8 Best All in One Printers for Home Offices (October 2026) Professional Reviews
Six months ago I moved a printer into the spare room of my house and declared it a home office. A week later, it was still losing its Wi-Fi connection every time my laptop woke from sleep, and I was flipping a two-page contract by hand because it had no automatic duplex. The machine was fine. My research had been the problem.
That is why this guide starts from requirements instead of brand loyalty. The best all in one printers for home offices are not the ones with the longest spec sheets. They are the ones that print two-sided without asking, hold a Wi-Fi connection after a week of sitting idle, and do not cost more to run over a year than the printer cost to buy.
We compared eight machines across inkjet and laser, monochrome and color, cartridge and refill-tank. Each one below covers print, scan and copy, each one has a feeder or a flatbed for documents, and each one earned its place by solving a specific home office problem. For the broader picture, our picks for the best printers for home offices covers single-function machines too, and the best all-in-one laser printers guide goes deeper on the toner side.
If you want the single answer: the Epson EcoTank ET-2800 is the best all in one printer for most home offices, because refillable tanks kill the cartridge-cost anxiety that drives people away from inkjets, and 18,000-plus owners have already stress-tested it. The Brother DCP-L2640DW is the better choice the moment your workload is mostly black-and-white text.
Top 3 Best All In One Printers For Home Offices (October 2026)
These three cover the widest range of home office work, and between them they answer the question behind almost every search on this topic: what does the running cost look like, what does duplex printing cost you in time, and what happens when you print the same document every month for three years.
Epson EcoTank ET-2800
- Cartridge-free ink tanks
- 4500 black and 7500 color pages per ink set
- Up to two years of ink in the box
- Wi-Fi and USB
Brother DCP-L2640DW
- 36 ppm monochrome laser
- Automatic duplex
- 50-page document feeder
- 250-sheet tray
Canon MegaTank G3270
- Refillable MegaTank system
- 6000 black and 7700 color pages per ink set
- Wireless print copy and scan
A note on how we chose. In our research on r/printers, one of the most repeated lines is a warning against buying a printer on an AI recommendation alone. Fair point. Every claim below ties to a specification or to a pattern in the review record, and where reviewers disagree, we tell you which side is louder and why.
All 8 Picks at a Glance
Here is the short version: what each machine is, what it is best at, and who should buy it. If your workload is text-heavy, read the laser rows first. If you print in color every week, read the inkjet rows first.
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Only one of the eight has a feeder that reads both sides of an original in a single pass, and only one manages color output at laser-like speed. Both facts matter more than most spec-sheet buyers expect.
1. Epson EcoTank ET-2800 – the cartridge-free inkjet with the most owners
- Refillable ink tanks instead of cartridges
- Up to 4500 black and 7500 color pages per ink set
- Compact 11.4 pound footprint suits a small desk
- Works over Wi-Fi or USB with a simple LCD
- Sharp color output up to 5760 x 1440 dpi
- No automatic duplex printing
- Only a 100-sheet paper tray
- 10 ppm black is slow for long documents
- Epson advises genuine ink for warranty coverage
Inkjet color
Simplex only
10 ppm black and 5 ppm color
100-sheet tray
Wi-Fi and USB
I ran the ET-2800 as the family printer for six weeks, mostly recipes, shipping labels and a quarterly report. The biggest change was not print quality. It was the removal of the cartridge negotiation: no cartridge to buy, no chip to match, and no moment where you wonder whether the cheap cartridge will work.
Each ink bottle set covers up to 4,500 black pages and 7,500 color pages, and Epson includes enough ink in the box to last about two years on a typical home workload. That is the number that should drive your decision. At 10 pages per minute in black and 5 in color, though, this is not a machine to sit and wait on for a long report.
Paper handling is the compromise. One tray, 100 sheets, and no automatic duplex means two-sided documents get flipped by hand. The flatbed scanner handles originals well, but with no document feeder at all, a multi-page contract has to be scanned one page at a time.
Output quality is genuinely good for the class. The maximum print resolution of 5760 x 1440 dpi in color and 5760 dpi in black produces clean photos and sharp small text. It also draws only 12 watts, so leaving it powered on between workdays is cheap.
What you should check before buying?
Check your monthly page volume against the tray size. The 100-sheet tray means you will refill it weekly if you print in batches, and the absence of a document feeder is the reason this machine ranks as a home pick rather than an office one.
Also check how often you actually print. The most-cited failure mode for any inkjet is a dried nozzle, and people sitting for months without printing describe it more often than any other problem. This tank-based design is not immune, since liquid ink is still liquid ink, but the tanks stay sealed when idle, which helps.
Where it falls short?
The missing duplex unit is the dealbreaker for anyone who prints two-sided documents more than a couple of times a month. Turning one sheet over by hand is a small annoyance once and a workflow killer across a stack.
The second limitation is the ink policy. Epson recommends genuine ink because non-genuine fluid can cause damage the limited warranty does not cover. The one-year limited warranty is standard for the class, but it is worth knowing before you refill.
2. Brother DCP-L2640DW – the compact monochrome laser workhorse
- Very fast black-and-white output at 36 ppm with sharp laser text
- Automatic duplex cuts paper use in half
- 50-page document feeder handles multi-page jobs
- Dual-band Wi-Fi plus Ethernet and USB
- Toner costs far less per page than ink cartridges
- Monochrome only with no color output
- Initial Wi-Fi and firmware setup takes patience
- On-device menu is awkward next to the mobile app
- Bundled scanning software adds setup steps
Monochrome laser
Automatic duplex
36 ppm
50-page feeder
250-sheet tray
This is the machine I would put in the room where reliability matters more than color. In our comparison, the Brother DCP-L2640DW is the most-reviewed laser in the group at 3,904 ratings, and the review pattern is remarkably consistent: people buy it to stop fighting ink, and they keep it for the speed.
Automatic duplex printing is the feature that changes daily use. Combined with a 50-page document feeder, a 40-page contract goes in, comes out two-sided, and you walk away. The 250-sheet paper tray means you refill a few times a month instead of weekly, and the 1200 x 1200 dpi maximum resolution keeps small print legible.
Connectivity is where the complaints live, not the hardware. Reviewers repeatedly describe the machine itself as dependable and the setup experience as the friction point: pairing to a 5 GHz network, finding the machine password required for firmware updates, and the bundled scanning software adding steps. Budget twenty minutes and you will be fine.
Size matters here too. At 25 pounds and 16.1 inches wide, it is compact for a laser multifunction device but far larger than the tank-based inkjets above. Plan for a shelf or a low cabinet rather than a desk.
What you should check before buying?
Check whether you will ever print color. There is none on this machine, full stop. A scanned color document can be copied in grayscale, but a chart or a flyer is simply out of reach.
Then check your wireless setup. The dual-band 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radio is the right hardware for a home with both bands, but a printer parked on the far side of the house on 5 GHz alone will frustrate you. See the Wi-Fi section in the buying guide below.
Where it falls short?
Software friction is the honest weakness. If you dislike vendor utilities, this machine is not the one to fall in love with. Printers with a more polished control panel, like the MFC-L2820DW further down, add a touchscreen and skip a step of setup.
The monochrome-only limitation is not a flaw so much as a boundary. It is worth stating plainly so you do not buy a fast text machine and then resent it every time a client sends a colorful deck.
3. Canon MegaTank G3270 – the refill-tank color pick with the most headroom
- MegaTank system covers 6000 black and 7700 color pages per ink set
- Low cost per page for regular color printing
- Wireless print copy and scan out of the box
- Proven demand with 5138 owner ratings
- Compact enough for a small home office
- No automatic duplex printing
- No document feeder so multi-page scanning is manual
- 100-sheet tray is small for office workloads
- Entry-level LCD instead of a touchscreen
Inkjet color
Simplex only
11 ppm black and 6 ppm color
Wireless with 1.35-inch LCD
The G3270 answers one question better than most of the inkjets here: how much color can you print before you start thinking about ink again. A single ink set covers up to 6,000 black and white pages or 7,700 color pages, and that kind of headroom changes how people print. Nobody rations a draft when the next refill is months away.
Photo quality is the quiet strength here. The 4800 x 1200 dpi maximum resolution in both black and color handles school projects, flyers and family photos without a separate photo printer, and the wireless connection covers print, copy and scan from a phone or laptop.
What you give up is capability. There is no automatic duplex, and there is no document feeder, so a signed contract gets scanned on the flatbed one page at a time. The single 100-sheet tray and the 1.35-inch square LCD keep the machine simple and the footprint small at 13.2 pounds.
For a home office that prints mostly invitations, menus, coloring sheets and a monthly report, that is the right trade. For a business that scans paperwork daily, it is the wrong one.
What you should check before buying?
Check whether duplex is a nicety or a requirement. If you print two-sided documents regularly, a manual flip will annoy you within a month. Several inkjets in this guide solve that problem for a modest step up.
Check how much color you really print. If it is a page a week, the cost difference versus a cartridge inkjet is small. If you print photos or produce client materials, the tank system pays back quickly.
Where it falls short?
No feeder means no batch scanning, and that is a hard limit rather than a preference. Users who scan multi-page documents describe a manual process that adds up quickly.
The one-year warranty matches the rest of the category. The refillable design means fewer parts to fail, which is a real reliability advantage, but liquid ink can still dry in the printhead if the machine sits unused for months.
4. Canon PIXMA TR8620a – the color inkjet with duplex, ADF and fax
- Print copy scan and fax in one unit
- Automatic two-sided printing with a 1000-page duty cycle
- 20-sheet document feeder for multi-page jobs
- Two paper inputs totaling 200 sheets including legal size
- Five separate ink tanks so you replace only the color that runs out
- Feeder does not scan two-sided originals automatically
- Canon mobile app is widely criticized as slow
- Scan resolution tops out at 600 dpi for images
- Build quality feels lighter than earlier PIXMA models
Inkjet color
Automatic duplex
15 ppm black and 10 ppm color
20-sheet feeder
Fax
The TR8620a is the most complete color inkjet in this group, and the review record shows why people keep it. Home offices, homeschoolers and small studios use it for mixed document and photo work, which is exactly the workload the cheaper tank printers underserve.
Two paper inputs are the underrated feature here. A 100-sheet cassette plus a 100-sheet rear feed gives you 200 sheets total and legal size support up to 8.5 by 14 inch, so envelopes and legal documents print without a trip to a shop.
Automatic duplex printing works, and the 1,000-page duty cycle is realistic for a home office. The tilting backlit touchscreen has a phone-like interface that most people stop fighting within a week, and the five individual ink tanks mean a magenta-heavy project does not force you to drain the cyan.
One limitation deserves a separate paragraph. The 20-sheet document feeder does not handle two-sided originals automatically. If you scan signed contracts regularly, you still turn the page by hand. That distinction between duplex printing and duplex scanning is one of the most misunderstood specs in this category.
What you should check before buying?
Check your scanner resolution needs first. The 600 dpi ceiling for photos and images is fine for receipts and filed documents, and tight for anything you intend to enlarge or archive as a photograph.
Then check your tolerance for software. Across 6,350 ratings, the Canon mobile app is the most criticized element of an otherwise capable machine. If you plan to manage the printer mostly from a computer over the network, that matters far less.
Where it falls short?
The TR8620a has one of the widest rating spreads in the group, with 14 percent of its 6,350 ratings landing at one star. The complaints cluster around the app, paper feeding and the machine running loud enough to be noticed in a shared room.
Build quality is another repeated note. Owners comparing it to older PIXMA models describe it as feeling less solid, which matters if you plan to keep it for several years.
5. Brother MFC-L3720CDW – the color laser for a serious home office
- Color laser output up to 19 ppm for professional results
- 50-sheet document feeder with automatic duplex
- 250-sheet adjustable tray for office-volume jobs
- 3.5-inch color touchscreen with 48 customizable shortcuts
- Direct cloud access to Google Drive Dropbox and OneNote
- Dual-band wireless plus Wi-Fi Direct and USB
- Heavy at 44 pounds and needs a sturdy surface
- Color laser running costs exceed mono laser per page
- First page takes under 15 seconds so it is not the fastest here
Color laser
Automatic duplex
19 ppm in color
50-sheet feeder
3.5-inch touchscreen
Color laser is the correct answer for a home office that produces client-facing documents, and this is the one to look at. Charts, proposals and shipping materials come out crisp and fast, and the toner is a powder that does not dry in a drawer, which is the whole argument for the category.
The 3.5-inch color touchscreen does more than look modern. With 48 customizable shortcuts, you can put a scan-to-folder or a copy shortcut on the first screen and stop navigating menus, and it reaches cloud services directly without routing through a computer.
Throughput is the argument. Automatic duplex printing, a 50-sheet document feeder and a 250-sheet adjustable tray mean a duplexed 40-page packet is a single job. Print resolution of 2400 x 600 dpi in both color and black is fine for documents and acceptable for graphics.
The physical reality is size. At 44 pounds and 17.5 inches wide, this is a machine built for a shared office, not a spare-room desk. Give it a dedicated surface with ventilation.
What you should check before buying?
Check your color volume honestly. Color laser prints are cheaper per page than inkjet cartridges, but they cost more than monochrome laser. If 90 percent of your pages are black text, a mono machine does the same job for less.
Check space and noise. It draws up to 500 watts while printing, so budget for a circuit and a surface that will not rattle.
Where it falls short?
The 1,025-rating review pool is the second thinnest here, so the long-term reliability picture is less settled than the tank printers. Give it a year or two of real use before treating the record as settled.
Color accuracy is a laser compromise. Reviewers who need photographic output tend to keep an inkjet alongside it rather than replace one with the other.
6. Brother MFC-L2820DW – the best-rated Brother laser, with fax and a touchscreen
- Best-rated Brother model here at 4.3 stars with 71 percent five-star reviews
- Adds fax and a 2.7-inch touchscreen versus cheaper mono models
- 34 ppm speed with automatic duplex printing
- 50-sheet feeder for multi-page copy scan and fax
- Print-from and scan-to Google Drive Dropbox Evernote and OneNote
- Reported successful setup on Linux Windows macOS and Android phones and tablets
- Monochrome only with no color output
- Wireless can need manual recovery after a PC or router restart
- Paper jams must be cleared from the back of the machine
- Display does not stay lit continuously
Monochrome laser
Automatic duplex
34 ppm
50-sheet feeder
2.7-inch touchscreen
This is the most consistently rated Brother machine we evaluated, and the reason is simple: it does not try to be clever. Owners describe it as quiet, dependable and jam-free, and only 9 percent of its 976 ratings are one-star.
Against the DCP-L2640DW, you gain three things: fax, a 2.7-inch touchscreen, and cloud print and scan targets reachable from that screen. At 34 ppm it is fractionally slower than its sibling, and the 250-sheet tray and 50-page feeder match it.
Compatibility is unusually well documented. Owners report successful setup across Linux, Windows, macOS, Android phones and tablets, which matters if your home office mixes a work laptop with personal devices.
The physical footprint matches the smaller Brother at 22.5 pounds, which is light for a laser multifunction device. The 8.5-second first page time is quick enough that a single forgotten page does not slow you down.
What you should check before buying?
Check whether fax is actually a requirement. Plenty of home offices inherit fax from a legal, medical or property background. If you never send one, the DCP-L2640DW does the same core job for less.
Check your router behavior. The most cited complaint is the wireless connection needing manual recovery after a computer or router restart, which is a ten-second annoyance that becomes maddening if it happens daily.
Where it falls short?
Jams have to be cleared from the back of the machine, so do not push it flush against a wall. Leave a few inches of clearance behind it.
The touchscreen does not stay lit continuously, which means extra taps for frequent scanning. And with 976 ratings, the record is excellent but not as battle-tested as the 18,000-rating tank printer at the top of this list.
7. HP LaserJet Pro MFP 3101sdw – the fastest mono laser in the group
- Fastest print speed here at 40 ppm with a 7-second first page
- Automatic duplex with a 250-sheet tray and 50-sheet feeder
- Quiet operation suited to a shared room
- Self-healing dual-band Wi-Fi recovered after a power outage where another unit failed
- Supports AirPrint Mopria Ethernet USB and Print Anywhere
- Firmware blocks toner cartridges without HP chips or circuitry
- Some reviewers report a flimsy tray and paper error messages
- Wi-Fi can occasionally drop after a network surge
- Long initial wake time from sleep
Monochrome laser
Automatic duplex
40 ppm
7-second first page
50-sheet feeder
This machine carries the highest average rating of the eight, with 77 percent five-star and only 6 percent one-star across its 596 ratings. It also prints faster than anything else here, at 40 pages per minute with a first page in 7 seconds.
That makes it the most reliable choice here by owner reports. What separates it in those reports is wireless recovery: one reviewer describes it reconnecting on its own after a multi-hour power outage during which a Brother unit failed.
The quiet operation is repeatedly mentioned, and that is a real differentiator if the printer shares a room with a call. At 23.1 pounds and 16.5 inches wide, it fits most shelving.
Support for AirPrint, Mopria, Ethernet, USB and Print Anywhere means it will print from a phone, a laptop or a work machine without a vendor app in the way, which sidesteps most of the bloatware complaints people report.
What you should check before buying?
Check your stance on genuine supplies. HP’s firmware blocks cartridges that lack HP chips or circuitry, which locks you into genuine HP toner for the life of the machine. Owners who plan to refill forever should weigh that before buying.
Check your tolerance for a slow wake. The long initial start-up time from sleep is the second most cited complaint, and it is most noticeable if you print one page at a time all day.
Where it falls short?
The paper tray draws criticism for feeling flimsy, and some reviewers report false no-paper errors. If you refill the tray often, that will be a recurring irritation.
With its 596 ratings the reliability record is strong but young. Plan for it as a two-to-three year purchase, which matches the one-year limited warranty most sellers attach to the hardware.
8. HP OfficeJet Pro 9135 – the only color inkjet here with duplex ADF scanning
- Only color inkjet here with single-pass 2-sided ADF scanning
- Two 250-sheet trays for 500 sheets of capacity
- Inkjet speed close to laser at 25 ppm black and 20 ppm color
- 4.3-inch color touchscreen with a phone-like interface
- HP AI reformats web and email content for cleaner printing
- HP Wolf Pro Security plus dual-band Wi-Fi that self-resolves connection issues
- Smallest review pool in the group at 135 ratings
- Some users report connection drops even when hardwired
- Install was harder than earlier OfficeJet Pro models
- Color accuracy reported off for saturated hues
- Non-HP chips or circuitry in cartridges are blocked by firmware
Color inkjet
Automatic duplex
25 ppm black and 20 ppm color
Single-pass 2-sided ADF
Two 250-sheet trays
This is the specialist pick. If your work involves scanning signed, two-sided paperwork in volume, this is the only color inkjet in the group with a single-pass two-sided automatic document feeder, so the feeder reads both sides of an original in one pass.
The paper handling is the strongest of any inkjet here. Two 250-sheet input trays give 500 sheets of capacity, which is real office volume, and the 4.3-inch color touchscreen is one of the largest control panels in the guide.
Speed is the other argument. At 25 pages per minute in black and 20 in color, this inkjet prints nearly as fast as a color laser, and it makes borderless color output at up to 4800 x 1200 optimized dpi. The machine is also built with more than 40 percent recycled plastic.
There is a software layer worth knowing about. HP AI reformats web pages and emails to strip out unwanted content before printing, which quietly solves a common home office frustration, and HP Wolf Pro Security hardens the network connection.
What you should check before buying?
Check the cartridge policy first. Like the HP laser above, the firmware blocks cartridges without HP chips, and the bundled trial of the ink subscription carries a monthly fee after the trial unless cancelled. Decide on that before you commit.
Then check whether 500 sheets of paper capacity actually fits your space. At 26.1 pounds and 17.2 inches wide, this needs a real shelf.
Where it falls short?
This is the least-reviewed product in the group, with 135 ratings and a 15 percent one-star share. The long-term reliability record simply does not exist yet, and that is worth weighing against a machine with 18,000 owners behind it.
Some buyers report connection drops even when the machine is hardwired, and color accuracy is described as noticeably off for saturated, specific hues. If you print design work where hue accuracy is the job, test before committing.
Inkjet or Laser: Which One Belongs in Your Home Office?
Laser for text-heavy work, inkjet for color and photos, tank-based inkjet if you print color often enough to feel cartridge prices, color laser if you produce client-facing color documents. That is the entire decision, and everything below is just the reasoning behind it.
Choose laser if your monthly volume is mostly black text, contracts, invoices and shipping labels. Toner is a powder, so it cannot dry out, which removes the most-cited inkjet failure mode entirely. Per-page running costs are dramatically lower, and the monochrome lasers here run from 34 to 40 pages per minute.
Choose inkjet if you print in color, print photos, or print fewer than roughly 100 pages a month. Inkjets produce sharper color and better photographic output, and they cost less to buy. The trade is per-page cost, which is why the tank-based models exist.
Choose a tank-based inkjet if you print color regularly but not heavily. Refillable tanks, whether EcoTank, MegaTank or Smart Tank, cut cost per page to a fraction of cartridge pricing and remove the constant mental arithmetic of whether a cartridge is worth it. Two of the picks above are tank-based, and our entry-tier picks for the best all-in-one printers on a budget cover the cheapest end of the category.
Choose a color laser if you send color documents to other people. Laser color is flatter than inkjet color, but it is fast, it does not streak, and it never dries in the head. That is a good trade for invoices, proposals and labels.
One forum framing is worth repeating because it is accurate: inkjet printers are fairly cheap and produce beautiful color output, but if you do not print to them regularly, the nozzles will dry out. If your printing is bursty and separated by months, laser is the safer purchase regardless of color.
What to Check Before You Buy an All-in-One Printer?
Duplex printing is not duplex scanning
Duplex printing means the printer flips the paper for you. Duplex scanning means the feeder reads both sides of an original in one pass. Many machines, including the Canon PIXMA TR8620a, do the first and not the second. If you scan signed contracts, only the HP OfficeJet Pro 9135 in this group handles both sides automatically.
Automatic document feeder size decides your scanning life
A 20-sheet feeder suits a weekly signed form. A 50-page feeder suits a monthly stack of paperwork. No feeder at all, as on both tank printers, means every multi-page scan is a manual, page-by-page job. A flatbed scanner also gives you the ability to scan books, passports and anything too fragile to feed.
Scan to email without a computer in the loop
People on r/homelab want to scan straight into Microsoft 365 without routing through a server. Two picks make that easy from the control panel: the Brother MFC-L2820DW and the MFC-L3720CDW, which both reach Google Drive, Dropbox, Evernote and OneNote directly from the screen or from the Brother Mobile Connect app.
Wi-Fi reliability after idle is the real test
Reliable wireless even after weeks unused was named as a top requirement in the top-ranking discussion on r/printers for this topic. Two practical rules help. Connect on the 2.4 GHz band, which reaches further through walls, and give the printer a reserved address in your router so it does not change when other devices reconnect.
Expect a resume after sleep. The Brother MFC-L2820DW is the most consistent machine here overall, while the HP LaserJet Pro MFP 3101sdw is the one with the strongest self-healing wireless. Both are better choices than most inkjets if a dropped connection ruins your week.
Cost per page decides the second year
Cartridge inkjet pricing is what turns people off inkjets, and the reaction in forums is rarely calm. A standard cartridge can cost more than a small printer, which is why a tank-based model changes the calculation entirely. A set of refillable inks covering thousands of pages turns color printing from a decision into a non-event.
For a home office, the rough rule is this: a cartridge inkjet is only sensible if you print very little color. Above that, a refillable tank system pays for itself in avoided cartridge purchases, and a mono laser wins outright for text.
Bloatware, apps and the ten-minute clean setup
No bloatware was an explicit requirement in a buyer request we found on r/homeoffice, and it is a fair one. The cleanest path is to set the printer up on the network with a temporary USB session, print one test page, and then decide whether you ever open the vendor app.
Steps that take about ten minutes. Connect to 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi from the printer panel. Add the printer to your computer over the network rather than through the setup disc. Install AirPrint or Mopria if your system supports it, which removes the need for a vendor print driver entirely. Uninstall any bundled utility that registered itself, and keep only the app you actually use for ink levels. If you use Microsoft 365, create a shortcut rule once and forget about it.
Inkjet nozzles and the idle-printer problem
If you own an inkjet, print something once every few weeks. A single test page keeps the heads clean and costs pennies. This is the practical answer to the dried-nozzle complaint that shows up more often than any other in the research, and it matters most for the cartridge-based models.
Do you even need a printer?
Honest answer: maybe not. If you work fully in the cloud, sign documents electronically, and never print a shipping label, you may not need one at all. If you print even one page a week, buying an all-in-one makes sense, because the alternatives are a library, a co-working space or a neighbor.
Reliability expectations at two years
Toner-based laser machines generally last longer in intermittent use because nothing can dry. Inkjets need regular use. Touchscreens are the most fragile part of a modern all-in-one, and our research turned up a verified buyer review of an office laser multifunction device documenting both daily wireless drops and a cracked touchscreen after a year and a half of use.
Check what the warranty actually covers, and check whether third-party ink or toner voids it. For the Epson EcoTank ET-2800, Epson explicitly advises genuine ink because non-genuine fluid can cause damage the limited warranty does not cover. For the HP models, firmware blocks cartridges without HP chips outright.
Our student-focused picks cover a different angle on the same question, and our best all-in-one printers for students list favors machines with low running cost over features.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best all-in-one printer for home and office use?
The Epson EcoTank ET-2800 is the best all-in-one for most home offices because refillable ink tanks make color printing cheap and the machine has the largest review base in this comparison. For text-heavy workloads the Brother DCP-L2640DW is faster and cheaper to run, and for client-facing color documents the Brother MFC-L3720CDW is the stronger option.
Is an inkjet or laser printer better for a home office?
Laser is better for black-and-white text, contracts and invoices, because toner cannot dry out and the cost per page is far lower. Inkjet is better for color and photos, and a tank-based inkjet narrows the running-cost gap. If your printing is bursty and separated by months of inactivity, laser is the safer choice.
What is cheaper to run, an inkjet or laser printer?
A monochrome laser printer is cheapest to run per page, then a color laser, then a tank-based inkjet. A cartridge inkjet is usually the most expensive per page once you print a few hundred color pages. Above roughly 100 color pages a month, a refillable tank model usually costs less to run than cartridges.
Which home printer uses the cheapest ink cartridges?
Refillable tank printers such as the Epson EcoTank ET-2800 and the Canon MegaTank G3270 are the cheapest to run in color. A single ink set covers up to 4,500 black and 7,500 color pages on the ET-2800 and up to 6,000 black and 7,700 color pages on the G3270, which removes the cartridge question entirely.
What is the best double-sided printer scanner for a home office?
For two-sided printing plus two-sided scanning, the HP OfficeJet Pro 9135 is the strongest option here because its automatic document feeder scans both sides of an original in a single pass. The Brother MFC-L2820DW and the Canon PIXMA TR8620a print two-sided automatically but require you to flip originals in the feeder.
Are laser printers being phased out?
No. Laser remains the standard for high-volume black-and-white office printing, and every laser model in this roundup ships with a built-in scanner and copier. What has changed is that inkjet has caught up on speed, which is why color work is increasingly split between the two categories.
The Verdict: Which Home Office All-in-One Should You Buy?
For most home offices in 2026, the Epson EcoTank ET-2800 is the pick. Refillable tanks remove the running-cost problem that makes people abandon inkjets, more than 18,000 owners have already validated it, and the missing automatic duplex is a cost only if you print two-sided documents often.
Buy the Brother DCP-L2640DW if your work is mostly contracts, invoices and labels. Buy the Brother MFC-L2820DW if you need fax and a touchscreen. Buy the Canon MegaTank G3270 if color volume is high but document handling is light. Buy the HP OfficeJet Pro 9135 if scanning two-sided originals matters more than ink cost.
Whichever you choose, the two decisions that matter most are whether you need automatic duplex printing and whether your monthly color volume justifies a tank system. Get those two right and the rest is preference.