The 4 Best Laser Printers of 2023

After a new round of testing, we’ve added the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M283fdw as our new main pick.

Printers are annoying. All of them. But if you want to keep the annoyance to a minimum, we recommend a laser printer: Not only do they print sharp text and crisp graphics, but they also run more reliably than inkjets, and they won't clog if they sit unused for weeks between jobs.

The best laser printer is the powerful, versatile HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M283fdw. It's easy to set up and use, and it produces great-looking results both in color and in black and white.

The printer should be easy to use, so we took notes on everything from unboxing the printer to setting it up on Wi-Fi.

On each printer, we printed instructions for 1099 tax forms, star charts designed for lens sharpness testing, and an office report.

We ran four copies of a four-page document, timing from our hitting the print button to the last sheet coming out of the feeder.

We slightly overstuffed printers with paper to see if they would jam, and we fed them single sheets to see if they could pick each one up.

This model produces crisp text and vibrant graphics, and it has a low operating cost. But you can use only HP toner with it, so be prepared to pay full price come replacement time.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $550.

The HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M283fdw has an easy-to-use, smartphone-style touch interface and a 21st-century mobile app that together make daily use far less frustrating in comparison with other printers we’ve tried.

It produces sharp black text, vibrant full-color graphics, and even photos good enough for a school report.

It's also fast, topping out at around 22 pages per minute, and it can print on envelopes, labels, and other odd-size media thanks to a handy bypass slot.

While prints cost a reasonable 3.3¢ and 16.3¢ per black or color page, respectively, replacing the cartridges remains an investment, as HP's firmware works only with its branded toner.

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With low operating costs, this is the best laser printer you can get for around $150. But it can't scan or copy, and it prints only in black and white.

With a price that hovers around $150, and a print cost per page that averages 2.7¢, the Brother HL-L2350DW is cheaper to own and operate than our other picks. At just 7.2 inches tall, this model can more easily fit on a bookshelf or in a tight desk area. But it spits out only black-and-white prints, and it can't scan or copy.

This multifunction printer adds a flatbed scanner and an automatic document feeder to our budget pick, significantly upping its home-office utility. But it prints only in black and white.

The Brother MFC-L2750DW offers the same operating costs, the same print speed, and the same connectivity options as our budget pick, the HL-L2350DW. It also has a flatbed scanner and a fast, single-pass duplexing automatic document feeder on top. For home offices, this model is a great do-it-all option—as long as you don't need color.

This business-class machine is faster, sharper, more durable, and more secure than our top pick—but it costs twice as much.

manufacturer's warranty w/purchase

The HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw is a worthwhile upgrade for a small business with more serious productivity needs. It prints and scans more quickly and more reliably than inkjet alternatives, it produces sharper results, and it includes robust admin and security settings designed for situations that may involve sensitive data. It's also sturdier and more reliable than our inkjet picks.

This model produces crisp text and vibrant graphics, and it has a low operating cost. But you can use only HP toner with it, so be prepared to pay full price come replacement time.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $550.

With low operating costs, this is the best laser printer you can get for around $150. But it can't scan or copy, and it prints only in black and white.

This multifunction printer adds a flatbed scanner and an automatic document feeder to our budget pick, significantly upping its home-office utility. But it prints only in black and white.

This business-class machine is faster, sharper, more durable, and more secure than our top pick—but it costs twice as much.

manufacturer's warranty w/purchase

Senior staff writer Kaitlyn Wells has been with Wirecutter since 2017 and has covered everything from standing desks and dictation software to pet cameras and pet GPS trackers.

Supervising editor Ben Keough has covered printers and cameras for Wirecutter for more than five years and has written about tech for over a decade.

Their expertise in this guide builds on the deep knowledge of other writers who have covered printers for Wirecutter going back to 2011. Combined, they have considered 163 different laser printers and tested 20 of them.

Laser printers are best for people who need to print a lot, such as small-business owners. They’re also great for people who don't print often but want a machine that will work without complaint on the rare occasions when they do need to print.

To see if a laser printer is right for you, consider this list of things that laser printers tend to do better than inkjets:

But laser printers aren't for everyone because they’re not great at everything. Here are a few reasons you might want to stick with an inkjet:

The HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e is our favorite all-in-one thanks to its ease of use, great print quality, and low cost of operation.

For this guide, we look for the best options in four laser printer categories: monochrome print-only, color print-only, monochrome multifunction, and color multifunction.

Our criteria:

A note on pricing: We also set price ranges for each category—starting at $150 for monochrome print-only models and at $500 for color multifunction laser printers—but global supply-chain issues have made some of our printer picks more difficult to find and have caused the price of others to jump. So don't be surprised if price fluctuations of $100 occur throughout the year.

Our testing has evolved since we first published this guide in 2011, but in our most recent testing round, we assessed each laser printer's ease of setup and use, up-front and average printing costs, print/copy/scan/fax quality and speed (when applicable), duplex print/copy/scan/fax quality and speed (when applicable), Wi-Fi and mobile printing capabilities, and overall design.

We printed several sample documents, including instructions for the 1099 tax form (PDF), a star chart designed for lens sharpness testing, high-resolution photos on copy paper and glossy paper, and a page with the same sentence repeated in descending font size from 72 points to 1 point.

This model produces crisp text and vibrant graphics, and it has a low operating cost. But you can use only HP toner with it, so be prepared to pay full price come replacement time.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $550.

The HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M283fdw offers an easy setup process, reasonable operating costs, and great printing quality for your home-office or small-business needs.

It's easy to set up. We had this laser printer up and running in no time thanks to an intuitive touchscreen that walked us through the process in under five minutes. The setup for most of the Brother printers we tested took up to 20 minutes.

Both text and graphics looked great in our test prints. The M283fdw printed clear, crisp text down to a font size of 3 points, which means that even the tiniest of subscripts in legal documents and footer text in charts will remain legible. It printed high-quality, vibrant graphics on both copy paper and glossy paper, nearly mirroring the print quality of our upgrade pick, the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw, only slightly more pixelated.

It offers versatile printing support. No need to adjust the main paper tray to size—this model includes a bypass slot for printing labels, envelopes, postcards, and glossy prints.

Plus, mobile Wi-Fi printing and the optional HP Smart app make printing sans computer a breeze.

It's expensive, but it performs well, and supplies won't break the bank. The $470 price tag is a lot to swallow, but for a small business, the M283fdw is the most reliable multifunction laser printer we’ve found. It didn't jam in our tests, unlike some other models we tried, which also struggled to grip single sheets of glossy paper in their bypass tray and produced mediocre photos.

Plus, upgrading to the high-yield toner ensures that per-page printing costs remain low, at just 3.3¢ per black print and 16.3¢ per color print. Keep in mind, though, that a full set of replacement toner costs $440.

Flaws but not dealbreakers:

With low operating costs, this is the best laser printer you can get for around $150. But it can't scan or copy, and it prints only in black and white.

The Brother HL-L2350DW is a simple, dependable monochrome laser printer, and it's more affordable to operate than our top pick.

It quickly spits out prints. Brother claims that the HL-L2350DW can print at up to 32 pages per minute, but we clocked it at 25 pages per minute while printing single-sided PDFs and 12 pages per minute while using duplexing—it was still faster than our color top pick, the HP M283fdw, in both cases. Our test print jobs reliably started up within a couple of seconds, too, so you won't be left waiting long regardless.

Operating costs are low. Each print runs you about 3¢, and thanks to the optional 3,000-page high-yield cartridges, you don't need to replace your toner too often. However, like most other laser printers, the HL-L2350DW comes with a puny starter cartridge good for just 700 pages.

This printer is compact. Far smaller than our top pick, it weighs just 15.9 pounds and measures roughly 14 by 14 by 7 inches, which should help you fit it on a bookshelf without too much of it hanging over. But it can just as easily find a space on your desk or anywhere else you might want to put it.

Setup is slow, but you have to do it only once. Getting the HL-L2350DW on Wi-Fi is complicated because it employs an old-school user interface consisting of a one-line monochrome LCD panel and an array of rubber buttons, but you have a few options to accomplish the task. If you have a WPS-enabled router, you can use that to set up the HL-L2350DW's wireless connection without having to type in a password. If not, you can enter your Wi-Fi password using the printer's up/down buttons. Or, you can bypass the control panel and use a PC.

All of this is a bit of a headache in comparison with the process on models with touchscreen displays, but even so, we were able to connect this printer to our network within 20 minutes.

Printing is its only capability. The HL-L2350DW can only print, and only in black and white, so opt for one of our other picks if you need to copy, scan, or fax documents too.

This multifunction printer adds a flatbed scanner and an automatic document feeder to our budget pick, significantly upping its home-office utility. But it prints only in black and white.

The Brother MFC-L2750DW is dependable, quick, cost-effective, and reasonably compact, and aside from color print jobs, it can handle everything. (Yes, including faxing.)

Setup is a breeze. The MFC-L2750DW is simple to set up thanks to its color touchscreen control panel, which offers an interface that's easy to navigate.

Print quality is good enough. The MFC-L2750DW prints sharper text at small font sizes and marginally better graphics compared with our budget pick, the Brother HL-L2350DW. For professional-looking brochures or presentations, you’d probably want to use a printer like our upgrade pick, the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw, or punt the job to a pro print shop instead.

Scan quality is middling. Scans from the automatic document feeder looked just fine in our tests, though they could come out a bit crooked when we didn't micromanage the paper guides on the ADF tray (a fault shared by many all-in-ones). Flatbed scans, which sidestep that issue, exhibited excellent sharpness in our tests due to the 1200 dpi maximum resolution (double what some competing machines offer). But this printer lacks a USB port, so you can't save your scans directly to a thumb drive.

Avoid the Brother iPrint&Scan app. Like most Brother models we tested, print quality degrades on this machine when you initiate jobs from Brother's iPrint&Scan app, so you should use your operating system's native print dialog box instead.

This business-class machine is faster, sharper, more durable, and more secure than our top pick—but it costs twice as much.

manufacturer's warranty w/purchase

If you need or want a more serious printer than our other picks, the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw is expensive, but it's also fast and reliable, and it produces beautiful documents.

This workhorse is fast. It cranked out a single-sided Word document at a rate of about 24.1 pages per minute, slowing only to 21.8 ppm with duplex documents. Single-sided scan jobs flew by at 19.5 ppm, more than 6 ppm faster than on any other printer we tested, while duplex jobs emerged at a rate of 16.7 ppm per sheet (which works out to 33.4 ppm per page).

This printer outperforms every inkjet we tried. The M479fdw produced the sharpest text at small font sizes, and its graphics were crisper—if a touch less saturated—than what we got from an inkjet printer like the HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e. The M479fdw spools up faster than most inkjets, too.

It can handle legal-size documents, too. This model includes duplex printing and a fold-out bypass paper tray for one-off print jobs on different paper sizes. Although the slide-off scanner glass is large enough only for letter paper, the automatic document feeder can handle legal-size documents.

This model is extra secure. The M479fdw has better security features than other printers we tested, inkjet and laser alike. Secure boot, firmware integrity, and runtime code integrity all help to ensure that it's drastically less likely to be hijacked by bad actors. (That may sound absurd, but such hacks have happened.) It also allows for PIN-encrypted print jobs, so you can make sure that no one else is intercepting your documents. Role-based access control allows you to choose who can access which printer features. If your work involves sensitive material, these are legitimately helpful additions—and features that you can't get from other manufacturers.

The limited warranty has its perks. HP's one-year warranty for the M479fdw is shorter than the coverage that some rivals offer, but it provides on-site service within one business day. Other warranties require you to ship your printer to a service center, sometimes at your own expense.

Selecting which printer to buy can bring you one step closer to paperwork bliss. Now, you might also need to figure out what to do with an old printer that jams, sucks down ink like it's constantly dehydrated, or never seems to connect to your Wi-Fi. Yet responsibly disposing of old electronics, aka e-waste, requires more work than walking to a trash bin. Some electronics contain hazardous materials, such as cadmium, lead, or mercury, that can contaminate soil and groundwater. Printers can also take thousands of years to decompose, and have the potential to catch on fire when improperly dumped. You have a few options if you want to dispose of your printer the right way. To learn more, read our article on how to off-load your old office equipment.

Note that this list does not include discontinued printer models.

The Brother HL-L3270CDW lacks single-pass duplex printing, a bypass printing slot for odd-size media, and a USB port for printing from a thumb drive. In our tests, print quality was mediocre overall, and colors had a distinctly greenish hue.

The Canon Color ImageClass LBP622Cdw fell flat due to its poor user interface and slow printing speed.

The HP Color LaserJet Pro M454dw performed similar to our main pick in our tests but typically costs 30% more.

The Xerox Phaser 6510/DNI is plagued with networking issues with some routers, as well as component failures.

In our tests, the Brother HL-L2315DW was much slower than our budget pick. It also has only 25% as much memory, so it may struggle with larger print jobs.

Both the Canon ImageClass LBP6230dw and the HP LaserJet Pro M118dw are expensive to run, and they produced iffy graphics in our tests.

The HP LaserJet Pro M203dw has poor owner reviews that mention difficult setup, unreliable internet connections, and breakdowns.

The Brother DCP-L2550DW lacks duplex copy and scan, fax capability, and a touchscreen interface.

The Brother HL-L2390DW and HL-L2395DW resembled our budget pick in terms of performance, but they don't have automatic document feeders.

Both the Brother MFC-L2690DW and MFC-L2730DW suffer from slow print speeds, clunky interfaces, and little onboard memory.

The Brother MFC-L2710DW lacks a touchscreen interface and auto-duplex scanning and copying. It also has just 25% as much onboard memory as our budget pick, which means it might balk at large print jobs, and it runs a little slower.

The Canon ImageClass MF264dw and MF267dw don't offer duplex scanning and copying.

We found that the Canon ImageClass MF269dw has a frustrating touchscreen interface, annoying software, and ludicrously slow scanning over Wi-Fi.

We didn't test the Canon ImageClass MF113w, the HP LaserJet MFP M234dw, or the HP LaserJet MFP M234dwe because they have flatbed scanners rather than automatic document feeders.

The HP LaserJet Pro MFP M227fdw had owner reviews that were deeply mediocre at the time of our research.

The Brother MFC-9340CDW has had a rash of one-star owner reviews complaining about fused toner rollers and Wi-Fi connectivity problems.

During our tests, the resistive touchscreen of the Brother MFC-L3770CDW wasn't very responsive, and the Brother iPrint&Scan app froze on multipage scan jobs.

The Canon Color ImageClass MF644Cdw and MF743Cdw have clunky interfaces, finicky touchscreens, and problematic software.

Our former main pick, the HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw, is still a good printer if you can find it. This model offers an intuitive touchscreen interface, great apps, and a low cost of operation. It produces great results, too, generating crisp black text and vibrant color graphics. A fall 2020 software update locked out non-HP toner, though, so be prepared to pay full price when you need to replace the cartridges.

This article was edited by Phil Ryan and Erica Ogg.

Laser printers use non-liquid-based toner instead of the ink tanks that inkjet printers use. As a result, laser printers offer faster print speeds and print sharper text, and their prints don't smear when wet. Laser printers cost more to refill than inkjets, though, and they can't print on glossy paper.

Yes, laser printers can print in monochrome or full color. Just keep in mind that color laser printers are more expensive because they require new toner cartridges for each color, as opposed to just a black toner cartridge for monochrome laser printers.

No, laser printers use toner, a fine dye powder. The benefit of toner over ink is that toner doesn't smudge, and because toner isn't liquid, it doesn't dry up if it sits unused for a long time.

Ben Keough

Ben Keough is the supervising editor for Wirecutter's working from home, powering, cameras, and hobbies and games coverage. He previously spent more than a decade writing about cameras, printers, and other office equipment for Wirecutter, Reviewed, USA Today, and Digital Camera HQ. After four years testing printers, he definitively confirmed that they all suck, but some suck less than others.

Kaitlyn Wells

Kaitlyn Wells is a senior staff writer who advocates for greater work flexibility by showing you how to work smarter remotely without losing yourself. Previously, she covered pets and style for Wirecutter. She's never met a pet she didn't like, although she can't say the same thing about productivity apps. Her first picture book, A Family Looks Like Love, follows a pup who learns that love, rather than how you look, is what makes a family.

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