Best Receipt Printer Reviews 2020

Having a well-planned budget is a must for every wise investment. For an item such as the receipt printer, its price is often determined by the type you want to buy and there are different types suitable for different businesses. The price for receipt printers ranges from as low as $50 for impact and some thermal printers, to as high as $200 for inkjet printers. There are also high-end inkjet printers with a myriad of features that cost much more than what we have here. However, there is no need to spend more when you can get the same results for less.
You should take care not to sacrifice quality on the altar of price. Sometimes a simple entry-level inkjet printer is all you need for your printing needs. However, you might want to consider spending a little more and buying a faster model if you need to keep your customer lines moving.

As we were researching, we came across some cheap receipt printers that have poor-quality features which are unlikely to give the results you desire. We left these models off of the list as we are concerned with bringing to you quality products that will give you maximum value for your money.

Having a great performing receipt printer makes a world of difference in running your business smoothly. You should be sure that your choice of a receipt printer has the necessary features to adequately serve your business needs. The features to consider include:

• Type
• Speed
• Connectivity
• Compatibility
• Portability and size
• Other extra features

To get the best results out of a receipt printer, ensuring that you buy one that is best-suited to your line of business is of paramount importance. This factor is extremely important because there are different types of such printers with features that are more suited to some establishments than others. Basically, there are three main kinds of functional receipt printers that differ majorly in their mode of printing. They are: dot matrix printers, thermal printers, and inkjet printers.

The dot matrix printer is designed with a series of tiny pins that make impact with the receipt paper, and in the process, transfers tiny dots of ink onto the paper. It features an ink ribbon that’ll need to be changed from time to time and this is one of its drawbacks. Another challenge with the impact printer is that it’s somewhat noisy and not suitable for use in a home office. This type of printer produces receipts that are heat-resistant and are therefore ideal for use to print orders for the kitchen in a restaurant. They also have the ability to carry out 2-ply printing, which means printing two copies of a receipt, which is an important feature for businesses such as banks where the issuer will need to keep a copy of the receipt and give the other to the customer.

Direct thermal printers employ the use of heat transfer onto a special paper that’s chemically treated to react to heat for printing or generating receipts. This type of printer does not require any ink ribbon, thus you can do away with the stress of changing messy strips if you opt for this printer type. On the flip side though, the receipt from the thermal printer doesn’t last long and fades easily when exposed to sunlight; when exposed to heat, the receipt turns black. This is the reason why it’s not used for printing orders for a restaurant’s kitchen because the heated atmosphere in the kitchen will render it illegible in short order.

The inkjet printer is the most expensive type of receipt printer available. It uses ink in printing, just like the impact printer but with far superior prints. It can be thought of as a miniature desktop printer because it can print graphics and logos, and it comes with ink cartridges that give multi-color printing. Although the print output from the inkjet printer is top-quality, its ink cartridge does not come cheap, so you might want to consider the extra costs down the line before investing in this type of printer.

Receipt printers are usually compact in size. They’re designed to take up as little space as possible, but some are smaller than others. Some of them even have a compact clamshell housing designed to withstand falls.

Receipt printers that are portable are powered by rechargeable batteries and can be taken with you everywhere. They come in handy for mobile retail units and home delivery businesses where receipts need to be printed on the spot for payments made. Other types of receipt printers will require computer connection, but the portable printer has a stand-alone configuration and wireless connectivity.

Receipt printers may be wireless or wired. The wired type uses Ethernet or LAN cables, USB, and serial/parallel connections to hook up to the computer or cash drawer. Ethernet/LAN interface connection lets you share the printer among many computers and is quite useful when you have multiple checkout computers but want to save costs.

The wireless receipt printers may use a Bluetooth sharing technology or be integrated directly into a POS machine. The POS receipt printer is normally smaller than conventional receipt printers and can be impact, inkjet, or thermal printer type.

Most receipt printers have a plug-and-play design that doesn’t require much setting up, especially the portable or POS receipt printers. The conventional receipt printers come with a software program that you’ll need to install on your computer before you can start using it. The installation steps are pretty simple and easy to follow. Once you’re through with the installation process on your computer, you then need to connect the printer to the device, usually computer(s), using the cable provided and you’re good to go.

The fastest receipt printer so far is the direct thermal printer. It has a noiseless and super-fast operation of about 10 inches of print per second. This makes it suitable for use in fast food eateries and retail stores where customers need to move through the cashier queue quickly. It’s also ideal for establishments where noise is an issue such as in a library or hospital. On the other hand, the impact printer is the slowest and the noisiest of them all. You wouldn’t want to use it in the home, if you have an office, to avoid disturbing other members of the house unless you have the house all to yourself for that time. The inkjet printer is neither fast nor quiet, but it’s a vast improvement on the impact printer, coupled with its fine and superior print.

Most brands design their receipt printers to be compatible with different operating systems including Windows, iOS, Linux, Android, and others. If you’ll be using the printer with a cash register/drawer, then you’ll need to check if the printer is configured that way, so you don’t end up buying a device that’ll be useless to you.

Most receipt printers come with a tear bar that enables you to tear off the receipt after it has finished printing, but there are some high-end types that feature an auto paper cutter for convenience and a professional, neat cut after generating the receipt. You may also want to search for a receipt printer that lets you easily replace the paper roll without having to go through stressful procedures that make a quick change a challenge. If there’s any need, you may want to look out for the printers that are paper-budget friendly (meaning they maximize paper usage and minimize money spent on paper).

Many receipt printers have more than one connectivity platform which increases their versatility, and thus you can use a different connectivity interface if the other one fails. Some of the models in our product review section have Ethernet, USB, and serial connectivity ports so you can use whichever one is most convenient for you.