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Anyone who has spent more than a few minutes trying to ship something to their customers knows that an exemplary shipping label printer makes or breaks the process. With the number of 4×6 label printers on the market, figuring out which best suits your business needs can be daunting. This article will examine what we think are the best shipping label printers and identify precisely what you should look at.
Our Ratings at a Glance
Why You Should Trust Us
I’ve spent the last six years in the e-commerce business space, operating several businesses on the Amazon marketplace, Etsy, and on my own. In that time, I’ve shipped thousands of packages worldwide and have come to recognize what a valuable tool a well-functioning shipping label printer can be.
Why Use a Dedicated Thermal Shipping Label Printer
There’s an easy and understandable argument for using the printer you already have to print your 4×6 shipping labels. For most, that’s their existing inkjet or laser printer, which prints onto 8 1/2″ x 11″ sheets of paper.
The downside is that this mostly wastes paper. Half the paper sheet typically goes to waste, and ink or toner is consumed more frequently. With a thermal shipping label printer, no ink is used, and in some cases, you can acquire entirely free shipping labels to print. Thermal printing also offers long-lasting print heads and high print quality.
Pair that with any actual volume, and I’ll bet dollars to barcodes that the math would quickly make a thermal printer attractive. Thermal printing technology, with its dual capability for direct thermal printing and thermal transfer, provides additional advantages like no need for ink and suitability for short-term label requirements.
Our Picks for the Best Thermal Shipping Label Printer
There are dozens of options on the market, depending on the budget, the volume of shipping labels you’ll need to print, and the print quality you require. I’ve broken down the list into a few buckets: our top pick, a budget-friendly option, and a one-of-a-kind multifunction unit. We’ll also look at additional printers that have come to market over the last couple of years and are worth considering.
These printers are platform-agnostic, so each could also be the best label printer for Mac or Windows. Many printers use direct thermal labels, which are ideal for short-term applications. Direct thermal labels are compact, cheaper, and require less maintenance, but they can fade easily and are sensitive to abrasions, sunlight, water, and chemicals.
Pro Tip
Having an excellent shipping label printer is nice, but to simplify your shipping processes, pair it with the best service for printing shipping labels. Check out our favorites.
Top Pick Overall: The Rollo X1040 Wireless Shipping Label Printer
I’ve used the X1040 since I reviewed it a few years ago. It generated over 2,000 labels for me at that time. The Rollo X1040 Wireless Shipping Label Printer makes the top spot because of its high print quality, crisp and clear text, vibrant graphics, compact size, and wireless capabilities. Paired with its ability to auto-detect a shipping label on a larger sheet of paper and automatically remove the excess whitespace, this Rollo wireless unit is an easy top-spot recommendation.
The Best Label Holder to Ever Exist?
We recently reviewed the Warren Innovative Technologies Rollo label holder and can safely argue it’s the best on the market. Check out our full review.
Best USB: Arkscan 2054A Shipping Label Printer
The Arkscan 2054A is a newcomer to the list and is in hot contention with the FreeX USB model above. It’s a powerful printer that produces crisp, clear labels and prints at up to 60 labels per minute, making it an excellent choice for businesses and warehouses that generate anywhere from a few labels per day to hundreds.
The Arkscan 2054A is a roll-based label printer that holds a roll of labels inside itself rather than feeding them through the back. Its reduced footprint saves space in your work area and eliminates the need for a secondary label holder for fan-fold or roll labels behind the machine.
We’ve bumped this one up to the top USB spot because the FreeX USB printer has gone out of stock, and there is no ETA for its return.
Best Budget-Friendly: Nelko PL70E Shipping Label Printer
Taking most of what makes the Rollo X1040 great and trimming the excess, the Nelko printer checks all the boxes a basic rear-fed shipping label printer sets out to accomplish. Its price tag is lower than any significant rear-fed shipping label printer on the market, allowing it some extra leeway regarding its feature set.
Labels are printed quickly and cleanly, and the Nelko is one of the fastest printers I’ve reviewed and used. Its wireless functionality comes through Bluetooth connectivity, but it is only helpful for mobile devices and Windows computers. MacOS is unsupported on that front.
Best Ethernet-Connected: Arkscan 2054A-LAN
Finding a high-quality shipping label printer that connects to a network using Ethernet rather than WiFi that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg is difficult. Those needing Ethernet connectivity know its value and recognize the capability to share a shipping label printer with any machine on the network without needing a strong WiFi signal.
For that reason, we find the Arkscan 2054A-LAN to be a top choice. It also comes with USB connectivity and is functionally identical to the Arkscan 2054A we’ve chosen as the best backup USB-only shipping label printer to the FreeX USB. The Arkscan 2054A-LAN is versatile, consistent, and powerful and is the printer I’ll have in my workspace printing labels from here on out.
Other Great Thermal Shipping Label Printers
The versatility and benefits of thermal printers make them an excellent choice for various business tasks, including printing clear, high-quality labels for shipping and other needs.
The number of different devices I’ve reviewed over the last few years means there’ll always be suitable units that can’t land the top spots for one reason or another. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not good printers, though, and I want to take a moment to highlight them here.
FreeX WiFi SuperRoll Thermal Shipping Label Printer
With high-DPI printing and very good print speed, the MUNBYN Wireless Label Printer is a competitive choice for wireless shipping label printing. Support for both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz WiFi bands means range and placement aren't an issue. Its rear-feed form factor makes the device smaller but at the cost of needing more workspace to account for a stack or roll of labels behind it. We'd like to see the price come down a bit because, at $279, it runs the same price as the Rollo and, as such, doesn't bring to the table any meaningful new features–the voice command feature is a neat trick, but not likely going to be used by most.
Side-loading of shipping label rolls and a blistering 6 inches per second print speed are standard. For those doing the math at home, that’s one label per second. This shipping label printer also boasts a higher DPI print quality at 300dpi, meaning labels come with better detail, and those barcodes will be even more crisp, giving beaten-up barcode scanners less of an excuse to work right.
Rollo X1038 USB Shipping Label Printer
Revision History
Since this list changes occasionally, we’ve documented its major changes.
- December 26, 2024: We removed the HP printers because of their peculiar pricing requirements (one must add the device to their cart to see the price, and we don’t think that’s fair). We also removed the PitneyShip Cube because of its lengthy out-of-stock status. We removed the FreeX USB version because it has never returned in stock since we last checked in August.
- August 10, 2024: We moved the ArkScan 2054A up into the USB-only spot as the FreeX USB has gone out of stock with no ETA.
- July 13, 2024: Added the Arkscan 2054A shipping label printer.
- July 10, 2024: Accuracy review, formatting.
- March 25, 2024: Accuracy review.
- January 29, 2024: Add MUNBYN Wireless Label Printer to the Also Great list. Re-review the list for accuracy.
- December 20, 2023: Add revision history and update FreeX USB SuperRoll Thermal Printer
- September 12, 2023: Add Nelko PL70-e as the best budget-friendly printer
- September 9, 2023: Add HP KE200 and HP KE100 to Also Great list
- June 6, 2023: Add PitneyShip Cube and declare it the best printer/scale combo
- January 14, 2022: Original publish date of the modern version of the article
Frequently Asked Questions About Shipping Label Printers
What features should I consider when selecting a shipping label printer?
In our preferred order, we recommend looking for printers based on this priority list:
- Printing speed
- Printing quality
- Features
How Can I Find a Shipping Label Printer on a Budget?
We recommend taking a look at eBay for a used shipping label printer. You’ll likely also find inexpensive new printers. However, we wouldn’t recommend buying one of those–they’re usually cheap for a reason, and you may find yourself replacing it sooner rather than later, anyway.
What is the Best Label Printer for Ebay Shipping?
The printers on this list will all work great for printing eBay shipping labels. The key is ensuring the platform generates 4″ x 6″ labels rather than half-sheets or other sizes.
The label format can be changed when choosing the shipping service and speed after you receive an order.
What is the Best Label Printer for Poshmark Shipping?
We don’t have a specific printer we’d recommend–they’ll all work great for Poshmark. Our only suggestion is to ensure you’re printing 4″ x 6″ shipping labels using a thermal label printer.
Check out this Poshmark help site page for more information on configuring your shipping label settings to print 4″ x 6″ labels.
What is the Best Label Printer for Shopify Shipping?
All the printers outlined in this article are great for Shopify shipping. The key is ensuring the platform generates 4″ x 6″ labels rather than half-sheets or other sizes. There does not appear to be a specific settings page outside of an order to make adjustments.
Check out this Shopify help article for how to change the shipping label format for your Shopify store, if necessary, to print 4″ x 6″ labels.
What is the Best Label Printer for Amazon Shipping?
While we have general favorite shipping label printers, we think all the printers featured above will work fine for printing Amazon shipping labels.
Amazon FBM will present an option to adjust the shipping label format when choosing the shipping service and speed for the order you’ve received. As far as we can tell, there is no other global setting.
How do I print a shipping label if I don’t have a printer?
You may have options depending on the service you’ve used to generate your label.
For example, some services can generate a QR code to show the person at the retail counter. You may also use a self-serve kiosk at the Post Office to generate a label. Your local UPS or FedEx retail store can also help generate labels.
However, we highly recommend getting one if you don’t have a printer.
What are the advantages of using a thermal printer over a regular printer?
There are several advantages to using a thermal printer for printing shipping labels:
- Lower cost of materials – A thermal printer does not need ink or toner refills.
- Less waste – shipping labels are made for that purpose; no tossing half-sheets of unprinted paper.
- Weather resistance – shipping labels printed with a thermal printer do not bleed or run when wet or exposed to the elements.
- Adhesion – shipping label paper is adhesive and can be applied directly to the shipping box without additional tape.
Which type of paper should I use to print shipping labels?
We recommend only ever using thermal shipping labels with a thermal label printer. Regular printer paper cannot be run through a thermal label printer.
How do I calibrate my printer to optimize the output of my shipping labels?
Each manufacturer has its own calibration process. For more information, refer to the user manual or online documentation for your printer.
How often should I replace the printing ribbon of my shipping label printer?
Thermal label printers do not have ribbons. Instead, they take electricity and burn the writing onto the paper and thus do not need to be replaced. Refer to the manufacturer’s guidelines if you have a shipping label printer that takes ribbons.
Are there any restrictions on what I can print on a shipping label?
If the original graphic is unaltered, you can put any supplemental design around the label. Some companies have their custom label stock with a pre-printed design. Still, the actual shipping label graphic with the address and tracking barcode is printed unaltered and in its original form.
Wrap Up
A shipping label printer is an excellent asset for any business that ships products. Our top pick for the best shipping label printer, the Rollo Wireless Thermal Label Printer, will work great for the majority of folks and look good in the process. If you need a scale, too, the PitneyShip Cube is a good option. If you’re on a budget, look for the Nelko USB Thermal Label Printer to take advantage of quick, clear shipping label printing for substantially less.
Special Thanks – Some featured and stock photos courtesy of the generous folks at Depositphotos.
