Compare the Best Photo PrintersDecember 2019

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

The price range of photo printers is from £25 to £1,060 and in total we found prices for 37 photo printers. A new photo printer costs on average £227 and 80% of photo printers are priced between £59 and £518. The Canon PIXMA TS305 is the cheapest photo printer at only £25, and Canon Pro 9000 Mark II is the most expensive at £1,060.

Photo Printer Brands - Price Range

The highest average photo printer price out of all brands is OKI photo printers with an average price of £821. OKI photo printers range in price from £821 to £821.

Epson photo printers start at £84 and their most expensive photo printer costs £785. The second highest average photo printer price out of all brands is Epson photo printers with an average price of £377.

The third highest average photo printer price out of all brands is Canon photo printers with an average price of £225. Canon photo printers range in price from £25 to £1,060.

Photo Printer Brands - Average Ratings

We have evaluated 874 expert reviews and 1,838 user reviews for photo printers and used these reviews to evaluate the average rating for each brand of photo printer.

Biggest Photo Printer Retailers

We found 3 current offers for photo printers from Canon Store UK making it the biggest photo printer retailer. That is significantly bigger than the second biggest retailer, Amazon UK for whom we found 2 current offers for photo printers. The third biggest retailer is eBay with 1 current photo printer offers.

When Are Most New Photo Printers Released?

We looked at the release dates for new photo printers over the last 3 years, but couldn't see any clear pattern. 10 new photo printers were released in May 2018 making it the biggest month that year for new photo printer releases. In August 2017, six new photo printers were released making it the biggest month that year for new photo printer releases. In 2016 most new photo printers were released in September, with six new photo printers released that month.

How Fast Do Photo Printer Prices Drop After Release?

New photo printers drop in price by an average of 5% in the first 6 months after they were first released.

That means that on a typical photo printer costing £227 you could save on average £11 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.

We found 26 photo printers that are 300 x 300 DPI photo printers, which makes 300 x 300 DPI the most common maximum resolution amongst new photo printers. The second most common maximum resolution amongst new photo printers is 5760 x 1440 DPI. We found 21 photo printers that are 5760 x 1440 DPI 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.

The most popular maximum print size amongst new photo printers is A4 / letter. We found 40 photo printers that are photo printers that have an A4 / letter max print size. 10x15 is the second most frequently found maximum print size amongst new photo printers. We found 21 photo printers that are photo printers that have a 10x15 max print size.

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 Canon Store UK. 1 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.