Alice
Labels are extremely useful at home and for business; they allow you to organise storage, designate important files, identify property, tell customers about products, engage in eCommerce and optimise workflows. An efficient, high quality label printer can have a seismic effect on the workings of your business or home. However, it can be expensive to invest in such a printer. High-end models can set you back hundreds of dollars, and with the amount of makes and models on the market it can be difficult to know where best to spend your money. That’s why we’ve investigated hundreds of label printers to find you the best options, for the best price. We’ve recommended these five label printers because they meet the criteria that buyers most look for when choosing a machine: high speed, versatility, flexible connectivity and solid construction. Here are the best value label printers for all budgets in 2022.
Product Comparison Table: Best Value Label Printers
| Title | Price | Rating (Amazon) | Best in class | Buy | |
 | LVYUAN High-Speed Shipping Label Printer | $$ | 4.5 stars | Best for shipping | Amazon |
 | Tacevoll Label Maker Machine | $ | 4 stars | Best wireless | Amazon |
 | Brother P-Touch PTD400AD Label Maker | $$ | 4 stars | Best with keyboard | Amazon |
 | PSGLOBAL Thermal Label Printer | $$ | 4 stars | Best desktop | Amazon |
 | Phomemo D30 Label Maker | $ | 4.5 stars | Best overall | Amazon |
LVYUAN High-Speed Shipping Label Printer
If you sell a lot of items online, the LVYUAN High-Speed Shipping Label Printer is designed with you in mind. This shipping label printer is the easiest way to make sure your parcels get to where they need to be, saving you time and money with its intuitive design – it is also certified as compatible with most major shipping and eCommerce platforms, including Etsy, Shopify, eBay, Amazon FBA, FedEx, Royal Mail, USPS and more. In fact, this machine is perfect for sending any package with a conventional 4×6 label size or regular size barcode. The print speed is super fast, reaching 152mm/s, or 1 label per second. Best of all, the LVYUAN features automatic label identification, meaning the printer will immediately catch the thermal direct label roll, measure the size and feed it into the printer. This saves you having to calibrate the machine every time you switch label type. Lastly, this machine is compatible with any generic or branded thermal direct roll.
Pros
- Industrial grade heat dissipation
- Compatible with generic or branded rolls
- Super fast print speed
- Works with any major shipping or eCommerce platform
Cons
- Print quality decreases as speed increases
Verdict
When choosing a low-cost thermal printer like the LUVYUAN many customers get concerned about melting or burning. However, the industrial grade heat dissipation in this machine means you won’t have to worry about working with heat. In turn, being compatible with generic rolls will save you a great deal of money in the long run, especially when printing the kind of large quantities you’ll churn out with a print speed this fast. This is our choice for the best value label printer for shipping.
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Tacevoll Label Maker Machine
If you’re trying to sort out your storage, it helps not to be constrained by messy wires or cables. With the Tacevoll Label Maker Machine, you can print entirely wirelessly; built-in Bluetooth connectivity facilitates a solid connection for multiple devices at a time. This machine is specially designed to be used with mobile devices, and thus all label design tasks are performed via the iLabel app, which can be downloaded from the Google Play and Apple App store. Once downloaded, this app gives you access to a range of text, numbers, graphics, symbols, logos, QR codes and more. It even gives you access to free templates, if you’re stuck for ideas. Finally, the machine is fully portable and battery powered. Charging takes only two hours, and the printhead has a life of 20,000 prints.
Pros
- Long lasting printhead
- Portable and battery powered
- Fully wireless connectivity
- Comes with free design app
Cons
- Can only print thin label tapes
- Limited font selection
Verdict
Despite only being able to print one size of tape, the Tacevoll Label Maker Machine is excellent at doing so. This little machine is great for printing labels for your belongings, and could have great applications for home and office organisation, classrooms and inventory labelling. However, the selection of fonts is relatively limited, so it might be best to stick to situations where you’re not worried about expressing your personality or brand.
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Brother P-Touch PTD400AD Label Maker
Label printers with a keyboard are a great option if you’re less techy, or just don’t want to mess around with apps and smartphones. These allow you to print directly from the machine, keying in your text and watching it instantly feed out on the tape. The Brother P-Touch PTD400AD Label Maker has intuitive one-touch keys, meaning they’re not at all fiddly to use. You can play with a huge selection of 99 frames, 600 plus symbols, 14 fonts and 7 point sizes just by pressing the appropriate keys, and print up to nine copies of your design. Internal memory can also store up to fifty designs. The box includes a traditional AC adapter cable, however the printer can also be powered by 6 AA batteries if you desire – although these are not included on purchase. The machine also only supports Brother Genuine P-Touch TZe branded tapes, in sizes from 18mm to 3.5mm width.
Pros
- Huge range of customisation options
- Built-in one-touch keyboard
- Powered by AC or battery power
Cons
- Only works with Brother branded labels
Verdict
The Brother P-Touch PTD400AD Label Maker is as good as you’d expect from the Brother brand, coming in as the best built-in keyboard model we could find. With its huge range of customisation options, variety of sizes and easy to use interface, this is a great choice for almost any environment. It may not use cheaper generic labels, but the lamination on the Brother branded rolls makes them long-lasting enough to be good value over time.
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PSGLOBAL Thermal Label Printer
The PSGLOBAL Thermal Label Printer may look like a typical shipping label printer, however it is much more versatile; it connects to laptops, smartphones, PCs or tablets via USB and Bluetooth, so you can print any type of label that your devices can generate. This includes organisational labels, shipping labels, QR codes, and electronic waybills. It has a lightning-fast speed of 160 mm/s, and produces high resolution, fat-drying prints at pretty much any speed. The box includes a power adapter, paper stand, USB cable, power cable, instruction manual, and a driver CD that instals all the software necessary to use the printer. Intelligent heat control also adapts to the environment to ensure the printer won’t overheat or burn out when in use.
Pros
- Extremely fast printing speed
- Versatile range of connection options
- Intelligent heat control
Cons
- Prints sometimes come out faint
Verdict
The PSGLOBAL Thermal Label Printer is the best desktop model on the market, offering great quality results and a surprisingly wide range of connectivity options. The prints can sometimes come out faded, however, when printing at very high speeds. That’s why the LVYUAN is a slightly better choice for businesses; the PSGLOBAL is a perfect fit for home.
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Phomemo D30 Label Maker
The Phomemo D30 Label Maker is perfect for home organisation, gift labelling, storage, business, and pretty much any application you can think of needing a label for. The prints produced are water and abrasion resistant, as well as BPA-free, so they can be safely used in the fridge for food labelling. Connectivity-wise, it works with the Phomemo Print Master app: downloaded from the Google Play or Apple store, this app includes a variety of fonts, symbols and icons for label design, plus facilitates printing via Bluetooth directly from your phone. Multiple styles of label are available from Phomemo directly – white, colour, transparent, circular and price labels among others – but the machine is also compatible with properly sized generics if you’d prefer. The printer is also incredibly portable, weighing only 160g (less than the average smartphone)!
Pros
- Comes in a range of vibrant colours
- Prints a variety of label types
- Small, compact and portable
- Wireless connectivity
Cons
- Phomemo labels leave sticky marks when peeled off
Verdict
The Phomemo D30 Sticker Label Maker is our number one recommendation for the best value label printer, combining the best features of other more expensive models to achieve a professional finish. The printer is easy to use, and the app is surprisingly sophisticated. The main downside is the glue on Phomemo branded labels does leave some marks on whatever they’re applied to; this can easily be avoided with generic rolls, though, and these will also save you money in the long run!
