

Side-loading of shipping label rolls is standard, as well as a blistering 6″/second print speed. While it’s twice the price (most of the time) of the GC/GK-series Zebra printers, it’s also by far the most capable. The ZT series is a big boy, a chunk of a printer, but its heft and bulk translate into a real thermal printing machine. The Rollo X1038 shipping label printer is compatible with every shipping solution that would work with anything else on this list, making it an excellent option for those that see the higher-priced printers on this list and have a hard time finding extra value in the higher-price tags.

The Rollo is designed for fan-fold shipping labels since they can sit nicely behind the printer without additional support or hardware.

However, this also means that you’ll find yourself getting a holder of some kind for those with rolls, which adds about 30$ to the cost. It’s also an exciting format in its rectangular shape and convenient feed mechanism (in the back, out the front). Its price is also hyper-competitive compared to the Dymo, so it’s hard not to look at it as a viable alternative.Īt roughly 75% of the price of the Dymo 4XL and even less compared to some others, it’s an attractive entry point into the thermal-printing space. I put the Rollo X1038 on the list not because it’s an underdog that’ll blow all these other printers away–it is, frankly–but because it’s just straight good, and a just straight good printer is often enough for a lot of folks. I've broken down the list into the best printer for most folks, a WiFi alternative, the best roll-friendly printer, and the best non-WiFi and high-volume printers.Īll of these printers are platform-agnostic, so any one of these could also be the best label printer for Mac or the best label printer for Windows. There are dozens of options on the market, depending on the budget and the volume of shipping labels you’ll need to print. Pair that with any actual volume, and I’ll bet dollars to barcodes that the math would make a thermal printer real attractive quickly. With a thermal shipping label printer, no ink is used, and in some cases, you can acquire entirely free shipping labels on which to print. Typically, this includes half of the paper sheet going to waste, and ink or toner is consumed more frequently. For most, that’s their existing inkjet or laser printer, printing onto 8 1/2″ x 11″ sheets of paper and folding them in half. There’s an easy and understandable argument for using the printer you already have to print your 4圆 shipping labels. Why Use a Dedicated Thermal Shipping Label Printer Skip to the end: my favorite all-around thermal shipping label printer is the Rollo X1040.
