The 10 Best Thermal Label Printers
Editor's Notes
December 01, 2020:
On this latest review of thermal label printers, we noticed the Brother Professional has become a little harder to obtain online. As the Brother QL-700 has more advanced models on offer, we decided to remove this item as well, and use the Brother QL-820NWB to replace both, satisfying the previous criteria fulfilled by the QL-700, while providing all the extra connectivity options previously offered by the Professional.
The JingChen B3 Bluetooth is currently unavailable, so we added the Munbyn Monochrome instead. It's a desktop model instead of a handheld one like the JingChen (and it needs a wired connection to your computer), but it supports all standard label sizes, it recognizes them automatically, and prints them off fast, making it ideal for those who run a small business online, or buy and sell a lot through auction sites.
Finally, we added the Epson ReadyPrint T20. Although, strictly speaking, this is a printer for receipts and not a label-making machine, we figured that if users are searching this list because they're in the business of sending a lot of packages, it's likely that in some cases they could be shop-owners as well. This model is a reliable, fast-printing machine that won't break the bank and should more than take care of any point-of-sale printing needs.
March 29, 2019:
If you sell products on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, or another e-commerce platform, a number of the printers on our list can help you create a variety of large-format shipping labels. The Rollo Commercial Grade is the best option for high-volume use as it prints very quickly, automatically adjusts to the size of the label you're using, and has a simple setup process. The Zebra GK420d has similar capabilities, and the company offers a free software that helps you create custom designs, but it's much more expensive than most of our other selections. The Brother Professional is another comparable model that offers the added benefits of wireless printing and a built-in automatic cutter. The Dymo 4XL allows you to quickly print directly from Microsoft Office, QuickBooks, and other popular programs, but some users have issues with it spitting out blank or partially-printed labels in the middle of a batch.
For smaller formats, the JingChen B3 Bluetooth and Puqu Wireless are handheld models that are perfect for making price tags and product labels for your business, or for labeling cooking ingredients, craft supplies, and just about anything else you want to organize around the house. The Dymo 450 Twin Turbo can hold two rolls of paper at once, which is especially useful if you print labels in a lot of different sizes, but the software is not very user-friendly.