Alice
For many illustrators, designers and artists, stationery can be a great way to make money from their self-expression. Stationery includes a huge range of products, from greeting cards, bespoke invitations, art-prints, patches and pins, to notebooks, calendars, letterheads and business cards. As a result, running a stationery business will require you to print many different products on different media – including more challenging materials like heavy card stock, envelopes and more. You will also need to print on a variety of different sizes, from tiny 4 x 5 inch cards to colossal A3+ poster prints. Unfortunately, all this can be too much for the average home printer to handle. That’s why you need a specialist machine that produces high quality, fast and cost-effective results every time. We’ve looked across the market to find you the best printers for your stationary business, no matter which star product you make your priority. Here are our top five recommendations.
Product Comparison Table: Best Printer for Stationery Business
| Title | Price | Rating (Amazon) | Best in class | Buy | |
 | Epson Expression Photo HD XP-15000 Printer | $$ | 4 stars | Best for Greetings Cards | Amazon |
 | Canon T29521C All-in-One Wireless Printer | $$$ | 4 stars | Best for Wedding Invitations | Amazon |
 | HP Envy Photo 7855 All-in-One Photo Printer | $ | 4.5 stars | Best Value | Amazon |
 | Canon PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II Inkjet Photo Printer | $$$ | 4 stars | Best for Art Prints | Amazon |
 | HP LaserJet Enterprise M553n Color Laser Printer | $$$$ | 4.5 stars | Best for Large Businesses | Amazon |
Epson Expression Photo HD XP-15000 Printer
The Epson Expression Photo HD XP-15000 Printer supports wide format, up to 13 x 19” borderless. The resolution of 5760 x 1440dpi – delivered via a Claria Photo HD six-colour ink technology system including red and grey – produces sharpness, vividness and depth of colour. The rear 50-sheet speciality media tray is a unique feature, allowing higher-volume cardstock printing without individual feeding, handling weights up to 140lb and thicknesses up to 23ml with ease. It even claims to be 30% smaller than competing wide-format printers, meaning it won’t eat up too much space. On top of all this, it also comes with Amazon Dash Replacement support, meaning you could never run out of ink again; this keeps track of your ink usage and orders more through your Amazon account when you start to run low.
Pros
- High resolution for great print quality
- Amazon Dash Replacement program
- 50-sheet speciality media tray
- Wide format prints
Cons
- No third party or refilled cartridges
Verdict
The Epson Expression Photo HD XP-15000 Printer is our number one choice for greetings card businesses. It delivers the best quality, efficiency and accessibility on the market, even on challenging heavy cardstocks. It can also print borderless up to a massive size, allowing you to create novelty giant cards! However, although the Amazon Dash feature is convenient, it does mean you can’t use third party or refilled cartridges to lower costs.
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Canon T29521C All-in-One Wireless Printer
The Canon T29521C All-in-One Wireless Printer is designed with crafting in mind, providing the versatility of scanning, printing and copying; allowing you to design stationery pieces, digitise them and transfer them to different media. It is capable of handling a myriad of stocks to facilitate this: cardstock, canvas and even cotton. It can also handle varying sizes, all the way up to 12 x 12 inches, at a resolution of 4800 x 1200 dpi. The print head is equipped with 5 individual inks, producing bright colours and great fidelity on even the most intricate designs. Moreover, Canon’s ChromaLife 100 technology promises to protect prints from fading for up to 100 years, meaning your memories will last a lifetime. As for connectivity, you can link up with the machine via USB, WiFi, Bluetooth, Ethernet or memory card.
Pros
- High resolution for great print quality
- Handles wide range of sizes and stocks
- ChromaLife 100 technology
- Multifunctional (prints, scans, copies)
Cons
- No auto-duplex feature
Verdict
If you specialise in wedding invitations, the Canon T29521C All-in-One Wireless Printer is perfect for you. The wide range of stocks and sizes supported means you could even print envelopes to send your invitations. You can also supplement your wedding package with printed DVDs, photo cards and more! The lack of a duplex feature could become a pain, though, especially if making greetings cards with internal messages.
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HP Envy Photo 7855 All-in-One Photo Printer
The HP Envy Photo 7855 All-in-One Photo Printer offers excellent quality and unbeatable value. It scans, copies, faxes and prints at up to 4800 x 1200 optimised dpi, borderless and in sizes from 4 x 5 to 8.5 x 11”. Although it can’t handle stocks above 72lb, it excels on glossy papers. Probably the most disappointing feature is the print speed, which only reaches 15ppm in black, and 10ppm in colour. However, it does have an incredibly low cost-per-page; with HP’s own proprietary ink cartridges, the company claims this printer can produce stunning results at just 5 cents per print. There’s also HP’s own Instant ink service included, which works similarly to Amazon Dash. Lastly, it supports both wired and wireless printing via USB, SD, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
Pros
- High resolution for quality prints
- Borderless printing option
- Low price and cost per page
Cons
- Can’t print large format
- Can’t handle heavier stocks
Verdict
If your business is just starting out, you won’t find a better entry-level option than the HP Envy Photo 7855 All-in-One Photo Printer. This great value inkjet machine produces excellent results without racking up costs – despite limiting you to more expensive branded cartridges. The primary downsides are the small format, and the inability to handle super heavy stocks; this could interfere with producing certain types of cards.
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Canon PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II Inkjet Photo Printer
The Canon PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II Inkjet Photo Printer uses FINE 8-color printhead technology to achieve a phenomenally high resolution: 4800 x 2400dpi. This is enough to produce photo lab or print shop quality, and at speed too; this machine can produce a full colour, borderless 11 x 14 stationery sheet in 1 minute 24 seconds. There’s support for heavier stocks in the front loading feeder, plus an alternative paper path for fine art paper up to 13 x 19”. Best of all, it comes with advanced Easy-PhotoPrint Pro software to fine tune your prints, plus Ambient Light Correction. This unique software optimises color output to match the specified lighting conditions your piece would be displayed in. As for connection, it relies on good old-fashioned USB cable.
Pros
- Super-high resolution for professional quality
- Fast printing, no quality loss
- Comes with corrective editing software
- Prints in large format
Cons
- Only connects via USB
Verdict
Art prints are becoming more and more popular in the stationery industry. With the Canon PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II Inkjet Photo Printer, you can offer your customers high quality, personalised art prints that rival any print shop for quality. The support for heavier stocks would be perfect for posters and calendar sheets, too. If you’re looking to expand your business into personalised photo products, this is the printer for you.
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HP LaserJet Enterprise M553n Color Laser Printer
The HP LaserJet Enterprise M553n Color Laser Printer is designed for businesses, and can achieve the fastest print speed of any machine in this article: a lightning-fast 40ppm in both black and color. This means it can produce a full color print, up to A4 size, in just 7 seconds! There’s also a 650 sheet input capacity, so you can run off reams of stationery before having to refill the paper. The main drawback is the lower resolution – only 1200 x 1200 dpi. This is higher than most desktop printers, but is a natural result of laser printing; colours can also appear slightly less dense than inkjet due to the printing process. However, although the unit itself is expensive, the four preinstalled HP LaserJet toner cartridges promise to yield around 6000 pages of black, and 5000 pages of color.
Pros
- Huge paper input capacity
- Superfast printing speed in black and color
- Comes with high yield cartridges included
Cons
- Doesn’t print large format
- Lower print resolution
Verdict
The HP LaserJet Enterprise M553n Color Laser Printer is our top choice for larger businesses, who need a big workhorse machine to handle big volumes. This printer can print lightning fast, and at a surprisingly low cost-per-page. The only problems are the high price (which could be exclusionary for smaller businesses) and the lower resolution. However, if you specialise in less artistically inclined products like business letterheads, this is an ideal option.
