Best all in one laser color printer for small business

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The best small business printers are ideal for offices that may not have a lot of space but still need to print out lots of documents.

But how do you choose the best printer for your small business? There's a huge amount of choice out there, and you don't want to spend money on a printer that's not right for your needs. To make things easier, we've rounded up what we think are the best printers for small businesses, including links to in-depth reviews for each product. Our built-in price comparison tool will also link to the best deals on the internet, helping you save money.

So, what should you look for in a printer for your small business? Every business is different - you may be looking for a compact all-in-one that can handle printouts, scanning, photocopying, and faxing while saving you space and money, or perhaps you're on the lookout for a dedicated printer that excels at print quality - and can handle the demands of an office. This means it will need to be able to produce printouts quickly and from several different sources.

The best small business printers, whether the all-in-one (AIO) or multi-function printers (MFPs) for SoHo and SMBs, should also scale as your business grows and can keep up with the increasing demands of your office.

It should also find the right balance between affordability, features, and performance without dropping to the best cheap printer level. You want something that doesn't cost a lot to buy or run, but you don't want it to sacrifice quality, speed, and extra features either.

The best small business printers should also be economical to run – so they won't cost a lot in electricity bills or go through ink or toner cartridges – and they should also offer fast print speeds that are not at the expense of image quality.

We've compared these small business printers across various aspects, from their printing speed and quality to their design and running cost. We also looked at their build quality, paper capacity, and overall cost-effectiveness, among other things. 

So, where do you need to start? Even the most modest office will likely be networked, and sharing a resource as useful as a printer is essential. So you should only look at printers capable of networked use. Wired offers speed and robust function for a fixed office. Wireless is flexible and cheap to deploy but not as fast in use.

Here are the best printers for small businesses - as chosen by the TechRadar Pro team - large and small, from a basic monochrome laser printer, suitable for a small business and a home office, through to a small departmental multifunction printer.

You may also be interested in the other printer related buying we have produced: the best all-in-one printers, the best A3 printers, and the best large format printers.


The best small business printers of 2022 in full:

Why you can trust TechRadar Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

Lexmark MC3326i

(Image credit: Lexmark)

Compact laser business printer with a large appetite

Specifications

Category: Color laser AOI printer

Print speed: 24ppm

Paper capacity: 250 + 50 sheets

Paper size: up to A4

Reasons to buy

+

Solid build quality

+

50-sheet ADF

Reasons to avoid

-

Slow touchscreen    

-

Single-side scan only

This four-in-one laser printer is a compact but hardworking device that can easily keep up with the needs of a growing business. Lexmark confidently claims a maximum monthly duty cycle of 50,000 pages. There’s room for half a ream of paper on board, plus another 50 sheets in the ADF (automatic document feed), and it can churn out single side pages at a rate of 24 per minute. 

There’s an auto-duplex mode, a handy USB Host port at the front, and Wi-Fi with Wi-Fi Direct and AirPrint. To hit this competitive price point, the touchscreen is on the small side, and there’s no dual-scan capability, but we think this printer has got the balance between features, value, and print quality just right for the small business.

Read our full Lexmark MC3326i review.

Kyocera Ecosys P3155dn

(Image credit: Kyocera)

Prompt and economical laser printing

Specifications

Category: mono laser printer

Print speed: 55ppm

Paper capacity: 500

Paper sizes: up to A4

Reasons to buy

+

Fast print speed

+

Low running cost

Reasons to avoid

-

No built-in Wi-Fi

-

Small display

The minimal design of this mono A4 printer looks smart and feels well made, as you might expect, given the premium price tag. It lacks a flashy touchscreen or even inbuilt Wi-Fi, but it can quickly and economically turn out high-quality black-and-white prints. 

We calculated the per-page cost to be as little as 0.4p per page. And with a paper tray deep enough to hold a whole ream of paper and a maximum print speed of 55ppm, this high-capacity printer is ideal for servicing a small office with medium t high print demands.

The main paper tray has a capacity of 500 sheets, and the multi-purpose tray has a capacity of 100 sheets. You also get enough toner with the printer for 10,000 pages. 

Read our full Kyocera Ecosys P3155dn review.

Xerox VersaLink C400DN

(Image credit: Xerox)

Premium color printing for the small office

Specifications

Category: Color laser printer

Print speed: 35ppm

Paper capacity: 550

Paper sizes: up to A4

Reasons to buy

+

Vivid Pantone colours

+

Smartphone-style interface

Reasons to avoid

-

Wi-Fi costs extra 

-

Bulky design   

Aimed at the busy SMB, the VersaLink C400 offers features not seen on your average A4 laser printer. For instance, the interface is a smartphone-style touchscreen to which you can download apps that add functionality. It prints fairly quickly, and there’s room for 550 sheets of A4 in the main paper tray. 

And thanks to its modular design, you can add further paper trays and a wheeled base unit. It is not particularly cheap to buy or run, but the print quality is excellent, especially its Pantone-approved color performance.

The VersaLink C400DN has a swift print rate of 35 pages per minute, and it comes with enough toner in the box for 2,000 color and 3,000 mono pages. This printer is more appropriate for a small office than for home use. 

Read our full Xerox VersaLink C400DN review.

Kyocera ECOSYS P5021cdw

(Image credit: Kyocera)

Robust laser printing for small businesses

Specifications

Category: Color laser printer

Print speed: 21ppm

Paper capacity: 250 + 50 sheets

Paper sizes: up to A4

Reasons to buy

+

Rapid color printing

+

Rugged build quality

Reasons to avoid

-

Small display

-

Small paper tray

This hefty color laser printer is Kyocera’s entry-level model aimed at the small business, though it looks and performs like a premium printer. The print rate is quick at 21ppm for both color and mono pages. It can auto duplex, and Wi-Fi is built in. It also offers the connectivity needed to join a workgroup with Ethernet and USB ports at the rear. 

There’s a second USB port conveniently located at the front for walk-up printing from a thumb drive. Kyocera’s high-yield toner cartridges will keep you printing at a reasonably competitive per-page cost, while the bundled starter cartridges provide enough toner for 1,200 monochrome prints and 2,200 colors.

The printer's companion app, Kyocera Mobile Print, is a free download for iOS and Android devices, and it offers an attractive interface for printing wirelessly from your smartphone. Although it's useful, you can’t check the toner levels from the app.

Read our full Kyocera Ecosys P5026cdw review.

Brother MFC-L3750CDW

(Image credit: Brother)

5. Brother MFC-L3750CDW

Affordable four-in-one for small businesses

Specifications

Category: Color laser AOI printer

Print speed: 24ppm

Paper capacity: 250 + 50 sheets

Paper size: up to A4

Reasons to buy

+

Decent paper capacity  

+

Fast & secure printing     

Reasons to avoid

-

No dual scan mode      

-

No NFC module      

Here is a sturdy LED printer that would do well in the office of any small business. It’s not expensive, yet it comes with almost every feature you could want in your four-in-one. It can duplex print and scan a stack of 50 pages using its ADF (automatic document feed) and has Wi-Fi with Wi-Fi Direct and AirPrint covered. 

There is a touchscreen interface and USB Host port at the front, so the only things missing are dual-side scanning and an NFC module. It prints quickly and has room for 250 sheets of A4 in its main tray, so it should meet the needs of a fairly busy workgroup. 

You will find high-yield cartridges available for this model, and the ones in the box will last for 1,000 mono pages and 1,000 color pages. 

HP PageWide Pro 477dw

(Image credit: HP)

6. HP PageWide Pro 477dw

An inkjet printer that performs like a laser

Specifications

Category: 4-in-1 colour inkjet printer

Print speed: 55ppm

Paper capacity: 500

Paper sizes: up to A4

Reasons to buy

+

Very fast print speed  

+

2-sided copying  

Reasons to avoid

-

Noisy in operation 

HP’s PageWide technology uses inkjets, but because the print head is the full width of the paper, your documents don’t need to stop and start like a normal inkjet. Instead, they glide through like a laser. Because of this, the quoted print speed of 55 pages per minute is no exaggeration. 

Being an inkjet, it can handle photo paper and deliver vibrant color images up to A4 size. It can also copy duplex pages by scanning both sides of the paper automatically. The paper capacity is a generous 500-sheets with upgrade options available, but even without them, this fast and innovative four-in-one will suit a busy small to medium-sized business.  

The printer weighs 49 pounds (22.2 kg), so you'll likely need help pulling it out of the box and setting it up on the desk. 

HP Color Laser MFP 179fnw

(Image credit: HP)

Miniature MFD suits a small office and small budget

Specifications

Category: colour laser printer

Print speed: 55ppm

Paper capacity: 500

Paper sizes: up to A4

Reasons to buy

+

Fast print speed

+

Low running cost

Reasons to avoid

-

No built-in Wi-Fi

-

Small display  

HP claims that this 4-in-1 color laser printer has the smallest footprint in its class, so if space is an issue in your office, this could be the answer. It is also competitively priced with relatively low running costs if you switch to the high-capacity toner cartridges. 

It has your printing, scanning, copying, and faxing needs covered with Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Direct built in so that you can access this functionality via HP’s excellent companion app on your smartphone. It prints fairly quickly (18ppm) in black and white, but note that this model can only print on one side of the page.

The top-mounted ADF has a capacity of 40 A4 sheets, and the main paper tray can hold 150 sheets, but the output tray holds only 50 sheets. 

Read our full HP Color Laser MFP 179fnw review.

Ricoh SP C261DNw

(Image credit: Ricoh)

An affordable color printer for small businesses

Specifications

Category: colour laser printer

Print speed: 20ppm

Paper capacity: 250

Paper sizes: up to A4

Reasons to buy

+

Vivid colour pages  

+

Duplex and Wi-Fi 

Reasons to avoid

-

Noisy and slow 

-

Unintuitive interface

Ricoh has kitted out this color laser printer at a competitive price with all of the key features, including Wi-Fi connectivity, auto duplex mode, and essential security features such as PIN identification when picking up your print job. 

The print speed is somewhat slow for a laser, but the print quality is strong for both mono and color pages. Color documents generally take longer to print, and the photos look a bit too bright and yellow, but the starter toner cartridges that come with the printer will last for 1,000 pages. 

The printer looks fairly dated with a tiny two-line mono display, and the user interface and the menu system are not intuitive. Users might also not like the particularly noisy cooling fans that start as soon as the printer's turned on.

Read our full Ricoh SP C261DNw review.

Brother HL-L3210CW

(Image credit: Brother)

9. Brother HL-L3210CW

Swift and simple printing for the small business

Specifications

Category: Color laser printer

Print speed: 18ppm

Paper capacity: 250 sheets

Paper size: up to A4

Reasons to buy

+

Quick and quiet printing

+

Fast and affordable

Reasons to avoid

-

No Ethernet port      

-

No auto-duplex

If all you need to do is print, then a decent single-function laser printer will offer the most efficient and secure way. The Brother HL-L3210CW is a simple device with no touchscreen display or even an auto-duplex mode. Instead, it concentrates on churning consistently crisp pages with rapid and quiet efficiency. 

Althoughsmall enough to sit on your desk, it can hold 250 sheets of paper and four high-yield toner cartridges, giving you low per-page running costs. So long as you don’t mind manually turning over the page to print the reverse side, this basic Brother printer presents a cost-effective solution.

This printer produced high-quality legible text with no problems, and color photos came out pretty well too. But the printer didn't perform too well when it came to graphics.

Canon i-SENSYS MF742Cdw

(Image credit: Canon)

Smart design and touchscreen convenience

Specifications

Category: All-in-one color laser printer

Print speed: 27ppm (mono)

Paper capacity: 250 + 50 sheets

Paper sizes: up to A4

Reasons to buy

+

Great touchscreen

+

Expandable design

Reasons to avoid

-

Not the fastest laser

-

Scanner is not duplex

The crisp design of the Canon i-SENSYS MF742Cdw would not look out of place in the office or the home office, and it comes with all of the features you could need for either situation. There’s duplex printing, a fifty-sheet ADF, and a front USB port for walk-up printing from a thumb drive. 

The print speed and quality are good enough for any small to medium-sized business, and the running cost is competitive. You can load 250 sheets of A4 paper in the main tray and add further paper trays if required. 

It’s also very easy to use thanks to the excellent touchscreen interface that's large and moderately responsive. A feature that stands out is programmable hot keys, so you can add icons to the home screen that activate specific commands, like sending a photocopy to a specific email address. 

Besides color printing, this printer also offers scanning and copying, but no duplex scan functionality exists. 

Read our full Canon i-SENSYS MF742Cdw review.

Canon MAXIFY GX7020

(Image credit: Canon)

Top-end MegaTank for small businesses

Specifications

Category: 4-in-1 color A4 inkjet printer

Print speed: 24 ipm (mono)

Paper capacity: 500 + 100 sheets

Paper sizes: A4

Reasons to buy

+

Compact, appealing design 

+

Two deep paper trays 

+

Inexpensive ink 

+

Lots of features 

Reasons to avoid

-

Slow print speed

-

High initial cost 

-

Small touchscreen 

-

No NFC 

Canon’s feature-packed four-in-one comes with all the functionality you need in a business printer aimed at the home office or SMB. With room for more than a ream of paper and extra-large ink tanks, it can keep pace with high print demands whilst being compact enough to suit those of us who work from home. It prints quite quickly for an inkjet, and though it’s not ideal for photographs, it delivered crisp and colorful documents during our test. 

Sitting at the premium end of Canon’s MegaTank product offerings, this model is somewhat expensive for an inkjet, but the price includes enough bottled ink to print 32,000 pages. If that doesn’t justify the asking price, the exceptionally low ongoing consumables cost will soon see a saving over any cheaper laser printer. This appealing printer should be on your list if you need a compact, hard-working all-in-one with low maintenance and running costs.   

Read our full Canon MAXIFY GX7020/GX7050 review.

Canon MAXIFY GX5020

(Image credit: Canon)

MegaTank makes volume printing affordable

Specifications

Category: Color inkjet printer

Print speed: 24 ipm (mono)

Paper capacity: 250 + 100 sheets

Paper sizes: A4

Reasons to buy

+

Can print banners 

+

Appealing and practical design 

+

Lots of ink in the box 

+

Vivid all round print quality  

Reasons to avoid

-

No touchscreen 

-

Expensive 

-

Slower than laser 

The Canon MAXIFY GX5020 (US) / GX5050 (UK) /GX5060 (AUS) is a color inkjet printer that will appeal to the home office user or SMB thanks to its blend of high build quality and very low running cost. While the initial cost is rather expensive for a print-only inkjet, the fact that it is a refillable MegaTank model makes the total cost of ownership very competitive. With cartridge ink costing around 85% more than bottled ink, you will soon see a saving, especially if you print a lot.

The design is practical and appealing, with ample room for paper and ink. In each case, you can view at a glance how much is left through the clear plastic windows. Sadly, there’s no touchscreen, but it prints quickly in auto-duplex mode and is high quality. Text documents and photos look great, and it will print on various media, including banners. We have no hesitation in recommending this printer to business or home users.

Read our full Canon MAXIFY GX5020/GX5050/GX5060 review (opens in new tab).

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How to buy the best small business printer for yourself?

Multi-function features can be found across the board and at all cost scales. Basic features start with a USB Key and card readers for PC-free printing, moving to scanner and copier functions. At the higher end, automatic document feeders (ADF) can manage 50 copies simultaneously and produce booklets, including duplex printing, stapling, and folding. Often the basic ADF features will accommodate most medium-sized offices.

There has been a marked difference in Cost Per Page (CPP) between lasers and inkjets, but in recent years, inkjets have managed to drop their prices to compete. Either way, you must carefully assess each device's CPP.

Manufacturers measure the toner or cartridge yields with an industry-standard ISO rating. So you can safely assess the total price of replacing all the cartridges or toners divided by the print yield across all the potential models.

The total volume of prints you're going to make also needs to be considered. Devices often quote a "duty cycle" monthly maximum and recommended figures. These are the total number of prints it handles per month. If possible, assess the office's number of prints per employee and ensure the device can meet your current and future demands.

Finally, in the past, color, especially for laser printers, has demanded a premium, but that's not so much the case these days. However, these models are still more expensive due to the additional materials required for the toners and printer manufacture. There's still a big enough differential that if you don't need regular color, you should opt for a mono model, perhaps using a cheaper inkjet or even out-of-house printing for occasional color requirements.

Are all-in-one printers any good?

The small business printers on this list can also handle multiple tasks from multiple people throughout the day. Even the smallest of businesses will be sending documents from networked PCs all day – and if they can also offer photocopying, faxing, and scanning features as well, that's even better. 

We've got some brilliant multi-function printers on this list which are space and money-saving devices for the smallest of offices. All-in-one printers that offer photocopying and scanning can save your small business money compared to buying the devices individually. Having them all in one compact device will also save space.

If you're unsure about what type of small business printer you need, head to the bottom of our guide, where we explain the best ways to find and buy the best small business printer that suits your needs.

The best small business printers: How we test

All the printers we test are measured on our test bench, and we perform a detailed comparison and analysis with other models that we've reviewed. We time the printing speeds in single sheet and duplex mode using a ten-page document and a stopwatch app. 

To get an accurate idea of the print quality, we print the same test documents across all the machines. These test pages include the text of varying font sizes and colors, mixed text and images, and just photos. We also have a series of test patterns to evaluate the sharpness and color fidelity of the prints, among other things. 

Lastly, we calculate the printer's running costs, and consider the interface, versatility, design, and build quality. 

Read how we test, rate, and review products on TechRadar (opens in new tab).

Collin is the B2B Hardware Editor for TechRadar Pro. He has been in journalism for years with experience in both small and large markets including Gearadical, DailyBeast, FutureNet and more.

What is the best small office color laser printer?

The 6 Best Laser Printers - Fall 2022 Reviews.
Best Laser Printer. Canon imageCLASS MF743Cdw. ... .
Best Upper Mid-Range Laser Printer. Brother MFC-L2750DW. ... .
Best Mid-Range Laser Printer. Brother MFC-L2710DW. ... .
Best Budget Laser Printer. Brother HL-L2390DW. ... .
Best Cheap Laser Printer. Brother HL-L2370DW. ... .
Best High-Yield Laser Printer..

What's the best all

Here are the best all-in-one printers to consider..
Best Overall: Brother MFC-L2750DW. Buy on Amazon Buy on B&H Photo Video Buy on Office Depot. ... .
Best for Security: HP Color LaserJet Pro M479fdw. ... .
Best Mid-Size: Canon Color imageCLASS MF743Cdw. ... .
Best for Speed: Brother MFC-L5850DW. ... .
Best Color Laser: Lexmark MC3224..

Which is the best Colour printer for small business?

HP M651dn..
HP LaserJet Enterprise M506dn..
HP LaserJet Enterprise M506n..
LaserJet Enterprise M605n Supplies..
HP LaserJet Pro Feeder Tray..
Matte Paper..
HP Tango Printer..
Back To School Guide..

Is laser printer better for small business?

If you're a small business owner, you know that you need to have a laser printer in your office. These printers are fast, reliable and able to print documents that are of high quality. They also don't take up too much space, which is something that all small business owners appreciate.