The Best Label Makers and Label Printers in 2026
Wirecutter’s top label maker is the $40 Brother P-touch PT-N25BT, which pairs a phone app with a built-in keyboard. For office address labels, PCMag picks the Brother QL-800. For 4x6 shipping labels, it picks the Rollo X1040.
Disclosure: PickedTech is reader-supported. Some links on this page are affiliate links, and we may earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. This never affects which products we recommend or how we rank them. How we make money.
How this page was made: this is a research-based guide built from manufacturer spec pages, official prices and published lab measurements from the outlets we name and link. We haven’t tested these products ourselves, and we don’t invent scores. Our methodology.
Quick answer
Wirecutter’s top label maker is the $40 Brother P-touch PT-N25BT, which pairs a phone app with a built-in keyboard. For office address labels, PCMag picks the Brother QL-800. For 4x6 shipping labels, it picks the Rollo X1040. Best label maker: Brother P-touch PT-N25BT, $40. Best phone-only: Brother P-touch PT-P300BT Cube, $55. Best for office labels: Brother QL-800.
Last updated Prices checked Oct 2026
Key facts at a glance
| Pick | Product | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best label maker | Brother P-touch PT-N25BT | home and light office labeling | $40 (Amazon); $44 (Walmart) |
| Best phone-only | Brother P-touch PT-P300BT Cube | labeling from your phone | $55 (Amazon, Walmart) |
| Best for office labels | Brother QL-800 | office and warehouse labels | — |
| Best for shipping labels | Rollo Wireless Printer X1040 | online sellers | — |
Handheld tape label makers suit home organizing; desktop label printers suit offices, warehouses and online sellers.
Which should you buy? Our quick picks
How do they compare?
| Model | Price noted | Type | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brother P-touch PT-N25BT | $40 (Amazon) | Handheld tape, Bluetooth | Most people (Wirecutter) |
| Brother P-touch PT-P300BT Cube | $55 (Amazon, Walmart) | Phone-only tape | On the go (Wirecutter) |
| Brother QL-800 | — | Desktop paper labels, USB | Offices (PCMag) |
| Rollo X1040 | — | Shipping labels, Wi-Fi | Shipping (PCMag) |
| Brother VC-500W | — | Full-color Zink labels | Color labels (PCMag) |
| Epson LabelWorks LW-PX800 | — | Desktop industrial tape | Heavy duty (PCMag) |
| Munbyn FM226 | — | Portable, battery | Small labels (PCMag) |
The picks in detail
1. Brother P-touch PT-N25BT
Best for: home and light office labelingWirecutter’s[1] top pick, chosen after 25 hours testing 19 devices. It offers the best of both worlds: Bluetooth for app-driven printing plus a built-in screen and QWERTY keyboard. It’s light, prints quickly and uses some of the most affordable tape Wirecutter found ($7 refills). PCMag[2] calls it a solid contender for light-duty labeling that’s faster than many competitors, but it’s limited to 12mm-wide tape, and batteries or the AC adapter are sold separately.
Price (Oct 2026): $40 (Amazon); $44 (Walmart) Source
Pros
- App plus keyboard
- Affordable tape
- Fast
Cons
- 12mm tape only
- No backlit screen
- Power sold separately
2. Brother P-touch PT-P300BT Cube
Best for: labeling from your phoneWirecutter’s[1] best label maker for on-the-go printing goes all-in on the smartphone, with no screen or keyboard. At just 9 ounces it’s at least half the size of Wirecutter’s other picks and doesn’t skimp on fonts, frames and templates. Replacement tape is expensive, starting at $14 a roll.
Price (Oct 2026): $55 (Amazon, Walmart) Source
Pros
- Tiny and light
- Plenty of templates
Cons
- Phone required
- Pricier tape
3. Brother QL-800
Best for: office and warehouse labelsPCMag’s[2] best general-use paper label printer for offices prints address, folder and barcode labels at 95.2 address labels per minute in its tests, and can print red and black on the same label. It connects by USB, has an automatic cutter, takes rolls up to 2.4 inches wide and works with Windows and macOS. Per-label media cost is somewhat high.
Price (Oct 2026): — Source
Pros
- Fast
- Red and black printing
- Auto-cutter
Cons
- Labels up to 2.4 in wide
- Somewhat high media cost
4. Rollo Wireless Printer X1040
Best for: online sellersPCMag’s[2] best small-business printer for shipping labels focuses on 4-by-6-inch labels over Wi-Fi from a PC, phone or tablet, using non-proprietary labels. Rollo Ship Manager charges 5 cents per printed label and offers UPS and USPS discounts; PCMag saw savings of 25% to 67%. No FedEx discounts yet.
Price (Oct 2026): — Source
Pros
- Wi-Fi printing
- Non-proprietary labels
- Shipping discounts via Ship Manager
Cons
- Ship Manager costs 5 cents per label
- No FedEx discounts yet
5. Brother VC-500W
Best for: full-color labelsPCMag’s[2] best full-color label printer uses Zink (“zero ink”) paper to print color text, graphics and photos, from Windows PCs and Android and iOS devices. Image quality was excellent in PCMag’s tests, but running costs are relatively high and it isn’t suited to printing hundreds or thousands of labels a month.
Price (Oct 2026): — Source
Pros
- Full-color labels
- Four label widths
Cons
- High running costs
- Not for high volumes
6. Epson LabelWorks LW-PX800
Best for: heavy-duty industrial labelsPCMag’s[2] best heavy-duty label printer is a desktop model you can share over a network or use from mobile devices, with Mac and PC apps, more than 200 tape cartridge choices and a lifetime warranty. Corner rounding must be done manually.
Price (Oct 2026): — Source
Pros
- Network sharing
- 200+ tape choices
- Lifetime warranty
Cons
- Manual corner rounding
7. Munbyn FM226
Best for: portable product labelsPCMag’s[2] best battery-powered printer for small labels: fast, with an 8-hour battery, plastic and paper label support and better-than-typical output, plus surprisingly good mono photos. It prints from mobile devices only, and its app is well short of intuitive.
Price (Oct 2026): — Source
Pros
- 8-hour battery
- Plastic and paper labels
- Good output
Cons
- Mobile-only printing
- Unintuitive app
Also considered
Brother P-touch PT-D460BT: Wirecutter’s[1] small-business pick ($90): bright display and up to five lines of text, but heavier and its tape costs twice as much.
Brother P-touch PT-D610BT: Wirecutter likes its keyboard, color backlit screen and auto-cutter, but found its menus tiresome.
Epson LabelWorks LW-PX300 and LW-Z5010PX: PCMag’s[2] light-duty and extreme-duty picks; the LW-Z5010PX can’t print from macOS.
Pitney Bowes PitneyShip Cube: PCMag’s pick for printing labels the postal service treats as stamps.
Colop e-mark: PCMag’s digital rubber-stamp alternative.
Dymo LabelManager 420P: A former Wirecutter top pick, but none of its labels survived the dishwasher.
Tape label makers vs. paper label printers
Tape label makers like the Brother P-touch line print durable plastic labels for organizing: Wirecutter[1] found Dymo tape nowhere near as durable as Brother’s. Paper label printers like the QL-800 and Rollo X1040 print address and shipping labels faster and more cheaply. For regular documents, see our best printers, best laser printers and best all-in-one printers.
Watch the tape costs
Frequently asked questions
What is the best label maker?
What is the best shipping label printer?
Can a label maker print in color?
Sources
Pricing and plan details were checked on the official pages below as of Oct 2026. Vendors change prices, credits and plan names often, and some show regional pricing at checkout, so confirm on the vendor’s site before you buy.
- Wirecutter: The best label makers (October 1, 2026) (nytimes.com)
- PCMag: The best label printers (September 6, 2026) (pcmag.com)
Related
The Best Printers in 2026
For most homes, Wirecutter’s pick is the Brother MFC-J4355DW inkjet all-in-one ($180 to $209), which comes with a year of ink. If you mostly print black-and-white text, a cheap mono laser such as the Brother DCP-L2640DW ($210) costs less to run and rarely clogs.
best ofThe Best Laser Printers in 2026
Wirecutter’s best laser printer for home use is the Brother DCP-L2640DW ($209.99 list at Brother). PCMag’s best budget color laser is the Brother HL-L3295CDW (Editors’ Choice).
best ofThe Best All-in-One Printers in 2026
Wirecutter’s top all-in-one is the Brother MFC-J4355DW ($209): it’s cheap to run and comes with a year’s worth of ink. For a laser AIO, both Wirecutter and PCMag (Editors’ Choice) pick the Brother MFC-L3780CDW.
best ofThe Best Photo Printers in 2026
For serious photographers, the Epson SureColor P700 ($699) is the pick Wirecutter and PCMag agree on: archival pigment inks and prints up to 13 inches wide. For 4x6 prints at home, the Canon Selphy CP1500 ($159) is cheap to run.