Best Printer for Teachers (2026)

Teaching must be the only profession where you’re expected to buy your own office equipment, use it for your employer’s benefit, and not think twice about it. Every teacher I know has a printer at home. Most print 200-500 pages a month, including worksheets, lesson resources, display materials, and reports, while paying for every drop of ink out of their own pocket.

My sister teaches Year 4. Last year she spent over £200 on ink cartridges. Two hundred quid. That’s more than some teachers spend on classroom resources. When she told me, I drove over that weekend with a laser printer and set it up for her. Her printing costs dropped to about £30 for the rest of the year.

If you’re a teacher buying a printer or replacing one that’s bled you dry, this guide will help you pick the right one.

What Teachers Actually Need From a Printer

I’ve spoken to my sister, her colleagues, and two friends who teach secondary about their printing habits. They have the following needs in common:

High-volume mono printing. Worksheets, quizzes, reading comprehensions, homework sheets. 80% of what teachers print is black text on white paper. Speed and low cost per page matter more than anything else here.

Occasional colour printing. Display headings, reward certificates, science diagrams, geography maps. Doesn’t need to be photo-quality, but needs to be clear and vibrant enough to look decent on a classroom wall.

Scanning and copying. Copying pages from textbooks, scanning student work to upload to Google Classroom or Seesaw, duplicating resources. A flatbed scanner with an automatic document feeder (ADF) saves serious time.

A3 printing (some teachers). If you make your own displays, A3 printing saves a great deal of time compared with tiling A4 sheets. It is not essential for everyone but is extremely useful when you need it.

Reliability during holidays. Teachers print heavily during term time, then barely at all for six weeks over summer. The printer needs to work reliably after sitting idle for weeks.

That last point rules out cheap inkjet printers. Ink dries out. Nozzles clog. You come back in September, hit print, and get streaky garbage. For more on this, see our best printer for infrequent use guide.

The 6 Best Printers for Teachers

1. Brother HL-L2400DW: Best for Worksheets

If 80% of what you print is mono worksheets and you want the lowest running cost, this is the one. The Brother HL-L2400DW is a mono laser printer that prints 30 pages per minute, supports automatic duplex (double-sided) printing, and connects wirelessly.

Price: Currently around £100-130 on Amazon UK.

Key specs:

• Print speed: 30 pages per minute
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi, USB
• Duplex: Automatic
• Toner yield: 700 pages (starter), 3,000 pages (TN-2510XL)

Running cost: A compatible TN-2510XL toner costs about £15-20 and prints roughly 3,000 pages. That’s 0.5-0.7p per page. Print 300 worksheets a month and your annual toner spend is about £18.

Why teachers love it: It’s fast and quiet, and the toner never dries out. That makes it well suited to the summer holidays. Duplex printing halves your paper usage, which adds up when you’re printing hundreds of worksheets a month.

Downsides: Mono only. No scanner. No colour. If you need colour for displays, you’ll need a second printer or to use the school printer for those jobs.

Best for: Any teacher who mainly prints text-heavy worksheets and resources.

2. Brother DCP-L2620DW: Best All-Rounder for Teachers

The DCP-L2620DW uses the same excellent Brother laser engine as the model above but adds a built-in scanner and copier. Its flatbed scanner has a 50-sheet automatic document feeder, which is particularly useful for scanning stacks of student work or copying pages from textbooks.

Price: Currently around £205-215 on Amazon UK.

Key specs:

• Print speed: 32 pages per minute
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi, USB, Ethernet
• Duplex: Automatic
• Scanner: Flatbed + 50-sheet ADF
• Toner yield: 700 pages (starter), 3,000 pages (high-yield)

Running cost: Like the HL-L2400DW, it costs about 0.5-0.7p per page with compatible toner.

My sister uses this exact model. She scans worksheets directly to her Google Drive using the Brother app, then shares them on Google Classroom. The ADF means she can load up 30 pages of student work and walk away while it scans. Before this, she was photographing pages with her phone. The scanner alone justifies the extra £40-50 over the print-only model.

Downsides: Still mono only. The scanner glass attracts dust and needs regular cleaning for sharp scans. A bit bulky for a small home desk.

Best for: Teachers who need scanning, copying, and high-volume mono printing. The best all-round choice for most teachers.

3. Epson EcoTank ET-2861: Best for Colour on a Budget

If you print colour displays, certificates, and diagrams regularly, the EcoTank system costs far less to run than a traditional cartridge inkjet. The ET-2861 comes with enough ink to print roughly 4,500 mono or 7,500 colour pages. Replacement ink bottles are about £8-10 each.

Price: Currently around £145-155 on Amazon UK.

Key specs:

• Print speed: 10.5 ppm (mono), 5 ppm (colour)
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi, USB
• Duplex: Automatic
• Scanner: Flatbed (no ADF)
• Ink yield: 4,500 mono / 7,500 colour (included)

Running cost: About 0.2p per mono page and 0.5p per colour page. Its colour printing costs less per page than most mono laser printing.

A teacher friend of mine prints all her classroom displays on her EcoTank, including vibrant colour maps, timeline posters, and book cover images, all for fractions of a penny per page. She’s been using it for two years and hasn’t bought replacement ink yet.

Downsides: Slow. 5 pages per minute in colour is painful when you’re printing 50 colour certificates at 9pm on a Sunday. No ADF on the scanner. Being an inkjet, it can struggle after very long periods of inactivity, although the large tanks fare better than cartridges. See our cheapest printer ink guide for more on ink economics.

Best for: Teachers who print a lot of colour resources and want the lowest possible running costs.

4. HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 3301fdw: Best Colour Laser

If you want colour printing with laser speed and reliability and have the budget, the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 3301fdw is a dependable choice. It prints 22 pages per minute in both mono and colour and includes a scanner, ADF, and fax.

Price: Currently around £455-470 on Amazon UK. It is a substantial investment.

Key specs:

• Print speed: 22 ppm (mono and colour)
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi, USB, Ethernet
• Duplex: Automatic
• Scanner: Flatbed + 50-sheet ADF
• Toner yield: ~1,200 pages per cartridge

Running cost: With genuine toner, colour pages cost about 12-15p each. Compatible toner brings that down to 4-6p. Mono pages are about 2-3p with compatibles.

Why it’s good: Fast colour printing. Laser reliability means no drying or clogging. The ADF handles multi-page scanning quickly. Colour worksheets and displays come out crisp and professional. It offers much of the convenience of a department printer at home.

Downsides: Expensive upfront. The four toner cartridges mean replacement costs add up, even with compatibles. It’s physically large and needs a proper spot, not a corner of your desk. The HP Smart app can be annoying with its constant sign-in prompts.

Best for: Teachers (or departments) with budget to spend who want fast, reliable colour printing with scanning.

5. Brother MFC-J5340DW: Best for A3 Displays

If you make your own classroom displays and want to print A3 posters, headers, and diagrams without tiling A4 sheets, the Brother MFC-J5340DW is one of the most affordable A3 printers going. It prints up to A3, scans up to A4, and has a 250-sheet paper tray.

Price: Currently around £155-165 on Amazon UK.

Key specs:

• Print speed: 28 ppm (mono), 21 ppm (colour)
• Max print size: A3
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi, USB, Ethernet
• Duplex: Automatic (A4 only)
• Scanner: Flatbed + 20-sheet ADF

Running cost: It uses LC422XL cartridges. Compatible cartridges cost about £12-15 each and yield roughly 1,500 mono or 1,500 colour pages. That works out to about 1-2p per mono page.

I helped a friend’s wife, an NQT teaching Year 6, set this up last September. She prints A3 reading corner headers, science vocabulary displays, and large timeline posters. The quality is more than good enough for classroom walls, and she can print a full A3 colour poster in about 40 seconds.

Downsides: It’s an inkjet, so the cartridges can dry out over summer. Run a test page before the end of each half-term to keep the heads clear. The A3 paper tray is shared with A4, so you’re swapping paper when you switch sizes. It’s also quite big.

Best for: Teachers who create their own display materials and want to print posters without tiling.

6. Canon PIXMA MegaTank G3570: Best Budget Colour Alternative

If the Epson EcoTank is out of stock or you prefer Canon’s system, the MegaTank G3570 offers similar ink economy. It comes with enough ink for roughly 6,000 mono or 7,700 colour pages. Replacement bottles are £9-12.

Price: Currently around £160-170 on Amazon UK.

Key specs:

• Print speed: 11 ppm (mono), 6 ppm (colour)
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi, USB
• Duplex: No
• Scanner: Flatbed (no ADF)
• Ink yield: 6,000 mono / 7,700 colour (included)

Running cost: Similar to the Epson EcoTank at well under 1p per mono page and about 0.5p per colour page.

Downsides: No automatic duplex printing, which is frustrating for worksheet printing; you’ll need to flip pages manually. No ADF on the scanner. Slightly slower than the Epson. Still an inkjet with the usual clogging risks during long breaks. If you’re deciding between the two brands for your classroom setup, our Epson vs Canon printers comparison covers the differences in more depth.

Best for: Teachers who want ultra-cheap colour printing and don’t mind manual duplex.

Comparison Table

Printer	Type	Colour	Speed	Scanner	Duplex	Price
Brother HL-L2400DW	Laser	Mono	30 ppm	No	Auto	£100-130
Brother DCP-L2620DW	Laser	Mono	32 ppm	Yes + ADF	Auto	£205-215
Epson EcoTank ET-2861	Inkjet	Yes	10.5 ppm	Yes	Auto	£145-155
HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 3301fdw	Laser	Yes	22 ppm	Yes + ADF	Auto	£455-470
Brother MFC-J5340DW	Inkjet	Yes	28 ppm	Yes + ADF	Auto (A4)	£155-165
Canon MegaTank G3570	Inkjet	Yes	11 ppm	Yes	No	£160-170

Running Costs Compared (300 Pages/Month)

For a teacher printing 300 pages a month, a fairly typical term-time volume, the estimated running costs are:

Printer	Monthly Cost (Mono)	Annual Cost (Mono)
Brother laser + compatible toner	£1.50-2.10	£18-25
Epson EcoTank	£0.60-0.90	£7-11
Canon MegaTank	£0.60-0.90	£7-11
HP Colour Laser + compatible	£6-9	£72-108
Standard inkjet + genuine cartridges	£21-30	£252-360

The last row is what my sister was spending. Over £250 a year on ink. That’s a proper kick in the teeth when you’re already buying glue sticks and whiteboard markers out of your own pay.

My Recommendation

For most teachers: Brother DCP-L2620DW for everyday worksheets and scanning, plus the school’s colour printer for the occasional display. Total annual cost: about £20 in toner and £15 in paper. Done.

If you print a lot of colour materials at home, add an Epson EcoTank ET-2861 as your colour printer. Two printers may sound excessive, but the combined annual running cost is under £30, less than three months of genuine inkjet cartridges.

If you can only buy one printer and need colour, the EcoTank is the pick. Accept the slower speed and lack of ADF, and enjoy colour printing that costs almost nothing per page.

Related Guides

• Best All-in-One Printer: a wider roundup of multifunction printers
• Advantages of Laser Printers: why laser makes sense for high-volume text
• Cheapest Printer Ink: how to reduce your ink costs on any printer