Buying for somebody else is a different problem: you do not know their printing volume, so you need the choice that is hardest to regret rather than the one that is theoretically best.
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Everywhere else on this site we tell you to work out your printing volume and buy accordingly. You cannot do that for somebody else, so the goal changes: you want the printer that is hardest to regret rather than the one that is theoretically optimal for a volume you are guessing at.
How we picked
We optimized for low regret rather than for low cost per page. A gift printer has to work when the recipient finally gets round to using it, has to have supplies they can buy in any shop years from now, and must not commit them to anything — no account, no plan, no page allowance.
That rules out anything with a subscription attached, anything with an unusual supply, and anything expensive enough to feel like an obligation. It puts a reliable mono laser at the top, because the failure mode you cannot foresee is the recipient not printing for four months.
Four things to check before you buy
Do they print color? If you genuinely do not know, a mono laser is safer: it will never disappoint on a page it cannot produce, whereas an idle inkjet can disappoint on a page it should have managed. If there are children in the house, assume color is needed.
Do they have space? Lasers are bulkier than inkjets because of the fuser assembly. A printer that does not fit on their desk is not a gift, it is a storage problem.
Do they already have one? The most common way this present goes wrong. A printer is a big, awkward object to receive twice.
Will they mind setting it up? Every modern printer needs Wi-Fi configuration. If the recipient would find that stressful, factor in that you may be the one doing it.
What not to give
Anything that comes with a supply subscription. A present should not sign somebody up to a monthly charge, and disentangling them from it later is genuinely annoying.
The cheapest printer in the shop. It is very often the most expensive one to own, and giving somebody a machine with dear cartridges is giving them a bill. Why that happens.
A photo printer, unless you know they print photographs. It is a specialist tool, it is expensive, and it wants regular use to stay healthy.
An expensive printer as a surprise. A printer is a utilitarian object. Spending a lot on one tends to read as an obligation rather than a kindness.
Give a spare cartridge or bottle set with it
This is the single best addition to a printer gift and almost nobody does it. Both Brother models ship with a starter cartridge rated at only 700 pages, so the recipient’s first real expense arrives sooner than they expect. A high-yield cartridge alongside the printer turns a present that costs them money into one that does not.
The honest alternative to a printer
Sometimes the right gift is not a printer. If the recipient prints a dozen pages a year, they do not need a machine in their house — and a printer they did not ask for is a large object they now have to find a home for.
Paper, a spare cartridge for a printer they already own, or simply asking are all better than guessing. We would rather tell you that than take the commission on a present that ends up in a cupboard.
Specifications and running costs side by side, for the printers discussed on this page.
Cost-per-page figures are our own arithmetic: supply price divided by the manufacturer’s rated page yield, using prices read on 27 September 2026 and yields rated at the ISO 5% coverage standard. They are not measured by us and they are not current prices. Every input, and the working · run the numbers for your own printing
The picks in detail
Safest gift overall
Brother HL-L2460DW
If you print black text and nothing else, this is the printer to buy. It cannot dry out, it duplexes, and Brother does not block third-party toner.
Illustrative photograph of this kind of printer. We do not have this model in hand and this is not a photograph of the unit.
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~3.3¢ per mono page
Based on a Brother TN830XL high-yield toner cartridge rated at 3,000 pages at $98.29, priced on 27 September 2026.
Brother TN830XL high-yield toner cartridge — rated 3,000 pages (ISO/IEC 19752), $98.29 at Brother USA, checked 27 September 2026
Yields are manufacturer-rated at the ISO 5% page-coverage standard, not measured by us, and real-world cost runs higher. Prices are not live: this is arithmetic on a price we read on the date shown, not a current price. How we calculate cost per page.
Dual-band wireless (2.4 GHz / 5 GHz), Ethernet or USB
Subscription
None required
What we like
Toner does not dry out, so it is ideal if you print in occasional bursts
Automatic two-sided printing at 36 pages per minute
Brother has publicly denied blocking third-party toner with firmware
What you give up
Black only - no color at all
Cost per page is roughly ten times a tank printer's
The 700-page starter cartridge runs out fast; budget for a TN830XL
When you do not know how much somebody prints, this is the choice that is hardest to get wrong. It cannot dry out, so if they print twice a year it still works. It duplexes, so it does not waste their paper. Toner is available everywhere. And it costs $179.99 at list, which is a defensible gift budget.
The risk you are accepting is that it does not print color. For a graduate heading into an office job, a new home-worker or a parent who prints paperwork, that is almost never the problem.
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~0.4¢ per mono page · ~1.1¢ per color page
Based on a Epson 522 black ink bottle rated at 4,500 pages at $17.99, priced on 27 September 2026.
The color figure adds one per-page cost for each of the three color channels, because an ISO color page draws from all of them.
Epson 522 black ink bottle — rated 4,500 pages (ISO/IEC 24712), $17.99 at Epson US, checked 27 September 2026
Epson 522 color ink bottle — rated 7,500 pages (ISO/IEC 24712), $17.99 at Epson US, checked 27 September 2026
Yields are manufacturer-rated at the ISO 5% page-coverage standard, not measured by us, and real-world cost runs higher. Prices are not live: this is arithmetic on a price we read on the date shown, not a current price. How we calculate cost per page.
Among the lowest cost per page of any printer sold for home use
Refillable bottles, so no chipped cartridge can be locked out by firmware
Comes with enough ink in the box to last most households a long time
What you give up
No automatic two-sided printing, so paper costs twice what it needs to
Flatbed scanner only - no document feeder for multi-page scans
Inkjets still need to be used occasionally or the print head can clog
If you are giving this to a family, color is not optional — school projects will demand it. At about 1.1 of a cent a color page they will never have to think about ink, which is a genuinely nice thing to give somebody.
It also arrives with bottles in the box, so the gift works out of the box rather than needing a supply purchase on day one. That matters more for a present than it does for a self-purchase.
#ad — we may earn a commission. How this site is funded. We do not show live prices; Amazon’s page is the price of record.
~3.3¢ per mono page
Based on a Brother TN830XL high-yield toner cartridge rated at 3,000 pages at $98.29, priced on 27 September 2026.
Brother TN830XL high-yield toner cartridge — rated 3,000 pages (ISO/IEC 19752), $98.29 at Brother USA, checked 27 September 2026
Yields are manufacturer-rated at the ISO 5% page-coverage standard, not measured by us, and real-world cost runs higher. Prices are not live: this is arithmetic on a price we read on the date shown, not a current price. How we calculate cost per page.
50-page document feeder, so scanning a stack is one action
Auto duplex printing at 36 pages per minute
Same TN830 toner family as the HL-L2460DW, with the same cost per page
What you give up
Mono only
Thirty dollars more than the print-only model for hardware you may not need
Toner is far dearer per page than bottle ink
For somebody setting up a home office or a small business, the document feeder is the part they will thank you for. Scanning signed paperwork is one of the genuinely tedious jobs of running a business, and a fifty-page feeder removes it.
$209.99 at list, about 3.3 cents a page, and completely indifferent to a slow month. A sensible, unglamorous present that gets used.
For somebody setting up a home, starting a business, heading to university or working from home for the first time, yes — it is a genuinely useful, unglamorous present. For somebody who already has one, or who prints a dozen pages a year, no.
+−Which printer should I buy as a gift if I do not know how much they print?
A mono laser like the Brother HL-L2460DW. It cannot dry out, so it works whether they print weekly or twice a year, its toner is available everywhere, and it commits them to nothing. If there are children in the house, buy a color ink tank printer instead.
+−Should I avoid printers with subscriptions as a gift?
Yes. A present should not enroll somebody in a monthly charge, and getting out of one later is more work than getting in. Every printer we recommend prints normally on supplies bought outright.
+−What should I give alongside a printer?
A spare high-yield cartridge or bottle set, and a ream of paper. Both Brother models ship with a starter cartridge rated at only 700 pages, so the first real expense arrives sooner than the recipient expects.
+−Is a photo printer a good gift?
Only if you know the recipient prints photographs. It is a specialist, expensive machine that wants regular use to stay healthy, and as a surprise it is more likely to become an obligation than a pleasure.
