Best Printer for Envelopes in 2024: Top Color & Monochrome Picks

With advances in printer technology, anyone can now create custom greeting cards from the comfort of home – allowing you to print your own artwork or designs onto cardstock with ease. With an investment in the best printer for envelopes, you can quickly turn your craft into tangible prints, for your own business or hobbyist needs. Though many printers match the requirements for printing envelopes, finding the best is a different question.

We’ve narrowed the list, with a selection of top envelope printers for you to choose from. Accommodating different budgets and business needs, our selection covers a broad range of contenders for the title of “Best Printer for Envelopes”, and all are worthy in some regard of that title.

How We Picked the Best Printer for Envelopes

When choosing the best envelope printer, the primary factor is the ability to print on thick paper or cardstock: the thin cardboard material envelopes are usually made of. Compatibility with this material is fairly common, but we made sure that our selection of printers were the best in their respective brackets for dedicated envelope printing. This entailed a large dedicated media tray, a healthy print resolution and a good color gamut – to ensure designs are rendered in the best possible quality. We also factored in connectivity elements, print speed and the general ink economy of the printers, to ensure the highest value from your printer purchase.

We settled on five printers, each with their own respective merits, across a range of budgets. Factoring in different preferences, we’re sure to find the right envelope printer to suit your needs.

Canon PIXMA PRO-200

Specifications

• Printer Output: Color
• Printer Type: InkJet
• Connectivity Technology: USB, WiFi Direct, Bluetooth
• Duplex Printing: No

What We Think

This stunning printer is capable of high-quality envelope prints, with fast print speeds and high-resolution results.

Reasons to Buy

• Incredible color gamut – the eight-cartridge ink system means that a wide range of colors are rendered with gorgeous vibrance.
• Versatile connectivity options – with plenty of wired and wireless connection options to choose from, you’re never short of a means of printing.

Reasons to Avoid

• Bulky – despite its compact size, the Pro-200 is quite a heavy machine and can be a struggle to carry.

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Taking the top spot today is the Canon PIXMA Pro-200, a versatile multimedia printer for envelopes, cards, and almost any other form of media. With an incredible ink system and versatile means of printing, this Canon printer is a stellar choice for a premium printing experience.

With a high print resolution of 4800 x 2400 DPI, your designs are rendered in stunning detail. The rear tray can accommodate thick cardstock and other large media, and it has a borderless print size of 13” x 19” – or roll-feed up to 13″ x 39″. What’s most impressive about the Pro 200 is it’s eight-color ink system, which makes for beautifully rendered colors with tremendous accuracy and depth. With such an impressive printer in a compact frame, there’s a lot to love about this envelope printer.

That said, the compact frame hides the heft of the Pro 200, as it’s a notably bulky print solution – which makes it easy to store but difficult to move. It’s a small issue to overcome, however, and we still recommend the Pixma Pro 200 as the best printer for envelopes.

Brother HL-L2300D

Specifications

• Printer Output: Monochrome
• Printer Type: Laser
• Connectivity Technology: USB
• Duplex Printing: Yes

What We Think

One of the few laser printers with specialist media capabilities, this low-cost printer is a barebones print solution for envelopes.

Reasons to Buy

• Fast print speeds – laser printing technology makes the HL-L2300D a productivity powerhouse.
• Compact and lightweight – you’ll be able to easily store and move this highly compact printer.

Reasons to Avoid

• Monochrome only – with no color options for printing, this printer’s use is inherently limited.

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For mass-produced envelope printing on a budget, the Brother HL-L2300D takes the top spot. Capable of low-cost, high-productivity printing of envelopes, this black-and-white laser printer is an effective solution for simple printing.

The HL-L2300D  prints at an impressive 27 ppm and automatically prints two-sided, perfect printing articles, reports, or important documents. For envelopes, you’ve got a dedicated specialist media tray that can accommodate thick cardstock and other specialist paper such as checks. Prints are rendered with 2400 x 600 DPI resolution, making for stellar print detail. All-in-all, we’re big fans of this Brother printer.

However, one element you may not be a fan of is the lack of color printing. If you’re looking to add any variety to your envelope printing, the HL-L2300D likely isn’t for you. For formal envelope printing at a low cost, it’s a worthwhile investment.

HP Smart-Tank 7301

Specifications

• Printer Output: Color
• Printer Type: InkJet
• Connectivity Technology: USB, WiFi Direct, Bluetooth, Cloud Printing
• Duplex Printing: Yes

What We Think

Allowing you to print, scan and copy all from the same device, the 7301 is a terrific addition to any home, business or office.

Reasons to Buy

• Highly efficient – the cartridge-free ink tank system makes for a highly efficient print process.
• Detailed print quality – whether it’s envelopes, documents or photos; you can always rely on the 7301’s quality.

Reasons to Avoid

• No wired option – though you can purchase a separate USB cord, the printer itself doesn’t come with one.

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The HP Smart-Tank 7301 is a tremendous all-in-one printer, with “all” even encompassing envelopes. For a highly productive print solution no matter your use case, look no further.

Employing a five-color ink tank system, the 7301 is capable of highly detailed and colorful prints without frequent cartridge refills. Coming with a built-in document scanner and copier, you’ve got plenty of options for your print process – ideal for offices that need a versatile multipurpose printer. The 7301 also comes with the ability set up custom print templates, an additional benefit for repeat work.

Though the printer comes with a USB port, connecting using a wired cable will require you to go out and get one for yourself. The wireless function is highly competent, however, so it’s a small issue for the 7301 – another top HP printer.

Epson Expression XP-15000

Specifications

• Printer Output: Color
• Printer Type: InkJet
• Connectivity Technology: USB, WiFi Direct, Cloud Printing
• Duplex Printing: Yes

What We Think

This tremendous Epson printer offering provides top-quality prints with low ongoing costs.

Reasons to Buy

• Great ink economy – high yield ink equates to high performance with the XP-15000
• Detailed prints – colors are rendered beautifully and details are rendered sharply with this Epson printer.

Reasons to Avoid

• Slower print speeds – though it’s ink-efficient, the XP-15000 isn’t very time-efficient.

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As highlighted in our ranking of the best printers for graphic design, the Epson Expression XP-15000 serves as a great printer for business or households thanks to its ink economy, which makes it well-suited to envelope printing.

Epson’s high-yield cartridges are rated for up to 800 prints apiece, making it great for high quantities of printing – especially on cardstock. The quality is standout as well, with the Claria Photo ink creating a great color gamut and smooth gradients. Print size and resolution are both standout– the latter up to 5760 x 1440 dpi and the former up to 13″ x 19″. With a 50-sheet media tray, you have the possibility of creating a huge range of designs on a range of materials, from cards to canvas. 

That said, at a paltry 9 prints per minute, the XP-15000 is notably slower than other printers, which can impact productivity. But if you want to save on ink at the expense of time, then the XP-15000 is the best printer for envelopes.

Our Epson EcoTank ET-2850 review highlighted exactly why this top-end printer is such a great option for multimedia printing: with tremendous print speeds and performance at a low price point, this printer is an ideal balance of envelope printing and every other desirable printer feature.

In terms of setup, the ET-2850 is nearly plug-and-play: connecting seamlessly to Wi-Fi and requiring a handful of straightforward tasks like filling ink tanks and loading media. The ET-2850 is capable of a wide range of prints, including cardstock envelopes, and prints all quickly and to a high standard. The ink economy is stellar with this printer thanks to the large ink reservoirs, and you can print remotely from a phone or computer, and configure as many print settings as you desire.

There’s only one detrimental factor to the ET-2850: we found the overall color quality to be somewhat disappointing, and required configuring an ICC color profile in order to correctly display colors. It’s a quick fix, however, and we’re still quick to recommend this printer.

Features and Considerations

If you’re looking to invest in your own pick for the best envelope printer, here are some things to factor into your pre-purchase process:

Print Quality

The best printers for cardstock envelopes need to be able to produce accurate and vivid images to ensure that the design is well-represented. To ensure the printer you’re buying brings out both aspects, you should check its resolution and printing technology. The more dots per inch (DPI) that a printer can create, the greater the quality.

Ink Economy

If you are looking to run a cost-effective printer, the best way to measure that is via the cost-per-page statistics – the average cost of ink and paper for every sheet printed – listed with the product. This is measured in cents rather than dollars, thankfully, but make sure that you aren’t having to print constantly on an inefficient printer. Ink economy also refers to how efficiently the printer uses the ink that you provide, with minimal waste – another core consideration.

Print Speed

Whilst speed is not essential, it is helpful – especially for business-minded printing. Depending on the size and frequency of prints, make sure you opt for a printer that can supply as quickly as you demand.

FAQs

Verdict

Canon PIXMA PRO-200

Specifications

• Printer Output: Color
• Printer Type: InkJet
• Connectivity Technology: USB, WiFi Direct, Bluetooth
• Duplex Printing: No

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The Canon Pixma Pro-200 takes our top spot as the best printer for envelopes – so long as you don’t have to carry it anywhere. With sterling print results and a highly efficient print cycle, this printer is worth the cost of purchase no matter your business or household needs.

Looking to add a whole new dimension to your printing? Check out our guide on the best 3D printers for beginners today.