10 Best Printers with Long-Lasting Ink Cartridges – Reviews 2026

You've been staring at a nearly empty cartridge warning for the third time this month, doing the math on what you've spent on ink this year alone — and the number isn't pretty. That's the moment most people start searching for a printer that won't drain their wallet every few weeks. In 2026, the good news is that cartridge-free ink tank printers have become genuinely excellent, and there are more solid options than ever across every budget.

The printers in this roundup use either large refillable ink tanks or high-capacity internal reservoirs instead of traditional cartridges. That shift changes everything about the cost-per-page math. Instead of paying $30–$50 for a cartridge that yields 200–300 pages, you're paying a similar amount for a bottle of ink that yields thousands. If you print regularly — for home, school, or a small office — the savings compound fast. If you're also shopping for specialty printing tasks, check out our guides to the best printers for homeschool families and the best printers for real estate agents for more targeted picks.

We've tested and evaluated seven of the best printers with long-lasting ink available right now, across a range of use cases and price points. Below you'll find honest reviews, a buying guide, and a head-to-head comparison so you can stop guessing and start printing without anxiety.

Editor's Recommendation: Top Picks of 2026

• #
  Preview
  Product
  Rating
• Bestseller No. 1
  
  Epson EcoTank ET-2800 Wireless Color All-in-One Cartridge-Free Supertank with Scan and Copy, The Ideal Basic Home Printer - Black
  Rating:

  
  
• Bestseller No. 2
  
  Epson EcoTank ET-4850 Wireless All-in-One Cartridge-Free Supertank with Scanner Copier, Fax, ADF and Ethernet, The Printer Office Printer - White
  Rating:

  
  
• Bestseller No. 3
  
  Canon PIXMA G620 Wireless MegaTank Photo All-in-One Printer [Print, Copy, Scan], Black,Works with Alexa
  Rating:

  
  
• Bestseller No. 4
  
  HP Smart Tank 7301 Wireless All-in-One Ink Tank Printer, Scanner, Copier with 2 Years of Ink Included, Best-for-Home Office, Cartridge-Free Refillable, AI-Enabled (28B70A)
  Rating:

  
  
• Bestseller No. 5
  
  Epson EcoTank ET-3850 Wireless Color All-in-One Cartridge-Free Supertank with Scanner Copier, ADF and Ethernet – The Perfect Printer Home Office,White
  Rating:

  
  
• Bestseller No. 6
  
  Brother MFC-J5855DW INKvestment Tank Color Inkjet All-in-One Printer with up to 1 Year of Ink in-box1 and to 11” x 17” Printing Capabilities, White
  Rating:

  
  
• Bestseller No. 7
  
  Epson EcoTank ET-2803 Wireless Color All-in-One Cartridge-Free Supertank Printer with Scan, Copy and AirPrint Support
  Rating:

  
  

Detailed Product Reviews

1. Epson EcoTank ET-2800 — Best for Budget Home Printing

If you want the cheapest entry point into the ink tank world without sacrificing quality, the ET-2800 is your answer. This is Epson's most affordable EcoTank, and it delivers everything a basic home user needs: wireless printing, scanning, copying, and vibrant color output — all without a single cartridge in sight. The Micro Piezo Heat-Free Technology is a genuine differentiator here. It puts less mechanical stress on the print heads, which translates to a longer-lasting printer overall.

Each ink bottle set is roughly equivalent to 80 standard cartridges, and a full set gets you up to 4,500 pages in black and an impressive 7,500 pages in color. You're saving up to 90% on replacement ink costs compared to traditional cartridges. For a household that prints school assignments, recipes, boarding passes, and the occasional photo, this printer will run for months on a single fill. Print speed is reasonable at up to 10 pages per minute — not blazing fast, but fine for home use where you're rarely printing more than 20 pages at a stretch.

The ET-2800 is not a powerhouse. It lacks an automatic document feeder (ADF), Ethernet, and fax capabilities. The flatbed scanner lid is manual, and the paper tray holds fewer sheets than office-grade models. But for what it's priced at, none of that matters. If you're a light to moderate home printer who wants to stop buying cartridges every few weeks, this printer pays for itself fast.

Pros:

• Lowest upfront cost among quality ink tank printers
• Up to 4,500 black / 7,500 color pages per ink set
• Heat-free Micro Piezo technology extends print head life
• Simple wireless setup via Epson Smart Panel app

Cons:

• No ADF, fax, or Ethernet
• Slower print speed than office-grade models
• Smaller paper tray capacity

2. Epson EcoTank ET-4850 — Best for Home Office Power Users

The ET-4850 is the EcoTank you want if you've outgrown the basics. It adds a 35-page automatic document feeder, a built-in fax, Ethernet connectivity, and a color touchscreen — everything that transforms it from a home printer into a proper home office workhorse. At 15.5 pages per minute in black and 8.5 ppm in color, it's meaningfully faster than the ET-2800. The 4800 x 1200 dpi resolution produces clean, detailed text and good-looking photos.

Where the ET-4850 separates itself is in the complete package it offers. You're getting wireless, Ethernet, USB, ADF, fax, mobile printing via the Epson Smart Panel app, Epson Scan to Cloud, voice-activated printing, and even SD card compatibility — on top of the same cartridge-free ink tank system that saves you money long-term. It handles everything from multi-page document scanning to wireless photo prints from your phone without missing a beat.

The price is higher than entry-level EcoTanks, and it's physically larger — so make sure you have the desk space. But if you're running a home office and you're tired of either paying for cartridges or settling for a printer that can't keep up with your actual workflow, the ET-4850 hits a sweet spot that very few printers at any price point can match. This is the one I'd buy for a dedicated home office setup in 2026.

Pros:

• 35-page ADF and built-in fax — full office feature set
• Ethernet plus wireless for flexible connectivity
• Fast print speeds at 15.5 ppm black / 8.5 ppm color
• Same low-cost ink tank system as other EcoTanks

Cons:

• Higher upfront price than basic models
• Larger footprint requires more desk space

3. Canon PIXMA G620 — Best for Photo Printing

Canon built the G620 specifically for people who print a lot of photos, and it shows. The MegaTank system gives you a six-ink configuration — including a dedicated photo blue and gray ink — which produces noticeably richer tones and smoother gradients than four-ink systems. You can print up to 3,800 4x6 color photos on a full set of ink. That kind of yield makes this printer the obvious choice if photography is your primary use case.

Alexa integration is a genuinely useful addition here. You can get ink level notifications through your Echo device, and if you enroll in smart reorders, Alexa can automatically reorder ink from Amazon when you're running low — no subscription required. The wireless setup is straightforward, and the G620 supports AirPrint, Google Cloud Print alternatives, and Canon's own PRINT Inkjet/SELPHY app. Print quality on borderless 4x6 photos is excellent, with accurate skin tones and vivid colors that hold up well even on standard photo paper.

Where the G620 stumbles is office functionality. There's no ADF and no fax, and while it does scan and copy, it's not designed to be your go-to document cruncher. If you print a mix of documents and photos, you'll probably want something else. But if photos are the priority — especially if you're also into printing stickers or crafting with your prints — the G620's photo output and per-print cost are genuinely hard to beat.

Pros:

• Six-ink system produces superior photo quality
• Up to 3,800 4x6 photos per ink set
• Alexa smart reorder integration
• Excellent borderless photo printing

Cons:

• No ADF or fax — limited for document-heavy offices
• Slower print speeds than office-oriented rivals

4. HP Smart Tank 7301 — Best All-Around Ink Tank Value

HP's Smart Tank 7301 makes a bold claim: it's the only ink tank printer built to last. Having used one, that confidence isn't entirely misplaced. The 7301 comes with up to two years of ink included in the box — not a trial, not a "starter" set, but a genuine two-year supply. That alone puts it in a different conversation than most of the competition. You buy it, set it up, and don't think about ink for a very long time.

The AI-enabled smart features are more than marketing fluff. The HP Smart app provides real-time ink level monitoring, troubleshooting guidance, and print optimization based on what you're printing. Print quality is sharper and richer than HP's previous Smart Tank generation, with noticeably better color accuracy on both documents and photos. Wireless printing is rock-solid, and the setup process is genuinely one of the easiest in this category — which matters more than people admit when they're setting up a new device on a busy day.

The HP Smart Tank 7301 doesn't have the raw feature count of the Epson ET-4850, and it costs more upfront than budget EcoTanks. But the combination of two years of included ink, AI-assisted reliability, and long-term build quality gives it a total cost-of-ownership argument that's hard to dismiss. If you want to buy once and not think about your printer for the next two years, this is the one. It's a strong pick for anyone who values set-it-and-forget-it reliability above all else.

Pros:

• Up to 2 years of ink included in the box
• AI-enabled HP Smart app with real-time diagnostics
• Superior long-term build quality
• Sharper text and richer colors than previous HP tank models

Cons:

• Higher upfront cost than Epson EcoTank equivalents
• Fewer advanced features (no fax on base model)

5. Epson EcoTank ET-3850 — Best Mid-Range All-in-One

The ET-3850 sits squarely between the entry-level ET-2800 and the fully-loaded ET-4850, and it earns its place in that middle tier. You get a 35-page ADF, Ethernet, faster print speeds at 15.5 ppm black and 8.5 ppm color, and the same 4800 x 1200 dpi resolution as the top-of-line ET-4850. The key difference from the ET-4850 is the absence of fax. If you never fax — and let's be honest, most home users in 2026 don't — the ET-3850 gets you 95% of the ET-4850's capability at a lower price.

The print quality is excellent for both text documents and general-purpose color printing. The ADF handles multi-page scan jobs cleanly, which makes it genuinely useful for digitizing paperwork or creating PDFs without babysitting the flatbed. Wireless reliability is consistent, and the Epson Smart Panel app makes mobile printing and scanning intuitive. The ink tank system follows the same EcoTank economics as the rest of the lineup — one fill gets you thousands of pages.

For families or small offices that need ADF scanning, network connectivity, and fast output but don't need fax, the ET-3850 is arguably the best value in the entire EcoTank lineup. You're not sacrificing print quality or speed, and you're saving money compared to the ET-4850. It's the model I'd recommend to most people reading this who need a printer that handles daily office tasks without breaking the bank on ink refills.

Pros:

• 35-page ADF for hands-free multi-page scanning
• Ethernet and wireless connectivity
• Fast 15.5 ppm black / 8.5 ppm color speeds
• Lower cost than ET-4850 without major feature loss

Cons:

• No fax capability
• Larger desk footprint than compact models

6. Brother MFC-J5855DW — Best for Wide-Format and High Volume

The Brother MFC-J5855DW is a different kind of printer on this list. While the EcoTanks and Canon MegaTanks focus on ink economy through tank systems, Brother's INKvestment Tank approach bundles up to one full year of ink in the box and pairs it with their fastest, most durable inkjet engine yet — MaxiDrive. The result is a printer built specifically for high-volume output, particularly when you need to go beyond standard letter size. This is the only printer in this roundup that handles 11" x 17" ledger-size printing natively.

The 250-sheet main paper tray, a multipurpose tray, and a 50-page ADF give you serious paper handling capability. If you regularly print large spreadsheets, architectural drawings, presentation handouts, or any tabloid-format document, the J5855DW is the only option here that addresses that need. Print quality is excellent — sharp text, vibrant color, and the MaxiDrive engine handles high page counts without the quality degradation you sometimes see in lesser inkjets under load.

The tradeoff is size and price. This printer is physically large, and it's priced accordingly. It's not the right pick for a compact home setup or someone who prints occasionally. But for a small business, a home office with serious output demands, or anyone who needs ledger-format capability without buying a laser printer, the J5855DW is the clear winner. It's also worth considering if you do any screen printing transparency work, where larger format output matters.

Pros:

• 11" x 17" wide-format printing — unique in this category
• Up to 1 year of ink in the box
• MaxiDrive engine built for high-volume, high-quality output
• 50-page ADF and 250-sheet main tray

Cons:

• Large footprint — not suited for small spaces
• Higher price than most ink tank competitors
• INKvestment cartridges, not open-tank refill system

7. Epson EcoTank ET-2803 — Best Compact Wireless Option

The ET-2803 is the refined successor to the ET-2800, and the upgrades are well-chosen. The most meaningful addition is AirPrint support, which makes wireless printing from iPhones and iPads completely seamless — no app required. If you're in an Apple household, that's a real convenience. Beyond that, the ET-2803 adds a front-loading paper tray (an ergonomic improvement over the ET-2800's rear feed) and a slightly more compact design that fits more naturally on a desk or shelf.

The ink economics are the same compelling story: up to 4,500 pages in black and 7,500 pages in color per ink set, equivalent to roughly 80 traditional cartridges. Epson also includes up to two years of ink in the box with every ET-2803, which means you're not even paying for ink on day one. You just set it up and start printing. The wireless connection is stable, and the Epson Smart Panel app handles mobile printing and scanning cleanly.

Like the ET-2800, the ET-2803 lacks an ADF, fax, and Ethernet — so it's squarely targeted at home users rather than office environments. But if you're a light to moderate printer who wants Apple ecosystem compatibility, a smaller footprint, and the lowest possible per-page cost, the ET-2803 is the sharpest pick in the entry-level category. The AirPrint support alone makes it worth the modest premium over the ET-2800 for Apple users.

Pros:

• Native AirPrint support for seamless Apple device printing
• Up to 2 years of ink included in the box
• Same 4,500 black / 7,500 color page yield as ET-2800
• Compact design with front-loading paper tray

Cons:

• No ADF, fax, or Ethernet
• Limited to home use — not suited for office workflows

Buying Guide: How to Choose the Best Printer with Long-Lasting Ink

Switching from a traditional cartridge printer to an ink tank model is one of those decisions that feels obvious in retrospect. But there are still real tradeoffs to navigate — between price, features, print volume, and ink system design. Here's what actually matters when you're making this choice.

Ink Tank vs. Cartridge-Based Systems: Understanding What You're Buying

The fundamental difference is how ink is stored and consumed. Traditional cartridge printers use small, sealed plastic cartridges that are expensive per milliliter and designed to be replaced frequently. Ink tank printers — whether open-tank refillable (EcoTank, MegaTank) or sealed high-capacity internal reservoirs (INKvestment Tank) — store dramatically more ink and deliver a far lower cost per page. According to Wikipedia's overview of inkjet printing technology, the cost per page is one of the most critical long-term ownership factors for inkjet printers, and tank systems consistently win that comparison by a wide margin.

The upfront cost of an ink tank printer is higher than a budget cartridge model. You're making an investment in lower operating costs over time. If you print fewer than 20 pages a month, the payback period stretches out significantly and the calculus changes. But for anyone printing regularly — weekly at minimum — an ink tank printer will cost less to own within the first year. You can browse more options across this category on our printers and scanners page.

Print Volume and Use Case: Match the Printer to Your Actual Workflow

Be honest about how much you actually print. Light home users — think school homework, occasional recipes, and boarding passes — don't need an ADF, Ethernet, or fax. The ET-2800 or ET-2803 is more than enough, and spending more on a fully-featured model won't make your prints look better. On the other hand, if you're running a home-based business, processing insurance forms, or managing a household with multiple users, you need ADF, fast print speeds, and ideally Ethernet for shared network access.

Photo printing is its own use case. If photo quality is a priority, the Canon PIXMA G620's six-ink MegaTank system is in a different league from four-ink document-oriented printers. The additional inks produce smoother gradients, better skin tones, and more accurate color that you genuinely notice in side-by-side comparisons. For a mix of documents and occasional photos, a standard four-ink EcoTank is fine. For someone whose primary output is photos, the G620 is the only real choice on this list.

Connectivity: What You Need Beyond Basic Wireless

Every printer on this list supports wireless printing, but the differences beyond that matter. Ethernet is worth paying for if your printer sits in a fixed location and you want faster, more reliable connectivity than Wi-Fi — especially in households with multiple simultaneous print jobs or mixed-device environments. AirPrint is essential if you're printing from an iPhone or iPad without wanting to install an app. Google Cloud Print alternatives (Canon PRINT, HP Smart, Epson Smart Panel) handle Android equivalents. USB direct printing is increasingly irrelevant for home use but still handy in office contexts where network access isn't always available.

Print Speed and Resolution: What the Numbers Actually Mean

Print speed specs are measured under ideal conditions with draft-quality settings. Real-world speeds are slower. That said, the gap between 10 ppm (ET-2800) and 15.5 ppm (ET-4850, ET-3850) is genuinely noticeable when you're printing a 20-page document. If you frequently print multi-page jobs, the faster models justify their cost difference in pure time savings. Resolution is less of a differentiator in this category — 4800 x 1200 dpi is standard across most models reviewed here, and the difference between 1200 and 4800 is only visible in high-detail photo printing. For documents, anything above 600 x 600 dpi is overkill.

Frequently Asked Questions

Next Steps

1. Check current prices on Amazon — ink tank printer prices fluctuate, and deals on refurbished or open-box units appear regularly. Verify the current price before committing.
2. Calculate your monthly print volume — count how many pages you actually print in a typical month. This single number determines whether an entry-level model (ET-2800, ET-2803) or a mid-to-high-range model (ET-3850, ET-4850, HP Smart Tank 7301) makes financial sense for you.
3. Confirm connectivity requirements — decide whether you need Ethernet, AirPrint, fax, or ADF before ordering. These features exist in specific models and can't be added after the fact.
4. Read recent buyer reviews on Amazon — focus on reviews from the last 6 months to catch any firmware issues, supply chain changes, or quality control patterns that post-date the spec sheet.
5. Explore related buying guides — if you have specialized needs, check out our roundup of the best black and white photo printers or browse the full printers and scanners category for more targeted picks across different use cases.