The battle between the best color laser printer and the best inkjet printer is an epic one. One of your close friends will say that the laser is the best one. Then when you check on the internet you will find a review saying inkjet is far better than laser. Now from the evolution of printing technology, we came a long way. A printer should fulfill tons of criteria to make it to the best color laser printer list.
The answer from our end is if you are more into printing photos then the internet reviewer is right. You must go with the best inkjet printer. But if you are going to use it for normal purposes mostly then the laser printer is the best choice for you. Color Laser Printer is the most promising one. We have reviewed the best color laser printer for photos, best color laser printer for home use, best printer for office use, best all-in-one printer for small business, out there in the market. We discussed their main features and as well as what product is suitable according to your need. There isn’t a single best color available printer. You have to choose as per your need. You can follow our comparison table below or read our detailed color laser printer review to choose the best black and white laser printer suitable for your need. While searching for a color laser printer you can read our similar article about Best Deskjet printer.
Now that you have a clear idea about the best color laser printer, let us discuss some serious things you should really take care of before buying one. There are certain parameters you need to check which can save you a lot of money.
- Monthly Duty Cycle
- Cost Per Page
- Speed
Monthly Duty Cycle: This is probably the most important feature that you need to consider before picking the best multifunction laser printer. Every laser printer has its own capacity. The monthly duty cycle means the maximum amount of paper it can print in a month. If you cross this margin frequently or periodically, there will be more chances of a breakdown. So before buying a laser printer you should assess your work and decide a suitable printer according to your workload.
Cost Per Page: From the name itself you can understand this defines how the printer will cost you per page it prints. Technically it decides how much you are going to spend on the cartridge. The best all in one printer should have a lower cost per page.
Speed: This is counted as a page per minute the printer is able to speed. Normal printers can print 30-60 pages per minute. There is also some high-end model that can print at a speed of 100 pages per minute. SO depending on your workload, you can decide which one you need.
- Canon Color imageCLASS MF644Cdw Review
- Brother MFC-L8900CDW Business Color Laser All-in-One Printer Review
- Brother HL-L3210CW Compact Digital Color Printer Review
- Canon Color Image CLASS LBP622Cdw Review
- Brother HL-L3290CDW Compact Digital Color Printer Review
- Brother Business Color Laser Printer, HL-L8360CDW Review
- Lexmark C2535dw Color Laser Printer Review
- HP Color LaserJet Pro M454dw Printer Review
- Brother MFC-L3750CDW Digital Color All-in-One Printer Review
- HP LaserJet Pro M281fdw Review

Brother MFC-L8900CDW
The Best AIO Printer
- Single pass auto duplex technology
- Monthly Duty Cycle is 60000
- Cost per pgae 10.6 cents
- 33PPM Printing Speed
- 300 pages input capacity
- 5-inches touchscreen
- Apple AirPrint and Google Cloud Support
Best Value for money : Lexmark C2535dw Color Laser Printer. This has a best speed with the highest number of input paper holding capacity. The monthly duty cycle is also highest here as well as the recommended volume of pages.
Best Budget Color Laser Printer

Lexmark C2535DW
- 85000 Monthly Duty Cycle
- 35 PPM Printing speed
- 251 Pages Input Capacity
- Apple Airprint and Google Cloud Support
Image | Product | Price |
---|---|---|
![]() | Canon Color imageCLASS MF644Cdw Top rated
| Price |
![]() | Brother MFC-L8900CDW Business Color Laser All-in-One Printer The BEST
| Price |
![]() | Brother HL-L3210CW Compact Digital Color Printer
| Price |
![]() | Canon Color Image CLASS LBP622Cdw
| Price |
![]() | Brother HL-L3290CDW Compact Digital Color Printer
| Price |
![]() | Lexmark C2535dw Color Laser Printer with Duplex Printing Best Value for Money
| Price |
![]() | HP Color LaserJet Pro M454dw Printer
| Price |
![]() | Brother MFC-L3750CDW Digital Color All-in-One Printer
| Price |
![]() | HP LaserJet Pro M281fdw All in One Wireless Color Laser Printer
| Price |
![]() | Brother Business Color Laser Printer, HL-L8360CDW
| Price |
Canon Color imageCLASS MF644Cdw Review
Best printer for home use with wifi
The Canon imageclass MF644Cdw is a feature-rich, all in one color laser printer with a great value for money. It has great printing quality as well as capable of producing a great speed. This can be used in small to medium offices as well as for home use also.

Monthly Duty Cycle | 2500 (Recommended) |
Cost per page | 16.4 cents |
Speed (PPM) | 22 |
The Canon imageclass MF644Cdw is one of the top-rated all-in-one printers available online in the best color laser printer segment. This has a total of 250 sheets input drawer. The main drawer can hold 250 sheets. And the extra drawer holds a single sheet for envelopes or other media prints. The recommended monthly print volume is 2500 which is adequate for small to medium offices.
It has a speed of 22 ppm printing a single side of the page. Using a normal 12 page set of Microsoft documents it provides a ppm of 22. And this also the duplex printing technology. So while printing both the side, the speed is 13 ppm. The Canon MF644Cdw features a 50-page automatic document feeder. Additionally, it has a single-pass auto-duplexer which scans both sides of the page simultaneously.
The cost per page is 3.2 cents for monochrome and 16.2 for color prints. They are slightly on the higher side compared to the other all in one printer. The 5-inch customizable touch screen lets you create different panels as per your need.
The image and photo quality is very good. It is able to print all business documents with ease. When we put some high graphics intense, colored excel charts and Powerpoint design it handles them without any difficulty. In the case of printing photos, the result is better than any other laser printer. The colors are great and the photo has an excellent amount of detail.
The Canon MF-644Cdw is well equipped with both wired and wireless connectivity options. It has an ethernet port, dual-band WIFI, and WIFI direct. You can also connect your Pendrive and get the print. Apple AirPrint, Google Cloud Print, Mopria, and Canon color business are also available. This also supports Secure print to protect your confidential documents from any threat.
Brother MFC-L8900CDW Business Color Laser All-in-One Printer Review
Best color laser printer under $500
The Brother MFC-L8900CDW is a fast, feature pact, all in one printer. It has a speed of 33 ppm. The scanning speed for double-sided pages is up to 58 ipm. The monthly duty cycle is 60000 with the recommended volume of pages is 4000. This has a 5-inch touchscreen and you can customize in 64 ways according to your need. According to us, this is the best color laser printer you can buy in 2021.

Monthly Duty Cycle | 60000 |
Cost per page | 10.6 cents |
Speed (PPM) | 33 |
The Brother MFC-L8900CDW is our top choice as the all-in-one color laser printer. This has one of the highest ppm in this price range. It can print color pages at a speed of 33 per minute. It produces a speed of 35 ppm while printing a set of normal Microsoft documents. The rate exceeds the mentioned rate by the manufacturer. Now combining this with more intense Excel and Powerpoint files the speed came down to 12ppm. It prints a normal photo in about 16 seconds which is not best in class but also not too bad.
The monthly duty cycle of Brother MFC-L8900CDW is 60000 which is highest amongst its competitors. The recommended print volume is 4000. The automatic document feeder can hold 70 pages at a time which is far more than other all-in-one printers. Furthermore, the ADF is quipped with single-pass auto-duplex technology which means it can scan both sides of pages simultaneously. The other printers with duplex ADF draw the page back to scan the other side, which takes more time. If you want to get a cashless receipt from your favorite printer then have a receipt scanner for your job.
The total input capacity of Brother MFC-L8900 is 300. The primary or main tray can hold 250 sheets at a time. And the additional multipurpose tray able to hold 50 sheets. Furthermore, in case you need more paper storage, you can increase it up to 1300 pages.
The Brother MFC-L8900 will not disappoint you with its connectivity option. It has an ethernet port, WIFI, a USB port, and WIFI direct. You can connect it with a single PC using the 2.0 port. WIFI direct will let you connect your smartphone without any secondary network like a router. On the other hand, t also supports AirPrint, Google Cloud Print, Mopria as well as Brother’s own iPrint and scan app.
Additionally, t will provide you some great security features. Using the secure function lock you can modify the user access up to 200 different people. Also, NFC lets you connect it with an RFID enabled card to provide great secure access. You can also set pins using the Secure Print feature
Brother HL-L3210CW Compact Digital Color Printer Review
Best color laser printer under $200
The Brother HL-3210CW is the best color laser printer you can buy for under $200. You can also consider this as the best budget color laser printer in 2020. This offers solid performance with a pretty low price tag. It can print 19 pages per minute. The paper tray can hold 250 pages at a time. The low price tag doesn’t compromise with connectivity. You will get wireless mobile device printing. Also, it offers built-in WiFi, Wi-FI direct, and USB interfaces.

Monthly Duty Cycle | 30000 |
Cost Per Page | 15.6 Cents |
Speed (Page per minute) | 19 |
The Brother HL-3210CW is actually a LED-based machine. It uses an array of LEDs to perform the task instead of having a proper laser mechanism. But from an end user’s perspective, there is no significant difference between these technologies. So there is nothing to worry about for you.
The one-sheet override trey can hold 250 papers at a time. This is higher than the competitor’s offering. But there is a minor drawback. Unlike other high-end printers, it doesn’t have an auto-duplexing print engine for churning out two-sided pages. So in case you want to print the other side also, you have to place it manually.
The speed (RPM) of Brother HL-3210CW is 19. When tested against standard 12 pages Microsoft documents the PPM is 19.2. But if you put other docs like excel or PowerPoint it becomes one of the slowest, providing only 8 PPM. This is a lot slower amongst its competitors.
Brother laser printers are well known for providing great printing quality when it comes to photos and images. Brother HL-3210 is no exception. It is able to print high-quality images and photos with excellent details like all other laser printers out there.
Let’s take a look at the connectivity options it offers. It has WiFi and a USB port to connect with a PC. But it lacks an ethernet port. Though it will not affect you much as it supports Apple AirPrint, Google cloud print, Brothers iPrint, and scan app. You can also connect it through peer to peer networking using WIFI direct. And it comes with a one-year limited warranty.
Canon Color Image CLASS LBP622Cdw Review
Best Color photo Printer
There is another option for you in the budget color printer section – Canon color image LBP622Cdw. It has almost the same features as the Brother HL-3210CW. Also, there is only a $5 price difference between these two. This can print 22 pages per minute. The paper input capacity of Canon LBP622Cdw is the same as the Brother HL-3210CW. Both can hold 250 pages at a time. Also, the top end works as an output page holder, able to hold 75 pages at a time. Thus it’s a great option for you in the best color laser printer segment.

Monthly Duty Cycle | 2500 pages recommended |
Cost Per Page | 15.4 Cents |
Speed (PPM) | 22 |
The Canon LBP622Cdw weighs only 35 pounds. It has a dimension 11.5 by 17.2 by 16.7 which is perfect for compact spaces. It can serve you like the best color laser printer for small businesses. Canon didn’t officially publish the monthly duty cycle but it recommended 2500 max print volume per month compared to 1500 for Brother HL-3210CW. This has a cost per page as 15.4 which is on per with Brother laser printer above.
It has 22ppm which is average in class and slightly higher than Brother HL-3210CW. When we use a normal 12-page Microsoft word document the ppm was 21.9. Furthermore, it provides a ppm as 13 with excel and PowerPoint documents combining with the word docs. The Canon LBP622Cw is also capable of printing photos and images with exceptional quality and a great level of detail.
The paper tray can hold 250 papers at a time. This is the same as the Brother color printer discussed above. But the main advantage of Canon LBP622Cw is it supports duplex-print technology. So if you want to print something on the other side of the page you don’t need to put the paper manually like Brother HL-3210CW.
The Canon LBP622Cdw has ethernet, WIFI, USB port, and WIFI direct as a connectivity option. With the WiFi direct, you can connect the printer with your mobile without having any intermediate network like a router. You can also connect it with a single PC via a USB 2.0 port. The Apple AirPrint and Google cloud print features are also available. Furthermore, you can use Canon’s own Print Business app.
Brother HL-L3290CDW Compact Digital Color Printer Review
Best color laser printer under $300
The Brother HL-L3290CDW is a compact color laser printer suitable for small home and business use. It has great value for money. This comes with a speed of 25ppm. The input tray is capable of holding 250 papers at a time. This also has auto-duplexing technology which makes your printing faster. Undoubtedly this can serve you like the best color laser printer for small offices.

Monthly Duty Cycle | 30000 |
Cost per page | 15.5 cents |
Speed (PPM) | 25 |
The Brother HL-L3290CDW is capable of printing 25 pages per minute. It’s higher than most of its competitors. If you use a 12-page Microsoft word documents this gives 23.5ppm. When we use normal adobe PDF, excel and Powerpoint documents along with the word docs the PPM came down to 10.5ppm.
It is perfectly suitable for small business use. Whatever business doc you want to print whether it’s a graph or chart or any complex thing, Brother HL-L3290 is capable of producing high quality, great details and crip images and photos. The colors are also accurate.
The monthly duty cycle of Brother HL-L3290CDW is 30000. The recommended monthly print volume is 1500. The input tray can hold up to 250 pages. And it has auto-duplex technology. So, as a result, it will give a smooth and time effective printing solution. You don’t need to put the paper manually to print something on the other side. It also has a 30 sheet multipurpose tray.
It has came down to 2.6 cents in the case of monochrome pages. The only drawback is it lacks an ADF – automatic document feeder. It will serve you fine till you are copying or scanning a couple of pages at a time. But if you need to copy multiple docs you should look for the bigger sibling of this.
This has WIFI, a single USB port, and WIFI direct. Only an ethernet port is missing here but that’s not a big deal. You will also get the support of Apple AirPrint, Google Cloud Print, and Brother’s own iPrint and scan for both android and iOS devices. Using WIFI direct, you can connect your mobile with the printer without having any external network. It comes with a 1-year warranty also.
Brother Business Color Laser Printer, HL-L8360CDW Review
Best color laser printer under $400
The Brother HL-L8360CDW is one of the best all one printer with great value for money. This has a speed of 33PPM. The tray can hold 1300 sheets with 3 expandable trays having the capacity to hold 250 sheets each. Also, it also supports 500 sheet paper trays. In addition to all the connectivity features, this supports NFC. SO you will be able to connect an RFID card easily with this printer.

Monthly Duty Cycle | 60000 |
Cost per page | 17.6 cents |
Speed (PPM) | 33 |
The input tray can hold a total of 300 sheets. It has 250 normal sheets capacity and 50 multipurpose sheet capacity. The monthly duty cycle for Brother HL-L8360CDW is 60000. The recommended pages per month are 4000. This is higher than all the competitors in this price range.
It can print 33 pages per minute (ppm) for both monochrome and color. During printing normal 12 pages Microsoft word documents you will get a ppm as 33. But when you place some excel and Powerpoint docs with a lot of colors, graphics, and chart the ppm came down to 11.5 ppm. This is normal since all other printers in this category show the same symptoms.
All the Brothers printers come with some great security features. You can set a security feature to allow 200 people to print color pages. There is also a secure print feature that will allow you only after inputting a pin code. But these features are present to all the Brothers printers. In addition, Brother HL-L8360 supports an active directory that requires an ID and password for print. Also, NFC helps you to access it with secured NFC supported cards and smartphones.
It has a gigabit ethernet port, WIFI, and a USB 2.0 port to connect with a single PC. This also supports WIFI direct so you will be able to connect it directly with your smartphone. The highlighted feature here is NFC. NFC makes connectivity easy. It will let you connect your smartphone with the printer with only a single tap. Furthermore, the Brother office print app lets you print directly from Microsoft Office apps.
Lexmark C2535dw Color Laser Printer Review
Best professional color laser printer
Lexmark C2535 is the best value for money printer available under $400. It beats all the competitors with its printing speed of 35ppm. The input tray supports general 251 sheets just like other highly-priced printers. It has all the connectivity options available. The recommended monthly page volume is 1500-8000 which is better than the others in this category.

Monthly Duty cycle | 85000 |
Cost per page | Not available |
Speed (PPM) | 35 |
The Lexmark C2535DW has the best specs amongst its competitors with a pretty low price tag. This has a monthly duty cycle of 85000 with recommended pages per month is up to 8000. This is the highest duty cycle you will get at this price range
Furthermore, when we talk about the printing speed the Lexmark C2535Dw shines perfectly. It has a speed of 35 ppm for both color and monochrome. It takes 7.5 seconds for the first print which is considerably low. The input tray can hold 251 sheets at a time. The primary drawer has a capacity of 250 sheets. And the extra drawer can hold 1 sheet which you can use to print envelopes or other media files. Using the expandable tray, it has a maximum holding capacity of 1450 sheets.
This will not let you down in case of connectivity options. The Lexmark C2535Dw supports both Apple AirPrint and Google Cloud Print. It has WIFI, an ethernet port, and a USB port. Also, you can connect it with a single PC using the USB 2.0 port. Using WIFI direct you will be able to connect your smartphone and print with ease.
HP Color LaserJet Pro M454dw Printer Review
Best quality color laser printer
The HP Laserjet Pro M454dw is a great buy if your budget is around the $300 range. It has 28ppm with 250 sheets of input tray support. The multipurpose tray can hold up to 50 sheets. It also supports duplex printing. The 2.7-inch touchscreen is well equipped with features.

Monthly Duty Cycle | 50000 |
Cost per page | Not available |
Speed (PPM) | 28 |
The HP Color Laserjet Pro M454dw is capable of printing 28 pages per minute. If you use a 12-page normal word document it will give 25.5ppm. And when we combine this with excel, pdf, and Powerpoint docs the ppm is around 13. The time it takes to get the first print out is around 9 seconds.
The monthly duty cycle here is 50000. And HP recommends 750-4000 pages per month. Just like other printers in this range, it can hold 250 pages in the input tray. It also has a 50 sheets multipurpose tray. This is capable of printing high-quality photos with great color accuracy. It also features auto-duplex technology, providing you alternate side printing without any manual effort.
This comes with ethernet, WIFI, and WIFI direct functionality. You can connect it with a PC using the USB2.0 port. And using WIFI direct you will be able to connect it with your smartphone easily. This also supports Apple AirPrint, Google Cloud print as well as HP’s own print app available in the app store and google play store.
With a weight of 48 pounds, it is a perfect fit for small offices. Having a dimension of 16.2*18.5*11.6 can serve you like the best color laser printer for small offices. The only thing it lacks is ADF – auto document feeder. So if you are looking for a printer with a scanning technology you should avoid this one.
Brother MFC-L3750CDW Digital Color All-in-One Printer Review
Best all-in-one laser printer
Brother MFC-L3750CDW is an all-in-one color laser printer suitable for small offices and businesses. It provides decent quality prints with accurate colors and a great level of detail and sharpness. It has auto-duplex ADF for scanning and copying another side of the page. The print speed (ppm) is 25 and it also scans up to 25 ppm black and 22 ppm color.

Monthly Duty Cycle | 30000 |
Cost per page | 15.5 cents |
Speed (PPM) | 25 |
The Brother MFC-L3750CDW is the best color laser printer for office with a great value for money. It has a speed of 25ppm which is faster than most of them all in one color laser printer. It gives a ppm of 25.5 with normal Microsoft word formatted 12 pages documents. Combining this with a more intense, colored, and designed excel and Powerpoint sheet the ppm came down to 9.9. It’s a bit slower side compared to its competitors.
The print quality is exceptional. It handles the normal business documents with ease. Also, the charts in excel and graphics in Powerpoint came out super crispy with almost accurate and vibrant colors. The photos are also bright and have an excellent amount of detail.
The input paper drawer can hold 250 pages at a time. It also has a 1-sheet override slot for printing envelopes or other media. The duty cycle of Brother MFC-L3750CDW is 30000 pages, with a recommended 1500 pages per month. This has the auto-duplex technology for both side printing without any manual effort. Furthermore, it has a duplex ADF also. For monochrome scanning speed is 25ipm and for color 22ipm. The cost per page (CPP) is 2.6 cents for monochrome and 15.5 cents for color prints.
The Brother MFC-L3750CDW offers you multiple connectivity options. You will get a USB port, WIFI, WIFI direct, and NFC. It also supports Apple AirPrint, Google Cloud Print.
HP LaserJet Pro M281fdw Review
The HP LaserJet Pro M281fdw is an entry-level all in one color printer. It is capable of printing 22 pages per minute. The input tray has a capacity of 251 sheets at a time. The monthly duty cycle is 40000 and also has auto-duplex technology for printing. This also has all the latest and fastest connectivity options.

Monthly Duty Cycle | 40000 |
Cost per page | 15.3 cents |
Speed (PPM) | 22 |
The HP M281fdw is a compact all in one color laser printer suitable for office use. There are two input trays, having a total capacity of 251 sheets. The main drawer can hold 25o sheets and above it, the extra drawer has space for 1 sheet for media and other printing solutions. The monthly duty cycle is 40000 which is higher than its competitors. The auto-duplex technology helps you print both sides of the paper without any manual effort. This also has an ADF for scanning and copying. But the ADF lacks duplex technology which means it cannot scan or copy another side of the page automatically. If you are more into scanning or copying you should take this into account.
The control panel has three main buttons – back, home and help. There is a small 2.7-inch color led touch screen for navigation.
The HP M281fdw has a speed of 22 pages per minute which is almost the same as other printers in this price range. It can print a normal set of Microsoft documents at a rate of 21.5ppm. Combining this with excel and Powerpoint files having graphics, charts, and color the speed came down to 12 ppm.
The cost per page is 15.3 cents for color and 3 cents for monochrome. This is fair enough since most of the printer in this class offers the same or even higher CPP than HP m281fdw.
This comes with a USB port, dual-band WIFI, ethernet, and WIFI direct. Using the USB 2.0 port you can connect it with a single PC. Apple AirPrint and Mopria are also supported. Using wireless direct, HP’s own version of WIFI direct you can connect the printer with your smartphone.
The only drawback of this printer is not capable of printing high-quality photos. If you are more into a photo printing business you should avoid this one.
Conclusion
I hope the above-detailed review helps you to differentiate the best color laser printer amongst all out there in the market. There are a ton of options available from Brothers. They make some great quality printers and the feedback we got from buyers is great. They have all the ports and as well as good software support that make them the leader of the printer market. Canon is also a great option for you as an alternative.
It provides excellent value for money. We have also listed the best budget color laser printer as most people go for the best budget product. And in case you have any further questions let us know in the comment section below.