Best Printer for Students 2026: Budget-Friendly Picks for Uni & School

I spent three years at uni using a mate’s printer down the corridor because mine had dried out — again. If I could go back and tell my fresher self one thing, it’d be this: buy the right printer from the start and you’ll save yourself hundreds of quid and about forty stress-induced headaches.

After testing a ridiculous number of printers, these are the six I’d actually recommend. Whether you’re churning out 3,000-word essays, printing colour diagrams for biology, or just need something that works at 2am before a deadline, there’s a pick here for you.

What to Look for in a Student Printer

Here’s what actually matters when you’re buying a printer for uni. Forget the fancy specs on the box — focus on these:

Cost per page trumps purchase price every time. A £40 printer with expensive cartridges will cost you more over three years than a £200 EcoTank. I know that sounds backwards, but the maths doesn’t lie (see the total cost table below).

Compact size matters when your entire desk is 60cm wide and already buried under textbooks. Most student printers should be under 45cm wide, or you’ll be balancing it on your bedside table.

WiFi and mobile printing means you can print from your laptop, phone, or tablet without faffing about with USB cables. Every printer on this list supports wireless. In 2026, anything that doesn’t is frankly not worth considering.

Mono vs colour — here’s the honest truth: if 90% of your printing is essays and notes, get a mono laser and don’t look back. If you need colour for coursework diagrams, presentations, or the occasional photo, then you’ll want an inkjet or ink tank printer.

If you barely print at all, also check our guide to the best printer for infrequent use — it focuses specifically on preventing ink waste.

The Best Printers for Students at a Glance

Printer	Type	Price (approx.)	Cost Per Black Page	Colour	Scanner	Best For
HP DeskJet 2820e	Inkjet	£45	~5p (cartridge) / free via Instant Ink	Yes	Yes	Cheapest upfront
Canon PIXMA TS3450	Inkjet	£50	~5.5p	Yes	Yes	Simple & compact
Epson EcoTank ET-2860	Ink tank	£200	~0.3p	Yes	Yes	Lowest running costs
Brother DCP-L2620DW	Mono laser	£150	~3p	No	Yes	High-volume essays
HP LaserJet M110we	Mono laser	£130	~4p	No	No	Ultra-compact laser
Canon PIXMA TS5350i	Inkjet	£75	~4p	Yes	Yes	Best mid-range

1. HP DeskJet 2820e — Best Budget Option

Price: ~£45 on Amazon UK | Type: Colour inkjet | Functions: Print, scan, copy

At about £45, the DeskJet 2820e costs less than a night out in a uni town. It prints, scans, copies, connects via WiFi, and supports HP Smart App printing from your phone. For getting a working printer in your room with minimum outlay, this is it.

The catch — and it’s a big one — is cartridge costs. Replacement HP 305 cartridges run about £12 for black and £15 for colour. Each black cartridge does roughly 120 pages, which works out to about 10p per page. That adds up faster than you’d think. I had a housemate who went through three cartridges in her first term alone.

HP Instant Ink offers a free tier of 15 pages per month, or 50 pages for £2.49/month. For light student printing — the odd form, a recipe, a train ticket — the free tier genuinely might be enough. Heavier printers should look at the paid plans, but honestly, at that point you’re probably better off with a different printer entirely.

The downside beyond ink costs? Print quality is just “adequate.” Fine for essays, but photos look a bit rubbish. And if you leave it unused over Christmas, the nozzles will clog. Guaranteed.

Verdict: Cheapest way to get a printer in your room. But if you print more than a handful of pages each week, you’ll end up spending more on ink than the printer cost. Buy this if your budget is genuinely £50 or less.

Buy the HP DeskJet 2820e on Amazon.co.uk

2. Canon PIXMA TS3450 — Best for Simplicity

Price: ~£50 on Amazon UK | Type: Colour inkjet | Functions: Print, scan, copy

Canon’s entry-level all-in-one is my preferred budget pick over the HP. It’s similarly compact (under 43cm wide), connects wirelessly, and supports Canon PRINT app and AirPrint. But here’s the key difference: no subscription pressure. You buy cartridges when you need them. That’s it.

It uses Canon PG-545 and CL-546 cartridges. Standard black yields around 180 pages, costing roughly 5.5p per page. Grab the XL cartridges instead — they bring it down to about 3.5p, which is a proper saving over a term.

Print quality is a step up from the HP for documents, and passable for photos. The flatbed scanner handles A4 sheets for scanning lecture notes or coursework — dead handy when a mate needs a copy of something.

The downside? Same clogging issue as any inkjet. Leave it over summer and you’ll come back to a useless paperweight unless you printed a test page before you left.

Verdict: Slightly better than the HP DeskJet at a similar price, and no subscription nonsense. My go-to budget recommendation for students.

Buy the Canon PIXMA TS3450 on Amazon.co.uk

3. Epson EcoTank ET-2860 — Best for Running Costs

Price: ~£200 on Amazon UK | Type: Ink tank | Functions: Print, scan, copy

Right, I know what you’re thinking — £200 for a student printer? Hear me out. The EcoTank ET-2860 costs more upfront but absolutely demolishes every other printer here on running costs. Instead of cartridges, you fill refillable ink tanks from bottles. The ink that comes in the box prints up to 4,500 black pages and 7,500 colour pages.

That’s roughly 0.3p per black page. Not 3p. Not 30p. Zero point three pence. Over a three-year degree, a student printing 100 pages per month would spend about £10 on ink with the EcoTank vs £150+ with a budget inkjet. I genuinely wish someone had told me this before I started uni.

The ET-2860 also supports WiFi, double-sided printing, and Epson Smart Panel for mobile printing. Print speed is decent at 10.5 pages per minute for black text — quick enough for last-minute essay panics.

The downside is size. It’s wider and deeper than the budget inkjets because of the ink tank reservoirs hanging off the side. Measure your desk before buying — this won’t fit on a narrow shelf. Also, while it handles infrequent use better than cartridge inkjets, it can still clog if you leave it untouched for a couple of months.

Verdict: If your parents or student loan can stretch to £200, this is the smartest long-term investment on this list. You’ll barely spend anything on ink for the entire degree. Also worth reading our laser vs inkjet comparison to see how EcoTank models stack up against laser alternatives.

Buy the Epson EcoTank ET-2860 on Amazon.co.uk

4. Brother DCP-L2620DW — Best Mono Laser for Students

Price: ~£150 on Amazon UK | Type: Mono laser | Functions: Print, scan, copy

If you don’t need colour — and be honest with yourself, most essay-writing students genuinely don’t — this is the one I’d buy. The Brother DCP-L2620DW prints crisp black text at up to 32 pages per minute, scans and copies, and connects via WiFi and USB.

Here’s why I love this for students: toner never dries out. You can go home for the entire summer, come back in September, and it’ll work perfectly. First page, first time. No cleaning cycles, no wasted ink, no swearing at 2am before a deadline. I’ve seen friends lose entire cartridges to dried-out inkjets. It’s money down the drain.

The starter toner cartridge prints around 700 pages. Replacement TN-2510 cartridges cost ~£45 for 1,200 pages (3.75p per page), or ~£65 for the high-yield TN-2510XL at 3,000 pages (2.2p per page). At student printing volumes, one XL cartridge could last an entire academic year.

Automatic duplex printing is included, which halves your paper consumption — a genuine saving when you’re printing off 50 pages of lecture slides for revision.

For more on why laser printers suit home users, see our guide to the advantages of laser printers.

The downside? No colour. If your course needs colour diagrams or you want to print photos, look elsewhere. And it’s chunkier than the budget inkjets — weighs about 7.2kg.

Verdict: My number one pick for most students. Fast, reliable, no drying-out drama, and cheap to run. If you mainly print essays and notes, stop reading here and buy this.

Buy the Brother DCP-L2620DW on Amazon.co.uk

5. HP LaserJet M110we — Most Compact Laser

Price: ~£130 on Amazon UK | Type: Mono laser | Functions: Print only

Want a laser but your room is tiny? The LaserJet M110we is one of the smallest laser printers you can buy. It weighs just 3.8kg and measures 34.6cm wide — it’ll fit on a bookshelf. I measured.

It prints up to 21 pages per minute with sharp 600 x 600 dpi output. WiFi, Bluetooth, and HP Smart App are all supported. Like the Brother, toner won’t dry out between uses, making it brilliant for students who print sporadically.

The HP 142A toner cartridge yields around 950 pages and costs ~£50, putting cost per page at about 5.3p. Not as cheap as the Brother, but you’re paying for that smaller footprint.

Here’s the catch: this is print-only. No scanner, no copier. If you need to scan coursework or copy pages, you’ll have to use your phone camera and an app like Adobe Scan. Not ideal, but workable.

Also — HP will push their Instant Ink subscription at you during setup. You don’t have to sign up. It’s a laser printer. Just buy toner when you need it.

Verdict: The best laser printer for cramped student rooms. If you’ve got a bed, a desk, and about 35cm of shelf space, this fits.

Buy the HP LaserJet M110we on Amazon.co.uk

6. Canon PIXMA TS5350i — Best Mid-Range Inkjet

Price: ~£75 on Amazon UK | Type: Colour inkjet | Functions: Print, scan, copy

The TS5350i hits a sweet spot between the budget TS3450 and more expensive options. You get a larger 1.44-inch OLED display, borderless photo printing, duplex printing, and noticeably better build quality — it feels like a proper printer, not a toy.

It uses Canon PG-560 and CL-561 cartridges. XL versions yield around 400 black pages for ~£18 (4.5p per page) and 300 colour pages for ~£20. That’s competitive for a cartridge printer.

WiFi, AirPrint, and Canon PRINT app support are all included. Photo output is noticeably better than the two-cartridge budget models — if your course needs colour charts or you want to print the odd photo, this handles it well.

The downside? It’s still a cartridge inkjet, so you’ll still face clogging issues if it sits unused for weeks. And at £75, it’s getting close to the price where I’d say “just spend a bit more on the Brother laser.”

Verdict: A solid middle ground if you genuinely need colour printing but can’t stretch to an EcoTank. Good all-rounder.

Buy the Canon PIXMA TS5350i on Amazon.co.uk

Total Cost of Ownership: 3-Year Comparison

This is where it gets interesting. Forget the price on the box — here’s what each printer actually costs you over a three-year degree, assuming you print 50 pages per month (600 per year, 1,800 over three years):

Printer	Purchase	Ink/Toner (3 yrs)	Paper (3 yrs)	Total 3-Year Cost
HP DeskJet 2820e	£45	~£180	£18	£243
Canon PIXMA TS3450	£50	~£100 (XL carts)	£18	£168
Epson EcoTank ET-2860	£200	~£5	£18	£223
Brother DCP-L2620DW	£150	~£40 (XL toner)	£18	£208
HP LaserJet M110we	£130	~£95	£18	£243
Canon PIXMA TS5350i	£75	~£80 (XL carts)	£18	£173

Paper estimated at £5 per 500-sheet ream from Amazon UK. Ink/toner costs based on XL or high-yield consumables.

See that? The “cheap” £45 HP DeskJet ends up being joint most expensive over three years. The EcoTank wins at higher volumes. And the Canon TS3450 and TS5350i are surprisingly competitive thanks to lower purchase prices. Crank the volume up to 100+ pages per month and the Brother laser pulls away as the clear winner.

How to Choose: Decision Framework

Pick the HP DeskJet 2820e if: Your budget is genuinely £50 or less and you barely print anything.

Pick the Canon PIXMA TS3450 if: You want a simple, no-subscription printer under £50 with scanning. My budget pick.

Pick the Epson EcoTank ET-2860 if: You print 50+ pages per month and can afford the upfront cost. Your future self will thank you.

Pick the Brother DCP-L2620DW if: You print mostly essays, want laser reliability, and never want to worry about dried-out ink. My overall pick.

Pick the HP LaserJet M110we if: You want a laser printer in the smallest possible footprint and can live without scanning.

Pick the Canon PIXMA TS5350i if: You need colour printing with decent photo quality at a reasonable price.

Tips for Student Printing

Use your uni’s printers for big jobs. Most universities offer free or subsidised printing quotas — some give you 500+ free pages per year. Save your home printer for convenience jobs. Don’t print a 50-page dissertation at home when the library will do it for free.

Always buy XL or high-yield cartridges. The cost per page drops by 30-50% with larger cartridges. Standard-size cartridges are a false economy. Every time.

Print double-sided. Halves your paper costs and is required for many dissertation submissions anyway. The Brother DCP-L2620DW and Epson EcoTank ET-2860 do this automatically.

Set your default to draft mode. For lecture notes and rough drafts, draft quality uses way less ink and is perfectly readable. Save “best quality” for final submissions.

Keep cartridge printers active. If you use a traditional inkjet, print at least one page per fortnight to prevent nozzle clogging. Set a reminder on your phone. Laser and EcoTank printers don’t have this problem. For more on this, check our guide to printers for infrequent use.

Final Recommendation

For most students, I’d pick the Brother DCP-L2620DW without hesitation. Toner never dries out (so it survives summer holidays), cost per page is low, and it handles essays and lecture notes at cracking speed. It’s the one I’d buy if I were starting uni tomorrow.

Need colour? The Epson EcoTank ET-2860 pays for itself within the first year of moderate use. On the tightest budget imaginable? The Canon PIXMA TS3450 gets the job done for about £50. Just remember to print a test page every couple of weeks to keep those nozzles clear.