Print More with Less Using the Best Prime Day 2020 Printer Deals

Amazon’s newest Prime Day event is catnip for printers, not only when it comes to sticker-price discounts on hardware but opportunities for long-term savings on ink and toner, as well.

The best deals this week marry deep discounts with the right features — automatic duplexing, high-yield tanks, smart paper handling — to let you print more while spending less over the life of the device.

Why Prime Day Is the Best Time to Buy a Printer

Printer prices tumble across the board during Prime sales, with standout values being ink-tank and business-class models; they typically don’t drop this low outside major shopping windows. Seek out packages that include additional bottles or elongated trial months of ink services. In the past, leading home-office all-in-ones have fallen to 20%–40% off; entry lasers and midrange tank machines frequently go even lower for brief periods.

Features That Scythe Paper and Overall Printing Costs

Duplex printing on both sides of a piece of paper is the biggest paper saver. 30%–50% less paper consumption was reported for agencies that did not default fleets to duplex, based on actions included in plans cited by the U.S. General Services Administration and university sustainability offices. Set duplex as the default from day one and you’ll feel the savings when printing reports and schoolwork right away.

An automatic document feeder with duplex scanning means you can digitize or copy both sides of multi-page documents in one pass. With fewer misfeeds and streaks, the Automatic Document Feeder does away with the frustration of less efficient alternatives. And ENERGY STAR–certified models can shave power use; according to ENERGY STAR, office technology that meets its standards will cut electricity usage substantially compared with conventional equipment, and that’s an easy one for homes where a printer is on standby all day.

Ink Tank vs. Cartridge vs. Laser: What to Know

Ink-tank inkjets (formatted as EcoTank, MegaTank, INKvestment Tank and the like) have the absolute lowest per-page costs. According to manufacturers’ claimed yields and lab tests from Keypoint Intelligence, typical costs per page are about 0.2–0.5 cents for black-and-white and less than 1.5 cents for colored prints — about a tenth the cost of cartridge inkjet equivalents, which often cost between 5–7 cents (black) and 12–20 cents (color). Monochrome lasers tend to fall between 2 and 3 cents per page with standard-yield toner, and less when using high-yield cartridges.

If you’re printing photographs, an inkjet is still the way to go; if you’re mostly printing text-based documents, a monochrome laser may be more proficient and less smudgy. Color lasers are great for charts and PowerPoints, but rarely match tanks on cost per page.

Prime Day Printer Selections and Deals to Watch

For the best ink costs: The Epson EcoTank ET-2800 (or its flagship cousin, the EcoTank ET-5850 series) and the Canon MegaTank G3260 and G3270 models were often Prime hits.

These machines marry refillable reservoirs with yields in the thousands of pages per bottle set, an excellent fit for families and hybrid workers.

For home-office all-in-ones: HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e/9025e and Canon Pixma TR7020a/TR8620a. Competition among small models is strong; these often go deeply on sale.

Look for models with automatic duplex printing, a 35-page or larger feeder, and strong mobile app support for scanning to the cloud. Supporting AirPrint, Mopria, and Wi-Fi Direct, mixed-device households can download the free HP Smart app for easy printing on the go and easily print from a variety of smartphones and tablets.

For fast text: Brother HL-L2350DW (mono laser) and clones. These small lasers are the least respectable-looking of all our picks (mostly), but they’re reliable little workhorses. If you want color: Brother HL-L3270CDW or see deals for HP Color LaserJet Pro models, but be sure to check what the toner will cost before buying.

A Swift Reality Check on Long-Term Printing Costs

Imagine a 3-year home-office environment if you only print an average of 300 pages per month (10,800 pages in total):

• Cartridge inkjet at ~6¢ black/15¢ color averages $1,000 or more in ink alone with half of your pages in color. One firmware update or print session of borderless photos can bump that up.
• Ink-tank inkjet at ~0.5–1.0 cents blended cost rests around $75–$110 for that amount, plus a little occasional maintenance ink — at least hundreds saved against cartridges.
• Monochrome laser at ~2.5 cents is around $270 in toner for all text. Slap a second color device in for photos only if you have to; I’d rather run two machines with split workloads than one machine morning, noon, and night.

These estimates jibe with average page-yield math from manufacturers and side-by-side comparisons by Keypoint Intelligence. Your mix of text, coverage, and duplexing will push the totals up or down a little bit, and though quantities will vary, the differences between them remain.

Pro Tips to Save Even More on Ink, Toner, and Paper

Use double-sided and draft mode for internal documents. Draft mode in text can reduce ink used significantly and still be easily readable. For web receipts and boarding passes, opt for “print to PDF” (when you don’t need a physical copy). It’s the easiest way to save paper.

Before you hit Buy, compare page yields and cost per page. Take your sale price plus a year’s worth of supplies and divide that by the number of pages you’ll print per year to compare models on total cost, not just the discount. High-yield toner and XL ink options tend to cover the difference.

If a deal comes with a consumables subscription, read the fine print. Trials can be great value for heavy printers, but ensure that plan tiers match your monthly volume and offer rollover pages. Insights from consumer advocacy groups and tech labs may help shed light on real-world reliability and print quality.

Bottom Line: How to Pick the Right Printer Deal Now

When tracking down the best Prime Day printer deals, you’ll want to snap up a model that isn’t just cheaper at checkout but will also remain inexpensive. Look for duplexing and efficient ink or toner, as well as robust paper handling. Whether you choose a tank inkjet for all-around flexibility or a laser for sharp text, by making the right feature choices now you set yourself up to keep your print budget light all year.