Ink tank printers flip the printing economics that have frustrated households for decades. Instead of pricey cartridges that run dry with maddening speed, they use large, refillable built-in tanks fed from cheap bottles of ink — bottles that can hold up to ten times as much as a cartridge. You pay more for the printer, but the refill ink is so cheap that anyone who prints in volume saves a great deal, with no sacrifice in speed or quality. An extensive group test of tank printers from Canon, Epson, HP and Brother sorted the best, and these are the top picks, checked against current UK prices.
What to Look For
The tank economics are the whole point. A cheap cartridge multifunction printer can be had for very little, but its cartridges are dear; a tank printer costs more up front and claws that back through very cheap bottled ink. The more you print, the faster it pays off — and the tanks hold enough for thousands of pages before a refill, even when printing ink-hungry photos.
Speed and print quality still matter. The test timed how long each printer took to produce an A4 text page, an A4 colour graphic and photos at 10 x 15 cm and 18 x 24 cm, and it checked for smudging at 10, 30 and 60 seconds after a page emerged. A fast printer is no use if the pages come out pale or blurry, so look for crisp text, faithful colour and ink that dries quickly. Scan sharpness varies too: the best models resolved fine detail at around 724 ppi, while the weaker Canon Pixma G3560 managed only 512 ppi.
Features earn their keep on an everyday machine. An automatic document feeder and a second paper tray transform scanning and printing for a busy home office; the cheapest tank printers drop these to hit their price, so you feed scans one sheet at a time. Two-sided printing, wireless and app control are all worth having.
Photo printers are a category of their own. If you print images, look for models with extra inks — five or six rather than the usual four — which widen the colour range dramatically, and for A3 support if you want to print larger than a standard sheet.
The Winner: Canon Maxify GX7150
The Canon Maxify GX7150 topped the test, and at around £569.20 it is unashamedly aimed at people who print a lot. It brings text, graphics and photos to paper quickly and extremely cheaply, and it is lavishly equipped — a double paper tray and an automatic document feeder make light of a busy workload. It prints rather loudly, and it differs only marginally from its GX7050 predecessor, but for a high-volume home office it is the one to beat. Check the price on Amazon
Best Budget: Canon Maxify GX1050
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The smallest Maxify, the Canon Maxify GX1050, is the pick for most homes at around £294.88. Canon aims the range at small offices, but this compact, quiet model is just as at home in a study: it is inexpensive to buy, prints extremely cheaply, and turns out prints and scans of high quality. Its one real weakness is that you must feed scan originals one at a time, as there is no document feeder — a fair trade at the price. Check the price on Amazon
Best for Photos: Epson EcoTank ET-8500
If photos are your priority, the Epson EcoTank ET-8500, around £577.95, is the specialist. The price is steep, but you get a genuinely fast, well-equipped printer that — crucially — prints high-quality photos very cheaply using six inks rather than the usual four, for a noticeably wider, truer colour range. For a home darkroom on a desktop, it excels. Check the price on Amazon
Best for Large Photos: Epson EcoTank ET-8550
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The Epson EcoTank ET-8550, about £628.99, is the range-topper for serious photo work. It is fast, high in quality and cheap to run, and its trump card is size: it prints up to A3 — indeed A3+, at 330 x 483 mm — and adds two more inks again for especially high photo quality. It costs a good £100 more than the smaller ET-8500, so it is worth it only if you genuinely want to print larger than a standard sheet — but if you do, nothing here matches it. Check the price on Amazon
Also Tested
The test's designated value pick was the HP Smart Tank 5105, the most affordable route into tank printing. HP saved on features to hit the price — there is no paper cassette or document feeder, and buyers who want those should look to the pricier Smart Tank 7005 or 7305 — but as a cheap way to slash your ink costs it does the job. It is listed on Amazon UK, though its price fluctuates, so check current availability before buying.
How to Choose
Start with your volume. If you print heavily and want every convenience, the Canon Maxify GX7150 justifies its outlay through sheer capability and rock-bottom running costs. For a typical household that prints regularly but not constantly, the Canon Maxify GX1050 delivers almost the same economy in a smaller, cheaper, quieter body. If photos are the point, choose an Epson EcoTank — the ET-8500 for standard sizes, the ET-8550 if you want A3 and the very best image quality. Remember that the sticker price is only half the story: the whole appeal of these machines is what they cost to run, and there the tank design wins decisively over cartridges.
Verdict
For a busy home office the Canon Maxify GX7150 is the printer to buy at around £569.20, pairing speed and features with tiny running costs. Most homes will be happier with the cheaper, compact Canon Maxify GX1050 at about £294.88. Photo enthusiasts should reach for the six-ink Epson EcoTank ET-8500 at around £577.95, or the A3-capable ET-8550 at about £628.99 for the ultimate in home photo printing. Whichever you choose, a tank printer's low ink costs make it the smart long-term buy for anyone who prints more than the occasional page.
