Best Printers Under $500
Top-scoring printers you can buy for under $500. Independent benchmarks, no sponsored picks.
Ranked by the weighted Specdex score — 0-100 composite of real-world and synthetic benchmarks.
- #1Brother
Brother HL-L2460DW
Mono laser · Wi-Fi · Duplex · subscription-free
The boring printer you want. Fast, cheap per page, no subscription traps.
- #2
- #3Epson
Epson EcoTank ET-2850
Inkjet · Refillable tanks · AIO
Epson’s refillable AIO — huge savings per page if you print frequently.
- #4
- #5
- #6Canon
Canon PIXMA G7020 MegaTank
Color inkjet · refillable tanks · AIO
Canon’s refillable ink-tank AIO — low per-page cost for families who print photos without the cartridge racket.
- #7
- #8
- #9
- #10
- #11
- #12
- #13
- #14Canon
Canon PIXMA MegaTank G6020
EcoTank inkjet
Canon's Canon PIXMA MegaTank G6020 — EcoTank inkjet.
- #15
Head-to-head
The two highest-ranked products compared side-by-side.
Frequently asked
What is the best printer right now? +
Brother HL-L2460DW leads our Best Printers Under $500 list. The boring printer you want. Fast, cheap per page, no subscription traps.
How does Specdex rank products? +
Specdex does not run benchmarks in-house. Rankings reflect editorial judgement based on manufacturer-published specs and public reviewer consensus. See the methodology page for sources and how the verdicts are formed.
How often is this list updated? +
The ranking is regenerated on every page load from our live D1 database. Scores re-calibrate whenever we add new products or firmware updates change benchmark results.