The best printer for art prints at home is usually a 13-inch pigment ink photo printer if you want to sell serious fine art prints, with the Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-310 and Epson SureColor P700 being the two models I would compare first. If I were printing lower-priced prints, test prints, or higher-volume shop inventory, I would also consider the Epson EcoTank ET-8550 because the ink costs are easier to live with.
Table of Contents
Best printer for art prints at home: my fast answer
For most artists selling prints from home, I would start with one of these three choices:
Best overall for fine art prints: Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-310
The Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-310 is the printer I would look at first if my main goal were selling polished art prints from a home studio. It is a 13-inch professional photo printer with pigment-based inks, which matters if you care about rich color, deep blacks, and prints that feel closer to gallery-quality work. Canon lists it as a professional 13-inch wireless inkjet photo printer with 9 pigment color inks plus Chroma Optimizer.
The downside is predictable: ink is not cheap. If you are selling prints casually, the running cost may feel painful. But if your prints are priced properly and you care about presentation, this is the kind of printer that makes sense.
Best Epson alternative: Epson SureColor P700
The Epson SureColor P700 is another strong choice for artists who want professional-looking prints at home. Epson lists it as a 13-inch printer using UltraChrome PRO10 pigment ink, with dedicated nozzles for both photo black and matte black.
I would compare the P700 directly against the Canon PRO-310. I do not think most artists need to obsess over tiny differences between them at first. Paper choice, file quality, color management, and consistent packaging will probably affect the customer experience more than splitting hairs between two very capable printers.
Best lower-cost ink option: Epson EcoTank ET-8550
The Epson EcoTank ET-8550 makes sense if you want to print at home but are worried about ink costs. Epson describes it as a wide-format cartridge-free photo printer that can print borderless photos up to 13 by 19 inches.
This is the printer I would consider if I were making open-edition prints, packaging mockups, small shop products, or lower-priced art prints where the margins are tighter. I would not choose it over a pigment ink printer for my highest-end fine art prints, but it can be a practical home-studio choice.
What matters most when choosing an art print printer
The printer itself matters, but it is only one part of the print. The paper, scan or photo file, monitor, ink type, and packaging all affect the final result.
Pigment ink vs dye ink
If I am selling art prints as a serious product, I prefer pigment ink. Pigment ink is usually the safer choice for fine art prints because it is associated with better longevity and a more professional print workflow.
Dye ink can still look beautiful, and it often gives strong color. The issue is that I would be more cautious about selling dye-based prints as premium archival prints unless I had tested the paper, ink, and presentation carefully.
Maximum print size
A 13-inch printer is a good home-studio size for most artists. It lets you print common sizes like 8 by 10, 11 by 14, 12 by 16, and 13 by 19, depending on the printer and paper.
If you want to sell larger prints often, you may eventually want a 17-inch printer like the Epson SureColor P900 or a larger Canon imagePROGRAF model. But I would not start there unless I already knew large prints were part of my business model.
Ink cost
Ink cost is where home printing gets real. A printer can be affordable upfront and still become expensive over time. I would not buy a printer just because the purchase price looks reasonable.
Before buying, I would check:
Paper handling
This matters more than people think. If you want to use thick cotton rag paper, textured fine art paper, or heavier matte paper, make sure the printer can handle those media types comfortably.
A printer that makes beautiful glossy photos is not automatically the best printer for textured art paper.
Color accuracy
If your artwork has subtle pencil values, watercolor washes, muted earth tones, or delicate shadow shapes, color accuracy matters. I draw and sketch a lot, so I care about whether the print keeps the feeling of the original instead of turning everything too contrasty or too saturated.
For artists digitizing drawings, I would also think about the quality of the source file. A good printer cannot fix a bad scan or a poorly lit photo. If your files need work, I would sort that out before blaming the printer. I’d also think through the full process of how to make art prints before spending money on the printer itself.
My practical printer recommendations by artist type
If you sell premium fine art prints
I would choose the Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-310 or Epson SureColor P700.
This is the route I would take if I wanted my prints to feel like a real art product, not just a reproduction on nice paper. I would pair the printer with quality matte or cotton paper and be careful with packaging, signing, and editioning.
This also means pricing matters. If your prints are underpriced, good paper and pigment ink will eat into your margin fast. Before committing to home printing, I would work through how to price art prints so the numbers make sense.
If you sell affordable open-edition prints
I would look hard at the Epson EcoTank ET-8550.
This is not the most romantic answer, but selling art is partly about math. If the ink cost is lower, you have more room to test products, make mistakes, run small batches, and keep inventory moving.
For artists still figuring out where to sell, I would also compare home printing against print-on-demand or outside print labs. I wrote more about that broader decision in the best places to sell art prints online.
If you are just testing your first prints
I would not rush into the most expensive printer.
I would either start with a good local print lab or buy a more affordable home printer only after I knew what I wanted to sell. The mistake is buying the printer first, then trying to build a print business around it.
A printer is a tool. It is not the business by itself.
What I would not buy for selling art prints
I would avoid basic office inkjet printers for sellable art prints. They are fine for invoices, labels, drafts, and rough proofs, but they usually do not give me the paper handling, ink quality, or color control I want for artwork.
I would also be careful with cheap all-in-one printers that advertise photo printing but are really built for general home use. They may be fine for casual prints, but selling art prints means the customer is paying for a finished object. The print has to feel intentional.
The home printing setup I would build around the printer
A good printer needs a simple system around it. I would keep it practical:
Use better paper
Paper changes everything. A print on cheap paper can make strong artwork feel flat. A print on the right matte, textured, or cotton paper can make the same image feel much more valuable.
If I were selling prints from home, I would test a few papers before committing. I would compare matte, luster, and cotton rag paper side by side, then choose based on the artwork. For more on that decision, I would start with best paper for art prints and matte vs glossy paper for art prints.
Make clean digital files
The print begins before the printer. If the scan has dust, crooked edges, bad contrast, or uneven color, the printer will reproduce those problems beautifully.
For drawings and sketchbook work, I would make sure the file is clean, properly cropped, and close to the original before printing. If the artwork starts in a sketchbook, how to digitize sketchbook pages is part of the same workflow.
Package prints properly
Once I print something at home, I still have to protect it. I would use clean sleeves, backing boards when needed, rigid mailers or tubes depending on the size, and a process that keeps fingerprints, dust, and bent corners away from the print.
Home printing only works if the print arrives looking like something the buyer is glad they paid for. I would connect the printer decision with how to package art prints for shipping before selling too many prints.
When printing at home is worth it
Printing at home is worth it when you want control. I like the idea of being able to test paper, adjust a file, make one print, look at it under real light, and refine it without placing another lab order.
It also makes sense if you sell prints regularly enough that the printer earns its place in the studio. If you only sell a few prints a year, a good print lab may be simpler and cheaper.
Printing at home can help if you are building a larger art business from home, especially if you want tighter control over product quality, packaging, and fulfillment. It fits naturally with a broader plan for selling art online or building your own shop instead of relying only on marketplaces.
One preservation detail I would not ignore
If you are selling prints, think about handling and storage too. The Library of Congress has a useful guide on care, handling, and storage of works on paper, and I think it is worth reading if you are serious about prints as physical objects. It covers practical preservation ideas for paper-based work, which applies directly to how I think about storing, handling, and shipping art prints.
My next step before buying a printer
Before buying, I would decide what kind of prints I actually want to sell.
If I wanted premium fine art prints, I would compare the Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-310 and Epson SureColor P700, then test a few fine art papers. If I wanted lower-cost open editions or higher-volume shop prints, I would look closely at the Epson EcoTank ET-8550.
The printer should match the business model. That is the real decision.