An automatic document feeder takes a stack of paper and scans or copies it without you lifting the lid between pages. It is unglamorous, it is the difference between a twelve-page contract being one action or twelve, and on a refillable tank printer it is startlingly expensive.
How we picked
We listed only models where the manufacturer publishes an automatic document feeder on its own product page. Where a page referenced a feeder without stating its capacity, we have said so rather than repeating a sheet count from a retailer listing.
We then compared the total cost of getting a feeder, which is where this page diverges from most: the cheapest way to own a document feeder is not a tank printer at all, and we think a reader deserves to be told that on the page they searched for.
What a feeder costs on a tank printer
| Printer | Feeder | Auto duplex | List price | Mono per page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Epson EcoTank ET-4950 | Automatic document feeder | Yes | $499.99 | ~0.3¢ |
| Epson EcoTank ET-4800 | Automatic document feeder | Not stated | Not published where we checked | ~0.4¢ |
| Epson EcoTank ET-2800 | None — flatbed only | No | $239.99 | ~0.4¢ |
| Brother DCP-L2640DW (laser) | 50-page feeder | Yes | $209.99 | ~3.3¢ |
Prices and features as published on each manufacturer's product page on the dates recorded in our sources. These are list prices, not current retail prices.
Read that table in one direction and the feeder on an EcoTank costs $260 over the ET-2800. Read it in the other and a mono laser with a fifty-page feeder costs $30 less than the flatbed-only tank printer. Both readings are true, and which one matters depends entirely on whether you need color.
The specification to check before you buy
Not all feeders scan both sides. A single-sided feeder takes your stack, scans the fronts, and leaves you to turn the whole pile over and do it again — which is better than nothing and much worse than people assume when they see the word automatic.
Brother publishes that the MFC-L2820DW’s fifty-page feeder scans one side only. Where a manufacturer does not state duplex scanning, assume single-sided: it is the feature makers advertise loudly when they have it.
A feeder against a phone camera
Phone scanning apps have become genuinely good, and for one or two pages they are faster than walking to a printer. They fall apart at volume: twenty pages means twenty photographs, twenty crops and a document nobody wants to read.
The honest threshold is about five pages. Below it, use your phone and do not buy a feeder. Above it, regularly, the feeder is the best money on the specification sheet.
What you are still paying per page
The feeder is a purchase, not a running cost. The running cost is the ink, and it is the reason to be on this part of the site at all: at 200 pages a month, three years of black supplies is about $24 on the ET-4950’s 502 ink against $236 on the laser’s toner.
At that volume the tank printer claws back a meaningful share of its higher price over three years, and it does color while doing it. Below about a hundred pages a month it does not. Put your own volume in.