The Best Small Office Printer: Our Five All-in-One Picks
We've been installing and fixing office machines since 1986, so this list isn't scraped from spec sheets. These are the five all-in-ones we actually put into small UK offices as the best small office printer for the job, why we pick each one, and what they cost.
Start With Volume, Not Brand
Nearly every bad printer decision we're called out to started with someone buying on price rather than on pages. Count roughly how many pages your office prints in a month, then pick a machine rated comfortably above it. A device pushed past its recommended volume jams more, fails sooner and costs more per page.
Under 1,000 pages a month, buy outright. Between 1,000 and 10,000, an A4 all-in-one on a lease with service included is the sweet spot. Above that, you're into A3 copier leasing territory and the maths changes again.
Our Five Picks, and Who Each One Suits
Best all-rounder for 2 to 10 people
Epson WorkForce Pro EM-C800
A4 Colour Desktop MFP · 25ppm desktop with RIPS, high yield, tiny footprint
Heat-Free inkjet, so there's no fuser to warm up and no drum to replace. It prints, copies, scans and faxes, sits comfortably on a side unit, and the running costs are the lowest of anything on this list. If you're printing a few thousand pages a month and you want to stop thinking about toner, start here.
Best for small teams who care about security
Canon i-SENSYS X C1530i II Series
A4 Colour MFP · 33-38ppm A4 with Trellix security and 190ipm scanning
Trellix-based protection built into the firmware, 190ipm duplex scanning and uniFLOW Online support out of the box. Popular with solicitors and accountants who need scan-to-folder that IT can actually lock down.
Best budget laser all-in-one
Develop ineo+ 3320i
A4 Colour Desktop MFP · 33ppm A4 colour desktop, compact Konica Minolta quality
Konica Minolta engineering under a Develop badge. Laser output for glossy stock, a proper touchscreen, and a footprint that suits a reception desk. This is the machine we fit most often when a small office wants laser rather than inkjet.
Best if you're likely to grow
Canon imageFORCE C1333 Series
A4 Colour MFP · Compact A4, 33ppm with 10% recycled plastic
Compact A4 colour that takes extra trays and finishing later on, so a five-person office that becomes a fifteen-person office doesn't need a new machine two years in.
Best for a one-person business or home office
Canon MAXIFY GX4050
Home & Remote Worker · MegaTank A4 all-in-one: print, copy, scan, fax — ultra-low running costs
MegaTank refillable ink rather than cartridges. Bought outright rather than leased, with an optional monthly subscription that covers ink and a swap-out if it fails. Sensible where a lease would be overkill.
Lease prices are from our own current pricing on a five-year term and exclude the cost-per-page service rate. Browse the wider range on our photocopiers and printers pages.
A Real Example, Not a Stock Photo
Robinson Michael & Jackson, the estate agency group across Strood, Rainham, Gravesend, Sittingbourne and Walderslade, started with us thirteen years ago on a handful of machines. They're now on close to thirty devices across the group. Branch offices are exactly the small-business scenario this page is about: a few staff, heavy colour, and no patience for a machine that stops.
What made it work wasn't the badge on the front. We set up separate print drivers per paper tray on every workstation, so staff hit print and get window cards on the right stock without choosing anything. That kind of setup is the difference between a printer people like and a printer people avoid.
Read the full case studiesWho Looks After It Afterwards
Buying the box is the easy bit. Every machine on this page can go on a service agreement with our own engineers, and same-day attendance is the standard, not an upgrade. Sam covers Medway and mid-Kent, Harry covers South East London, John covers Leeds and the North, and we have a wider network for multi-site customers.
Questions We Get Asked Every Week
What actually counts as an all-in-one printer?
Print, copy and scan in one device, usually with fax as well. In the trade we call them MFPs, multifunction printers. For a small business the scanner matters more than most people expect: if it only scans one side at a time, your admin day gets longer.
Inkjet or laser for a small business?
Business inkjet like the Epson Heat-Free range is cheaper to run and uses far fewer replacement parts. Laser still wins on glossy stock, so if you print property particulars, menus or marketing on coated paper, go laser. For general office paperwork, inkjet is usually the cheaper answer.
Should I buy or lease?
Under roughly 1,000 pages a month, buying something like the MAXIFY outright is fine. Above that, leasing with a service agreement normally works out cheaper because toner, parts and engineer visits are all included in the per-page rate rather than landing as surprise invoices.
How much does an all-in-one cost per month?
A4 colour all-in-ones from our range lease from £22 to £40 a month on a five-year term, plus a cost-per-page for service and consumables. There's a fuller breakdown on our copier costs page, including what the optional extras add.
Who fixes it when it breaks?
Our own engineers, not a subcontractor. Sam covers Medway and mid-Kent, Harry covers South East London, and we have a wider UK network for multi-site customers. Same-day attendance is standard on our service agreements.
What's the best small office printer if there are only a handful of us?
For a small office of two to ten people the Epson EM-C800 is the one we fit most often: Heat-Free inkjet, low running costs and no fuser to warm up. If you're one person working from home, the Canon MAXIFY GX4050 bought outright makes more sense than a lease.
Want the numbers in more detail? See what a copier actually costs or work it out yourself with the print cost calculator.
Not Sure Which One Fits Your Office?
Tell us roughly how many pages you print and what you print them on. We'll tell you which of these five we'd fit, and if none of them suit, we'll say that too.