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Specs are compiled from manufacturer listings and verified buyer reviews and can change over time — please confirm the key details on the product page before buying.
If your photo prints keep coming out with a fat white strip down one side, the printer — not your photo — is usually the problem. A borderless printer runs the image right to the edge of the sheet, so an 8.5″ x 11″ photo, a 4″ x 6″ snapshot, or an 11″ x 17″ poster looks finished instead of half-done. This guide walks you through nine machines that genuinely print edge to edge, and tells you plainly which one suits which job.
This guide is built by comparing the manufacturers’ published specifications and the patterns across verified customer reviews, so you get each pick’s real strengths and trade-offs instead of marketing spin.
Page speed matters, but ink cost per photo and true edge-to-edge support decide whether you’ll actually enjoy owning one. These picks cover both ends of that trade-off so you can choose with your eyes open: the best borderless printers for photos, documents, and wide-format work alike.
Top Picks
How To Choose The Best Borderless Printers
The word “borderless” hides a catch. A printer that prints edge to edge on one paper size will often leave a white margin on another. So the first job is matching the machine’s supported sizes to the sizes you actually print.
Check borderless coverage size by size
Most home models here advertise borderless printing, but the coverage can stop at specific sizes. A compact travel printer typically handles 4″ x 6″ photos and 8.5″ x 11″ documents edge to edge. A wide-format model opens up 11″ x 17″ and beyond. Before you commit, find the borderless size list in the spec sheet, because “borderless” alone tells you nothing about the size you need.
Match the ink system to how you print
A standard cartridge printer leans on a small number of cartridges you replace often. A 5-color or 6-color system adds extra inks — such as light cyan and light magenta — for smoother skin tones and gradients in photos. A tank printer instead refills from bottles and holds far more ink, which suits heavy document printing but usually gives up some photo punch.
Decide how much paper handling you need
A single tray keeps the machine small. A separate photo tray, a rear feed for specialty stock, or a multipurpose tray for thicker paper saves you swapping sheets every few prints. If you print cardstock, metallic photo paper, or greeting cards, that extra feed is worth having.
Weigh speed against the first page
Pages-per-minute figures describe a steady run of pages. They do not describe how long the machine takes to wake up and warm up for the very first page. For a home user printing a handful of sheets a week, a slower steady rate rarely hurts. For an office churning out long jobs, the black page rate matters more.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Model | Best For | Black PPM | Color PPM | Functions | Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canon PIXMA TR160★ Best Overall | Travel and field work | 9 pages_per_minute | 5.5 pages_per_minute | Print Only | Amazon |
| HP Envy 6155Best Value | Everyday home documents | 10 pages_per_minute | 7 pages_per_minute | All In One | Amazon |
| Canon PIXMA TS7720Fast All-Rounder | Budget home photo printing | 15 | 10 | Copy, Scan | Amazon |
| Brother INKvestment 1365 | Home office duplex work | 16 pages_per_minute | 9 pages_per_minute | Copy, Scan | Amazon |
| Epson Expression Photo XP-980 | Wide-format photo work | 8.5 pages_per_minute | 8 pages_per_minute | All In One | Amazon |
| HP Envy Photo 7975 | Family photo printing | 15 pages_per_minute | 10 pages_per_minute | All In One | Amazon |
| Epson EcoTank ET-2980 | High-volume low-ink-cost printing | 15 pages_per_minute | 8 pages_per_minute | Copy, Scan | Amazon |
| Brother INKvestment 6960 | Small business 11″ x 17″ | 31 pages_per_minute | 30 pages_per_minute | Copy, Fax, Scan | Amazon |
| Pinckney Super-Tank | Sublimation and wide-format craft | 17 pages_per_minute | 9 pages_per_minute | Copy, Scan | Amazon |
Detailed Reviews
1. Canon PIXMA TR160 Color Wireless Portable Printer
Our pick — 4.0+★ from 800+ verified ratings; the strongest balance of quality and price.
The printer that slips into a backpack and still runs a document to the page edge.
Portability is the whole pitch here, and the numbers back it. The TR160 weighs 4.5 pounds, which is light enough to carry in one hand and small enough to leave real room in a bag. Its footprint puts it plainly smaller than a desk model — the HP Envy 6155 below measures 11.2 pounds, so the Canon is the one you actually travel with.
What wins people over is print quality, and the 5-Color Hybrid Ink System is the reason. That extra ink beyond the usual four gives documents sharp black text and colour prints richer detail. It also handles borderless output at up to 8.5″ x 11″, so a full-page family photo lands with no white frame. Paper feeds from a 50-sheet tray, and your prints come at 9 pages per minute black and 5.5 pages per minute colour. It runs simplex, meaning one side at a time — the HP Envy 6155 manages automatic two-sided printing, and the Canon does not.
Photo printing costs add up: one colour cartridge set covers roughly 90 to 100 photo prints, and buyers report “Prints ~90-100 photos per color cartridge (~30-40 cents/print).” Photo colour also runs warm straight from the machine, so a bit of pre-editing on your phone pays off. Also worth knowing: this is a print-only unit with no scanner, and the lid feels light in the hand. Setup is quick over Wi-Fi, and the 1.44″ monochrome OLED display (a small screen that shows text and numbers) shows ink levels and status without opening an app. If you’d rather reach for a spare battery than hunt for a wall socket, the optional battery pack is what makes true off-grid printing possible.
Worth Carrying
- 4.5 pounds and bag-friendly — genuinely travel-ready
- 5-Color Hybrid Ink System for borderless prints up to 8.5″ x 11″
- Wireless Direct Mode connects to your phone with no router at all
- 1.44″ OLED display shows ink levels and printer status at a glance
Accept Before You Buy
- Print only — no scanner or copier on board
- Simplex printing only; no automatic two-sided output
- Photo colour ships slightly warm and needs pre-editing
The right buy for for: consultants, sales reps, and anyone printing borderless documents away from a desk.
Think twice: you need scanning or automatic duplexing — the Envy 6155 covers both.
2. HP Envy 6155 Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer
An all-in-one that prints, scans, copies, and flips the page for you — quietly.
For a household printing homework and the odd borderless photo, the feature set is unusually complete for an entry-level machine. You get print, copy, and scan in one box, automatic two-sided printing, and a 100-sheet input tray. Black pages come out at 10 pages per minute and colour at 7 pages per minute. It also beats the Canon TR160 above on colour speed — 7 pages per minute against 5.5 — and adds the scanner the Canon leaves out.
What buyers settle into happily is how little fuss it makes. It runs quietly, the cartridges are easy to reach, and a 2.4″ colour touchscreen handles settings without a manual. HP’s dual-band Wi-Fi (a wireless connection that uses two frequency bands for a steadier link) watches for connection trouble and reconnects itself. Daily use is the balance: as one buyer put it, “I don’t print a lot at home, but need to print about 10-20 sheets a month.” That kind of light load is exactly where this machine sits comfortably, and the setup is simple enough that self-declared non-tech users get through it.
Where it falls short is photos and ink. The setup cartridges are small, so heavy users will be buying refills sooner than they expect, and this is not a photo-first printer — colour on glossy stock is fine, not rich. Then there’s the Instant Ink angle: the printer arrives with a 3-month trial, and the recurring complaint is that account requirements can gate basic printing if you cancel or misconfigure it. One honest note on dimensions — this is a 17.05″D x 5.35″W x 14.21″H unit at 11.2 pounds, so it wants a real shelf, not a narrow one. A 2.4″ touchscreen is the only control surface, which some buyers find cramped.
Who it rewards: a home that needs a scanner and duplex printing without spending much, and prints a light-to-moderate monthly volume.
The honest trade-off: small setup cartridges and an Ink-subscription model that you should read carefully before relying on cheap ink.
Solid fit for: families and home-office users who want one box to do everything.
Look elsewhere: photo-first buyers should head to the Epson XP-980.
3. Canon PIXMA TS7720 Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer
Print, copy, scan, and flip pages on a machine that settles fast on a small desk.
Of the compact home units here, the TS7720 leads on uninterrupted document throughput. Its black speed is 15 pages per minute, and that number is the reason it earns a look. Colour runs at 10 pages per minute, and automatic two-sided printing is included, so a long report prints faster than on smaller competitors. Ink changes are refreshingly simple — two cartridges, no mess. A 2.7″ touchscreen handles the menu, and setup is short enough for buyers who don’t consider themselves techie.
The catch is reliability under pressure. The front and rear media inputs accept a range of stock, but the flatbed scanner takes one sheet at a time — no auto-document feeder here. First-page warm-up also drags, occasionally with a default auto power-off that trips in after four idle hours. A few printers arrive with a duplex jam that proves terminal, so duplex output is where the risk sits. Canon support gets panned when things go wrong, and the occasional unit ships with a blank-colour test page.
The upside is ink longevity. Owners mention the cartridges hold up well over time, and the machine is simple to configure on a home network. For print quality in this price tier it holds its own. If you want a straightforward home workhorse that scans and copies without fuss, this is a solid, well-priced route.
Take a chance if: you want fast, two-sided document printing from a compact, easy-to-run all-in-one.
Pass if: you need auto-feed document scanning or you’re mailing fragile duplex jobs repeatedly.
4. Brother INKvestment 1365 Printer
Big cartridges, an auto-feed scanner, and duplex output for the home desk.
The INKvestment approach puts more ink in the box: this printer ships with a 1,200-page black cartridge and 500-page colour cartridges. That’s the spec to focus on if you print regularly and don’t want to order refills every month. Speed runs to 16 pages per minute black and 9 pages per minute colour, while a 150-sheet paper tray and a 20-page single-sided auto document feeder cover the office basics. Automatic duplex printing is built in, and first-page times sit at roughly 6.2 seconds black and 9.6 seconds colour.
What wins people over is print sharpness. Greeting cards and invoices come out crisp, and one buyer described it as a printer with “uniformly crisp professional print quality.” The compact 13.5″D x 15.4″W x 7.2″H body fits a home desk, and the front-loading cartridges are easy to reach. Wireless setup is usually simple over a home network or USB.
Where it gives ground is connectivity — that’s the most-discussed topic around this machine, and the reports are split. Some setups fire up instantly, while others need several attempts, and the mobile app is the usual culprit. Colour intensity is also only moderate, so photo work won’t dazzle. Occasional paper jams show up too. None of this is unusual for an office-grade cartridge printer, but it explains why the setup experience earns mixed marks.
Sharp output, generous ink: big bundled cartridges and quick duplex turn this into a home-office workhorse rather than a photo toy.
A workaround to plan for: set it up over USB first if Wi-Fi proves stubborn, then move to wireless once you’re sure it’s stable.
Worth it for: the home office printing invoices, forms, and multi-page documents week in, week out.
Not the one for: photo-album work — colour depth is restrained here.
5. Epson Expression Photo XP-980 Printer
Six inks and borderless prints up to 11″ x 17″ for people who frame what they print.
This is the only unit here built around borderless photo output at a serious size. The 6-color Claria Photo HD ink set — with light cyan and light magenta alongside the standard four — targets smooth gradients and natural skin tones. Print resolution of 5760 x 1440 dpi is the number that matters here for detail in the highlights and shadows. It also turns out a 4″ x 6″ borderless photo in as fast as 11 seconds, and the borderless envelope stretches to 11″ x 17″. Paper handling is thoughtful: separate trays for plain and photo paper, plus a rear feed for specialty stock.
What wins people over is exactly what you’d hope for — image quality. Gloss prints look deep and accurate, and the review pages sum it up: “Great printer, I was especially interested in photo printing for at home, very good quality.” Setup is the easiest Epson some buyers have owned, and the 4.3″ colour touchscreen keeps navigation simple. It weighs 19.4 pounds, so pick a shelf that won’t mind the load.
The catch is running cost for photos. A cartridge set covers only about 20 photo prints, and heavy ink use is a common theme. The professional answer is to save up your prints and batch them, rather than firing off one image at a time. Wide-format jobs on 11″ x 17″ also want one sheet fed at a time, which is note before a big batch. If printing flat-packed photo books or framed art is your goal, that trade-off is worth it; if it’s mostly homework, look at the HP Envy 6155 instead.
Why It’s The Photo Pick
- 6-color Claria Photo HD inks with light cyan and light magenta for realistic skin tones
- Borderless output up to 11″ x 17″ — the largest here
- 5760 x 1440 dpi resolution with an 11-second 4″ x 6″ photo time
- Separate photo and plain-paper trays plus a rear feed for thick stock
What To Weigh
- About 20 photo prints per cartridge set — batch your jobs
- 19.4 pounds needs a sturdy surface
- 11″ x 17″ jobs want one sheet loaded at a time
Right for: photographers, artists, and crafters printing up to 11″ x 17″ at the page edge.
Not for: high-volume document users — ink drains fast under steady text printing.
6. HP Envy Photo 7975 Wireless Color Inkjet Photo Printer
Print, scan, copy, and run borderless 4″ x 6″ photos straight from your phone.
The Photo 7975 is built for households that print a mix of everything: homework, recipes, and borderless photos from the phone. It prints at up to 15 pages per minute black and 10 pages per minute colour, and it copies and scans too. A separate photo tray means you can keep glossy stock loaded without swapping paper every time, and the auto document feeder speeds up multi-page scans. Automatic two-sided printing is standard.
What wins people over is the photo output on HP glossy paper. Resolution holds up for both images and text, and the whole process is quiet. The phone printing is genuinely convenient — pull up a recipe or a kid’s project and send it without heading to a computer. Setup is under 10 minutes through the HP app for most buyers, which takes the sting out of first-day wrinkles.
Setup reliability is the caveat. A recurring problem is a Windows installation that needs repeated reinstalls, so keep the driver updated and don’t skip the app install. Prints come out well once running, but the install program can confuse first-timers. The first-page time is 22 seconds, so wake-and-print isn’t instant.
Good for: families wanting a single machine for phone photos, homework, and scanning.
Worth knowing: budget time for the initial PC setup — it’s the step that trips the most people up.
7. Epson EcoTank ET-2980 Printer
Bottled ink that keeps you out of the cartridge aisle for a long stretch.
The tank is the headline. This printer arrives with enough bottled ink for up to 6,600 black pages and 5,500 colour pages, and one replacement bottle set equals about 90 individual cartridges. If ink bills have been eating your printing budget, that’s the number to focus on. Speed runs at 15 pages per minute black and 8 pages per minute colour, with automatic duplexing included. Refilling uses the EcoFit bottles, which fit the tank inlets directly so you don’t need a syringe.
What buyers settle into is the running cost. Colour prints stay vibrant on glossy photo stock, and the setup is app-guided in roughly 15 minutes with no-mess bottles. Light and compact at 11.5 pounds, it slides onto a small shelf, and the unit runs smoothly across occasional printing without demanding a fresh cartridge every time you switch it on. For homeschooling families, the page yield and low per-sheet cost add up fast.
The catch is that photo quality and paper handling take second place. Duplex jobs occasionally jam, photo output is decent but not gallery-grade, and ink can rub off pictures if you handle them quickly. Network drops also show up for a small slice of owners. Black text is a touch less sharp than some rivals. And the on-printer screen is small — plan to drive most settings from the Epson Smart Panel app instead.
The value story: six-thousand-plus black pages from one fill makes it a genuinely cheap-per-page printer for documents, books, and workbooks.
Hold it to its lane: for framed photography, the XP-980 offers far better colour depth.
Buy it if: you print documents at volume and want the ink cost to disappear from your monthly budget.
Skip if: you need gallery-grade borderless photos — the tank price is ink, not image.
8. Brother INKvestment 6960 Printer
A small-business engine with 31 pages per minute and a 50-sheet single-pass scanner.
For a business printing documents at volume, the 6960 is the faster machine here by a wide margin. Black speed is 31 pages per minute and colour is 30 pages per minute, and the first black page lands in about 4.4 seconds. That combination makes a busy office feel much less like a waiting room. It handles 11″ x 17″, with a 500-sheet capacity across two trays, a 100-sheet multipurpose tray, and automatic duplexing that holds up to 11″ x 17″. It prints, copies, scans, and faxes too, which is unusual this side of office hardware.
What wins people over is speed and scan quality. The single-pass 50-sheet scanner turns both sides in one pass, so multi-page jobs are quick, and on-board cloud printing is available via the 2.7″ colour touchscreen. You can also connect by Wi-Fi Direct, Ethernet, or USB. Customers note the print pages look sharp, and the paper jams are rare. For a small office, that covers the essentials well.
Two points deserve honesty. It’s a big machine — 18.8″D x 22.7″W x 14.8″H means it eats desk depth, so measure first. Setup is also where reports split: some install in minutes, while others battle a stubborn app and network. USB setup straight from the start is the workaround if wireless proves stubborn.
Make the call: small-business printing that needs 11″ x 17″ and fast pages gets what it pays for.
The trade-off to plan for: it’s a substantial footprint and the setup gives mixed feedback — budget a first-hour setup session.
9. Pinckney Super-Tank Printer
Wide-format tank printer bundled with sublimation ink for heat-transfer crafts.
This one is built for a specific crowd: crafters printing heat-transfer work onto mugs, shirts, and custom signage. The bundle is the point — high-capacity ink tanks filled with Pinckney Sublimation Ink, plus wide-format printing up to 13″ x 19″ and borderless output to 11″ x 17″. Paper comes from a 250-sheet front tray, and a 2.7″ colour touchscreen handles settings. Speed runs at 17 pages per minute black and 9 pages per minute colour. Refilling is via the auto-fill nozzle, so there’s no syringe and no squeezing.
What buyers settle into is the colour and dependability at large sizes. Print quality holds up for sublimation work, and the unit is quiet for a machine of this paper size. The tank design means you’re not constantly swapping cartridges — the practical win for batch craft runs. The scanner and copier are built in, so you can duplicate a design onto a wide sheet without extra gear.
The one honest risk is warranty on the sublimation ink. Printer warranties often only cover the printer’s own branded ink, and buyers have run into complications after sublimation ink was loaded. Treat that as a known cost of the craft and keep your own records. Paper feeding is simplex only, so there’s no auto duplex wide-format output. A small number of units arrive with ink missing from the package, so confirm the bundle contents on arrival.
The craft-door opener: a wide-format tank body plus a sublimation ink bundle gets you into heat-transfer printing without separate accessories.
Check before purchase: confirm the ink ships with the printer and keep your order documentation, because sublimation ink affects coverage.
Right for: craft and heat-transfer work at up to 13″ x 19″ where the bundled sublimation ink is the reason to buy.
Look elsewhere if: you want plain document printing and no ink caveats — a tank model without the sublimation bundle is simpler.
Know the Specs
Borderless support size
A borderless printer printing “up to” a given size has a specific list, and the number after “up to” is the ceiling. The Canon TR160 handles up to 8.5″ x 11″. The Epson XP-980 and Pinckney Stylus go to 11″ x 17″, with the XP-980 reaching 11″ x 17″ and the Pinckney reaching black-tank 13″ x 19″ for pages. Always match this number to your most common paper size; a bigger ceiling costs more and eats desk space.
Pages per minute vs. real first-page time
Pages per minute describes a steady run once the printer is awake. First-page time describes how long the machine takes to start. The Brother 6960 lands its first black page in about 4.4 seconds and the photo HP Envy takes 22 seconds, which is a bigger gap in practice than their per-minute numbers suggest. For a few sheets a week, first-page time matters more than raw speed.
Cartridge ink vs. tank ink
A cartridge system uses sealed ink units you replace often. A tank system refills the built-in reservoir from a bottle. Tanks are cheaper per page over time — the Epson ET-2980 arrives with enough ink for up to 6,600 black pages. Cartridges are often cleaner and cheaper to start with, and the Canon TR160 uses a 5-Color Hybrid system for richer photo detail. Match the system to your monthly volume.
Ink colour count and photo depth
A 4-color system covers black, cyan, magenta, and yellow — enough for crisp text. A 5- or 6-color system adds extra tones that smooth out skin and sky gradients. The Epson XP-980’s 6-color set includes light cyan and light magenta specifically for this. Only pay for more inks if prints will be viewed closely or framed.
Common Questions
Does a borderless printer print edge to edge on every paper size?
Can I print borderless photos from my phone?
How much does borderless photo printing cost per print?
Do borderless printers work with third-party ink?
What paper sizes are best for borderless photo printing?
Will a tank printer give the same photo quality as a cartridge printer?
Can I use borderless printing with cardstock or thick paper?
Why does my borderless printer leave a small white strip?
Do these printers need a Wi-Fi router for phone printing?
The Bottom Line
For most people who need to print to the page edge without carrying a full desk machine, the Canon PIXMA TR160 is the answer — 4.5 pounds, a 5-Color Hybrid ink system (a mix of dye and pigment inks for richer colour), and borderless output up to 8.5″ x 11″ that travels as easily as your laptop. If photos are the goal rather than documents, the Epson Expression Photo XP-980 is the one to reach for, with its 6-color Claria Photo HD inks and borderless prints up to 11″ x 17″ at 5760 x 1440 dpi (dots per inch, a measure of print detail). And when monthly printing volume is the thing that stings, the Epson EcoTank ET-2980 turns that page cost into a footnote with up to 6,600 black pages included. Whichever you pick, confirm the borderless size you actually print before checkout — that one spec is the difference between a finished photo and a white strip.
How we choose
We do not accept paid placement. Every pick is matched to a real buyer and a real use-case; we do not hands-on test units.
Sources
Specifications: manufacturer listings and product documentation. Review insights: verified customer reviews, as of October 2026. Pricing: not shown on this page (it changes often); check the current price via the retailer link.
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