How we test printers

Our rigorous printer testing sees premium and budget models going head to head. You can use our results to help you choose a great value printer that products quality, low cost prints. Discover how our expert tests help you pick the right model for you.

Why our printer tests are different

Almost all free printer reviews you can read online use an individual tester and come up with scores based on that individual’s preferences. These same sites also typically get printers free of charge directly from manufacturers or their PR representatives.

But Which? is different. As well as using multiple testers in a lab-based scenario, our own overall percentage score is calculated purely on the measurements and ratings supplied by the lab. This means there's no room for unconscious bias when giving an overall rating - so you can trust our results. We also buy every single printer we test, and do not accept free samples for any of our full lab tests. 

Nobody goes to the lengths we do to find out which are the best home printers.

What are Which? Best Buys, Don't Buys, Great Value and Eco Buys?

Best Buys are given to printers that impress the most in our tests. A printer that scores 70% or more is a Best Buy and comes with a firm overall recommendation from us – although you should still read our printer reviews to check for any factors that might impact your buying decision.

On the other hand, printers that score 45% or less are Don’t Buys and should be avoided. 

Best Buy Printers

Best Buy printers typically do well in most, if not all, of our tough tests. They are the best at turning out high-quality prints, won’t cost you a small fortune on ink or toner, so your money will go further with a Best Buy printer.

Don’t Buy Printers

Don't Buy printers aren't worth your money. They're a pain to set up and are often let down by fiddly controls, low-quality prints, grainy copies and high running costs.

Great Value Printers

How much buyers are willing to spend on a printer varies, so that’s where our Great Value recommendation comes in. Great Value models do pretty well in our tests – scoring 60% or more – and these printers still score three stars or better for printing costs, so they won't cost a fortune to run. 

They're also at least 20% cheaper than the average price for that type of product in our tests. Great Value models are the ones to go for if you’re looking for a bargain. Some Great Value models may also score well enough to be Best Buys.

Eco Buy Printers

If you want to make the most sustainable choice when next buying a printer, an Eco Buy is for you. Eco Buy printers will have a lower impact on the environment over their lifetimes than other printers. 

We calculate the impact in three ways: how energy efficient it is, how little ink or toner it uses, and if it can auto-duplex. To become an Eco Buy, a printer must: 

• Have a total test score of at least 60% 
• Have a five stars out of five for power use 
• Have at least four stars for print quality and speed 
• Have at least four stars for printing costs 
• Be able to auto-duplex.

Only between 5% and 10% of the printers we test are sustainable enough to be Which? Eco Buys. To find out which of the printers that we've tested qualify, head to our Eco Buy printer reviews. 

How is the Which? score calculated?

The Which? overall score is a percentage. This score only takes into account the results of our tests and ignores price completely. This means that all printers are tested on exactly the same scale, so you can compare any printer at any price, and know how it measures up against its rivals in key areas. All printers are tested in the same way, regardless of the manufacturers’ claims.

Our Best Buy printers are the ones that performed the very best in our professional tests - they're the top models on the market.

Weightings and star ratings

A Which? overall score is made up of dozens of individual tests and checks, from key factors such as print quality, print speed and ease of printing. This means that the most important things – such as the quality of a printer's colour copies, will more greatly impact a printer’s score than whether or not the machine is loud.

To keep things simple, the most important scores are shown as star ratings out of five on each printer’s Test Results page as an easy-to-compare list of strengths and weaknesses, so you can quickly work out whether a printer is right for you.

How the overall printer test score is calculated

As you'd expect, our printer scores are principally based on the model's performance when printing, but we do also factor in the ink costs as well - because a printer that wastes lots of ink isn't a great printer, even if the printed page looks great.

Here's how we weight our printer scores, regardless of the type of printer:

• 55% - printing performance
• 20% - ink costs
• 20% - ease of use 
• 5% - networking

Our key testing criteria

Below are the key testing categories and how we evaluate each one:

Printing quality and ease of use

Key question: Does this printer turn out impressive mono and colour prints?

We test print quality for letters, photos and graphics pages containing charts and graphs, plus those made up of text and images - such as a web page. Our expert-panel assess and rate prints for colour accuracy, sharpness and overall print quality. We even check whether prints will smudge under a highlighter pen or will smear if they rub up against something in your bag.

From connecting to your home network and printing from laptops, tablets and smartphones, to clearing the occasional paper jam, we assess how easy printers are to live with.

We check whether printers can automatically print double-sided to the same standard as single-sided prints without changing the format of your documents. And to avoid the frustration of being left with half of a printed report when a cartridge runs out, we check whether you can still print using the other cartridges while you wait for a replacement.

Printing speed

Key question: How fast is this printer for everyday tasks?

We’ve seen printers take more than half an hour to produce a single A4 photo print, while the best need just a minute and a half, and don’t compromise on quality. The quickest printers turn out 18 text pages per minute – three times more than the slowest printers.

We time the print speed of different types of documents and how long a printer takes to turn out the first page after you switch it on. A slow starter will leave you waiting a minute and a half for your first page.

Printing costs

Key question: Can you be sure you’ll get cost-effective prints?

Ink cartridges can be expensive and there’s no way of knowing if a printer will be cheap to run just by looking at it.

Many printers automatically clean themselves when you're not even printing, using precious ink. Our unique occasional printing test takes weeks to run – and captures the cost of any ink used for automatic cleaning, so you’ll know which printers will be cheapest to print with at home.

By weighing ink cartridges before and after our printing tests, we can work out the amount of ink used for printing and lost on cleaning. The worst offenders use four times more ink when you leave time between print jobs, compared with printing the same number of pages in one go, cranking up your ink costs.

See our expert pick of the best cheap printers to buy and run. Plus we reveal the best cheap printer ink cartridges.

Printer scanning and copying

Key question: How well does the printer replicate the tones, colours and contrast of the originals?

Our printer tests put scan and copy functions under the microscope. We also check they don’t chop off any part of the original as well as timing how long different types of page take to scan and copy from black text to photos.

Our comprehensive testing ensures you get a printer that doesn't catch you out – see our printer reviews to find your perfect model.