Which printer should you buy?
If you want the one that lasts longest, the Brother HL-L6310DW. It's a black-and-white office laser. Brother rates it for up to 12,000 pages a month, almost five times its compact lasers, and its drum for 45,000 pages. That's overkill for a home, and that's the point. You won't come close to wearing it out.
For most homes, the Brother MFC-L2820DW. It's a compact laser that also scans and copies, for a bit more than half the price.
Need color? The Brother MFC-L3780CDW prints it with toner, which can't dry out. Print photos? Get an inkjet, the Epson EcoTank ET-4950.
- Brother HL-L6310DW: ~$630 · Check price on Amazon
- Brother MFC-L2820DW: ~$366 · Check price on Amazon
- Brother MFC-L3780CDW: ~$780 · Check price on Amazon
- Epson EcoTank ET-4950: ~$600 · Check price on Amazon
We picked on durability first. If the best printer weren't sold on Amazon, it would still top this list.
Which printer brands last?
Brother, with Epson close behind. Repair cafés fix 48.7% of the Brother printers they see and 45.7% of Epson's, and they write off fewer of either than HP or Canon. Canon does worst: 35.9% fixed, and 42.6% written off.
| Brand | Records | Fixed | Written off | Typical age at repair |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brother | 520 | 48.7% | 29.4% | 7 yrs |
| Epson | 881 | 45.7% | 28.9% | 5 yrs |
| HP | 1,798 | 39.9% | 37.2% | 7 yrs |
| Canon | 1,624 | 35.9% | 42.6% | 5 yrs |
| Samsung | 177 | 55.4% | 24.3% | -- |
Samsung's record is the best, but you can't buy a new one. HP bought Samsung's printer business in 2017.
Consumer Reports' owner surveys point the same way. They find lasers more reliable than inkjets, and say none of the inkjet brands they survey earn a high reliability rating. Consumer Reports also rates Brother its most reliable printer brand, BGR reported.
Repair figures come from Open Repair Data, which logs repairs at volunteer repair cafés, nearly all of them in Europe. Brands need 100 or more records to be ranked, and fix rates less than 3 points apart count as a tie. We only quote ages for brands with 100 or more recorded: 756 for HP, 713 for Canon, 345 for Epson and 239 for Brother. Consumer Reports' survey covers 69,886 printers bought from 2016 to 2024.
Which printers last?
Brother HL-L6310DW. The Most Durable - Brand fix rate: 48.7% · Durability: 9/10 - Price: ~$630 · Check price on Amazon
The printer we'd buy to never think about printers again. Brother rates it for up to 12,000 pages a month and its drum for 45,000 pages, three times the drum in its compact lasers. Toner comes in cartridges of up to 18,000 pages. Amazon sells it in the US and Canada.
Trade-offs: It prints black and white only, and it doesn't scan or copy. It's a big office machine at an office price. And its warranty is one year, the same as Brother's cheapest lasers.
Brother MFC-L2820DW. Best for Most Homes - Brand fix rate: 48.7% · Durability: 8/10 - Price: ~$366 · Check price on Amazon
A compact laser that also scans, copies and faxes. Brother rates it for up to 2,500 pages a month, far more than most homes print, and its drum for 15,000 pages. The drum is its own part, so you replace it when it wears out, not every time you buy toner.
Only need to print? The Brother HL-L2460DW is the print-only version, with the same drum and the same monthly rating: ~$180 · Check price on Amazon
Trade-offs: Black and white only. The toner in the box is a 700-page starter, so budget for a cartridge soon. One-year warranty.
Brother MFC-L3780CDW. For Color Without Clogs - Brand fix rate: 48.7% · Durability: 8/10 - Price: ~$780 · Check price on Amazon
A color laser that scans and copies. Toner is a dry powder, so a color printer you use twice a month won't clog. Brother rates it for up to 4,000 pages a month and its drum set for 20,000 pages.
Trade-offs: Photos look better from an inkjet. You'll buy four toner cartridges, not one. It costs about twice the MFC-L2820DW, and the warranty is still one year.
Epson EcoTank ET-4950. For Photos - Brand fix rate: 45.7% · Durability: 7/10 - Price: ~$600 · Check price on Amazon
The inkjet we'd get. Epson's repair record is close behind Brother's, and you fill this one from ink bottles instead of buying chipped cartridges. Epson rates a black bottle for about 8,500 pages. It says the printhead is permanent and designed to last the life of the printer.
Trade-offs: It's still an inkjet, and Consumer Reports rates no inkjet brand highly for reliability. A permanent printhead also means there's no cheap swap if it does fail. Epson warns that non-genuine ink can cause damage its one-year warranty won't cover. Amazon's own US stock was delayed when we checked, so third-party sellers had it.
Canon MAXIFY GX2020. Longest US Warranty, Weakest Record - Brand fix rate: 35.9% · Durability: 6/10 - Price: ~$450 · Check price on Amazon
Canon's ink tank all-in-one. Canon gives its MAXIFY GX printers a three-year limited warranty in the US, capped by pages printed. That's three times what Brother and Epson give the printers here.
Trade-offs: Canon has the weakest repair record of the big four brands. Repair cafés fix 35.9% of Canon printers and write off 42.6%, more than any other. If you buy one, the warranty is the reason. We couldn't find Canon's warranty term for Canada.
Durability scores are our editorial ratings, not measurements: lasers above inkjets, then by how many pages the maker rates them for. Fix rates are each brand's, from repair cafés, not each model's. The HL-L6310DW, MFC-L2820DW and MFC-L3780CDW are on DurableFinds with our other durable picks.
Laser or inkjet?
If you print a few pages a week, a laser. Consumer Reports' owner surveys consistently find lasers more reliable than inkjets.
Here's why. Inkjets spray liquid ink through tiny nozzles, and ink left sitting in them can dry. Then you're running cleaning cycles that burn ink to clear the head. Lasers fuse dry toner powder onto the page. There's nothing to dry out.
Inkjets still win on photos, and cartridge inkjets cost less up front. If you print family pictures, get an inkjet and use it often. If you print a shipping label twice a month and a tax return in April, get a laser.
What breaks on a printer?
Of the faults we can sort, jams and stuck parts, and that's the good news: repair cafés fix more than half of them. A printer logged as simply dead is the bad news.
- Jams, gears, and stuck or clogged parts: the most common fault we can sort, fixed 54% of the time.
- Cords, plugs, switches, fuses or the power supply: fixed 37% of the time, and 31% are written off.
- Software: fixed 46% of the time.
- Broken, damaged or leaking: fixed 30% of the time, and 46% are written off.
- Wifi, network or USB: fixed 48% of the time, and only 16% are written off, the fewest of any fault.
- Dead or losing power, no cause noted: the worst odds. Only 17% get fixed, and 61% are written off.
Repair cafés typically see printers and scanners at 6 years old, and the middle half are between 4 and 10.
Fault types are sorted from volunteers' notes by keyword, so they're approximate. A note that names a cause, like a fuse or a jam, is sorted by that cause, so "dead" means the note only said it was dead, losing power or doing nothing. About three in four records don't name a fault we can sort, and that includes English notes about clogged printheads: the sorter files the Dutch and German words for clogged with jams, but doesn't catch the English one. Jams and stuck parts: 514 records; cords, switches and power supplies: 365; software: 189; broken, damaged or leaking: 123; wifi, network or USB: 122; dead or losing power: 109. Ages are recorded for 2,433 printers and scanners.
Will your printer reject third-party ink?
Some will, and HP says so itself. On HP printers with what it calls dynamic security, cartridges with a non-HP chip "may function for a period of time, but then cease to function", and the changes arrive through firmware updates.
Brother was accused in March 2025 of firmware updates that block third-party toner. Brother denied it. Epson warns that non-genuine ink can cause damage its warranty won't cover.
If you plan to use third-party ink or toner, check before you buy, and think twice before installing a firmware update.
What we looked at
Repair records. How often repair cafés fix each brand's printers, how many they write off, and how old the printers are when they come in.
Owner surveys. What Consumer Reports' members say about lasers, inkjets and brands.
What the maker says. How many pages a month each printer is built for, how long the drum lasts, and the warranty, from the maker's own spec sheets.
Where you can buy it. Whether Amazon itself sells it in the US and Canada, and at what price.
Disclosure: Some product links on Sundr are affiliate links. If you buy through them, we may earn a small commission. This doesn't influence our analysis. See our full affiliate disclosure.
What should you look for when shopping?
A printer built for far more than you print. Brother's own spec sheets say a printer lasts longest when its rating far exceeds what you print.
A drum that's separate from the toner. Then you replace the drum when it wears out, not with every toner cartridge.
Bottles, not cartridges, if you go inkjet. EcoTank and MegaTank printers fill from ink bottles.
Plain network printing. A printer that prints without the maker's app or account keeps working if the app goes away.
Before you replace one, check what broke. Repair cafés fix more than half of jams and stuck parts. See if yours is worth fixing.
Compare Brands
See how printer makers compare on repair records:
- Printer brand reliability rankings. Brother, Epson, HP, Canon and more, ranked by repair success rate
- Brother vs Epson: which printer brand is more reliable?
- Brother vs HP: which printer brand is more reliable?
- Brother vs Canon: which printer brand is more reliable?
- Canon vs Epson: which printer brand is more reliable?