Compare the Best Photo PrintersJuly 2020

Photo printers are a subsection of standard printers, specifically designed for printing photos taken from digital cameras. While most devices can still be used to print standard black & white documents, their real strength lies in their ability to print high-quality photos, posters and prints, with a colour depth and resolution far higher than most inkjet or laser printer. In this guide we will outline the main considerations when choosing a photo printer, allowing you to decide on the best model for your needs.

Resolution & Colour Depth

Photo printers are largely defined by the resolution and colour depth they are able to print at. Resolution is measured in dots per inch (dpi) and governs how detailed the resulting print is, especially when photos are blown up to larger sizes than they were originally taken at. If the printer has a low supported resolution, then the prints may look blurry or out of focus, whereas extremely high resolution photos (for instance, those with a DPI of 3,000 and above) will continue to look sharp and full of detail even when blown up to poster-sized prints.

Colour depth is a measure of the colours the printer can produce - a higher colour depth means a greater visual fidelity between the print and the original photo.

With both of these attributes, higher values lead to a better overall print output. However they also usually come with increased price, so you should balance the quality you design from your prints against your budget. Most of our photo printers have a detailed breakdown of these attributes, allowing you to choose more intelligently.

Connectivity

While most photo printers work via a USB connection with your computer, several more advanced models have increased connectivity options. These can include:

Photo Printer Prices

In total we found 30 photo printers ranging from £22 to £899. On average, a new photo printer costs £170 and 80% of photo printers are priced between £30 and £399. The Canon PRO1000 is the most expensive photo printer that we found at £899, and the Kodak Mini 2 is the cheapest at only £22.

Photo Printer Brands - Price Range

OKI photo printers range in price from £291 to £291, and the average price of OKI photo printers is £291 which is the highest average price of all photo printer brands.

The average price of Epson photo printers is £261 which is the second highest average price of all photo printer brands. Epson photo printers start at £131 and their most expensive photo printer costs £447.

The third highest average photo printer price out of all brands is Canon photo printers with an average price of £184. Canon photo printers range in price from £25 to £899.

Photo Printer Brands - Average Ratings

We have checked 888 expert reviews and 1,856 user reviews for photo printers and used these reviews to determine the average rating for each brand of photo printer.

Biggest Photo Printer Retailers

The biggest photo printer retailer by number of products currently for sale is coolshopuk. We found 2 current photo printer offers from coolshopuk. The second biggest retailer is Amazon UK with 1 offers. That means coolshopuk is much bigger than Amazon UK when it comes to photo printers. eBay is the third biggest retailer with 1 current offers.

When Are Most New Photo Printers Released?

Most new photo printers tend to be released between March and May. March was the biggest month last year for new photo printers, with one new photo printers released that month. In 2018 most new photo printers were released in May, with 10 new photo printers released that month. Six new photo printers were released in September 2017 making it the biggest month that year for new photo printer releases.

How Fast Do Photo Printer Prices Drop After Release?

On average, in the first 6 months after release, photo printers drop in price by 4%.

That means that on a typical photo printer costing £170 you could save on average £6 by waiting 6 months before buying.

Maximum Resolutions

'Maximum Resolution' indicates the largest image resolution (detail level) that the photo printer is capable of printing at.

300 x 300 DPI is the most popular maximum resolution amongst new photo printers. We found 26 photo printers that are 300 x 300 DPI photo printers. We found 21 photo printers that are 5760 x 1440 DPI photo printers, making 5760 x 1440 DPI the second most popular maximum resolution amongst new photo printers.

Maximum Print Sizes

'Maximum Print Size' is the largest possible size paper that the printer is capable of printing onto. Larger sizes mean that the photo printer is more versatile, and can handle different print jobs.

A4 / letter is the most common maximum print size amongst new photo printers. We found 41 photo printers that are photo printers that have an A4 / letter max print size. We found 21 photo printers that are photo printers that have a 10x15 max print size, making this the second most popular maximum print size amongst new photo printers.

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Photo Printers?

The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying photo printers. For each retailer it shows the total number of photo printers where they currently have a market leading price. The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying photo printers. For each retailer we took all of their prices and looked at what proportion of those prices where the cheapest on the market. The cheapest retailer that we found was coolshopuk. 0 of their photo printer prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.

Proportion of Photo Printers for Which Each Retailer is Cheapest?

Assessing how cheap each retailer is for photo printers by counting the number of cheapest prices for that retailer, makes the retailers that offer the greatest number of photo printer prices more likely to offer the greatest number of cheapest prices. The chart below considers the proportion of each retailer's photo printer prices that are the cheapest compared to other retailers.