Buying guide · 6 picks compared

All-In-One Printers for a Home Office: Six I’d Actually Buy

Print, scan, copy, don't cry about ink. Here's how I'd sort the home-office all-in-ones without falling for the subscription traps.

By Cuttles · read with eight arms Updated July 21, 2026 16:19 ET · 3 min read

Quick compare: my current top 6

Prices move constantly on Amazon. Where I have a checked figure it's shown; otherwise click through for the live one.

All-In-One Printers for a Home Office: Six I’d Actually Buy	Best for	Rating
Epson EcoTank ET-2850 Wireless Color All-in-One Supertank Printer	low running cost, regular home-office printing	8.5	See on Amazon
Brother MFC-J4335DW INKvestment Tank Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet	higher page volume with an ADF	8.5	See on Amazon
Canon PIXMA TR4720 All-in-One Wireless Printer with ADF and Fax	faxing and scanning multi-page documents on a budget	7.5	See on Amazon
HP DeskJet 4155e Wireless Color Inkjet	light, occasional home printing	7.5	See on Amazon
Epson EcoTank ET-2400	low ink cost without paying for the bigger ET-2850	8.0	See on Amazon
Canon PIXMA TR4720 All-in-One Wireless Printer with ADF and Fax	straightforward wireless printing without extras	8.0	See on Amazon

Every pick, reviewed

1 Best overall Epson EcoTank ET-2850 Wireless Color All-in-One Supertank Printer

$319 8.5

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The ET-2850 front-loads $300 against years of cheap ink. If you print more than a few pages a week, the math stops being theoretical.

What I love

Cartridge-free tank system cuts long-run ink cost
Auto duplex printing built in
Flatbed scanner for documents, not just an ADF

What bugs me

Higher upfront cost than a basic cartridge inkjet
Bigger footprint on the desk than a compact printer

Ink system: Cartridge-free supertank Scanning: Flatbed Duplex: Automatic

The 30-second verdict

The ET-2850 is the printer you buy if you print regularly and want to stop thinking about ink costs. It costs more upfront than a basic DeskJet, takes up real desk space, and needs to sit still for two minutes on first setup. After that, it prints color pages for roughly what a cartridge-based machine costs per cartridge, and you’ll stop replacing hardware every 18 months.

2 Best for a busy home office Brother MFC-J4335DW INKvestment Tank Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet

$267 8.5

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A 20-page ADF, a 150-sheet tray, and a year's worth of ink in the box. The MFC-J4335DW is built for people who print more than twenty pages a week and don't want to think about supplies for a while. It's not a label printer, but it's honest about what it is.

What I love

Ink shipped in-box for extended runway
20-page ADF for document scanning
150-sheet paper tray

What bugs me

Inkjet output still needs to dry before handling
Not a dedicated label solution
Bigger footprint than a single-purpose printer

Speed: 20 ppm black / 19 ppm color ADF: 20-page Paper tray: 150-sheet Ink: Up to 1 yr in box (INKvestment)

The 30-second verdict

The Brother MFC-J4335DW is an all-in-one that does not pretend to be a label printer, and that honesty is its strength. It prints, scans, copies, and faxes in colour at 20 pages per minute, feeds a 20-page automatic document feeder without flinching, sits on top of a 150-sheet paper tray, and arrives with enough ink to run through roughly a year of typical home-office use. The output needs to dry before you stack it. The footprint is substantial. The price is reasonable. If you print more than once or twice a week and you want one machine that handles documents cleanly without requiring you to order cartridges every other month, this is the machine.

Who this suits

The MFC-J4335DW is built for anyone in a home office or small team who processes paper regularly—contracts, invoices, receipts, tax documents, school forms. The 20-page ADF means you can walk away while it scans a stack of documents without babysitting a flatbed. The 150-sheet tray means you are not reloading paper every other print job. The INKvestment tank system means Brother has already done the maths: they shipped you enough ink that you will not panic-order cartridges at 11 p.m. on a Sunday.

It is not a label printer. Do not buy it expecting to print shipping labels, asset tags, or dietary warnings. It is also not a high-speed production machine—20 ppm is solid for an office, not impressive for a print shop. And if you print fewer than five pages a week, the overhead of this machine is wasteful; a single-purpose inkjet or a budget laser will serve you better.

3 Best for occasional office paperwork Canon PIXMA TR4720 All-in-One Wireless Printer with ADF and Fax

$69 7.5

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The TR4720 is a four-function machine that does nothing brilliantly but won't embarrass you on any of them. The 20-sheet ADF and fax matter only if you use them; otherwise you're paying for features that sit idle.

What I love

20-sheet ADF for multi-page scans and copies
Fax included, which some small offices still need
Auto two-sided printing

What bugs me

Cartridge-based ink system
Fax is a feature you'll either need constantly or never touch

ADF capacity: 20 sheets Resolution: 4800x1200 dpi Duplex: Automatic

The 30-second verdict

The Canon PIXMA TR4720 is a print-scan-copy-fax all-in-one that works adequately across all four functions without excelling at any. The 20-sheet ADF makes it genuinely useful for scanning multi-page documents or making batch copies—that’s the reason to buy it. The fax feature is there if you need it; if you don’t, you’re carrying dead weight into your budget. Cartridge-based ink means consumables will cost more than a tank system, and the printer itself doesn’t print fast enough to offset that. It’s a machine for someone who still lives in a document-heavy workflow and doesn’t want to buy separate devices.

Who this is actually for

Small offices, accountants, medical practices, or home workers who still receive or send faxes regularly. The ADF is the real workhorse here—if you’re scanning 15-page contracts or copying stacks of receipts, the sheet feeder saves you from feeding paper one sheet at a time. Automatic two-sided printing and scanning also matter if you handle a lot of multi-page originals. This is not a machine for high-volume printing or anyone who wants to minimize ink costs; it’s for people who treat printing as occasional admin work rather than a daily operation.

4 Best budget HP DeskJet 4155e Wireless Color Inkjet

7.5

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The 4155e is the entry point to home printing without apology. It prints, scans, and copies in color for under $100 new, but the ink cartridge math catches up to you fast if you print more than a handful of pages a month.

What I love

Low upfront price
Small footprint
Print/scan/copy covered

What bugs me

Cartridge cost adds up fast at real volume
HP+ ink program has its own strings attached

Functions: Print/Scan/Copy Ink program: HP+/Instant Ink eligible

The 30-second verdict

The DeskJet 4155e is honest about what it is: a wireless color all-in-one for people who print maybe ten to twenty pages a month and need the machine to take up minimal counter space. It does that job. The ink cartridges are small and expensive relative to page output, so if you print regularly, this machine will cost you money every month for the rest of its life. HP’s Instant Ink subscription softens the blow, but it is another monthly bill. Buy this if light, occasional printing is actually your use case. Buy something else if you are lying to yourself about that.

What it gets right

The price is genuinely low. At $100 or less on a good day, you are not taking a financial risk by adding a printer to your home office. The footprint is compact enough that it does not dominate a shelf or corner, and the wireless connectivity is standard—HP+ eligibility and Instant Ink support are there if you want them, but they are optional, not mandatory from day one.

The print, scan, and copy functions all work. I have not tested this machine hands-on, and I am not going to pretend I have. But across the category, the 4155e has no unusual complaint pattern in customer reviews for reliability or output quality. It does what a $100 color inkjet is supposed to do: produce reasonable color on ordinary paper and scan documents at speed that does not make you want to throw it out the window.

Wireless printing is genuinely frictionless here. The machine supports the standard mobile print protocols, and HP’s app is not aggressively predatory in the way some manufacturer software gets.

5 Best budget tank Epson EcoTank ET-2400

$190 8.0

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The ET-2400 is the sensible middle child of Epson's tank line. You get the low-ink-cost model without paying ET-2850 money, and it handles print, scan, and copy without the auto-duplex features you probably won't use anyway.

What I love

Cartridge-free tank system
Lower cost than the ET-2850
Covers print, scan, and copy

What bugs me

Fewer features than the ET-2850 (no auto duplex mentioned)
Still bulkier than a basic cartridge inkjet

Ink system: Cartridge-free supertank Function: Print / scan / copy

The 30-second verdict

The ET-2400 is the tank printer for people who saw the ET-2850’s price and walked away muttering. It does the same core job—print, scan, copy, no cartridges, no subscription—without the auto-duplex scanner or the extra tray capacity. You trade a handful of features for a machine that costs less and still costs almost nothing to run. If you print in colour more than once a month, this pays for itself in ink savings alone.

Who this is for

Small teams or home offices printing under 100 pages a week, mostly in colour. Anyone who’s tired of cartridge prices. Anyone whose scanner gets used once every six months and doesn’t need it to flip pages automatically. Anyone who looked at the ET-2850 and decided the price jump wasn’t worth the extra automation.

6 Best simple wireless option Canon PIXMA TR4720 All-in-One Wireless Printer with ADF and Fax

$69 8.0

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The TR4720 does what it promises—prints, scans, copies, faxes, and doesn't make you regret the purchase. It's the sensible choice if you need a fax modem and don't want to overthink it.

What I love

Lowest-cost route to a working fax modem
Auto duplex printing built in
Small desk footprint

What bugs me

Inkjet running costs add up if you print a lot
20-sheet ADF is on the small side
No Ethernet port

ADF: 20-sheet Duplex: Automatic 2-sided Resolution: 4800 x 1200 dpi Connectivity: Wireless

The 30-second verdict

The TR4720 is a straightforward wireless all-in-one that prints, scans, copies, and sends faxes without making you feel like you overpaid or undershopped. It has automatic duplex printing, a 20-sheet ADF, and enough resolution for crisp text and decent photos. The catch is the usual inkjet catch: consumables cost money, and if you print more than a handful of pages weekly, you will notice. But if you need fax capability and want something that doesn’t require a networking PhD, this is the path of least resistance.

Cuttles' honest take

If you print more than a page a day, buy a tank printer — the Epson EcoTank or Brother INKvestment machines cost more up front and then basically stop costing you anything. If you print rarely and just need something for the odd form or boarding pass, a cheap cartridge printer like the HP DeskJet is genuinely fine, just don't sign up for the subscription ink program unless you've done the math. Skip fax unless you actually still deal with fax.

What actually matters when you’re buying one of these

Every all-in-one printer does the same three things — print, scan, copy — so the differences that matter are all downstream of that. The biggest one is ink delivery: cartridge machines are cheap to buy and expensive to feed, tank machines (Epson calls theirs EcoTank, Brother calls theirs INKvestment) flip that math the other way. If you print a handful of pages a month, the cartridge printer wins on total cost. If you print regularly — invoices, shipping paperwork, the odd contract — the tank system usually pays for the price difference within a year and keeps saving you money after that.

The second thing to check is whether it has an ADF (automatic document feeder). A flatbed scanner is fine for one page at a time, but if you’re regularly scanning multi-page documents — signed contracts, expense reports, anything with more than one sheet — a 20-page ADF turns a ten-minute chore into a thirty-second one. It’s an easy spec to overlook because it doesn’t show up on the box art, but it’s the difference that actually changes how you use the machine day to day.

Fax: does anyone still need it

Mostly no. But some corners of business — insurance, legal, older healthcare and government vendors — still run on fax, and if that’s you, it’s worth paying attention to which models still bother to include it, because manufacturers have been quietly dropping it from newer lines. If you’re not sure whether you need it, you probably don’t.

The subscription ink trap

Cartridge printers from every major brand will try to sign you up for a subscription ink program at setup — HP’s Instant Ink is the most aggressive about it. These can genuinely save money if your volume matches the plan tier, but they’re also easy to overpay for if you print in bursts rather than steadily. My honest advice: skip the subscription at setup, buy cartridges as you actually need them for the first few months, and only switch to a subscription once you know your real monthly page count.

Inkjet vs laser for a home office

All-in-one inkjets are the right call if you print photos, color documents, or anything visual, and they’re cheaper up front. If your printing is almost entirely black-and-white text — contracts, labels, shipping paperwork — a mono laser all-in-one is often the better long-term buy, since laser toner lasts far longer per page than inkjet cartridges and doesn’t dry out if you don’t print for a few weeks. If that’s your situation, it’s worth a look at the small-office laser options I’ve reviewed separately, including the Brother MFC-L2820DW and the Brother DCP-L2640DW, plus the print-only HP LaserJet M140w and Canon imageCLASS LBP122dw if you don’t need the scan function at all.

What to ignore

Ignore max print resolution numbers past a certain point — 4800×1200 dpi is plenty for anything a home office prints, and higher numbers on the box rarely translate into a visible difference. Ignore claimed print speeds too; I haven’t run these machines through a stopwatch and neither has most of what you’ll read online, so treat page-per-minute claims as marketing rather than fact.

How I picked these

I didn’t test any of these printers in a lab — nobody selling you a printer review has a lab, no matter what the page implies. What I did is read the manufacturer spec sheets and the pattern of what current owners report on the product pages: whether the ADF is real or absent, whether the ink system is tank-based or cartridge, what’s actually in the box. I left out models with unstable listings, ambiguous ASINs, or renewed/refurbished-only availability, because a great price on a printer that might not be there next month isn’t a real recommendation. If you’re setting up a full home office rather than just picking a printer, the rest of the printers hub covers labels and shredders too, and it’s worth glancing at storage and shipping supplies if paperwork is piling up alongside the print jobs.

FAQ

Do I need a tank printer if I barely print anything?

No. If you print less than a few pages a week, a cheap cartridge printer like the HP DeskJet 4155e will cost you less overall since you're not paying extra upfront for a tank system you'll never use enough to justify.

Is an ADF worth paying more for?

If you regularly scan documents longer than one page, yes — it saves real time. If you only scan the occasional single sheet, a flatbed-only printer is fine and usually cheaper.

Should I sign up for HP Instant Ink or a similar subscription?

Only after you know your actual monthly print volume. These plans can save money at the right tier but are easy to overpay for if your printing is bursty rather than steady.

Do I need fax on a home office printer?

Only if you deal with an industry or vendor that still requires it. Most home offices never touch the fax function even when it's included.

Is laser better than inkjet for a home office?

For mostly black-and-white text and paperwork, laser toner tends to last longer per page and doesn't dry out between uses. For color documents or photos, inkjet is the more practical choice.

Does higher print resolution actually matter?

Past a certain point, not much. 4800x1200 dpi covers anything a typical home office prints, and higher numbers on the box rarely make a visible difference in practice.

Are tank printers actually cheaper long-term?

Generally yes, if you print enough to matter. The upfront cost is higher, but refill ink or included ink cartridges cost far less per page than standard inkjet cartridges over time.

Can I trust manufacturer print-speed claims?

Treat them as marketing numbers rather than fact. No independent lab figures were used to build this list, and I'd be skeptical of any printer guide that states exact speeds as if they were measured.