Wireless Printer
The Canon Pixma MG3620 Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer is multifunctional, so it can scan, print and copy, working at speeds of 10ppm for black, and 6ipm (images per minute) in colour. Auto-duplex printing means you can get 50% more out of those costly special cardstocks, too. It can print on colored, glossy, textured and even metallic card types.
Genuine Canon inks deliver the crisp, smudge-resistant professional quality prints the company is known for, at a superb resolution of 4800 x 1200 dpi. This is enough to produce even the most detailed and intricate designs, vividly and true-to-colour. In just a few clicks, the printer will easily connect to your wireless access point or USB, while built-in wireless features allow for easy printing from anywhere in your home. You can even access all the printer’s features using AirPrint, the Canon Print app or Google Cloud Print.
Pros
- High resolution for high quality prints
- Multifunctional (scan, print and copy)
- Range of connectivity options
- Auto duplex feature
Cons
- Jams fairly often
- Low-yield cartridges
Verdict
The Canon Pixma MG3620 Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer is the best printer for teachers who print on a lot of different types of paper -particularly thick cardstock. It has excellent multifunctional and duplex features, however it does jam fairly often, and the cartridges don’t last long before needing to be replaced. That said, it has the highest resolution of any machine on this list – easily competitive with a laser printer, at a fraction of the price.
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Brother P-Touch PTD210 Label Maker
With its convenient one-touch keys, the Brother P-Touch PTD210 Label Makers lets you quickly access fonts, symbols, frames and templates. There’s a lot to access, too; 14 fonts, 10 unique styles, 97 frames, and more than 600 symbols combine with 27 preset design templates to provide you with a ton of inspiration and creative freedom. A mounted LCD screen even allows you to preview your labels before you print them.
The machine supports only BPA-free Brother Genuine TZe laminate labels, printing two-line designs at up to 12mm wide. These can be put in the microwave, dishwasher, fridge, outdoors and indoors. Plus, there are even specialty tapes for cables and wires, for photos, and non-laminated iron-on tape for clothes, school uniforms and linens. Lastly, the machine is fully portable. It can be powered either by 6AAA batteries or an AC adapter, however both of these will have to be bought separately.
Pros
- Great value low price
- Largest range of customisation options
- BPA-free, durable labels in a variety of finishes
- Portable and battery powered
Cons
- Doesn’t include batteries
Verdict
The Brother P-Touch PTD210 Label Maker is our best label printer for teachers. It’s portable, has an inbuilt keyboard, is BPA-free and offers a massive range of customisation options. It’s also one of the cheaper label makers on the market, making it a great choice for increasingly underfunded teachers. It may not be flashy, but the reliability, efficiency and value of this great little machine make it our top choice.
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Epson Surecolor SC-P900 Professional Photo Printer
The Epson Surecolor SC-P900 Professional Photo Printer is quite expensive, but produces professional results to rival a print shop – even at paper sizes larger than A2 (up to 44”). It produces quality prints with the deepest tones, an expanded blue colour gamut and less graininess. UltraChrome Pro 10 ink, the new F10 printhead and black enhance overcoat technology (BEO) guarantee clear finer detail and texture even in black areas.
The resolution is very high at 5760 x 1440 dpi, too. Posters, learning resources, and even photos you print with this machine will always come out true-to-colour. However, the most impressive feature of this printer is its large format capability, plus a huge range of supported media: fine art media, vellum and even poster board. The print speed may be relatively slow, though.
Pros
- High resolution for high print quality
- Supports large formats and unusual media
- Wireless connectivity
Cons
- Extremely expensive to buy and run
- Large and bulky
- Slow print speed
Verdict
The Epson SureColor SC-P900 is one of the most expensive to run out of any of the printers we surveyed (around $420 per cartridge set), but the results are great, even in very large formats. This makes it our top printer for teachers who want to print posters. The print speed is slow, however. But if you need an extra-large printer to make posters or signs, this is the perfect printer for you. Especially if you’re printing them on unusual media.
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HP LaserJet Enterprise M553n Color Laser Printer
The HP LaserJet Enterprise M553n Color Laser Printer is designed for businesses, so it can get up to a incredible print speeds: a lightning-fast 40ppm in both black and color. This means it can produce a full color print, up to A4 size, in just 7 seconds! There’s also a 650 sheet input capacity, so you can run off reams of sheets before having to refill the paper. The main drawback is the lower resolution – only 1200 x 1200 dpi. This is higher than most desktop printers, but is a natural result of laser printing; colours can also appear slightly less dense than inkjet due to the printing process. However, although the unit itself is expensive, the four preinstalled HP LaserJet toner cartridges promise to yield around 6000 pages of black, and 5000 pages of color.
Pros
- Huge paper input capacity
- Superfast printing speed in black and color
- Comes with high yield cartridges included
Cons
- Doesn’t print large format
- Lower print resolution
Verdict
The HP LaserJet Enterprise M553n Color Laser Printer is our top choice for teachers, who need a big workhorse machine to handle big volumes. This printer can print lightning fast, and at a surprisingly low cost-per-page. The only problems are the high price, and the lower resolution. However, if you want a powerfully fast printer to run off worksheets for the whole school, this is the perfect printer for you.
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Epson EcoTank ET-2760 Wireless Colour SuperTank Printer
The Epson EcoTank ET-2760 Wireless Colour SuperTank Printer is fast, affordable and easy to use. As a multifunctional machine, it scans, prints and copies too. Its biggest innovation is being entirely cartridge-free; high-capacity ink tanks mean no more tiny, expensive ink cartridges. Instead, it uses Epson’s exclusive EcoFit ink bottles for easy replacement, eco-friendliness and big savings – each ink bottle replaces 90 conventional cartridges.
Epson promises up to 90% cost reduction on EcoFit ink bottles versus traditional cartridges, enough to print 4500 pages in black or 7500 in colour. Best of all, the printer comes with 2 years worth of ink in the box (4 bottles), so you can say goodbye to faded lines on your printables for the foreseeable future. Connectivity options include WiFi, hands-free voice activated printing and the Epson Smart Panel smartphone app. The primary downside is slow printing speeds, at approximately 5ppm.
Pros
- Exceptional ink economy for low costs-per-page
- Wireless connectivity
- High resolution for good quality prints
Cons
- Slow printing speeds
- WiFi connection fairly weak
Verdict
The Epson EcoTank ET-2760 Wireless Colour SuperTank Printer offers the lowest cost-per-page of all the printers on this list, at a tiny 1 cent per sheet based on an average monthly yield of 150 pages. The ink technology in this machine is truly unique, and makes it an excellent choice if you often print ink-hungry items like color worksheets. This is by far our most ink-efficient printer for teachers.
