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Labels are essential for a huge variety of business purposes: labelling product, organising materials, plus shipping and identifying items. Accurate labelling in storage spaces and warehouses can simplify workflow and maximise your business’s effectiveness. In retail environments, well-made labels help customers find products, and help you make more sales. Even office spaces can benefit from labels, giving an impression of organisation and professionalism. As for eCommerce, labels are crucial to accurate mailing, and keeping your feedback positive. However, when you’re labelling large amounts of items, traditional inkjet or laser printers can become very expensive; inks and toners run out fast, and are costly to replace. This is where thermal printers come in, printing quick, clear labels with just head and pre-treated paper rolls. But with so many models on the market, how do you know which is right for you – especially if your computers run Mac OS? We’ve evaluated machines from across the market to find you the best thermal printer for Mac in 2022.
Product Comparison Table: Best Thermal Printer for Mac
| Title | Price | Rating (Amazon) | Best in class | Buy | |
 | ROLLO Thermal Label Printer | $$$ | 4.5 stars | Best commercial | Amazon |
 | Jiose J500 KTN Thermal Printer | $ | 4 stars | Best value | Amazon |
 | Hudoo 2054K Thermal Label Printer | $$$ | 3.5 stars | Best wireless | Amazon |
 | MUNBYN Thermal Shipping Label Printer | $$ | 4.5 stars | Best resolution | Amazon |
 | LabelRange LP320 Label Printer | $$ | 4.5 stars | Best overall | Amazon |
ROLLO Thermal Label Printer
The ROLLO Thermal Label Printer is one of the best-selling thermal printers online, and for good reason. It offers high-speed printing at 150 mm/s (enough for one 4×6 shipping label per second), without toner or ink. If you’re printing four-row labels, it can manage a blistering 238 per minute! ROLLO’s advanced thermal direct technology also provides reliable, clear results on even the smallest of text. Automatic label identification features provide calibration at the touch of a button, meaning loading new rolls in the machine’s internal cavity is quick and easy. You can even use any generic or branded thermal direct label without fear of misprints or damaging the machine. It supports sizes from 1.57-4.1 inches wide, perfect for UPS, eBay, FBA, Shopify and all other major eCommerce platforms. Printing is also available directly from Adobe PDF, Microsoft Word or internet browsers.
Pros
- Prints on branded or generic labels
- Very fast printing speed
- Automatic label identification
- Compatible with all major eCommerce platforms
Cons
- Only compatible with Mac OS 10.9 and newer
- No wireless connection
Verdict
The ROLLO Thermal Label Printer is engineered with commercial thermal label printing in mind. It has a super fast printing speed that allows you to print crystal clear labels at scale, automatically sized for a variety of uses and business contexts. The lack of support for operating systems pre Mac OS 10.9 could be a little exclusive, but it might also be the push you need to finally get around to that update!
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Jiose J500-KTN Thermal Printer
The Jiose J500-KTN Thermal Shipping Label Printer is the lowest priced printer on this list. Yet, it produces one of the fastest print speeds: 86 labels per minute (162 mm/s) at 203dpi resolution. The machine has great longevity too, printing up to 300,000 standard labels before the printhead needs replacing. It also accepts any thermal direct labels – generic or branded – from 1.57″ – 4.25″ wide. This compatibility benefit is augmented by an industry-standard automatic label identification feature; it can print address labels, food labels, storage labels and more without manual calibration, and thus is compatible with practically all transportation and e-commerce platforms. The Joise US customer service team also offer free lifetime technical support via live chat, phone calls (between 9pm and 6pm PST) and email – they’ll even do remote-desktop operation support if you need.
Pros
- Very fast printing speed
- Automatic label identification technology
- Free lifetime customer service
Cons
- Not compatible with some Mac operating systems
Verdict
The Jiose J500-KTN Thermal Shipping Label Printer is the best value thermal shipping label printer for Mac on the market. The speed and reliability were on par with much more expensive models, making it a great entry-level choice for eCommerce use. Yet we did have some issues with certain operating systems: although it’s compatible with Mac OS, it doesn’t support iOS.
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Hudoo 2054K Thermal Label Printer
With the Hudoo 2054K Thermal Label Printer, you can expect a super high print speed of 152 mm/s speed, enough for just over one 4×6 standard shipping label per second. It is not only capable of producing this size, however, as it is also able to make product labels, barcode labels, stickers and UPS labels. It supports both fanfold and media roll input, and stores the roll internally, meaning it takes up less space on your desktop and won’t jam often. Despite its compact size, it supports wide format labels of 50-108mm width. It also supports any brand-name or generic thermal direct label, which saves you costs in the long run; Hudoo do also produce their own very low cost rolls, though. The best feature of this machine is its wireless connection. It supports WiFi and Bluetooth connections, allowing you to print from your smartphone or tablet as well as your computer.
Pros
- Prints a wide variety of sizes
- Supports generic and branded labels
- Fast printing speed
- Wireless connectivity
Cons
- Low resolution can affect print quality
Verdict
The Hudoo 2054K Thermal Label Printer is unique on this list, in that it provides fully wireless connectivity. After only 10 minutes of setup, you can print labels directly from your tablet or smartphone, or simply connect to your laptop without any trailing wires. This aside, the resolution is not the highest; if you’re printing very small text on your labels, this might not be the best printer for you.
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MUNBYN Thermal Shipping Label Printer
This MUNBYN Thermal Shipping Label Printer – the ITPP941P 3.0 – is an upgrade from their previous model, beloved of bulk shippers across the USA for its speed and reliability. The difference here is with a Japanese ROHM printhead, this machine can print in 300dpi; for comparison, most monochrome inkjet printers print at around this resolution. This means it can print high definition logos, packing slips, name labels, barcodes and more. It includes automatic label identification to prevent you having to manually calibrate the machine, and print speeds reach up to 150 mm/s. That’s enough for over 5000 labels a day! It supports sizes from 1.57-4.3 inches wide. The box also includes 10 test labels, as well as a connective USB cable. As for customer service, there’s a User Manual, hot-to videos and a free 24-hour online technical support service.
Pros
- Inkjet-quality resolution for quality prints
- Fast printing speed, good longevity
- Free customer support
Cons
- No wireless connectivity
Verdict
If your main priority in a thermal printer is high resolution and clear prints, the MUNBYN ITPP941P 3.0 Thermal Shipping Label Printer is the perfect printer for you. The resolution reaches levels common to most inkjet printers, combined with thermal’s convenience and efficiency.. If you are just thinking of making the switch, this is a good option; you won’t experience any drop in quality, significantly smoothing your transition to thermal printing.
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LabelRange LP320 Label Printer
The LabelRange LP320 Label Printer prints labels in a range of sizes from 1.57-4.72 inches in width, and 1-9.84 inches in heights, perfect for 4×6 shipping labels, warehouse labels, barcodes, Amazon FBA and free UPS labels. It can print on any generic label roll, regardless of brand, lowering your costs considerably. It can also automatically catch the first label on a roll, detect the size, gap and characteristics, and position it on the tear-off line; this means you won’t waste any paper. The print speed reaches an impressive 60 4×6 labels per minute, or one per second. 203dpi resolution ensures crystal clear prints. It is also entirely compatible with Mac OS, and all major shipping and selling platforms: Amazon, eBay, Paypal, Shopify, Etsy, Poshmark, DHL, FedEd, UPS and many others. Best of all, customer service is available 24-hours a day via phone and email, if you need any assistance with technical issues.
Pros
- High resolution for quality prints
- Fast printing speeds
- Automatic label identification
- Compatible with all major eCommerce platforms
Cons
- USB connection, doesn’t support USB-C
Verdict
The LabelRange LP320 Label Printer combines the best features of all the other thermal printers on this list into one compact, affordable and effective package. The high resolution and printing speeds mean you can expect flawless output every time. The only major downside is the USB-B connection might require a USB-C to USB-C adapter for newer Macbook models, although these are both cheap and easy to find. The LabelRange is, in our opinion, the overall best thermal printer for Mac in 2022.
